Our moment was interrupted abruptly by the heavy sound of angry footsteps echoing across the grass nearby.
I turned my head, spotting Amelia Bones storming across the Hogwarts grounds. Several Aurors trailed closely behind her, expressions tense, their dark robes fluttering around them as they moved swiftly.
Amelia herself looked positively furious. Her large, full breasts bounced rhythmically beneath the tight confines of her Ministry robes with every hurried, irritated step she took. In one hand, she gripped a cage so tightly her knuckles were white. Inside, the small, filthy rat form of Peter Pettigrew cowered, letting out occasional shrill squeaks of panic.
Curiosity and concern immediately seized me. "Come on," I urged Rias quickly, grasping her soft, delicate hand as I hurried to catch up.
"Madam Bones!" I called as we approached, finally getting close enough to see the clear irritation burning in Amelia's eyes. She turned her head sharply at the sound of my voice, tense muscles immediately relaxing just a fraction once she saw it was only me.
"Harry," she acknowledged curtly, her voice clipped yet not unfriendly. Her gaze softened just slightly, the corners of her mouth twitching upward into a strained smile. "I should've expected you'd come running after seeing this one again," she added, giving the rat cage a rough, disdainful shake. Pettigrew squeaked again, louder, desperate.
I glanced pointedly toward the cage and asked bluntly, "I take it you've been brought fully up to speed about who this disgusting little rat really is?"
Her eyes darkened grimly, jaw tightening visibly. "Oh yes," Amelia replied sharply, venom dripping from her words as she stared down in contempt. "And trust me, Mr. Sitri, once this miserable excuse for a wizard stands trial, I intend to personally ensure he faces the full force of wizarding law. He'll get exactly what's coming to him."
The rat let out another pathetic squeal of protest, trembling inside the cage.
"What exactly happened?" I pressed cautiously. "Why are you all storming through the grounds right now?"
One of the Aurors behind Amelia, a young man with short-cropped brown hair, quickly spoke up. "We were mid-interrogation back in Dumbledore's office when Pettigrew managed to pull another wand from somewhere hidden in his robes. The coward blew up the Floo fireplace before we could restrain him. It was a desperate attempt to prevent us from transporting him immediately back to the Ministry!"
Amelia snorted harshly, her lips curling with clear disgust. "Cowardly little shit," she growled irritably, glaring daggers at the cowering rat. But after a second, her fierce expression softened slightly. "It's just a mild inconvenience, though. Once we're clear of Hogwarts' anti-apparition wards, we'll simply apparate back to the Ministry. Pettigrew here can delay his trial all he likes, but justice will be served one way or another."
The rat whimpered pitifully again at her ominous words.
Then Amelia turned her sharp eyes toward me again. "By the way, Mr. Sitri, isn't your guard-Auror Nymphadora Tonks-supposed to be accompanying you right now?" Her voice took on a lightly scolding edge, almost motherly. "Given recent events, you shouldn't be wandering around alone."
"Tonks is resting," I explained quickly yet gently, understanding Amelia's justified concern. "After what happened, we figured it was safe enough to let her recover a bit. Besides, Pettigrew here was the assassin who'd been targeting me. With him caught, things should be calm now, right?"
I decided to leave out our theory about the Heir of Slytherin. That was only a theory so far, and it was not confirmed. But then again a giant snake had tried to kill me, so maybe it was confirmed?
Amelia considered my explanation carefully before finally chuckling softly, shaking her head in resignation. "I suppose that's true," she admitted dryly. "I just hope there aren't any other maniacs running about who've decided to kill you, Mr. Sitri."
I winced inwardly, mentally groaning. Seriously? What is it with Aurors and their terrible habit of tempting fate? Did none of them realize their words practically invited disaster?
And as if the universe itself had been waiting precisely for that cursed invitation, the air around us suddenly changed. A chill instantly cut through the warmth of the day, sharp and piercing enough to steal the breath from my lungs.
I exhaled in shock, watching wide-eyed as my breath fogged visibly in the air in front of my face. Goosebumps erupted across my skin. Amelia and her Aurors immediately froze in place, hands dropping instinctively to grasp their wands.
Pettigrew's cage rattled violently as the rat scrabbled frantically at the bars.
Rias squeezed my hand tighter, her grip soft yet firm, pulling close to me instinctively. She leaned toward me. She whispered urgently into my ear.
