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.

6. Chapter 6

Ain't Rowling and can't draw.

For the small (I tell a funny) story, FIlFy Teacher won by a landslide. It won first place here on fanfic, bringing in 678 votes, and a total of 1,687 votes total.

Semblance of Hope came in second though it only took in 166 over on fanfic, it brought in a lot of votes over on pat r on, bringing in a total of 1,386. This puts it in second place and it will be updated tomorrow night. Just could not get it all done in time to update today. RL and going over FILFy Teacher took too long.

The next poll here on fanfic should also be up Wednesday night.

This is a large chapter. After this these chapters will shrink (by hook or by crook!) but there was a lot to get done and to be talked about in this chapter, and I didn't really feel like the one place I could break it off actually showed enough prior to that point to make it a real chapter.

This has been edited by…Nad Destroyer and Michael. Hopefully that means there won't be any plot/flow mistakes and very, very few small errors and missing sentences LOL.

Apologies for the late posting, it took me four hours to go through the chapter when Michael got it back to me.

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Chapter 6: Dates Going Awry

Despite his moment of levity as he thought about what the reactions of others in his life would be to what had occurred, Harry was quite angry when those selfsame implications came back to him the moment he exited his mental landscape. After examining the changes to his mental landscape, Harry knew he couldn't reject them: the changes in him had started long before Harry had ever been aware of it, slowly filtering into his soul from its connection to the Hallows.

Manannán was right about that, curse it. Those damn Hallows started this process the instant I owned all three of them. I just wasn't aware of it. My being uncomfortable with leaving behind the ring, my decision not to go through with my initial plan to destroy the Elder Wand, and how I treated the cloak like a sacred family heirloom, those could all have been signs that I was being influenced by that connection.

But even the changes to his mental plane and possible changes to his body and soul, even the fact that the three Hallows' physical forms had disappeared, these were not the matters Harry was most concerned with. No, that was something else entirely, something more personal. My life is going to be extended even further than it would have been otherwise. Practically immortal, he said, but I don't want that!Lily…. Am I cursed to watch my daughter grow old and die while I stay young? This wasn't a problem that was going to rear its head any time soon, but it was going to be a problem, and one that Harry's treacherous mind kept on bringing up like an endless loop.

After a moment of silently thumping the side of the bed next to where he lay, which left the bed's mattress with a noticeable dent in it, Harry regained some measure of self-control, pushing himself to his feet and out of bed. On the other hand, it is somewhat ironic that I seem to have achieved something that Riddle had sought for so long without real success. Right now I seriously need to blow off some steam before I try to get back to bed. And that will also let me get a handle on any new powers or abilities that this has given me.

With that forcefully cheerful thought, Harry went down to his basement. He had intended to set up this area as a workshop and training area, only he had never gotten around to actually doing the work. He had been so busy since coming to this country with various tasks that another project was just one too many. I suppose I could have worked on it on Sundays, but I wasn't about to give up my days spent with Lily.

With that Harry walked into the center of the room and began to gesture around him with both of his hands. Having used the spell so often, the space expansion charm flowed out of his hands at that gesture, and the small basement slowly enlarged to being the size of a rugby field. Anchoring the spell would require runes, but, for tonight, simply expanding the basement was enough.

After a second the spell was done and he looked around, nodding grimly. A Lumos spell lit the cavern and it was ready.

"Now," he said, holding out his hand and looking at it thoughtfully. "Let's see…." With a thought he pulled Answerer out of his soul. An instant later the sword was suddenly in his hand, its edge gleaming in the light above him. The reality of it wasn't very different from its astral form: long blade around three feet in length with a hilt that was slightly longer than a single hand could wield. Its metal was gray, looking almost like rock instead of steel, with the only gleam coming from the edge and the characters of its name etched out along its length in ancient Irish or something. The hilt was simple with no ornamentation, only leather wrapped around it with a slightly wider than normal pommel stone.

Harry waved it around and found himself settling into an actual sword form. Frowning, he set the weapon down and conjured up a stick, moving swiftly into the same sword form. So it's not the weapon, it's my knowledge that's changed. About an hour spent experimenting with Answerer in its normal blade form told Harry that this was indeed the case. It wasn't as if the sword had given him all the knowledge to be a deadly warrior, but it had evidently jumpstarted some of the teachings he'd had over the years, taking them all to the next level from a journeyman's to something approaching a master's level. Odd, but certainly not something he was overly worried about.

Not that this was the only thing about the sword that was unusual. As Manannán had said, the sword could morph to his desires within some limits. It became a long staff when he thought of a wand, and, when he tried to change the shape of the blade to that of another sword type, that failed utterly. He could change it into a spear or a halberd, but not another kind of sword. Nor could he change it into a gun or a bow, though the reason that didn't work was easier to understand.

On the other hand, the onetime Harry attempted to change it into a make believe weapon, one he had seen in an anime show in one of the shops they had passed in Akihabara, it worked flawlessly leaving Harry to stare at the massive oni-style mace in his hand. The only thing that didn't change from one form to another was the odd stone-like nature of the 'blade.''.

Even better, was that Harry somehow also gained some understanding of the weapons the blade could change into. That made that ability somewhat amazing, though Harry knew he wasn't near to a master's level with those other forms like he was the sword.

Soon after that Harry set the sword aside and began to work through his magic spells, looking for anything unusual while also mentally preparing himself to use some of the knowledge that had come across from absorbing the Hallows. After several hours of work, Harry was convinced that there hadn't been any new spells added to his spell repertoire, though there had been a truly monstrous increase in power.

On top of that, there were a few… oddities. For one thing, the cloak of Invisibility was very different. Where before he would have had to wear it like any physical piece of clothing, the cloak now came out of his mind with barely a thought covering his skin in it's power even more utterly than before. It only became truly physical when Harry willed it to. When Harry tried to both remove it from his person and see if he could enlarge it, both those things worked. Though setting the cloak down didn't feel right, as if the cloak wanted to return to his mind the instant it left his hand and Harry had to concentrate some of his attention on not allowing this.

The second experiment, enlarging the cloak, should have been impossible: Harry had attempted to do that before with his Father's cloak several times. This time it worked: the entire table he had conjured which was big enough to fit right into the Great Hall of Hogwarts, was covered from one end to the other. But when he thought about extending it still further something even odder happened that caused Harry to blink for a few minutes before he pulled the cloak back into his mind. That is… interesting… I'm going to have to incorporate that into my normal combat tactics from now on, that ability is too intriguing to not use.

Nor was that the only oddity. Harry could now fly—not hover, but actually fly—something he tried only on a whim. Needless to say, Harry was very happy about this, and determined to play around with flying as much as he could in the near future. He had always liked to fly, that was why he had enjoyed Quidditch so much. Flying without need of a broom was something Harry could see becoming addicting, all too easily.

His ability with air and fire-based spells, already quite high, had rocketed higher still. His skill with illusions was also far higher: where before he would have had to use small scale illusions, mostly to cover changes in the landscape, now he could create immense and detailed illusions with barely any thought. Harry's defensive spells also appeared more powerful, but he wasn't able to test that overmuch just yet and much like his skill with illusions, didn't have any idea just yet as to why that was the case.

And so it went on throughout the entire night, with Harry getting no sleep as he attempted to become used to his new powers. The only thing he didn't try was to use the powers of the ring. Harry was firmly of the opinion that the dead should stay both buried and silent.

This might have had something to do with his inability to call up the souls of his parents. The only time he had seen them had been when his wand and Riddle's had created Priori Incantatem. Later, when he had the ring, Harry couldn't stop himself and had tried to call them, only to fail.

Hours later Harry moved towards the staircase up to the rest of the house, thinking much more calmly now, even if he had just pulled an accidental all-nighter. Those are some interesting abilities, many of which I'm going to have to try out in more detail and against actual opponents later. My ability to turn invisible now by simply willing it is interesting, though something tells me that there's a lot more to it than just hiding my presence. That will be interesting to discover. For now, time to set this aside and get on with my day. Whose bright idea was it to have schools in Japan to have a half day on Saturday anyway? Don't they know that teachers look forward to the weekend just as much as the students?

About forty minutes later Lily woke up to the smell of bacon sizzling wafting from downstairs, the scent calling out to the young carnivore in her. Following her nose she hopped out of bed, not bothering to change out of her nightie racing out of the room down towards the kitchen.

There she found Harry setting up his version of a full English style breakfast: bacon, English style sausage, pancakes, waffles, and hash browns. Sniffing appreciatively, Lily moved over to give him a hug as he moved away from the stove. "What's the occasion, Daddy?"

He put his free arm around her in turn, ruffling her hair as he smiled down at her. "Nothing much. I just felt like treating you is all."

Lily's looked up at him, her eyes narrowing slightly at that. She could see bags under her daddy's eyes as if he hadn't slept well. And there was something different about him. Something more. It was as if he'd been multiplied many times over but then was stuffed into the same body. It was weird, weirder even than the explanation her mind had come up with just then.

Still, the way he answered told Lily this was something he either didn't want to bother her with or felt was adult stuff she shouldn't know about. Lily sniffed internally at that idea, but said nothing more as she moved over to the table. After all, I don't tell him all my problems; it would be weird if he told me all of his. "It all looks so good, I don't know where to start!" she said even as she reached for the plate of sausages.

Later, as she was dressing for the day, she called Koneko. The two of them had talked several times over the phone, which had helped speed their friendship along. Now Lily asked Koneko for advice, trying to describe the change she felt in her dad, but unable, really, to get the impression across. "But I know he's tired and thinking about something. I caught him looking at me during breakfast a few times, as if he was all sad or something. It was weird, and I don't like it."

On the other end of the line Koneko replied by saying, "I'll tell Buchou. If something is bothering Sensei, Buchou and Himejima-senpai will handle it."

That made Lily smile and thank her since she didn't have the other redhead's phone number, though she was somewhat confused about Akeno. She liked her though not as much as she liked Rias, but that was because Akeno didn't seem comfortable around her at times. It felt as if Akeno wanted to become close to Lily but wasn't certain if she should, beyond teasing her occasionally. It was weird, but she was still a very funny lady at times, and even a tomboy like Lily could not help but to admire how good looking Akeno was. That long ponytail of hers is awesome. I wonder how she and Rias keep all that hair they have clean?

Hanging up the phone, Lily skipped out of her room and down the steps to join her father and the two quickly exited the house. They stopped outside, however, finding Hermione there, moving towards the front door, clearly intending to knock. She blinked at them and then nodded in understanding. "Oh yes, I had forgotten that Japanese schools have half-days on Saturday."

"Yeah," Harry said with a smile, locking the door behind him and gesturing for Hermione to join the two of them as they left. "It is kind of hard to get used to. I'm sorry if you thought we could spend time together this morning, but I have work until around three in the afternoon, maybe even longer."

Harry was still uncertain whether or not he wanted to tell Hermione about the Hallows, despite having thought about it for quite a few hours yesterday as he was figuring out what his absorption of the Hallows had done to his abilities. Yes, she was his best friend in Hogwarts, but even at the height of the war Hermione was a reluctant participant: while she had a vast repertoire of spells, she didn't have a soldier's instincts. Further, for a time she had bought wholeheartedly into Dumbledore's idea of always using the minimum amount of force necessary. She hadn't really argued the point that more was needed after a few incidents, but she had never been comfortable with using that amount of force herself.

And from his discussion with Rias on their date, Harry knew that violence was a part of this new world he and Lily had inadvertently stepped into. Or perhaps the phrase should be, 'discovered we were already a part of?'

Hermione looked at him, frowning in thought. There was something off about him this morning. Not the bags under his eyes or the slightly worrying twitch he had on the side of his mouth. Those she had seen before. She well understood how Harry sometimes got when he was in one of his brooding moods. No, that was nothing to worry about.

But for some reason when she saw her friend Hermione had to fight an urge to curtsy, which was just unusual. She wasn't even in a dress, for goodness sake. And there was just, just a kind of pressure around Harry right now. It was like being in Dumbledore's presence when he was angry, only more so and without the accompanying feeling of actual anger. "There is something different about you this morning, Harry. And you look exhausted. Have you been burning the candle from both ends again?" she asked, her eyes narrowing.

Harry shrugged. "I meditated on the three Hallows yesterday," he said obliquely. "Something happened when I was doing so. Maybe you're feeling the effect of that?"

"You do know you're going to have to give me more than that," she drawled.

"Later," Harry said firmly. "After I have time to work through the implications myself." Hermione scowled at that, but Harry quickly changed the subject asking, "Where's Padma today?"

"Still sleeping of course," Hermione snorted. "Or have you forgotten that she isn't really a morning person?"

"Oh yes." Harry shuddered a little. "Her and her sister both." Parvati had been really scary sometimes in the morning when they were all at Hogwarts.

Hermione nodded at that, but kept on glancing at Harry. The odd feeling around Harry continued to niggle at her senses, pressing in on her. It wasn't uncomfortable after that initial moment, but it was fading only slowly. I'll get the truth out of him later, I suppose. With that thoughtHermione turned her attention to Lily, asking about schoolwork and such like. Harry, of course, joined the discussion, snapping his fingers and looking at Lily. "By the way, when will you have that sleepover you said you're going to have with your research partners?"

"Research?" Hermione asked, her eyes glinting. "She's only a second grader, and she is already doing research projects!?"

"Yep! A history project about the city of Tokyo and the train system," Lily said with a smile. "And two weeks from now, daddy. We're all going to start our own portions of the project, then spend a few days together to put it all together, and then a sleepover to both finish things up and to celebrate." From there Lily went into an explanation of the project.

Listening to this Hermione could only smile, forgetting for a moment the odd feeling Harry was putting out. "Where has the Japanese educational system been all my life?" she mused aloud.

Harry held up a hand, wagging it back and forth. "The hyper competitiveness puts them into a mold at most schools, something I can't say I actually approve of. And I also don't actually like the magical side of things very much. Or at least, not the people I've met. The magic itself is fascinating, both some of the spells and the system they use. Not as versatile as ours but just as powerful. Yet on a personal level, well, I realize that they are very leery of foreigners, thanks to World War II, but there needs to be a limit to how xenophobic you are."

And they're not exactly friendly to their own people either, he thought, rather grimly thinking about what Akeno had let slip about how her family had treated her. Exiling and maybe even attempting to kill her simply because she was mixed blood. That is so far beyond the pale it's not even funny. For all that the Onmyouji seem to think they are different from the rest of us, in many ways they are all too similar.

Then again, it's not as if the Devils are any better with their whole pureblood rhetoric. Just thinking about what Rias was facing was enough to make Harry clench his jaw, and that was without factoring his own relationship with Rias in, or at least he fooled himself into thinking so anyway.

"That is true," Lily said, scowling angrily. "The lady we met at the airport was nice, but the others weren't. And that one time I went with you when you handed in your test, that secretary was very rude to me."

"Exactly," Harry said with a sigh. "Still, tell us about what's been going back in Europe Hermione. Are Neville and Hannah still trying to push for him to become the next Minister of Magic in Britain? And what about your own home in Spain? Is the construction work you had going on done, and have your parents agreed to move in with you and Padma permanently?"

"Ooh, Ooh!" Lily exclaimed, hopping up and down and grinning like a Halloween pumpkin. "What about Auntie Luna? Has she gone on another expedition yet?"

They were so caught up in listening to Hermione tell them about what was going on with Harry's old friends that none of the trio noticed what was going on around them to the few people they passed. This early there weren't many people on the streets, and very few cars too, but as they got closer to Lily's school that changed, with more students and parents starting to appear around the street.

Lily was the first to notice, and she frowned, realizing that the people around them were either backing away automatically from Harry, Hermione, and her, or seemingly making obeisance towards Harry. That is very strange. It seemed to fade a little as the number of people increased, but Lily found it weird all the same.

Still, she shrugged that off when she spotted a few of her friends already in the school's jungle gym. Daddy will notice something's strange soon on his own anyway. I can't always be solving all his problems for him, the seven-year old thought. "I'll see you later, Daddy," she shouted, racing towards them and leaving Harry and Hermione behind.

"I should get back too, Harry," Hermione said. "I'll need to have some coffee ready for Padma, or else she'll find something petty and disturbing to get me back for my lack of care."

"And that's about as much of the dynamic between you two as I want to know," Harry said with a bark of laughter. "I'll see you later."

"Yes, you will," Hermione said firmly. "Where you'll explain what you did last night as well as the ramifications of it."

"Yes, Hermione. Of course, Mistress Hermione," Harry drawled, feeling a little more irritated with Hermione's overbearing manner than he should have, something he put down to not having been exposed to it for a number of years. "Both your inner bookworm and dominatrix are showing."

Hermione huffed at that, pushing at his shoulder lightly, though again she felt something strange there, as if playing around with Harry like that had suddenly become almost unnatural. It was a very odd feeling, and she didn't like it, hence why she was willing to be pushy now, despite having learned over the years not to be. "Get on with you, Professor!"

Chuckling Harry turned away, and Hermione did the same only to pause and stare as the crowd of students, parents, and others moving about area around the elementary school parted for Harry automatically. Here and there a few men and women even began to nod or seemed to bow deferentially to Harry without even thinking about it. There were even a few girls just staring, blushing hotly. "What the heck?!"

OOOOOOO

Thanks to Koneko giving them a heads up, Rias and Akeno had decided to take a detour to school which would just so happen to allow them to take the same route Harry would take from Lily's elementary school. To all that saw them, the two Great Ladies of Kuoh, who were almost as famous around town as they were in school, were ostensibly having a conversation about something entirely different, peering over a notebook in Rias's hands. This was a cover created by the Devilish equivalent of a Notice-me-not spell, and the most anyone trying to overhear would have heard would have been merely a jumble of talk about stocks and bonds.

They both looked up as something neared them, a presence that pressed down on them. It was as if they were in the presence of a high level devil, not Sirzechs, but close. No, Rias realized, it was the feeling of entering someone else's territory without their say so when the owner in fact was actively discouraging people from entering his or her territory.

"What is that!?" Rias muttered, swiftly putting her notebook away and moving towards the odd source as Akeno followed.

Unlike Rias, however, Akeno was struggling against the feeling that she should be kneeling. Rias wasn't struggling against that simply because the very idea of kneeling was anathema to her. Rias was the daughter of one of the Thirty-twoPillars of Hell, raised to be a King to her peerage. She could respect another person's power, even follow orders from someone else, but Rias would not give obeisance or show any sign of submission as the aura seemed to be pushing her to do.

She paused at one point, feeling another devil racing towards her, and turned to see Sona walking briskly down the street. "You felt it too, I take it?"

Sona nodded, pushing her glasses up her nose before looking at Akeno. Like Rias, she felt the power, but couldn't even feel the urge to submit, such was her refusal to yield to anyone. Save her sister, of course, but that was an entirely different thing. "Himejima-san, are you all right?"

"I, I am all right. It is, is just this pressure. It makes me want to submit. Hmmm, I've learned lately that I'm willing to play the Sub as well as the Dom, but this is rather beyond the pale," Akeno replied before straightening as she got used to the feeling. She could do nothing about the blush to her cheeks, however.

"That was a bit more information than I wanted to know," Rias said dryly. "But you are good to continue? Whatever the source, it is... Harry?" She stumbled to a halt, staring down the road as Harry came into view just as the source of the unusual feeling should have.

Down the street Harry paused, seeing Sona, Rias and Akeno, and he stepped backwards, moving towards a nearby alleyway.

Cocking an eyebrow behind her glasses, Sona looked at her friends. "Is there something you want to share?"

"I, Koneko said that Lily called her. She said that Lily told her something had changed in her father, but this is..." Rias shook her head. "Let's go. We need to get to the bottom of this. Harry, he feels like…."

"Like we're in the presence of someone who controls the land around him, regardless of where he stands," Sona said, frowning in thought. "Now, why did that phrase pop into my head…?"

"Ara, while I can't help you with that particular issue, Sitri-sama, I believe that we can at least find out the answers to our other questions by following our sensei into that alleyway," Akeno said, moving in that direction, followed quickly by Rias and Sona. She entered first, chuckling at Harry, who smiled wanly at her. "Fufufu. Inviting young girls into an alleyway, Harry-san? What would your fellow sensei say about this?"

"If they had any idea of your real personality, Akeno, they'd probably say, 'poor Harry, alone in that alleyway with Himejima-san,'" Harry said, smirking at the black-haired girl.

Yet underneath his own teasing Harry was once more dealing with some instincts he really shouldn't have been. They weren't really formed thoughts, rather simple urges dealing with the trio of girls in front of him. He dealt with them easily enough thanks to the way his mind was organized, but even so it was startling simply because it definitely wasn't due to any exterior stimuli. No, this time it's all me. Damn it. Randy as a god he said? Ugh, just what I need. On the other hand, Rias was offering…no, bad Harry!

Shaking that thought off he turned to smile at Rias and Sona, but before he could say anything the tall redhead had pushed him up against the wall of the alleyway while Sona had quickly thrown up a far more impenetrable spell to keep people away from the area.

"What happened last night, Harry! You, you're giving out an aura now like you said we were," Rias said, looking up at him in concern for Harry and worry, wondering about what this might mean.

Harry frowned. "Lily said something similar this morning, as did Hermione, but I didn't actually notice anything until I noticed the reactions of the people around me." Damn it, I was took caught up with my own thoughts and listening to Hermione this morning, I need to remember to be aware of my surroundings. "I take it you can feel it too?"

"You mentioned Hermione before and that her arrival meant we would push our date back tonight. That's fine, by the way," Rias said. She then shook her head and stepped back, crossing her arms as she joined Sona and Akeno in facing Harry. She did want to meet Harry's friends at some point, but right now the mystery in front of her was much more important. "That doesn't explain what's going on."

"What are you feeling?" Harry asked intently.

"Your aura is pushing against my psyche," Sona said cutting in, believing it best to cut to the chase. "But instead of trying to make me give into my base lust as you said our auras did to you, yours is trying to make me bow or submit in some fashion. It's almost as if I'm in the presence of one of the Maou in a particularly dominating mood."

"Which would be never with either of our siblings," Rias said with a faint laugh. "But yes, that is the kind of feeling we're all getting. And you're, I don't know, somehow more is the best way to say it. You're giving off this feeling of charisma now, Harry, more than you were before. That's not to say you weren't charismatic or handsome or anything before, but it's as if that's been multiplied now…" Rias stumbled to a halt, blushing. "It um, it's a nice feeling in a way, but…"

"Words do sometimes have trouble describing magic," Harry said with an understanding smile. "I've been there. Still, if it is an aura thing, I might be able to rein it in. Give me a moment. And then I'll give you that explanation."

Harry closed his eyes and leaned back against the brick wall behind him as he entered his mental plane for a moment. Standing on the walls that were his mental defenses, he frowned as he saw a mist, something which he recognized from his experiments, spreading from the walls out into the ether and ostensibly beyond.

Of course, this was his mental plane; this was simply how he pictured the effect Rias and the others had reported. That mist again and something else too, he thought, scowling before turning to stare at the pillar that held aloft his soul. Instead of simply shining light throughout his mental plane, that light, too, was extending beyond the walls.

"Now, let's see if I can do something about that," he muttered, his astral image raising his hands as Harry began to concentrate, making a grasping sort of motion towards the mist first. He slowly began to pull it in until it was behind his walls, no longer spreading out beyond them. Then he slowly began to enlarge the walls until they were a dome containing his mind instead of a wall around it, keeping the light inside. Keeping the mist inside, though, that might be more difficult. I'll have to think about how to do that.

Opening his eyes, he found that Tsubaki had joined them. From their expressions, both Queens had been having a much more difficult time fighting off the effect of his aura. Tsubaki looked rather shaken, her legs wobbling. Akeno, on the other hand, looked flushed, licking her lips and staring at Harry for a moment before shaking her head and dispelling whatever lingering effect there was.

Rias nodded sharply at Harry, however, grabbing his attention. "That's much better!" Then she pouted a little. "How is it that you're able to control your aura that easily and we haven't been able to make much progress in the weeks since you told us about them?"

"Could be an inherent difference in our auras or mental conditioning," Harry said with a shrug.

"That Occlumency you mentioned," Rias said with a far gentler nod this time. "You did say you had books about that? It sounds far too useful not to want to learn."

At that reminder Sona grimaced. She had heard about the deal Harry and Rias had hammered out between them, but had yet to think of any way other than simple monetary means to pay to join the agreement to share magic. Sona wasn't as close to Harry as Rias was, of course, so felt like she couldn't simply ask to be included in that agreement.

"Now, about that explanation?" Rias went on, bringing Sona's attention back to the present, tapping her foot impatiently.

One hasty explanation later, all three of the other devils were looking at Rias. She was the known expert on comparative religions and far better at historical research than even Sona. This was because many Sacred Gears took their names or even powers from old, now dead, religions. Her brother had pushed Rias to become so from an early age, one of the many ways he had tried to help her over the years.

The redhead breathed out slowly, thinking through everything Harry had just said before she spoke. "One thing I think you will need to do, Harry, is look for the original legends of Manannán Mac Lir as well as any other god he might be confused with or could have been a part of or been based upon to figure out any special powers absorbing the Hallows might have given you. Old gods do new jobs, you see. They continually change as their worshipers change or the times change—that's part of religious theory—and they absorb new powers or expand their own. I can tell you quite a few about Manannán, he appears in Scottish and, I think, Gaelic legends as well, but that can wait until later."

She looked at Sona, one eyebrow raised, and Sona nodded slowly, which caused Rias to turn back to Harry. "But I think you should consider Fragarach, which is the real name of the sword, Answerer, as the equivalent of a Sacred Gear. It is a weapon that was one of the most powerful items in their pantheon from what I know of the Tuatha Dé Denann. It should be on par with the thirteen Longinus, like the spear you fought in Kyoto. I don't think it could match the True Longinus for sheer power, but it would slice through any armor and…."

She frowned, pausing as she tried to remember ancient stories she had read about the Irish pantheon. "And I think the definition of armor might be up to the user. I'll have to look up some of the old legends about that. Beyond that control of winds, wounds that don't heal I think unless the wielder wants them to and… and maybe the ability to stop people from lying when Fragarach is pointed at them. I'm sorry; I never looked directly at the Irish legends, only a few of their more amusing tales and heroes.

"As for what Manannán actually told you about what happened to his Pantheon, at least, he told you the truth," Rias went on grimly. "Well before the war between Lucifer's Fallen, the Devils and the Angels had become an open affair, God and the angels did wipe out other pantheons. But you shouldn't mourn them. Most of those pantheons were comprised of power-hungry bullies and rapists. The world is well rid of them. Manannán might have been relatively tame in his dealings with humans, but the rest of his pantheon were sneaky, deceiving, and never played straight if they could help it."

"I'm not. I don't know much about religion, of any sort, really, but I know some tales from the Greek pantheon. If the others were as bad as they were, then their passing was a good thing for humanity," Harry replied.

"Exactly. In terms of how Manannán could have created these," Rias paused, her hand automatically pulling a bang of hair into her mouth and chewing on it. "I… I, I've never heard of anything like this before. Oh, I've heard of some items or ancient ruins which have shades attached to them or act like phylacteries…. Um, what you called a horcrux. I can't tell you what a god could have accomplished with such. It just seems… off to me, I suppose."

What she wasn't saying was that she thought that if a god like Manannán had gone to the trouble of pushing some of his soul into items as he had, they should have acted like a normal phylactery, or horcrux: they should have tried to take Harry over. That they hadn't was surprising in the extreme.

"What is 'off,' as you put it Rias, to me is that you survived the process, Harry-san." Sona cut in tartly, looking at Harry. The others turned to her and only now noticed that her glasses were gleaming with some kind of spell as she stared at Harry. "Regardless of your status as a werewolf, a human being should not be able to contain the power you have within you right now. It's an almost astonishing amount. Before I could say you were incredibly strong, possibly with more raw magical power than any other magician I had met, including those who had become devils. But now, now you're stronger magically than either of us. You should not be able to handle that amount of power!"

"My whole life has been about surviving things I shouldn't," Harry replied dryly. "On the other hand, you're both right." He looked between Rias and Sona with a faint smile. "I do agree there is something off about this, and I'd like to understand why I was able to contain the amount of power I received when the process finished. I'm certainly not willing to take a trickster god's word for what happened to me. So perhaps sometime in the next few days we can get together and investigate?"

