Academy of the Aberrant Chapter 1 (Patreon)

I do not own Harry Potter/Highschool DXD or any other referenced franchise, only my own OCs.

…

…

I silently stare at the void. It laughs at me.

The stars pass by, numbering millions… maybe billions.

I watch the dawn of time pass by as my eyes struggle to comprehend…

Trillions of Asteroids, Billions of Moons, Millions of Planets, Thousands of Galaxies, Hundreds of Universes, Tens of Multiverses, and yet… I still…

Have not the slightest clue where I am right now.

I slowly blink the blurriness in my eyes as I raise my head from the table it was resting on, inspecting my surroundings with a strange sense of calm and curiosity.

I am seated on a round table with a half-circle sofa in a closed compartment… somewhere. A quick look outside reveals that I am, in fact, on a train. I watch as hundreds of colorful individuals move around the platform to the side of the train, dropping off several children of varying ages.

One thing I note, all of them- including myself- are wearing peculiar robes I remember seeing in a certain movie series… In fact, this entire place seems to remind me of the details of a certain BOOK series…

… I’m on The Hogwarts Express…

Why am I in Harry Potter?

Wait, better question. Speaking of remembering things…

Whomst the fucketh am I?

A name makes its way to my tongue, but I do not feel a natural familiarity in uttering it…

“... Richard… Lee…?”

No… Simply speaking feels unfamiliar to me.

I adjust my vision to ignore the people outside and instead stare at my reflection in the window as I blink in surprise.

I’m… young. Maybe… 13…?

But your first year in Hogwarts is always when you’re 11, right? I can’t remember much… but I could swear it was 11…

Wait, do I have to play the part of someone in their third year of Hogwarts?? I’m going to be obliterated!

… Pause.

I readjust my vision again and stare at the outside as the crowd continues bustling around, dropping children off with teary goodbyes and promises of sending letters and whatnot. I stare incredulously as people pass by with unnatural hair colors, some green, some blue, others red…

This isn’t Harry Potter… or is it?

Why exactly do I think that these hair colors are unnatural…?

I… don’t have any memories that should suggest otherwise…? Why would I immediately assume-

Wait, I know I’m on the Hogwarts Express, which means I’m not…

I’m in a world that… is fictional?

… What is going on…?

I feel myself slowly lose my composure as I close my eyes and exhale a single, deep breath. My nerves slowly ease into relaxation, losing the panic they threatened to spill a moment ago.

First order of business, know thyself or whatever.

I stare back at the glass window and stare at my reflection… and I’m surprised as I find short, golden blonde hair, forest green eyes, slightly tanned skin, and half-framed glasses on my face. Stretching my legs slightly, I estimate my height to be a respectable… 5’1 for my age. I’ve got quite the… Bishounen energy surrounding me, much to my confusing distress.

… Bishounen means pretty boy, so… I don’t like being a pretty boy…? Or do I not like pretty boys…? Or am I simply confused?

I rummage through the items I have on my person and find a trunk similar to the ones Hogwarts students usually had, a wand with specifics I did not know, and some other miscellaneous items. Inside the trunk were a lot of books, clothes, hygienic items, and random items that may or may not be considered necessities in this new world.

One thing I notice is actually a piece of paper standing out from the rest of the trunk. I pick it up with furrowed brows and turn it around.

“Abandon all previous misconceptions you may have.”

My eyes widen as the paper burns in my hands into nothingness and a small burn etches itself into my thumb. I quickly inspect my thumb to assess the burn only to gasp as the burn quickly returns to normal, leaving no mark of its previous existence.

What?? … What misconceptions?

…

Well, at least the hastily formed theory I thought of earlier about someone having placed me into this world rings somewhat true. This couldn’t have been a random phenomenon of chance, not after I’ve seen that paper note…

My head snaps to the door as someone slides the compartment’s door open and slowly enters the room. I blink in surprise as a young girl with dark-red hair and green eyes freezes once she enters the compartment and stares at me with surprise, her round, poorly-fitted glasses almost sliding off of her face.

She quickly catches them before they do however and takes a step back as I blink and raise my hands into the air in an easing gesture.

“... You’re free to sit here if you wish? There’s no one else here other than me, so the seats are definitely free.” I try to ease her into sitting down as she seems extremely uncomfortable for some reason, and that irks me.

… She looks… familiar. I don’t know why she’s uncomfortable with me, but I’d prefer it if the first person that meets me today is not creeped out by me because I decided to not do anything to remove their unease.

“... Uh… Sure… Thank you.” She hesitates and stares at the hallway for a second before nodding her head timidly and entering the compartment, sliding the door closed behind her.

She set her trunk next to her and sat on the opposite side of the half-table from me as I blinked again and tilted my head in confusion.

“... My name is Richard Lee, nice to meet you.” I introduce myself to at least learn the name of the person that’s going to be sharing a train compartment with me for the next few hours.

“... Uhm… Holly Potter.” … Pause…

…

… Really? You gender-bended Harry Potter? I don’t know what ROB made this world, but you must really have been lazy if all you did was give everyone colorful ass hair and gender-bended the main character…

My Incredulity must have shown on my face as she started shifting under my gaze.

“... You seem almost… distraught… have I done something to offend you?” She inhales a deep breath and closes her eyes before opening them and staring at me sharply.

I blink in surprise at the strong reaction she responds with, not expecting what I think to be an Orphan abused by her only living relatives to be so fierce. “I apologize if I reacted rudely. I’m not very familiar with… everything... But I believe you have a… reputation?” This could maybe not even be who I think it is, so I shouldn’t say something stupid like ‘girl-who-lived’ when this may be the great-grandmother of Harry Potter or something.

Her eyes widen in surprise as I lower my head in apology. She then hesitantly clears her throat and shakes her head.

“... It’s fine… I’m also… somewhat new to all of this. I know that there’s been a lot of… books… going around with my name detailing my various ‘exploits’... I’ll tell you right now, none of what you read is real.” Her voice becomes slightly icy as she speaks, not exactly directed at me, but at something else.

Ah, so this is the girl-who-lived. Probably.

“So… you didn’t wrestle a gigantic dragon with your bare hands before cracking open one of its eggs to make the world’s first dragon omelet?” I ask ‘curiously’ with a small smile on my face as her face grows surprised before gaining a small smile of her own.

“… That’s a new one for sure, but no. I did not… pfft… wrestle a dragon with my bare hands and… make the world’s first dragon omelet…” She giggled slightly as I nodded my head victoriously at my successful attempt at lightening the mood.

“Unfortunate. I’ve always been curious about what a dragon’s egg would taste like. You see, I’m somewhat of an egg connoisseur myself.” I ‘seriously’ begin to explain to her as she giggles again and rolls her eyes.

“If I manage to get my hands on a dragon egg, I’ll let you know what it tastes like.” She smirks at me smugly as my eyebrows rise and I huff while crossing my arms.

“You won’t even let me have a taste? Evil…” I shake my head in disappointment and suppress a smile as she giggles again in amusement.

“You’ll have to work hard to impress me if you want a taste~” She teases me with a grin as I roll my eyes and chuckle.

“Anything for a taste of that sweet, sweet dragon omelet. Though you’re gonna have to wrestle that mother dragon or else it just won’t be right. That’s non-negotiable.” She gapes slightly with indignation before quickly huffing and turning away.

“Who the heck would wrestle a dragon for you!?” I ‘flinch’ slightly at her words and reach for my heart with a ‘hurt’ expression on my face as she giggles in amusement.

“That’s hurtful! Many people would wrestle a dragon for me, for example…” I silently trail off and make a show of blanking out as she giggles for a few seconds before blinking.

“... Oh, you’re serious…?” I blink out of my ‘blank’ expression and turn to her with amusement as she shrugs. “... Same.”

“Oh, would you look at that! Neither of us have a person that would wrestle a dragon for them. How relatable. How about this: You wrestle a dragon for me, and I’ll consider wrestling a dragon for you once I’m as strong as the mighty Holly Potter.” I speak her name dramatically as she stares at me with a scrunched nose and barely concealed amusement.

