Chapter 33
"This is so cool," Luna breathed as she watched another episode of Miracle Levia-tan.
"You may be powerful, you big ugly brute, but you're no match for a cute magical girl like me," Levia-tan smirked. "Take this!"
Hermione looked up and saw Serafall's character twirl her scepter around in a circle, bright light blue lights sparkling as she did. From the magic circle, a torrent of brutal frost magic barreled towards the skyscraper-sized monster, which looked a little like a vaguely humanoid swamp creature, freezing him solid. Luna watched, utterly transfixed, and the brunette resisted the urge to comment on it. The show seemed to be designed to appeal to children more than anything, and it wasn't something that appealed to her at all, but it was the first television program that Luna had ever seen, and she could tell that the blonde was likely going to watch it all if she could get her hands on it.
Smiling at the obvious, child-like enjoyment on her friend's face, Hermione looked back down at the book in her hands, and her face fell.
"All these centuries later, no one can truly say just how Diarmid Lynch created the house elves, and plenty have tried, without any success, to recreate his mysterious process," she read on. "The Lynch family holds sole possession of that secret to this day and holds a complete monopoly on the sale of them. As elves cannot procreate, the wizards and witches of the world have little choice but to turn to them when one of their elves grows old or otherwise dies."
"I can't believe that I didn't read more on them months ago," she thought to herself, embarrassed again by the zeal with which she sought to launch a movement that, in hindsight, would have gone nowhere.
She's been so terribly offended by the idea that the Wizarding World used slaves that she'd started plotting out how to bring the entire institution down before doing even the most basic research about them. It was unlike her, and she found herself irritated that she'd let her emotions get the better of her so.
"So what did you think?" Luna asked, shocking her out of her reverie, and she blinked up at her for a moment.
"It was interesting," Hermione replied neutrally. "I don't think it's really for me, but if you enjoy it, that's fine, and I'm sure that it will be easy enough to acquire the entire series."
"I love how she dresses in the show," Luna sighed. "She's utterly beautiful in general, but the short skirt, the tight leggings, that...almost vest thing that shows off her taut belly...I've never worn much that wasn't dull robes or my muggle clothes and only really ever expressed myself with my jewelry."
"If you wanted something like it, I'm sure I could help you transfigure something," Hermione suggested, and Luna beamed at her.
"Thanks, Hermione," the blonde sighed. "What are you reading?"
"A History of House Elves," Hermione replied. "There's so much about them that I never knew. When we next return to Earth, I'm going to have some questions for Dobby and Kreacher."
"Like what?" Luna asked.
"What their first memories are," Hermione replied. "According to Lord Zeoticus, and this book confirmed it, there's only one breeder of house elves in the entire world."
"Really?" Luna asked, surprised.
"Apparently," Hermione replied. "I can't imagine a single company, or in this case, family having a global monopoly on an industry."
"Well, it's not really global, per se," Luna replied. "Daddy said once that house elves weren't used in Africa or Asia."
"That's true," Hermione admitted. "The Lynches are Irish and initially only sold the elves to the local families. They branched off into Britain thereafter and only started selling them in mainland Europe in the twenties, but elves can be found in Australia, New Zealand, and the Americas as well because of their British ties. This book was quite useful about the elves themselves but had very little information about the family, other than the name of the wizard who first figured out how to make them."
"Maybe he kept a journal," Luna suggested, and Hermione smiled.
"Not everyone we want to learn more about is going to be an avid diarist," she chuckled. "We can't be that lucky."
"Alas," Harry sighed as he flew in, and Hermione's eyes widened as she saw just how drenched in sweat he was.
"If you sit down anywhere looking like that, Lady Venelana and Grayfia will kill you," she warned him as Luna flew up and wrapped her arms around his neck.
"Mmm, you're all warm," the blonde purred, moving to kiss him, and Harry tilted her head away.
"I stink," he warned her, and Luna just bit her lower lip.
"I don't mind," she purred. "How did your training go?"
"The Gremory guards don't hit as hard as Grayfia, but they're still pretty powerful," Harry replied. "I sparred with three of them, and they really put me through my paces."
"If you're able to do that, are they really powerful enough to be a challenge?" Hermione asked.
"It's not a question of power, it's a question of technique," Harry replied. "I've spent so long sparring with Rias and Akeno that I can punch pretty high above my weight in that regard, but one thing that Grayfia pointed out...hard, is that my fundamentals aren't the best. Voldemort focused on overwhelming strikes, seeking to incite fear in his enemies that he could wield as a weapon against them, and I learned a lot from him, but I can't rely on being stronger than virtually everyone around me anymore."
"Meaning you need a more varied approach to combat," Hermione surmised. "That makes sense, as does the fact that you didn't gain absolute combat mastery from Rias, given that she's our age."
"Yeah, so it means I'm going to have to spend a lot of days getting my ass kicked until I improve," Harry chuckled. "At least I could actually hold my own against them. Grayfia is terrifying."
"I'm glad you noticed," Grayfia drawled, and Harry stiffened immediately. "Know that if you sit on anything in this palace in your state, I will be most displeased. Where's the other maid?"
"Fleur's in France, looking after her little sister while her parents are on vacation," Harry replied, "and I was just about to go shower. Care to join me, you two?"
"As if you need to ask," Luna grinned.
"Sure, I could use a break from reading anyway," Hermione smiled, putting her book down.
"You get any answers about the elves?" Harry asked as they flew off.
"Some, though they raised even more questions," Hermione replied.
"I'll need to show you Miracle Levia-tan later," Luna grinned. "It's so good!"
"So you dealt with our bugman problem only to be summoned away to England because your boyfriend's school was attacked?" Sona asked, seated across from Rias in her office in Kuoh Academy. "No wonder I haven't seen much of you lately."
"It's been a trying little while," Rias sighed. "How have things fared here?"
"Everything's been peaceful," Sona replied. "With this Elias figure dead, we don't have any more pressing issues, and the school's been orderly. With the year nearly done, everyone's a little antsy, but we haven't run into anything that we couldn't handle. What exactly happened in Britain?"
"Voldemort, the lunatic who tried to kill Harry as a baby, managed to lure the headmaster, the only magician there who would give either of us pause other than Harry himself, out of the school and then infiltrated it with dozens of his followers. Harry, Luna, and Hermione evacuated nearly everyone safely, and then the girls summoned me while he held Voldemort off. In the end, he died while Harry and the others lived, and I have four new members of my peerage."
"The evil pieces finally worked then?" Sona asked. "Did Lord Ajuka figure it out?"
"A while ago, though the solution only presented itself recently," Rias replied. "Voldemort had accidentally placed a piece of his soul in Harry's head when he tried to kill him all those years ago, and it was interfering with the evil pieces."
"A piece of...oh!" Sona exclaimed, her eyes going wide. "A horcrux had latched onto him, and, perhaps sensing in some way that the transformative process that the evil pieces would begin might expel it, it presented itself as the soul to be changed, resulting in the failure. Fascinating!"