Sona nodded, then abruptly realized how much time they had wasted. "Indeed. But for now we all need to hurry or else we might not make it to class in time." With that she canceled the spell keeping them from being noticed and moved off, calling over her shoulder. "I'll trust you to arrange a time and place, Rias-san. It should be fascinating."

Harry swiftly cast a tempus spell and then gulped. "She's right. We need to go."

The other three students all nodded and moved with him, with Tsubaki actually running for a second to catch up with her King. The other two, of course, remained with Harry, walking at a brisk clip.

"Regardless, if Manannán at least told the truth about some of the things that the Hallows have done to you , there is a major upside in the long term from this, Harry," Rias said, her smile widening into the broadest grin that Harry had yet seen on her. She had been happy to start a relationship with Harry before this, but now... "Now that you are no longer technically human, your lifespan will match my own, which is fantastic!"

"Wait, what?" Harry asked sharply, stopping to look at Rias incredulously.

Rias blinked, slowing down to look at him which caused Akeno to do the same beside her. "Devils, Fallen, and Angels all have a far longer lifespan than humans. We live into the thousands of years rather than a simple hundred years if we're lucky."

"How, how does that work?" Harry stammered, looking at her in shock. "I mean, do you age slower? Are you really going on nineteen, or one hundred and ninety?"

"Hey!" Rias snapped, reaching out to smack him in the chest as Akeno giggled, her hand covering her mouth as she did. "We age the same way up to a point. But after that we just stop aging for a while."

"And all devils can have the same lifespan?" Harry asked intently, resuming his walk. "Even those turned?"

"Yes," Rias replied, then her eyes widened, and now it was her turn to stop and halt. She quickly enveloped him in a hug, squeezing tightly and nestling her head against his pec while she babbled. "Lily! Oh Harry, I'm sorry! I didn't even…. Of course, if it comes down to it, I'll gladly use a pawn or whatever I need to…."

Mindful that they were in public, Akeno threw up a small spell around them, shaking her head. Mah, my king is getting awfully careless these days with her Great Lady reputation.

Harry too didn't care they were in public. Instead he simply smiled wanly, squeezing her back before Rias disengaged, each holding one another at arm's length. "Thank you for that, Rias. Perhaps eventually I might take you up on that. But if devils can give that ability, then maybe a demigod or whatever I am now can do the same. Knowing that there is solution to that problem is just a godse…."

Harry cut that thought off, chuckling and shaking his head as the two girls looked at him quizzically. "Okay, that thought is too filled with irony to even finish."

They laughed at that, while Harry reflected that if the two of them were alone he might have kissed Rias just then. But they weren't alone, and it was pushing on time for class. "Right now, though, we need to hurry."

Rias however didn't let Harry go just yet, standing in front of him, her face stern yet affectionate at the same time. "Harry, I need you to know that even if we weren't together I would have offered to turn Lily for you. And if you don't find a way to give her that longevity, I will still do it, regardless of what it costs me. Without a second thought, Harry Potter! You're not the only one who cares for Lily-chan."

His smile turning tender, Harry reached out a hand to gently touch Rias's face, tracing her cheek and then her lips with his thumb, causing her to, first blush, then actually tremble. "Thank you for that, Rias. I…. That offer means a lot to me. As does the feelings behind it."

"Uffufu, I am glad you two are having a moment. I am just as happy I am still maintaining the illusion over us all~. But we really should be going, you know," Akeno teased. With a whispered command she ended the illusion and raced off.

"Akeno!" Rias shouted, chasing after her friend with her blush still prominent on her face.

So happy was Harry at the idea that he wouldn't have to impotently see his daughter age and die in the future, Harry accidentally released some of his self-control as the trio walked briskly through the school grounds towards the class. But now that he was looking for it, he immediately noticed everyone's reactions. Having domed in the light coming from his soul, it seemed that the people around him were no longer paying obeisance. Instead the girls all around were looking at him and staring, blushing as they stared at him avidly, almost hungrily.

Okay, so the mist is how my mind perceives the portion of my aura that ties into that whole 'randy as a god' comment, and the light was what, my divinity? Good to know I suppose. With that revelation, Harry quickly pulled in his mist-like aura once more and watched as the girls all around him came back to themselves. Most of them, anyway. A few took longer to come back to themselves. Some were apologetic, frowning and wondering what had happened. Others just giggled and moved off. Still more seemed to revel in it, winking at Harry before racing away. This is going to be a long day, I can already tell.

That thought was soon proven all too accurate. Several times throughout the day Harry had to reassert control of his aura, pulling it back into himself. Each time the nearby girls would react, as well as the boys, if in very different ways. Some would blush while others would look flustered and worried or just fidgety, while the boys seemed to become almost submissive seeming towards Harry. Only those with strong wills seemed to ignore the effect, not even noticing it.

To the devils, this was first rate comedy after the trouble they were having doing the same thing. Rias even went so far as to hold up a card during gym class as they were playing dodgeball. The sign said, 'Know our pain, and feel our suffering.' This did not amuse Harry whatsoever, and he surreptitiously thwacked her on top of the head with one of the game balls.

He also noticed Akeno giggling along as he did, the only one in the classroom to have noticed, thankfully. The sight made him smile, but as he turned away his lips twitched into a frown as he thought about something else entirely. Akeno. What am I going to do about that? I was telling the truth; there is a distinctly animal alpha male part of me that likes the idea of having a harem, but…. Shaking that off, he turned his attention back to shouting out orders to the class.

As Rias and the senior class entered the locker room, Harry turned away, moving towards the main building. Inside, he quickly ascended the stairs towards the teachers' lounge, intending to get some paperwork done quickly before heading out to pick up Lily. He stopped halfway there outside one of the computer labs when he noticed the door was unlocked, which, on a Saturday, it shouldn't have been.

On Saturdays all the lab rooms, with the expensive equipment—in this case, computers—were locked up unless there was an ongoing experiment or something of that nature being supervised directly by one of the teachers. Moving towards the door on silent feet, he stopped just to one side of it, cocking his head and listening intently with his enhanced senses.

"This is, this is amazing! Oh my God, they're all there! You were right; this is better than the window!" said a voice from inside the computer lab.

It was a voice Harry recognized as Matsuda, the jock of the trio. Oh God, not the three of them again, please. I don't need this today.

"I told you boys," said a second voice, which again Harry recognized to his growing chagrin. Unfortunately, even with his hearing he couldn't make out most of what was going on within the room.

Inside the lab, Motohama continued to speak. "Technology! Technology is the way of the future! With it we can have our paradise and be safe from misplaced feminine reprisal at the same time! Why, with modern technology we'll even be able to cut and paste. Take the best assets of one, say Himejima-san's, and stick them on Shitori-sama's body, for example."

"That sounds a little too much like work to me," said a third voice, that of Issei and just loud enough for Harry to hear every word this time. "On the other hand, I can't believe that you were able to do this. This, this seems a little too illegal…."

"My older brother did the programming., the second voice said before trailing off into a mumble that even Harry's hearing couldn't make out before rising once more. "A direct broadband upload of the scene now in front of us! Amazing."

Scowling, Harry moved away from the doorway as silently as possible, entering the teachers' lounge. He was unsurprised to find it empty. On Saturdays there weren't very many classes in the afternoon other than his gym class, which had just ended. His thought from earlier, that morning about how teachers look forward to the weekends, came back to Harry then, but he shook it off. He needed to concentrate on solving the problem in front of him.

Pulling out his phone, he dialed Rias's phone number and waited until she answered. "Rias, I just passed the computer lab, and the Perverted Trio is in there. They're talking about something. I can't make out most of the words without giving away that I'm there, but they said something about phones and a show. Can you look around for any phones that don't belong to any of the girls with you?"

Inside the locker room, Rias turned from where she had been about to peel off her gym uniform and turned around quickly. "Akeno, stop," she ordered. "Sona, Tsubaki, you too." The others looked at her quizzically, and Rias lowered her voice. "Look around for a phone, a phone with a video camera."

"Why?" Sona asked. She was already half-undressed, clad only in her sports bra and panties with a towel hung around her waist. This showed her small but very perky and perfectly formed chest, which really didn't need the support of the plain gray bra it was covered in. "What's going on?"

"Harry, um, that is, Potter-sensei just called me and said that the Perverted trio are doing something in the computer room. Given the timing…."

"That makes far too much sense. Blasted modern technology!" Tsubaki groused. Like her King and their friends she was partially undressed now, her slightly larger breasts pressing out against a towel she had draped over her shoulders.

"Ara, I wonder if we catch them in the act. Would that be enough to kick them out?" Akeno mused, staring down at the vast expanse of her bra clad chest, one hand holding said bra in place.

"It would if we weren't thinking that one of them might have a Sacred Gear," Rias said disconsolately. "With that we can't afford to kick them out, not until we're certain which one it is."

"That is disturbing on many levels. At least the boy I am interested in adding to my peerage isn't a complete lecher," Sona mused, staring around as they looked for any phone out of place or not being used at present.

"Ah, yes. Have you approached Genshirou-kun yet?"

"Not yet. I'm waiting for his scores and latest test to be finished, graded, and announced. That way it'll be obvious that he has the grades to be able to join the Student Council without me needing to show any favoritism. And there they are," Sona finished, gesturing with a finger slightly to one side into one of the corners facing into the shower room.

A few of the girls had already finished undressing and were heading in to the showers, their bodies obscured by towels, thankfully. But even so, the boys who are watching this might well have gotten quite a show just now. Scowling, Sona moved towards it, as Akeno saw another one near the doorway.

That one was much more cleverly placed. It looked as if a phone had simply been left in an open locker, its recording device barely facing in the current proper direction. The light that would have indicated that it was on was off had also been removed. Moving over in that direction as if to talk to another one of her classmates, Akeno quickly reached over and grabbed it, nodding towards Rias

Nodding back to her Queen, Rias spoke into her phone, turning to look at Sona who was also holding up a phone. "We found the phones and have disabled them, Potter-sensei. Thank you very much for warning us about this." While not really having much in the way of modesty, Rias still had no wish to show her body to just anyone, in particular three hormonal boys.

"You don't have to thank me, Rias" Harry said with a faint smile as he exited the teachers' lounge. With no one around him, he didn't have to be careful about how he addressed Rias, while she did have to worry about the reverse. "After all," he said, lowering his voice a little and whispering into the phone now as he moved down the hall. "Given our new understanding, I couldn't very well allow other men to see what I haven't yet."

As quickly as Harry was moving, the three perverts were already making a break for it. First out of the door was Matsuda, who slammed it open, racing away without another word, shouting over his shoulder, "Code Five-zero!"

Harry had barely reached the door before the window at the far end was flung open, and the two remaining perverts hurled themselves out onto a tree branch and down.

However, this didn't save the perverts. Harry quickly concentrated for a brief second and apparated himself to a tree near the gate leading into the school. The three perverts raced on, joining up once more and laughing at each other at their escape when Harry stepped out right in front of them, allowing the one in the lead to slam into his chest and bounce as he reached to grab the shirts of the other two. "Going somewhere, boys? One would almost think you are guilty about something, the way you took off like that. Were you doing something in the computer lab that you shouldn't have been?"

"Now," he went on, not even giving them a chance to speak just yet. "You can all come back with me to the teachers' lounge, or I can just assume that you were using school property to invade the girls' privacy, which would be an immediate three strikes, which would mean, in turn, that you would all face immediate suspension, if not expulsion, depending on how much actual planning you did and how much of their privacy you invaded."

Given what Harry had feared had happened, he knew it would be expulsion. But he wanted to give the boys a chance to save themselves, or, rather, he wanted to see if one of them could be convinced to throw the others under the bus in an effort to do so.

His voice was cold and measured as he stared at them, and he was surprised when Issei met his gaze levelly, looking a little guilty. So there might be hope for one of them, at least. Matsuda too met his gaze, though it obviously took a lot of effort, and he didn't look guilty.

The brains of the operation, on the other hand, looked away for a brief moment, then twisted to look back at the teacher, his gaze innocent. "I don't know what you're talking about, sensei. We were just finishing a paper so we could have the rest of the weekend free," he said virtuously.

"Then you won't mind pointing out what computer you were using and allowing me to look at your user history?" Harry replied.

Harry marched the three back towards the main building, stopping when Akeno, Rias and the others students filed out of the gym, heading into the building to pick up their belongings. Sona quickly crossed to Harry with Rias behind her, handing Harry the two cell phones they had found. She then leaned in to whisper, "We found them, but they appear to have lost power since. How much evidence do you think you'll be able to find?"

"I doubt I'll find any actual hard evidence if they were smart about this. But destroying the phones and making certain that they weren't able to upload to the Internet any imagery or copy it to their own personal CDs or whatever will at least mitigate the damage," Harry replied. "I would really like to expel them for this, but unless I find actual evidence, the most I'll get is a suspension and two strikes towards the next one, because it is so suspicious. Other than that, it'll be my word against theirs. And that won't fly, unfortunately."

Sona winced at that as did Rias, while Harry glared at the boys, shooing them past the entranceway towards the stairs.

"I'm going to separate them talk to each of them alone, see if I can get one of them to confess. Issei, at least, looks a little regretful. I think he's realized this was a step too far. Maybe I can get him to turn on the other two, maybe not. Regardless," Harry went on, turning to Rias, "I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you and Koneko to go get Lily for me again."

Harry had, in the rush of events following his discovery of the Perverted Trio being more enterprising than normal, completely forgotten about Hermione and Padma being in town. Not that he had any way to contact them in any event, since neither owned a cell phone.

"Of course!" Rias said with a smile, always happy to spend time with Lily. "We'll watch over her for a time until you're done. I'll take her to that park near her school or bring her back here to the clubroom depending on how much homework she has this weekend."

"She shouldn't have much. They were just assigned a big, long-term project, and I think the others classes will back off on the homework for a bit because of that, but we'll see. Thank you anyway," Harry said, smiling at her for a moment, his expression a little too tender for a teacher simply asking a favor of a student.

She smiled back, the expression just as warm, before they both turned away.

This left Harry and Akeno walking into the building together. Akeno was smiling her normal, airy smile, exchanging nods with other students as they passed while never moving far away from Harry. It was evident that she had something she wished to talk to him about. Harry had a feeling he knew what that was, but, though he knew it was rather cowardly of him, he decided to try to get out of hearing it at present.

Reaching the end of the entrance area, Harry paused, having had no need to change from his indoor slippers a moment ago. Which, come to think of it, I should be grateful no one's noticed. That would have been awkward, to explain how I got in front of them without having to change my shoes doing it.

But that wasn't what had caused Harry to stop, looking at the group of students who were making their way out of the school. One of them was a boy named Saji Genshirou. Harry had noted him as being one of the better male students in the school. He was currently walking alongside another student who had caught his eye at one point, though she hadn't caught his attention since then.

He had spotted an odd aura around her using his aura sight at one point, but it had since disappeared. Because of that, Harry decided that it must not have come from her, putting it down to the girl having been right behind one of the Student Council members at the time. Her name was Amano Yuuma, and she was a sophomore who, like Genshirou, was a good student, at least as far as Harry knew. The two of them looked to be talking to one another in a very friendly fashion. I wonder, is love in the air? Harry thought sardonically. Good luck to them, then.

Shaking his head, he made his way towards the teachers' lounge where he had ordered the Perverted Trio to wait for him. As he walked, Harry once more became aware of Akeno beside him. She paused outside the lounge, reaching out with her devil senses. Hmm…. There is something there in one of them…. Hyoudou-kun, I believe. It is insanely faint still, but it's there, whatever it is, and it is strong, like a… like a giant shark stuck in a pond or something. It's covered by his aura for the most part, but if you delve deeper, you can at the least sense its presence. Koneko was right, darn it. I am not looking forward to taking my turn watching him…. On the other hand, the teasing material I could get out of it could possibly make up for having to observe Hyoudou-kun and his activities.

Opening her eyes, she moved closer to Harry, ostensibly to whisper, but really more to just be close to him. He looked down at her but did not move away, instead simply cocking an eyebrow at her. She pouted inwardly when his eyes showed only interest rather than any of the warmer feelings he showed to Rias, but Akeno figured that that would come in time. At least he isn't, isn't rejecting me, she thought.

Instead she concentrated on the here and now and weaved a subtle spell to change the topic of their conversation to anyone attempting to listen in. "I am afraid, Potter-sensei, that you were correct in your supposition about not being able to expel those three, if for a different reason than you assumed. One of them, Hyoudou-kun, contains a Sacred Gear of some kind, and we wish to know what it is. Buchou had already decided to observe him for a month to figure that out. As such, the faculty will not expel them."

Akeno caught Harry's look of confusion and elaborated. "You see, this school is under the control of the two houses of Gremory and Sitri. More than a few teachers are clients of the family, as is the principal. If either Buchou or Kaicho tell them to, they won't punish those boys for their actions."

"Well, I can't say as I am surprised by that revelation," Harry mused with a snort. "But if it's only Hyoudou you're interested in, can I at least try to get the others expelled? Or would that smack too much of favoritism if Hyoudou isn't expelled along with them? And I'd like to see them at least suspended. If they aren't punished severely enough they might try to do something like this again."

"That is more likely, I suppose, so long as we have time to set up some kind of surveillance on them beforehand. We can't observe Hyoudou-kun elsewhere as easily as on school grounds, but we can do it," Akeno replied, shrugging.

This set her chest jiggling, and she exulted when Harry couldn't stop himself from looking down. He looked up at her face again quickly, but there was something else there in those gorgeous emerald eyes of his now. Deciding to capitalize on that, Akeno broached the other subject she had wanted to talk to Harry about before heading off on a few of her contracts. With the amount of training they were doing, today was the first time in a while that Akeno had the time to do so.

The reason for that was part of what Akeno wanted to talk to Harry about. "So… you and Rias-sama are having your second date tonight. It makes me a little sad that you haven't yet taken me on one yet…"

At that moment another teacher came out of a nearby room, having been cleaning off the whiteboard within. "Ah, Potter-san. I understand you caught the usual suspects doing something again?"

"Yes, I did, Ishi-san. If you'd like to help me question them, I'd be grateful," Harry said, turning to address the older woman. Thank you, Lady Luck, for just this once favoring me rather than doing your business on me. This was one conversation Harry didn't want to have until he and Rias had sat down and talked about this whole multiple relationship thing.

Seeing Akeno's face go all stiff and don what he was beginning to think of as her 'Yamato Nadeshiko mask,' he decided to bend a little on that point. "We can continue this conversation some other time, Himejima-san. I expect some more information to be available by Monday."

"Ara, I will hold you to that, Potter-sensei. Ishi-sensei, Potter-sensei, have a nice day, the both of you." With that and a very proper bow, Akeno turned and walked off, adding just a hint of a swish to her hips as she did so.

Harry couldn't stop his eyes from following the seductive temptress for a moment but quickly turned his attention back to his fellow teacher. "Anyway, I found the trio in the computer lab, Ishi-san. What I'd like to do is…."

OOOOOOO

Picking up Lily was something both Rias and Koneko had done before several times in the past, so the teachers who watched the children during dismissal at Lily's elementary school had gotten used to the fact that sometimes Harry simply could not get away from his own job as a teacher in order to pick his daughter up. The obvious closeness between Lily and these two girls in particular also offset any concerns they might have held.

As Lily skipped around them with a grin waving a test she had scored an A on she looked up at Rias quizzically. "So what's keeping Daddy this time? Is there paperwork, cleanup duty, or student trouble?"

"Student trouble. I'm uncertain if you've ever actually heard their names, but the three boys called the Perverted Trio decided to make some kind of trouble again," Rias replied, not going into any detail.

Lily's little nose wrinkled at that. "I never liked that name. I mean, I know what pervert is; that's fine. But calling them the Perverted Trio makes them sort of sound like the Three Musketeers or the Three Caballeros. I like those cartoons; I don't want to associate them with perverts!"

Koneko nodded emphatically in agreement, while Rias had to search her brain for the cartoons Lily was talking about. By the time she had them in her mind, the two younger girls had started a kind of slap game and were dancing around her. It was a game her teacher had developed for Koneko years ago when she was first training in hand-to-hand combat. She was passing it on to Lily now like an extension of their rough and tumble fun, and Rias found her head twitching this way and that like she was watching a tennis match.

This was the sight that Padma and Hermione saw as they were coming down the street hoping to meet Harry and Lily as the two of them left the elementary school. With their flight back to Spain scheduled for that night, they didn't have much time to spend with their old school friend. But when they saw Lily walking beside someone besides Harry, they stopped and stared for multiple reasons.

One, watching Lily and Koneko dance around the tall redhead was rather funny to watch. Here was a stately, very tall redhead being circled by two shorter girls, one of them huffing and puffing, the other wearing the most apathetic expression that either of them had ever seen.

The second reason was that the redhead in question was possibly the most gorgeous woman either of them had ever seen, and Padma, in particular, was having a little trouble with that idea. While not exactly as vain as her sister—which, she would quip, was impossible—Padma was used to being one of the prettiest girls in the crowd. But next to this girl Padma knew she paled in comparison.

Darn, she looks better than Fleur or Gabrielle! And that chest! That chest is either padded or a sign of non-human heritage. Or I suppose her parents could have paid for them for some reason. I wonder if they hurt her back? Padma thought.

Hermione, however, pushed past that and her shock at seeing a young girl not only keep up with Lily but making the young girl, who had preternatural speed and agility, look almost ungainly in comparison. Who exactly are these two? Quickly, striding up to them ,she pasted a smile on her face and greeted Lily. "Hello, Lily. Might I ask you to introduce your new friend? And where is Harry?"

"Hi, Aunt Hermione," Lily chirped, then growled as Koneko once again dodged her slap before pouting outrageously as Koneko's hand tapped down on the top of her head. "This is Rias, she goes to the same school Daddy teaches at, just like Koneko," she said stopping the game and gesturing to each girl in turn. "They came to get me because Daddy is busy with a disciplinary issue at school."

"We often do this for Potter-sensei since he is the advisor to our club," Rias said, stepping around Lily and ruffling her hair affectionately before she looked at the two newcomers. "I take it you are Granger-san and Patil-san, correct? My name is Gremory Rias and this is Toujou Koneko if you haven't been told her family name before this. Potter-sensei told us you were visiting, though he didn't say anything about you picking up Lily-chan. Was that a miscommunication?"

"Not at all," Hermione answered, narrowing her eyes slightly at the redhead. There was something off about the way she had said Potter-sensei, but Hermione let it slide. "We met Koneko last night, of course, though we had no idea that you are such good friends with so many of Harry's students, Lily."

"Rias isn't just any student, though," Lily blurted out with a wide smile, seeing no reason to keep it a secret. Indeed, even if Harry had told her to keep his and Rias's new relationship a secret, she might not have, simply seeing it as one of those silly adult things. "She's also daddy's girlfriend! It was fun as heck! We went to this steampunk place; it had great music, and all the workers were dressed up as characters from the different anime shows, and we danced, and there was this song, and..."

"Yes, thank you, Lily-chan," Rias said hastily, seeing Hermione's face darkening and thinking quickly to somehow diffuse the upcoming explosion. "Koneko-chan, why don't you go and take Lily-chan over there to the jungle gym for a bit. Judging by the amount of energy you've just been showing, Lily-chan, I think we need to tire you out before we take you home."

"Not going to argue!" Lily said with a laugh before turning and racing towards the jungle gym, shouting behind her, "Last one there is a rotten egg!"

Koneko's eyes narrowed and she swiftly ran after the younger girl, aiming to pass her. "Not a rotten egg."

Padma looked between Rias and the slowly rising to a boil Hermione and decided to beat a hasty retreat. She didn't care about Harry's romances or whatever, so long as Harry was happy, that was enough. However Hermione had sometimes fallen into a sort of older sister role for Harry and Padma could understand why Hermione was reacting the way she was. But that didn't mean she wanted to be around for this discussion. "It's been long time since I've been on a jungle gym," she mused, hurrying after the two younger girls.

Left alone, Rias looked at Hermione. "Before you say anything, it's probably not what you think, and it is not an abuse of his power or anything like that."

Hermione seems to visibly count to ten for a moment before breathing out harshly, her voice a low but steadily increasing snarl. "Harry is twenty-six years old, a man grown, and you are still a student! How can this not be an abuse of power!?"

"Things are not always what they seem," Rias said calmly, gesturing for Hermione to follow her. "This is not a discussion we should have simply standing here on a park trail, however."

Hermione nodded at that and followed the taller redhead quickly, only now realizing how much taller than Hermione Rias actually was. Rias stood five foot nine, five inches taller than Hermione, which Hermione was trying not to notice along with the fact that it brought Rias's chest near to her own eye height. That was not something she wanted to think about right now.

Beyond that, her mind truly was a -boil from what she had just discovered, too many thoughts all buzzing together for the normally very controlled Hermione to get them into order. Any other man, just looking at her I can tell that she could wrap most men around her little finger, but Harry's never been like that! He never even reacted to Veela! Not Fleur or any of her family when they turned on their allure. And while there is a certain maturity to this young lady, and not just her figure, that can't be enough to have attracted Harry, can it?

I know he has a thing for redheads. He certainly made eyes at Davis, Ginny, and Susan for a reason, and that was the only thing those three had in common. But why would he jeopardize his job, his livelihood, and his reputation to be with a student!? And why would she jeopardize the rest of her life getting into a relationship with a teacher? I can't imagine a parochial society like Japan would view her in a better light than they would him. More likely the fallout for her would be even worse!

So busy was she with her own thoughts that it took Hermione a few seconds to realize that Rias had guided them to an out-of-the-way part of the park to sit on a bench there. It was only when she felt the wood under her rear that Hermione came back to herself and glared at Rias. "Now that I have thought about it, I know this cannot be an abuse of power. I know Harry Potter, full stop! He would never do something like that."

Hermione's eyes narrowed even further. "However, I also cannot understand the reasoning behind his getting involved with a student. And don't try to give me anything about it being in love at first sight; that sort of junk only happens in stories. Love is something you have to work for. So, explain what is going on here!"

"I completely agree," Rias replied seriously. Neither she nor Harry had used the word love. While they were moving in that direction, they certainly weren't there yet. "As for why we decided to give the relationship a go, we…. I was attracted to him from almost the moment he showed up. But that was a mere physical thing. We got to know one another throughout school and then through Lily and a few issues at school and with my private life. Eventually we just decided to stop fighting our attraction and see where it went."

She laughed, looking over at Hermione and winking, wiggling her fingers, where tiny sparks appeared. They looked like fire, but were actually bits of Rias's magical aura coming out around her fingers. "We both were dancing around a certain 'magical issue,' as it were, not realizing we were already both in on the secret, if from very different starting points. I am not fully human," Risa went on, watching Hermione for any reaction but unwilling to tell the older woman she was a devil.

While she trusted Harry with that information, she wasn't willing to trust Hermione or anyone she might tell. For one thing, Hermione wasn't going to be staying around. For another, there was no real point to sharing that information with her.

"It took a while for both of us to realize that, yes, we both knew about magic, and, yes, we could share that information with one another without any repercussions. From that shared understanding came more understanding and more time spent around one another," Rias finished.

"I see. And how serious is it? Even setting aside the fact that you are still teacher and student, which I am not willing to do," Hermione said, slapping her hands down on the back of the bench between them and glaring at Rias as she said that, "how serious can a relationship between a grown man and a girl your age be?"

"I am going on nineteen, and among my people that is the age where we are mostly married off if our families desire it," Rias said simply. "Beyond that, my age has little impact on my maturity or my mental faculties, so it should not be a factor when looking at my and Harry's relationship. As for how serious it is, we just started going out last week, as Lily-chan told you in that rather adorable way of hers."

Rias smiled at the memory, and not just from the memory of the kiss. The dancing and the talking were just as enjoyable to her. "It was a fun date for all the three of us, and we had a lot of fun. Harry and I were dancing around one another since the start of school, not flirting exactly or not often anyway, but the growing connection was there. But we're not really rushing to say the word love."

"Or anything else?" Hermione asked archly, glaring at the girl she thought was either a fangirl with a long term plan or a gold digger.

There Rias allowed herself a smirk, the same saucy smirk that had made Harry melt during their date. "I can't promise that."

