Chapter 31
"Fucking hell...Fleur?" Harry groaned as the Veela sucked his cock like her life depended on it.
She was never shy about showing her enthusiasm when she sucked his cock, or about anything, really, but this seemed almost desperate, and he didn't doubt that her feathered look was related. He grabbed her head and looked over at Hermione, who appeared just as flummoxed as he was.
"So how was being buggered and choked at the same time, Akeno?" Luna asked, brushing the barely conscious woman's dark hair out of her face.
"So good," Akeno panted, still twitching as little aftershocks of pleasure hit her.
"Uh, Fleur, are you okay?" Hermione asked as the blonde continued to bob her head up and down on Harry's cock.
"Ugh," Harry groaned as he came hard, flooding her mouth with cum, and Fleur's eye rolled back as she swallowed instinctively.
With how excessive his loads had become, he'd have expected her to struggle with it, but she didn't. She swallowed every drop reverently, her whole body shaking, and when his cock finally slipped from her lips, she squealed. Babbling incoherently in French, she fell back, writhing in orgasmic bliss and grinning from ear to ear.
"F...Fleur?" Harry panted, cupping her cheek as she continued to cum.
"I think she's okay," Luna said softly, settling down next to her and pulling her over until her head was resting in her lap. "I suspect that your sex aura is getting to her."
"My what?" Harry asked as Hermione cocked an eyebrow at the blonde.
"The Veela have their allure, and they descend from a succubus," Luna explained. "It stands to reason that, as an incubus, you would have some kind of sex aura too. I didn't notice, but I was watching the most beautiful man in the world fuck the living hell out of a sexy devil, so I probably just blamed the sudden spike of arousal on that."
"Yeah, I mean, I got very wet when I walked in too, but the past few months have made my reactions to Harry virtually Pavlovian," Hermione added.
"It is...ze allure," Fleur panted, sitting up and brushing her hair out of her face. "Mon Dieu...sorry."
"Barely felt it," Akeno laughed, still cum drunk and giddy.
"I have an allure now?" Harry asked.
"It was far more pronounced when you were buggering Akeno," Fleur replied. "I swear for a moment, all I could zink of was sucking your cock. I wasn't zat desperate for you when you pulled Gabrielle from ze lake."
"Is it better now?" Hermione asked. "Because I'm still really turned on."
"That's just 'Arry," Fleur replied, pulling him in for a kiss. "I 'eard about everything zat 'appened. Are you alright?"
"Getting there," Harry replied. "If I really do have an allure now, I'm going to need to learn to control it."
"I zink I'm just a little sensitive to it," Fleur said.
"If so, then that's even more reason to learn to control it, lest my first meeting with your parents get awkward," Harry quipped, and Fleur's eyes went wide.
"I doubt your father would appreciate it much if your mother insisted on sucking Harry's penis at first sight," Luna added. "I'm sure she'd find that fun, though."
"Oui, we need to work on your control," Fleur muttered.
"You seem fine now, though," Hermione replied. "Your allure is something that you can reign in or let go as you like, but it does flare up when you're really aroused. Harry's still hard, and your feathers haven't come back."
"Zat's true," Fleur purred, her eyes gleaming as she stared down at Harry's throbbing erection. Wrapping a hand around the base of the shaft, she grinned and added, "Perhaps we should run some tests."
"I have always been a fan of tests," Harry replied, and Hermione laughed out loud. "Oh, shut up."
"I do agree with Fleur, Harry," the brunette grinned, wrapping her hand around his cock just above the Veela's. "We need to figure out just what made her so ravenous right now, and that will require a very...vigorous set of tests."
"Fuck, what happened to the innocent little girl I met all those years ago?" Harry hissed.
"I think you removed her innocence with your penis, Harry," Luna replied. "I know you removed mine."
"Something like that," Hermione replied, leaning in to kiss him.
He and Akeno had had sex for quite a while, yet he knew that he had more than enough left in the tank to take care of these three as well. The only question was whether or not Akeno would wake back up and join in before he'd exhausted them too.
"Bloody hell, that is so much better than portkeys," Sirius marveled as he and the others landed in Kuoh.
"No dizziness, no vomiting, no chance of letting go midway and ending up in Timbuktu," Harry listed off. "Yeah, I much prefer devil teleportation."
"So this is Kuoh?" Luna asked, looking around. "It's nice."
As Harry looked around, he had to agree. It was a rather small town, from what Rias had said, but it was certainly bigger than Hogsmeade. The architecture was distinct yet relatively similar to what he was used to, and there were a lot more trees around than there were in Little Whinging. It was midday, and there were a number of people walking around, most of whom looked at them, though whether that was because they were all foreigners or because of Fleur, he couldn't say. The Veela was wearing a short blue minidress, the only muggle clothes she owned, and very little of her gorgeous body wasn't on display.
"It is, and I will be giving you a tour when we come back from the Underworld," Rias replied.
"You guys really have to go so soon?" Sirius asked.
"If Harry's starting to display completely unknown powers, then it would be safest for him in my family's castle," Rias replied. "With my peerage and me, not to mention all of our servants around, we'll be able to monitor him properly and figure out how to deal with anything else that pops up."
"Sorry to be such a bother," Harry muttered, and she just smiled softly at him.
"You're no such thing," Rias replied.
"Um, should we really be speaking so openly about this?" Hermione asked, intimately aware of the fact that they were surrounded by muggles.
"It'll be fine," Rias replied. "This place is devil territory, and its people rarely notice anything that they're not supposed to. When they do, they don't end up remembering it for long, and since we actually know what technology exists in the greater world, we can account for that too."
"Must be nice," Sirius chuckled. "Lily used to just stare at us like we were brain-dead when she'd bring up something utterly ubiquitous in the muggle world that we'd never heard of."
"It's a consequence of 'ow much our people pulled away from zem," Fleur shrugged. "All zings considered, it's understandable. Where are we putting ze 'ouse?"
"Right this way," Rias replied, gesturing for them to follow.
"Oh, bugger, I'm an idiot," Harry muttered as he turned to Sirius. "You don't speak a word of Japanese, do you? I speak all languages now and…"
"You've had a lot on your mind over the past few days," Sirius cut him off. "I do, actually."
"Really?" Rias asked curiously.
"I didn't think we'd be moving here or anything, but when you started seeing a woman who lived in Japan, I figured that we'd visit at some point and made use of the ministry's language charms while they were still trying to kiss my ass. They're normally horrendously expensive and regulated as all hell, but they charged me nearly nothing, rushed me through the process, and threw in Korean just for good measure. And to think, all it cost me was a decade in Azkaban."