"More or less what Lord Ajuka came to believe," Rias nodded. "The main issue ended up being how to get rid of it without killing Harry. Sirzechs worked on figuring out a way to use the Power of Destruction, but in the end Voldemort unwittingly did it himself."
"He hit Harry with something fatal, and the horcrux shielded him from it?" Sona guessed. "Perhaps I was wrong about it sensing the evil piece. Maybe it just served as a sort of shield on his soul unwittingly."
"Either way it worked, and I managed to turn him," Rias smiled. "It took four pawns but…"
"For a normal wizard?" Sona asked, and Rias froze. "That doesn't make any sense. Could he possess some sort of Sacred Gear that you didn't notice before, perhaps because of the horcrux?"
Rias considered her options for a moment, figuring that she could plead ignorance, make up some lie, or tell her the truth, and she quickly made her choice. Raising her hand, she created a barrier around the room that would destroy any sound waves that reached it, something she'd figured out how to do recently, and Sona cocked an eyebrow.
"What I'm about to tell you cannot leave this room," she said, and Sona nodded.
"What sort of secret are we talking about here?" she asked.
"My family knows, as does Lord Ajuka, and your sister might by now," Rias replied, and Sona stiffened at the mention of Serafall.
"Something deeply important then," she commented.
"When Lord Ajuka first ran his tests on Harry back in November, he detected some kind of devilish presence on him," Rias began. "It was very old and very faint, and he couldn't quite figure out who it belonged to, though it seemed a little familiar. He ran tests, and it took months for them to tell him what he wanted to know. It turns out that when Voldemort went after Harry back when he was a baby, his mother summoned a devil and sold her soul to him on the condition that he'd keep him safe."
"Who was it?" Sona asked, leaning inward.
"Rizevim Lucifer," Rias replied, and Sona winced.
"That's just about as bad as it could have been," she muttered. "I feel for your man, Rias. If it was anyone else, even the likes of Lord Zekram or another elder like him, that would be one thing, but Rizevim."
"There's more," Rias continued. "Rizevim used him as a sort of experiment, altering him in some profound, fundamental way, and we didn't discover it until I had already used the evil pieces."
"And this odd experiment is why he took four pawns?" Sona asked.
"Yes," Rias replied, steeling herself. "Harry's become an incubus."
"What?" Sona breathed, her jaw dropping. "That's not...how?"
"Not even Lord Ajuka knows," Rias replied. "He grew horns and a tail the moment the transformation was done. There can be no other explanation, and frankly, it explains a few things."
"Rias, this is...this is huge," Sona said, still sounding shocked. "You're not going to be able to keep it secret for long; you realize that, right?"
"I know," Rias sighed, "and I'm well aware of how massive this news is going to be when it spreads. My mother is already trying to get me to propose to him so I can cement my formal place with him."
"Oh, hell, I can already hear my parents now," Sona groaned.
"I'll teach him to play chess," Rias quipped, and the dark-haired girl glared at her.
"Well, not that you couldn't before, but you can certainly trust me to keep my mouth shut now," Sona muttered. "The longer we go without it coming out, the longer I'll get to enjoy the peace of not having my parents try to encourage me to screw your boyfriend."
"How bad do you think they'll be?" Rias asked, and she sighed.
"Not as bad as some will be," Sona replied, "and they know that I refuse to marry to have children until I've finished my education, but neither of them have ever bothered me about this sort of thing before, and I know damn well that they will."
"Should I be worried about Lady Serafall?" Rias asked, and Sona stilled.
"Whoever I either decide to date or our parents decide to encourage me to pursue will have to worry about her a little," she replied. "Serafall wouldn't hurt him, given how important he is to multiple people she cares about, but she will be as intense and insane as she always is."
"I meant outside of her feelings about you," Rias clarified, and Sona snorted.
"My sister has a very specific, very disturbing type," Sona replied, shuddering as she remembered the last time she and her parents visited Serafall's palace, having arrived a little earlier than they said they would.
"Such a good girl," Serafall had purred. "You took me right up to the wrist."
"Thank you, Oneesan, thank you!" one of her peerage had cried.
"I knew your sister only took in women willing to dress up as magical girls with her, but how is it disturbing?" Rias asked.
"She makes them refer to her as their big sister," Sona replied, swallowing thickly. "That's all I'm saying."
"I see," Rias replied, wondering what more there was to it but knowing better than to ask. "I guess Harry wouldn't be her type then."
"Nor she his," Sona replied. "Unless he's into being worn like a hand puppet."
"Thanks for listening. I think I needed to speak to someone outside my family and peerage about the last few days," Rias sighed, canceling her spell.
"Thanks for telling me, and, again, I'll keep my mouth shut," Sona replied. "Do you have any plans for today?"
"Harry and I are going on a date tonight," Rias replied. "I made reservations at The Waterfall."
"Really?" Sona asked. "Mother will be pleased."
"You've raved about it in the past, and I figured it would work well," Rias smiled.
"It's been one of the most popular restaurants in the capital since Mother first opened it about ten or so years ago," Sona replied. "I'd recommend the ostrich steak. I had that last time with a wild mushroom risotto, and it was delightful. They sear it in duck fat, cook it to your desired doneness, and then brush it generously with browned butter infused with garlic and rosemary. It's wonderful."
"That sounds incredible," Rias remarked. "I'll keep it in mind."
"Have fun, Rias," Sona smiled as she stood up. "After the past few days, it sounds like you two could both use it."
"You're not wrong," Rias muttered, disappearing in a crimson magic circle.
"Wait, so this whole factory was built in days?" Harry asked as he, Hermione, and Luna hovered above Zeoticus' new project.
"Yes," Hermione replied. "I saw it mostly finished yesterday, and now it actually seems to be operational."
"According to Rias, her father once renovated a small, two-story house in Kuoh into a grand palace overnight," Luna replied. "She had specifically wanted to live in a smaller home and made him change it back, but the point is that devils can build things rapidly, and Lord Zeoticus seems to have a bit of a passion for architecture."
"Shall we get a closer look?" Hermione asked.
"Why not?" Harry shrugged, and the three of them descended.
"Halt!" one of the guards exclaimed. "Harry?"
"Hello, Carl," Harry nodded. "We were flying around and wanted to get a closer look."
"His lordship doesn't want anyone getting in yet," Carl replied, "and we have...wait, you're that brunette he brought in the other day."
"That's right," Hermione replied. "I take it the factory's fully operational now?"
"It is indeed," Zeoticus chuckled as he opened the door, having sensed their approach. "Come in, you three. You, Hermione, I think are going to quite like this."
He led them inside, and Harry took note of the odd design patterns on the wall. The interior had the same color scheme as the exterior, with dark stones broken up by fluorescent teal caulking being what every wall was made of.
"Kind of gloomy," Luna remarked, looking utterly out of place in the outfit she and Hermione had put together for her.