Hermione did not melt. Hermione kept glaring. "Now you listen here, you…"

"Please think before you say anything else!" Rias interrupted sternly. "I am independently wealthy, both through my own means and through the money I will inherit in the future. I was a straight A student before Harry came along, and really did not need any help socially that he could give me. There is nothing physical, beyond himself that is, that I am interested in which Harry can give me. Mentally and emotionally, that is another story," Rias said with a smile.

At that Hermione paused, staring at the girl but unable to see any sign of deceit or prevarication. "All right, setting aside what could have attracted Harry to you, which I will get out of him later, believe me, why are you attracted to him? I'm just wondering what made you wish to go from being his student to his friend and then to, to girlfriend?" she finished, looking scandalized by the very idea.

Rias sighed and stood up, waving for Hermione to remain seated as she did. She then gestured down at herself with her hands. "Look at me, and what do you see?"

"A beyond gorgeous young woman," Hermione replied promptly, then frowned, immediately understanding the point Rias was making. "An object of desire and lust, I presume. Like a Veela would be, only without the added issues from their allure."

"Yes," Rias said with a sigh, sitting back down and not making any comment on the comparison Hermione had made, since Harry had mentioned them before. "Harry didn't approach me for my body. He didn't try to touch my body, didn't make any move to try and worm his way into my heart. Instead, he, Harry, wanted to first touch my mind and did. It was such a novel approach that I found myself responding to it. On top of that, Harry…."

She paused nibbling at a lock of her hair in thought before going on. "I can't tell you much about how much he has helped my friends and I. There are confidences there that I will not break. But he saw all of us as ourselves, as our deeply flawed, deeply hurt selves. Then he opened up the door to his own pain, to his own past and his own trials and, in so doing, helped us all. How could I not become interested? How could I not wish to become closer to such a man?"

After a moment spent staring at Rias, Hermione shook her head, her anger now gone as she gazed at Rias with new eyes and even some amusement. "Darn it. A logical and emotional argument, one that actually makes sense? I did not see that coming."

Rias laughed, but Hermione was deadly serious. The earnestness and honesty that Rias had spoken with, despite not going into any detail, told Hermione just as much is the words themselves. And remember that Harry trusted Lily to them. That should have told you a lot right there. Back home you could count on your fingers the number of people that Harry would trust to watch Lily. Indeed, if you took away members of the Weasley clan from that list, you could do so on one hand and have fingers left over. Hermione had always been rather proud that she was one of these.

"All right," she said slowly. "From your perspective I can't help but admit that the attraction and the idea of having a relationship seems to make sense. I'm still disturbed by the whole teacher-student thing."

"Actually, in this country so long as the student is of an age, there is no sign of favoritism and they are discreet there isn't a specific law against a teacher and student being involved," Rias said. "Or, if there is, it's one of those that is winked at and ignored. It hasn't happened at our school yet, but I have heard stories of other schools where teachers and students become involved with one another. In fact, there was another high school near here where a female teacher became involved with a male student she later married after he graduated."

"I really don't want to know," Hermione said bluntly, waving that off. "I have to wonder, though, and I don't mean this to offend you, but I did not anticipate that Harry would have moved on from Ginny so quickly."

It actually surprised Hermione that she really didn't mean to offend Rias. The younger woman's arguments had gotten rid of most of Hermione's anger. I'll still have words with Harry, though.

Rias shrugged. "From what he told me, the two of them were growing further and further apart emotionally, so really the final issue Harry discovered was simply that last nail in the coffin. With that in mind, it really shouldn't surprise you that he was willing to try again so soon."

"That's true, but the two of them, they made so many mistakes. Ginny made mistakes aplenty, of course, falling in love with the idea of the Boy -Who -Lived and then trying to change Harry to match that image at times. She also forgot her anti-pregnancy potion while we were still all at school, technically, anyway," Hermione said, knowing she could speak about magic and everything else in front of Rias.

She had made note of the fact that Rias wasn't completely human, but Hermione simply figured that she was one of the local magical creatures, a fox demon, perhaps, or a female minotaur. That would certainly make her body make more sense to Hermione, who wasn't feeling jealous about Rias's height or chest size, whatever anyone might have asked.

"But Harry made a few blunders of his own," Hermione went on, staring into Rias's eyes now. "First, he oscillated wildly between giving Ginny her space and wanting to do everything with her. He was unwilling to bend, to try and enjoy the things she did, and was unwilling to try to live it up as she wanted, which would have honestly been a good thing. Harry could have had a big impact on our society if he had been willing to play by the rules. When he tried, Harry did so haphazardly, and that was even worse. He also restarted his education without asking for input from her and forced Ginny to rely on herself rather than their shared connection when she pursued her own career. To Ginny, that was another blunder.

"But the biggest mistake Harry made was that he let his desire to have a family blind him to their ages and the fact that Ginny really didn't want one. And he couldn't understand her. He couldn't understand that she wanted to continue to live her life as if Lily hadn't happened. To Harry, gaining a family was his primary goal. To Ginny, it wasn't even in her top ten. He simply could not get that."

There was a lot more to it than that, of course, but Hermione was not willing to go into further detail. Besides, the final straw that broke the camel's back was all Ginny. Hermione wasn't even going to try and defend that.

"I love Lily-chan," Rias said softly. "She's a darling girl. I'm not going to try to become her mother. If it happens in the future, it happens in the future. Right now I'm just going to be her older friend and female role model, if need be. And I won't ever try to get between them or demand he spend time with me that he wants or needs to with her or anything like that, if that's what you're trying to say. As for the rest, I like to think I prefer to be independent, and that he and I will learn to compromise if we have to."

"Emotional discussions like this are not my thing," Hermione said, an understatement that would have had even Ron goggling. "That was sort of where I was going with that last point, but I was also trying to say that on Harry's side of things, he might again be blinding himself to the fact that you might not want a long term, family oriented relationship. If that's the case, tell him now before it becomes more serious, as you say it might."

Rias would have said that that was not the case at all, but Hermione held up a hand before she could. "I just said that emotional discussions like this are not my forte, so I'll end this one now, all right? I can see Harry just entering the park over there."

Rias turned in that direction, and both women stood up, with the taller Rias holding up her hand to catch Harry's attention. He saw them and turned in their direction, only to be intercepted by Lily racing over towards him with Koneko right behind her. He laughed and swooped Lily into his arms, holding her against his chest as he ruffled Koneko's hair with the other hand and began to nod at Lily, who was again waving around the test she had been holding onto earlier.

Both Rias and Hermione smiled at that sight before Hermione turned back to Rias, turning her to face Hermione once more with a hand on her upper arm. "Look, I have seen Harry fall into and out of love. I've seen his crashes; I've seen him hurt. I have walked through hell at his side and can safely say that Harry Potter is the brother I could never have. With all that in mind, realize I am serious when I say this: If you harm him or Lily, if you lead him on, or if you do not return whatever his feelings are for you one hundred and ten percent, I will end you. The authorities will never find your body. Are we clear on this?"

"Understood," Rias said simply, nodding her head. She actually smiled as she did, happy that Harry and Lily had such a good friend to look out for them. She knew for certain that Akeno, if she wasn't also emotionally involved with Harry, would've been saying the same thing to him, after all.

She then led the way back to the others, where Harry had just set Lily back down her feet, promising her that, yes, they would stop for some ice cream, which made Koneko start tugging at his hand. When it came to sweets, any concept of humility or acting like the older sister went out the doorway with her.

"Why don't I do that?" Rias said with a laugh. "You've paid for Koneko's ice cream more than a few times; I think it's time for me to repay that favor. That way, you and Granger-san can catch up a little alone, Potter-sensei."

"A lovely idea," Padma said with a laugh, reaching down to take Lily's other hand. "I haven't tried any of these strange ice cream flavors I've heard about in Japan, after all. Is it true they have lychee ice cream? Or oolong tea ice cream?"

"Yep. The first is tasty, the second one not so much," Lily replied, already turning and pointing through the park towards the ice cream vendor. "Now, come on! Let's let Daddy get yelled at for a bit before we can all go back to having fun together."

Laughing at that Rias followed the others shaking her head at Harry in commiseration as she passed. "I had my turn with her; now it's yours," she whispered.

"That is a very clever young girl you have there. And I mean both Lily and Rias," Hermione said, staring at Harry. "Rias had a very interesting tale to tell. So, were you going to tell me you were involved with one of your students or were you going to try to hide it long enough for me to head back home none the wiser?"

"If I had thought of a way to bring it up in a conversation, then I might have told you," Harry hedged as Hermione led him back to the same bench she and Rias had used earlier. "It wasn't a conversation I was looking forward to having, obviously. I know this is somewhat morally distasteful, despite the fact that she is of a legal age, yet the idea of continuing to fight the attraction I felt towards her was one I was not willing to contemplate."

"Why, Harry?" Hermione asked. "If you're willing to move on from Ginny, why would you choose to move on with a student?"

"I attempted to move on with another woman first, actually. Kalawarner was around our own age, maybe a little older, but it didn't work out so well. She wanted just a physical thing, and…."

"And you're not built mentally for that. I could have told you that," Hermione finished with a nod. "Or else you would never have tried to settle down with Ginny. Okay, but why did you then just turn around and jump into a relationship with Rias?"

"It was more like we fell into it up to a certain point, then decided to plunge the rest of the way," Harry said with a shrug. "As for why Rias, you've you talked to her, right?"

Other men might have said have you seen her, but Harry wasn't particularly like that. Yes, physical attraction was important, but it wasn't the primary reason he would respond to someone as he had Rias.

"She's bright, intelligent, outgoing, and Rias saw me for me. Do you know how… well, of course you know how rare that was back home. That was rare even in France, Italy, Spain, anywhere in Europe, they either saw the Man Who Won, a dangerous werewolf, or a possible Dark Lord. Even here among the Japanese magicals there are people that judge me, though in their case it's just as a foreigner. Rias, she didn't see the labels; she just saw me. Harry Potter, family man, with a little something extra added on in the mystery that we were both trying to solve about one another in terms of what we were. Rias also doesn't mind Lily. In fact, she likes her. I mean, have you seen how Rias is with Lily?" Harry said in a rush.

"Yes, Rias mentioned that. What race is she, might I ask?" Hermione said, cutting into Harry's flow.

"That's her story to tell. Suffice to say her species doesn't mean anything to me, one way or another," Harry said which a shake of his head.

Despite Hermione having found out about his relationship with Rias, he was still of the opinion that he didn't want Hermione or Padma involved in the world that he was entering: with the Sacred Gears out there; the different factions and how they were in a very tense, armed standoff; and the Khaos faction out there, causing trouble.

Hermione glared at him, but Harry didn't back down, and she sighed. We're not back in school anymore. I can't badger Harry with his homework or try to talk him out of getting into trouble. We're well past that point. He's a grown man, and if he wants to get into a relationship with another woman, that's his decision. "I can't say I'm happy about the fact that she's your student or the difference in your ages. I realize she seems mature and is most definitely intelligent, but still, I cannot see how the relationship between the two of you can be one of equals. Isn't that what you wanted?"

Harry didn't reply to that, a smile hovering over his face, which made Hermione frown and wonder what she wasn't being told here. But her desire to know everything, to nose into other people's business specifically, had mellowed over the years. Harry is a grown man, she reminded herself again. If he wants to make his own mistakes, I have to let him do so.

"She is a lovely young woman," she said at last. "And, setting your ages aside, I suppose I'm happy that you seem to have found someone. Just promise me that you won't force this relationship the way you did yours and Ginny's? That you'll let it go at its own pace?"

"I promise we'll go at the pace we are both comfortable with," Harry said, hiding his own thoughts on that matter and making no move to share the fact that he might also become involved with Akeno, since that would just have been asking for trouble. Besides, Rias and I need to talk about that tonight, anyway. "Is there anything specific you want to know? Beyond her race, that is?""

Hermione shook her head. "No, nothing like that, I suppose. Just, again, I don't want you to make any of the same mistakes you did with Ginny. If I was staying around, you better believe I would try to stick my nose in regardless. I'm getting the impression there are other things going on here. But since I'm not, I'm willing to let that all slide. Just so long as you and Lily are safe."

"My daughter's safety is my primary concern, as you know," Harry said, still smiling.

"I notice you didn't make any mention of your own safety there," Hermione replied dryly, shaking her head with a put-upon sigh. "Still, I suppose I'll take what I can get. Now, let's head over to the others, and you can tell me more about what happened last night and local magical theory."

As they walked, Harry told her an abbreviated version of what had occurred between himself and Manannán Mac Lir: that the three Hallows had been created by him, not to hold his soul, but to hold his powers to serve as proof going into the future that his mythology had existed. He made no mention about how alive Manannán's interactions had made him seem, nor about his aura, which Hermione hadn't mentioned being affected by. Indeed, by the time she had seen Harry, the odd feelings of that morning had disappeared from her mind entirely, and the feelings didn't resume upon seeing him again.

Hermione asked questions, of course, dozens of them, as they were walking behind the others, with Rias listening in but not commenting on anything. This showed Hermione that Rias had already heard much of this, which made her scowl somewhat, not liking the feeling of not being the first person to know something about Harry.

But, the information she was getting from Harry about the Hallows and about this meeting in his mind were amazing. It completely overturned a lot of what she had thought she had known about magical theory, a process which was exacerbated when Harry began to talk about the locals. In return, Hermione proved to be wealth of information on Manannán, on top of which she also told Harry where Seamus was living these days. "He would be able to tell you a lot more about the Irish pantheon, though I don't think any of them actually follow those gods anymore. They still use their names to curse by, however, as I'm sure you remember," she said.

Harry did not mention the immortality thing. He thought that would be too much, which Rias would later agree with. Even so, they had given Hermione a lot to think about by the time it was time for her and Padma to head to the airport.

She stared at Harry thoughtfully as they stood at the intersection which would take her and Padma to the train in one direction and Harry and Lily home in the other. "I hope you find happiness, Harry," Hermione said, her eyes flicking to Rias, indicating exactly what kind of happiness she hoped he would find. "I hope you don't find any more trouble. But then again, trouble seems to already know your address, regardless."

With a chuckle at how well his old friend knew him, Harry pulled Hermione into a hug, then reached over and shook Padma's hand. "Have a safe trip, you two, and give my best to Lavender and Parvati. If you come back this summer, we can spend a few weeks traveling the country and seeing the sights together. The beaches, in particular, are supposed to be amazing."

The two friends stood there for a moment, just hugging, then exchanged chaste kisses on the cheek before parting. Hermione did so very reluctantly, still wondering in the back of her mind what Harry wasn't telling her and why he wasn't. But then she looked at Padma and shook her head. The days when she would spend her time running after Harry and getting into trouble and racing into danger beside him, all of that was past her now.

She had to get on with her life, just like Harry had to his. So, rather than voice that thought, Hermione said simply, "Be well, Harry," and turned, moving over to entwine her arm around Padma's, the two of them walking down the stairs into the subway station.

"Well, that was a lot less painful than I expected," Harry mused, winking at Rias, who giggled.

OOOOOOO

"You know, love I'm proud of you," Padma said as she and Hermione exited the train at the airport. "You could have made a huge scene, could have blasted Harry to the Stone Age. You could have even threatened to tell Molly about his new relationship. But instead you handled it pretty calmly, and…." Padma trailed off, staring at her girlfriend's expression. "You're not going to just let this go, are you?"

"I am, yes. It's quite obvious that Harry was hiding something, but if he doesn't want me involved, then I will respect his wishes." Hermione's pious expression morphed suddenly into a sly smirk. "However, I think that Miss Rias Gremory needs to pass what is known as the parental test. And since Harry has no parental figure to do it, I think I should contact his remaining family, in the form of Tonks and Teddy, to step in."

"You are evil. I love it," Padma said with a laugh.

OOOOOOO

Harry had just begun to put together dinner when the front doorbell rang. Frowning, he looked at the time. It was only six, and he and Rias had agreed that their date should be moved back to seven thirty at the earliest. I wonder who that is? Heck, we've only been home for ten minutes or so.

He waved Lily back to the living room, from where she had hopped up from doing some homework. Pulling the door open, he blinked, staring at Rias, Akeno, Sona, and Tsubaki. Blinking, Harry nodded at them all. "Something wrong, ladies?"

Sona rolled her eyes behind her glasses, pushing them up her nose as she almost glared at the professor. "Potter-sensei, you have to understand that the mystery about the changes within you from last night isn't going away anytime soon! This is the earliest time both Tsubaki, Akeno, and myself are all free, so we inveigled Rias to bring us over today to get this over with."

Rias blushed under Harry's gaze, reading the disappointment and censure there. "Well," she said halfheartedly, "it is a mystery, and I'd rather like to solve it if we can."

"I suppose you'd better come in," Harry said, sighing. Stepping back, he concentrated, moving his hands in a certain fashion to connect to and disengage the wards around the house to allow visitors. "We can set up the basement floor as a research lab. In the future, though, I would prefer a heads up before you all just drop in like this, unannounced."

"Agreed. They rather sprang this on me as well. Though at least I was able to get them back a little," Rias replied with a smirk. The moment they had entered, she had quickly pulled out a large bag that she had been holding, pulling out from within it a long, white lab coat and putting it on along with the glasses she used when she was doing paperwork.

Harry blinked, then looked at her with a deadpan expression. "Really?"

She just smiled at him. "We're about to perform experiments, Harry. Magical experiments, true, but there are some proprieties to maintain." Rias's little joke was actually more to put Harry at ease about the process than anything else, and also, frankly, to tease Sona and Tsubaki as much as possible for edging in on her date with Harry. She didn't mind Akeno so much, despite the fact that Akeno had leaped on the opportunity to spend more time around Harry. "Now, come on, you three! Get dressed!"

"I can't believe you got me to agree to this," Sona muttered, pulling out more lab coats and handing them out to the others from Rias's bag.

Harry laughed, winking at Rias, knowing what she had just done and approving of at least half of it. He also honestly wanted to get to the bottom of why he was able to survive having as much magical power in him as he could feel, agreeing with Sona's comment from that morning when she said that humans shouldn't be able to process that much power. It was just the timing that was an issue. "While this does appear fun and informative, I suppose we'll have to put off our date?"

"We should be done by seven or so," Rias said apologetically. "If we hurry, anyway."

Lily looked up as the five of them moved through the living room, hopping to her feet and moving over towards them eagerly. This looked like a lot more fun than more homework to her. "I don't suppose you have one of those white coats for me?" she asked, looking at Rias, correctly intuiting her as the one who had supplied them, given how disgruntled the others looked. Or rather, how Tsubaki and Sona looked; Akeno looked more amused than anything else. Lily even broke out her puppy-dog eyes, blinking soulfully up at the tall redhead and adding an impromptu wobble to her lips.

"Rein in the look, Lily. You know that doesn't work on me. But yes, I do have a coat for you," Rias said, pulling out a coat and kneeling down to pull it around Lily, winking at the girl. "We're about to poke and prod your Daddy for a bit," she said cheerfully. "You can come around and watch." Then her eyes narrowed, and she pressed her finger against Lily's nose. "So long as you promise to do all of your homework tomorrow without complaint whenever Harry tells you to, all right?"

Lily crossed her eyes at the finger on her nose, wondering why Rias liked to do that to her, but still enjoying it. She rather liked just being around Rias frankly. "I promise."

"Good girl," Rias said with a smile, standing up and moving towards where Harry had led the others through the living room to the door leading down to the basement. He had paused, holding the door for the others as he watched Rias with Lily for a moment, a smile on his face. Rias saw that and smiled too, leaning in to kiss his cheek as she passed before turning to wink at Lily. "Now that you have the coat on, though, how is your mad laughter? If we're going to play scientists, it's best to play mad scientists. They have more fun."

"BWAHAHAHAHAH!" Lily shouted, causing the three women below to turn and stare as the little girl hopped down the stairs. "Are you ready for science!?"

"Oh, that was good. A nine out of ten on your first try," Rias said with a laugh. "Now, work on getting your hair to look like it's been electrocuted, and you'll be all set."

Chuckling, Harry followed the two crazy redheads down the stairs, joining the others, who were already spreading out. Since Harry's temporary expansion charms had worn off during the day, the basement was a normal-sized basement once more, the room having returned to its original size with nothing to block it from doing so. "So, how are we going to do this? I know spells to examine people medically, but not in terms of their magical power."

"Well, first we will want to examine you with an actual examination array. Devils use it normally to see if an individual has any unusual abilities, or when the… status of an individual is in question," Rias said, pulling out pieces of a strange looking kind of chalk which had several different colors mixed into it besides the normal white and passing them to the others.

When Harry looked at her, she shrugged. "When their parentage, I mean, might be in question."

"Ahh," Harry said with a laugh. "Yes, we have spells for that kind of test too."

"We can also view and test your essence, what you have called auras, to a certain extent. Not the power of it, but whether or not there are any foreign influences. That is what the globe is for," Sona said, not looking up from inscribing the array.

Harry watched her work keenly. A few of the symbols he almost thought he recognized, but they were just different enough he couldn't figure out what they meant. The center of the image was a pentagram, which Harry thought amusing considering how the pentagram was seen as an evil sign by modern culture, though it had originally simply been something which wizards and witches had used, specifically druids and others who were close to nature.

"We could use some furniture down here, Harry. Could you see to that, please?" Rias asked, kneeling down beside Lily and, with her help, putting out a series of decanters made of glass.

That caused Sona to pause in her work to watch the spell Harry cast, but she couldn't make heads or tails out of it. It was too quick. He simply willed it into being, almost, darn it! I had hoped to use this as an excuse to figure out more about Potter-sensei's version of magic, but if that is the extent of it, I won't be able to tell anything about it. I could barely feel the magic as he formed it, let alone how he did so.

Tsubaki and Akeno simply kept on working, concentrating on creating the pentagram and murmuring instruction to each other, while Harry stepped back from his own bit of magic, watching them work. He knew that Akeno had the blood of a family that practiced Jugondo, or the vanquishing of monsters and demonic entities. As such, she should already have begun to learn their magics. He'd spoken of that with her before and hoped to see her start down that road soon, with his help.

But he also knew that Tsubaki was from a similar family. I have to wonder if she has any knowledge of the wizarding world and simply stayed silent about it due to a magical oath or something similar, or if she too had been kept in the dark about the wider world by her family? All of us magic users, all of us so willing to go our own ways, to even go so far as to act as if the others don't exist. I'd say it was insane if it wasn't such an obvious defense mechanism. I doubt any force in the world could keep magic a secret for long if any of us went to war with the others.

He caught Sona glancing his way as Harry turned back to his own work, conjuring further bits of furniture. Not anything which would be used in the actual tests. The risk of the magical residue of conjured items contaminating the tests was too high. I find it amusing that Sona is so obviously interested in my magic, but she hasn't simply come out right and asked. Mind you, I'm not certain what my answer would be if she did. I'd prefer to get something for that knowledge, but I still might simply give her copies of my books like I did Rias. If Sona asks nicely, anyway.

"We're done," Tsubaki said eventually, straightening up as Akeno nodded. They both stepped back, surveying their work as Sona and Rias did the same, moving around and very carefully looking at the circle.

It was a much more complex work than the central teleportation arrays that both Sona and Rias had in their respective clubrooms, the centers of their powers as overseers of the area. But, then again, it was intended to do something entirely different. It was an analysis array, intended to study the thing that stood within it or, in this case, the individual.

"So I just step in?" Harry asked, then smirked, looking at the four women. "I don't have to strip, do I? I'd have to send Lily back upstairs if that's the case."

Tsubaki and Sona both blushed and, before Akeno or Rias could reply, Sona spoke up quickly. "That's not necessary! Just, just step into the center of the array but be careful not to muss any of the inscriptions."

"Oh poo," Akeno said, pouting and causing Lily to laugh aloud at such an adult looking girl using such a childish word. "You're no fun, Sitri-sama."

"If you want me to play doctor rather than scientist, Harry, I'm afraid I didn't bring along the proper uniform," Rias replied, actually looking serious as she said it.

Laughing, Harry stepped into the circle. "All right, now what?"

The four devil girls moved to four of the points in the pentagram, leaving one blank at present, though, as the analysis began, they moved around. Rias began a quick chant, and the circle activated, blazing red, a purple so dark it was almost black, and then white. It faded into a dulled glow on the floor, but now Harry found himself outlined in color: white, this time.

"What we would like you to do is call upon one of the powers you already know about Harry. Or, better yet, call up Fragarach," Rias said.

"I wouldn't use the term , 'call up.' It's not like pulling the sword out of a expanded trunk or a mokeskin pouch or even conjuring it up. The sword's a part of my mind now, not a physical entity at all. Until I allow it to have one," Harry said, and without any effort or change in expression he was now holding the sword, Answerer.

There was no change in his color, and all the devils breathed a sigh of relief. "Hmmm, it looks as if there is no negative influence there, no change to his aura. If these items you absorbed were phylacteries, there should have been," Sona reported. "That's one worry dealt with. Let's see what else we can tell you here."

Harry remained within the array as the devils cast spells on it, asking him to change forms a few times and to use his magical powers occasionally. He also called up the other physical representations of the Hallows for a time, allowing them to actually examine the cloak, which Tsubaki and Akeno took to doing while Sona and Rias continued to study Harry.

What this told them about how Harry was able to survive having as much power as he did without simply exploding was nothing. They saw no reason in his magic, mind, or soul that explained that away. There were a few oddities, such as that which they had noticed when he first arrived, but nothing to tell them why.

This infuriated Sona. She hated it when she couldn't analyze something or, in this case, place an individual within parameters she understood. Was Harry Potter still human, for a given value? Was he a god or a demigod because he had absorbed one's power? She couldn't tell, and it infuriated her.

After about twenty minutes of this, Harry, then in his werewolf form, was allowed to exit the array. He hopped over to his daughter, nuzzling her face and going to lick it when the girl shrieked and backed away. "EW! No, bad Daddy!"

Laughing, Harry stood up and slowly changed back, winking at Rias who was rolling her eyes at his fun. "So, what now?"

"We didn't find anything in your magic or your mind that could explain how you survived the process, so that just leaves your blood to check. Might I have a blood sample, Harry?"

"Already intending to bleed me dry, and we haven't even dated for a month yet," Harry lamented, but he became serious an instant later. "I have no problem with giving you a sample, but do not take it out of my sight. I am fully aware of how many very bad things a person so inclined could do to me if they had a sample of my blood."

"Understood and agreed," Rias replied, with Sona wincing as her friend looked in her direction.

"Yes, we are all aware of that, I assure you," Sona said, moving to the table and picking up one of the items Rias had brought along, a syringe with a special glass needle and container. "My father ran into an issue when he was younger because someone had gotten a blood sample of his. We'll destroy the sample after we're done with it, Potter-san; don't worry."

Harry held out his hand, and Sona, after finding a vein, stuck the needle in with some difficulty. After that, she connected it to another alembic that Rias had brought along, and Harry turned to Lily. "Well, I think we're done playing mad magical scientist." Turning to the others, he said, "I'll take Lily and go and start dinner."

The two Potters, however, hadn't made it all the way up the stairs before Rias was calling Harry back. "Harry! Why in the name of all the Hells is your blood reading as Light-based magic, a deadly poison, and werewolf blood!?"

With his curious daughter behind him, Harry made his way back down. The blood sample had been broken into several smaller vials. One of them had then been dumped into one of the alembics, one that had a series of runic marks on it. That alembic now glowed with yellow light. Another had been put in a circular vial, which had a large 'X' on it. The 'X' was glowing a deep, throbbing red, which Harry supposed was a sign of how deadly the poison they had found in his bloodstream was.

"I don't understand!" Sona muttered, looking at that last. "This is impossible! The werewolf blood I understand, but the poison and the Light magic? You should be dead several times over with this in your blood stream! Good grief, if you just bled on someone it might well act like a contact based poison!"

"I am more concerned with the Light magic in his system," Akeno said, looking angry for a moment as she stared at the alembic which was glowing with yellow light. She controlled it quickly as she turned to look at Harry as he rejoined them, but there was still a dangerous sparkle in her eyes. "Is there something about your heritage you're not telling us, Potter-san?"

Ignoring the near-accusation from Akeno, Harry looked at Rias, his voice mild. "I did tell you I was poisoned by a basilisk when I was younger. It was one of my earlier adventures, actually, the same year I started to take control of my own life. The fact that it's still in my system is a surprise, but one that solves a few tiny mysteries about how fights in my past went here and there. And yes, it acts, I think, like a mild paralytic on contact, Sitri-san."