“‘The mighty Holly Potter’, really? Also, what’s this with me wrestling a dragon for you, only for you to ‘consider’ it? That doesn’t seem very fair to me!” She accuses me with a grin as I sigh ‘defeatedly’.

“You do not understand the plights of us weaklings… A mighty witch such as yourself can easily wrestle a dragon into submission… But I? A mere wizard initiate…? I would simply be crushed into oblivion!” I turn away dramatically and place a hand on my forehead, accepting my fate. “But… if you insist… I will fight the hopeless battle against the mighty dragon…! All so you may have that scrumptious dragon egg omelet.” I announce with ‘determination’ as she stares at me incredulously before bursting into a fit of uncontrollable giggles.

“W-what… what kind of person says… pfft… all of that for an omelet!?” She breathes out through giggles as I grin at her with a thumbs up.

“I told you, I’m somewhat of an egg connoisseur myself. I’d do anything for the taste of a good egg.” She rolls her eyes after her giggles die out, settling on a small smile instead.

“... Thank you for making me laugh, Richard. It’s been… a while since I’ve had such a good laugh. I appreciate it.” She gratefully inclines her head to me as I smile and nod my head calmly.

Here comes the regular ol’, the finisher, the ultimate KO’er.

“It’s no trouble. That’s what friends do, no?” I smile warmly and shake my head carelessly as her eyes widen, her head snapping to look at me with shock.

“... F-friends…?” She mutters in surprise as I smile ‘sheepishly’ and rub the back of my head.

“Of course! You’re fun to banter with and… well, I don’t know many people yet so… having a friend around to rely on when I need a break to pass the time would definitely be nice… Don’t you think so too?” I tilt my head at her with an almost blank expression, only a small smile on my face.

She looks caught up in her own thoughts for a few moments before she visibly snaps back to reality and quickly nods her head. “Friends… Yes… Thank you, Richard.” She smiles with a slight bit of happiness as I return the smile.

“Just call me Ritchie, that’s what my friends call me… If I had any.” She giggled again as I dramatically stared at the ground with a blank expression, as if chastising myself for saying something wrong.

“... Pfft… Well… I guess I’ll be the first to call you Ritchie then, Ritchie.” I snapped out of my ‘depression’ and smiled at her.

“Sounds good, Holly. Though if it isn’t rude to ask, what has been troubling you so much that you haven’t laughed in a while? Asking as a friend, you don’t need to answer if it’s too personal.” I ask with a slight bit of curiosity but quickly clarify so she isn’t uncomfortable. Holly blinks and grimaces slightly, shaking her head.

“... It’s fine… about a year ago, I esca- moved out from my aunt and uncle’s house with my godfather after he was… released from Azkaban on false charges… It’s been a rough time handling the… everything… supernatural…” She struggled to explain her thoughts and feelings as her eyebrows furrowed with frustration and disdain. “... Numerous invitations from several Wizard Houses, random love confessions from unknown boys, offers of joining a ‘peerage’ from dozens of devils… It’s been rough.”

PAUSE.

PAUSE.

She said WHAT!?

First of all, Sirius is not in Azkaban and the rat has already been discovered and caught- probably.

Second of all… We’re in the fucking titty anime!?!?

Excuse my french, but what the actual FUCK!?

Holly began giggling at my horror as I snapped back to reality just in time to hear the door to our compartment begin knocking.

Slowly opening, I almost gape as three oddly dressed, but definitely familiar girls enter the compartment unashamedly. Spearheading the sudden compartment invasion is a girl with chin-length blue hair with a dyed green fringe and yellow eyes. Right behind her is a sheepish girl with long chestnut hair tied into twin tails with violet eyes, staring at us apologetically. Behind the other two is a short girl with long blonde hair and green eyes, shyly staring at us from behind the second girl.

“Hello. The other compartments are filled with perverts or loud, annoying girls. We’ll be sitting here, thank you.” The blue-haired girl declares stoically as she sits down, her two companions panicking and quickly turning to us with horrified and apologetic expressions.

“S-she means that we’d like to sit here, please! I’m so sorry about how she’s acting, I promise she doesn’t mean to be rude! Xenovia, please be a bit more thoughtful with how you speak!” The chestnut girl panics and quickly chastises the blue one as the blonde girl behind her quickly nods her head with panic.

“... Y-yes…! S-sorry…” The blonde girl quickly adds after the chestnut girl as I shake my head with amusement and turn to Holly.

“Are you fine with these ladies joining us, Holly?” I address the surprised girl as she turns to me with more surprise before quickly nodding her head.

“... I have no issue with it.” She quickly scoots over with her trunk so that she’s sitting next to me as the two girls breathe out a sigh of relief and the blue one stares at them with confusion.

“... I do not see how I was rude, but I apologize if I appeared that way. I am simply tired of the occupants of the other train compartments. You two seem harmless, so I decided to sit with the both of you.” Her two companions facepalm at her words as Holly turns to me with a look of amusement which I quickly return.

“W-wait! H-holly? As in… H-Holly P-Potter…!?” The blonde girl suddenly exclaims in surprise while turning to Holly with an almost reverent look, making Holly shift uncomfortably next to me.

The other two girls seem surprised and go to speak, but I decide to beat them to the punch as I speak first. “Now hold on there, isn’t it rude to start with a question without even introducing yourself? I can’t keep calling you all ‘Chestnut’, ‘Blonde’, and ‘Blue’ respectively in my head after all.” I laugh lightly and raise my hands in a pausing gesture as the three girls freeze and turn to me with embarrassment.

“A-ah! Yes! Sorry about that. I’m Irina Shidou! An Exorcist trainee from the Church! One of the representatives of the Church sent this year, nice to meet you both!” Chestnut girl, now Irina, happily introduced herself with visible excitement as Holly almost recoiled at the positive energy radiating from the girl.

“... I-I’m Asia Argento… I’m a-also one of the representatives sent as I have t-the Twilight Healing sacred g-gear, n-nice to meet you!” The blond girl quickly went up next, looking pointedly at Holly instead of the both of us while showing off the 10 rings on her hands. I turned to stare wryly at the Potter girl who turned to me with a similar exasperated look.

“... Xenovia Quarta.” Blue simply spoke, gazing at Holly intensely.

Well… Shit. There go my plans of living in my wizard’s tower somewhere secluded once I graduate from Hogwarts. Knowing DXD, I’d probably just get found by whatever bored supernatural entity and enslaved. That or I’d murder the person trying to enslave me, bringing whoever is backing them on my head because that’s just how this world works.

I stared at Holly, expecting her to introduce herself, but was met with a tired face and a pleading look in her eyes.

I blinked. “Ah, I’m Richard Lee. Just a wizard, nice to meet you.” The first girl Irina politely smiled at me before turning to Holly as the other two practically ignored me. “If it’s fine, I think my friend Holly here would appreciate it if you all didn’t stare at her with such intensity.” I calmly pointed out as all three girls’ heads quickly snapped from Holly to me with urgency.

“Oh! We apologize! We were just… surprised…” Chestnut- Irina quickly apologized with a sheepish grin as I watched Holly smile at me with gratitude from the corner of my vision.

“... My name is Holly Potter. It’s… fine.” The blue-haired girl glared at me for a second before quickly gazing at Holly intensely again. Irina noticed immediately and pulled Xenovia’s head away while explaining something about ‘not taking it literally’ with panic as me and Holly turned to each other again with amusement.

I can’t believe Xenovia thought me saying ‘It’s fine’ meant I was tricking them into thinking Holly was uncomfortable, when she really is uncomfortable. That’s hilarious.

The compartment then descended into silence as the three church girls did their best to stare pointedly at anything other than Holly- mostly me as I’m sitting right next to her- and Holly herself kept looking at me awkwardly.

I chuckled dryly at the stiff atmosphere and reached down into my trunk to pull out any book inside and begin reading. One, so I can distract myself from the odd mood in the room. Two, so I can check what year I’m in since I might be fucked if I’m in my second or third year.

