Chapter 9: Uninvited Angel
Ru followed Harry as he led the way towards a disturbance that had been signaled by Shelob. A few wolves had already disappeared behind the trees, presumably to handle the situation.
She heard a faint sound of fighting that soon escalated into female screams, causing Ru to shiver, vividly recalling her own encounter with the wolves when she had first arrived.
Harry stopped before her, obstructing her vision of the person in front of them. Ru could see the wolves circling around, with a few feathers floating in the air and slowly falling to the ground.
"Enough!" the female voice screamed in panic. "Please forgive me."
She took a step closer to get a better look at the intruder and froze in shock, her mouth open, as she recognized the person in distress.
It was Tia, the angel of annihilation, her sworn arc-nemesis, who was pursuing her before winter. She was the reason why Ru was in the forest in the first place; it seems that she followed her in here.
Tia always looked like the definition of an angel—a striking woman with shoulder-length blonde hair, complemented by a blue ribbon. She wore a long white dress, embellished with golden ornaments that glistened in the faint forest light. White leggings and fingerless gloves completed her saintly appearance.
Right now, Tia was on her knees, bonded in a spider web, her clothes torn in a few places by wolves, no doubt, and her hair in disarray. And her wings ruffled, with a few feathers being bent in different directions.
Ru could see Harry stiffen for a moment, probably recognizing a person from her own stories, but quickly gathering his wits as he approached her.
"I understand that I was wrong for attacking you first!" Tia continued to scream with closed eyes.
Tia must have heard Harry's approach as she opened her eyes, showing a brilliant golden color that focused on the man before her.
"Please rescue me!" begged the angel of annihilation, tears streaming down her face.
Ru would have laughed at her enemy's pathetic display if, not for her own encounter, she could understand what it means to be in such a position.
Ru could hear Harry sighing to himself as he moved to release Tia from the spider's web. He was able to do it easily thanks to his knife. As Angel rose from her knees, the wolves continued to observe her.
"Are you okay?" asked Harry, looking at her injuries.
"Yes, I think so," answered Tia, casting a healing spell at herself.
Her clothes regained their pristine condition in a green glow, and her wounds closed. Eventually, even her wings fully healed and vanished, making her look like a human girl.
Ru, seeing Tia concentrating on the spell, chose this moment to escape and started to go back in the direction of the farm. She moved slowly on the tips of her fingers, so the angel wouldn't be able to hear her.
She didn't even manage to cover a few meters when she heard Tia screaming her name.
"So this is where you were hiding, Rurushi!" pointed a finger in her direction. Tia, "Stop resisting and come in quietly!"
Ru slowly turned her head back to look at the angel. She was irritated that Tia just couldn't leave her alone, and bygones be bygones. This time, Ru had only managed to destroy one castle, whereas in their previous battles, they had destroyed far more. Plus, these nobles were asking for it, trying to usurp her work.
And then, for the first time, Ru felt more magic pressure than she had ever felt before. It made her hair stand on end; she felt as if she were in the presence of a dragon. Ru could sense the intense magic in the air as she looked for its source.
She didn't have to look for long, quickly seeing Harry holding a spear in one hand and looking irritated. He never displayed such power; Ru knew that he was somehow hiding his magic presence, as she never felt any magic from him, even when he performed it before her.
Harry didn't wait for any signal; he simply hit the ground with the butt of his spear, and four purple chains shot from the ground and caught Tia, frozen in fear, bonding her limbs. Wolves, seeing their master's action, also started to slowly approach Tia while growling.
The winds in the area started to pick up pace, and Ru didn't doubt that it was also Harry's influence. Thanks to his constant attempts at learning how to fly, he was slowly getting better at wind magic, even without realizing it.
Ru could see shock in Tia's eyes. Angel clearly didn't expect to be submitted so quickly, and it was the second time in such a short time.
Tia struggled against the chains; her wings emerged from her back and started to flutter in a futile attempt to break free. Ru watched with fascination at what would happen now.
—-xXx—-
Tia couldn't believe what was happening. After months of futile pursuit, Tia finally found the vampire, only to face instant defeat at the hands of the vampire's new companion.
The only reason she was chasing her wasn't even worth it in the first place, in truth. The money the nobles promised to pay her tribe for the capture was a nice bonus, but the main reason Tia agreed to it was because Rurushi was the target.
The rivalry between her and the vampire had been raging for generations, and Tia saw this as an opportunity to finally prove herself stronger than Rurushi. Having defeated both the tribe chief and her own mother, she was already considered the strongest in the angel tribe.
