Aware of the fact that he might not make it back to the Gryffindor Common Room in time and not wanting to get caught with this particular book, Harry pulled his invisibility cloak out of his bag and stuffed the book in its place. Wrapping it around himself, he left, longing for his bed.
"If you like the guy so much, then you marry him!" Rias growled.
"Rias, that's no way to talk to your mother," Zeoticus Gremory snapped.
"Yes, you're right," Rias said. "I wouldn't want to condemn her to a fate worse than death."
"If you're done being melodramatic, dear, I'd be happy to listen to your objections," Venelana Gremory said.
"Only so you can ignore them," Rias muttered. "I shouldn't have to marry that arrogant, sanctimonious man-whore just because you're friends with his mother."
"This isn't about that, and you know it," Venelana said calmly. "Riser comes from a powerful bloodline and has inherited all of its perks. If he were to pass his power down to your children and they were lucky enough to inherit the power of destruction as well, each one could end up being a superdevil. It would secure both of our families for aeons."
Rias made no attempt to hide her disgust at the thought of having Riser Phenex's children.
"Now, it won't happen for another couple years at least," Zeoticus piped up. "That will be plenty of time to get to know Riser better."
"I know him plenty," Rias spat. "You haven't finalized the arrangement yet; there's still time to stop this. Please!"
"Enough," Venelana said. "You're not a child anymore, Rias. You know that our power and privilege come with certain obligations. Now I truly hope that you and your future husband manage to come to some sort of accord, but if worse comes to worse, you won't have to spend every day and night with him."
"May I go?" Rias asked, furious at them both.
"You may," her father sighed.
Wings springing from her back, she didn't bother touching a single step as she rushed to her room, hot tears stinging her eyes.
"They didn't budge?" Akeno asked the second she saw her.
"No," Rias growled. "They're insisting that I marry that pig!"
"I'm so sorry, Rias," Akeno sighed, hugging her tightly.
"It's apparently too much to ask that I get to fall in love," Rias said despondently. "I'm going to be stuck married to a man who will treat me like a broodmare when he isn't fucking someone else. I should free you before it happens."
"No!" Akeno exclaimed.
"Akeno, you're mine, and if I marry him, we'll both become his," Rias said.
"I am yours," Akeno said, resting her forehead against Rias'. "For better or worse, I'm not leaving your side."
"It's a shame I can't marry you," Rias said. "You'd bring a hell of a lot more to the table. Loyalty, good company…"
"Probably as much dick," Akeno giggled, making her laugh as well. "Your brother can't help you?"
"Not with this," Rias sighed, walking over and flopping on her bed. "He's one of the Satans, and he can't be seen interfering in family disputes like this. He has to remain above it all, impartial."
"If this was Sona, do you really think that Lady Serafall would even hesitate to intervene?" Akeno scoffed.
"Serafall would start a civil war if some gave Sona a papercut, but Sirzechs isn't like that, and I wouldn't want him to be," Rias said. "As much as I hate Riser, I wouldn't want this to make trouble for my brother. No, if I want a way out of this, I'm going to have to take care of it myself."
"Any ideas?" Akeno asked.
"My mother loves rating games," Rias said. "If I could bet my freedom on the outcome of one of them, she might take that bet, but only if it was one that I was participating in…"
"And you only have me," Akeno sighed.
"I have at least two years," Rias said. "If I can build up a proper peerage before then and find some match that my mother would be willing to bet against me on, then that could work. Father would go along with her if she decided to call things off."
"You could also just lose your virginity," Akeno suggested.
"No devil would risk making enemies of the Phenex clan," Rias said, shaking her head, "and the idea of using some random human man, likely dooming him in the process, just doesn't sit well with me, not while I have other options at least."
"If you made him part of your peerage, he'd become a servant of the house of Gremory," Akeno said. "Pissed as they'd be, your parents would be obliged to protect him."
"If I come across a man impressive enough to recruit, then that will be an option," Rias admitted, "but I'm not wasting an evil piece on someone who wouldn't be of further use to me."