Seeing as these girls are all speaking as if it's their first year, and they all look 13… I think I’ll be fine.

As my hand touches a book that I believe is about Charms, I suddenly freeze in place and feel my vision grow dark.

…

…

…

“... Ritchie?” My eyes snap wide open as I feel an unfamiliar hand shake my shoulders and a quick look around the surroundings reveals that I am still in the train compartments. Holly is staring at me with worry as the three church girls stare at me with varying emotions, one specifically being indifferent while the other two looking concerned.

I place a hand on my face and immediately pull it away as I feel something wet on my palm. Bringing it to my face, I see blood staining the lower part of my palm, in the area my nose was against.

“... Ah, that’s odd… I’m not sure why that happened. Please excuse me.” I blink and reach for my trunk before stopping as Holly offers me a napkin worriedly. “Ah, thank you.” I silently nod to her and wipe away the blood from my nose as she nods timidly and looks away.

“U-um… If you’d be f-fine with it, I could heal you with my t-twilight healing…?” The blonde, Asia, offers shyly as she raises her hands and they glow a soothing green that emanates from the 10 rings on each of her fingers.

“Thank you for the offer, but I’m fine. I was just slightly dizzy. I appreciate it though.” I nod my head gratefully as she nods back and lowers her hands.

Holly glances at me worriedly from the side but I simply smile at her calmly and that makes her turn away reluctantly.

… I… well… I know a lot of the first-year charms now… I… probably can’t use them yet? Some of them- Most of them require magical control that I, a person who hasn’t cast a single spell, simply do not have. I still have a ton of theory crammed in my head…

I hesitantly reach for the book again and poke it with my index finger.

Nothing happens.

I suppress a sigh of relief as I pick the book up to read if it has any special enchantments that force its content inside someone’s head, only for me to freeze again.

My vision almost darkens again once I grab the book, but I quickly catch myself as thousands of words are forcefully crammed into my head, containing more theories and spells I did not get in the first ‘wave’. I hastily let the book go as it fell back into my trunk, motionless.

I close my eyes to try and relieve myself of the information overload my brain is currently computing and stay still for an entire minute, sorting through the information.

Reopening my eyes, I notice that the girls here fortunately don’t seem to notice anything off about me. I guess I was able to play it cool successfully.

I look down at my trunk once again with a slight grimace as I once again poke the book a few times as a test. Nothing happens again.

I warily pick the book up from the trunk, only to be surprised when nothing happens this time. My eyebrows furrowed in confusion, and I once again attempted to open the book. This time, I’m ready for the inflow of the words into my head as I quickly close the book just as a few thousand words make their way into my head.

… This is not something related to the book. My intent to ‘read’ a book allows me to simply take its content into my head, without actually needing to open or read the book. I’m not sure how I do this, but it’s kind of like ‘Gale-Force Reading Glasses’ from Fairy Tail, except I don’t even need to open the book for them to begin taking effect…

I place the book on my lap and narrow my eyes in concentration, reopening the book with the intent to actually read the book the normal way. I feel something shift inside of me as the book opens… and I successfully manage to begin reading the actual words inside the book without them being forcefully inserted into my brain.

Wooo! Go me! I’m really defeating my worst demons right now.

“... Are the stories of your battles with the Dark Lord true?” Blue, aka Xenovia, suddenly asks out of nowhere after several minutes of silence as Holly blinks and turns away from the window, which she had opted to do earlier after giving me a napkin.

The other two girls next to Xenovia stared at her with horror and exasperation. They shook their heads and turned to look at Holly, clearly having been curious themselves but not wanting to disturb her by asking.

“... I apparently defeated him when I was a mere toddler. How I did it is unknown to even myself, but any of the fancy stories you’ve heard of me slaying him with a blade of holy light or a mighty spell of untold power… are all fake.” She sighed tiredly and rolled her eyes, bluntly crushing their expectations as all of them recoiled at the truth.

Asia seems to have been hit the hardest though as she had a horrified look on her face as if she had just met her childhood hero, only to find that they’re actually just a con artist who hadn’t actually done any of the heroic deeds she’d heard about.

“O-oh… That’s… surprising…? I honestly expected you to be a witch on par with even the strongest wizards and witches out there, capable of defeating even the strongest dark wizards in existence with a single spell!” Irina spoke with a slight bit of disappointment as she raised one of her twin tails as if they were a wand and made a ‘whooshing’ sound effect with her mouth.

Asia timidly nodded next to Irina as Holly rolled her eyes with a huff.

“Sorry I’m not what you expected, I guess. I’m sadly just a normal witch.” She sarcastically bit at the three girls as they all panicked, clearly missing her sarcasm.

“O-oh! No! It’s not… like that…! We’re just… Um…” Asia quickly interjected while waving her hands at Holly with panic. “I-I… I was raised hearing a-about your s-stories… so… I’m j-just surprised that all of them were… fake…” She lowered her head sadly as she spoke, and I spotted Holly’s sharp gaze softening slightly.

“... It’s fine. I understand why you’d be disappointed, I myself would be disappointed if I met Arachnidman only to find out that he’s just a normal guy…” Holly smiled sympathetically at the three girls as I choked on my spit.

ARACHNIDMAN!? Spiderman!?

Oh god… DXD’s ‘Drag-so Ball’ bullshit has infected even comics… what the hell even is this world anymore!?

Holly stared at me with amusement from the corner of her vision but otherwise continued passively staring at the relieved church girls.

“... Well, you can at least be assured of the fact that she did defeat the Dark Lord, even if she didn’t know how to do it. I’m sure millions out there are thankful to her for that, even if she doesn’t even know how she did it herself.” I decided to add my 2 cents to the table as the church girls turned to me with surprise, the three of them looking thoughtful at my words.

Holly herself stared at me in surprise before giving me a small, grateful smile that I returned.

“... Yes, I suppose that is correct. Thank you very much for defeating the vile Dark Lord, Lady Potter.” Holly’s eyebrows twitched when Xenovia referred to her with ‘lady’ and she quickly covered her face with her hands once the other two girls nodded their heads gratefully.

“... Please, just call me Holly. None of that ‘lady Potter’ nonsense.” Holly pleaded exasperatedly as Irina & Asia piped up with sparkling eyes.

“Does that mean we’re friends now!? Awesome! Feel free to just call me Irina!” Irina gave Holly an enthusiastic thumbs-up before her eyes widened and she turned to me, ignoring Holly’s horrified look. “That goes for you too, Richard! I can call you that, right?”

“Ah, yes, feel free to call me that. Or Ritchie. That’s what my friends call me.” Holly turned to me with a stupefied expression at casually going along with Irina’s whims. I simply shrugged at her with a calm smile, showing how little I cared about the matter.

Would be nice to actually have a guy friend come around though. I’m counting on Harry Potter’s characters being here as… DXD is definitely not going to be offering any potential male friends. Hell, I think 90% of the cast is female, and the other 10% is male villains…

“A-ah! P-please call me Asia, Ritchie and H-Holly.” The blonde added shyly as Holly smiled wryly and nodded her head.

Xenovia simply nodded her head, not offering any nicknames or saying anything else.

Well, I’m happy the atmosphere didn’t turn hostile at least? I was afraid Holly’s unusually sharp and aggressive attitude may aggravate Xenovia’s… Xenovia.

“... Excuse me.” The compartment door suddenly opened as two girls entered and I almost choked on air, again.

In front of us is a petite girl with short white hair, yellow eyes, and a very familiar deadpan. Next to her huffs a similarly short girl with long blonde hair tied into twin tails with large, drill-like curls and blue ribbons keeping them in place as well as dark blue eyes.

Koneko Toujou and Ravel Phenex. I just had to jinx myself by speaking. Murphy, you are a bastard.

The atmosphere immediately turns heavy as the three church girls immediately stiffen at the presence of the two girls, Xenovia being the most obvious as she reaches for her waist only to be stopped by Irina.

Koneko doesn’t mind them and glances at me for a few seconds with furrowed brows and a scrunched nose before turning to Holly and staring at her intensely. Ravel turns to the three church girls but harrumphs and covers her lower face with an Ogi, aka a folding fan from Japan, before turning back to Koneko with an annoyed expression.