The only problem was that, after escaping their duel, Rurushi chose to run into the infamous Forest of Death. At first, she was hesitant to follow into such a dangerous place and waited for a few months for the vampire to emerge somewhere else, but when winter came and went with no words spoken about her, she foolishly chose to investigate.
Tia wanted to believe that, as the strongest angel, she would be fine with simply traveling through the forest. The gatekeeper dragon wasn't known for leaving his nest too often, so she didn't have to fear him. In the worst-case scenario, she would fly straight up and leave as quickly as possible.
Sadly for her, she didn't even have a chance to do so. When the wolves emerged and encircled her, she tried to do just that. Only for the spider web to cough her ankle and bring her back to the ground, where the wolves immediately pounced at her, submitting her completely.
Then came the wolves' master; at first glance, Tia didn't think much of him. He looked like a simple villager; his scar on his forehead was the only remarkable feature about him. Tia used all her senses to try and feel any magic coming from him, but she felt nothing.
She could tell from his movements that he wasn't a seasoned warrior, and he held no weapons. As he calmly approached her fallen form and released her from the web, Tia's confusion grew.
She then noticed the accursed vampire nearby, and after such a long time that she spent hunting her down and being already irritated with her defeat, she, without much thought, wanted to capture her and be done with it.
But Rurushi came with the man, and it seemed that capturing the vampire wouldn't be so easy. Tia was once again bound, this time in some kind of magical chain, and wolves showed their shackles at her.
She looked once more at the man. Gone was a simple villager with a scar; his brilliant green eyes now glowed with untapped power. She could easily feel his magic aura in the air. A simple spear was also in his hand.
Tia didn't know who he was; the only people in this part of the continent that could possibly subdue her were either Demon King Gargard or one of the dragons that lived near the forest.
But she knew the man before her wasn't either of them. The wind around Tia started to whirl faster and faster; she could feel it brushing against her, ruffling feathers in her wings.
"Tell me, angel," said the man, his voice taking a colder tone than before. "Why would you believe that I would allow you to capture Ru?"
Tia tried to keep her composure, but panic started to bubble inside her. She knew she had greatly underestimated this man. With a racing heart, she searched for any sign of weakness to exploit. The magical chains that bound her felt impenetrable, and the wolves' growls warned her that even if she managed to escape her shackles, they would attack at once.
As she met his piercing green eyes, she replied, "Rurushi Ru is considered a criminal, and there is a bounty on her head for destroying a castle."
"And why would I care about what some distant nobles want?" he said.
Tia understood him; in truth, she didn't care what they wanted. The only reason she accepted the bounty was for whom it was placed, and money would be a nice bonus for her and her tribe.
Rurushi watched Tia's every move with great interest, recognizing her nemesis's growing sense of unease. The vampire's gaze darted to the man who was staring at her, her face deep in thought. Tia waited until Rurushi's attention was back on her, and with the most pleading eyes that he could muster, he looked at her.
From the look on the vampire's face, Tia could tell she was shocked at this new, unexpected turn of events. Tia hoped that the vampire would show her some mercy and try to talk to the man before her.
"Honeybun," the vampire, began with a shocking nickname, shocking at least for the angel: "Calm down; I am sure that Tia didn't mean to attack once more. Am I right?" Rurushi asked, looking at her.
"Yes, I don't plan to attack," Tia answered hastily, looking wearily at the wolves and the man in front of her.
The man looked at her for a long moment, his expression unreadable. Tia felt a shiver run down her spine as his green eyes scanned her for any signs of lying. As the moment stretched to an uncomfortable, long period, he finally closed his eyes and sighed.
The wind immediately calmed down, bringing a few leaves and feathers that she had lost to the wolves earlier back to the ground. The wolves, seeing their master calm down, also stopped showing their sharp fangs and calmed down, but still watched her carefully.
As he opened his eyes, he once more stuck the bud of his spear to the ground, causing the chains that held her to slack down and disappear. The chains left small marks where they held her bare skin, and Tia reflexively started to massage her wrists to ease the tension in them.
The spear vanished in the golden light as well; she now understood how the man had obtained it initially and knew that if provoked again, he would summon his weapon once more. With his weapon's disappearance, the magical aura that leaked from him also vanished entirely, as if it never existed in the first place.
The vampire started to walk back and stand next to the man. What kind of relationship could they be in? They were quite close to each other, especially with the nickname that Rurushi called him.
Tia looked at the pair in front of her, wondering how she had managed to find herself in such a situation.
—-xXx—-
After releasing the angel before him, Harry waited for Ru to take control of the situation. If she wanted to give her nemesis a chance, then he would step back and let her handle it. Harry had seen Ru's strength, and he trusted that she knew what she was doing.