"You fought a basilisk!?" Sona gasped, as did Tsubaki and even Akeno. "When did you run into one of those things and how did you kill one? Even for high ranking devils a basilisk's magical immunity is no joke, and their poison is known as one of the three strongest in creation."

Harry looked over at Rias again, who shrugged. "I told them about your adventures but never went into any detail. If you want them to know, that is your decision to make, not my secret to tell."

Smiling at that, Harry briefly explained about the Chamber of Secrets and how Riddle had let the basilisk loose among the students and how Harry had fought his shade along with the snake, being bitten in the process. "Afterward I was saved because Fawkes…. Ooh…." Harry said, stumbling to a halt, his thoughts suddenly going a mile a minute. "Could it be that simple? But, of course, the blood, the blood, the source of the most profound and ancient of magics!"

"What are you talking about?" Sona asked, looking a little frustrated and somewhat shocked at the tale she had just heard. A twelve -year -old killed a basilisk with a sword!? "Of course there's power in blood—we all know that—but how could this utterly bizarre mix have anything to do with your new level of magical ability?"

"And what does Guy Fawkes, a man who, I believe, is burned in effigy for his part in some kind of assassination attempt, have to do with anything?" Tsubaki asked tartly.

The others, even Harry, turned to her, their eyebrows rising in surprise, and the Student Council vice-president blushed. "Um, it…. I like history, and, um…. Let us just say that Wikipedia is evil and can take you in random directions. It, it stuck in my head."

"Right. Well, I wasn't speaking about that particular Fawkes, but the phoenix named Fawkes, who is a sort of companion familiar to the headmaster position at Hogwarts, my old magical school," Harry replied, shaking his head.

"A phoenix. You met a phoenix, am immortal animal which is associated with Light magic. I don't think you mentioned that before!" Rias said, her voice rising in shock as it was now Harry's turned to be stared at. The Phoenix, unlike the Phenex clan which took its name from them, was a known creature on the Light side of the spectrum. "You just told me Fawkes's name."

"Oops," Harry said, shrugging.

"Ahem. Let us put this aside. Harry can go into detail about this adventure which brought him into contact with two mystical creatures at a later date," Akeno said, actually clapping to bring everyone's mind back on task. "What does this have to do with our current inquiry?"

In response Harry began to pace, voicing his thoughts. "I was a little over twelve when I was bitten by the basilisk. I was dying when the phoenix, a creature of Light, as you said, saved me by crying on the wound. But phoenixes aren't known just as Light-based creatures…."

"Change!" Rias exclaimed, starting to follow the line of reasoning Harry was. "Change, rebirth, and the sun! The phoenix was revered as a totem of the sun, a creature of rebirth and change. They don't heal so much as renew the injured area, in this case the poison in your blood stream. It made you immune by making the blood part of you."

"Exactly. My blood was then imbued with the basilisk venom, merged with it because of the phoenix tears, which also merged with my blood. That's why I was able to survive the werewolf," Harry said, his eyes widening in sudden realization. "Or, not survive it, but, rather, when I was bitten, the Phoenix tears already in my blood again activated, changing the curse's physical form."

"And they were able to do so because the curse of the werewolf is magically connected to the lunar cycle, which is in direct but weaker opposition to the sun of the phoenix. You're not a werewolf, Harry, you're an entirely different species which is barely connected to the werewolf species," Rias exclaimed. "And each time your body became stronger, became better able to handle magical power. That's amazing!"

"And then," Akeno murmured, looking at Harry's hands and then the cloak he had allowed them to investigate, "and then you willingly separated the Hallows, put a vast distance between them, weakening the Hallows' ability to act as a single unit. And then you began to absorb the power of the Elder Wand, the strongest one of the three, along with the cloak. By the time all of them were brought back together, your body had already evolved to the point where you could safely absorb all the power within."

"That has to be it," Harry said nodding. "It has to be. There's no other explanation. My own messed up life is how I was able to survive the power of Deathly Hallows." If I was someone who believed in fate, I might believe that that was a sign of it right there, he thought, shaking his head. But I'm not.

Sona was now using her formidable self-control not to gape openly at her professor. Definitely a demigod. The trials he's faced would stack well against those of Hercules!

"How likely is it that all of that, including the basilisk blood, carried over to Lily?" he asked, looking at Lily who had been following all this with interest. "I've never had her blood looked at before, fearing what kind of magics could be done by the wrong people if they got a hold of it. But I know it's not normal for werewolves to pass on their curse like I did to her."

"I think there's actually a very good chance," Rias said softly. "She might not inherit your sheer magical power, but she will inherit all of your physical abilities."

And the same will be true for any other child he has from now on, too. Amazing! But, hmm… well, I'll cross that bridge when I come to it, she thought, thinking about one of the reasons why the pillar clans were called that. It's not like I care about that pureblooded stuff, anyway. And if they try to stop me from taking my position as head of the family because of that, I'll just have to beat them all down and take the position by force!

Harry looked at Rias as she talked about Lily, not noticing how his daughter had scowled for a second, her shoulders hunching. But then the odd, irritated look disappeared before any of the girls around Lily could catch it.

Slowly, Harry nodded at Rias's comment, wondering if he would have to take all that into account in the future. "For now I think we've all learned as much as we can about why I survived the process of absorbing Manannán's power for now. And, I don't know about you three, but Rias was also here for a date, and I, personally, am getting hungry."

Laughing, Rias nodded at that as the others replied in various ways. Tsubaki simply turned away and began to clean up. Akeno giggled, "UFUFUFU," but Harry had to wonder if she was actually giggling or just making that noise. Sona rolled her eyes and muttered about not needing to know, while Rias pulled off her lab coat and put it back in her bag, which she picked up with a smirk on her face. "I don't suppose I could ask to use your shower, could I, Harry? I'd like to change before dinner."

"Certainly, my dear," Harry replied, bowing mockingly. "There's one at the end of the second story hallway, another in the master bedroom."

"Thank you," Rias said before holding out a finger towards the various equipment on the table Harry had conjured. Rias concentrated, her brows furrowing, and a reddish aura blossomed from around her before concentrating on her finger. A thin beam of the Power of Destruction lashed out, impacting the centermost alembic, and, a second later, everything, table and equipment, had all disappeared, flashing into nothing.

"There, no more blood." She then smirked wickedly at Harry, who was looking at the place where the table had been standing, his eyes somewhat calculating. "I don't suppose I need to worry about you peeking, do I?"

"I think you'd probably like that, but no, I'm a gentleman," Harry replied, turning, moving over to her, and pulling her into a hug, holding her gently against himself as he looked down into her eyes. "I can wait."

Blushing and knowing she had just lost that exchange, Rias hugged him back for a moment before following the others up the stairs. Chuckling, Harry followed, heading to the kitchen.

Despite the unusual beginning to their date night, after Sona and the others left, the dinner portion of Rias and Harry's date was still just as Harry had planned it. Lily happily munched her way through a spaghetti Bolognese with sausage. Harry had made a more elaborate lasagna for himself and Rias, with Lily supplying the salad portion and Rias bringing over some drinks. These consisted of two different types of fruit diet sodas which Lily hadn't tried yet and a very good Chardonnay for Rias and Harry.

"As a responsible teacher, I suppose I should remonstrate with you about drinking alcohol," Harry mused. Even so, he took the bottle from Rias, setting it down on the table. To one side Lily tried to drink from one of the soda bottles without the little metal or glass ball inside getting in the way

Rias shrugged. She was now wearing a black skirt that came down to her knees with a bit of lace at the bottom that was a deep crimson color, matching her hair. She also wore a black, tight fitting blouse with the buttons done in silver going right down between her breasts to stop right above her navel. Two of those buttons were unbuttoned at present, allowing both for Rias to breath and for a very nice amount of cleavage to show for Harry's appreciative eyes.

Harry, in turn, was wearing a tight fitting, black dress shirt and good pants. His shirt, too, was slightly opened, but not as much as Rias's. His hair was still its normal unkempt mop, but Rias felt that, once more, Harry cleaned up very nicely.

He had also, with Lily's connivance, made the kitchen look quite a bit more romantic than normal. The blinds had been changed to a nice red color, the lights turned off, and candles added to the table, and the table covered with a patterned tablecloth. Lily loved it, thinking it looked like the date scene from Lady and the Tramp, which caused her father to laugh when she said it aloud.

"That's a human wine, and I'm a devil," Rias replied simply. "I could drink seven or eight bottles of that and still not feel it. So long as I was eating at the same time, anyway," she added hastily. "I can't say I really enjoy drinking alcohol. Most of it really doesn't taste very good. But wine on a date seems to be almost expected."

"Well, in that case, I'll only say thank you for the gift. Next time, though, I'll introduce you to some real drinks made with wizarding world alcohol. It will be interesting to see if your Devil immunity spreads to magical varieties," Harry replied, moving around Rias slightly and letting his fingers stroke through her hair for a second before he moved over to pick up their plates by the stove and move them over to the table. Rias smiled at the touch, a sort of electric tingle going through her body from her hair on down, moving over to sit by Lily. She helped the girl serve herself from the salad bowl.

The conversation at the dinner table was dominated by Lily, for the most part, with Rias and Harry only talking occasionally about other topics. Lily asked Rias a lot of questions once more, this time about being a devil, not having had the chance to do that on the first date. Rias fielded them all with a smile and even showed her wings to the two Potters on request.

They then began to compare notes about their discussions with Hermione and then set up a time for Harry to meet with the Occult Research Club and the Student Council for a large-scale training session sometime in the future.

Rias wanted to have it this coming week, but that wouldn't work with Harry's schedule. He wanted to redo the wards around his house—re-energize them to higher standards now that he had so much more power to work with—and finish work on his current projects—learning the local runic arrays and the use of talismans —and, of course, spend time with Lily.

After dinner ended, Rias and Lily convinced Harry to watch some anime with them. The movie was called Castle in the Sky, and Harry actually enjoyed it immensely, as did Lily, though that came as no surprise. Afterwards the two of them put Lily to bed and then came back downstairs.

Harry picked up the wine bottle, which had remained chilled thanks to a brief spell, and came back with the bottle and two glasses, one of which he held out to Rias. She took it and held it out as he filled both glasses before they sat down on the sofa, facing one another.

"You're really good with Lily, you now," Harry said was whimsically, taking note of how Rias's crossed legs allowed him more of a glimpse of her thighs then he had previously seen. Outside of those exercise shorts, anyway. Those things should be illegal. Then again, seeing her thighs like this is somewhat more intimate, and that doubles the impact. "She's not the first young child you've had to deal with, is she?"

"No, she isn't," Rias chuckled, taking a sip of her wine and watching Harry over the top of the glass, her own smile rather wry. "I've watched my nephew several times. Milicas is the sweetest boy! I'd love to see him be happy and outgoing and as naturally precocious as Lily is, but with all of the responsibilities that his father has and with how often he's been in the limelight and forced to uphold the dignity of his position, he doesn't really get the chance. I won't hear a word against his parents, though. That is just the way it is for those of us raised into nobility. Childhoods, all too often, are set to one side. But you've done a magnificent job with Lily, Harry. I think you should be very proud of her."

"So far," Harry replied dryly. "I've talked to other parents, and this time of her life is the equivalent of smooth sailing. When we hit the teenage years is when everything will start to be a little fraught."

"I'm sure you'll handle it with equanimity and love," Rias said with a laugh before sitting upright and moving towards him, setting the glass down on the table in front of the sofa. "But let's stop talking about Lily, at least for tonight, okay?"

She kissed him lightly, tasting the wine on his lips before moving inward, kissing down his jaw and licking at his neck. She could feel her own heart beginning to go a mile a minute, desire starting to make her whole body heat up as she, at least, began to act on the feelings she'd been having on and off all day. "Can you guess what I want to talk about?"

"I don't think you want to talk at all," Harry said, his voice coming out deeper as his body began to respond to Rias's attentions. Any desire to take it slow had taken a severe hit during their date tonight, with Rias sitting across from him looking almost as edible as the food on the table. Setting his own glass down, he raised his hands, moving one through her hair while the other ran up and down her back under her hair.

Slowly, as Rias kissed and nibbled at Harry's jaw, the hand in her hair moved up to where it cupped the back of her head, whereupon Harry guided her head back up. They kissed, slowly and deeply for a moment, before he pulled away in turn just as Rias was about to open her mouth to give him access. Ignoring her whimper, he began to nibble at her jugular, then slowly pushed her away. Unfortunately, there was something he wanted to talk to Rias about.

"Wait, Rias. I do have a topic I actually want to talk to you about tonight." Rias pouted but cocked her head, waiting for him to go on. "It's about this whole 'sharing' thing. I know what I said, that part of me really likes the idea of having a relationship with two girls at once. But…."

There Harry paused, waiting for Rias to realize he was serious about talking about this right now. He then watched as he she moved slightly away, but not too far away. Instead of moving back to her own part of the sofa, she sat back on his legs, sitting on them lightly and staring at him. "All right, that sounded a little ominous."

"Not ominous, just serious," Harry replied, one hand moving up to rake through his unruly black hair. "Look, I realize that in your society harems are considered normal. But it's not normal for my society. In the wizarding community, at least, equality between the sexes was something that's always been there. They have a lot of other problems," he added wryly, "almost as much as much as your pureblood society seems to, but the whole 'men are more important' thing can't survive when both sexes are able to use just as much magic."

Shaking his head, Harry tried to steer what he was saying back onto the actual conversation rather than the sideline. "Anyway, the point is, I told you I don't know if I would be able to give both you and Akeno the attention you deserve. But there's more to it than that."

He paused again, then decided to just take the plunge and get it over with all at once. "I like Akeno. She's bright, intelligent, and rather funny. But she's not outgoing on a personal level. You and I, we made it plain immediately that emotions are a major part of what is going on here. I've only seen glimpses of that from her. Akeno's response to Lily is also up in the air. I can tell she likes her, but I don't think Akeno understands what you showed you did before we went on that first date of ours."

"That Lily is a large part of your life," Rias said softly. "That you refuse to compartmentalize."

"Exactly. Sometimes she'll play with Lily, but she won't go out of her way to do it, and I always get the impression that she is doing it just so she can then flirt with me," Harry said with a sigh. "I, I'm just uncertain of this whole multi -relationship thing and Akeno's and my compatibility. And I think if I tried to talk to her about it, she would just try to flirt with me or dodge the question."

"I know that, Harry. She's always been like that, using her sense of humor and her… interests… as a defense mechanism. Oh, don't get me wrong, the S&M hints she's dropped are accurate enough," Rias added hastily. "But at least half of why she's so open about it with you is to get a reaction. But I think you could be really good for her and vice versa. And Akeno does have feelings for you, it's just getting her to admit to their depth is an issue.

"Her reaction to Lily is also understandable, if you consider her history." Rias sighed. "You know some of it, but not all of it, though I bet you could guess. She will get over it eventually.

"As for you not giving us both the attention we deserve…. As I said before," Rias said, reaching over to touch Harry's face lightly. "I think you have a far bigger heart than you give yourself credit for, Harry Potter. I think we could all be very happy together."

"Rias..." Harry said with a sigh, reaching up and pulling her hand away, though he reached out in turn to touch her face, tracing from just below one ear down her jaw line. "Rias," he said again, watching as Rias fought the urge to close her eyes. "Look me in the eyes, look me in the eyes and tell me you wouldn't prefer to be in an exclusive relationship. To have it be just you and me."

Rias looked back, the turmoil of her mind showing clearly in her blue eyes. Rias tried, she really did, but… she couldn't. She was a devil, and as such even more prone to jealousy, one of the original sins, than a human would be. She didn't want to share Harry with anyone but his daughter. She had not liked it at all when she saw him and Akeno kissing that one time, and she had not liked it when Akeno occasionally attempted to flirt with him.

But jealousy was not the only sin, or even the only emotion, working within her.

"I, I can't say that," she said at last. "Part of me would like to be exclusive—I've seen such a relationship before even among Devils: my older brother and his wife Grayfia, for example. But I also love Akeno, and I don't want to see her hurt. I also have to admit to thinking that she is somewhat attractive."

She lifted a hand to her hair, putting some to her lips and nibbling at it in a way that was strangely erotic, given the setting. That and the feel of her rear, her legs to either side of his own, as she sat on his thighs, was starting to get through Harry's self-control.

"And I do love her as a friend. I don't want to jeopardize that. So I'm greedy, dammit!" Rias huffed, then barked out a short laugh. "My devilish instincts are pulling me in two different ways right now, two of the original sins going head to head. I want to be greedy and retain my friendship with Akeno just as it is now, and I want our relationship to continue to grow, to have my cake and eat it too. I also would like to see us, just the two of us, regardless of how badly Akeno would be hurt if we shut her out. That is my sin of jealousy rearing its head. That part of me wants to have you all to myself and doesn't even like the idea of sharing your time with Lily.

"But Akeno, she would be very hurt," Rias said, turning back and now almost glaring at Harry. "Akeno is a lot more emotionally vulnerable than you might think, even with the breaks in her armor you've seen. In fact, those chinks are why I know she has feelings for you. She would never have let you in even that much if it was just a physical attraction."

Biting the hair she was still holding to her mouth, Rias went on. "If… Akeno realizes that she isn't in love with you, that it is infatuation and won't go deeper, that she doesn't want to build a life with you, that would be best. Don't lead her on but don't reject her. Let Akeno realize it on her own if you are truly incompatible."

Harry sighed, closing his eyes as he thought for a second before opening them and slowly nodding. "All right, I'm willing to give her a chance. It's not like you and I have made any long term promises either. But nothing physical until she opens up," he added warningly. "She stops flirting with me at all until we go on a date, and we talk. I cannot separate the physical and emotional in this," he said, reaching forward now with both hands, running them down Rias's face and cradling her head in his hands. "And if trying to let her in gets in the way of you and me, I won't continue to try. This, you and me, where this can go is too important to jeopardize like that."

"I can agree to that," Rias said, her eyes slowly closing under his touch.

{Waffy Lime incoming}

"Good, because I think I'm done with the serious talk for now," Harry replied before pulling Rias down into a slow languid kiss. The kiss continued until they had to break for air, which was quite a bit longer for the two of them then it would have been for two humans. After that Harry began to rain down kisses on Rias's neck and collarbone, licking, nibbling, even trying to leave a hickey, the feel of which caused Rias to gasp. Her hands, which had been tangled in Harry's mess of his hair, started to go down his body, feeling his muscles.

She then 'eeped' as Harry's hands went to her skirt clad rear. Squeezing briefly, Harry lifted her up just slightly as he flipped his legs onto the sofa and then turned them both so they were both laying down, facing one another. His hands moved from her rear, much to Rias's disappointment, but they moved up, one into her hair, just gently kneading at it, and the other up and down her back as he smiled at her, his emerald eyes gleaming. "Better?"

"Mmmm…" Rias murmured, actually blushing now under that gaze, but meeting it with her own, aqua looking into emerald. They stayed that way for a time, and this time it was Rias who initiated the kiss, leaning forward, her lips latching on hungrily to Harry's. She pressed her body against his and actually rolled them so that she was now lying on top of him, her body flush against his, her breasts pressing against his chest, and a heady throbbing starting to go through her body from her lips on down.

Harry's hands moved up through her hair, holding Rias's head still as he lightly twisted his head just a bit more to the side, then opening his lips, his tongue flicking out. She gasped, and his tongue quickly slipped into her mouth, teasing her tongue and around her teeth. That won a moan from Rias, which translated to a thrum from their connected mouths, causing Harry to chuckle.

Rias seemed to take that as a challenge. Her hands moved, one going from where it had been gripping at Harry's shoulders down his body to the bottom of his shirt, where she worked at it, pulling his shirt up out of where he had it tucked in. The other started to try and unbutton the shirt.

Feeling this, Harry hesitated, pulling back from the kiss, panting, and looking at Rias in question. "Rias…," he said, making her name both a question and a warning.

Understanding what Harry was saying, she smiled, the look somehow both impish and sinfully sexy at the same time. "Your pants stay on as does my skirt," she said simply. "I warned you, though, that I was going to push this side of things."

"You did…," Harry said with a slow nod, his own hands moving to her silver buttons on her blouse. He paused then, and she nodded. He sat up far enough to help her pull off his shirt, then went back to work on her buttons as Rias took in the view of Harry's naked chest.

Rias slowly ran her hands down Harry's chest, reveling in the muscles there. Harry was both taller than her and better built, in a way, than most men she had seen, even her father and brother, whose powers mainly relied on their magical capacity. Yes, they were fit, but not like this. Harry's build was like that of a middleweight boxer, his arms, stomach, and sides very well built. His sixpack was not stark but noticeable, and, to her surprise and delight, he didn't have any hair on him. "You don't have much body hair?" she asked, her fingers pressing into his sixpack with a certain amount of delight.

That caused Harry, who had just finished undoing her last button, to twitch away. "Um, uh, yes. My father apparently was the same way. Potter men don't grow much hair on our chests. Despite, I'm told, some experiments in his high school days to correct this…. Why are you looking at me like that?"

Her fingers twitched on his abs again and caused Harry to jerk. "Oh my, you're ticklish too!" Rias giggled. "That's adorable!"

When her fingers made to poke at his abs again, however, Harry retaliated, grabbing them both as he twisted to the side until he was lying on top of her. "Let's not go there," he said, his voice turning into a low murmur as her blouse fell open. "Magnificent…"

Seeing the look in Harry's eyes change lit a molten fire within Rias, and she unhesitatingly unclasped her bra, sitting up before she threw it to the side and lay back, baring her chest to her new lover's gaze. Harry stared into her eyes for a moment, then, without any further prompting, allowed his gaze to drop back down.

Rias's chest was creamy white, like the rest of her skin, without a single beauty mark. Her stomach was flat save for her little belly button. Rias's waist was almost inhumanly slim, though there was no sign of any built up musculature there, only the kind of build that spoke of both genetics and effort. Her breasts were large, so large that Harry's hands would have trouble encompassing them, and jiggled only slightly as she moved, showing an inhuman amount of perkiness. They were capped by perfectly shaped pink nipples, the size of them just beyond that of a British pound, a comparison Harry's mind made for some odd reason of its own.

Harry leaned down and unhesitatingly began to nibble and bite at the valley between her breasts, his hands slowly caressing their sides, then down to her stomach and back up. Rias gasped and bucked upwards the fire within growing under Harry's tender ministrations. "You are so beautiful, the most beautiful girl I've ever seen."

This was not hyperbole. Harry had been around many beautiful girls, though it had to be said he hadn't seen many like this. Hermione was gorgeous, Padma and her sister were runway model level, and several other witches he'd seen had bodies that would put any model to shame, like Lavender or Tracy Davis. Ginny was the very epitome of an athletic beauty. Kalawarner was the perfect example of a seductress, her curves and looks almost designed to make a man mad with lust.

Rias blew them all out of the water.

"I, mmm, could say that you are a most handsome man too," Rias said, pulling Harry up into a kiss. Her tongue invaded his mouth this time, but Harry made no move to resist, kissing back just as fiercely while their arms went around one another.

The kiss went on for a time as both of them began to get a bit heated, with Harry actually beginning to grind his pelvis against Rias's core, her skirt slowly rising as her legs parted. In an effort to cool himself down, he twisted them both to lie on their sides, breaking off the kiss to watch as his left hand began to trace down Rias's arm to her side.

Rias did the same, only pausing as her fingers reached a circular scar about as big as her fist on his side right to the side of his pectoral. "What's this?" she murmured, her fingers gently caressing it.

"Ah, that's the scar I got from being bitten by the basilisk. Phoenix tears healed me of the poison, but it still left a scar." In return, Harry's own fingers grazed a thin scar about the length of his thumb, on Rias's own side. "Hmm?"

"Oh, that? Kiba caused it," Rias murmured. "He attacked me the day he was turned but stopped when I simply smacked his sword away and hugged him instead of getting angry. My parents were furious about it, but I calmed them down after I was healed. Now I look back on it and laugh, since he's become part of my precious family."

Harry's fingers traced around and down, finding another small scar. "This one?"

"Hmm, falling out of a tree," Rias said, biting her lip as Harry's finger slowly traced that scar, then moved upwards, tracing around her nipple but never actually touching. Despite being on her side, her hips automatically began to twitch at that, the feelings within her rising further. She tried to concentrate on her own hand's exploring, finding another scar, this time on Harry's forearm. "What about this one?"

"Ah, um, a conjured silver sword stabbed me there. I healed from even that, but silver can leave scars."

"Yours are much more impressive than mine," she whispered, scooting down to kiss his basilisk scar, then around it.

"My life was much more fraught than yours," Harry replied, his voice tightening at the sensations Rias was giving him. A part of him wanted to push this along, to take control and make her scream his name. But he didn't. Despite thoroughly enjoying the joys of second base, he didn't want them to take this too far. Whatever added sexual desire taking Manannán's power in might have given him, Harry was still the one in control.

"Stop talking like that!" Rias ordered, looking up from where she had just kissed his left pectoral, biting at his skin to emphasize her point. "Your life led you here, to me, to my arms. And I am not letting you go."

"Heh, you really are a greedy girl," Harry murmured, leaning down to kiss her in turn. Now, with his own hormones somewhat more under control, Harry began to take charge subtly, slowing down the pace. The two of them continued to explore one another, kissing here and caressing there.

Harry learned that Rias was incredibly sensitive along her collarbone to her left side, but not her right, for some reason. He learned she was ticklish on her sides, but only slightly, though from the shifty eyed look she had when he found that out, Harry knew Rias had to be ticklish somewhere else.

She, in turn, found all the scars he had on his back and chest, wincing at the few long, red scars on his back, coming from what she knew could only be some kind of whipping. She had learned something about his childhood with the Dursleys and wanted to learn more, but now was not the time.

Soon, though, the pace started to pick up as they found each other's erogenous zones. Harry groaned aloud when Rias began to nibble at his jugular and then his ear, while Harry began to finally give Rias's breasts the attention she felt they rightly demanded, turning her into a panting, moaning mess. Yet as the lava in her started to feel as if it would burst, as she slowly lost the ability to speak her voice, turning into a series of moans and pants, Harry still didn't play with her nipples.

Why, why, why won't he!? Rias thought, moaning ever louder. She was lost now. Even though she was currently on top of Harry, Rias was no longer in control of their make out session. She was simply moaning incoherently, her head thrown back and her hair slowly beginning to stick to her back as she started to sweat. "Haaarrrryyy…." she moaned, thrusting her waist down and feeling the hardness of Harry's reaction in his pants, sticking almost straight up now.

"You are so gorgeous, Rias," Harry said, then without warning moved from where he had been working on leaving a hickey on the side of her neck to her right nipple. Latching on, he began to suckle, his tongue twirling over the hard nub.

This entire evening had been well beyond anything Rias had ever felt before. No man had touched her beyond a tactless grope here or there and her bastard of a fiancé. She had touched herself occasionally, but never very much, and other than the one time she had done so to thoughts of the man she was with now or to anime characters who had grabbed her attention those moments hadn't been all that earth-shaking. To the feeling Harry had evoked within her in the first few minutes of tonight's make out session those earlier explorations were nothing. Ever since she had simply been climbing a mountain of feelings, her body like a volcano about to go off.

Now that fire exploded, the volcano finally erupting. "AHHHHH!" Rias shrieked as she came by another's touch for the first time in her life. Her entire body spasmed as fluid spurted from her panties and her back arched almost painfully. She held there for a second as Harry retreated from her nipple, and then she collapsed, falling down onto his chest.

Harry chuckled, gently running his hands through her hair, using a whispered spell (it wasn't a spell he'd used often enough to not need the verbalization) to get rid of her accumulated sweat as he tried to ignore his own issue, which was still pressed hard up into Rias's bunched together skirt. "Someone seemed to have fun," he teased.

"Mmmm…you have no idea! No wonder there are devils who have given themselves over entirely to lust," Rias said with a moan. She eventually became aware of Harry's ongoing issue and giggled, her hands slowly winding down from where they had fisted in the pillow to either side of his head. "Let's see what we can do to help you now, hmm?"

