A/N: New story. This prompt was not leaving my head and I finally wrote it down. It will be a one-shot for now. If it gets a good response, I will expand on it. For more details about the direction I eventually plan to take this story in and the eventual pairings, please refer to the author's note at the bottom.

Disclaimer: Do not own either Harry Potter or Highschool DxD.

Note: If it is not obvious after reading this chapter, I need a beta. One who can help me correctly structure the paragraphs and help me with my tenses. English is not my first language.

Prologue

From a bird's eye point of view, it was easy to see that the devastation caused over the last few decades. Mountains laid broken, either into small pieces that had rained down to the ground; or completely vaporised by one highly focused beam of power. Forests lay uprooted, the soil they once stood on wholly eroded. Craters riddled the ground – further evidence of a struggle between beings of high power. In short, the land looked barren, and with the high concentration of magical power in the air, it would remain unfit for civilisation for many years to come.

Surveying this scene were two beings, each renowned in their respective fields. One was a handsome-looking man with long blonde hair and green eyes. Perhaps the most extraordinary thing about him was the 14 golden wings sprouting from his back.

"This has become an utter mess," he sighed as he turned to his companion. He was an ancient-looking man whose most distinctive features were his silver hair and beard, each reaching his waist. Despite the difference in their powers, skills, and age, the golden-winged being felt safe in confiding in his companion. At the end of the day, he was the most powerful human born till now, and with it came the responsibility to use the power wisely, a skill he learnt from a young age.

"Yes, who would have thought the conquest against other pantheons to establish your religion as the only religion on this planet would lead to world-wise destruction?" he quipped sarcastically, causing the winged being to grimace.

"Ah, yes," he admitted grudgingly. "I may have allowed my pride to get the better of me. You don't need to rub it in, Merlin."

"Pride?" the most powerful sorcerer born scoffed. "Pride may have started the war, but it was your greed and lust for power that continued the same. And where did it lead us? Most pantheons have already withdrawn from the planet as they cannot take the flighting anymore. Mother nature herself has rebelled, twisting the natural energy of the planet to a perversion of what it once was. And the less said about the mess with Trihexa, the better."

"True," the blonde-haired man admitted. "But perhaps it is for the better. With the pantheons all withdrawing, it will perhaps allow humans to thrive finally. And I have a feeling that my pantheon will not be one to have a direct say in things on this planet for too long, either."

Merlin glanced at his friend of many years at his last remark but didn't contradict him. Despite how healthy and immaculate he looked; Merlin was one of the few beings in the universe who could look past the exterior at the being's actual power. And what he saw left no doubt in his friend's fate in the upcoming battle.

"Sealing Trihexa took a lot of you, didn't it?" he questioned his old friend in a soft tone.

Rather than answering the obviously rhetorical question, he asked, "I have a favour to ask of you." At the sorcerer's raised brow, he continued, "I would like to seal your soul in a sacred gear."

A long silence proceeded these words. A stone-faced Merlin stared into the distance as he mulled over his friend's words rather than lash out immediately, as he wanted to. Occlumency was such a nifty little thing he had picked up over the years. Say what you want to about the Black family, their penchant for the mind arts was at another level altogether.

"Why?" he finally asked. "Why should I consent to this? Have I not suffered enough in life that rather than go on and live happily ever after with my loved ones in the Afterlife, I should torment my soul to constantly roam the planet; moving on from one soul to another; never finding any peace?"

The being known as God winced slightly at his friend's biting tone. However, he looked into his old friend's eye and replied honestly. "Because it is needed," he said plainly. "While I am no seer and have limited powers of fate and destiny, I do know that a time will come when the seal on Trihexa will be broken. What will proceed and precede it would be a war that will be easily as bad if not worse than the one we have waged now. The world will need your wisdom and power."

And your worry about eternal torment ... I give you my assurance that your soul will move on to the Afterlife after your death. Only a sliver of your soul, containing the entirety of your memory and power, will be sealed into the sacred gear."

As soon as he finished that statement, he knew he had made a mistake with the way the most powerful sorcerer's face twisted into an ugly grimace. "Are you saying that you will make my soul as one of those monstrosities known as a Horcrux?" he demanded.

At hearing those words, God felt his own face twist into a grimace, one that he had no control over as he understood his friend's revulsion. Throughout his existence, he had never come across something as vile as a Horcrux. "No!" he exclaimed; a tad more vehemently than he meant to. "When I said a sliver of your soul will be sealed into a Sacred Gear, I believe you have forgotten my power over Creation. I was merely going to create another soul, mirror your soul in that, and use it to create the Sacred Gear."

"Oh.." was all Merlin said. All was silent as he once again contemplated the request, his worst fears assuaged. Thinking it over, and not finding any reason to reject the request, he gave God his decision.

"I will agree to, provided," he loudly continued as he saw God about to interrupt him, "provided," he repeated again, "some conditions are met."

"And what are they?" God asked. Knowing his friend, he knew they would not be too outrageous.

"I know that giving Sacred Gears to humans is a way to help them counter the threat Supernatural beings pose them. However, being a human, and with experiencing all I have with Mordred, I know of the dangers humans pose one another. I shudder to think what a human with the power of a Longinus can do if they go off the deep end." As he finished, he actually did shudder as he imagined what someone like Mordred would have done with one of the 13 Longinus.

"Hmm, I do see your point," God agrees. "So, what conditions do you want to impose?" he asks. He has a feeling he knows where this is going and is fully willing to accept the condition. In fact, it ties perfectly with his own ideas regarding his final Sacred Gear.