“Do we have to sit here? Do you not see… them?” She glances at the church trio again before turning to Koneko with irritation as Koneko turns to her with annoyance herself.

“... You’re free to leave… I’m staying.” The girl simply replies as she turns away from the Phenex and stares at Holly again, making Holly shift uncomfortably and turn to me with a questioning look.

… I see. If Koneko is here, then so is Rias… and Rias probably still has that engagement of hers, so she’s planning to recruit Holly as she expects her to be some sort of wizard genius. She sent Koneko to scout Holly out and possibly befriend her (stupidly, Koneko is the least likely to be successful with doing that.), but Riser probably sent his sister Ravel to accompany Koneko to make sure she’s not able to do that, under the pretense of their servants ‘having a better relationship’. I-

… Wait… How’d I think of all of that…

I blink and snap out of my thoughts, surprised at my sudden burst of deductive skill.

“... The two new girls are devils… Xenovia, Asia, and Irina are all Church representatives.” I calmly explain to Holly without lowering my volume at all as all of the girls stare at me incredulously and Holly quickly covers my mouth with horror.

“... Why the hell are you not whispering…??” She whispers to me with alarm as I spot Asia and Irina giggling at us from the corner of my vision.

“... Devils have enhanced senses, they’d hear us anyway. The Church would also not send just anyone here if they weren’t competent, so I expect that the trio can also hear us anyway even if we whisper… I’ll still do it if it puts you at ease, though…” I raise an eyebrow at Holly and speak in a whisper as her eyes widen in mortification. She turns to the Church trio who look away in embarrassment while the two devil girls do their best to act innocent.

“... A-ah… Got it…” She takes her hands away and clears her throat to clear her embarrassment as I shake my head with amusement and turn back to the pandemonium that is about to happen.

Koneko stares at me unflinchingly for a few, long moments as I match her stare with confusion, only realizing later that she was testing if I’d lower my gaze from her face before she decided to sit down.

“... What do you want, devils?” Xenovia asks bluntly while glaring at the two new girls, ignoring the facepalming Irina next to her.

“Hmph. None of your business, church dog.” Ravel replies with her own glare as she continues to hide her lower face with her folding fan. I do spot a smirk on her face from the side though.

… The ROB that sent me here must be so amused watching me have to deal with all of this stuff just because I didn’t realize Holly was Harry Potter at first. I mean, I’m not so scared of dealing with people that I’m annoyed at having to deal with this because of her, but it’s still quite annoying how this domino effect is happening right now.

Xenovia looked like she was about to jump out of her seat to strangle the Phenex girl, and I quickly interjected as I noticed that Holly was beginning to reach for her wand.

“Alright, let us try to keep it civil everyone. I’m sure none of us would like to have an incident like this listed in our records before we even enter the school, no? Please, let’s remain calm.” I calmly raise my hands appeasingly to the entire group as all the girls turn to stare at me with surprise.

Surprisingly, Xenovia sits down with only a few grumbles as Irina breathes out a sigh of relief. Ravel stares at me with narrowed eyes but doesn’t do anything else as she sits down next to Koneko.

… Who is currently staring at me with narrowed eyes.

“... You smell funny.” I almost recoil at the sudden words from Koneko as the entire room turns to look at her weirdly.

I turn to her with twitching eyebrows. “... I do?” I mutter with confusion while staring down at myself, ignoring her scrunched nose and nodding.

Holly leans next to me and sniffs with a weird expression before shaking her head. “I don’t smell anything?” She states nonchalantly, not noticing the alarmed look on my and everyone else’s faces.

“... Holly… Don’t do that again, that was really weird…” I wryly ‘whisper’ to her as she stares at me with shock before blushing and nodding while looking away.

“... My bad.”

The room descends into another awkward silence as I mentally put my hands together in prayer, hoping for anything to happen to change this sudden atmosphere.

As if god himself came to answer my prayers, the compartment door opens and-

Nevermind, it’s a devil, not god.

Oh my god! A guy! I’ve never been so happy to see a man in my life!

Yuuto Kiba, a bishounen who looks similar to me, slowly enters the room with a bishounen™ smile as his eyes trail over everyone inside slowly before lagging slightly on Holly and finally settling on Koneko.

“Ah, Koneko! I’ve been looking for you everywhere. I see you’ve found a nice group to sit with. Would you all mind if I sat here as well?” He smiled brightly at Koneko before turning to the rest of us with a similar smile.

Xenovia looked like she was about to say something rude, but her mouth was quickly covered by Irina who glared at her while looking at Holly and I expectantly.

“... Sure.” Holly answered Kiba with a slightly guarded expression as he nodded his head gratefully and sat next to the two devil girls.

“... Well, I believe having another guy in here wouldn’t be too bad.” I dryly gave my own opinion as Kiba chuckled politely and Holly rolled her eyes.

… This place is getting too crowded… I mean, the seats are big enough to handle 10 people easily, but I don’t think they were actually meant for 10 people to sit together in a room…

Also, it’s quite odd sending Kiba now if my earlier deduction is correct… Unless Rias thought to send Kiba in as backup once she realized how unlikely Koneko is to befriend Holly? Or… maybe she realized that Riser may let his guard down if she only sent Koneko, so she sent her in first before sending Kiba next?

The room looked like it was about to descend into silence, but Kiba decided to clear his throat before it could do so.

“So… you are Holly Potter?” … How smooth of you.

Holly looked surprised at suddenly being addressed as she sighed and nodded her head. “... I am Holly Potter. No, the stories you may or may not have read about me are not real. No, I am not a powerful witch on par with Dumbledore. No, I will not join any peerages.” She spoke sharply and the last statement made Kiba flinch almost imperceptibly as his smile strained slightly.

“Ah, I did not mean to bother you with such unnecessary questions. I was merely curious as I’m quite the fan. I apologize if I seemed insincere.” He inclined his head in apology as Holly narrowed her eyes and simply grunted. I spotted a smirk on Ravel’s face behind her fan in the corner of my eye, almost guaranteeing the validity of my theory.

They are here to recruit Holly, and Ravel is here to make sure they somehow don’t. Interesting.

I don’t really care if Holly gets recruited or not. As childish as Rias can be at times, she wouldn’t hurt anyone in her peerage. Also, it’s not like it’s any of my business and I’m not even the one being recruited, so I don’t mind whatever happens with this drama as long as it does not become violent.

“... Anyone have any cards? I’ll even take UNO.” I suddenly ask after a few seconds of silence as everyone looks at me incredulously and Holly stifles a laugh next to me.

“O-oh! I-I have UNO!” Asia enthusiastically announces and takes out a box of UNO cards, special ones with barbie pictures on them, and passes them to me.

Of course you do. It came free with your Xbox.

“... Thank you Asia. Who wants in?” I take the cards out and begin shuffling them as Irina and Asia raise their hands from the Church Trio, Holly does from next to me, and Kiba is the only one who raises his hand from the devils' side.

… Well, time to wait until the train finally starts moving.

…

…

“This is so ridiculous! How has he won for the second time when I haven’t won once!?” Holly complains from next to me as Kiba places his last card into the pile with a victorious smile.

“You know the saying, Devil’s luck and all that.” I wisely inform Holly as she rolls her eyes and Ravel glares at me.

“You say that, but I haven’t won once since I decided to join in! That’s also quite rich coming from the man who won 4 times!” Holly turns to me with a light glare of her own at Ravel’s accusation as I shrugged.

“Don’t look at me. Look at Xenovia. She literally has the power of big G by her side. What’re my 4 wins to her 8?” They both turned to glare at the smug Xenovia as she placed her last card into the pile, becoming 2nd place in the game.

“... I do not see what is so challenging about this game. It is my first time, yet you all cannot defeat me. Perhaps you should train more before challenging me?” Ravel glares harder as Xenovia shrugs and leans back into her seat with a small, smug smirk.

Holly sighs defeatedly and stares at me with dull eyes as I smile apologetically and place my last card in, getting third place.