Harry snorted at his jovial tone, wondering, not for the first time, how he was able to stay so positive about things after all the shit he'd been through. He started speaking Japanese, and, save for Fleur, they were all able to quickly tell that he had learned it pretty well. Rias led them on to a designated spot that had been blocked off on all sides with pylons, tape, and signs that made it clear that it was a construction site that no one should go anywhere near. The signs were charmed to really drive the point home, too, so they could be certain that they wouldn't be bothered, though as they drew closer, they saw that someone was already there.
"Everything's set up," Akeno announced as she spotted them. "Hello again, Sirius."
"Hello," Sirius smiled. "This is the spot then?"
"Mmhmm," Rias replied. "It's one of the tallest hills in the area, but it had remained largely undeveloped because the land has been owned by various devil families for centuries. My father acquired it and a fair bit of other land when I took over here and said it was fine for us to erect the Rookery, though he wants to inspect it himself while we're away."
"Just remind him that I'll be living here with the pets," Sirius replied.
"How fitting," Kreacher grinned, and Sirius jumped.
"When the hell did you get here?" he asked.
"Master Harry asked Kreacher to help Mistress Akeno with clearance," Kreacher replied. "Dobby has finished packing up the furniture you wished moved from Grimmauld Place."
"What are you planning to do with it?" Hermione asked.
"I'll hold onto it and leave it to you when I go," Sirius shrugged, looking at Harry. "Just because we're moving here doesn't mean that it couldn't prove useful to have a place in England still."
"Right, of course," Harry nodded. "So, Luna, how exactly does this work?"
"Watch," Luna replied, smiling as she walked up to the cordoned-off spot and pulled out the rook. "Please work."
The rook flew out of her hand, and as it began hovering over the ground, they watched whole sections of dirt start to fly off away from them, forming a massive hole in the ground, in which it started to build the foundation.
"Please work?" Rias asked, cocking an eyebrow, and Luna just giggled.
"None of us know what the passphrase was supposed to be, but as Aldous Lovegood held it out, he whispered those words first, unaware that he'd accidentally activated the recording charm," Luna replied. "It accepted that as the passphrase, and we're kind of stuck with it."
"Wow, zat's working quite quickly," Fleur murmured as she watched it complete the foundation, with the basement laid out within it, and then start to grow.
"The whole process takes less than a minute, according to Daddy," Luna replied. "He never tried it out himself, but that's what my grandfather told him and had heard from his father."
"Blimey," Sirius muttered as it finished and settled in the spot. "Useful that is."
"Let's go inside," Luna beamed, opening the door. "Key, please."
A key appeared out of nowhere, landing in her hand, and she quickly let them in.
"It changes the locks every time you do that and will provide the eldest Lovegood with a key if asked nicely," Luna explained as she ushered them in. "We'll just have to make copies of this."
"Easy enough," Akeno smiled, taking the key from her and making enough copies for all of them. "This place is great, by the way."
"Thanks," Luna beamed. "What do you think, Sirius?"
"Oh, it's lovely," Sirius replied. "I've been in it before. I wasn't that close to your parents, but I was a plus-one at their wedding, and they held the reception here. Can't for the life of me remember who my date was."
"Was she pretty?" Luna asked.
"Whole day's a bit of a blur, honestly, but I do remember peeing on the big oak tree that was in your old yard, and I'm almost certain I was Padfoot when I did it," Sirius replied.
Harry snorted at that and walked around. "So this place is what, five stories?"
"Mmhmm," Luna replied. "The top two floors are a lot bigger than this, at least inside, and full of bedrooms, so we should be able to host whoever we like here. Come, let me show you my old room!"
Luna took his hand and led him upstairs as Sirius checked out the newly finished basement.
"So Rias, did you give any zought to what I asked ze other day?" Fleur asked, and Rias grinned at her.
"As a matter of fact, I did," Rias replied, recalling that very brief conversation.
"OUI, OUI, OUI, OUI!" Fleur squealed as Harry pounded her squelching, squirting pussy.
He was holding her against him, her sweaty back practically glued to his chest as his hips pistoned back and forth like a well-oiled machine. He had his arms hooked around her knee, her feet dangling in the air, and his hands clasped behind her neck. Every time he bottomed out inside her, the bulbous head of his cock slipped inside her anterior fornix, and she had completely lost track of how many times she'd cum. She was drooling, almost mindless, and knew that another orgasm would almost certainly knock her as unconscious as the other three already were, something that she didn't object to in the slightest.
Harry was utterly confident and so remarkably strong. His stamina had always been impressive, but now it seemed like his passions were endless, like he could fuck for hours without tiring, and after having already taken Fleur in numerous positions through the long session, he'd indulged a fantasy she'd always wanted to act out. She was utterly at his mercy, being used like a toy, and she'd never felt hotter in her entire life.
"You've made such a mess," Harry chided her. "You're such a bad girl."
"Merde!" Fleur shrieked, feeling her insides clench at his rough, deep voice.
"I should make you clean it up," Harry continued. "Maybe I'll make you do it with your tongue."
Fleur's eyes rolled back, and she was sure that she was right on the precipice of orgasm when suddenly she felt it again. A warm wave of madness-inducing lust rolled over her, and she screamed. Feathers didn't form on her this time, but she felt the same kind of loss of control as she had then, and she came so hard she squirted again. Harry let go with a roar, filling her to the brim, and her ecstasy only grew more intense. Her world went white, her mind going blank as everything in the world seemed to slip away save for the massive cock reshaping her insides and the earth-shattering pleasure thundering through her entire body.
"Harry, are you...oh wow," Rias marveled as she appeared and saw them.
She looked down at Luna, Hermione, and Akeno, all lying there passed out and clearly well-fucked, before returning her gaze to Fleur and Harry, who slumped back against the wall, and let himself slide down until he was seated on the floor.
"Bond...me," Fleur panted, sounding utterly delirious. "Ze master-servant...contract...I want it...too."
Rias cocked an eyebrow at that and levitated the Veela off of his cock and over to the others, who immediately started cuddling with her in their sleep.
"You've been having fun," she grinned, sinking to her knees and kissing Harry, tasting pussy on his lips.
"I can have more," Harry replied in kind, his cock not wilting in the slightest, despite his orgasm.
"It seems I've made a monster," Rias chuckled, leaning down and licking a trail from the base of his cock to the tip.
"Your monster," Harry sighed, sounding more relaxed and happy than he had since he fought Voldemort, and Rias felt her heart flutter at the sheer affection in his voice.
"I didn't think you'd remember that," Rias commented.