It looked a lot like Serafall's getup from her show, only in silver and blue, as she concluded that pink really didn't suit her too well. No one gave her a second glance, as it was hardly the strangest thing that anyone had worn around the castle in recent days, and Harry found it suited the blonde rather well.
"That seemed to be what the Atlanteans went for," Zeoticus replied. "Every book I've come across so far suggested that this color pattern was beloved across the isle for some reason, as were these odd, triangular doors. I must admit that I do like the strange locking feature of them, though, and with them being operated exclusively by magic, it should mean they need to be cleaned less often.
"How did the actual automatons turn out?" Hermione asked, and he smiled at her.
"See for yourself," Zeoticus replied, opening the final door before the main room, and Harry's eyebrows shot towards his hairline as he looked around.
It looked pretty much like any normal factory he'd seen on television, but what it had produced was anything but normal. At first glance, they looked almost like suits of armor, as they were made of metal and were distinctly humanoid, even if they were only three feet tall. As he looked more closely, though, he saw that they clearly weren't. For one thing, they appeared to be solid, but beyond that, the metal had this rough appearance that made it look almost like stone. Their short legs and arms might have made them look like not much of a threat, but they practically radiated magic, and as Harry drew close, one of them looked right at him, the empty eye sockets glowing blue for a moment as it observed him.
"Curious things," Zeoticus chuckled, levitating one of them up with a wave of his hand. "As you can see, they're meant to look like small, metal men with four limbs, a stocky torso, and a proportional metal head like this. I half-expected them to come out with distinct faces, but as you can see, the Atlanteans didn't care to add such artistic flair and so they look more like Corinthian helmets, albeit without the usual gap from the nose down."
"Why does the metal look so rough?" Harry asked.
"Look closely," Zeoticus replied. "I was surprised by that aspect of the diagram too until I examined it more carefully."
"Runes," Hermione breathed as she leaned in. "Every single ridge in the armor is covered in carefully carved, fully charged runes. There must be thousands of them."
"Hence the factory," Zeoticus pointed out. "These things must have been nightmarish to make by hand at first."
"How is that possible, though?" Luna asked. "I know that the reason our world tends not to have factories is because you need the specific magical touch of the witch or wizard to empower their creations. You couldn't mass-produce potions, for example."
"Atlantis sat upon an island utterly rich in magic," Zeoticus replied. "I haven't gotten to anything discussing the process they used to raise it yet, but for some reason it was as magical as the Underworld and that allowed them to do things that even modern communities who build their settlements on leyline convergence points can't."
"Interesting," Harry commented. "Have there been any attempts to find and explore the sunken ruins?"
"There have and none have ever been successful," Zeoticus replied. "We don't know if the Tyrant destroyed what was left of them after they sank, if some other powerful entity did, or if some natural disaster did the deed, but nothing has ever been found of the ruins. I had written off ever getting my hands on anything from Atlantis until I found out about the omnilibrary."
"My biggest hope from it was that we could rediscover and preserve ancient, long-lost knowledge," Hermione smiled. "That's what its creator had in mind anyway, though she died before she could make much use of it."
"Well, we will," Zeoticus replied. "I still haven't decided whether or not to market these at all and only created a half-dozen to experiment with. I have made some fascinating discoveries, though."
"Can they speak?" Harry asked.
"Well, number six, can you speak?" Zeoticus asked, and one of the automatons' eyes lit up blue again.
"I can speak," it replied simply, its voice hollow and metallic.
"They can also perform all manner of tasks," Zeoticus added, "but their most interesting feature is this."
As he finished speaking, he hit one of them square in the chest with a ball of purple energy that blasted it apart, sending bits of metal in every direction. Harry moved to conjure a shield for himself, Luna, and Hermione, but it proved to be unnecessary, as Zeoticus already had. All three of them tensed anyway, expecting the automatons to attack, but instead they simply flew around the room, collecting the pieces and bringing them back together. They all watched in amazement as they rebuilt their destroyed counterpart in less than thirty seconds.
"If I do sell them, it will be in pairs," Zeoticus remarked. "They're enchanted to automatically repair each other if any of them take any damage at all."
"I knew you'd be in here," Venelana sighed as she walked in, followed closely by Rias, who was wearing a stunning dark blue dress. "I hope this eyesore has turned out to be worthwhile."
"It's not that bad, dearest," Zeoticus chuckled. "You're looking lovely, Rias."
"You're beautiful," Harry smiled, flying over to her and changing into the suit they'd had tailored earlier that day with a wave of his hand.
"You two are going out, I take it," Zeoticus murmured.
"Mmhmm," Rias replied. "We're heading into town and dining at The Waterfall."
"Have fun, you two," Venelana smiled. "Zeoticus, I wanted to go over our plans for the Agares ball. Mini's already pulling her hair out, and it isn't for another three weeks."
"That's strange; she's usually so even-tempered," Zeoticus replied sarcastically, and Venelana hid her snort behind her hand. "Alright, everyone out."
"Of course," Hermione replied. "Have fun, you two."
"Yeah, have fun," Luna added, and the two of them flew off as Rias took Harry's hand.
"Ready?" she asked.
"Definitely," Harry replied, and the pair of them disappeared, reappearing in the middle of a lovely-looking park.
"I figured we could walk a bit first," Rias replied, and Harry smiled at her, lacing their fingers together.
"Sounds like a plan," he replied. "How was your day?"
"Quiet for the most part," Rias replied as they began walking. "My classes are all starting to wrap up, so the workload is a little high right now, but nothing too strenuous, and Kuoh's been utterly peaceful since I finished off Elias."
"How often do you end up dealing with strays like him?" Harry asked.
"Not that often," Rias replied. "I have had to kill two of them so far this year, but I might not see another for months. Most humans who are turned into devils adjust perfectly well, and if we actively avoid those who present obvious red flags, more often than not we end up fine. Sometimes things go poorly, though, and they have to be put down. In the rarest and most tragic cases, the newly turned devils end up killing their masters."
"How is that even possible?" Harry asked, furrowing his brow. "You said that devils didn't get pieces at all until they were considered high-class devils."
"Humans aren't the only beings that can be changed with them, as you know," Rias replied, "and even if the servant is significantly weaker than the master, it's always possible to get a lucky blow in."
"I suppose," Harry shrugged. "So tell me more about this place we're going to."
"It's called the Waterfall and it's owned by Sona's family," Rias replied.
"Really?" he asked. "I would have thought restaurant ownership was below nobles."
"Well, it's not like she operates it," Rias chuckled. "According to Sona, a restaurant that her mother was quite fond of was destroyed after two drunken devils got into a fight that got well out of hand. The owner was so heartbroken that he decided to move on to a new sort of project on Earth, and, irritated by the loss, Lady Salma commissioned the construction of a replacement and hired the old chef."
"Why not just hire him for her palace?" Harry asked.
"It was as much about the atmosphere as the food, and she liked dining out there," Rias replied. "It's been quite successful since, and Sona's tried to take me twice, but our plans got ruined each time."
"So long as you're there, I'm sure I'll have a wonderful time," Harry smiled, and Rias beamed up at him.