“... This is a nightmare… I can’t believe that I’m in a room with three church representatives and 3 devils, yet my current biggest plight is UNO…” Everyone chuckles slightly at Holly’s expense as she glares at them all with a small amused smile.

“You do have a point, I’m wondering when the third wizard will join us so I can finally have some actual help against the other two groups…” I sigh in fatigue as Holly stares at me indignantly and pinches my arm as I raise an eyebrow at her.

Before we could continue our banter, a knock resounded on the Compartment door and a girl with bushy brown hair and bright brown eyes entered the room before immediately freezing.

… I channel my probability manipulation to give myself immense luck!

… I don’t feel different… Sad.

“O-oh I…” “Hermione!?”

The girl seemed surprised at the number of people here and tried to excuse herself, but Holly called out to her in surprise before she could.

“O-oh! I didn’t expect to see you here, Holly. Sorry to disturb you, I was just… changing compartments… and was looking for a free one.” She seemed slightly sad as she spoke, something Holly and I seemed to have noticed easily.

“UNO?” I offer the girl as her eyes snap to the offered cards before turning to my face with shock and slight hope.

“A-ah… If it’s fine, yes please.” She excitedly nodded her head as I smiled.

“Alright, scoot over please Xenovia, we need the wizards to unite here.” I joke slightly as the girl blinks and does so, allowing Hermione to sit next to Holly.

Hermione smiles gratefully at the both of us and takes my offered cards as we play a few rounds. I use my time wisely and stare at the outside of the now-moving train as it speeds through the fields of… Scotland? I don’t remember where Hogwarts was located exactly…

A few hours later, the score has significantly changed in favor of us wizards with Hermione here now. It was a 9-14-13 Devil-Wizards-Church. Kiba had 4 wins, Koneko had 3, and Ravel 2. I had 8 wins, Hermione had 4, and Holly 2. Xenovia had 9 wins, and Asia & Irina had 2 each.

As I shuffled the cards for another round, a few harsh knocks resounded on the door. I sighed in exasperation as everyone turned to the sliding door, watching three boys standing outside of it.

“Is this where Holly Potter is?” An obnoxious and pompous voice of a familiar ferret-looking boy echoed into the compartment as I lamented my own fate.

… Fucking Draco Malfoy… I hoped he wouldn’t exist in this world, but it seems fate really is cruel…

Draco sneered and stepped into the room, only pausing once his eyes landed on the non-human occupants of the room, his eyes widening specifically at Ravel and Kiba.

It seems he realized who exactly is in this compartment. Ravel’s family is probably just as rich if not richer than the Malfoys, and Kiba and Koneko are part of Rias’s peerage, who’s the sister of literally Lucifer and the heiress to the Gremory family.

Not even speaking about the church, which I’m sure has… a shaky relationship with the wizards after the witch hunts. So, anything he does to the Church trio can possibly be disastrous politically.

“... I am Holly Potter, who are you?” Holly narrowed her eyes at Draco, probably sensing the extremely obvious unfavorable attitude he has.

“I am Draco Malfoy, heir to the Pure and Noble House Malfoy. I came here to extend my greetings and invite you to sit with a more… suitable entourage. You’ll come to learn that not everyone in the supernatural world is worthy of your attention, I can offer my assistance in choosing the right people to speak to.” He sneers at just about everyone inside the room except Holly, raising his nose into the air as if he was that guy.

He was, indeed, not that guy.

Holly’s gaze turned cold and sharp the more he spoke, her fist tightening as she spotted Hermione flinch from next to her. “I believe I will be just fine with the group I am currently with. I will, unfortunately, have to decline your offer, please find someone else to annoy.” She bit at him with venom as his eyes widened and he physically recoiled.

“... You dare!? I, so generously, offered you help navigating this new world you’ve found yourself in, and you decline!?” He spoke with agitation and glared at Holly as his hands reached into his pockets and I quickly acted.

“Stop right there. Continue reaching for your wand and you’ll, unfortunately, have to find out what a severing charm does to your fingers.” I calmly speak with my wand suddenly raised, having taken it out earlier when Malfoy first entered the room.

Everyone in the room suddenly froze and their eyes snapped to where Malfoy was reaching before turning to my raised wand. Draco himself seemed livid at my threat as his hand inched closer to his pockets for a second before quickly moving away once I moved my wand higher.

“... You disgusting mudb- muggleborn… You’ll regret this… My father will hear of this!” He seems to have wanted to spit the ‘mudblood’ slur at me but decided not to after glancing at the other occupants of the room. Instead, he glared at me and stomped out of the room.

His two lackeys that have been silent this entire time quickly followed after him as the sliding door slowly closed behind them.

Everyone turned away from where Draco was to me as I calmly lowered my wand and put it away with a small smile.

“... You can use the Severing charm already? You shouldn’t have learned that yet!” Hermione decided that she had her priorities straight and asked the least important question at the moment as everyone turned to her incredulously.

“Oh, I was actually bluffing. I’ve never cast a spell before in my life.” I casually revealed, watching with amusement as everyone snapped their heads back to me in shock.

Hermione probably couldn’t gape harder if she tried. Holly began laughing maniacally at my admittance.

“S-so you don’t even know how to cast any spell!?” Asia asked with astonishment as I shrugged with an amused smile.

“I know the theory of some spells, but I never tried before. Here… Lumos.” I brought my wand into the air and the tip immediately began glowing brightly under my slightly surprised gaze. “Oh… I didn’t expect that. Nox.” The light died down immediately after as well.

“... Lumos.” Holly brought her wand up after I removed the light on my wand and spoke with a grin on her face as her wand immediately lit up.

Hermione seemed to panic slightly as we began casting spells without permission, but she reluctantly brought her own wand up to try casting a spell. “Lumos.” Her eyes widened as the wand started glowing just like mine and Holly’s.

Everyone in the room stared at us in surprise as we managed to cast the spells on the first try.

“”Nox.”” Holly and Hermione both chanted as their lights faded immediately. Hermione smiled slightly with a small blush while Holly stared at me smugly.

Oh?

“Well, would you look at that? It seems that all three of us have a talent for charms.” I laughed lightly and aimed my wand at a card on the table. “Wingardium Leviosa.” I chanted again and the card began floating in the air immediately, hovering above the table with ease.

Holly smirked at me and aimed her wand at a different card. “Wingardium Leviosa.” The card she aimed her wand at floated up shakily for a few moments before falling under her disbelieving gaze.

“... Wingardium Leviosa.” Hermione tried as well, her card floating for a few seconds longer than Holly's before also falling.

Huh. Maybe this theory being crammed into my brain thing is not so bad. I remember the exact instructions for these spells so easily… Nice.

“It’s quite impressive that you both still managed it on your first try. Though… it seems I may have a higher talent when it comes to charms. At least, for now, that is.” I coolly bring my wand down after dismissing the card and watching it gently float back down to the table.

Holly rolled her eyes with a small smile and lightly punched my shoulder. Hermione didn’t seem fazed by her small loss as she smiled happily, probably overjoyed that she even got to do something like this with friends.

“... Y-you beat Holly Potter??” Irina suddenly questioned in shock, her surprise mirrored on the faces of everyone else in the room.

Ah… Damn, I did just kinda show up Holly in front of them.

… That’s gonna bite me in the ass... Why did I do that?

“To be fair, I believe I read more theory regarding that spell than Holly has. In fact, have you even read anything regarding Wingardium Leviosa, Holly?” I quickly reason as I turn to Holly who blinks and shakes her head.

“No, I just copied what you did and did it that way.” Holly admitted as Hermione stared at her in shock.

“I had to study some of the theory to do what I did! How could you replicate him so well despite having not read any of the instructions?” Hermione astonishedly asked as Holly shrugged with a smug smile.

“See? I had a much bigger advantage over those two, yet they still managed what I did for a small while.” I smoothly explained to the others as they all nodded their heads in understanding, some of them even sighing in relief.