"I remember everything," Fleur sighed, feeling her cunt quiver as she remembered the previous night. "I wouldn't be surprised if you still didn't trust me after I messed with the ritual, but I want to be with 'Arry for ze rest of our lives, and I'd like mine to last as long as 'is. If I were 'is servant, bound by ze contract, you could trust zat I couldn't betray you, as doing so would betray 'im."
"I am already confident of that," Rias replied, having forgiven the Veela by then, "and I planned to turn you anyway, but if you want to be his servant too, I would not object. Now be honest, was it entirely about wanting to be a devil, or…"
"I love 'im," Fleur replied. "'E 'as my 'eart, e's 'ad my 'oles, and I would give 'im zis as well, be 'is, mind, body, and soul."
"Then that's okay," Rias smiled, summoning her bag of remaining evil pieces and pulling out a pawn.
"I zink I'll need water if I'm meant to swallow zis," Fleur quipped.
"Their suppositories, actually," Rias replied, and they both burst out laughing. Poking a finger between her large breasts, she said, "It goes in here."
"Well, be my guest," Fleur replied, bracing herself as Rias pressed the pawn against her chest, and it went inside. She quickly furrowed her brow and asked, "Is zat 'ow it's supposed to feel?"
"Hmm, one wasn't enough," Rias murmured, surprised at that after Luna and Hermione required only one each. "I hope this works, or I'll need to try something else."
She pushed the other pawn in, and Fleur gasped as she felt them take effect. Her transformation was as quick and uneventful as Hermione's and Luna's had been, and Rias breathed a subtle sigh of relief. Harry was the only member of her peerage who had experienced any odd effects from the evil pieces, and she'd had others work out fine since, but she would probably remain at least a little wary with the rest of them.
"Mmm, and there's no chance that I'm now a succubus?" Fleur asked. "Oh!"
"You'll find it easier to speak English without an accent now," Rias smiled. "Akeno doesn't sound Japanese, after all."
"Right, of course," Fleur nodded, bemused by how much she sounded like the others now. She tried speaking Japanese and found that she could, despite having never had a single lesson in the language.
"Well, with that done, we can get to the station," Hermione murmured. "I'll go get Luna and Harry."
"You might want to give them a few more minutes," Fleur piped up.
"Hmm?" Hermione asked.
"She brought her boyfriend up to her childhood bedroom," Akeno replied, and Hermione sighed, realizing that she was probably right.
"Shall I put the kettle on?" she asked.
"Oh, there's no need for that," a very relaxed and happy-sounding Luna sighed as she flew down the stairs, followed closely by Harry.
Hermione smoothed out her hair the moment she landed and rolled her eyes affectionately at Harry, who just grinned.
"It finished the basement too," Sirius remarked as he walked upstairs, immediately mouthing 'nice' to Harry. "Do you have any notes on how this place was made? I haven't been this impressed by a bit of spellwork since James, Remus, and I accidentally made the map."
"Sadly no," Luna replied. "My great-great-great-great-grandfather never told anyone how he made the place and was never one to keep a journal that we know of. I could check the Omnilibrary while we're in Gremory Castle, but I don't have much hope on that front."
"Oh, it's fine," Sirius replied. Hugging Harry, he said, "Anyway, you kids have fun and, if you can, Harry, try to write."
"Will do," Harry smiled. "Look on the bright side. Once school starts, I'll be around here pretty permanently."
"That will be nice," Sirius smiled. "You two will be popping in and out, right?"
"That's right," Rias replied. "Our school year ends on the twentieth, so we have a few more weeks, but I want to get the obligatory first train ride over with for the new members of my peerage."
"So don't just wander into any random bathroom," Akeno grinned, "unless you want a little show."
Sirius' eyes widened at that, and Harry slapped her arse.
"Behave, you," he said firmly, though with amused eyes. "We don't want the old dog's heart to stop on us."
"I am not old!" Sirius insisted, though his lips twitched upward as he saw Harry smile. "Take care, all of you."
"Will do," Harry smiled. "Try to have fun; you deserve it."
"Oh, I intend to," Sirius grinned. "Girls love a foreign accent."
They said their goodbyes and left, making their way to the nearest train station.
"So this place is connected to a real station just like Platform 9 in London?" Harry asked.
"Mmhmm," Rias replied. "I don't know if either one inspired the other, but I do know that this was a pet project of Lord Falbium."
"Which one is he again?" Fleur asked, and Harry and Luna both looked at her in surprise. "I am like the rest of you now.
"Oh, right," Harry replied as Luna squealed and hugged her. "I didn't consider that it might remove your accent. I must say that it will be odd hearing you pronounce the h in my name."
"I can still put it on, 'Arry," Fleur purred, thickening her accent to where it used to be, "and I think that's one word that I'll never quite pronounce correctly."
"I'm glad," Harry grinned.
"To answer your question, he's one of the four Satans," Rias replied. "My brother and Lord Ajuka, most of you have already met, and I'm sure you'll meet Lady Serafall soon enough. She's my friend Sona's older sister."
"Wait, so the younger siblings of half of your greatest officials live here?" Hermione asked. "How is it not crawling with devil security?"
"Sona and I are far from helpless," Rias replied with a grin, "and there are some security measures in place."
"The train we're looking for is on a hidden lower level," Akeno piped up, "and once we find...oh, there they are. Kiba, Koneko!"
The two devils heard her and made their way over, with Koneko coming to a skidding halt once she was within a few feet of Harry. The short, white-haired girl stared up at him in shock, and for a moment Harry wondered if he'd forgotten to hide his horns before he remembered that he was in a crowded train station and that would have earned far more of a reaction than this if so. Her mouth opened, and she started inhaling deeply through her nose, as though she were somehow tasting the air.
"Koneko?" Rias asked. "Are you alright?"
"Huh?" Koneko asked, shocked out of her reverie. She shook her head, blushing lightly, and Rias looked at her in surprise. "Wasn't he like five inches shorter a few days ago?"
"The evil pieces had some odd effects on him," Rias replied. "Anyway, Kiba, Koneko, I'd like you to meet the newest members of my peerage. You've both briefly met Harry and Hermione, but these are Luna Lovegood and Fleur Delacour. Luna, Fleur, these are Kiba Yuuto and Koneko Toujou."
"Enchante," Fleur smiled.
"Pleased to meet you," Luna beamed. "I love your hair, Koneko."
"It's hair," Koneko shrugged, looking between Luna and Harry warily.
"I take it you're from France, while the rest of you are from England?" Kiba asked, looking at Fleur.
"That's right," Fleur asked. "I'm assuming you're not from around here either."