"Lady Rias," he heard someone whisper loudly, and a few nearby devils turned to look at them.
"Relax," Rias replied, feeling him tense. "I'm recognizable enough for things like that to be common. No one's going to try anything, knowing who I'm related to."
"I suppose that would be one hell of a deterrent, pun not intended," Harry remarked, and Rias giggled.
"Here we are," she said a moment later, and Harry's eyes widened as he looked up at the building she'd taken him to.
"I guess I don't need to ask why it's called that," he chuckled, and she smiled.
"I was hoping you wouldn't," she replied.
Floating above the restaurant was a large, jagged, dangerous-looking boulder, over which ran a significant river that seemed to be conjured out of nowhere. It ran down into the open roof, and he couldn't imagine what the waterfall looked like inside.
"Is that safe?" he asked.
"It's secure," Rias replied. "The water was conjured by Lady Salma, as water magic is House Sitri's forte, and it gets magically recycled into the river that runs across the boulder."
"She's a Sitri by more than marriage then, right?" Harry asked, and she nodded.
"She and Lord Geryn are cousins," Rias replied, leading him inside.
"Lady Rias," the maitre d nodded, recognizing her at once and summoning a waitress over with a snap of his fingers. "Welcome to The Waterfall. Your table is ready. Please follow Caitlyn here, and I hope you enjoy your evening."
"I'm sure we will," Rias replied.
"You know, I should have figured, given that you're nobility and your brother is practically king of this whole place, but I really didn't realize just how well-recognized you'd be," Harry chuckled. "It honestly reminds me of my first time in the magical world."
"What was that like?" Rias asked, smiling and nodding to their waitress as she brought them to their table.
"Terrifying, honestly," Harry chuckled, bringing out her chair for her and pushing her in once she'd sat down. "I was eleven years old, a tiny little thing, escorted by a man eleven and a half feet tall, and suddenly thrust into a world where everyone knew my name."
"As Lawrence said, my name is Caitlyn, and I'll be your server for this evening," Caitlyn smiled, handing them their menus. "Would you like to order anything right away, or would you like a moment to look these over?"
"We'll take a moment, thank you," Rias replied, and she nodded before leaving them alone. "So what do you think so far?"
"It's beautiful," Harry replied, looking around.
It was easily the fanciest restaurant that he'd ever been in. The floors were dark, made of some sort of hardwood he couldn't begin to guess about, and the walls were covered in panels that he thought might actually be amber. The banisters were all gilded, and the chairs that Rias and he were seated in were upholstered in some of the finest leather he'd ever felt, but for all the aspects of the room that screamed wealth, none held a candle to the central attraction. The waterfall poured down into a pool below that seemed to be made of quartz crystal, every drop of it vanishing as it hit the bottom and reappearing up top to form a seamless cycle.
"So you were telling me about your first time in the magical world," Rias prompted, and he looked back at her.
"It was more than a little overwhelming," Harry chuckled. "The way that everyone seemed to know me, the sheer oddness of it all, the goblins, it felt like a dream of some kind, one that I think I feared I would wake from for the first couple weeks that I spent at Hogwarts."
"Do you think you'll miss it?" Rias asked, looking concerned.
"I will," Harry admitted. "For all the challenges I went through in my time there, I did have plenty of happy memories, but I'll never miss it enough to regret my choice. I've known for a while that once I was free of Voldemort I was going to leave Britain to be with you."
"I love you," Rias said softly, and he pressed his lips against her knuckles.
"And I love you," he replied. "By the way, what currency are these prices in?"
The two of them had already discussed the fact that Rias would be paying for this, and while he'd objected strongly, she had insisted, so he hadn't given the fact that they probably wouldn't accept galleons or pounds much thought.
"Heinrich hasn't gone over that yet?" Rias asked. When he shook his head, she replied, "It's in Devil Drachmas."
"Drachmas?" Harry asked, furrowing his brow. "Why does that sound familiar?"
"Well, it's what the Greeks call their modern currency," Rias replied, "and it was what the Greek city-states called their currency in antiquity. We use the term for reasons I think are ridiculous."
"Have you had a chance to decide on anything yet?" Caitlyn asked.
"How would you feel about a bottle of red wine?" Rias asked. "House Paimon's winery is the finest in the Underworld and their eighty-six reserve is fantastic."
"Sounds good to me," Harry replied. "As for an appetizer, I've always been curious about Steak Tartare and its not like raw meat can kill me now."
"You're recently turned, I take it?" Caitlyn chuckled, and Harry nodded. "I was made a devil about twenty years ago now."
"I'll take the arugula and apple salad," Rias interrupted sharply, and Caitlyn stiffened slightly. "Sona recommended the ostrich steak so I'll take that medium rare."
"She'd know best," Harry chuckled. "The same for me."
"Choice of sides?" Caitlyn asked.
"Mashed potatoes works for me," Harry replied.
"The risotto," Rias replied.
"Alright," Caitlyn said, gathering their menus. "I'll be back in a moment with your wine, and the appetizers should be ready soon."
"Thank you," Harry smiled. As she left, he turned to Rias, and asked, "What was that about?"
"She was undressing you with her eyes," Rias huffed. "It's not something that I'd have objected to normally, but it's poor manners when a couple is clearly on a date."
"I didn't notice," Harry chuckled, taking her hand. "I suppose I was too distracted by you."
Rias' lips quirked upward at that. "Truth be told, she shouldn't have admitted what she is so readily."
"Why?" Harry asked.
"The evil pieces are supposed to be used for peerage purposes only," Rias replied, "given the scarcity of the crystals. Some of the wealthier houses do manage to procure extra pawn pieces at times for the purpose of creating more domestic servants."
"Really?" Harry asked.
"The Agares are the most notorious for it," Rias replied quietly, "but no one says anything because their territory is where the crystals come from."
"I don't think there's a single resource on Earth that is only found in one location," Harry commented. "I can't imagine how many devils have tried to search for other sources."
"Many have tried, and all have failed," Rias replied. "There could, theoretically, be some of them in the Fallen Angels' territory, since we haven't searched there, but otherwise, it seems like Agreas is it. I know that Lord Ajuka inquired with Hades centuries ago to see if there might be deposits in his territory."
"Speaking of Hades, you were telling me about the silliness of Drachmas," Harry said, changing the subject, and Rias chuckled just as Caitlyn arrived with the bottle and glasses.
She set them down and poured two small amounts of the wine before stepping back and letting Rias taste it.
"Perfect," she nodded, and the waitress smiled, pouring more of it.
"Your appetizers will be ready soon," she announced, noticing the people at another nearby table trying to get her attention. "Excuse me."
"Mmm, that is great," Harry commented as he took a sip.