Ravel, on the other hand, continued to stare at me with a glint in her eyes. I did not know what she was planning (or even what she was capable of planning, I’m not very familiar with her character), but I did not like it one bit.

“Don’t put yourself down so much, Ritchie. You’re still quite impressive yourself.” Thank you Holly, but my goal right now is to not get the devils and church on my back yet. Please respect my desire to not be enslaved, thank you.

“Well if it’s a compliment from the great Holly Potter herself, then I can’t say no now, can I?” I smile despite my inner thoughts as Holly almost gags at the way I address her.

“Stop that. I’ll actually throw up.” We chuckle slightly for a few moments before, suddenly, the train begins slowing down and screeching against the railway loudly.

“Ah, it seems we’ve almost reached Hogwarts.” Kiba suddenly notes as he smiles and stands up. “I believe it’s about time I returned to my friends, Koneko, Lady Ravel, will you be coming?” He smiled at Koneko without looking at Ravel as the former simply stood up and nodded to everyone in the room before walking away from the table.

Ravel rolled her eyes and stood up, not sparing a look at Kiba as she stared at Holly, Hermione, and me.

“It was quite nice speaking to you three, I hope we can hang out again some other time.” She smiled at us sweetly, ignoring the suddenly glaring Kiba and Koneko behind her as I simply nodded my head.

“It was a pleasure. I hope you all have a wonderful rest of your day.” I give a non-answer and refer to all three of them together just in case. Ravel seems to have noticed judging by how she narrowed her eyes at me, though I expected her to be angry, not for her smile to widen.

“Likewise.” Kiba nodded with a slightly satisfied smile as he stepped out with Koneko and Ravel.

I turned to the Church trio as they stared at me with thinned lips, clearly unamused with how friendly I am acting with the devils.

I shrugged at them with a slightly sheepish smile. “I’m not trying to anger the devils needlessly. From what I’ve seen, they’ve got enough power to just remove a no-name like myself from existence.” Holly seemed horrified at my justification as the church trio stared at me with puzzlement before reluctantly nodding and looking away.

“... W-wait, they can just do that??” Hermione asked worriedly as we turned to her with a grimace.

“... Well, some, probably yes. Don’t worry though, stick with Holly and you’ll probably be fine. Isn’t that right, oh almighty Dark Lord vanquisher?” I turned to Holly with amusement as she looked at me exasperatedly.

“Stop that. It’s annoying. I’ll probably be able to push away anyone overstepping, so just run to me if you’re in trouble.” She glares at me lightly before sighing and reassuring Hermione, who seems a lot calmer with that reassurance.

“I believe the academy protects all wizards and witches from the other factions until they graduate, so you should be fine as long as you don’t agree to any contracts or deals offered to you voluntarily.” Irina informs Hermione while standing up alongside the other two church girls. “We should also meet up with the other Church Representatives, thank you so much for allowing us to sit with you! Let’s meet up sometime again, it’s been fun!”

“Of course. It was nice meeting you three.” Holly nodded to them with a small smile as they visibly brightened up and waved while exiting the compartment, leaving just Holly, Hermione, and me.

“... So, are we splitting up as well?” I turn to the two girls and joke slightly as they both look annoyed at the idea and shake their heads.

“I’d rather stick with someone else while we go through this nonsense. Being alone would suck.” Holly dryly commented as Hermione looked indignant at the ‘nonsense’ comment.

“W-while I wouldn’t phrase it that way, I also would like to stick with someone else… just in case.” I stared wryly at the girl who was barely not shaking from nervousness, simply nodding in acceptance.

“Alright. I guess we won’t split up then, gang.” Holly’s head snapped to me after saying this, looking appalled yet amused.

“Did you just make a Scooby Doo reference?” Oh my god, they didn’t change the name to something stupid! Incredible!

“Did you just catch my Scooby Doo reference?” She raises an eyebrow at me but shakes her head wryly and stands up to grab her trunk.

“Oh! I know that one, but I never got to watch cartoons as a child. I liked books a whole lot more.” Hermione commented as she also stood up to get her trunk.

I kept my trunk next to me, so I didn’t need to bother.

Ah. “By the way, Hermione.” The aforementioned girl turned to me with a blink. “Do you have a book named Hogwarts: A History, by any chance?” She blinked again in surprise before nodding and opening her trunk, revealing dozens of books (we only had 8 mandatory ones) before she pulled one from the top of the pile and placed it on the table.

“Yes, actually. I was reading it a few hours before I joined you guys when I was… in a different compartment.” She seemed to become downcast slightly as I smiled sympathetically and grabbed the book.

“Thank you, I just need to look at a certain page for something…” I opened the book to ‘search for a certain page’ and I felt thousands of words begin to flow into my brain rapidly.

My eyes glaze over as the information continues to flow into my head, and I suddenly understand just how much this world deviates from both DXD and Harry Potter.

It’s not even just the addition of Wizards and Hogwarts to the dumpster fire that is DXD, no… Hogwarts was made a supernatural hub and an actual neutral ground between all factions when it was first founded. It was supposed to be a deterrent to the Church when they had begun expanding their influence, and it worked so well that the Church relaxed slightly in its aggressive ways before eventually joining the ‘alliance’.

Dumbledore is also as strong as the Satans, so there’s that…

Maybe not Sirzechs and Ajuka, but with how he’s being described, putting him at Super Satan Rizevim level is not unrealistic… and he’s a very influential character in the supernatural world, basically being the ‘leader’ of the ‘neutral grounds’ and often being called on to act as a judge during trails between different factions that require an impartial judge to help.

The Dark Lord Voldemort didn’t just cause a ruckus in the neighborhood before being slapped with that title, no, he literally gathered an army of Wizards, Devils, Fallen, Youkai, and so many more races before threatening to eliminate all ‘muggles’ from existence. It took an alliance of all peaceful factions together to repel his forces, and Holly was able to eventually ‘kill’ him when he attacked her family just like in the books.

Wizards are buffed to hell in this world… By the time you graduate from Hogwarts, you’re expected to be ‘High-Class’ at the least, with some of the best students straight up reaching Ultimate-Class months after exiting Hogwarts and sometimes while still in Hogwarts. They’re basically as strong as Dumbledore in the original books (but definitely without the experience, talent, knowledge, etc. Dumbledore would still slam most of them easily).

Though it’s probably the same case as how High-Classes were in DXD. You have the magical might, but perhaps not the Battle IQ to actually fight at that level. So a mid-class could beat you still if they were experienced enough.

Also, wandless casting is supposedly eventually substituted for Magical Circles, though using both enhances the power of spells a lot more than just one. It’s even said you can cast even the most powerful spells without any magic circles or wand if you reach the level of powerhouses like Dumbledore.

The houses in Hogwarts right now are the same as usual, Ravenclaw, Slytherin, Hufflepuff, and Gryffindor. But, there’s an unofficial separation in the houses. Devils, Vampires, and Pure-blood wizards reside in Slytherin. Youkai, werewolves, and other similar species reside in Hufflepuff mostly. The Church, most Godly pantheon’s children & descendants, and the more light-based Pure Blooded houses usually go to Gryffindor. Lastly, Ravenclaw is populated by Fallen Angels and has a lot more diversity than any of the other houses. Of course, any of these factions’ members can end up in a different house and usually do, but these are the most common houses for each of these factions.

Though… funnily enough, the heads of houses in this world are a lot more different than you’d expect. The Biblical factions mostly dominate that as Slytherin has Serafall fucking Leviathan, Ravenclaw has Azazel of all people, Gryffindor has Seraph GABRIEL, and Hufflepuff has fucking Yasaka, leader of the West Youkai Faction.

These guys are literal faction leaders, so they don’t actually teach any of the classes and only manage the houses in case of any internal conflict or fighting. It’s said that you shouldn’t expect to see them often unless any important events are happening or something has happened that requires their presence.

Minerva McGonagall is the Deputy-Headmistress and Transfiguration teacher to Wizards, but not the head of the house Gryffindor. She does teach some electives to Wizards and other species, but it’s not listed here. Severus Snape is the House Aid to Slytherin, which is basically like the second in command for all houses and still teaches Potioncraft to Wizards, who are also the only people capable of doing Potioncraft in this world. Filius Flitwick is the Aid to Ravenclaw, thankfully enough, as I like that guy, and teaches Charms to Wizards and Magical Control to magic-oriented races and students that are not wizards.

