Chapter 120: Recovering in Italy

Not much happened after completing his contract with Theodore Nott; he decided to wait until he was back at Hogwarts, and some time passed over so nobody would suspect any kind of foul play. His hope was that they would accept it as a forbidden ritual gone completely wrong.

Instead of thinking about any kind of work or study, Harry decided to embrace his holidays. Everyone needed a bit of downtime, even a devil. Like last year, the Peerage decided to go on a small holiday.

Of course, Tonks was also included; she still had enough of her holidays that she could easily join them, and she wasn't the only one. This year, Sona and her Peerage also decided to accompany them.

Rias and Sona were very close friends; they knew each other since childhood through the work of their older siblings. Both Lord Gremory and Lord Sitri had amiable business relationships and would also meet from time to time.

They bonded the most through their similar circumstances; both of them had an engagement they were unwilling to follow hanging above their heads. But unlike Rias, Sona managed to find a solution on her own, not that it was known to many people. It was only known to a handful of people.

She made a deal with her parents that she would only marry someone who could beat her in chess. With her brilliant intelligence and strategic mind, it was actually a good plan, if it weren't for the small flaw that she was challenging everyone she knew for a game. Like any devil, she also was affected by one or more of the deadly sins. The one affecting her the strongest was pride, pride in her chess skills. And the deal she made with her parents wasn't an ordinary one either.

This year, the two Peerages agreed unanimously to go on a beach holiday together; they decided to visit Italy. To be precise, they decided on Naples.

Unfortunately, Italy wasn't an easy travel goal for devils. The country was deeply under the control of the Church; their center of power was, after all, the Vatican in Rome. But with the help of Sirzechs and especially Serafall, the Satan of Outer Affairs, they managed to get permission to spend their holidays in the country without being disturbed. Of course, as long as they didn't step a foot into Rome.

Apparently, there were some ongoing negotiations between the devils and Heaven, and this was a show of good faith from Heaven. Of course, Sirzechs was rather tight-lipped about the details and didn't drop any hints; Harry really wondered what was going on.

It must be something very important if they were keeping the details such a secret. Maybe they were negotiating an alliance? Nah, that was impossible. The Church and the devils were at each other's throats for thousands of years; from what he learned, Big G hated them with passion. He would never agree to peace, not to mention an alliance. Maybe there was something the Church wanted from the devils, and they were negotiating for it. And if they allowed the younger sisters of two Satans to have holidays in Italy, then it would become easier for them.

Although there was a possibility that they could be taken hostage too. Harry would have to be cautious and keep his eyes open.

The holidays itself were quite pleasant. They spent a lot of time on beautiful white beaches, all the girls wearing sexy swimsuits, which affected Harry more than he wanted to admit. Stupid puberty.

Harry had to split quite a lot of his time between Akeno and Rias for some reason. There was always something they wanted from him, or some time they wanted to spend alone with him. Be it putting lotion on their backs, going for a swim with them, helping them choose new clothes, accompanying them on a walk, and so on. He dreaded the day more girls would act like that around him. Of course, Tonks found it amusing for some reason.

Besides that, the holidays were quite pleasant for every one of them; they regularly visited the city, looking at some old architecture, enjoying the wonderful and tasty Italian cuisine, visiting fascinating museums, and other fun excursions.

Unfortunately, the magical district of Italy was located in Rome, the one place in the country they weren't allowed to set foot in. Too bad; he would have loved to add some Italian books on magic to his extensive collection or explore another fascinating magical district.

He even would have had a guide who had offered to show them the place. Blaise Zabini, a yearmate of Harry from Slytherin, was spending the holidays close to their own location. His mother possessed a beach mansion here.

Harry actually had a good relationship with most Slytherins, especially the neutral ones, of which Blaise was a part. The only people in Slytherin who were trouble were the dumb ones and Malfoy. If someone amongst the rest didn't like him, they weren't showing it in true Slytherin manner.

Blaise even invited them over to their home, but Harry decided to politely decline. He hadn't anything against Blaise, but he preferred to stay away from his famously beautiful and deadly mother. Harry didn't want to become Husband number eight who died mysteriously, for some reason.

And in that manner, their holidays went over calmly. Against his expectation, nobody from the Church came over to cause them any trouble. He could feel that they were watched from the distance, most likely as a precaution, but never attacked.

Their Italian holidays were truly nice until something really troublesome happened. Sona convinced him to a round of chess.

"I am moving my Queen to E7, checkmate," Harry said as he placed his figure on the board, finally beating Sona after experiencing the most tiring chess match of his life. The trial for the Philosopher's Stone wasn't as intense as this one.

But the extensive experience and practice from his copy of that magical chessboard inside his Sacred Gear had been a major help in his match. If he didn't play regularly with the magical chessboard, he would have lost this match. Sona was truly an exceptional mind.

Sona stared bewildered at the chessboard, paling considerably, as there suddenly was a blue light illuminating the room. While Harry hurriedly tried to find out whether they were under attack, Sona still didn't move and stared onto the board.

Her Queen, Tsubaki Shinra, was just as shocked as her; so was Rias, who also sat beside them and had watched the match. Realizing that he must have clearly missed something, Harry asked, "Okay, can someone tell me what just happened? I can feel that the blue light was magical in nature but not harmful; it still did something to me."

"We got engaged," Sona muttered as she looked at him and blushed.

Rias was staring at them still in shock, her face pale.

"Ehm, sorry I must have misheard you. I understood you said we got engaged…" Harry replied with a confused chuckle.

"You didn't mis…" Sona tried to reply but got interrupted by the doors of the beach mansion they were staying in suddenly opening.

"Soooo-taaan!" And Harry felt as if he was about to die.

— DXD — DXD — DXD — DXD —

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