"One of my favorites," Rias smiled, setting her glass down. "The reason we call our currency drachmas is that when Lucifer and the first generation of devils first came to the Underworld, Hades had already eked out a territory there and called his coinage by that name. He and Lucifer got into an argument about something, I honestly don't know what, and the Lightbringer decided to make his own coinage, a copy of the god's, only in gold rather than silver. So now, we have gold drachmas, and Hades has silver ones, and I think it is so stupid that we haven't changed this at all by now, but the traditionalists will hear nothing of it."
Harry chuckled at that and drank more of his wine as Caitlyn appeared with their appetizers.
"Here you are," she said warmly, handing them their small plates. "Enjoy."
"This I have had before," Rias sighed as she dug into her salad. "The mix of bitter arugula and sweeter apples pairs nicely while the vinaigrette and goat cheese sort of meld together to coat everything in salty, tangy goodness, and the almonds provide a nice crunch. If you want to try it, feel free."
"This seems pretty great too," Harry replied as he finished. "The beef is so tender you wouldn't think for a second that it was raw, and together with yoke, and whatever they added to it…"
"Capers, pickle, and shallot, it would seem," Rias commented. "It does look good."
"Here," Harry grinned, filling his fork and bringing it to her lips, earning himself a smile from her.
She happily accepted the mouthful and returned the favor with her salad, which turned out to be every bit as wonderful as she described. The two of them sat there in a comfortable silence, chewing and peering into each other's eyes. As Harry swallowed, he wiped his mouth with the napkin they'd provided and took another sip of his wine.
"Tell me something I don't know about you," he said softly, and Rias stilled, her fork hovering nearly, her mouth for a moment as she thought about what to say.
As she took another bite, she held out her hand and ensured that no sound would leave the barrier around their table.
"I'm afraid of camels," she admitted, her cheeks turning slightly pink in embarrassment, and he cocked an eyebrow.
"Camels?" Harry asked. "Any particular reason?"
"Their weird, lumpy bodies, their beady eyes, the fact that they spit at everything," Rias scowled, "how big they are, and how terrifyingly fast they can be. They run up to sixty-five kilometers an hour in bursts and weigh as much as two thousand pounds! They're like living cars."
"Oh, I had no idea," Harry replied, looking at her curiously. "Why do I get the sense that there's more to this, though? You seem oddly embarrassed by your fear."
"Camels have long been associated with the House of Gremory," Rias replied, sighing wearily. "Our progenitor, Runeas Gremory bred them as a hobby, and we've continued the tradition since. It was actually because of that that I developed my fear of them."
"Oh?" Harry asked.
"I was a young and spoiled heiress," Rias sighed, "and when my father took me to see the camels, one of them stumbled over something and fell. I laughed, and he took exception, running around me and kicking me in the leg. No one had ever struck me before, and I screamed like I was being murdered. I know it's stupid and something that I should have gotten over by now, but every time I look at one of them, I feel like my skin's about to crawl off of me."
"Hey, we all have our traumas, and they're nothing to scoff at or think less of us for," Harry insisted, placing a hand over hers comfortingly, and she smiled at him. "I'm amazed that I'm not scared of more, given how I grew up. I can't recall if I ever told you before, but my first experience with magic happened years before I learned I was a wizard."
"What happened?" Rias asked, refilling their glasses.
"My cousin and his friends used to love chasing me around and roughing me up when they caught me," Harry replied, scowling. "One time when they were being particularly awful, I ran away, and when I turned the corner out in the yard of our old school, I noticed that a big truck had been parked in my way. Cornered, I feared that they were going to beat me up, and the next thing I knew, I was on the roof. I'm amazed I didn't end up with a fear of heights because of it, as I was more than a little freaked out and utterly confused. My aunt and uncle ended up furious with me over it, which only confused me more."
"We really should do something about them," Rias nearly growled. "I cannot imagine treating a child the way they treated you."
Harry thought about it for a moment before replying, "They say that the best revenge is living well."
"A thoroughly human notion," Rias replied disapprovingly and he chuckled.
"I didn't mean it quite that way," Harry assured her. "I should introduce you to them sometime and make it clear just how well-off we really are. Dudley's eyes will fall out of his head if he gets a look at you, and Vernon's heart might give out when he realizes that he could have had a resource like me to call on if he'd not been such a cunt."
"Mmm, that could be fun," Rias smiled. "No more mentioning the c word now. I wouldn't want word of that particular weakness spreading, lest my future opponents in the Rating Games find out.
Harry nodded and she let sound escape their table again just as a visitor approached their table.
"Are our meals ready alread…" Harry went to ask, only to trail off as he realized that, rather than Caitlyn, their visitor was a tall, blonde man. He wore a fine suit and a sneer so pronounced it made him think of Malfoy. Harry was about to ask who he was when Rias hissed.
"What are you doing here?" she asked, and the man glared at her.
"Riser happened to be enjoying a quiet, pleasant evening in this fine establishment when he spotted someone he hadn't seen in a very long time," the man replied, and Harry snorted, earning a baleful glare from him.
"Wait, you seriously refer to yourself in the third person?" he chuckled. "I thought that was just a joke no one actually did."
"You...you dare make fun of a son of the House of Phenex?!" Riser growled. "Rias, is this gutter trash the human you sullied yourself with?"
"Don't you dare insult him," Rias hissed, standing up quickly and glaring murderously at him. "Harry is a member of my peerage and my…"
"I do hope you hurry up and finish building your peerage," Riser sneered. "Just imagine the fun we could all have if we met up in a formal Rating Game."
He snapped his fingers, and the last bite of Harry's steak tartare burned to a crisp in an instant. The incubus jumped to his feet, wondering just how far Riser was willing to take this. From the moment he'd approached them, he'd figured that it had been to trade insults with Rias, not actually fight her, given the political ramifications that would come from that. If it was a fight he wanted, though, the two of them would give him one.
"You three aren't about to cause trouble now, I hope," a new, childish voice piped up, and Harry watched Riser go white as a sheet and even Rias freeze.
"L...Lady Serafall," Riser stuttered, turning around to look at the short, dark-haired woman peering at them curiously.
Nothing about her expression suggested that she was angry at all, but Harry could feel a palpable chill emanating from her and spreading through the area, as though a wellspring of terrible power lay at her core, just waiting to be unleashed.
"My mother would be utterly heartbroken if history repeated itself in this place," Serafall continued, "and I tend to react...poorly to things that upset my mother."
"Riser was just leaving," Rias replied.
"Riser wa...yes," Riser replied, scowling at the pair of them one last time before returning to his table, where a tall, very buxom brunette looked like she'd been ready to join the fray until Serafall intervened.
"Thank you, Lady Serafall," Rias nodded as she sat down. "By the way, this is Harry Potter, my boyfriend. Harry, this is Lady Serafall Leviathan, one of the Four Great Satans."
"Hmm, you're taller than Sirzechs described," Serafall commented, looking him up and down, "and you have such lovely horns."
"What?" Harry asked, looking up to see that his horns were still hidden. He didn't really need to do so in the Underworld, but he'd gotten so used to keeping his horns and tail hidden that he did it almost constantly at this point.