I didn’t see any mention of Sprout anywhere, so I don’t think she’s teaching Botany/Herbology in this world. Instead, a goddess replaced her role here as Demeter teaches that subject as well acting as House Aid to Yasaka. It’s apparently a bit controversial as most pantheons end up in Gryffindor (or Ravenclaw, actually) but Demeter decided to aid Hufflepuff while simultaneously telling everyone to fuck off. That’s girl boss right there.

There are a lot of other neat details to go through later, but I think I’ve kept the girls waiting long enough.

I blink my eyes to clear my vision and I notice that they’re currently chatting about something or the other with their trunks open, discussing something regarding what’s inside.

“Thank you for the book, Hermione. It was very useful.” I announce my return to reality as I hand the book back to a startled Hermione, who takes the book back on instinct.

“You’re already done??” She asks with astonishment as I smile and shrug.

“I was just looking for something specific inside. I wasn’t looking to read the entire book.” I elaborate slightly and she nods with a thoughtful look.

“What were you looking for?” Holly asks with a curious look, Hermione also looks at me with interest making me laugh slightly.

“I read up a bit about the houses to try and decide which one I’d like to be in. I think I’ll do best in Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff. Though Gryffindor wouldn’t be too bad if you ignore… having to deal with gods.” They both blinked in surprise at my explanation before Holly pursed her lips in thought.

“Why? I personally thought Gryffindor might have been the best house. After all, Headmaster Dumbledore and Headmistress McGonagall both came from that house!” Hermione asked with surprise as Holly turned to her with a slightly interested gaze before turning back to me.

“That may be true, but I’ve read enough about gods to know that nothing associated with them is ever good. Usually, all of their myths include some form of rape, murder, torture, and needless cruelty. I’m not sure how protected we are thanks to the school, but risking it unnecessarily seems like a terrible idea to me.” They both pale at my description of gods, Hermione more so. “Who knows though, we’ll just have to see how the sorting works and hope it puts us in the best house for us.” I’m not about to talk about the sorting hat as if I had any idea what the heck I was talking about. Who knows what the sorting process in this world could be?

“... I’d definitely be on the more cautious side, but I’d rather not enter with possibly incorrect assumptions or notions.” Holly eventually decides and I nod again after a few moments of thought.

“That sounds quite fair in my opinion.” I agree, stepping out of the compartment as the train finally stops and making my way out with Holly & Hermione in tow.

I finally take my first step outside of the compartment and I’m immediately shocked by the sheer diversity of the students exiting the train. I spotted just about every race, faction, and hair color in existence.

I spotted Koneko and Kiba standing next to a familiar redhead and her queen. They spotted me and Kiba gave me a wave which I returned with a nod before quickly moving away before either of them alerted Rias.

I’d rather not deal with that just yet, I’m nowhere near prepared enough to speak to anyone influential while having a peaceful state of mind.

"Firs'-years! Firs'-years over here!” A gigantic man which I identify as Hagrid calls out to the first years, some of the students split off from their groups to gather around him. I quickly lead Hermione and Holly to him as Holly blinks in recognition at seeing Hagrid.

“Ah, that’s Hagrid. He’s the keeper of secrets or something like that. He has someone else that shares the same duties as him, but I don’t know who it is. A nice fellow, if a little… slow.” Holly informs Hermione and me as I crack a small smile at her description of Hagrid.

Though, someone sharing his duties? Interesting. I didn’t read about that, but I guess it wasn’t something important enough to be placed in the book. Or something recent.

“Ah, ‘Ello Holly.” Hagrid nods to Holly in greeting with a big smile before turning back to everyone else. “Any more firs'-years? Mind yer step, now! Firs'-years follow me!" He began leading us away down a shady path with beautiful shrubbery decorating its sides, eventually leading us to a gigantic lake.

Surprisingly enough, the boats here weren’t the same… almost run-down paddle boats shown in the series. Instead, they were a bit bigger, being able to hold 8 people, and more visually appealing.

“Alrighty, let’s start boardin’ the boats, yeh? Don’t worry yer heads, they’re perfectly safe.” Hagrid instructed everyone as the students began stepping onto the boats.

Holly and Hermione got on a boat quickly only to realize that they were the last two needed for it to begin moving.

They quickly looked back at me worriedly as I gave them a calm smile and a nod.

“I’ll be fine. You two have fun, I’ll catch up in a different boat.” I waved them off and headed to a different boat, not giving them time to protest and waste time as I walked to an almost-full boat and quickly boarded it.

I saw a few possibly muggle-born wizards and witches staring at everything in awe, two Asian girls conversing on the other side of the boat, and a blonde youkai girl near me staring at me weirdly.

I turn to her with a tilted head, inspecting her to see if I can recognize her. She’s got golden blonde hair with similarly gold eyes narrowed at me, on her head were what I assume might be fox ears, and behind her were several golden tails-

Oh my god.

She seems to notice my surprise despite me actively concealing my facial expressions as she smirks and takes a step next to me, staring at the lake as the boat begins moving.

“You seem surprised, something caught your eye?” Her voice sounds soft and concerned at first, but I easily notice the mischief laced in her tone and buried deep within her eyes.

“I apologize, it’s my first time seeing a Youkai like yourself in person. Let alone a Kyuubi Kitsune…” I try to justify my reaction with a sheepish smile while turning to face the lake slightly, still keeping my eyes on her face.

“Oh?~ Is that so? How interesting… You don’t seem like the type to be new to the supernatural though.” She doesn’t seem convinced whatsoever but smiles amiably as if she truly believed me, hiding the knowing look that was threatening to spill on her face.

She knows I’m only acting like I’m new, but doesn’t know that I know she knows, which gives me time to think.

What does she mean by that I don’t seem new to the supernatural? This is my first time ever seeing any of this stuff, and I haven’t even faked any of my reactions to the beautiful scenery.

“... I… don’t know what you mean? I’m a muggleborn. I truly have never had anything to do with the supernatural until… not long ago.” I frowned in confusion, tilting my head at her as her eyes narrowed the slightest bit and her smirk fluctuated between widening and inclining downwards.

“Interesting… Your life force is quite large, I must say. Though if what you say is true, then you must have no idea what I’m speaking about.” She pokes my side with her fingers a few times, intrigued, as her eyes cloud for a second, staring at something I cannot see while hiding her smirk behind her sleeve like I hadn’t already seen it.

“... Ah… Thank you? I believe that’s a good thing.” I tilt my head in more confusion as she stares at me with amusement and shakes her head.

“I’d say it’s more of a good thing than not, you’ll probably come to learn of that in the future.” She shrugs and steps to the right, standing closer to me, as a boat that was behind us begins gaining on us. “You’re interesting. Let’s be friends, I’m Kunou.” She declares while studying the incoming boat with narrowed eyes.

“... Ah, I see then. I’m Richard Lee, feel free to call me Ritchie.” I blink at the sudden move from ‘Kunou’ as I stare at the boat she’s looking at with a slight bit of actual confusion.

Looking at the boat, I notice that several Youkai are pacing around and looking at all of the nearby boats as if searching for something… or someone.

I freeze and slowly turn to Kunou with a blank expression as she quickly steps behind me with a sheepish expression, already knowing what’s going on.

“... I may have… ditched some guards my mom had assigned me…” She explains at my blank expression as it turns wry. “... To be fair, they’re my age and would probably be more of a nuisance than a help if something actually dangerous came around…” She embarrassedly tries to justify once she notices my amused face.

I shake my head with mirth and turn back to the lake, staring at the squid thing waving at everyone from the other side of the lake as some of the more excitable kids waved back.

“I won’t say anything, I promise. Though if you get in trouble then I had absolutely nothing to do with this.” My lips incline upward as she gasps behind me and I feel a light punch on my back.