In any case, if the situation became dire, he could always jump into the fray to help her subdue the angel once more. Padfoot and the rest of the pack were more than ready to help in case of any aggression from the angel. Small spiders were moving on the branches above them.
So he felt rather confident that they had the situation under control. Harry stepped back and allowed Ru to approach the angel, who was healing herself once more.
"Pretty useful," he murmured under his breath, seeing the effectiveness of the healing spell.
Ru must have heard him, because she turned to him and pouted, "If it's only that much, I can do this too."
He chuckled at that a bit. It seemed that she didn't like being behind her rival in something. At least from the look of things, their rivalry was much healthier than the one that he had with Malfoy.
After the angel healed herself fully and restored her clothes to pristine condition, she looked at him for a moment, studying him with her golden eyes before turning them in the direction of Ru.
"Rurushi," she started, "so this is where you've been hiding."
"Well, some things happen, you see," replied Ru. That aside, are you okay? That was painful, wasn't it?"
"Well, what to say?" Tia trailed off. It was more than painful."
"I know, right," Ru said happily. "I was also beaten up by them too."
Harry and the wolves just sweatdropped at that, watching the entire exchange from the sidelines.
"You too?" asked Tia, Harry could hear from the tone of her voice that she sounded happy that she wasn't the only one humiliated by the wolves.
"Yep," nodded Ru, "without any mercy. Inferno wolves are harder opponents than I thought; my magic wasn't quick enough to catch them."
One of the nearby wolves used his paw to scratch his head in a seemingly sheepish manner, as if he were embarrassed about the situation.
"I thought that I was going to die," sniffled Tia.
"You got out safely, and that's all that matters. It's alright now." Ru comforted Tia by placing a hand on her shoulder.
Harry just observed, waiting to be introduced by Ru. Tia regained her composure and wiped away the tears, nodding in agreement.
Ru placed both hands on Angel's shoulders, looking into her eyes. "I apologize for what happened back then, so let's not fight here."
"Well, if you say so..." With a stunned expression on her face, Tia responded, "I understand; let's not fight here." she nodded.
"Thank you," beamed Ru. "So let me introduce you to my honeybuns!"
"Harry, Harry Potter," he introduced himself.
"A noble?" Tia raised an eyebrow at his last name and asked, "From which kingdom?"
"Brittain," he answered easily; it's not like she would know.
"I never heard of this kingdom before." She furrowed her eyebrows in thought.
"Consider yourself lucky, then." Harry chuckled.
Tia looked at him for a moment before speaking, "Nice to meet you, Harry. I'm Tia, and as you can see, I am an angel."
Yes, Harry could see that she was an angel, but without her wings manifesting, he wouldn't say so at first. He wondered if, in his old world, the angels were real at one point or were in hiding, considering that he had never heard of them from the magical side, only the muggle side.
"I came here chasing after Rurushi, but..." She continued looking at the wolves.
"Yes, Ru already spoke to me about that," he said, "but if you think that you will somehow convince me to sell her out, then you are mistaken."
"No,no,no" Tia quickly waved her hands in denial. I have no intention of doing such a thing, not anymore. "Even though, after the damage she did to the capital, she deserved it."
"Well, I somewhat overdid it a little bit back then," said Ru, scratching the back of her head and chuckling awkwardly.
"It's just not a little bit," sighed Tia, closing her eyes for a moment. "Although nobody died as far as I know, it caused chaos and destruction, not to mention destroyed the image of those nobles."
"Hahaha!" chuckled Ru awkwardly, without looking at them.
Harry chuckled to himself, attempting to shift the topic for Ru's benefit: "So you are the reason why Ru ran away here?"
Ru turned to him and glared for a moment. "She is stronger than me only because of our difference in affinity."
"Oh my!" exclaimed Tia, holding her hand to her mouth. "You changed, Rurushi. Never before did you say something that would make you look weak."
Ru looked at the wolves and said, "Well, I did realize my powerlessness."
"Aaa..." Tia was standing next to her, looking at the wolves as well. "I see, you would lose your confidence after something like that, wouldn't you?"
The wolves simply observed them, tilting their heads as if they didn't fully comprehend the situation. Harry was of the same mind, as he never faced the wolves nor saw them truly fight. They either brought him already-downed animals or chased boars to him to complete the task.
Harry shook his head, not wanting to think further about this. Seeing no bad blood between Tia and Ru, he chose to invite Angel to the farm for now.
"Why don't you come in for now?" Harry asked. "It's better than standing in here; we can even offer you a cup of tea."
Ru's eyes lit up with a specific glint, as if a plan was beginning to form in her mind. It was as if a lightbulb had switched on in her head at his words.