End Lime}

Just then, however, there was the patter of feet on the stairs, and Harry and Rias both froze for an instant. "We forgot noise canceling charms!" Harry whispered, as Rias hopped off of him, grabbing up his shirt, the closest to hand, and pulled it quickly over her head.

She met Lily as she was about to enter the living room, kneeling down and picking the girl up. "What's wrong, sweetheart? Did we wake you up?" she asked, her face red but thankfully unseen in the doorway as she covered for Harry.

For his part he suppressed a groan with effort and began to swiftly clean the sofa up, grabbing Rias's shirt and bra and tossing them behind the sofa. After that he quickly began to use the same spell he'd used earlier on Rias to clean the sofa.

"Mrghl, no. Not just that, anyway…" Lily grunted, nuzzling against Rias's shoulder, not protesting the fact she had been picked up because she was so tired. "Was having a bad dream about some little creature trying to make a contract with me to make me a magical girl. I kept telling it I already was one, but it didn't believe me and just kept on chasing me. Then I heard a shriek, its mouth opened, and all these teeth, and brrrr!"

Unseen by Harry, Rias's eyes narrowed dangerously. She ignored the last part since that most likely showed the impact of the noise she'd made a moment before on Lily's dream world to concentrate on the rest of what Lily had just said. "Ah. And who exactly let you watch that anime, Lily-chan?"

"Oh, a few of the older boys were talking about it, and one of them showed a clip to us from his phone before some older girls chased them off," Lily reported. "Can't sleep now…." She sniffed the air in the living room, and her little nose wrinkled. "Smells like flowers and fish in here. Weird."

While Rias ignored that line in favor of making plans to slowly torture the people who let elementary level students watch that particular anime, Harry quickly used a air freshening spell behind her. "Well, sweetheart, would you like to sit with us and watch another movie?"

"Yes, please!" Lily said with a sleepy smile.

Rias put her down, and the girl moved around her and went toward the TV rather than her dad, who seemed busy trying to find out where his shirt had gone. Weird. Why did Rias need Daddy's shirt? Did she spill something? But then, why didn't Daddy just conjure her a new shirt? Adults are so silly sometimes. "What else did you bring over?"

"A few more movies. Pick one out and we'll watch whatever you like," Rias replied as Harry stood up, moving to ruffle his daughter's hair. "I'll get us some cocoa."

At that suggestion Lily cheered, and Rias moved toward the kitchen.

She paused, though, as Harry pulled her into a one armed hug. "The sleeping potion is in the topmost shelf right by the kitchen doorway in a bright orange clay bottle. Add two drops to her cocoa."

Nodding her head, she leaned in to whisper into his ear. "Are you, um, going to be all right?"

"I'll be all right for now," Harry said with a weak chuckle before going on, his voice strained. "Love means you don't kill your daughter when she cock-blocks you."

Rias snorted at that and made for the kitchen, while Harry started to help Lily pick out a movie, putting it into the movie player, then turning the lights off. With a wave of his hand, Harry then transfigured the sofa into a bed, large enough for all three of them with white sheets. He then waved his hand once more and conjured a massive dreamcatcher on the wall behind it. "There, sweetheart. You think that will keep the bad dreams at bay?"

Lily laughed and hopped into the bed with Harry following quickly, pulling the covers over them both. The two then leaned back against the head board, which hadn't been changed and was still the soft back of the sofa. A moment later Rias came back, handing each of them a cup of steaming cocoa and winking at Harry. The older redhead sat up in the bed on Lily's other side, putting an arm around the young girl.

They watched barely 20 minutes of the next video that Lily had Rias had brought over, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, with Rias explaining some of the background, before Lily began to nod off again. She nuzzled into her father's side, her eyes slowly closing as she fell asleep.

Smiling, Rias set her cup of cocoa to one side, gently stroking the young girl's hair as she moved her arm from around where she had been hugging Lily. Rias then looked up at Harry, an almost fierce look on her face. "I love this, Harry Potter. This," she said, gesturing to Harry and Lily and herself. "This is part of what I want for my future, a very big part."

While her parents had failed to instill a true desire to marry another pureblood demon as they had hoped, they had done something else very well: they had instilled in Rias a love for family and a desire to be a mother. Not a brood mare, which Rias knew was what she would be for Riser, but a mother and a wife.

That statement and the implications of it sent a tingle down Harry's spine and threatened to bring Harry Junior to attention once more before he shook it off. "So, so you want a family, I take it?"

"Yes," Rias said, leaning down to Lily and kissing her lightly on the cheek before exiting the bed and bending to retrieve her original shirt and bra. "I want to take over as head of my clan and become the strongest Gremory head there has ever been, and I want a big family. Those are my dreams for the future."

Harry coughed, looking down at Lily for a moment as he tried to recover from that statement. "There's that going too fast thing again."

"That's me," Rias said, turning to give him a smoky look. "Positively sinful, pushing all the time, greedy in what I want, prideful in what I am, and a glutton for what I desire too."

The two of them stared at one another for a moment before Harry shook his head with a faint chuckle. "I'll see you on Monday, Rias. But first, come here for a second."

Rias did, and Harry laid a gentle hand on her head once more. She felt the familiar tingle of Harry's magic allowing her access to the house, just as he had had to do earlier that evening, but this time the tingle went on for a few seconds, and, when it ended, where before there had been nothing, now there was what she would describe as a warm sort of welcoming glow just out of sight. "What was that?"

"That was me permanently adding you into the wards," Harry's smile. "Feel free to come over any time; one of us will be here. I would ask you to stay away from the basement, at least until we talk more about the differences in our magical styles and spell work. The same goes for trying to actually interact with the wards, but that's about all."

"That's perfectly reasonable," Rias said, her heart soaring at the implication behind this gesture. "For now, though, I need to get going." She leaned over and gave him another kiss, and this time it was her turn to groan when Harry opened his mouth and started using his tongue. His hand on the back of her head held her still, and it was all she could do not to drown in it, not to take as much as she could and simply hop back into bed with him.

But despite the desire, that almost consuming need, she still had the will to pull back eventually. "Until Monday, Harry," she whispered, her breath puffing against his lips. Rias then stood up, holding her hands to either side as a magic circle appeared around her feet.

A second later she was gone, leaving Harry to fall asleep next to his daughter. But while Lily fell into a dreamless sleep, Harry's dreams were dominated by a certain redhead and activities they would have to do very, very often to make the big family Rias wanted.

OOOOOOO

Having spent most of Sunday practicing his self-control, Harry had at last been able to conquer his aura. This was a good thing, since by the end of Saturday a rumor had started to go around that just seeing him could make girls go into heat, which was just awkward on many levels. Indeed, besides a certain gleam in his eyes and having even more energy than he had had previously, there was little change to Harry's outward appearance to tell of the change within.

That morning found two meetings taking place. One was Harry and his fellow teacher meeting with the principal to discuss what they had discovered from the issue that had occurred on Saturday. The principal, as Harry had feared, was indeed unwilling to do anything against the Perverted Trio for now, saying it was nothing they could take to the police, which they would have to if they tried to expel the trio of over -the -top perverts.

Suspending them, however, was something they could do. The Principal agreed that they had grounds to do so, this incident being enough to count as two strikes under their system even with only circumstantial evidence. He would be calling in their parents for a meeting that evening, after which the trio would be taken home and not return for a week.

The second meeting seemed to occur almost randomly to the passerby who noted it, yet was anything but. Sona Sitri had been hoping to talk to Saji for a while now, given that, of the two boys who she and Rias felt might have Sacred Gears, his personality and scholastic ability made him a better candidate for joining both her peerage and her cover story for it: the Student Council.

Saji was putting his shoes away when he looked up as a voice he knew (and secretly adored) spoke up from behind him. "Genshirou-san, might I talk to you for a moment?"

He turned rapidly and bowed quickly. "Ah! Yes, of course, Shitori-sama! What can I do for you?"

"I rather think it is what we can do for one another," Sona said, allowing a very minimalist smile to cross her face. "You see, we of the Student Council have been thinking that we need to add a boy to the group. We were waiting until this point to accumulate enough grades to understand which of you were among the best candidates, and I was hoping I could offer you the job?"

This was actually only partially true. Yes, Genshirou was a very good student, but he also had a Sacred Gear inside of him, one whose power the devils had begun to notice in the past month. The boy's grades were just an excuse to get him on to the Student Council, where Sona would then approach him about his abilities, her otherworldly nature, and what she could offer him.

While Sona was certain that introducing someone who had no knowledge of the supernatural to their world would be somewhat irritating, she didn't doubt that Saji would take her offer. Saji might be better at hiding his hormonal thoughts than most of the boys, but I've seen him staring after me more than a few times. If I offer the chance for him to join my peerage, he will accept quickly.

To her surprise, however, Saji didn't jump on the offer. He grinned and opened his mouth, then hesitated before slowly shaking his head. "I, I am sorry, Shitori-sama, but I have to decline.

"You see," he went on, blushing and looking away. "I um, I recently entered into a relationship, and I'm afraid that working with the Student Council would take too much time away from that. If the offer is still open in the future and I've talked it over with my girlfriend and she says it won't, then I'll take you up on it then. But, until then…." He bowed before turning away and moving deeper into the school.

Inwardly Saji was howling in frustration. Dammit! If that had happened before I started dating, but no, I have to choose between apples and oranges! I want them both, blast it!

Behind Saji, Sona stood for a moment, looking a little shocked to those who knew her. One of her peerage, Reya, moved through the crowd of students to her side. "Shitori-sama, are you all right?" she whispered.

"I am fine. It's just, I think it was just turned down because of my target's hormones. And I rather don't like it."

"They are troublesome things, my King, but where would we be without them?" Reya said hesitantly. She herself had been having certain thoughts towards Yuuto before he and Tsubaki had gotten together.

"Men," Sona muttered, turning away and also making her way deeper into the building. "They make everything more difficult."

Beyond that, however, nothing new and interesting happened that week until Thursday. It took Akeno until then to work up the courage necessary to talk to Harry about opening up further on an emotional level as Rias and, through her, Harry, had basically told her that she had to in order to join this relationship they were attempting to build. She understood their point: Any relationship had to be a thing of emotional openness as well as attraction and shared interests.

But it was very hard for her. She was so used to hiding her real self, her real feelings, behind her defenses, that even sharing what she had already with Harry had been very tough. Despite that, however, she did follow through with the other aspect of Rias's decree: she stopped flirting entirely with Harry throughout those four days.

During that time Rias, Sona, and Harry began to think about training ideas and what would be necessary for them. The three of them agreed that it would be a better idea to enlarge the training area already underneath the Occult Research Club than to have one under Harry's house. This allowed Harry to change his basement into a magical laboratory and classroom. Since he intended to start teaching his daughter some magic on top of more lessons on self-control this coming summer, that suited Harry down to the ground.

Rias also took possession of the books Harry had copied for her and Akeno. These covered both the local Onmyodo tradition and the wizarding world's brand of magic that Harry had brought with him from Europe. She was positively gleeful, as was Akeno, about what those books could teach them.

However, Akeno did eventually work up the courage to talk to Harry. On Thursday her last class was a science lab, but afterwards she moved with purpose to the teachers' offices. Spotting her quarry, she pasted her normal public smile on her face and asked pleasantly, "Potter -sensei, may I speak to you for a moment?"

Harry looked up from where he had started to grade some papers, his eyes narrowing for a second. Having no class scheduled during his last period on Thursday meant that Thursday had become the day where he could get some stuff done before picking up Lily which, in turn, made his weekend a little easier.

He looked searchingly at Akeno but could not see past her normal Yamato Nadeshiko mask and finally nodded, standing up quickly and moving towards the door. "Certainly. Would you like to talk here, or is this about that writing project I assigned on Monday? Have you chosen your books?"

"It is, Sensei," Akeno said with a respectful nod. Harry had assigned the seniors a long-term writing project in English. They were to find four English language novels of any kind of genre or trope they wished, but each book had to come from a different decade. The students would have to show how the trope as well as the writing style in that genre had changed over time. Though difficult, the fact that the students could choose their own books made even this kind of project quite fun. To add to this, Harry had supplied examples of several dozen modern books taken from the different genres.

The two of them moved through the halls to the room where Harry taught Akeno and Rias's class, which was empty, of course, by this point. Wordlessly, Akeno moved into the interior of the room to lean against the teacher's table, looking at Harry with an expression he couldn't quite read even now.

Closing the door behind him, Harry then threw up a few spells to keep people from realizing they were in the room at all as well as to keep people from wanting to come near the room in the first place, what he would call a layered Notice-Me-Not. He then turned around and moved to sit on one of the students' tables facing Akeno. Once seated, he waited for her to speak, and, eventually, she did so.

"I am not an emotionally outgoing person," she said bluntly. "I have a lot of issues, issues I am loath to share. Rias knows most of them but not all. I have opened up to you already in a way that I would normally not have, and, while I understand why you wish me to open up more, that is very difficult for me. Could we not simply wait for a little while and just have some fun first?" she asked, a smile flickering across her face at the last few words only to disappear quickly.

Harry considered his response for a moment before slowly shaking his head. "I don't think so. I haven't mentioned this before, even to Rias, but I tried to do that very thing a few weeks after I first arrived in Kuoh. There was this woman I met when I went out clubbing. I was looking, or, rather, I thought I was looking for a fling, just to get over my… responses to you and Rias."

"To get your pipes cleaned, in other words?" Akeno asked tartly. Her face now showed a mix of amusement and some jealousy at the idea.

"Exactly," Harry said with a nod. "It didn't work out as I had thought. I was unwilling to go very far with the woman in question, and she was afraid to make any kind of permanent commitment. Around the time I was able to finally defend myself from your auras we broke it off. Because of that and a few adventures I had when I was in high school myself, I've come to realize that I am just not mentally and emotionally prepared to have a purely physical relationship, as I told you before."

"I feared that," Akeno said with a sad smile. "So does that mean that there's no chance for you and me?"

"It would be you, me, and Rias, remember," Harry said cautiously. He reached out to clasp one of her hands in both of his own and gently began to rub his thumb over the back of her hand. "Akeno, you are a beyond gorgeous, intelligent, caring, and funny young woman. But you have walls around you, and you need to let them down to let anyone in, and I do not know if we are emotionally compatible. I am, against my better judgment, willing to try this whole three-way relationship thing, but you have to be willing to meet us halfway."

"Give and take," Akeno mused, her face twisted into a small scowl. "I can see that you're willing to try something your society would find anathema, and you are further bending your own sense of morality to date students at all. But what exactly has Rias given up for this relationship?"

While Harry could have taken that as an attack, he knew it was more of a plaintive question than anything else. After all, from Akeno's perspective, it seemed as if Rias was getting everything she wanted and wasn't unhappy at all, as Akeno was, with the idea of further lowering her defenses. That wasn't the case, and Harry knew it since this past Saturday.

"Rias isn't nearly as happy about sharing as you might think she is," he said simply. "We talked about that Saturday, and it was a major point of contention. She is very torn at the moment, Akeno. Rias loves you as a friend and believes that you have feelings towards me, so she is willing to give sharing a try. But she's also feeling the 'sin of jealousy,' as she puts it, and that part of her is urging her to not allow you that chance."

Akeno's eyes widened, and she bit her lip, looking away. There were actual tears in her eyes, and she shook her head quickly. "I, I will talk to her. There are ways to deal with jealousy like that, and…." She paused, then nodded slowly to herself. "I really have to do this don't I? I need to open up to you more," she said almost wonderingly, her face actually brightening at little.

Looking at her, Harry thought it seemed as if, now that it had come to it, now that she had been forced to face that fact once more, a weight had been removed from her shoulders. "You do," he said slowly, still rubbing the back of her hand and staring at her thoughtfully. "If you want us to have our cake and eat it too, as Rias put it."

Akeno giggled. "That's just like her, greedy girl! Still," she said, her face slowly morphing into a positively sinful smile as she leaned forward towards Harry. "I'm a devil too, you know, and I can be just as greedy as her."

With that she leaned forward, crossing the distance and kissing Harry on the lips. Her lips were soft, just as soft as Rias's, only a little fuller, but she pressed her lips against Harry's just as ardently as Rias had.

Harry slowly responded, putting his arms around her and pulling her into his lap. The fingers of one hand began to work into her ponytail while his other hand started to rub the small of her back. And when Akeno experimentally opened her lips, slightly her tongue flicking out against his, Harry responded, opening his mouth and letting his own tongue out to dance with hers, pushing her tongue back into her mouth and exploring within.

Eventually, however, he used the hold on her hair to pull her away from the kiss, looking into her eyes. "So does that mean you agree? Y ou'll try to let more of your real personality show to see if we're as compatible as you think?"

"I want to try, at least," Akeno said, with a nod. "Will you let me try?"

"I think the fact that I just kissed you back and am now holding you in my lap should tell you the answer to that one," Harry said dryly.

Akeno laughed and did a little wiggle with her rump, smiling as she felt Harry begin to respond underneath her. She then hopped off of his lap before Harry could decide what to do and said softly, "I am free next Friday as well as next Saturday, if you want."

Understanding what Akeno was asking, Harry nodded. "I have made no plans for next weekend. Either would be fine with me." This weekend, they both knew, would be very busy: Harry with his own schooling and research into his new status and Rias and Akeno with their own research into Harry's brand of magic.

"Next Saturday, then." Akeno paused, nibbling at her bottom lip in a way that was positively adorable to Harry, with a bit more lust included in the image than that word would normally imply. "Have you ever been to karaoke?" she asked, looking almost vulnerable for a moment.

"I can't say I have, no," Harry mused. "Do you want me to make the arrangements?"

"No, I can do that," Akeno said with a shake of her head. I already know where several karaoke places are. Just leave it to me. You can pick me up at seven-ish?"

Harry nodded at that and stood up before surprising Akeno by pulling her into a hug and kissing her forehead. "I'm looking forward to it, Akeno, and to seeing more of the real you," he said, moving away before she could return the hug. He winked at her and then exited the room quickly.

Behind him Akeno huffed irritably, blushing at the tender gesture despite the intense kiss they had shared barely a minute before. "Hmmf. Now who's the tease?"

OOOOOOO

The process of transferring from one college to another was actually somewhat difficult for Loup, considering that the principal at his current school knew he was a werewolf and was actually supposed to discourage youkai from transferring away from Kyoto, where the Youkai Association could both help and control them. Loup ran into several issues for the first few week after he started the process, on top of which the fact was the fact that he wanted to transfer mid-semester and leave classes halfway through, losing those credits.

After that, though, the principal seemed to have a change of heart. He urged Loup to put it off until the next round of tests was done, and he did so. In return, he would be allowed to simply move into the class's equivalent at the college he wished to transfer to as a special dispensation. He wasn't a straight A student, by any means. Mathematics in general did not stay in his head, and public speaking, for Loup, was right out, but he did very well in the classes which would help him in his chosen field, that of horticulture and forest-care.

Loup also ended his lease agreement on his apartment for the month and rented a truck to take all his stuff with him. Finding a place to store it in Kuoh was equally easy, though finding another apartment to live in was still an ongoing process. There weren't many actual apartment complexes in Kuoh, being more of a suburban district than anything else. Loup didn't have enough for a house and even paying the monthly lease on some of the apartments he had found for rent would be painful. Still, Loup felt that he would be able to crash with the Potters if need be.

He had just begun packing when he received a summons to Yasaka-sama's office which asked him to stop by at his earliest convenience. Most of the time when a ruler or leader said, 'at your earliest convenience', they meant right now. But with Yasaka it meant just that, and Loup knew it. So when he next felt he deserved a break, after lifting his reinforced sofa and bed one after another into the truck, Loup made his way into and through the forest to the kitsune's castle.

There he was ushered into some of the new construction had recently been finished. After the attack, Yasaka had decided to move her daughter's room down the hall to join her own and put in a receiving area/sitting room that would act as the entryway from their private quarters to the rest of the palace. Outside of it, two other kitsune sat lazily on wooden chairs to either side of the door. Loup, however, knew these two and knew not to take their lazy attitude as reality. They both nodded at him, and one of them gestured to the door. "You can go in now; Yasaka's free now."

Loup paused almost the moment he entered, blushing and looking away. Yasaka was actually not free, technically speaking. She was, in fact, doing some kind of exercise in front of the TV, stretching this way and that with her daughter beside her. She was also wearing exercise clothes which hugged her figure, hence why Loup had begun to blush. The top was a pink shirt, almost skin tight, which accentuated the fact that she was not wearing a bra underneath, and her yellow exercise shorts were very, very short and equally tight on her trim figure. Even though he had decided to put aside his puppy love for the Yasaka, the look still affected Loup, and his blush was enough to light up the room.

The two foxes had looked up as the door opened, and Yasaka giggled at Loup Garou's expression. "Sorry Loup-kun," she said, not at all apologetically. "I didn't expect you for another few hours."

Then she giggled wickedly, completely destroying the fake image of apology she had tried to so briefly maintain. "Honestly, Loup-kun, you're such a prude! That's always a problem with those of you raised among humans: you take their silly ways to heart." Patting her daughter on the head, she got the little girl to stop her own stretches and asked, "Sweetie, can you turn off the TV for a moment? I need to talk to Loup-kun."

The girl nodded, wiping away some sweat from her forehead and moving over to turn off the TV, waving her tail at Loup. "Hey, Loup."

Loup nodded, smiling at the little girl and knowing that she wouldn't take his silence for a lack of response. Loup was stoic in the extreme, but that didn't mean he couldn't communicate.

"I understand you're nearly ready to transfer to Kuoh?" Yasaka asked, pulling the werewolf's attention back to her. Given the fact that she was still wearing her exercise clothing, this wasn't exactly a good thing for Loup's blood pressure, but Yasaka didn't tease him further, simply looking at him calmly as she moved over to a desk set in one of the corners.

"Yes," Loup said simply. "Credits have transferred; I'm packing now. Planning to leave Sunday."

"You'll find that your apprentice contract with the Park Rangers has been fully paid out," Yasaka said, turning away to rifle through her desk. That this gave Loup a view of her derrière was not lost on her, and she heard his groan of frustrated hormones combating his prudishness with a giggle that she rapidly covered up. All right, that's enough teasing the boy.

She turned back, holding out two folders. One of them was very thin but looked incredibly official. It was glossy black with the red and gold seal of the Youkai Association on its surface and closed with a long bead of wax marked with what looked like thumbprint marks. The other folder was filled with files of some kind.

"When you arrive there I assume you'll be getting in touch with Harry-han," she said without preamble, using the Kyoto dialect equivalent of the ending '-san.' Loup just nodded at that, and Yasaka went on. "This one," she said, holding up the stuffed folder, "is a report on several individual youkai who went missing before I began my sweep after the disaster a few weeks ago. I am forced to assume that they joined this Khaos Brigade. I also know for a fact, however that the chaos faction has its own separate sects now. Did you ever meet a monkey demon named Bikou?"

When Loup shook his head, she shrugged. "No real reason you should have. It was just a thought. He is a youkai from China who came around here last year and beat all of the Association's best fighters in one on one matches. He comes from the Mountain of Flowers and is a direct descendant of Sun Wukong. He also wields the Ryu Jingu Bang."

Loup's eyes widened at that, and she nodded grimly. "Yes, that makes him much more dangerous than he would otherwise be, both with the training and that staff. While, given Bikou's personality, humorous but straightforward, I have no fear that he will be going around kidnapping or taking prisoners or anything of that nature. But I spoke to Sun Wukong this morning, and he informed me that his descendant has apparently joined a faction of the Khaos Brigade."

Slowly, Loup nodded, taking the folder and quickly flipping through it. Each page held information on a single individual, none of whom registered as much of a threat taken alone, but together which could prove a danger. There were two male nekomata, one cow -man, or Minotaur, as he would be called in Europe, four Tengu of mixed gender, and, sadly, another werewolf. That one Loup had met, and he was tough, strong, and durable as all werewolves were, but he wasn't a trained fighter by any means. Loup could deal with him easily enough, so he figured that Harry or anyone that associated with him would be able to as well. Bikou, on the other hand, he was a threat all on his own, given his various abilities.

Putting that folder under his arm, Loup looked back up at Yasaka. "The other?"

"This," Yasaka began slowly, holding the file in front to one side of her face. "This is a sealed, binding contract of alliance between the houses of Sitri and Gremory of the Thirty-two Pillars and the Youkai Association in my name. You'll take it with you and, once they have signed it, the pact will disappear and return to me."

"After that my daughter will be transferring to Kuoh as well, the same school where young Lily-chan is going," she said, smiling over at Kunou, who was busy by the TV rewinding the video they had been exercising to. "They won't be in the same grade, I think, but I believe that with a friend already there and Harry-han nearby, she will be both safe and able to do something she hasn't been able to do here."

Loup eyes widened at that, and Kunou turned around to the adults with a massive grin on her childlike face. "Why?" the werewolf asked bluntly.

"Thanks to my position, Kunou-chan hasn't made as many friends among other children as I would like. Further, because of my own fears about precisely what nearly happened to her that day, her education has been somewhat lacking in comparison to a child who has gone through the human public school system. The way she clicked with Lily gave me a lot of hope, and I feel I can trust Lily-chan to be her friend and Harry-han, Gremory-han, and Sitri-han to look out for her if anyone figures out where I've sent her in the first place."

And this will give me the excuse to visit if I can ever find a way to mitigate the pain I feel from being away from Kyoto. It might even force Harry to come and visit me here, heheheh. Yasaka was willing to put up with quite a bit in order to try to pursue Harry, but that pain was a bit too much. Combined with her duties in Kyoto she was rather stuck here, unfortunately.

Slowly, Loup nodded at that, looking down at the little girl who was actually wiggling in place, her tail wagging like a happy dog's and looking like she was going to transform into her fox form at any moment. "Will she be traveling with me?" he asked roughly.

"Now, Kunou-chan won't be doing that. I imagine they will be sending a portkey back after agreeing to the deal," Yasaka said, looking a little sick at the very idea. "The fact that they will be looking after my daughter is part of the agreement of alliance that I've written out."

At that Kunou's excitement died a violent death, and she whimpered, hugging her tail tightly as she looked up at her mother soulfully. "Why?!"

"I'm sorry, lovey, but you and Loup-kun on the road alone would make far too tempting a target if anyone learns that you're leaving. Since so many people were able to escape before I began my investigation, I can't rule out the idea that there are spies still among the Association, even possibly among the human population of the city. This way you can cover the distance between here and be there in single thought."

And you'll be safe at both ends, the worried mother thought. She felt this was a good move on many levels, but that didn't stop her from worrying.

The girl continued to pout, but Loup just nodded at that. "Is that all?"

Yasaka nodded. "I'll send a few men over to help you pack up if you want some help, otherwise, yes. Good luck, Loup-kun. I have a feeling that you're going to need it. Whatever is happening with this Khaos Brigade, Harry-han will be at the center of it, one way or another."

Loup had absolutely nothing to say at that. He was rather afraid he agreed with her.

OOOOOOO

Over that weekend and all of the next week, school and 'normality' proceeded apace, as did various projects Harry and the others were working on. Harry began and finished upgrading the Potter home's wards and built and furnished the basement to his satisfaction. This last took him a while, considering all the other demands on his time, but he considered it time well spent.

He and Rias also took several hours a day to research Manannán Mac Lir. They found a few dozen books and ancient writings and researched a few powers that had little to do with traditional magic as either of their schools thought of it. Only a few had direct combat applications, but Rias was very grateful afterward that they were putting off the training session she had tried to set up between Harry, her peerage, and Sona's.

It also proved to be the first time that Harry instigated some flirtations with Rias and Akeno. When they were not in public, his inhibitions towards such went away. Rias and Akeno, in turn, found it was very different being on the other side of the teasing, not that he ever went beyond a light touch on their backs, running his fingers through their hair, or hugs and light kisses at any point on campus, even in the ORC clubhouse. But even so, it was enough to make them both blush and stammer, on the back foot for once.

During this time Rias and Akeno continued to teach themselves the magic of Harry's people. This involved some interesting discoveries, some of which had an immediate impact, like the featherweight charm. Others had more long term uses.

At one point Rias called up Harry, her voice a near squeal. "Flame freezing charm! You have a flame freezing charm?!"