"It's not so easy to hide things from me," Serafall giggled. "Word of advice, Rias, wait until the Phenexes have had a chance to get over their latest reason to be furious with you before you go out into the Underworld like this. I doubt you'd get hurt or anything, but none of us want your feud to escalate at all."
"You're probably right," Rias sighed, and Harry sat back down, ghosting his fingers over hers when a thought occurred to him.
"Lady Serafall, if its not too much trouble, could I possibly get an autograph?" he asked. "A friend of ours is a fan of your show."
"Of course," Serafall beamed, and he conjured a poster for Miracle Levia-tan that Rias had found lying around the castle and told him she planned to give to Luna. "Who should I make it out to?"
"Luna Lovegood," Rias replied. "She's another new member of my peerage."
"I heard about that," Serafall commented as she signed the poster. "You've gotten all your pawns?"
"That's right," Rias nodded. "I just have a rook, a knight, and a bishop to find and I'll have a full set."
"Good for you," Serafall replied, putting away her pen and rolling up the poster. As she handed it back to Harry, she looked him straight in the eye, and he froze as her pale blue eyes suddenly became icy. "Stay away from Sona."
He shivered as the words echoed in his head and was about to say something when Serafall backed away, looking just as bubbly as before.
"Enjoy the rest of your evening," she smiled. "I think your entrees have arrived."
She flew off back to her table, and Harry shoved the poster in his mokeskin pouch as Caitlyn set their plates in front of them and took their old ones.
"What happened here?" she asked, cocking an eyebrow at the bit of thoroughly blackened steak tartare that he had left.
"That bit was slightly overdone," Harry replied dryly before assuring her that the rest was great and she should think nothing of it.
"Did something happen with Serafall just there?" Rias asked as she cut into her ostrich and put the first slice in her mouth, moaning at the taste.
"I'll tell you after we finish here," Harry replied.
The rest of their date went more quietly, and, especially since Riser and his date left not long after their little confrontation, Harry and Rias were able to settle into a comfortable and peaceful evening. The food was every bit as extraordinary as the redhead had said it would be, and when the time came to pay the bill, Rias didn't even look at it before handing over her card.
"I can't believe you finished that entire piece of pie," she chuckled, as Harry ate the last bite and washed it down with the last of his wine.
"I did offer you as much of it as you liked," Harry chuckled and she smiled.
"I was already full, but if you're willing to let me have a taste, there's still a little left," Rias grinned, and before he could ask what she meant, she leaned in and licked just next to his mouth. "Delicious."
He pulled her in and kissed her deeply, feeling his cock stir in his pants at the eroticism of what she'd just done.
"Lady Rias?" Caitlyn piped up, interrupting them, and Rias pulled back in shock, looking up at the waitress in annoyance.
"What's the matter?" she asked.
"There seems to be an issue with your card," Caitlyn replied, sounding awkward. "It isn't working."
Rias furrowed her brow in confusion for a moment before huffing and rolling her eyes.
"Show me the bill again," she commanded, and Caitlyn handed it to her. She actually looked at it that time before reaching into her coin purse and counting out the coins she needed to pay for it. "Sorry about that."
"It's perfectly alright, my lady," Caitlyn replied. "Enjoy your evening."
"What was that?" Harry asked as they left the restaurant.
"Father must have canceled that card without telling me," Rias muttered.
"Why would he do that?" Harry asked.
"He bothers me from time to time about spending money as I do," Rias replied, sounding annoyed. "It's not like we can't afford it."
Harry looked at her in surprise before hooking her arm in his and kissing her cheek.
"I learned quite a bit about you tonight," he commented, and she cocked an eyebrow at him.
"Scare you off yet?" she asked, and he laughed.
"Not a chance," Harry replied as they continued walking. "Out of curiosity, is the entire underworld this into cobblestones?"
"Cars never really took off here because we can fly and teleport, so paved roads never became a thing either," Rias replied. "Cobblestone roads look better, I think you'd agree, but they're murder on the suspension of vehicles, as I understand."
"That makes sense," Harry nodded. "So, did you have anywhere else that you wanted us to go, or…"
She cut him off by pulling him down and kissing him again, and he quickly pressed her into the nearest wall, making her moan into his mouth.
"The only other place I want to take you tonight is my bedroom," Rias whispered in his ear, nibbling on the lobe. "Fleur's in France, Akeno has work she needs to catch up on in Kuoh, and Luna and Hermione agreed to give us a night to ourselves."
"It has been a while since it was just the two of us," Harry rumbled, and he smirked as he felt her nipples poke through her dress.
"Not since that night under the stars," Rias replied, gasping as he started trailing hot kisses along her neck.
Without another word, she conjured a magic circle around them and teleported them to her bedroom, giggling when Harry immediately undressed her with a wave of his hand.
"I understand why Riser is so upset," he grinned, picking up her left leg and ghosting his fingers over her calf. "I would be too if I'd been such a tool that I chased you away."
"He is a tool, but a powerful one," Rias said. "I didn't say anything back there because watching you mock him honestly made me soaking wet, but don't go out of your way to antagonize him like that again."
"How wet are we talking?" Harry asked, kissing her ankle and continuing his way down.
"Harry, I...ahh...I'm serious," Rias moaned, closing her thighs around his head just as he moved past her knees. "I don't think he'd be stupid enough to risk my brother's wrath, as even his vaunted immortality wouldn't protect him from Sirzechs, but he's an egotistical ass at the best of times and has quite the temper."
"I promise not to antagonize the fire chicken," Harry replied, and Rias laughed, opening her legs back up. "I was just thrown off by the whole 'speaking in the third person' thing."
"Yeah, I've never known what was up with that," Rias replied. "None of the other Phenexes do it. I think it might kind of be like me with the camels, where no one had ever dared raise their hand to me, so I did what I wanted, except I was eight years old and he's twenty-two."
"You think he's just done that for years and no one dared to point out that it sounded fucking moronic?" Harry laughed. "Oh, that makes it even funnier."
Rias giggled, only to gasp when he started kissing her thighs again.
"I swear every inch of you is perfect," Harry breathed, skipping over her pussy and peppering her mound with kisses. "I can't believe any of the guys at your school manage to pay attention to their lessons at all with you around."
"You think I'm that much of a distraction?" Rias asked teasingly, and Harry grinned up at her. "You managed to learn plenty with me this year."
"My life depended on it," Harry pointed out, "plus, my teacher had a pretty great reward system in place."
"I'm your teacher, am I?" Rias purred. "Maybe I should punish you for being so bad at the restaurant earli...ahh!"
She cried out as a red collar appeared on her neck and whimpered when her already wet pussy flooded. Harry sighed and spread her legs, having wanted to try something a little softer for them that night, but he figured he still could once he'd fucked the shit out of her.
"Maybe you should," he smirked, leaning in and inhaling the intoxicating scent of her arousal. "In fact, I can think of the perfect way to write lines."