"Right! Please come in!" said the vampire excitedly, with a predatory smile on her face.
Tia was unaware that her frenemy was making some kind of plan from what Harry could see, so with a smile on her face, she said, "If that is so, then... If it won't be a bother, there are also things that I'd like to ask."
The trio, as well as the wolves that surrounded them, began to walk in the direction of the big tree.
—-xXx—-
Growing plants on the fields distracted Tia before she arrived at their home for the promised tea, and just like Ru did when she first arrived, they spent the rest of the day gathering them and explaining each one to Tia.
The angel looked at every crop with childish wonder, her eyes sparkling with curiosity, and asked question after question about them. Ru was the one who answered most of the questions, no doubt proud of what she'd learned about it herself.
In addition to studying potions, Ru took the time to carefully examine each crop and gather as much information as she could. According to her conversation with Harry one evening, her intention was to include these crops in the potion-making process with the goal of either enhancing their quality and strength or, at the very least, improving their taste.
When the vampire princess couldn't answer a question, Harry would tell them what he knew about the crop, both women listening carefully to him as he explained, and Ru even taking additional notes on her magical tablet.
The wolves seemed to follow them, still not fully trusting the new addition to the farm, observing with their keen eyes. The spiders were much like their canine friends, watching from the web bridges that dangled above the fields.
From time to time, Tia herself looked with some caution at the wolves. As one of the wolves moved closer to them for a closer inspection or to sample a crop on display, Tia tensed up slightly, yet she maintained her composure, not letting her guard down completely.
Angel didn't seem to notice the spiders yet and focused on the crops all around her, but Harry doubted that she would have the same reaction as Ru had when meeting Shelob. According to what he heard in the discussion about Angel's tribe, it was a battle-oriented tribe, or, as Ru liked to call them, muscle heads, so they couldn't possibly be scared of some spiders, right?
Out of all the crops displayed that day, Tia appeared to favor cucumber the most, delighting in its freshness as she munched on it. The cucumber's crunchiness seemed to please her, and she savored each bite with delight.
Harry watched, amused, as Ru explained the cucumber with vivid motions of her hands, while Tia was happily munching on it and listening to the explanation. He almost laughed aloud when Ru got carried away and started imitating the growth process of a cucumber plant, complete with exaggerated gestures and sound effects. Tia looked at her with wide eyes, a piece of cucumber hanging out of her mouth. She seemed fascinated by this spontaneous display.
He watched, disbelieving that both of them had such a fearsome reputation as vampire princesses and angels of annihilation, especially after such a childish display before him.
As the shadows grew longer and the sun began its descent below the horizon, the group slowly made their way to the doghouses to give some of the crops to the pups of the pack, following Harry's idea of making Tia more comfortable with the wolves in general. Perhaps seeing the small pups would make her feel more at ease, and feeding them would make the pack accept her quicker.
Each of them now carried a small basket-like backpack on their shoulders; inside was food for the wolves they would give it to. In his free time, Harry fashioned backpacks from straw out of boredom and a desire to make them with his own hands. They weren't the first ones, and he only succeeded thanks to the spiders' help.
After several failed attempts and assistance from his small companions, he finally managed to create a sturdy and functional design for his first backpack.
He knew that he could probably use one of the many bottomless backs from the vault to handle the task, but where's the fun in that? Harry didn't want to only rely on magic and its tools; he found a simple joy in doing it in a mundane way.
It didn't mean that he would make everything harder for himself; maybe one day, if for whatever reason he wanted to trade with some other settlement, he would use some kind of magic transport to either easier transport his crops or preserve them. He simply wanted to learn how to make it on his own, should the need arise.
As the trio got closer to the doghouse, the smaller pups happily ran out of it and started to go around them, wagging their tails and barking excitedly. Harry watched fondly as the pups playfully circled his companions.
The small wolf tugged at the hem of his trousers, eager for attention. Harry obliged, kneeling down to pet their furry heads. If he turned around, he would see the terrified look on Tia's face at the number of pups that were running around.
Harry conjured up a small ball that he threw playfully into the air, catching the puppies' attention. They immediately chased after the ball, barking joyfully. Tia couldn't help but let out a nervous giggle at the sight of the playful chaos ensuing around them.
As Harry made his move to refill the wolves' bowls with food they had prepared, Ru started to talk with Tia.
"So what do you think about my and Honeybun's farm?" The vampire inquired curiously.
"Well," Tia said, bringing a finger to her lips, thinking, "it's certainly relaxing, much more than what I do for usual."
"So what would you say to move here permanently?" Ru asked excitedly.