"Italy, originally," Kiba replied, his face falling.
"I have our fares settled," Rias said as she returned to them. "Just follow me, and I'll lead you to the hidden entrance. Once we're boarded, we can get to know each other better."
"So why is this a train anyway?" Harry asked. "You mentioned that it was Lord Falbium's doing, but then we got sidetracked."
"Lord Falbium is in charge of military and security matters, and he came to like the idea of a train-based portal system linking our worlds," Rias replied. "Sirzechs always said that he just really came to like the London underground system, having visited the city while it was first being built."
"I sometimes forget just how old many of you are," Hermione chuckled.
"Lord Falbium's the oldest of the four of them," Rias replied, leading them downstairs, "and most of the lords in the councils are even older. There are even a few left who were created by the Lightbringer himself."
"First generation devils?" Hermione asked. "How fascinating!"
"There aren't many left, as you can imagine," Rias murmured, leading them on and stopping at what looked like the entrance to a storage room. After looking around for a moment, she pressed a finger against the doorknob, charging it with a touch of magic, and another door appeared right behind her. "It's just down these stairs."
Harry nodded and made his way down, smiling as he realized how familiar this seemed. Though he didn't regret leaving his life in Britain, he was going to miss Hogwarts, and seeing something so similar to the sort of hidden entrances the magical world was fond of brought a smile to his face. This would be his first time visiting the Underworld formally, and his longest stay there yet, and he was truly looking forward to it.
"Akeno, do you remember what we spoke about last night?" Hermione asked. "It was while Harry was...occupied with Luna and Fleur."
"To be honest, most of last night is a bit of a blur," Akeno chuckled, looking at Harry with lidded eyes. "I do remember you two and Fleur joining in after a while."
"You mentioned your...childhood," Hermione clarified, and Akeno went still.
"Oh, right," she sighed. Speaking to Harry about her past had been difficult, but the mind-melting sex that followed had left her more relaxed and giddy than she'd ever been in her life, and she vaguely remembered getting into it again afterward.
"I wasn't sure if you'd remember, and I just wanted to say that if you ever need to talk again, I'm here," Hermione added, taking her hand, and Akeno relaxed.
"She's right," Luna smiled. "We're all friends here."
Rias smiled at that. She knew Akeno's story well, and the half-angel had opened up to both Koneko and Kiba at various points to show that she could empathize with their own difficult pasts, but it was nice seeing her be so open with others without having some purpose for it.
"Thank you," Akeno smiled.
"So, I suppose this makes you a nephilim, right?" Fleur asked, and more than a few devils nearby looked at her strangely as Rias stiffened. Wincing, she murmured, "That was a faux pas, I take it?"
"Yes, though an understandable one," Rias replied quietly as Akeno cast a spell around their seats to ensure that nothing said would get out.
"You reacted like this when I asked about nephilim too," Hermione pointed out. "What's the matter?"
"Nephilim is a word that has a more general meaning among humans than among devils," Rias replied warily. "It can be used to describe any hybrid creature born of an angel or a devil, so Akeno would technically be one in that sense, but she's not a true nephilim."
"What's a true nephilim?" Harry asked, intrigued.
"A true nephilim is the product of a union between a devil and an unfallen angel," Rias replied.
"But I thought angels couldn't have sex without falling?" Luna asked, furrowing her brow in confusion.
"The Tyrant was very specific with his creations on that subject," Rias sighed. "They cannot give in to sin, any of the seven deadly sins, without falling. Most of the fallen did so by giving in to lust, and there have been cases of devils seducing angels to get them to fall, but that wouldn't create a true nephilim because the angels in question would...choose to give in."
"Oh," Hermione grimaced, scowling as she realized what Rias was getting at.
"Angels cannot give in to lustful desires or feel sexual pleasure without falling," Akeno added, "meaning that for true nephilim to be made…"
"I take it from the reactions we just got that this is...highly frowned upon around here?" Harry asked, dearly hoping that that was the answer.
"It's illegal to even try," Rias replied. "It's not just that the angel in question has to be raped…"
"Devils are all highly infertile," Hermione breathed in horror, and the crimson-haired woman nodded.
"There have been three known cases of true nephilim in history and they were all killed by the heavenly host," Rias replied.
"Not a word to use around here, got it," Fleur winced.
As they finished with that disturbing subject, the train began to slow down, and they all looked outside as they passed through the portal.
"That's the capital city of Lilith," Rias explained as Akeno ended her spell, pointing out at the urban landscape. "Sirzech's palace is over there."
"You mean the one that looks like Versailles?" Fleur asked, smiling at the familiar sight.
"That's the one," Rias nodded. "The sprawling black fortress in the center is where the council convenes when they do."
It was a far more imposing structure, and as Harry looked around, he saw that devils seemed to generally favor darker, more imposing architecture, with most of it looking.
"I didn't expect so much Gothic architecture," Hermione murmured as she looked around.
"It was in vogue on Earth at the time that most of this was built," Rias explained, "and we've, by and large, remained fond of it. Sirzech's palace is somewhat unique for that reason."
"Once we reach the station, just follow us, and we'll get you formally registered," Akeno said. "We'll be able to teleport everyone directly to Gremory Castle afterward."
"Is that likely to take long?" Harry asked and Rias shook her head.
"No, it's actually pretty efficient," she replied. "Whoever said that bureaucracy came from hell has never been here."
Sure enough, it was a rather short process, after which she managed to teleport them all to the grounds of the Castle Gremory.
"Wow, this place is beautiful," Fleur marveled as she looked up at the sprawling, imposing castle.
Sirzech's home was a palace more than anything, while Gremory Castle was a true castle, with tall towers and heavy stone walls. It was larger than Hogwarts, with a far rounder layout, and nine tall towers made of dark stone, piercing the sky.
"Why, thank you," Venelana murmured, and more than a few of them jumped at her sudden appearance.
"Mother, you've met most of my peerage already, but these are Luna Lovegood and Fleur Delacour," Rias smiled, and her mother's eyes immediately fixed on Fleur, who froze under her stare.
"Hello," Venelana said, her voice softer than her purple eyes, "and welcome to Castle Gremory. I'm glad you like it, young lady, as Zeoticus and I designed much of it ourselves."
"Really?" Hermione asked. "I would have thought it was older than that."
"Well, keep in mind that I'm far older than I look, but we had to have some heavy reconstruction done quite a while ago," Venelana replied.
"Were you attacked?" Harry asked.
"We have been a time or two, but it wasn't that," Venelana chuckled. "Sirzechs destroyed the east wing of the old castle a few weeks after he was born."