Harry held the phone away from his ear, wincing a little. "Careful, Rias. You don't want to blow out my eardrums, do you? As to your question, yes, there is a flame freezing charm. It was used by a couple of crazy witches in America at one point during their Salem witch hunts to not only survive but to troll the poor nonmagicals of the time something fierce. I presume you think it might help you against a certain burnt chicken?"

"I certainly hope so!" she said fervently. "I'm going to have to test it, of course. That's not the kind of thing you want to use for the first time in battle. But if it can, that charm alone could be enough to turn the tide against Riser, especially added to all of the other tactics I've been working on."

Rias and Akeno had taken to talking about what they were learning from those books and were not exactly subtle about dropping hints about how amazingly versatile Harry's magic was in front of the other magic using devils on campus. By this point Sona was almost to the point of biting her nails in frustration. She had been trying to wrack her brain to come up with something she could use to pay for her own copies of those books, but since Rias had already shared books on the demonic version of magic—and she and Harry had had several discussions about the differences between the two schools—that avenue was right out.

But perhaps the most important thing that happened during those days did not start out that way. Rather, it began with a discussion about an entirely unrelated topic between Rias and Harry in the ORC clubroom, which had slowly become Harry's choice of hangout after school, where he could finish his paperwork before taking Lily home. That he could also flirt with Rias and Akeno while they were there to a certain extent was a definite bonus.

"By the way, you said you were keeping an eye on one of the perverts, Hyoudou. How exactly are you doing that and still spending so much time learning magic?" Harry asked.

"Oh that's easy, Harry," Rias said with a laugh. "None of us really wanted the job after the first few days, but that invisibility spell of yours as well as the sound deadening spell can work on familiars, not just people."

"You all have familiars?"

"Haven't I mentioned those before?" Rias mused, cocking her head thoughtfully and leaning back, smiling as Harry continued to work on her feet, his hands trailing up her legs boldly occasionally. Little moments like these were immensely meaningful for both of them. Nearby, Rias could hear Akeno puttering around, making tea for them all, while on the other sofa Lily and Koneko sat close to one another playing some kind of video game on a handheld device, their homework done for the evening. The only one missing was Kiba, who was out on one of his contracts. Rias idly wondered if she or Akeno could ask Harry for a back massage to round out the evening.

"I know what a familiar is," Harry corrected with a laugh. "I had one in the past, an owl named Hedwig. She was possibly the most intelligent owl that has ever lived."

"What happened to her?" Rias asked softly, having heard the pain in Harry's voice when he spoke that name. She sat up then so that she could hug Harry's side as Akeno came over, gently sitting beside him and taking his hand in her own.

"She died taking a spell for me during a fight with Riddle's supporters. I'm over it now, but it still hurts sometimes," Harry said putting his arms around the girls and hugging them both before looking at Rias. "You were saying?"

Rias in turn looked over at Akeno. "Akeno?"

Akeno stood up, moving backwards a little, and then gestured forward with both of her hands. Several of her little oni appeared around her, hopping to the floor and forming a line. "These are my familiars," Akeno said with a giggle, kneeling down beside the oni to pat each of them on the head as Lily eagerly hopped up off of the sofa to crouch down in front of them, staring at the little creatures avidly. "These little fellows are quite a bit more durable than any of our other familiars, though not quite as smart as Rias's bats. I have one of them stationed at Hyoudou-kun's home, and the other is hidden in his bag."

At that moment Issei was at home, his bag open and on his desk, but he was on his bed… busy...

Since Akeno had had the two of them holding hands at the time she put the spells on them, the two little oni could see one another. They were now looking at one another in shocked horror. "Desu." Translation: I want to die.

"Desu, desu…," said the second one. Translation: Some things cannot be unseen….

Back in the ORC clubroom, Harry nodded. "You know, that has a lot of interesting implications. But, after delving into your Devil style magic, comparing it to Onmyodo and that to the European style, one area of magic I've been thinking about most often is traps and enchantments…."

Both Rias and Akeno looked interested at that, and Harry went on. Soon enough all three were smiling evilly.

OOOOOOO

Nor were the devils and Harry the only ones who were having an interesting time in those two weeks. A case in point occurred the next weekend. While Harry and Lily were working on turning his basement into an actual classroom and laboratory, and Akeno and Rias were attempting their first real spells in the European style, the Fallen were on the move, if in an unusual way.

Saji Genshirou stared down at his forearm which was currently covered in a weird looking bracer which went around his forearm and over the back of his hand. It looked almost like a lizard with violet eyes and a chibified face on the back of his hand with four wing-like protuberances to either side along his forearm.

But his eyes weren't actually seeing what was in front of them at the moment. "'I'm going to show you something you've never seen before,' she said. This was not what I thought Yuuma-chan had in mind."

Life had been going great for Saji for the past few weeks. Despite the fact that he had turned down his idol, Shitori Sona-sama, for a place on the Student Council, having a girlfriend had more than made up for needing to step back from that dream for a moment. Saji reasoned that he could use what he learned with Yuuma later on to get closer to Sona in the future. He had the time; he had the looks; he had the brains; he could do this! That and just having a girlfriend was freaking awesome!

They had been going out on dates practically every night, and Saji felt closer to Yuuma than he had ever felt to anyone else. So when she had said those words, Saji thought he was going to get lucky.

Instead of bringing her to her home, however, Yuuma had brought him to a rundown church on the edge of town and introduced him to several other people who, along with her, were apparently angels. That threw him, of course, and Saji would've run away gibbering if his girlfriend hadn't also revealed her own wings along with her fellows.

*Flashback*

Turning, Saji made to rush out the door, but Yuuma stood there, blocking his way. As he watched, a light enveloped her, and, when it faded, Yuuma had changed. Her black hair had grown longer, and she had gained at least a size in the chest area. Further, her clothing, which had been her normal school uniform, had shifted to something out of a wet-dream: a black string bikini with skintight boots rising to mid-thigh and equally tight gloves. All of it matched the color of her hair and wings perfectly and highlighted the pink of her skin amazingly well, which, coupled with how much skin was showing, had completely disarmed Saji.

"Saji-kun, stop! I know this is scary to you, but you have to listen to us," Yuuma said, looking desperate. "You see, we Fallen aren't the only supernatural entities in the area here. And I'm not the only one interested in you. But whereas my interest in you has changed, the Devils out there won't hesitate to rip from you what caught my eye about you in the first place: the fact you have something which is called a Sacred Gear…."

*End flashback*

After showing him how to access his Sacred Gear, Yuuma—or Raynare, which was her real name—had kissed him so hard he saw stars, dry humping him until he rather embarrassingly came in his pants. That she seemed to enjoy it too made up for that somewhat.

Still, now that his girlfriend was nowhere in sight, Saji was having trouble conceptualizing everything he had learned. Angels, devils, the fact that as a Sacred Gear user he would be forced to choose sides? All of this was new to Saji, so far out of his normal realm of understanding that he could barely understand it. Still, Yuuma, or Raynare, at least gave me that pendant which will help me hide the fact that I've woken my Sacred Gear from the Devils, and I can train here, I suppose. The fact that she hinted that I might attract other girls if I get strong enough gives me a goal too!

Saji looked up from where he had been staring unseeing at his gauntlet when the door to the room he had been given for meditation purposes opened. The woman called Kalawarner stood in the doorway, then moved into the room, the door closing behind her. "So, having a girlfriend's wonderful, isn't it? I have to wonder how far you've gone with my little Raynare, hmm?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Well, I, um…. We, um, we haven't done more than kissing," Saji stuttered, poking two fingers together, utterly surprised, first at her appearance and then at the sudden question. He then frowned in confusion as Kalawarner, instead of answering verbally, held up a small card.

Kalawarner moved forward towards him until she was certain he could read what was on it as she spoke. "That's probably true; she's always been a bit of a tease. What you probably should do is hold out on training yourself until she starts to give you a little, you know, a little~" she said, adding at teasing lilt to her voice. "Of course, you could do it the other way around—offer to work hard and do 'things' for her first. That would be the gentlemanly thing to do. Do you need any… research material in that area?"

Now blushing hotly, Saji tried to concentrate on what was written on the card rather than what Kalawarner was saying aloud. The card only had a single sentence on it: 'Keep your eyes open and don't trust everything Raynare says'. Looking up at the taller woman—Kalawarner was easily one of the two tallest women he'd ever seen, right up there with Gremory-sempai, who apparently was one of the devils in the area—he blinked in confusion. "Um, what?"

Instead of replying to what was really causing his confusion, Kalawarner rolled her eyes and stowed the card away somewhere on her person. "I said, do you want any research material, 'how to' books and other things of that nature? I have several you could use."

"I, I suppose that would be, um, helpful?" Saji squeaked, but he then tried to recover, smiling in what he thought was a suave manner. "But I've always been more of a hands-on learner."

"Down, boy," Kalawarner said sardonically, watching his eyes flit from her face down to her chest and stay there. "That's what you have Raynare for. Do some reading before you try to graduate to field work. And my eyes are up here, boy!" she finished tartly.

The boy blushed but was still able to meet her eyes, showing both arousal and confusion. That was good enough, Kalawarner decided. "Pervert," she muttered, turning away. "But then, I suppose that makes it all the easier to control you."

With that she left the room, leaving behind a very confused and very aroused Saji who was wondering just exactly what he had gotten into for the second time that evening.

What am I doing here?Kalawarner thought, shaking her head as she moved through the church, nodding at a few of the exorcists around them. Several groups of them had arrived in the city over the past few days: the least violent and most controllable groups first, followed by the more violent but also more skilled crazies.. It was a good plan, though Kalawarner, still resenting the fact that they have to work with these castoffs.

She didn't really see them at the moment, though. Kalawarner was still confused about her motivations for this as well as her thoughts on Harry, though she had come to at least understand why his rejection had messed her up something fierce. Still, am I doing this to repent, to get back into his good graces somehow, or just to give myself an out of a situation I can see spiraling rapidly out of control?

She, Mittelt, and Raynare had all been in the town this last weekend and had felt the pressure of someone new and powerful in the area. It had been Kalawarner who wondered if it might have been Harry, somehow sensing some of his personality there. But since it had disappeared that same morning, Raynare had scorned her concerns, not even giving them the time of day. Kalawarner, though, was certain about what she sensed and was now willing to at least betray Raynare, Dohnaseek, and their exorcist 'allies' to save herself, if nothing else. She was still a little bemused about her feelings towards Harry and what she wanted beyond survival going forward.

Leaving the church, Kalawarner wandered the streets, not thinking about anything in particular, just wandering and letting her thoughts circle around Harry. Frankly, despite the fact she had been able to function the past few weeks, Kalawarner was still messed up inside. Feeling guilt for the first time in thousands of years would do that to someone. What to do about it and about her feelings towards Harry in particular still eluded her, however.

Not really looking where she was going, it wasn't entirely unsurprising that when Kalawarner turned a corner that she ran into someone. The surprise was that it was actually three people. Three boys, in this case, who all had their heads together as they rounded the corner, staring down at a simple brown paper bag. "I still say I should be the one to use it first. After being lectured by Potter-aho, I need it! I acck!" the middle one was saying as they all bumped right into her.

Kalawarner was a very tall woman and a Fallen Angel. That meant she was a good bit more solid than a normal woman. Further, two of the three boys were on the short side, and both of them bounced off, actually falling to their rears. The third, a slightly better built youth, attempted a dodge to one side at the last instant and got away with only stumbling slightly to the side. "Hey, watch where you're…. Hubba hubba!"

From the boys' perspective they had just been run over by someone who could have been a runway model, possibly from America or Europe, given her height. She stood taller than any of them by a goodly bit, with navy blue hair done in a long pony tail down her back, the front of it somewhat obscuring her forehead, and brown eyes in a somewhat haughty looking but still beautiful face. But, of course, for the three boys it was her figure that really stopped their breath: she had legs going on forever framed by the short purple skirt she was wearing, coupled with a purple trench -coat -like top. The top was only closed by two buttons, which revealed her flat stomach and a cavern that led to the delightful mountains that were her breasts.

Rolling her eyes at that boy's comment, Kalawarner glanced uncaringly at all three of them. "You idiots should watch where you're going."

Then, with a start, Kalawarner realized that one of them was the original target, Hyoudou. The others were his perverted friends, who Raynare had mentioned several times, though Kalawarner couldn't remember their names for the life of her. The one who had been in the middle was Hyoudou, and he was currently sitting on his rear and staring up at her in awe and lust. She could even hear him muttering, "Oppai, oppai, mighty oppai!" under his breath.

The other boy was now adjusting his glasses as he looked up at her from the side, muttering what sounded like her measurements under his breath. I wonder how he does that? she thought idly, noting the brown package which had fallen between them.

Reaching down, she quickly picked it up, flashing her cleavage at the still sitting twosome, before straightening and stepping forward, slamming a heeled foot between the glasses wearing one's legs. "I know I'm pretty, boy, but that doesn't mean I want you to share those numbers with everyone and their mother! And what's this?" she asked, holding up the bag.

"Hey, give that back!" Issei shouted, hopping to his feet and reaching for it. "Just because you've got wonderful oppai doesn't mean you can just steal from us!"

"Yeah, that's ours!" the tall one said, while the one in glasses rapidly scooted backwards from the woman whose foot had come within a centimeter of slamming a rather pointed heel down on his man parts.

Rolling her eyes, Kalawarner reached out and grabbed Hyoudou with a grip on his head, holding him still with minimal effort. Her other hand, still holding the package, smacked out and sent the taller one thumping into the wall of the building to one side. "Oh please, don't make yourselves look any more pathetic than you already have."

"Gah, she's so strong!" the tall one groaned, holding his shoulder which had slammed into the building. "Give it back, darn it!"

At the same time Issei tried to pry her hand off his head, only to fail, her grip like steel. "Darrggh! Is she some kind of robot sent from the future in disguise!?"

"Come and take it, brat," Kalawarner replied calmly, actually enjoying bullying the trio. It made for good therapy. "And as for you, crew-cut, are all boys your age this weak? And you, four-eyes, are you just going to sit there like a useless lump or are you going to actually do something?"

Scrambling to his feet, the glasses wearing one attempted to actually body tackle Kalawarner. Since this would have placed his head right in her chest, his reasoning for such a move was suspect, not that it worked. Kalawarner simply smacked him aside with the same arm that had sent his friend reeling. He bounced off her elbow to land in the street, but luckily there was no traffic at the moment, and the few other passerby merely smirked at the little street theater before hurrying along on their own affairs.

The taller boy attempted to grapple with Kalawarner from the side, but she simply stepped back and used Hyoudou as a shield, actually smacking him into the other boy and sending the taller one stumbling to his rear as Hyoudou became even more frantic to get free of her grip. A kick then flicked out, catching the one with glasses in his ankle and sending him face first onto the concrete.

"She's too strong!" groaned the taller boy, scrambling away as Kalawarner raised her leg. The fact that this gave him a panty shot was actually ignored in favor of noting how her heel looked as pointed as a stiletto, and she was eyeing him like a bug she wanted to crush. Unlike his friend Issei, that look did nothing but fill him with dread. "Flee, my compatriots!"

The one in glasses moaned, but another kick to his rear as he lay on the ground sent him ass over kettle, and he groaned, stumbling to his feet and racing away. "Retreat and fight another day! No one treasure is worth this!"

Still stuck in Kalawarner's grip, Hyoudou bellowed, "Hey, don't just leave me like this, you bastards!"

"Every man for himself!" shouted the tall one. "Your sacrifice will be remembered!"

"And remember, you have redeeming qualities, Issei!" the other one shouted as he too raced off.

"Screw you guys!" Issei shouted.

"That's it?" Kalawarner asked, releasing Hyoudou. "How boring."

Growling, Issei got to his feet and faced her. "Give that back! We bought it fair and square! Even if you've got a magnificent set of oppai, that doesn't entitle you to just steal a man's treasure like that!"

"What, you aren't going to try and take it? At least you're somewhat more intelligent than your two friends," Kalawarner taunted. She opened the package, pulling out a porn magazine of some kind. Of course. She looked over it at Issei drolly. "Really?"

"Don't judge me! A man has needs, and one of those is oppai!" Issei said, attempting to sound virtuous. "Now give it back!"

Rolling her eyes, Kalawarner reached out and slapped him upside the head with the magazine so hard he nearly fell to his knees despite the fact that it looked as if she'd just given him a dope slap. Staring down at the boy, she shook her head. "Don't beg, please, not about porn. That's just beyond sad."

"Who asked you, lady!?" Issei said, grumbling as he pushed himself upright once more before staring at her glumly, his eyes tracking between her face and her chest, before he shook himself and closed his eyes, actually placing his hands behind him like a man facing the gallows. "Well, get it over with. I suppose I can take my beating like a man, unlike those two!"

"That would be admirable if your beating were for literally anything else in God's creation," Kalawarner said with a bark of laughter, though she was looking at him thoughtfully for a moment. There could be something underneath the exterior…. Very, very deep, she though with amusement.

But frankly, Kalawarner wasn't in the mood to go searching for it. She wasn't even in the mood to beat him up anymore. You know, she thought suddenly, there's no one I can really ask for advice on this issue, not and get some actual advice instead of sarcasm, taunting, or contempt. But he is a boy. He could give me at least a little insight on how Potter might think, right? God, I'm desperate, aren't I?

Even though she thought that, Kalawarner decided to go along with the idea of asking Issei for some advice. It probably wouldn't give her anything, but even asking might make her feel better. "I'll let you go. I won't give this back to you, but I'll let you go without a beating if you answer a question for me."

Issei opened his eyes, looking at her suspiciously. "What?"

"If a woman, a woman who was giving you mixed signals, say, did something or tried to do something you really didn't like—made a mistake—what would you, that is…," Kalawarner stuttered. Dammit, this is harder than I thought. I'm a millennia old Fallen Angel who fell due to the sin of lust, and I can't get out the words to ask for advice on a relationship?! Ugh, how pathetic is this?

Intellectually, Kalawarner knew why that was. Angels were not supposed to be as emotional as humans, and, of course, there was nothing in their society that had anything like the casual relationships humans formed between them. Further, as a Fallen, Kalawarner had been twisted by the sin she had fallen for. Emotions were only peripherally connected to lust, and she had spent millennia not allowing them to affect her work, pushing them further away and falling deeper into her sin. While she was now trying to fight her way out, to change her ways, she didn't have any of the personal experience with real relationships humans had.

Despite that, she still went on, finishing her question. "From a guy's perspective, how should she try to make that kind of mistake go away?"

"…We're not talking about trying to poke holes where they shouldn't, are we? Or poke fingers where they shouldn't go?" Issei asked worriedly, backing away and actually holding his rear for a moment. "No guy is really into that unless they're gay!"

"Nothing like that, you idiot!" Kalawarner shouted before groaning just as loud. "You know what, nevermind! Just get out of here."

"Wait," Issei said suddenly, looking at her now more seriously. It actually made him look a little better than he had, which was somewhat surprising. "You're serious, right? You're talking about doing something that messed up a relationship or something?"

"Yes, dammit!" Kalawarner barked back, causing him to twitch and actually cower a little. "Just forget I said anything," she muttered, turning away. "Go on, get out of here."

"You, you can't," Issei said, causing Kalawarner to turn back to him from where she had been about to storm off. "You can't make it go away if you make a mistake like that. But you can, you can apologize. Talk to your boyfriend, the lucky bastard!" Issei growled, his hands actually clenching and unclenching at his side as he looked at her. "You can try to see what he thinks; ask him what he wants you to do to apologize. But don't think they'll forget. Just apologize as honestly as possible. That's all you can do."

Kalawarner blinked, then blinked again, her face taking on a wondering, almost astonished look. "That, that actually makes sense! Where the hell did that come from, pervert?" she asked wonderingly.

"Are you kidding me!?" Issei said, looking at her incredulously. "Whatever you did, it can't be that bad. Any guy would cut off his left arm to be with a girl that's as good looking as you."

Rolling her eyes at that, Kalawarner waved him off, actually tossing the package to him. "That'll do, boy. Quit while you're ahead. Get out of here. Though why you lot would buy magazines when you have the Internet, I don't know."

"The Internet is amazing, it's true, a glorious treasure trove of oppai," Issei replied seriously, nodding his head like an art connoisseur agreeing with a point someone else had made about a famous painting. "But there's something about holding the magazine in your hand that makes the fantasies better. Plus, magazines can be used in bed."

"Too much information. Seriously, learn how to put a lid on that, brat," Kalawarner replied dully, all her earlier amused surprise at how his advice had actually made sense disappearing. "Now get out of here before I decide to give you that beating you wanted."

Watching Issei run off after his friends, Kalawarner sighed. Well, now I know what to do. I just need to build up the courage to try.

OOOOOOO

Lily scowled as she stretched in her chair before pushing to her feet grimacing. She felt her muscles and bones twitching when they shouldn't be and she fought to keep in a growl as the school rang signaling the end of the day. It's about time darn it! Thank goodness we don't have school tomorrow; I'd be really annoyed with another day like this.

Scowling further, but this time at herself, Lily shook her head, sending her wild red hair flying. No, stop that, Lily. Yes, school's boring, especially those darn writing lessons! But that's not the main reason you're irritable these days. Remember what Daddy said: don't let the inner wolfie out until you can put it on a leash.

It was a full moon tonight, and, like her father, Lily had to deal with more werewolf issues around the full moon. This wasn't unusual, though the severity of their issues was. All normal werewolves were forced to change at the full moon. Harry and Lily weren't forced to change, and, indeed, these days Harry barely felt it, which, given the revelations about his blood he had come to a few weeks ago and his Occlumency, made some sense.

Lily, on the other hand, became somewhat irritable, her body twitching, itching under the skin and not quite under her control any longer. It hadn't been so bad at first, since she had learned why she felt like that, but every month the twitching and moodiness got a little worse. Despite that, she was unwilling to tell her dad about her problems, believing it was simply part of her heritage and not wanting to burden him any further.

This was especially true since Lily secretly wondered at times how many of the problems between her daddy and mother were because of her. She had often overheard people when they went around with other magical people that thought she was a freak, and, of course, the few other magical children she played with just repeated that, only louder. Now, knowing she wasn't even a werewolf, that they had been right to call her a freak, made it even worse.

When Lily was thinking straight she didn't care about what other people said. She couldn't even care less about being a werewolf or how it was supposedly a curse. She liked it. She liked the fact that she was quicker, faster, stronger than other kids her age, and that she shared it with her daddy. But that was awful hard to keep in her head at this time of the month.

Come on, Lily! It's just a—what did Auntie Luna call it once?—a secondary monthly monster? And I have to deal with that. She didn't understand the second part of that phrase or why her daddy had groaned so loudly when he heard that before proceeding to bang his head on the table. At the time it had just been funny, but it was definitely a monster to deal with these days.

As she nearly stumbled when she picked up her shoes, Lily pouted, reaching for them again. …Grr. Maybe I should tell dad about it, she thought. I know he had to deal with some of the same things, at least at first. Maybe it won't be that big a deal?

Lily paused at that as she pulled her shoes on, then shook her head. No, he'd want me to stay home and spend time with him while we deal with it, and tonight's our victory sleepover. No way will I want to miss that. "And besides, he's got enough to deal with," she said virtuously to herself.

With that Lily headed over to her friends, smiling and exchanging high fives at how their project had been received that morning before leaving the school to meet up with the host girl's parents. Harry had known about this for a while and had already gone over to their house to cover it with a variety of protective spells.

Thus Harry wasn't there to pick her up, and Lily left school with a few of her other friends and their parents. They were going to pick up some party food before heading over to the host house for some games and then out to dinner and a movie. It was the newest One Piece movie, and she was eager to see how Luffy and his crew would make fools of themselves once more before saving the day.

So happy was Lily, talking to her friends, that she didn't notice a few people near the school had paused as they walked along the road to watch them, fading almost into the background as they did. Both men wore long trench-coats over white pants and shirts which had a slightly clerical look to them. One was young with a slightly pointed chin, odd red eyes, and black hair, which looked wet and almost slick, like it had been recently dyed. The other was shorter and a little older looking, with a close-cropped beard and deep brown eyes.

"She's young, but you can feel the taint from here! A freaking werewolf; touched by Satan they are! And there she is, just walking around like any other normal girl. And it's full moon tonight, which means those other girls are in danger of being turned! In the name of God, we should save them," the younger man said to the other before smirking and licking his lips, a gleam of madness entering his eyes. "By hunting down that little bitch and skinning her for a rug!"

"You know what the Fallen have said. We can't act out until they say so," the other man replied. "Even with as blatant a threat to normal people as that little bitch of a werewolf is."

"Fallen!" the other man spat, shaking his head and turning away. "So certain in their own strength over us they give us orders like that, but also too wimpy to actually do anything! I say it's time we start cleaning up this town from the demonic filth in it, and I think I'll start with her."

"Just be careful you don't get caught," said the other man mildly. "Otherwise, go for it."

OOOOOOO

With Lily out with their sleepover and having already covered that house with protective spells, Harry spent some time getting ahead with his paperwork before picking Akeno up at the house most of Rias's peerage shared, though few knew that. He was answered at the door by Kiba, who smiled in welcome at the older man who had become one of his closest friends in the past few months.

"I am wondering if I should be taking notes every time you show up at the door," Kiba asked half-jokingly as Harry waited by the door for Akeno to come down. "Just the other day Tsubaki-san and I were wondering about going to a karaoke bar ourselves."

"I'll be sure to write up a review for you," Harry replied with a chuckle, looking at Kiba closely. "And how's that working out for you?"

"Very well," Kiba replied honestly with a smile of pure contentment. "You've noticed, I'm sure, that my fan club has shrunk dramatically?" Harry nodded, and Kiba went on. "What you might not know is that Tsubaki-san had something of a following too made of both boys and girls, and they also have backed off. Not all of them are happy about our being together. I've gotten numerous death threats, in fact, in the form of letters left in my shoe locker. But despite that our lives are much simpler now without so much attention on either one of us."

"And that's the most romantic thing you can think of?" Rias asked, coming up behind Kiba and gently smacking the back of his head. "That being together makes your lives easier?"

"No, but then, I don't have to tell you about all of the good things that come with having a significant other, now, do I, Buchou?" Kiba asked, looking back at her.

"Don't rub it in," Rias growled.

Having to hide their relationship over the past few weeks had not been fun for her. Akeno seemed to get a kick out of it, and Harry couldn't honestly complain, given the fact they could still flirt, if lightly, in the ORC clubroom. But he had to agree with Rias that the fact that they couldn't be open about their relationship was a bit of an irritation. "Still," he said philosophically, "If our relationship lasts long enough we won't have to worry about that in the long term."

Most girls her age might have been worried about the way Harry said that in a variety of ways. But Rias simply nodded. Despite her physical attraction to Harry she wouldn't have entered into a relationship with him if she didn't think they would be able to make it work for the long haul. "You better believe it!"

Akeno's voice sounded out from behind her two friends. "Ara. As amusing as this conversation could become, I think I would like to cut it short and get on with our date. What do you say, Potter -sensei, or rather, Harry-kun?"

Still smiling, Rias moved to one side, letting Akeno walk forward past her and Kiba, who moved to the other side of the doorway. Rather than wearing her normal school uniform, Akeno was wearing a pair of jeans which looked as if they had been grafted onto her legs and a loose, black colored blouse with long sleeves. Despite being loose, however, it still accented the curve of her chest, given the amount of cleavage it showed, the top two buttons undone. Her ponytail was still in place, yet this new ensemble seemed to give it a bit more impact in an odd sort of way.

"You look amazing, Akeno," Harry said honestly. "Though a little more down to earth than I expected. You normally give off a very high class air, so this is rather surprising."

"Karaoke isn't the kind of thing you want to get dressed up for. If you're doing it right, you can get quite a bit of exercise~. As for me, I'm just a bundle of contradictions," Akeno teased, smiling at Harry and looking him up and down. "You look good too. Though not as animalistic as I had hoped. Isn't tonight a full moon?"

"It is, but thanks to my unique heritage and my Occlumency, I don't have much of a problem with the full moon unless it's a full moon coinciding with Halloween for some reason. Before our discussion I had simply assumed that it was because I had learned Occlumency prior to my being bitten, but since then, I suppose it's more because my nature is pulled towards the sun as much as the moon. For now, though, let's set aside these serious thoughts and have some fun tonight," Harry replied with a smirk.