"Harry... I sense something incredibly foul approaching. It's demonic," she warned me.
I had a feeling I knew exactly what she was sensing because I had met these abominations before.
As if on cue, I saw over a dozen Dementors glide silently toward the invisible boundary surrounding Hogwarts. Their black cloaks fluttered ominously, hovering just outside the wards.
Beneath their shadowy hoods, I couldn't see their eyes-but I could absolutely feel the palpable waves of hate radiating straight toward me and Rias. It was like icy fingers scraping along the back of my neck.
They were demons, after all-ancient enemies of devils. The mutual animosity was primal, instinctive.
Beside me, Rias tensed, gripping my hand with sudden intensity.
The Aurors around us reacted with confusion at first, then disbelief turned to shock and horror as the Dementors passed straight through the wards without any resistance. They didn't even slow down for a fraction of a second.
"Holy shit," one of the younger Aurors gasped. "How the hell did they get in? The wards should've stopped them!"
I couldn't help but agree internally. Someone seriously fucked up the design of Hogwarts' protective wards if literal demons could waltz right in.
Rias squeezed my hand harder, her voice trembling slightly, "Harry... those things are demons. Actual demons! There's like twenty of them heading directly for us!"
As a mostly sheltered Devil Princess, she'd obviously never run into any of their kind before.
I squeezed her hand back reassuringly, murmuring under my breath, "Well, at least as far as demons go, Dementors aren't especially strong. They're mostly just dangerous in numbers."
Before Rias could respond, Amelia Bones stepped forward. Her expression was twisted into fury as she raised her voice sharply, projecting clearly across the grounds. "I am Amelia Bones, Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement! You are violating the explicit agreement between Azkaban and the Ministry of Magic!" She glared fiercely, wand held high and steady. "How dare you trespass onto Hogwarts grounds uninvited!"
One Dementor, the leader presumably, glided forward slightly ahead of the others. When it spoke, its voice was harsh and rasping, like dead leaves rustling across a gravestone. It made my skin crawl.
"Silence, food," it hissed. "We have come for our ancient foes. After we finish with them, we shall feast upon the souls of EVERYONE nearby in celebration."
All the Dementors around it began letting out eerie, bone-chilling laughter. I hadn't even realized Dementors could express any emotion, let alone twisted pleasure, but there was no mistaking the dark glee radiating from them.
In a split second, they moved, surging toward us with a surprising burst of speed.
One Auror panicked, wand trembling in his grasp. "Shit! I don't know the Patronus Charm!"
"I didn't sign up for this!" another shouted in terror. He turned on his heel and ran blindly in the opposite direction!
"Get back here!" Amelia roared after him, desperation tinging her voice. She whipped her wand upward, silver light erupting from the tip. "Expecto Patronum!"
A brilliant, silvery falcon exploded into existence, circling Amelia protectively. But the fleeing Auror ignored her, continuing to sprint away.
I watched as three Dementors instantly broke off from the main group and soared toward the fleeing Auror. He never stood a chance. They descended upon him like vultures, slamming him brutally to the ground. His terrified scream cut off abruptly as one Dementor roughly flipped him over onto his back. Another Dementor immediately lowered its hooded head toward his face.
My stomach twisted violently as, due to my devilish nature, I physically felt the horrifying moment the Dementor devoured his soul. It was nauseating-a sharp, ripping sensation that echoed through my very being. I'd never experienced something so utterly revolting.
Gritting my teeth, I turned urgently to Rias, knowing we couldn't afford to hold back now. "There's no choice, Rias-we go all out."
She nodded firmly, her resolve clear despite the fear flashing in her blue eyes. Together, we raised our hands, immediately summoning our respective clan's magic circles.
My blue Sitri Clan magic circle flared vividly in front of me, glowing brightly as I channeled my magic. At the same moment, Rias manifested her crimson-red Gremory Clan circle, the fiery symbol burning brilliantly before her.
The air shimmered powerfully around us, crackling with our magical power.
The Dementors hesitated briefly, sensing the powerful devilish magic we were preparing. Their leader snarled in fury, bony fingers clawing impatiently at the air.
"Kill them!" it rasped furiously.
Damn, yesterday it was a giant snake and today it was a small army of demons. I almost wondered what was going to happen tomorrow, but unlike the Aurors I didn't want to chance it...