"What?" Harry asked, wide-eyed, and she just laughed.
"I was late feeding him, and he was less than pleased," Venelana sighed. "The silly boy never let anyone else do it in those days. Thankfully, while his fondness for buxom women hasn't diminished at all since those days, his control over his powers has improved dramatically. Grayfia, show our guests to their quarters."
"Yes, Lady Venelana," Grayfia replied. "Right this way."
"Your brother was already that powerful as a baby?" Hermione whispered to Rias.
"Sirzechs Lucifer is widely feared for a reason, young lady," Grayfia replied, having overheard her, and Hermione went still under her crimson gaze.
"How did you two meet?" Harry asked, earning a glare from the maid.
"On the battlefield," Grayfia replied flatly.
"You two fought alongside each other?" Luna asked. "How sweet!"
"You already told them about us then?" Grayfia asked, looking at Rias, who just nodded. Sighing, she turned back to Luna and said, "We didn't fight alongside each other, no. We were on opposite sides during the civil war."
"Really?" Harry asked.
"Yes," Grayfia replied flatly, her tone suggesting she was done discussing it. "Anyway, Kiba, Koneko, you two are in your old quarters here, while you four have been given a suite of rooms next to Rias's chambers, since none of us are under any delusion that you'll be sleeping anywhere else. Lord Zeoticus will be throwing a feast in less than an hour to celebrate Rias having found so many new members of her peerage, and you're free to do as you like until then. If you need anything, feel free to ask either myself, or one of the other servants."
As she left, Hermione turned to Rias and asked, "Why does your brother's wife serve as a maid here?"
"She enjoys it," Rias replied simply, gesturing to Kiba and Koneko that they could head on if they liked, which they did. "Truth be told, she rarely even admits to their relationship during work hours, so I'm surprised she was so forthcoming just there. She must be in a particularly good mood."
"Perhaps your nephew did something really impressive," Akeno posited as Harry whispered something in Rias' ear that made her laugh. "You'll all likely meet Millicas soon. He's utterly adorable."
"Wait, here?" Rias asked, cackling as Harry nodded. "Oh, that's priceless!"
"What is it?" Fleur asked, feeling a chill go down her spine as both Rias and Harry turned to grin at her evilly.
"Do you remember that little bet we made on the outcome of the third task?" Harry asked.
"Oui," Fleur replied warily as Harry's eyes raked up and down over her body.
"When I was a boy, my relatives watched a particularly funny movie once, and when they paused it to get more snacks, I popped my head out and looked at the screen," Harry replied. "It was a single still that meant little to me at the time, but which has stuck with me ever since all the same."
"Right, you said it was called...Clue, right?" Fleur asked, and Hermione snorted.
"Really, Harry?" the brunette asked, making Fleur even more concerned.
"Hey, it's a great outfit," Harry replied with a grin, holding his hands out in front of him as he sought to conjure clothes for Fleur.
The image of Yvette the maid had managed to sear itself in his mind despite him being far too young at the time to properly appreciate it, and, as he knew Fleur's every curve like the back of his hand, he was quickly able to conjure a copy of the maid uniform from the movie that would fit her perfectly, and the Veela's eyes widened at the sight.
"You wish me to wear this here?" Fleur asked.
"More than you can imagine," Harry rumbled and the blonde shivered at the desire in his eyes.
"Well, I suppose a bet's a bet," Fleur grinned, taking the uniform from him.
"Um, will your parents mind?" Hermione asked. "This is kind of...borderline lingerieish."
"Please," Akeno snorted. "I once lost a bet with Rias and had to walk around here in nothing but pasties and a thong."
"Did you take any pictures?" Luna asked, and the dark-haired girl grinned at her.
"I could recreate the look if you like," Akeno purred.
"Devil morality and human morality differ quite a bit, Hermione," Rias explained. "We can all be a bit freer here. Oh, wow."
"What do you think, 'Arry?" Fleur asked breathily, twirling around in the uniform she'd just put on with a simple spell.
"I think I'm going to really enjoy the next week," Harry grinned, looking her up and down.
The white and black maid's uniform clung to her like a second skin, showing off her incredible figure completely. It was a little shorter than the sundress had been, displaying her long, gorgeous legs, and he'd even charmed the bodice to push her breasts up on its own, meaning that she neither needed nor had room for a bra. He gazed down at her pale, supple breasts and pulled her in for a searing, hot kiss.
"I'm going to freshen up a bit," Hermione chuckled, shaking her head fondly at their antics. "Do remember that we have a feast to prep...um, Rias?"
"Yes?" Rias asked, tearing her eyes away from Harry and Fleur to cock an eyebrow at Hermione.
"What's this pile of books on the bed?" she asked, and Rias poked her head inside.
"Oh, they remembered," she said happily. "I asked the servants to put copies of each volume of Nicholas Flamel's journals in here."
"What?" Fleur asked, breaking the kiss to look at Rias.
"The main reason I'm leaving you four here for the next few weeks is because I want us to have help on hand if Harry displays any further...unique abilities, but I was hoping that you'd take the time to research a couple things too. I'll have far more time on my hands soon, but until then…"
"Oh, we can do that," Hermione beamed, rushing over to the pile of books with all the excitement of a child on Christmas morning.
"What else do you want us to look into?" Harry asked.
"Anything else that you can find on the master-servant pact," Rias replied. "Frankly, if you can find out just what this 'quintessence' is, I...what are you doing?"
She watched in confusion as books started flying off into two different piles, flipping open in front of Hermione's face for just a moment before going to their designated spots as she held her hands in front of her, directing them all with startling speed and efficiency.
"I've read a few biographies of him before, and they all generally agree that the stone was likely finished within the first fifty years of his life," Hermione replied. "He was born in 1325, so I'm moving everything written after 1376 over here, piling them up in order. It appears that he started journaling in his early twenties, having some rather remarkable manuscripts here for their age. They must be charmed to...Luna?"
She looked at the blonde in confusion as she started pulling books, seemingly at random, from both piles.
"I'm summoning books that mention the quintessence," Luna replied, and Hermione just stared at her for a moment before sighing and hanging her head. "Hey, dividing the ones that do mention it into piles from before and after 1376 is still a good idea."
"Thank you," Hermione muttered, feeling stupid for not having thought of that herself, and Harry kissed her temple, making her smile despite herself.
"I guess we could take one of the early ones each and flip through it as we wait for the feast," Akeno suggested, sitting down and summoning over one of the ancient tomes.