He had read once, while looking over some of the more interesting books in the omnilibrary a suggestion that guys could try tracing letters over women's clits as they ate them out. Rias said it was silly and dismissed the idea entirely after he tried it out once but just because it didn't do much for her then didn't mean the same would be true with her this hyperaroused. He extended his long, dexterous tongue and started writing out 'I won't piss off the fire-chicken' on her again and again, making her writhe and scream.
"Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck," Rias chanted, clawing at the sheets on either side of her as Harry did his best to drive her insane.
"Fuck me, you taste good," Harry groaned, leaving her clit alone for a moment to lap up her fluids, which were streaming down to the bed below her, and he grinned as he saw her arsehole quivering. "You know, there's something that I have yet to try out down here."
He cast a quick cleaning charm on her and started swirling his tongue around her puckered hole, making her moan and reach behind her head, grabbing the headboard. It felt so bloody good generally, but in her current state, she couldn't shake the feeling that it was wrong. The pact that bound them was punishing her for daring to even joke about punishing him, and it wanted her to show submission. Having him eat her ass felt like a submissive act on his part, and she wailed when the maddening arousal in her grew even more intense. Just as she was about to beg him to stop, or even to give in and call him master already, she felt his tongue start to vibrate, and she shrieked.
"I won't piss off the fire-chicken," Harry hissed, staying utterly committed to the bit even as Rias convulsed on the bed, looking and sounding like she was being electrocuted.
"HARRY!" she squealed as she came.
The last time he'd done this, it hadn't made her cum, but he hadn't been using Parseltongue then and she also hadn't been in a state of master-servant contract-induced hyperarousal. Between the two, she found that not only could she cum from having her ass eaten, but she could cum hard. Wave after wave of orgasmic ecstasy washed over her, and her screams echoed through the room and beyond. It went on and on without end, locking her in a cycle of ever-intensifying pleasure for reasons that, if her mind wasn't utterly lost to her right then, she'd have quickly realized.
Because the magic of the pact considered what Harry was doing to be submissive on his part, her arousal continued to grow, and the more aroused she became, the better Harry's vibrating tongue felt. Her pussy gushed all over him, soaking his face, but he didn't care in the slightest, curious to see just how far he could take this. He didn't quite understand why she was reacting as she was, but he could sense just how much he'd lit her entire body aflame with pleasure, and he wasn't willing to stop anytime soon. It went on for seconds and then minutes, an unending orgasm that consumed her entirely, sweeping her up into a maelstrom of sensation so utterly powerful that she would have passed out if the contract had let her.
When she finally squirted outright, soaking Harry and the bed in her fluids, she had just enough sense left to know what she had to say. "Master."
It was barely a whimper, and yet Harry felt it as much as he heard it, even as he wiped his blurry eyes. The collar around her neck disappeared, and just as he was about to ask her teasingly if he enjoyed that, she began to sob.
"Rias?" he asked, instantly concerned as he climbed into the bed and wrapped his arms around her neck. "Are you okay?"
She wailed, full, chest-heaving sobs wracking her body, and he hugged her tightly, unsure of what to do. Kicking himself for clearly taking things too far, he held her to him and stroked her hair, whispering in her ear.
"It's okay, baby," he soothed, grazing his short nails over her scalp. "You're okay. I've got you. I love you, Rias."
Her crying slowly ended, and Harry breathed a sigh of relief at that, still caressing her tenderly and continuing to whisper sweet nothings in her ear. When her eyes fluttered open, they were utterly unfocused, and yet she smiled as she looked at him.
"Hey," he said softly, caressing her cheek. "Are you okay?"
"You're cute," Rias giggled, and he furrowed his brow in concern.
"You're pretty cute too," Harry replied. "Let's just take a peek inside her and see what we're dealing with."
"Okay," Rias sighed, sounding completely out of it as Harry used legilimency to look into her mind.
Floating was the first thing that he thought of to describe what he found. Her mind was foggy and nearly blank save for a distinct, euphoric floating feeling that consumed her completely. He'd never done drugs, but he had to wonder if this was what being high was what like and wondered how he managed to induce this in her just by making her cum.
"I think I went a little overboard," Harry muttered to himself, and Rias just smiled.
"That's okay," she replied, running her hands up his neck and into his hair. "Your hair's so long."
"You wanted me to grow it out, remember?" Harry asked, and she sighed happily.
"You're naked," she said as she noticed, and he chuckled.
"You were making a bit of a mess, so I took my suit off," Harry explained.
"I'm sorry," Rias whimpered, and he kissed her immediately, not wanting her to cry again.
"That's okay," Harry whispered. "If sex isn't messy, you're doing it wrong."
She laughed at that like it was the funniest thing she'd ever heard, and he quickly joined in. He lay down next to her, and she quickly rolled over, burying her face in the crook of his neck. His cock was throbbing painfully but he paid it no mind, utterly focused on making sure that Rias was okay. Tracing his fingers over her back, he leaned in and kissed her crown, earning himself a wide, beaming smile from her as she looked up at him.
"I love you," Rias sighed, kissing him softly. "I wish you were my husband."
"Okay," Harry replied immediately, and they both stilled.
Rias had had the better part of half an hour to leave the euphoric state he'd put her in by then, and so it wasn't too dramatic as that snapped her out of it, but she still felt shocked when she realized what they'd both just said.
"Um…" Rias went to ask, her blue eyes finally focusing on him again, and Harry smiled as he brushed her hair behind her ear.
"Welcome back, astronaut," he chuckled. When she looked at him in confusion, he added, "Because you were floating in space."
"Did I just propose to you?" Rias asked.
"Technically, you just said that you wished I was your husband instead of asking me to marry you," Harry replied. "That's why I said okay instead of yes. We did talk about it yesterday."
"That was...partly hypothetical," Rias spluttered, and Harry leaned in to kiss her forehead.
"Keyword being partly," he said. "I know where I want our relationship to go, Rias. When we get there and how we'll figure out as we go, but whether it happens in a year or in an hour, I want to marry you."
"You…" Rias trailed off, her eyes filling with tears as her heart felt like it was about to burst with joy. "Fuck it."
She kissed him passionately, not wanting to take the time to figure out how to express what she was feeling just then in words, and he returned the kiss hungrily, rolling her over and grinding his long, thick cock against her heated flesh. When he pulled back, the two of them just stared into each other's eyes for a moment, neither needing nor wanting words to convey what they felt in that moment.
"Will you marry me?" Rias whispered, not trusting her voice. "I'd get on my knees, but my legs are still shaking."
Harry laughed at that, feeling his own eye grow misty, and he said, "Yes. I know we're still so young, and I know we won't have been seeing each other for a year until November, but I also know that I love you and I want to spend the rest of our lives together."
She pulled him down to kiss him and used her magic to line up his cock with her dripping wet pussy. Thrusting inside, he buried his entire length inside her in one long, slow thrust, making her moan into his mouth. Her legs wrapped around him, and the two of them started to rock against each other in unison, partaking in a dance they knew the steps of all too well.