XXX
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chapter 23
Chapter 23 (~10k words):
— Harry —
Water blasted out of the glowing Sitri clan magic circle hovering in front of me, a roaring torrent compressed into a high-pressure blade that cut through the air with the sound of tearing metal. Beside me, Rias's crimson-black destruction energy flared into existence from her Gremory circle, the raw power vibrating in the ground beneath our feet. Her magic wasn't subtle. It was annihilation incarnate, the kind of power that didn't leave blood or ash, just nothingness.
I could understand why it was considered the strongest devil bloodline in the Underworld.
Neither of us had been expecting demons to ambush us out of nowhere, but the second their cloaked forms came screeching across the grounds with that bone-chilling cold rolling ahead of them, instinct had taken over. I didn't give a fuck who they thought they were, these bastards had picked the wrong devils to try and feed on.
One of the rookie Aurors hadn't been so lucky. I felt it as much as I saw it-the horrible wrench in the air when the Dementors ripped his soul free. His scream cut off into nothing, leaving only the echo of it in my skull. My stomach churned with rage and disgust, but I couldn't stop to think about him. Not right now.
At least Madam Bones had gotten the other two greenhorns to finally listen to her fucking instructions. They couldn't cast Patronus charms to save their lives-literally-but fire spells still worked well enough as a backup.
When in doubt, burn the monster. It wasn't elegant, but it kept the demons back for a few precious seconds.
My water wasn't just water. Demonic magic let me compress it until it cut harder than steel. The first blast shredded through one Dementor's cloaked body, the pressure tearing it into ribbons before it exploded into a spray of oily, dissolving mist. The second creature lunged for me and caught a jet right through the skull-if they even had skulls-splattering it apart like rotten meat under a fire hose.
Beside me, Rias unleashed her destruction. Where my magic tore things apart, hers didn't just kill. It erased. The crimson flare from her circle lit up the grounds like a dying sun, and the two Dementors it touched didn't even scream-they simply stopped existing. No smoke, no corpse, not even scraps of cloak left drifting on the breeze. One second they were there, the next... gone, wiped clean from reality.
It was beautiful and terrifying at the same time. Even after fighting beside her, part of me still had to remind myself that this breathtaking redhead wasn't just a pretty face-she was a goddamn powerhouse.
The two rookie Aurors stared at Rias and me like we'd each grown a second head. Their wands wavered, flames sputtering weakly at the tips as shock overtook their fear. It was like their brains short-circuited watching us effortlessly tear through Dementors. Something they clearly thought was impossible.
"What the hell!?" one of them shouted hoarsely, eyes bulging in disbelief as he watched another Dementor evaporate into oily mist beneath my razor-edged torrent of demonic water. "Since when can Dementors even fucking die?"
The other rookie, pale-faced and sweating, stammered incoherently. "Th-they-they taught us-Azkaban guards can't be killed by magic-"
Madam Bones's sharp voice cracked through their panicked confusion like a whip. "Pull yourselves the fuck together!" She stepped between the two rookies and hurled another Patronus forward, her silver falcon slicing gracefully through the frigid air and forcing back two Dementors that were diving toward us. "I don't give a damn what we just saw! Clearly they can die. So shut your fucking mouths, get your heads out of your asses, and focus! Unless you both want your souls sucked out next!"
Her fierce reprimand snapped them partially out of their stupor, and they shakily raised their wands again, hurling frantic bursts of fire at the Dementors circling us. But it was clear their confidence was shattered that seeing supposedly immortal monsters shredded to ribbons and annihilated right before their eyes had completely fucked with their perception of reality.
Unfortunately, I didn't have the luxury of babysitting them. Not when a pack of Dementors broke from the main group, their ragged cloaks fluttering violently as they rushed toward Rias and me. At least ten of the disgusting bastards zeroed in, fury radiating from their faceless forms like a tangible thing, hatred crackling in the icy air between us. Clearly, they hadn't appreciated watching their friends get slaughtered right in front of them.
"You will suffer for this, devil filth!" one of them rasped in that godawful, dry-leaf voice, sounding like it hadn't spoken in a thousand years. "Your souls will scream forever in the void!"
Another Dementor hissed at Rias, its skeletal fingers outstretched greedily. "We shall drain you slowly, Gremory spawn and feast on your agony until there is nothing left!"