The six of them read in silence for a while, each becoming engrossed in the particular journal that they'd selected. Nicholas Flamel had lived a very long, and very interesting life, and Hermione in particular was looking forward to going through all of his journals, once they'd found the answer they were seeking.
"Rias, I would like a word," Venelana said as she poked her head in.
Fleur stiffened at her presence, but though she looked at her, she didn't react at all to how she was dressed.
"Look through the books and see if you find anything," Rias smiled. "I'll be back in a moment."
She followed her mother, who teleported them both into her favorite sitting room and sat down, gesturing for Rias to do the same. Rias, wondering what this was about, did as her mother bade her to and poured herself a cup of tea from the steaming hot pot sitting on the table next to the cups. Venelana had already done so before she left, and she picked hers up, sipping it gingerly as she let the silence go on for a moment.
"You turned the Veela," she said at last, and Rias just sighed as she stirred a little sugar into her cup.
"I told you I was planning to," the redhead replied. "She took two of my pawns, where Hermione and Luna each took one. She's powerful and will be a great asset to…"
"I got a good look at her assets just now," Venelana quipped. "Normally I would think nothing of you taking on one of their kind as a servant, but you were spotted with her in Lilith, and I can assure you, Regina Phenex will have already heard of it."
"Right," Rias muttered, sipping her tea.
"Have you given much thought to what we discussed the other day?" Venelana asked.
"Not really," Rias admitted. "It's been a trying and very busy few days, and I don't think I've quite wrapped my head around you actually wanting me to marry Harry. I love him, and he loves me, but we've been on one formal date in our entire relationship, a relationship wherein we spent most of our time in schools on different continents. I would like to get to have a normal relationship with him for a while and was hoping that, down the line, we would discuss marriage."
"Being a devil means taking what you want where you can, but being an adult means realizing that you can't get everything you want," Venelana said firmly, and Rias scowled. "You took what you wanted when you bedded a random human boy to rid yourself of your engagement to Riser Phenex, and now that random boy has become a more important figure than we ever could have imagined. If he possessed one of the longinuses, if he possessed the True Longinus, that still wouldn't make him as great an asset to us as his incubus status."
"Where is this going?" Rias asked, and her mother glared at her.
"The Phenexes are going to become a problem for us over this," Venelana replied, sipping her tea. "The engagement breaking was one thing, as engagements do fall apart from time to time, but taking on a Veela into your service not even a full year after you threw away your engagement to Riser is going to be seen as an insult. It won't come to war; they're not that hot-headed, but there are ways in which they can make trouble for us. The Phenex clan is not without influence, both in high society at large and especially in the Council of Lords."
"Damn it," Rias muttered.
"Your brother is not universally beloved in the Council of Lords, and he certainly isn't in the Elder Council," Venelana continued. "We're going to need to find a way to soothe their ruffled feathers, if you'll forgive the pun, and the easiest way to do so will be to inform them, discreetly, about what Harry is."
"Pimping him out to their daughter," Rias scowled, and Venelana just laughed.
"I doubt he'll object too strongly to bedding a beautiful, nubile blonde," she replied dryly. "He already has two of them. Ravel isn't your servant, though. She's not Akeno or some random witch you made yours. She's a young noblewoman, the same as you, and she will not defer to you as you are; rather, she'll try to end up his favorite."
"Harry wouldn't let her manipulate him," Rias insisted, and Venelana looked at her like she'd just suggested surrendering to the Heavens.
"He's a man, dear," Venelana replied dryly. "They all think with their cocks to one extent or another, and unless the Phenex girl is a complete fool, which I have no reason to think she is, she'll be subtle, playing on his baser nature, pretending to be vulnerable and in need of a big strong man to comfort her in this new environment, away from her family. Even if you warn him ahead of time, he'll remain vulnerable to her charms because she's a beautiful young woman and he's a man. If you were his wife, though, she would be far more cautious."
"Right," Rias sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "A lover trying to assert herself above a man's girlfriend is using her wiles and cunning to take what she wants, while a mistress trying to reach above her status and replace her lover's wife looks desperate and obvious, things that her pride wouldn't allow her to do."
"Basic etiquette would also see her defer to you in all things if she wants to enjoy Harry, as going around your back would be a significant faux pas and something that you could use the rest of the harem to freeze her out over," Venelana continued. "Managing all of this is going to be a careful balancing act, but one that I think you'll thrive in. To take command, though, you need to cement your status as his first wife."
"How long do you think it will be before the Phenexes start making nuisances of themselves?" Rias asked, tiredly.
"I doubt they'll do anything overt for a little while," Venelana replied, "but I would like you to at least broach the subject with him before the summer's over.
"I can do that much," Rias said, and her mother smiled.
"Excellent," Venelana nodded. "Now…"
She trailed off as a small glowing ball floated into the room, flashing a couple times before disappearing.
"The feast is about to begin," Venelana replied. "Sirzechs will be here along with Millicas. He managed to best Beowulf in a spar today."
"Really?" Rias asked, genuinely impressed.
"He's progressing by leaps and bounds, that boy," Venelana smiled, sounding proud. "He's not like his father was at his age, something that none of us truly expected anyway, but he's going to be extraordinary; I just know."
"I'll gather the others and bring them down to the great hall," Rias said, standing up, but her mother just raised a hand.
"There's no need," she smiled. "The servants will have already collected them. Come."
They made their way down, and she found her peerage already seated near her own typical chair and joined them.
"This place is beautiful," Hermione murmured to her as she sat down.
"Similar in a way to the great hall in Beauxbatons," Fleur added.
"I don't even want to think about what Hogwarts' great hall must still look like," Harry muttered as Sirzechs walked in, followed closely by Grayfia, who was dressed in a more formal gown than he'd ever seen her in, and a boy who had to be Millicas.
He looked a lot like his father, with the same crimson hair, high cheekbones, and straight nose, but his eyes were as red as his mother's. Looking somewhat shy as he followed his father to his seat at Zeoticus' left hand, he took one look at Fleur, still dressed in her maid's outfit, and blushed. Grayfia and Sirzechs noticed as well, and the silver-haired woman's eyes narrowed slightly, making Fleur gulp.
"Well, now that we're all here, we can begin," Zeoticus announced, standing up. "Many of you I have seen in this hall time and time again, and some I will have the pleasure of meeting tonight. I welcome you all happily. Tonight we celebrate the achievements of two of you. Rias, my daughter, you have grown by leaps and bounds this last year, growing in power, asserting yourself as a true devil worthy of the name of Gremory, and filling most of the empty spots in your peerage. As I understand, you have only a bishop, a knight, and a rook left, yes?"
"That's right, Father," Rias smiled up at him.