Harry too was wearing jeans—though his obviously were not nearly as formfitting—along with a white T-shirt with a black sleeveless vest over it. It made him look a little younger than he actually was until you saw the smirk he was wearing as he looked back at Akeno. That smirk set her pulse to racing, and, when he held out his hand after he finished speaking, she took it, actually feeling her hand tremble slightly in his.

Watching from the side, Rias felt that familiar pang of jealousy, but then Harry looked at her and smiled. "You know, after this I'll have to take you both out on a date at the same time. Just to see if this whole multi-relationship thing works out."

"Why don't you like to use 'harem?'" Akeno asked curiously, cocking her head even as she stepped forward to Harry's side and turned slightly to look at both him and her friends. "It would certainly be less of a mouthful."

"Because at least emotionally, I prefer that we are all equals. I don't want a relationship where all the women concentrate solely on me. We all have to care for one another equally," Harry said simply.

Both Akeno and Rias smiled at that, while Harry looked around in puzzlement. "Where's Koneko?"

"She's out on a few of her contracts this evening. She'll be back, though. She and I have plans to have a nice night in. Kiba, on the other hand, has about forty minutes to get ready for his own date…," Rias said, trailing of as she looked at her Knight with one eyebrow raised. "Unless you want to make Tsubaki-san wait, of course?"

"Actually, she has already read me into the wards around her and Sona-sama's home, so I will only require twenty minutes to get ready," Kiba replied simply, but he still moved back into the house. Unlike Rias's smaller peerage, most of Sona's peerage still lived with their own families. "Have fun, you two."

"What he said," Rias said with a smile, pulling her friend into a hug and whispering into her ear fiercely. "And don't do anything on a first date you'll regret later."

"In other words, don't do anything you haven't already?" Akeno whispered, unwilling to back down.

Rias pulled her tighter, their breasts squishing together, but still forced out a laughed as she moved back.

Again, however, Harry seemed to understand what he had to do to keep the peace. He moved forward, putting his arms around her in turn and kissing her lightly on the lips before pulling away with a faint, dare she say, loving, smile on his face. "We'll see you later, Rias."

Rias smiled back, and then watched as the two of them walked off. One way or another, whatever happens we'll get through this, we'll get through this together.

OOOOOOO

At the same time that Harry and Akeno were starting their date, a newcomer to the area was arriving. Asia Argento was her name. She was a short, blonde haired young girl with a trim figure, around fifteen years of age, though the innocent look in her light green eyes as she stepped off the train made her look younger. She was currently wearing a cloak over a nun's habit, tied at her waist with a simple rope braid. Her long blonde hair was set free down her back, but on top of her head she was wearing what looked like a wimple. Around her neck she wore a small cross, which she touched lightly as she looked around her.

Staring at the girl thoughtfully, Kalawarner felt a myriad of confusing emotions. First was something like envious hate; how long had it been since she was that innocent? A part of Kalawarner wanted to ruin that innocence, to drown it in sin or pain. The second was confusion, wondering how a girl who had been kicked out of the Church could still believe in God as this one seemed to, given her hand on the cross. How, by Lucifer's light, did the Church ever think this little girl should be kicked out of the Church for just one mistake? Oh well. Their loss is our gain. And her presence might be useful for my own plans too.

"Asia Argento?" she asked, stepping forward from the pillar she had been leaning against and sending a glare at two men who had been about to approach the young blonde. The sight of the tall woman and her glare sent them scurrying backward, and she looked quickly back to the girl. "I'm Kalawarner. I was sent to escort you."

"Oh, thank you! Um, yes, I'm Asia, or, darn it, that should be Argento, shouldn't it?" Asia replied, her Japanese coming out with a marked accent and with some hesitation.

"Speak Italian if you want to, Asia. I can speak that language well enough too. But in the future, yes, it would be Argento Asia-san to any native Japanese," Kalawarner said, not unkindly, even if she had to fight the urge to roll her eyes. Good grief, she's practically leaking cuteness out of her pores. "You would address superiors with '-sama,' strangers or equals with '-san,' younger children or a loved one with '-chan,' or '-kun.' Close friends and loved ones would also just use your first name without an addition or with the '-chan.'"

"Oh, praise the Lord. I might have learned Japanese, but the sentence structure and how to address people is so confusing," Asia replied in kind, smiling happily and with a demeanor so friendly that even Kalawarner, jaundiced though she was, could but smile back. "Thank you for picking me up, Kalawarner. I was also worried about finding my way to the church by myself. I'm afraid my sense of direction is not the best."

"Well then, we should get going," Kalawarner replied, and without another word she turned away, causing Asia to have to hurry to catch up.

They exited the train station, and Asia looked around avidly, her eyes gleaming with interest. "Outside of Rome I've never been in a city before," she confided to Kalawarner. "It all looks so amazing! Um, can, can we look around for a bit before going to the church? Unless you have work for me, of course!" she added hastily. "The Lord's work always comes first!"

"No, we don't have anything for you to do just yet. If you want we can take our time going to the church," Kalawarner said with a sigh. "But if we are going to do that, I think you need to practice your Japanese at the same time." Why me?

As she watched the girl flit from one store to the next, Kalawarner shook her head. She's so, so innocent. The little girl was staring at everything avidly and smiling brightly at everyone who met her eyes. The fact that most of them smiled back, somewhat hesitantly in a few cases, seemed to buoy her along.

And she believes that we are still following God, too. She's not like the rest of us, who have given up on His ways or turned our backs on Him. Even stranger from Kalawarner's point of view was that Asia seemed interested in her too. She continually asked questions both personal and about Japan and other places Kalawarner had seen, but never seemed to take Kalawarner's brusque answers to the personal questions to heart. In fact, Kalawarner found she actually began to like the young girl against her better judgment.

That bothered Kalawarner. She could count on the fingers of one hand the number of people she had worked with that she liked enough to get along with. The fact that Asia treated her like this threw Kalawarner off her stride. A part of her still wanted to tear away Asia's innocence, but that part diminished as their walk continued, slowly subsumed by the growing part of her that wanted to change her ways.

Eventually, however, the sun started to go down, and Kalawarner sighed. "Asia-chan, it's time to return to the church. Come on."

Sighing with resignation, Asia pulled herself away from where she had been staring into a pet store. "All right, Kalawarner-san. But if we have nothing planned this evening besides evening prayer, do you think I can go out a little later?"

"Maybe, but I have another job I need to be doing this evening," Kalawarner said with a sigh, now wanting to get away from the girl. The way she was starting to get under Kalawarner's skin, to make her like the youngster, bothered her a lot. I do not need any more complications right now, Lucifer curse it!

Her job that evening dealt with training Saji with his Sacred Gear as Raynare kept an eye on a few of the local devils who were running a study group that evening for a test on Monday. Raynare was confident enough with her disguise to do so, though the decision to try had been a tough one to reach. But, given the fact that they would begin moving within the week, they needed to know as much about how the devils themselves moved as possible.

"And I, for one, am getting kind of hungry. Have you ever had real Japanese food, not the American and European version?" Kalawarner asked.

"No, what's the difference?" Asia asked, cocking her head to one side.

"A lot less meat and a lot more rice, basically. Just stay away from the sushi for now until you have one of the others around that can point out which ones are good to eat. I do not cook with raw goods," she said firmly.

Dinner went remarkably well, with only a few of the exorcists around, none of whom were the kind to make things difficult or, in Kalawarner's opinion, simply creep Asia out. If they could keep Asia away from the exorcists entirely, especially that Freed fellow, she would be very, very happy. There was just something about Asia's innocence which made her want to protect the young girl for some reason. She knew what was planned for Asia, of course, but hadn't been bothered by that before. Now, however, already dealing with feelings of guilt and self-loathing, Kalawarner was wondering if her plans for Saji could also be extended to help this innocent.

"I'm sorry that the exterior looks so dilapidated. We don't really have the funds to repair both the interior and the exterior," Kalawarner said as they cleaned up. The kitchen refectory and back rooms had all been renovated by the Fallen themselves after they had moved in. Most Fallen had some skill in creating hiding places or doing carpentry and so on. But the exterior still looked as if it the entire church was abandoned.

"Oh, no. Please, don't worry about it," Asia said cheerfully. "The trappings of the exterior don't really matter in comparison to the reality."

"Wise words," Kalawarner said with a chuckle. "Let me show you the library for now. You can spend a few hours reading before your evening prayers. But then I really have to go."

Once Asia was safely ensconced in the library, she nodded to Dohnaseek and a few other of the more sane-seeming exorcists who they had eaten with. "I'm off."

"And when will you return?" Dohnaseek asked.

She shrugged. "Say, around ten, eleven, maybe? Raynare asked me to push Saji's training hard, so that's what I'm going to do."

"Why she chose you for that job, I don't understand," Dohnaseek grumbled. "Surely, as the most experienced of us all in actual combat, that job should be going to me."

"You couldn't motivate him as much as I can," Kalawarner said, pulling lightly at the front of her shirt to show him what kind of motivation she was using.

That she was waiting for Saji to react to the hint she dropped him a few days ago was something she left unsaid, of course. She was actually starting to wonder how long it would take the pretty boy to work up the courage or maybe even the curiosity to do so, or if he was just too busy staring at her tits to remember what she had said at the time. I thought the cue card was an interesting little trick, but it might have backfired. Still, maybe with Asia around I have another way to show my penitence.

With that final thought, Kalawarner left the church for the rest of the night. She should really have wondered if Dohnaseek, or even Mittelt, who was currently sleeping off an all-nighter, could really be trusted to watch over a young, blond girl who didn't even realize what they all were.

OOOOOOO

Lily and her friends exited the movie theater, giggling and exchanging shouted attacks from the movie they just seen. Even the chaperons were chuckling. One Piece was always good for a laugh, Lily thought to herself, then blinked as a few of the kids stared up at the sky. She resolutely did not follow their gaze. She knew what was up there. Lily felt its impact even now, but her current good mood was making it easier to ignore the twitching and 'itching under the skin' feeling as well as how the blasted circle in the sky messed with her emotions.

The two boys in the group started making howling noise at the moon, and Lily rolled her eyes, unseen by any of her friends.

It's not nearly as fun when the moon has so much control over you, she thought, trying to ignore the pressure, all the itching and other feelings she'd felt building up further in her body as the moon's rays actually beat down on her. It was always like this in the full moon, but Harry had taught her some breathing exercises to force down the instincts to subside. He warned her that, as she grew, the instincts would become more and more persistent, or at least he assumed so after asking some men and women who had been turned when they were young, like Remus.

But so long as Lily concentrated, she could ignore it. Ergh, but maybe I should really have told daddy how much this is getting to me. He told me he wanted to wait until I was older so I could create my mental landscape without doing my learning harm, but still, maybe he could have helped me. Darn it, I didn't want to bother him with this. I'm a big girl; I should be able to handle this.

Harry had explained the why of that to her as well—that his Legilimency had helped him absorb his werewolf side. Of course, he'd also been helped along in that by how odd his body already was by that point, but his lessons on that still helped other, normal werewolves like Loup. And since most of those same 'additions' had been passed on to Lily, she knew she'd be able to do the same thing.

But learning Legilimency was dangerous for unformed minds. It could have a sharp impact on how flexible Lily's mind could be, could inhibit different aspects of her mental processes, and could even mess up her emotions in the long term in favor of being able to learn more facts and more control. You had to be at least seventeen or older before you could safely start using the mental arts.

So busy was she at keeping herself under control that Lily never noticed that she had fallen behind the rest of her friends as they turned onto the near empty street where the hosts' house was, a suburban cul-de-sac with over a dozen small, neat houses on it. All of them, even her first and pretty much best friend, Tamiko, hadn't noticed either. The group of five were joking and laughing with each other or simply making fun of the two boys who had been howling at the moon earlier. The absence of Lily would have seemed unusual to them all, especially the host parents, but they were not in their right mind.

Because of the distance which had built up between her and her friends, however, Lily was able to hear the faint 'chuff' of something behind her, something going very fast. Before Lily could really understand, her instincts took over, and she dodged to the side as something really fast smacked into the ground in front of her, and Lily gasped, now recognizing what it had to be. A dart of some kind?

She looked around, then dodged again as there was another sound from behind her, and another dart flew by where she had been standing. A man leaped over the fence in front of a house nearby, smirking evilly down her as he raised a knife. He was a little older looking than her father, with red eyes and a spare frame and wearing something that looked like it belonged on a church person of some kind. "Hello, shitty werewolf! Praise the Lord, your sinful life will end tonight on the edge of my holy blade!"

The fact that the blade gleamed silver in the moonlight meant that the man could very well make good his boast. While Lily knew intellectually that she might have some of the same healing ability her father did, the only time that had been tested was the time she'd fallen from a tree and her broken arm had healed before her mother could finish rushing to her from where she had just shouted at her to get out of the tree in question. Even if she was in her right mind, she didn't want to test that healing ability against silver if she could help it.

Desperately, Lily leaped backwards, for once using all of the speed and agility at her command, wondering desperately where her friends had gone as she shouted, "HELP! Help! Lolicon rapist!" She honestly only understood the last term a bit, but she understood the first term pretty well by this point and also knew that combining the two and shouting it at the top of her lungs should bring a lot of people either running or shouting for the police themselves as they took out their phones to record whatever was going on. The Japanese were weird like that.

This time, however, all her shouting brought was laughter from the young man in front of her. "Hahahah! Yeah, yeah, I'm bad, baby! I might kill you and rape your corpse, but I'm also smart about how I go about doing the Lord's work, even if it's work the Church would never condone, as shitty as it is! It would not serve our ends for people to realize redemption is at hand, so we used our holy crosses on everyone in the area. No one here's going to hear your little cries until my holy work is done!"

The exorcist would have tried to throw up a bounded field around them, as devils and Fallen routinely did if they had to get into a fight in public, but none of them knew how, since that spell was rather more energy intensive than most humans could use, like many in the Factions' shared arsenal. The most the exorcists could do, even those like Freed who, while insane were also extremely skilled, was use magical items to influence people's minds.

With the number of magical spells protecting the house where Lily was staying that evening, Freed and the group of four like-minded individuals Freed had gathered for this task had staked out the neighborhood it was in. That was the closest any of them were willing to get to the house, given the defensive spells set about it, which they could barely discern thanks to their training. From there they followed the group of children to the restaurant and the movie theater, carefully marking the group's route and then began to influence people's minds around the area to keep them away while they were in the theater.

By the time the youngsters were heading home, everyone in the area had either left or was inside, deaf and dumb. Worse for Lily, the fact that they had used magical items had neatly bypassed the limited observation bubble the devils kept on the Kuoh area, a fact that would no doubt piss both heiresses off the moment they heard of it.

Right now, however, that didn't matter, because Lily Luna Potter, all of seven years old, if a rather precocious seven years old, now found herself fighting for her life. Whimpering, Lily dodged again around the knife, her mind almost blank for once as she began to panic entirely. She was panicking so much that she forgot entirely about the portkey necklace she wore, although it was debatable whether she would've remembered it in any event, giving the effect of the full moon, whose impact on the fight was almost immediate.

So busy was she dodging that Lily's self-control over her werewolf side slipped. Between one dodge and the next the full moon above her started to work its magic, and Lily, for the first time in her life, began to change, shredding her clothing.

Adult werewolves under the control of the curse would become monsters that would strike out at anyone. This was not up for debate; it was simple known fact, the outlier that was Harry Potter notwithstanding. If they changed on the full moon unconsciously, no werewolf would be able to control themselves from lashing out at any human being nearby. Animals would be safe, hence why the other marauders had become animagi to be with their friend.

This was rather simple to understand. When placed in unknown situations or around strangers whose smells were alien or dangerous to them, animals, especially predators, would lash out. It was simply the fight or flight reflex.

Young children, on the other hand, did not fall on the fight side of that equation. When faced with unusual smells or actual danger, children would run. That was what Lily did now. She ran. She ran as fast as she could.

Leaping from a standing start, she passed over a fence and turned, running. Behind her she could hear other sounds like those first darts and dodged this way and that, leaping over a tiny wading pool. The sides of the pool popped as the darts struck it, but she carried on, leaping over an iron fence.

Behind her Freed howled in humor as he raced after her, only to scowl as Lily's speed started to leave him behind. "That little bitch is fast! But keep after her anyway! She must die in the name of the Lord!"

"And stop using your dart guns," said another voice over the earbud Freed had in one ear, this one almost as bloodthirsty but a little more controlled. "She's running into the rest of the town. We'll have to be wary of being noticed by civilians. And remember how many damned, curséd devils there are here."

Freed scowled but nodded, putting away his dart gun and leaping up to land on a rooftop nearby to stare at the small figure racing down the road away from them. Three other exorcists had attempted to cut off Lily's escape, but she had raced to quickly for the first one, dodged the other, and then actually slipped between the third's legs as he went for an overhead blow with his sword.

That sight actually made Freed laugh. "Hah, that'll fucking teach you, Jario!" he chortled, shaking his head he spoke into the microphone embedded in his mock-cassock. "Hey, I don't suppose anyone knows where we could get our hands on some shitty pest control uniforms?"

"No, you fucking necrophiliac, we don't. In case your memory's crapped out on you like your pecker, I should remind you we arrived with you just this morning," said a third voice, sounding a little winded but just as manic as Freed. "Why?"

"Fuck you," Freed said almost conversationally. "As to the reason why I wondered about the outfits, the little bitch just went full wolf. She's a little running puppy now, and I bet, given her age, she's got no more control than any puppy."

Elsewhere the last of the exorcists had raced after Lily without taking any time to curse or taunt her or even banter with his fellow crazies. Instead he just wanted the kill, to see the little inhuman bitch's blood on his blade. He raced after her, leaving behind the small street, out into the rest of the city, twisting around a few passersby and ignoring their shouts of irritation as he plunged through them, most of them assuming he was after the puppy that had slipped around their legs.

A second later the man raced into an alleyway. At the end of it the puppy had started to push itself through a hole in a tall, wooden wall separating this side of the alleyway from the other. But it looked to have gotten stuck. Cackling to himself, the exorcist marched forward, pulling his dagger out. A normal exorcist's sword blade was made of Light magic, the same kind Fallen and Angels could make use of. But these exorcists had been warned to buy silver blades for this operation by Dohnaseek, who was worried about Potter. Using them against his daughter just made sense.

"Nowhere to run, little bitch. Now it's time to die. Don't worry, though; I'll make it slow," the exorcist said, slashing down.

But puppy-Lily had dug the hole around her body large enough to just barely squeeze through the hole. The silver dagger came down, cutting into her side, and instantly the paralyzing pain made her howl in pain. But the fear of it also gave her enough strength to push through the hole and away. She also left behind the necklace, which had been snagged by a bit of the wooden railing where it stuck into the small hole she had crawled through.

Cursing angrily, the exorcist stood back and began to gather himself to leap over the wooden wall. But then a hand descended on his shoulder. "What the fuck, man! You just barge past us without an apology? I don't know where you come from, gaijin, but around here that don't fly!"

Snarling, the exorcist turned, and a punch flashed out, catching the other man—a tall, muscular young man with tattoos—in the jaw, sending him stumbling backward. "I don't have time to deal with you, heathen!"

With that the exorcist turned and leaped over the wooden wall after Lily. But she was already gone. The only thing left was a blood trail leading out towards the busier road at the other end of the alleyway. "FUCK!" So busy was the man cursing, he didn't even notice the small necklace left behind in the hole, instead racing after the trail of blood.

OOOOOOO

The karaoke bar was a small, one-story building with several partitioned rooms set off a long hallway. At the end of the hallway was a fully stocked bar and restaurant, which catered to each room in turn if the users called in on a phone set into the walls inside. The interior of each of those squares was the same: a large TV screen set on one wall and two sofas facing inwards from the side walls at a table set with glasses of cheap tea. Besides the tea was a large binder full of songs programmed into the karaoke machine, two microphones, and a restaurant menu.

It was interesting, and Harry asked, "This looks like a fun place. Do they give family discounts?"

"It depends on the time of day," Akeno answered, inputting a few commands into the karaoke machine set to one side. "You rent by the hour multiplied by the individuals. But coming during the day is much cheaper than coming at night when they're busier. Do you have any preference?"

"Only that I don't sing first," Harry said with a laugh, watching her move around the room purposefully. It was very obvious that Akeno had done this before. "So," he asked lightly, "how often do you come out to sing?"

"I've never actually been in a karaoke bar before. Although I do like to sing," Akeno said, pausing briefly to look up at him, her violet eyes expressive. "I sometimes sing in the shower and sometimes when I'm alone in the house, where we actually have our own karaoke machine. I sang Koneko to sleep a few times right after she had joined us, and even Kiba once or twice when he had nightmares. Though Rias helped with both of those."

"And what style of song do you like?"

"Honestly?" Again Akeno paused in her movement, smiling at him. "American rock for the most part. Their women singers are allowed a far wider range of styles that they can pursue and become popular in. The whole J-pop scene has completely flooded the media business, not allowing for many female singers outside of that genre to become popular. And don't get me started about what girls have to do to get ahead, sometimes, in their agencies. I have taken a few contracts with girls in that business, and I know that there are many other devils who have done the same."

"To protect them from being abused, I take it?" Harry asked.

"Exactly. To allow them to get ahead through using their voice rather than their bodies. That doesn't happen as often as certain doujin games might make it seem, but it does happen." Akeno smirked, running her hands down both of her sides for a moment, watching in delight as Harry let his eyes track the movement. "I have no problem with putting my body on display to elicit a response. However, I have a major problem with the idea of someone believing they are entitled to my body simply because they're helping me get ahead in my career."

Harry hummed appreciatively, still watching her hands for a moment before looking back up at her face. "That's interesting. I would have thought you would be more interested in Japanese classical or Japanese country. So, is that your dream for the future?" When Akeno nodded, he let loose a light laugh. "Huh, not even ten minutes here and I'm already learning new things about you, Akeno."

"There is a lot about me that you need to learn, Harry," Akeno said, her earlier teasing mood disappearing like vapor as she gripped the microphone tightly. "A lot of it is going to be very painful for me."

Harry stood up and pulled her down onto his lap, hugging Akeno tightly. "You don't have to pour out your entire soul all at once, Akeno," he said softly into her ear, allowing his hands to move up and down her back comfortingly. "You just need to be willing to share in the future. To share your dreams, your hopes, your emotions, not just your desires. Your past you can keep to yourself, so long as you promise to share eventually like I have with you."

"No," she said with a sigh, burying her head against his shoulder, her voice a murmur as she spoke, her lips moving against the skin of his neck, sending a delightful feel up his spine. "It's best to get the worst over with right away, like pulling off a bandage."

"I've heard that before, and I've been bandaged more often than I care to think, and I am still not certain if that saying is actually true," Harry replied, resting his chin on the top of her head. "But if that's what you want, I'll listen to whatever you say."

"And will you promise that you still give us a chance once I'm done?" she asked, her lips now trembling.

Harry laughed quietly. "I don't think anything you say could make me turn away from you in the manner you seem to be afraid of, Akeno. I can't say that you and I will work out in the long term, but whatever you tell me about your past or whatever you are hiding there won't be why we don't. That I can promise."

Akeno laughed, then slowly pushed out of her place on his lap, not even trying to get a final bum wiggle in. "That means a lot to me, Harry. Thank you. For now, though, we sing."

"You first!" Harry said quickly, reiterating his first point. "I have to work up my courage for this!"

Giggling, Akeno moved back over to the karaoke machine and entered the number for the first song.

Akeno turned out to have an incredibly good voice, not that Harry was surprised by that. She sang the American song, No Roots, then Adele's Rumor Has It. She performed both magnificently, scoring 100 percent on the karaoke machine each time.

"You really do have an amazing voice," Harry said with a laugh as he clapped heartily. "I'll have to bring along Lily the next time we do this. She would seriously get a kick out of trying to compete with you."

"Ara, does the munchkin have a good singing voice?" Akeno asked, looking amused.

"Not at all," Harry said with a laugh. "I don't either. That's what will make it hilarious."

Akeno giggled. "That seems rather cruel."

"Parenting often is," Harry said with the most dead pan expression he could muster.

"However," Akeno went on, holding out the dreaded microphone. "It's now your turn."

Harry tried to sing Highway to Hell —which he thought was appropriate and which caused Akeno to giggle—and then another song from the Beatles before they ordered some food. Akeno took the time the food took to arrive to sing two more songs, both of them American songs Harry haven't heard before.

The food arrived, and, like Harry had inwardly feared, it was somewhere between fast food and that found in a bar. The drinks were incredibly good in Harry's estimation; the food, however, was well below his standard. Akeno said much the same thing from where she had nuzzled into his side as they ate.

Despite his concerns about the long term, Harry had to admit he was having a lot of fun with this. It was very much like his first date with Rias, very fun and interesting. And between songs they had talked. They haven't shared anything deep just yet, but, given the way Akeno was drinking down her sixth strawberry daiquiri, Harry believed that she felt she needed some liquid courage before getting to whatever deep, dark secret she had .

Or do I need to take the plunge first? Still, what can I share with her that I haven't already? That would get her to open up further? She says she wants to rip the Band-Aid off, and should I even go with that or tell her to ease into it? After all, Akeno's self-loathing isn't the only reason why I am uncertain if a relationship between us can work.

Setting aside his own social mores and that aspect of Akeno's personality, the other reasons Harry was uncertain about he and Akeno having a future came in three areas: her mixed signals toward Lily, whether or not her dreams for the future were compatible with his own, and her 'interests.' Harry supposed those last were just in S&M, but Rias had hinted that there was more to it.

Deciding to be bold about dealing with this conversation, Harry reached around Akeno with one arm and pulled her sideways until she was sitting once more in his lap. While not exactly the best position for a serious conversation, at least this way the two of them could look one another in the eye without having to twist their necks or having a table between them. "So, Rias and I have talked about the future recently, mostly in the form of long term goals and dreams, not our relationship, per se. She wants to become the strongest head of Gremory house that has ever been. What about you? Do you have a goal in mind as a devil or as a woman?"

"And Rias-chan wants to have a large family. I've known that since practically the moment we met. Don't think I'm going to overlook that when I'm sitting on top of the thing which might help her achieve that goal," Akeno said archly with a slight hint of slur to her words. Whatever immunity devils had to drink had evidently been met by the amount of alcohol she had consumed up to this point. "Ara, and I do believe it likes me~," she went on, wiggling her rump a bit as Harry's body responded.

But if she had expected this to shock Harry, she was mistaken. Instead he simply smiled at her, his hands falling to her hips to still her movement with an ease that spoke of his werewolf-given strength. "Hmm, it likes you, just like I do. But that's not going to change my question, Akeno. What are your dreams for the future?"

Leaning back, Akeno rested her hands on Harry's shoulders, only that and Harry's own grip on her hips holding her upright. "Hmmm…. Dreams for the future. Well, as I said, at one point I wanted to be a singer. That was before my mother was killed, of course."

She said that line so matter-of-factly that most would have thought she was over it. But Harry knew Akeno better by this point, and his hands tightened on her hips in lieu of pulling her into a hug which, Harry suspected, would not be welcome at this point.

"Now…now I want to help Rias achieve her dream and, perhaps, perhaps prove to everyone that my, my heritage doesn't matter. Beyond that, normal goals, I suppose. Nothing that defines my life like Rias's does hers. I suppose, in that way, I am actually much more normal than she is, aren't I?" Akeno actually giggled at that point.

Yet she instantly became serious again. "Family. She wants a large family. I, I can't say the idea doesn't have any appeal, but Rias is ready to be a mother now. Me, no. Not even a little. Ask me again in eighty years."

Harry chuckled at that, knowing that to be a reference to the fact devils lived for so long. Yet, at the same time, it did serve as a marked contrast between Rias and Akeno: Rias wanted to be a mother; Akeno didn't. "Is that why you don't like being around Lily?"

"I don't mind being around Lily. I think she's very cute, very intelligent, but I am not very good with kids," Akeno said with a sigh, now almost sounding sober again. "Especially little girls like her. They remind me too often of my own past."

"You know, you have to let the past go sometimes," Harry replied softly, one hand leaving Akeno's hip to cup the side of her face, his thumb gently caressing her cheek. "Learn from it, yes, but remember what I told you before, Akeno: you are not at fault for anyone else's actions. Existing is not a crime."