"We're...oh fuck, right there...not getting married in an hour, but I am almost tempted to ask my mother if she could set it up that quickly," Rias moaned, and Harry laughed, cupping one of her massive breasts and kneading the supple mound.
"Given how quickly your father can put up factories, that might not be impossible," Harry pointed out, and she stared at him like he was insane.
"Planning a wedding is far more complicated than building a factory," she replied. "We need to figure out the guest list and the décor. The venue's taken care of, but I need to get a dress and...ahh!"
He changed the angle of his thrusts slightly and hit a spot inside her that never failed to make her scream. Grabbing her hands, he pinned them above her head and picked up his pace slightly, hitting that spot each time he bottomed out inside her.
"Not in an hour then," he chuckled, kissing her before craning his head down to capture one of her pebbled pink nipples with his lips, grazing the hard peak with his teeth.
"Just like that," Rias moaned. "Fuck, I love your cock. Your suit should consist of nothing but a shirt, a vest, a blazer, and shoes."
He burst out laughing at that and she joined in, looking happier than he'd ever seen her.
"Wanting to show me off, are you?" Harry asked, and she grinned.
"I want every bitch in the Underworld who sneered at me when they learned that I'd taken a human to bed to get out of marrying Rizer to know exactly what a treasure I found," Rias replied. "Let them pant like dogs for it while we say our vows."
"Such a wicked creature you are, my love," Harry grinned, and she froze. "What?"
"My love?" she asked, smiling. "You've never called me that before."
"It seemed right," Harry shrugged. "Do you like it?"
"I love it, my love," Rias replied, kissing him again and rolling them over.
Pulling back, she brushed her hair back out of her face and grinned down at him as she started rolling her hips. He felt so impossibly good, and she squeezed her inner muscles around him each time she pulled up, wanting to milk his incredible cock. Harry groaned in pleasure, his eyes switching between her eyes and her bouncing breasts, and she giggled at that.
"I'm so glad you summoned me, Harry," Rias sighed, crying out as she managed to get him to hit that spot inside her again.
"Best decision I ever made," Harry replied happily.
The two of them made love for hours that night, pouring every bit of adoration and love they felt for each other into their every caress and kiss, not wanting it to ever end.
"But zat's stupid," Gabrielle huffed the next day. "'Ow can ze word there mean so many different zings?"
"English isn't the simplest or most straightforward language ever devised," Fleur replied. "I'm surprised you wished to learn it at all. You aren't thinking of going to Hogwarts, are you?"
She wasn't surprised, and she knew the answer to that question damn well, but she wanted to get her sister to admit her reasons, and sure enough, the little girl blushed slightly as she asked it.
"Non," Gabrielle replied. "I saw enough of 'Ogwarts, and zere wouldn't even be...I just want to know 'ow to speak to 'Arry when 'e next comes over. You're dating an Englishman, and I want to know English for zat. You don't even speak it with an accent anymore."
"I spent much of the last year practicing," Fleur lied. "'Arry does speak French, though."
"I know zat now," Gabrielle muttered, "but even still, I'm sure 'e'll abbreviate that."
"Appreciate," Fleur corrected her, "and I'm sure he'll be touched. Are you looking forward to Beauxbatons?"
"Oui," Gabrielle replied. "You, Mama, and Papa have all made it sound so great. I'll miss all of this, though."
"Homesickness is normal, but you'll quickly come to love the palace as I did, Gabby," Fleur replied. "I promise."
"Thanks, Fleur," Gabrielle smiled. "You're always so kind and generous and giving…"
"What do you want?" Fleur asked, and her sister blushed again, looking down at her feet.
"I was reading through Grandmere's journals and…" Gabrielle went to say, and Fleur's eyes widened.
"You know you're not supposed to look through those until you're older!" she exclaimed.
"I know, but Mama left ze door to ze basement open ze other day, and I looked around," Gabrielle explained.
"That's not like her," Fleur murmured, furrowing her brow in concern.
"She's been distracted lately, and she won't say why," Gabrielle explained. "Anyway, I read one of her journals, and it was about ze early days of 'er marriage to Grandpere and 'ow Great-Aunt Eloise used to join zem in bed, and I…"
"Gabrielle…" Fleur sighed,pinching the bridge of her nose.
"I know I'm too young," Gabrielle cut her off, "but when I'm older, I was wondering if you wouldn't mind sharing 'Arry with me, at least a few times."
"Gabby, when I say you're too young, I don't just mean physically," Fleur explained. "You're about to embark on a whole new chapter of your life, one that's going to be exciting, wondrous, hard at times, but ultimately fulfilling. You'll meet people, make friends, develop crushes on boys…"
"I don't want some little boy," Gabrielle spat. "'Arry is so brave and strong, so tall and 'andsome. 'Ow could any silly boy compare to ze 'ero who saved me from zat lake?"
"Why, oh why, did our parents have to agree to involve her in that mess?" Fleur thought to herself as she pondered her sister's question. Turning her down outright would just piss her off and might provoke her to try something drastic and stupid. A Veela with her heart set on a man could be a very difficult creature to deal with at the best of times.
"Okay...listen to me," Fleur cautioned Gabrielle as she immediately cheered. "If you still want 'Arry in seven years, I…"
"Four years," Gabrielle cut her off.
"Gabby," Fleur scowled, and she returned the look.
"'Arry is only four years older zan me," Gabrielle huffed. "If 'e got to 'ave you at zat age and why should I not 'ave him zen?"
"Numerous reasons," Fleur thought to herself, barely resisting the urge to shake her head in frustration. "We'll revisit this in four years if you still want him, but Gabrielle, I caution you not to forgo dating entirely down the line because you remained fixated on 'Arry. You could miss out on the love of your life that way."
"I…" Gabrielle trailed off, clearly wanting to argue and yet thinking better of it. "Okay. I'm going to go feed ze ducks."
"Have fun," Fleur smiled, sighing in relief once her sister was out of earshot.
That conversation was something that she figured she wouldn't be having for a few years, and it had caught her off guard. She'd figured that Gabrielle would come to her eventually about Harry, both because of the lake incident and because of what her family still didn't know he was. Becoming an incubus had only made him more gorgeous, and the power that radiated off of him these days was like catnip to Veela. Her sister was going to want him, and she'd happily share him with her down the line, but she really didn't want to be stuck hearing, "can I fuck him yet?" every time she visited her family for the next few years.
She shook her head, putting all thoughts of the annoyingly precocious Veela out of her mind, and went to pick up the volume of Flamel's journal she'd been reading when the floo flared to life.
"Fleur?" Apolline asked in French, sounding frantic.
"Mama, what's wrong?" Fleur asked. "Gabrielle's out in the yard."
"It's your papa," Apolline replied. "He collapsed."
"What?!" Fleur exclaimed.
"I'm at the hospital," Apolline replied. "Fleur, it...it seems really serious."
"Stay in ze floo port, and I'll grab Gabrielle," Fleur said. "We're coming over."
She ran before her mother could reply, yelling for Gabrielle to come back inside as fear gripped her heart.