"I am most proud," Zeoticus nodded, "as I am of you, my boy. Millicas, your father tells me that you managed to best Beowulf in a spar the other day."
"Once, Grandfather," Millicas replied shyly, and Zeoticus just grinned.
"That is no mean feat, Millicas," he chuckled. "Beowulf managed to wound your father in a duel when he was still mortal. To be able to hold your own against him at your age, much less best him at all, is incredible."
"Thank you," Millicas said, earning another chuckle from his grandfather.
"Our family grows more powerful and prosperous by the year," Zeoticus continued, "something that I get the sense will only increase in the near future."
He eyed Harry as he said that, making him sit up a little straighter.
Servants walked in then carrying bottles of wine, and they filled each glass, save for Millicas', which was filled with something that looked like simple grape juice with a wave of his mother's hand.
"To the House of Gremory and the future," Zeoticus said, holding out his glass.
They all repeated the toast and drank, at which point more servants entered carrying great trays of food, the largest of which held an entire roasted boar.
"Beowulf?" Hermione asked, turning to Rias, who set her glass down.
"A member of my brother's peerage," she replied. "He's a descendant of the original hero, Beowulf, and one of the strongest pawns in the Underworld. The wound my father mentioned was a small cut, but even that was an extraordinary accomplishment for a mortal."
"That's true," Sirzechs piped up, "and he's only grown stronger since then."
"I guess landing any blows against you in a fight is quite the accomplishment in general," Harry chuckled as the servants filled his plate with a good bit of the boar's shoulder.
"I'm not invincible, but yes," Sirzechs replied. Gesturing to Grayfia, he said, "This one only barely managed it."
"Sirzechs," Grayfia whined, and he just chuckled.
"Oh come now, it's a sweet story," Venelana grinned.
"I guess it wasn't a spar," Hermione commented, and Grayfia just sighed.
"No, it was during the civil war," Grayfia replied. "My house, House Lucifuge, remained loyal to the cause of the Old Satan faction, despite the fact that the heir of Lucifer had elected not to press his claim, and so I fought."
"On the outskirts of the city of Lucifaad, in one of the final battles of the war, she came straight at me," Sirzechs smiled fondly. "From the moment I laid eyes on her, I thought she was the most beautiful girl I'd ever seen."
"Ugh," Millicas groaned, digging into his potatoes and conjuring earplugs for himself, earning a few laughs.
"We fought…" Sirzechs went to continue.
"I fought," Grayfia corrected him. "You spent the whole time flirting while blocking or destroying my every attack. Once I'd exhausted myself against him, I thought he was going to finish me off, or at least take me prisoner."
"What did he do instead?" Harry asked.
"He asked me to dinner," Grayfia replied, rolling her eyes affectionately.
"She punched me in the face," Sirzechs chuckled, smiling at her.
"Well, I had to at least get one blow in," Grayfia grinned.
Rias smiled at the pair of them, happy to see Grayfia relax, something that she seldom saw, given the other woman's professionalism.
"So you two, Luna, Fleur, tell me a little about yourselves," Zeoticus commanded softly, turning to the two blondes.
"Well, I grew up in France and attended school at Beauxbatons, having graduated just recently," Fleur began.
As the Veela gave a little bit of her backstory, Harry caught sight of Sirzechs subtly examining her before turning to his wife.
"Say…" he went to say.
"No," Grayfia cut him off.
"But…" Sirzechs went to argue.
"Well, not when I'm on duty," Grayfia replied under her breath, and he just grinned.
Harry returned his gaze to Fleur and felt Rias slide a hand over his, drawing his attention.
"You look beautiful," he murmured, earning a wide smile from her.
"You've only grown more handsome since we met," Rias replied. "What do you think of the place? You've been here before, but you'll be staying a little longer this time."
"I think it's lovely," Harry replied. "I've gotten rather used to living in castles by now."
"Good," Rias grinned.
"...and 'Arry ultimately won the tournament and the bet, hence my present attire," Fleur finished.
"None of us mind," Venelana chuckled. "What about you, Luna?"
"Well, I attended Hogwarts until recently and will be hoping to catch up on what I need to to attend Kuoh Academy," Luna replied.
"We'll help you with that before the summer's done," Rias assured her.
"I used to travel a lot before Daddy was killed, and we used to try and find proof that creatures other people didn't believe in existed, but that kind of thing just isn't as fun as it used to be," Luna continued.
"I'm sorry, child," Venelana said sympathetically.
"Thank you," Luna replied. "I've found a new family with Harry, Rias, and the others, though, and I'm really looking forward to seeing more of the Underworld."
"Well, you can visit anywhere you like within the Gremory territory," Zeoticus piped up, "but I'd advise against going further than that for the time being. Part of what you'll all be doing while you're here is learning about the Underworld, Devils, and our culture and ways. As members of my daughter's peerage, you all represent her, and you should know this world well."
"Of course," Harry agreed readily.
"The lessons are all really interesting," Kiba piped up.
The feast continued from there, the food being even more incredible than it always was at Hogwarts, though that could have been things just tasting better to him as a devil, and Harry enjoyed just how accepted he felt there. He knew that both of Rias' parents knew about his relationship with her and was a little surprised that neither one brought it up through the evening, though he figured that they were planning to do so in private while he was there. She kept sneaking little touches through the evening, and he responded in kind, never failing to put a smile on her face when he did so.
After a couple hours, Sirzechs got called away on business, and not long after, Grayfia took a tired-looking Millicas home. Zeoticus and Venelana turned out to be gracious hosts and tried to get to know them all as well as they could, still never bringing up Harry and Rias' relationship, which he continued to think odd.
"...architectural schematics from all manner of civilizations," Zeoticus grinned quite a while later. "I have to imagine that I'm going to keep finding wonders in there for the rest of my days."
"I wonder if there are any from Arda," Harry murmured, and Hermione's eyes went wide at the thought of being able to look at actual drawings of structures like Orthanc.
"There's at least one," Zeoticus replied, and Hermione looked at him excitedly. "I found schematics for Barad-dur; quite the fortress that tower would be, and I think it's actually viable too."
"Are you familiar with Tolkien's work?" Hermione asked.
"Only a little," Zeoticus replied. "The schematics were quite interesting, though."
A nearby clock struck, and, looking at the time, Venelana said, "We should probably let you all go."
"Thank you both for this," Rias smiled. "It had been a little while since we managed to get the family together like this.
"Your brother is always so busy," Zeoticus sighed, "and speaking of busy, I was just thinking that I have a few things I need to take care of as well. Good night all, and it was nice meeting you both, Luna, Fleur."