“Friends don’t abandon each other, you know? Even if they were only friends for a few minutes, it’s still a very bad breach of friendship!” She informed me sagely as I almost snorted and simply nodded my head.

“Is that so?” I ask sarcastically, feeling her lightly punch my back again as the boat with the Youkai passes by without any more trouble and Kunou stops standing behind me.

“Yes, it is so.” She declares with finality. “Thanks for the help.”

“No problem.” I smile and we stand quietly for a minute before the boat reaches the other end of the lake, disembarking at the base of Hogwarts Castle.

The Youkai that were searching the boats earlier begin patrolling the incoming boats and Kunou quickly says goodbye before running into a crowd to hide, not giving me a chance to reply.

I shrug and quickly follow Hagrid, who had taken a full boat for himself while crossing the Black Lake, as he leads us to the entrance to the castle.

Just as I wonder if Minerva herself is going to be the one to receive us here or not, I spot the lady herself standing outside of the castle doors with a stoic expression. Surprisingly, she looked a lot younger than what you’d expect.

Instead of looking like she was in her 50-60s, she looked like she was in her prime 40s, or even later 30s if you were generous. Perhaps wizards gained slower physical aging too alongside a longer lifespan in this world.

“The firs’ years, Professor McGonagall.” Hagrid greeted her and gestured to us as she nodded at him and looked at us sternly.

“Thank you Hagrid, I will be taking them from here.” She nodded to him and turned around. The doors opened without needing any further instruction, as if they were electrical, as she led us inside.

After all of us walked inside and the doors slammed behind us without needing any help in doing so, Minerva turned around to face us again.

“Welcome to Hogwarts. The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, share dormitories with your house, and spend free time in your house common room." She explained without any emotions on her face as she spoke. I did notice her eyes staring at someone specifically for a bit longer before turning back to the rest of the students, probably Holly.

"The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding Wizards, Devils, Warriors, Magicians, and much more. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rulebreaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, which not only is a great honor but also offers some interesting rewards for the few students who earned the most points. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours." She begins to explain again, grabbing my attention at a certain part of her speech.

Oh?? The house cup actually matters here? That makes sense. It was always stupid how it never actually mattered despite how much it was stressed in the series. I wonder what rewards are going to be given…

“The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting." Is the ghost thing gonna happen here as well? I notice that she hasn’t left the room yet, so she might be present if the ghosts appear.

After a bit of waiting, no ghosts appear, and a knock resounds twice on the door as Minerva nods and opens the doors.

"It's time to move along, the Sorting Ceremony's about to start. Please form an orderly line and follow me." Everyone follows her instructions and we form a line as we begin to enter the Great Hall, almost all of us gaping at the magical scene that awaited us.

It was the same as how it was shown in the movies, only 100 times more beautiful. Thousands of bright candles floated gently in the air, a ceiling that reflected the night sky, and enough gold engravings in the walls and pillars that a goblin would die of salivation. The center of the room was occupied by a gigantic orb crystal that was several meters tall, oddly out of place in my memories.

… Is this thing replacing the sorting hat? Seeing how Minerva just walked next to it and stopped, I’m gonna say yes.

I guess there’s no song-

"Oh you may not think I'm pretty,

But don't judge on what you see,

I'll eat myself if you can find

A smarter hat than me.

You can keep your bowlers black,

Your top hats sleek and tall,

For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat

And I can cap them all.

There's nothing hidden in your head

The Sorting Hat can't see,

So try me on and I will tell you

Where you ought to be.

You might belong in Gryffindor,

Where dwell the brave at heart,

Their daring, nerve, and chivalry

Set Gryffindors apart;

You might belong in Hufflepuff,

Where they are just and loyal,

Those patient Hufflepuffs are true

And unafraid of toil;

Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,

if you've a ready mind,

Where those of wit and learning,

Will always find their kind;

Or perhaps in Slytherin

You'll make your real friends,

Those cunning folks use any means

To achieve their ends.

So put me on! Don't be afraid!

And don't get in a flap!

You're in safe hands (though I have none)

For I'm a Thinking Cap!"

… Nevermind.

The orb danced with the four colors of the houses as it sang, eventually settling back into its colorless gray state as the song died out and the people sitting down began clapping their hands.

I shook my head with amusement before I felt a hand on my shoulder and quickly turned to face a concerned Holly standing next to me, Hermione right behind her.

“Are you alright? I didn’t see you once we disembarked our boat.” She asked with concern as Hermione nodded her head in agreement.

“Haha, I’m fine. I was simply too caught up in the scenery to remember, my apologies-” I smiled at the duo and tried to reassure them before I suddenly felt an influx of strange signals attacking my head before being repelled by an unknown force.

My head quickly snapped to the other side of the room as I finally got a look at the Headmaster and Head of Houses with their teachers and aids. I noticed that the four heads of houses were sheepishly staring at Dumbledore as an intense magical aura surrounded him and he glared at all of them with fury in his eyes.

His presence eventually faded, unnoticed by anyone outside of the Staff’s table, and they all turned to where Holly and I were. I quickly had to look away as some of them seemed surprised at catching my eyes, clearly not having expected me to notice anything wrong.

Holy fucking shit. Serafall Leviathan, Seraph Gabriel, Governor Azazel, and fucking Yasaka just all tried to mind-rape me simply because I talked to Holly. Is she really that important…? Also, I can’t believe Dumbledore of all people saved me from that fate. Those fanfics about him being a serial legilimens must be quaking in their boots right now after he SAVED someone from that fate.

Holly quickly shook my shoulder again after my sudden silence as I turned to her with a sheepish smile. “Are you sure you’re alright? You suddenly went silent and turned away…”

I quickly shook my head. “I thought I saw something funny, please don’t worry about me.” I smile with only the barest amount of strain before removing it from my face. “Are you guys ready to be sorted?” I quickly changed the subject as Holly frowned.
Before she could say anything though, Hermione beat her to the punch. “Oh, yes! I read a little more while I was on the boat, I think you were right about Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff sounding nice. The first will have people who enjoy books like myself and have a tendency to use their brains more, while the second will have nicer people and give me a chance to make more… friends…” Hermione froze a bit at the last part but continued smiling nonetheless as I nodded.

“I’m sure Gryffindor wouldn’t be too bad as well. As for Slytherin… well, we’ll have to see.” They both shuddered slightly, Holly looking at Hermione with a look in her eyes that signified that they talked about that house earlier.

Damn, she must’ve read something really bad if that’s their reaction. Oh well. Neither of them have any business in Slytherin anyway, Half-Blood Potter and Muggleborn, after all.

"When I call your name, you will come to touch the orb and focus to be sorted. Abbott, Hannah!" Minerva began speaking again after sending a worried glance at Dumbledore, only starting once he nodded his head.

Ah, at least we have Hannah everybody.

… Now, I wonder… What house am I going to be in?

…

…

That finishes off my first chapter of this fic. What do you guys think? I’ve decided to try something new with this one after a person bought the Anxiety Overload tier on my Pat, which allowed ‘em to choose my next fic and its world. My beta doesn’t like either HP or DXD so I’m kinda fighting a one-man battle in terms of the storyline, but it’s fine.

That last part though… Did they truly try to breach a 13 year old’s mind simply because he spoke to Holly Potter? That’s quite weird… I wonder why. Is Holly truly that important?

I’m hoping you all enjoyed this fic despite how new this whole AU stuff is to me. I’ve been prepping up a few dozen thousand words in just notes for the last week, not to mention a 13k word long prologue. I sincerely hope you are still able to enjoy this fic despite any mistakes I make.

For all of the dudes coming over from my Speak in a Dungeon fic, don’t worry, I’m not abandoning it (Ignore how I said that regarding my first two fics which haven’t been updated since last year). In all seriousness, I’ve been working hard on the next few arcs and should be able to begin posting this and that story consistently without any issues.

Sorry for the long Author’s Note. Hope you all enjoyed!

Also hi, I may have forgor to post this at the same time as QQ and FF. Sorry Patreon haha... Hope you guys enjoy this tho and lmk what you think.

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