Akeno began to sniffle for a moment, looking like she was about to cry. Then she concentrated and wings appeared from her back. But, unlike the devil wings Harry had seen before from Rias during their second date, these were very different. One wing was that of a Devil, though it didn't look as strong as Rias's had, being thinner all around, and with the membrane between the bones looking almost sickly. The other was what could only be a angel's wing, done in black. "Even, even if I'm like this, sensei? Even if I have the blood of the Fallen in my veins?"

"I told you nothing from your past could make me reject you, Akeno, and I meant it," Harry said sternly. His hands moved around her waist and pulled her into a hug. One arm tightened around her there as the other hand rose to gently trace along her wing on that side, that of the Fallen wing. Harry could feel Akeno tremble in his arms as he did, but made no comment on it.

Knowing his next words would be very important, Harry stayed silent for a time, letting Akeno get over her trembles as his hand continued to move through her feathers softly. "Beautiful. They are beautiful just like you, Akeno-chan. Did you think I'd care that you were of mixed blood rather than mixed Japanese as I assumed? I don't care about your past, just like I don't care about Rias's family being so important. I care about you, the person, Akeno. What race you are has nothing to do with that."

Akeno's body heaved for a few moments, and Harry could feel his shirt getting wet where her face pressed into his chest. "Thank you, thank you," she whispered, her voice muted by his shirt as she slowly recovered.

Harry simply held her, smiling at yet another breakthrough with her. I might not care for her as much as I do Rias, but I can see that happening in the future. I still don't know if I could give them both the attention they deserve or that Akeno and I will prove to be compatible going forward, but at least I think I've finally shattered that self-loathing image Akeno has had of herself.

Wiping away her tears, Akeno leaned back and, to Harry's surprise, didn't go in for a kiss as he had sort of expected. Instead she was looking at him, cocking her head to one side. "You just…. In a matter of months you've shattered my shell, Harry-san. I do hope you are prepared to pay the consequences."

To Akeno, having the blood of the Fallen, the same blood as those who had killed her mother, had been one of the defining horrors of her life. It was why her extended family had made her life hell, had thrown her out and then hounded Akeno with the intent to do away with her for good. It was why she had been prepared to let them when Rias and her brother found her. Akeno had attempted to hide from it, to seal it away, to simply push it aside for fear that if she acknowledged her mixed blood, people around her would hate her for it just like her family.

Harry was now the second person to know about it and to utterly reject that concept. More, he had taken it a step further than Rias had: He had said that he cared about Akeno regardless. Je had said that it didn't matter at all to him, that she had a right to exist regardless of what anyone else said.

"Oh, and what exactly does that mean?" Harry asked, one hand moving to her cheek to wipe away her tears.

"I am a very, very bad girl se~nse~i," Akeno said with a giggle, her wings disappearing from behind her as she slowly slipped off Harry's lap to kneel on the floor until she sat on her haunches directly between his legs, her head resting against his inner thigh, her hands on his knees.

To Akeno's intense surprise Harry only reacted to this by raising an eyebrow in query. "I thought Rias said that you shouldn't do anything she hasn't?"

Giggling, Akeno retorted, "Hmmpf. Well, as fun as that would be, and I am certain it would be fun for both of us…." Akeno trailed off, actually licking her lips as she stared up at him. "That isn't where I wanted your mind to go. Not yet, anyway. I said I'm a bad girl, Harry, and I meant it. I, like, pain."

"Is this supposed to come as a surprise? You've hinted at that all along," Harry replied, actually waving that off with one hand while his other began to play with her hair once more.

"I like, no, I love pain. I like causing it, and I've recently learned I like having it done to me. I love pain, Harry, and anyone who I am in a relationship with must understand and be willing to… take me to hand, as it were, and also let me have some free reign at times," Akeno said, staring at Harry seriously.

Harry's eyes narrowed at that. "I, I don't like causing pain. I never have, not even to Riddle for all he did to me. I might have an issue with that, but I don't know if I'll dislike that kind of thing before I try it. So long as you can keep that aspect of your personality away from Lily at all times, I don't have a problem with at least trying that particular kink. Not on a first date, though," he said with a laugh.

"Mmm, I suppose that will have to do," Akeno said with a laugh. She looked up at the clock and sighed again. "Good grief, the time does fly at times. It is nearly ten already." They had bought time until ten when they entered the karaoke bar.

"Well, unless you want to sing some more, I think I'm done for the evening," Harry said with a smile. They had actually come a lot farther than he had expected tonight, frankly. Looking at Akeno, he still felt he wasn't as close to her as Rias and couldn't honestly see them together in the long term. But, but is that because of my own preconceived notions about how love should be or because of her personality? A personality which, if I'm honest, has actually grown on me over time? Regardless, my own perspective of this relationship needs to be said.

As Akeno turned toward the door, Harry stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. "Akeno, I can't say where this relationship is going in the long term. I won't reject you because of your sadist kink, and, as I said, I don't care about your past. It's just, when I see the future, my image of the future is much more in line with Rias's at the moment, because I know what I want in the future. I want a family, a large one, just like Rias. I am also still having a lot of trouble with this whole multi-relationship thing. I…."

"Harry," Akeno said with a smile, interrupting him and putting a hand over his mouth. "I don't know where I see myself in the future. Why would I have a problem with you not seeing where our relationship could go? As for the large family, we will have a lot of time to get used to the idea. Let's just see where it goes, okay?"

"…Well, I can't say it would be the first time I've gone forward without a plan. So long as you understand that and understand that I have no wish to get between you and Rias, then I suppose we can indeed see where this goes," Harry said with a laugh.

"Don't worry about that. I love my Rias too much to let anything damage our friendship. She gave me my life back and a family; I will never forget that. My jealousy about the two of you will fade, as will hers when she sees us together. Else she would never have even allowed me to try my hand with you." Akeno stared at him seriously until he nodded slowly, then switched gears, giggling wickedly. "But are you sure you wouldn't rather like to be... between us, in a certain sense?"

"You know what I mean, minx," Harry said with a launch, actually spanking Akeno hard on her rear. "Now, come on, let's get out of here."

"Mah~~, you are a quick learner, aren't you, Harry?" Akeno mused, following him out as she blushed hotly, feeling her body respond instantly to the bit of pain Harry had just given her. Mmmmm. I don't know myself my own depth of feeling towards you, Harry, be it budding love or just adoration mixed with lust, but I think I can safely say I'm going to enjoy finding out.

The two of them left the karaoke bar soon after that, and Akeno turned to Harry. "Well, the night is still somewhat young, Harry. What say we…. Harry?" She trailed off, staring at Harry who had suddenly stiffened.

He looked around him then, sniffing the air, even going so far as to transform to his werewolf form to Akeno's shock. She had not yet seen him in this form and was later surprised that his clothing expanded with him. "Lily, it's Lily. I smell her. She went by here, and she was afraid!?"

Harry could also tell there was something else there: fear, a lot of fear. He could also smell his daughter's normal rosewood and cherry scent along with the smell of fur. Shit, something caused her to transform!? An instant later he growled as the scent of blood hit him.

Akeno stared as he sniffed the air, then rushed forward, ignoring the shocked shouts and screams from all around him, then watched in growing shock as Harry turned, leaping up onto the rooftops and away. He left behind over a dozen people who had just witnessed his magic, and he couldn't care less. His daughter was in danger, and nothing else mattered now.

Behind him Akeno growled, then instantly began waving her hands around her, enchanting everyone within sight and then some to forget the last few minutes ever happened before moving to the nearest man, taking his phone, and deleting the picture he had just snapped. Harry neglected to mention that any relationship with him takes second place to his little girl, but I suppose I can't fault him if Lily is truly in danger. I wonder what is going on tonight? I'll have to call Rias later. Right now, though, I have my work cut out for me.

OOOOOOO

For once during this mission, Raynare and Kalawarner found themselves in complete agreement with one another. "What do you mean, she's gone!? You let her just wander off!?" they shrieked as one before turning to glare at one another, then back at Dohnaseek. In the background Mittelt frowned as she ate some leftovers, wondering what the hell she had missed while catching up on some sleep.

"I didn't notice her leaving, and I was never told we were supposed to keep her a prisoner," Dohnaseek said, shaking his head. "If you had wanted her to stay here, you should have told me that."

"RAAHHH! I'm surrounded by idiots!" Raynare shouted. She'd been having to put up with Saji and his teenage groping for weeks, making her normal attitude even more waspish, and she had been looking forward to getting this job over with as soon as possible. But part of that operation had to deal with Asia Argento.

"What the fuck, Dohnaseek? You know how important she is to our plans! We need Twilight Healing to test the siphon on, if nothing else. And with it we could more easily extract both Saji and the original targets!"

Kalawarner turned away, scowling. "Idiot! I'm going to go find her. Raynare, you search around here; she might not have gone far. I'll search back along the route we followed on our way here. There are a few stores that might have grabbed her interest if Asia was looking for something specific."

"Right," Raynare said, shaking her head. "And if neither of us finds her, Dohnaseek, or if one of the devils has, you and I are going to have a problem!"

OOOOOOO

Hoping to take in the sights, Asia had left the church after evening Mass. The fact that she had been the only one in the sanctuary at that time praying had been a little worrying, but Asia preferred to see the best in people. Perhaps her new benefactors were not as punctual about their observances as the Church would have liked, but they were still her benefactors.

And besides, where would I go anyway? she thought as she walked down one of the same streets she and Kalawarner had walked along before. Though she didn't show it, Asia knew that her circumstances were rather dire. Having been excommunicated and kicked out of the church, Asia had no knowledge of how to fend for herself.

"On the other hand, if I had stayed with the Church I would've never traveled! And I would've never met such interesting people either," she said to herself in Italian, then Japanese for practice. Asia knew that she would have to get used to speaking in Japanese, but that was going to take a while.

Here in Japan she hadn't met many people yet, but Kalawarner, at least, seemed nice, once Asia got to know her. The two of them had a very nice conversation as Kalawarner had prepared dinner for them and the others. The other churchgoers she hadn't talked to as yet, so she hoped that they would be friendly. The other angel, Dohnaseek, on the other hand…. Well, it hurt to say it, but he didn't seem very nice.

Maybe I can make a friend here, a friend outside the Church. That was one of Asia's fondest dreams, to make real friends, friends who associated with her as an individual rather than as a Sacred Gear user or as a nun. 'The Holy Maiden,' they called Asia back in Rome, until they turned on her, anyway. But while that meant she had been revered, that didn't mean that Asia had actually had very many friends. Or knew very many people at all.

Having no real destination, Asia wandered the streets, taking in the sights in the shopping district at night with no real destination or goal. It looked like a lot of fun, though, of course, Asia didn't have any money to spend, so she could only window shop. She stopped at a few places, including a confectionery store that was giving out free samples, talked to a few boys her own age about places to visit, and generally had fun despite the odd looks her habit and blonde hair drew.

When a nearby clock struck ten, however, Asia gasped, looking around her. Have I been walking around for that long? She now stared rather worriedly around, wondering if she could find her way back.

She tried to retrace her steps but soon found herself lost once more. Asia found herself on the outskirts of the shopping district on a small pedestrian only road leading to a bridge across an aqueduct of some kind. Luckily for her it was pretty well lit with lampposts here and there, including two at either end of the bridge.

"Oh, good. That must be the way back to the church, praise the Lord," she said to herself, having remembered crossing a similar bridge on her way out, one hand gripping her rosary. Then she blinked, staring ahead of her and below the bridge. "What's that?"

The aqueduct's sides were steep, but there was a small path right above the water. And on that path, hiding underneath the bridge, barely visible in the shadow, was what looked like a small animal of some kind hiding there. As she walked closer, she saw more of the shape and realized that it was a small puppy. Is it lost? Or, or homeless?

With that though Asia began to make her way down the stone slope to the little pathway below. It was a very steep gradient down to the water, and Asia almost lost her balance several times, but she righted herself as she landed. From there she moved towards the bridge, slowly, as to not scare the possibly frightened dog away, only to stop as the little puppy growled at her from underneath the bridge.

"No, wait!" Asia said, backing away a step. She got down on her hands and knees, looking at the puppy and holding out one hand. "I'm a friend. I don't mean you any harm. I even have some chocolate here. Oh, wait," Asia dithered for a moment. "Um, do puppies like sugar candy? Ooh, I should've thought of this before! If you're wild and scared, why would you come near me?"

Then she gasped as she noticed the little puppy had an injury on its side. "You're hurt! Please, let me help you," she said now, almost plaintive. Asia hated to see anyone hurt, let alone an animal like this.

Puppy-Lily heard the words, but they meant little; it was just human noise, since she couldn't understand them. She had been running scared, utterly terrified, in pain, and running purely on instincts, hoping desperately to find her pack leader, who would make everything all better. But she hadn't been able to. Puppy-Lily didn't know his scent well enough and couldn't pick it out from among all the unnatural man things.

So she had just run: confused, frightened, and growing ever more desperate. Then puppy-Lily had smelled the river and hoped to use it to both hide and overcome the smells of the unnatural man thing scents everywhere.

It had worked, and puppy-Lily had hoped to hide here from the mad crazy humans that were chasing her until her wound went away. The wound the last crazy smelling man who had nearly caught her had given puppy-Lily was still hurting, though it had closed noticeably.

Now she saw the little human with blonde and blue fur stumble down towards it. Puppy-Lily was ready to bolt, but the smell of the girl—she was a young girl, the smell told her that, near to the age of the she-cat who was puppy-Lily's packmate—soothed her somewhat. As did the girl's actions, backing away and kneeling down rather than towering over puppy-Lily.

Now she was holding out something tasty, the smell of it wafting toward her, and puppy-Lily cautiously moved forward. She looked up at the human girl before lifting her muzzle and licking at the small sugar candy in the girl's hand, lapping at it, then biting into it and chewing energetically.

Asia giggled, then gently raised her other hand to rub it along the little puppy's head, now able to make out more detail and discovering that this puppy's looks were very unusual. For one thing, it had reddish fur, a deep russet color, and had green highlights around its eyes, which were also a green color. For another, its form looked stretched out, almost, with longer back legs and forelegs. Its head was a little large and its snout short, but it still looked very pretty to Asia.

"Well, aren't you a pretty little puppy," she cooed, scratching behind its ears, causing the little puppy's tail to wag. Then she slowly moved her hand over the dog's side, concentrating and bringing out her Sacred Gear, Twilight Healing. "Now, let's get rid of that nasty thing for you."

On her hands matching rings appeared. Done in silver, they were shaped to resemble multiple differently sized crystals, a few layered on top of one another, with a diamond shaped one centermost.

From the ring on the hand above the animal's side, a green glow began to emanate, flowing into the puppy and healing its wound. Despite its severity, though, the wound healed almost instantly, as if it had already started to heal, but just needed a boost.

Puppy-Lily gasped, backing away as she felt something happen to her wound, but, feeling it disappear, puppy-Lily realized that the human girl in front of her must've done something. In thanks she began to lick the human girl's fingers, nuzzling into her hand. With the pain receding now, she could feel some of her instincts slowly beginning to recede too.

Asia giggled, pulling the puppy into her arms and scratching her even more thoroughly behind the ears, causing the puppy to pant happily, its tail wagging. "Well then, little one, you don't have a collar, so does that mean you're wild? Hmm…. What do you think? Would you like to come with me and be my friend?"

The puppy, however, looked up at the bridge suddenly and began to growl. Turning in that direction, Asia saw three men dressed like the exorcists at the church, bar the cloaks over their uniforms. All three of them were armed with a long gleaming dagger in one hand and glaring down at Asia and the puppy.

Before she could say anything, one of them leaped down to land between Asia and the bridge as the other two moved to take up positions above her on the road and behind her on the pathway above the waterline. "What's this, what's this? A little lost nun befriending an unnatural, sinful creature like that? We can't have that, now, can we?"

This man looked a little younger than the others, but, despite having a somewhat handsome face, something about his eyes, which seemed to gleam red in the light of the lamps above, made Asia back away despite knowing that she had nothing to fear from an exorcist.

"You must be the former Holy Maiden! Oh, how rapturous, how rapturous to meet someone who was lauded so high and has fallen so low! Father Freed at your service, dear girl!" Freed said, gesturing at the puppy. "Do you not know what creature is?"

Despite the scary words and attitude, Asia answered quickly. "She's, she's just a puppy."

"Just a puppy, she says!" Freed said with a laugh, joined by his fellows. "You seem to have an interesting history with running into strays that aren't what they seem to be! God may have gifted you with that Twilight Healing of yours, but it should've gifted you with a brain too. That's no mere puppy; that's a young werewolf!"

Asia gasped at that, looking down at the puppy who had scrambled out of her hands and was now growling, backing away against her leg, knowing she had nowhere to run. "But even so, she's not dangerous. She's just a little puppy. Does that not mean she's a child too?" Asia said, looking up at the exorcists.

"So you don't even know your own Scripture? 'And the sins of the father shall be carried on to his son,'" quoted Freed with a laugh. "That little bitch was tainted with sin the moment she was turned, but at least if we kill her now she won't drag any innocents down with her."

Asia's eyes narrowed at that, and she shot back, "A father shall not be put to death because of their children, nor shall children be put to death because of their fathers. Each one shall only answer for his own sin. When the son is just and right and has been careful to observe all my statutes, the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself! If this puppy's only sin is the curse running through her veins, then she has done no wrong!"

All three exorcist snarled at that. "Bah! The sin is already within her; she can't change what she is."

"Nor can we all," Asia said with a sigh before stiffening, raising her chin defiantly even as her legs started to tremble. "But, but she is an innocent! If, if you want to harm her, you you'll have to get through me!"

"Fine by me, bitch!" said Freed raising his silver dagger as the other two did the same. Both of them showed the same eagerness as Freed but seemed to be willing to let him have first go.

"What the hell is going on here!?" shouted another voice from on high.

Asia idly noted that this little area was getting a little crowded as she looked up at the bridge above Freed. There Kalawarner stood, black wings slowly dissipating from where they had been visible over her shoulders.

At the sight of those wings, Asia winced. Kalawarner-san's a Fallen? Then, then I have been working with them rather than the Church? I, I thought that I could work with these people and work my way back into the Church proper. But if they are all Fallen, then…

Kalawarner glared down at the three exorcists. Having been searching for the girl for over forty minutes by this point, she was in no mood for this shit. "What the hell do you three think you're doing!? We told you not to do anything to arouse suspicion around here, not to do anything at all, in fact, without our express permission! And here I find you not only threatening Asia, who is one of ours, but a random little puppy? What the hell is wrong with you!? I know some of you exorcists are insane, but I didn't think you were this bad."

With that she hopped down, placing herself beside Asia facing Freed, who was the closest to the girl. Though she kept one hand out thrust toward the exorcist standing on the path above, since with the height advantage he had he was the next most dangerous. But beyond that, Kalawarner knew about Freed, having been warned by Dohnaseek about him, being as skilled as he was insane.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm stupid! Yeah, I'm crazy! But that doesn't change the fact that that puppy isn't a puppy; she's a werewolf, and I want some blood on my dagger tonight!" Freed shouted. "It can be that shitty bitch's or it can be yours!"

Kalawarner glanced down at the puppy sitting by Asia's feet, growling at the three exorcists. Or, it had until a moment ago, but now it started to sniff the air and seemed to relax. Huh, I wonder what that's about?

But now that she looked at it, she knew exactly what that puppy or, rather, who that puppy was. FUCK! This is not a complication I fucking needed right now!

"Not this puppy," Kalawarner said before realizing the words had left her mouth. Not questioning her reasoning right now, she held out a hand containing a lance made of holy energy. She pointed it at Freed, her voice commanding. "Not tonight. And if you keep on pissing me off, it'll be your blood on my lances, not vice versa. When it gets right down to it, I'd frankly rather wipe out all three of you rather than let you have your fun right now."

Whatever Freed might have said to that was interrupted by the arrival of yet another person: the individual whose smell puppy-Lily had caught on the wind, coming towards them.

Harry was utterly, and completely furious, both with himself and with this situation. Here he was, out on a date, believing his daughter would be perfectly safe with her friends, only to find out that this was not, in fact, the case. He was furious with himself for having fun, for being away from Lily and not realizing the danger she was in and for not having thought about protecting her further than the portkey charmed necklace she wore around her neck.

It was obvious that whatever had happened had scared her so much she hadn't been able to think clearly enough to activate the portkey. I should've thought of that, but I'll have time to correct that mistake later, Harry thought as he arrived at the river, having used his werewolf form to leap over the rooftops.

Pausing, he took in the tableau below in an instant, seeing the surprising form of Kalawarner dressed up as she had been when they first met, a young girl in a nun's dress, and the puppy that Harry's nose was telling him was his daughter, being threatened by two men. The fact that Kalawarner was holding a weapon that seemed to be made out of solidified light was not lost on him, but was immaterial at present. Lily is being threatened. Remove the threat as quickly as possible.

The man closest to Harry's current position had barely an instant to turn, some instinct warning him that Harry was there. He didn't try to dodge, though, and was blown backward over the heads of those below into the ocean by a Reducto, angled just enough so that none of the blood and viscera could land on the trio below. The second man also had only an instant to turn towards Harry before he too died, his body sliced in two by a barely formed cutting spell, though, thankfully for Asia, the cutting spells also cauterized as it went, unlike the Reducto.

The other one, however, Harry allowed to live. He seemed to be the leader, judging by the way Kalawarner was facing him, which meant getting answers out of him would be easy, and Harry wanted very desperately to know what was going on tonight, and he wasn't willing to trust Kalawarner's words at this point.

Instead, that one simply lost his thumbs as tiny cutting spells slashed through the air faster than the blond man could see. He had turned in Harry's direction, staring in shock as his friends died so quickly. This allowed Harry to aim at his hands. The spells sliced into his thumbs, causing him to drop both his gun and the sword he had pulled out from under his long coat. Before the pain could even begin to register, Harry was in front of him and between him and the others, holding up a furry hand. A stupefy then lashed out, knocking him backwards and unconscious.

Kalawarner was momentarily stunned at how quickly Harry—who else could it be, after all—had both arrived and dealt with the three exorcists, as well being stunned by his current body. Harry's werewolf form looked nothing like what she had expected, having heard about werewolves from the others. There was scant sign of the deformed creature they had anything, he looked rather, well, rather handsome, in a wild sort of way.

Even more jarring than Harry's form, however, was that he was in full control of himself and the magic he had used just now. Magic like that, with no incantation or buildup, no staff, and enough power to get through the minor magical immunity that exorcists grow during their training that easily? Fucking hells, Harry's far more dangerous than I thought.

She was about to say something, but Harry stepped around her, not even glancing in her direction. "Cauterize his wounds," Harry ordered.

Kalawarner winced at the brusque, almost dismissive tone of voice that Harry had just used even as she knelt to do what he asked. Not only does he not see me as a threat, but he also doesn't see me as, well, anything. Damn, did that ship truly sail? Did it take too long to get my thoughts in order?

At this point Harry really didn't care about Kalawarner. All he cared about was his daughter.

Asia had blanched at the sudden violence, backing away quickly at the very scary looking wolf-faced man in front of her, his looks and size both making her afraid. But instead of attacking them in turn, he simply moved around Kalawarner with surprising deftness, instead kneeling down before Asia and the puppy.

The puppy yipped happily, hopping up into his arms. Harry caught her easily, nuzzling into her furry side as the puppy licked his face, eliciting a chuckle, which cause Asia to calm down further for some reason, staring now in fascination rather than fear at the odd creature.

"I am not going to let you live that one down, Lily," Harry said aloud, his voice an equally deep rumble as the chuckle he had just let loose. "But for now, let's see if we can get you back to your proper two-leg shape."

Harry held Lily at arm's length for a second, staring into her eyes as he intoned the magical spell to send his mind out. "Legilimens!" His mental probe dove into his daughter's mind, moving past the low grade natural defenses a werewolf had against the mental arts easily, diving deep until he found what he was looking for: the mental image of his daughter, surrounded by black, barely formed shapes signifying the instincts which had took over when she shifted.

Luckily, they were already beginning to fade. Thank goodness, she was already starting to come back to herself! That will make this much easier.

With Harry's help, that process, which could've taken several more hours or perhaps as long as an entire night until the influence of the moon once more waned, took barely a few minutes in the real world. Inside Lily's head it seemed longer, but to the ones watching it seemed very fast indeed.

As Asia and Kalawarner watched, the little puppy started to transform into a young girl, far younger than she was. Asia estimated her age at around seven, possibly eight. And she was naked. "Oh my!"

But before that thought could even start to form, the wolf-man who had saved them using magic she had never heard of before conjured up a cloak from thin air, again something that Asia had never heard of before. Well, at least life here in Japan isn't going to ever be boring.

The cloak Harry pulled around Lily wasn't anything to write home about, but it would work for the moment. Not that Lily cared about her lack of clothing, too busy throwing her arms around her father's neck and hugging him tightly as she fought back tears. Even the renewed itchy feeling underneath her skin was a relief.

"It was so scary, Daddy! I was out with my friends. I was, I was having trouble with my, you know, werewolf thing. I was trying to control it, pushing it down—the itchiness is always worse at this time of month," she babbled, her secret coming out along with the rest, not that she was in a right mind to notice. "Then these people started to attack, saying that I was dangerous, that I was a sin! And I couldn't both run from them and control the werewolf part of me. It took over, and I just ran!"

"Oh, Lily," Harry said with a sigh. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't want to worry you," she muttered into his shoulder. "I knew what people back home said; didn't want to be a larger burden."

"Lily," Harry said, pushing her away slightly so he could look into her eyes. "You could never be a burden to me. You're my daughter, and I love you." He held her eyes until Lily nodded, and then he smiled. "We will talk about this later, but right now, who is this one?" he asked, gesturing with a finger to Asia.

"I don't know her name. They said it, but I was, well…. She gave me a bit of chocolate, and then she did something to make the pain go away," Lily replied, also looking at Asia.

"Pain?" Harry asked sharply.

Asia spoke up at that point hesitantly. The large werewolf man in front of her was rather intimidating at first sight, but seeing the tenderness he showed to his daughter had disarmed her. "Um, Sir? Um, she, Lily? Lily had a wound on her side. Since she's a werewolf, I suppose it must've been from silver. It was fighting her ability to heal, but it was unable to fight my Sacred Gear."

"And then she was going to fight those people until Kalawarner arrived," Lily piped up.

At that Harry's eyes softened still further, and he took a single step forward before enveloping Asia in a hug too, pulling her up into his arms to join Lily. For Asia, this was one of the very few times she had ever been hugged by someone, and even if it was coming from a stranger werewolf man, it felt good!

"Thank you for helping my daughter," Harry whispered into her ear, even as he began to push down his own werewolf side and slowly change back to human. "My name is Harry Potter, and you've made a friend for life tonight!"

This did nothing to dispel the warmth Asia was feeling, still being hugged against his chest. Lily then reached out and took her hand as Harry gently set them both back down. "Now, Asia, I'm going to send you to my home with my daughter here. The two of you should be safe there while I… clean up and find out what was going on here. The process is somewhat disorienting, but Lily will be there to help. If you're hungry, feel free to help yourself to anything in the kitchen."

Asia blinked, then watched as Harry lifted the small necklace that had been left in the alleyway where he had first caught Lily's scent and put it over his daughter's neck once more. With a final hug, Harry stepped back and nodded at her.

Lily smiled up at Harry wanly, then whispered, "Activate," and both girls instantly disappeared, to the watching Kalawarner's astonishment.

Not that she had much time to wonder about how they had done so. The second his daughter was out of danger Harry turned on her with all the speed of a striking cobra and suddenly all Kalawarner felt was pressure. Pressure, an aura of fear and rage that pressed down on her like she was facing an angry god and she slumped to her knees, staring slack-jawed at Harry.

In his hand he was suddenly holding a very old looking sword which radiated power to her senses almost like a Sacred Gear, a powerful one. Its tip was pointed directly between her eyes, and Harry's gaze on her was beyond furious as he growled, "Now, Kalawarner, you had better start talking. Or else!"

---

End Chapter

Woo, that was a beast of a chapter. But it was the last setup chapter before the main plot really starts moving. There will be a bit more time-skips, one training scene, but beyond that, the next chapter will let me jump straight into the whole Raynare plot, as Harry decides to be proactive…