Harry raised an eyebrow at that. Was that the plan she had been thinking of?
"Don't look at me that way, honeybuns," Ru said, noticing him looking at her. "You stated that you would like more people to live here to help with the crops."
"No doubt the fact that you would get more time for your own experiments doesn't take any part in it," chuckled Harry.
Ru blushed at that and playfully nudged Harry's shoulder. "Oh, hush," she said, turning back to Tia with a hopeful expression, waiting for her response.
Tia took a moment to consider the idea of living on the farm permanently. Seeing her hesitate, Ru made her way towards her and grasped her hands in her own.
"You are going to live here with us, right?" Ru asked once more.
"Um…" Tia wasn't sure what was happening based on the look on her face.
"Right? Come on, please!" Ru almost begged.
She leaned closer to whisper in Tia's ear so Harry wouldn't hear, "My body won't be able to handle everything if I'm alone."
Harry looked confused, not hearing what was being said, but seeing Tia suddenly blush.
"Excuse me?" Tia hesitantly spoke, blinking her eyes a few times. "What do you mean by that?"
"Please just agree." With a desperate look on her face, Ru practically begged, tightening her grip on Tia's shoulders.
"O-okay." stuttered Tia.
Ru's eyes lit up with excitement, and she wrapped Tia in a tight hug before pulling away to clap her hands together happily. "Let's go to our home! However, you must first meet Shelob, and we will have an absolute blast!"
"Who is Shelob?" asked Tia, being pulled by an excited vampire.
Harry began, "Shelob is a..."
"You will see," interrupted Ru while winking in Harry's direction.
He chuckled at seeing both of them going in the direction of the big tree, and he quickly followed behind them with his loyal wolves next to him. Harry wondered just what waited for him in store with the new resident on the farm.
Response to reviews:
TwinstarDragon, Ronin Kenshin, 0DINS0N, Potternatzu, zolmos, dashnod, .upg, charly22salazar, Tybeer, Ep, James Birdsong, fvdv123, , flame55, happy yappy, Jake Spieler: Thanks for the nice feedback! I really hope you enjoyed this new chapter and that it lived up to your expectations!
Church21: When it comes to who will be brought to the new world, it isn't exactly written in stone, and even then, not everyone that will be brought with Harry will be living in the original village. I will either try to move them to other places to expand the world a bit or build some new relationships between other characters. Not every female HP-verse character will be with Harry. And Quidditch will be fun to write when there are already more races living in the village. Thanks for reading!
Juan Antonio Dircio Quezada: You will need to wait and see to know this! Thanks for reading!
Home of the Brave: I will say only this: He has some of his family portraits in his vaults. Not of his parents because they were quite young, so I don't believe they would commision, making them so early in life, and with war going around, they wouldn't have time. But he has in his possession all of these deathly hollows. Maybe in the future, he can meet them; you just have to wait and see. Thanks for reading!
BoredKing: I checked the first chapter after your comment and didn't seem to notice any big things. To be honest, English isn't my first language, so I may be wrong, and you are the only person to write something about it, so please point out specific places where it happens so I could either correct it or at the very least understand what you are talking about.
Some flowery words have to be added as well, because I don't want it to be a story where only 'he said, she said'. I chose to talk about something that I don't believe is as important as other things. An entire dialogue between Ru and Harry about her experiments on carrots wouldn't be interesting, for example.
Brittain will be shown from time to time, and Harry himself won't be back for some time. Thanks for reading!
plums: He won't be sent back permanently; it will only cause further chaos in Britain. Thanks for reading!
savitarsurffer: I plan on expanding on alcohol making a bit; making fire whisky will be only the first step. There are so many kinds of alcohol and different enhancements that you could add, and with dwarves from anime, they will expand on it even more. He will likely find some interesting books in his vault, not just for massages. And yes, he has seeds to grow some plants, and even without them, AFT would simply make them; he just didn't do it because Ru is still only beginning her potion-making journey, but they would expand their herb fields as well. Thanks for reading!
Red Death: I will be honest; I checked ffnet's terms of service and didn't see anything about adding replies like that. I may be wrong, but if so, please tell me where it is. Thank you in advance!
Jlargent: He will definitely cause chaos and be quite different from Canon by the time he appears back. Thanks for reading!
The listener of stories: I don't know what to say other than that this is an HP crossover with one of (if not the biggest) harem isekai that there is. Either way, thanks for reading until now!
lrbrenneke: I'm not sure if I want to involve other crossovers in this, to be honest. Thanks for reading!
rifannuari95: Some of the girls that you mention will be paired with Harry, but not all of them. Thanks for reading!