"Then we need to focus on just recruiting you a full peerage," Akeno said. When Rias jerked violently, she asked, "Rias?"
"I, ah!" Rias cried out, wrapping her arms around her middle. "I feel like I'm being pulled...I'm being summoned!"
"By who?" Akeno asked in alarm. "No devil could possibly…"
"I'm being summoned to Earth," Rias hissed. "Some magician managed it somehow."
"If it's a guy, maybe he could solve your problem," Akeno said, relaxing once she realized that her master wasn't in danger. "Good luck!"
Before Rias could reply, she disappeared in a flash of light.
"Member of the House of Gremory, I summon thee," Harry repeated again, beginning to wonder if this was even working.
He had held out for a full day, trying as hard as he could to find a solution other than the one that Luna had given him. The best plan he had so far was Moody's idea of flying around the dragon and taking what he needed to get his hands on. All he needed to do for that was learn the summoning charm, something that Hermione had helped him with, and then fly like his life depended on it, because it would.
He knew that he was a good flyer, one of the best in the school, in fact, but he just didn't know if he was good enough for this, and there were so many things that could go wrong with the plan. With two days left before the task and with him unable to sleep, he started reading through Luna's book, trying not to get too distracted by the illustrations. Eventually, he happened upon the entry for the devil clan Gremory, which seemed to be one of the friendliest of them, and decided to give it a shot. Closing the curtains around his bed and taking care to ensure that no sound would escape them, he followed the instructions in the book and began his summoning.
"...I summon thee," Harry said again.
Just as he was about to write the whole thing off as idiotic, red light began to form inside the circle of salt that he had created, taking the form of the Gremory sigil. A moment later, there was a flash of red light so blinding that he had to close his eyes, and when he opened them again, his mouth opened with them. The girl inside the circle looked no older than him and was even more beautiful than the illustrations he had seen in the book. With crimson hair, bright blue eyes, and flawless pale skin, she was the most gorgeous girl he had ever seen. That was just her face, too. Her body was curvy in a way that even Angelina's wasn't, and her figure reminded him a little of the first devil whose painting he had seen.
"Wow, you're bad at this," she said as she looked around.
"Huh?" Harry asked.
"The circle of salt thing is a myth," the devil scoffed, "and even if it wasn't, putting it on a bed like this would be a bad idea. Can you guess why?"
When he didn't say anything, she stomped her foot down on the bed, sending the salt flying in every direction and making him feel stupid.
"Oh shit!" Harry exclaimed, reaching for his wand.
"Don't," Rias said harshly, her hand suddenly enveloped in bright red light. "I don't intend to hurt you, but that will change if you threaten me. Now, I am Rias Gremory, magician. Why have you summoned me?"
"I...please sit down first," Harry said, relaxing a little when she did so. "I'm doomed."
"How so?" Rias asked, cocking an eyebrow.
"I was entered into this lethal tournament against my will," Harry said. "In two days, I'm going to have to face a dragon that I need to get past to steal something. I have no real way of fighting the damn thing, and the best plan I've come up with so far is to fly around it."
"You intend to outfly a dragon?" Rias asked.
"I didn't say it was a good plan," Harry said dryly.
"Hmm, and you clearly can't just forfeit, or you would have already," Rias said.
"I'd lose my magic, apparently," Harry said. "I don't even want to be part of this thing, but someone managed to force me into it, and now I'm bound to a magical contract against my will."
"I know something about that," Rias said, sounding suddenly angry.
She looked at him like she was assessing him in some way and started twisting a ring around her right ring finger.
"Stand up," she after a moment.
"Why?" Harry asked, though when she gave him a blank stare, he decided to do as she asked.
"Turn around," Rias said. "All the way, that's it."
"Am I to make the dragon dizzy?" Harry asked sarcastically.
"It might be a better plan than trying to outfly a creature with wings," Rias bit back. "You can sit back down."
"In my defense, the man who gave that might plan might actually be insane," Harry said. "I just figured that an insane plan was better than none."
"That's debatable," Rias said, reaching out to him. When he tensed up, she said, "relax. I just want to get a feel for what I'm dealing with here."