Knight of the Dog

"You always blame yourself, pup. The greatest Dark Lord messed with your head because of a piece of his soul."

"Greatest Dark Lord? I told you! I beat him by waving a sword around like an idiot while that girl died!" he pushed Sirius back and lied down on the couch, curling inward, sobbing.

"I feel it already," Sirius said, more serious than Harry had ever heard him before.

The younger devil looked up and tried to stop his sobs.

"It's different. I know I would have done worse, I mean, look at me. I could have beat my cousin, but I played around like an idiot. Both of us were playing around like children."

"What?"

The newly reincarnated devil let out a humorless laugh, "When we fought, I thought back to when we lived in the manner for summers. Neither of us used deadly cursed. Neither of us fought with everything we had. We just acted like children. If I did that with new instincts like you had to do? I would have failed. Just like I failed you when your parents died. Just like I failed you by personally dying."

"Everyone always does that. Tells me to blame them and not themselves. I knew that, but I should have done better!"

Sirius patted his shoulder, "I don't know what to tell you then, pup. I'm proud of you though. I don't blame you for what you did to Bellatrix. I hate to say it, but she needed to be put down."

Both devils sat back in thought.

"So how's this bird you're supposed to marry look like?"

"Screw you, Padfoot. She isn't even... picked out yet."

"Eh, it'll be alright. You said you could get out of it anyway. This talk of harems though..." Sirius gave a cheeky grin and grabbed some firewhiskey from the cabinets, pouring a couple of drinks.

"More things to worry about," Harry scoffed before he sniffed the glass.

"The bright side! And Japan will be a blast. Personally, I think we should stop by a Veela conclave but with those dark angels about..."

"Fallen."

"Whatever. Why make me a knight anyway? I'm a wizard."

Harry shrugged before he took a drink. It was nowhere near as painful as he expected. His Phoenix blood seemed to particularly enjoy the feeling. "I remember you were fast. Devils and Fallen have magical resistances. I could survive a killing curse, while it's possible that you could too. I had a gut feeling about it. Maybe your grim form will get stronger because of it."

"It is as far as I can tell so far. Pretty badass, actually. My sense of smell is magical now, can tell that you aren't human and Kreacher smells different too."

"Sirius... what happened when you fell into the Veil? I'm not supposed to be able to reincarnate anyone if an hour or so passes. I would have brought back Tonks and Remus if I could have... or maybe even-"

"You'll kill yourself thinking that way. They would be happy to know their child is alive and... you can't save everyone. I don't even know how to feel being alive after years have passed."

Harry nodded his head and finished his drink. His Phoenix blood really liked it. The small buzz was nice as well, he'd never really touched liquor much growing up.

"Anyway, the Veil... it was like nothing I'd ever dreamed of. It-"

"Pop!" "Pop!"

"Dobby brought Winky for Great and Powerful Master Harry Potter Sir!"

"Cool Dobby, I don't have the power to do it now, but I will in the morning. You want a drink?"

Dobby cocked his head to the side before showing a mad grin that Harry didn't think the elf was capable.

"Of course! Congrats on having dogfather serve Master Harry Potter Sir with Dobby and Winky!"

"Ya... that..." Sirius had been looking at the scene with a blank stare. Harry hadn't told him about reincarnating Dobby as a devil yet.

Winky darted ahead of Dobby to grab the bottle first.

"Winky..." Dobby growled.

She looked back and demurely handed the bottle over.

The former humans looked back and forth at each other before Harry nonchalantly shrugged. "Devil instincts."

"You turned a house-elf into a devil?"

"Eventually two, but mutts aren't known to count. Anyway, you don't need to look at me like the Fallen Angel did."

"I see. I'm sure other people will look at you the same when they see them too."

"Your stalling, Padfoot."

Sirius shot him a glare, "Because it was horrible. I felt as if time stopped and was surrounded by some tie-die weird shit. Far away, there was a presence that I could only think of as a god while I was frozen in fear. It actually had me wanted to go back to Azkaban."

Harry raised an eyebrow at his godfather.

"Azkaban!" he yelled. "I could still breath, but at the same time, I couldn't. My magic felt like it was tearing itself apart. I have no clue what the hell that place is, but I'll never go back again. You saved my ass, pup. Again."

Harry was stunned. That wasn't anything like he imagined, "Damn. And I thought you were pulled to a parallel dimension to enjoy a harem paradise."

"I need some kind of paradise. I still look like shit too, at least I feel mentally better. It's like my brain was screwed up and put back together when I became a devil." Sirius looked over to the side, "Anyway, we can catch a flight tomorrow after we acquire enough firewhiskey to fill the lake by Hogwarts."

Winky was nursing her bottle while Dobby had drained his second.

"I guess we're out," Harry surmised. "Devil bodies after all. Speaking of that, devils are all natural metamorphs."

He flipped to the right page in one of Beleth's books.

"Hmm... Little Padfoot was already savior to women, but now it'll be God's gift to- OW! What the hell?"