"It was a pleasure, my lord," Fleur smiled as Luna quietly agreed.
"Good night," Venelana added softly, "and Rias, we'll speak in the morning."
"Night, Mother," Rias replied, watching her go.
She led her peerage out of the hall, and they all flew upstairs towards her quarters, with Kiba and Koneko quickly leaving the harem alone.
So, did you all find anything in Flamel's journals after Mother dragged me away?" Rias asked.
"There was one thing, but I didn't finish reading it before we were summoned for the feast," Luna replied.
"I was meaning to ask, is something wrong?" Harry asked as he followed her. "Your mother looked pretty tense as she called you away."
"The Phenexes are still quite displeased with me," Rias replied, "something that turning Fleur didn't help with."
"They are that upset about Veela?" Fleur asked.
"If I hadn't pissed them off otherwise, it wouldn't be much of an issue, but because of Riser and everything that happened there, it looks like a pattern of insults against them," Rias replied. "I knew they wouldn't be happy, and I'll deal with whatever fallout comes. Now what did you find?"
"I found the passage from just after he had completed the Stone," Luna replied, picking up the book she'd set down before and returning to the page she'd left off on. "It worked! It actually worked. The quintessence has completely stabilized the stone, fully entrapping the soul within and allowing me to finish it. The bonding process turned it a bright red and took more blood than I imagined. I will let it sit for a day and see if any cracks appear, but if not, I think I will have done what all other alchemists said was impossible. I will have stolen the power of life from God himself. Ow. I really need to get used to not saying that."
"I shudder to think of just how many failed versions of this we're going to read about in these," Hermione commented dryly. "What date was that from?"
"November twenty-second, thirteen seventy-wo," Luna replied.
"The biographers were quite close then," Harry murmured, as he and the others started looking through some of the other early volumes."
"This one is from January of that year," Akeno called out, flipping through it.
"Seventy-one, seventy-one," Hermione muttered as she opened and dismissed a couple other volumes. "I really hope we're not somehow missing a volume."
"I highly doubt it," Rias drawled as she looked through some of the others.
"Hey, I think this is it," Fleur replied. "This one starts in April of seventy-two."
"It would pick up right where this one finishes," Akeno nodded. "He had a busy few months here, though most of the entries seem to be notes on prospective projects."
"Strange that his second volume would stretch from April to November, then," Harry commented.
"That's because there's a two-month gap here," Fleur replied, her eyes growing progressively wide as she read through a particular entry. "Nicholas Flamel disappeared."
"Huh?" Harry asked, instantly annoyed that he didn't have the stone to ask him about it if his journal didn't clear things up.
"Listen to this entry from Halloween," Fleur said. "I have just been on the most extraordinary adventure, and if not for the fact that I scared poor Perinelle half to death, I would have considered it one of the highlights of my life. It all started when I found the scale, a gigantic crimson scale that looked like it fell from the largest lizard of all time. It was hard, like that of a dragon, though if a dragon big enough for this monstrosity to come from exists, I fear for us all. It was half buried in a bog near Marseille and when I pulled it out, I found myself teleported away, as though it had been a portkey…"
"Portkeys go back that far?" Harry asked.
"Apparently," Fleur shrugged. "The land I ended up in was like nothing I had ever seen before. There were muggles all over the place, crowded into towers of steel of glass like ants in a hill. They all wore clothing fit for kings in quality and wielded weapons that seemed almost magical at first glance. It hid myself at once and remained invisible almost through the entire trip. The scale came with me, but it wouldn't return me to where it came from, and I spent weeks trying to get it to work again, desperate to return home to my beloved. I ate what I could get my hands on, found shelter in abandoned buildings, and stayed on the move, fearful of being caught by these oddly capable muggles."
"This sounds like he ended up teleported through time," Hermione commented, and Fleur gave her a pointed look.
"As I was traveling around, I saw strange spectral criers touting the wonders of a new innovation," Fleur continued. "It was a power of some kind, which sounded entirely magical, and so I investigated. These people were muggles, but they had somehow managed to siphon and harness a magic like none I had ever seen. They called it silver, though it wasn't. What it was, was pure soul energy, beyond anything I had ever worked with. I acquired a sample of this silver, which I think might be the quintessence I had theorized could stabilize my work, and just then, for some reason, the scale worked again, and I found myself falling face-first in that wretched bog. It was quite unpleasant, but at least I was back, and I had the sample of the quintessence with me. I will be experimenting on it soon, trying to see if it might work for what I have in mind, lest I doom yet another soul to a failed experiment. I searched for the scale, but it seemed to dissipate in my hand as I fell, and I think it was destroyed. Whatever it was, it might well have been the solution to a problem I've been struggling with for some fifteen years."
"What?" Harry asked, staring down at the book in confusion.
Looking around, he saw a number of equally confused faces.
"Like I say, it sounds like he traveled through time," Hermione said. "Those towers of glass and steel sound like modern skyscrapers."
"I've never heard of muggle weapons that I'd expect wizards, even medieval ones, to think of as magical, though," Harry replied, "or at least nothing that you'd see just carried around. I also have no idea what this 'silver' could be."
"Maybe he traveled to a further point in time than ours," Hermione suggested.
"I think it's more likely that he traveled to another world," Rias said.
"What makes you say that?" Luna asked.
"The scale," Rias replied, and Akeno snapped her fingers.
"The Apocalypse dragon," she breathed, and Rias nodded.
"Hmm?" Hermione asked.
"You'll recall that I said a while ago that the Dimensional Gap is ruled by an enormous red dragon, yes?" Rias asked. "Well, what I just heard sounded like a guy finding an enormous red dragon scale and being whisked away by it to a dramatically different place."
"So you think that the Apocalypse Dragon...what? Sheds his scales?" Hermione asked.
"I remember reading that dragons do that instead of shedding their skin in solid bits like snakes," Fleur commented. "I researched them a fair bit before the first task."
"We focused mostly on how not to be killed by them," Harry chuckled. Smiling at Rias, he added, "Though I eventually found one hell of a solution."
Rias grinned at him and said, "The Apocalypse Dragon lives in the Dimensional Gap and has done so for millennia. I have no idea what effect that might have had on him or if any of this is true, but if he actually does shed scales capable of bringing people to other worlds, that opens up a host of possibilities that I wouldn't have thought possible."
As she grinned at that, considering what wonders she might find in other worlds, Harry's thoughts turned to a very similar question. If they could find one of these scales and go exploring beyond the limitations of Earth and the Underworld, could they potentially find something that could help even the odds between him and Rizevim?