"I would like to have a say in the host's ability to access my powers," Merlin names his condition. "If I feel that my host is power-hungry, or plain mad, I refuse to surrender my power to him," he states with a tone of finality.

"I have a feeling that either your hosts will not need your power or will not be worthy to wield them till the time of the battle comes. This will allow you to be a hidden weapon, one that not even my angels are aware of. I believe that will be enough to tip the scales to our side. So, I agree to your request," God says with a smile.

They exchanged a look and nodded at each other. An understanding, borne out of years of being friends and battling alongside one another, is reached between them. A small ritual later, one that drained God's power even further, the two beings once again re-joined the struggle between the three factions. The battle that would be the last one before a temporary truce broke out, the one that ended with the death of the 4 Maou Satans.

And the one that ended in the death of the Biblical God.

A few thousand years later, Godric's Hollow, circa 2001

He woke up with a start as in from a deep sleep. It was a sensation that he had unfortunately gotten used to, one that he experienced whenever his host awakened his Sacred Gear for the first time.

He expanded his senses to feel out his new host's body. It was a check he started doing every time since his fourth host. It had been a nasty shock to his system when he realised his host was a woman. Now, don't get him wrong, he appreciated the opposite gender as much as any straight male. However, experiencing life from a women's perspective, being privy to her every thought, was more than he bargained for when he agreed to have his soul become a sacred gear.

He frowned as he felt the dimension of his host's body – and it was a he – is entirely incorrect. Everything just seemed so small! Sending a short burst of magic into his host's body, he experienced the world through his host's eyes. Everything seemed enormous, and it seemed to be moving at a fast pace – as if someone was carrying his host and moving at a rapid pace.

Just as he was making the assumption that his host was in the presence of a God from one of the Pantheons – their original size was almost 20 feet tall – he felt his host being put down. He saw his host's kidnapper moving to barricade a door, trying to put as many obstructions as possible. He frowned while internally wondering just how much of protection those mundane barriers like chairs and boxes will provide just as the kidnapper turned around to face his host once more.

The theory that she might be a Goddess may turn out to be accurate as he took in his first sight of her. Long red hair falling down till her back, an hourglass figure, a beautiful face, skin a pale-white which made her emerald coloured eyes stand out even more – the women was absolutely gorgeous and was easily one of the most beautiful women Merlin had seen in his long life as a wizard and a sorcerer.

He felt the women pick up his host and coo over him. He expanded his senses a little more to hear the women's words. "Don't worry, baby. Everything will be alright. Everything will be alright," she repeated herself as she began to sway his host. "And don't you ever forget! Papa loves you, even if he is now gone. And Mumma loves you. Mumma will always love you!" she exclaimed as she kissed his host on his forehead. "And Mumma will always watch over you," she finished, her voice steady but Merlin could easily make out the grief in it.

As the words washed over him, Merlin realised with dawning horror that his new host was, in fact, a child. And while he knew that humans could awaken their Sacred Gears earlier in life at times of high stress, he had never come across a human being able to awaken one so early in life. For heaven's sake, what can cause such a small child enough stress to awaken me! he thought when he got his answer as the door was blasted open.

He felt the mother drop his host back in what he now recognised as his cradle and moved to block him from the person who blasted down the door, her arms wide open, as if to shield him.

"Not Harry, not Harry, please not Harry!" she pleaded, as she begged the attacker to spare her son.

"Stand aside you silly girl... stand aside, now!" the attacker responded, and Merlin could not help but shiver at the maliciousness oozing out of that voice.

"Not Harry, please no, take me, kill me instead –" his host's mother pleaded, and Merlin could not help but feel for the women, his heartstrings tugged at the sheer love the women had for her son and the sheer desperation and fear in her voice at the risk her son's life faced.

"This is my last warning," the attacker warned, and something struck Merlin odd in this exchange. Why would the attacker be so focused on trying to kill his host, who, by all accounts, seemed to be a year-old human? And why would the attacker, one who oozed so much maliciousness, be willing to spare the mother? Something was not adding up.

And there was something else that was bothering Merlin about the attacker, something tingling his magical senses, like a long-forgotten dream. He frowned, and extended his magical senses to the maximum, temporarily overpowering his host's soul. It was not something he could do for a long time without damaging his host, something he could for an even lesser time considering his host was so young, but his gut was telling him that it was important. And if there was something a lifetime of magic and multiple lifetimes as a Sacred Gear had taught him, it was to trust in his gut.

"Not Harry! Please ... have mercy ... have mercy ...Not Harry! Please – I'll do anything ..."

"Stand aside. Stand aside, girl!" And Merlin felt the last of the attacker's patience fade away as a bright green light lit the room. He recoiled as he felt the sheer hate in the magic – and he recognized it as magic – as it struck his host's mother's body. She dropped to the ground, dead, soulless green eyes staring at the ceiling as Merlin said a prayer for the woman's soul, hoping Michael or Gabriel heard him, saddened by her death and inspired by her bravery and love for her child.

As he was doing this, he felt something change in the air. He felt a presence he last felt many thousand years ago, when he was but a teenager, as the air became electric and supercharged with magic. It happened for less than a second and even Merlin would have missed its presence had he not had his magical senses extended to the maximum.

But, he had, and he felt the magic in the air settle around his new host. He could not help but take in a sharp breath of air as he finally understood the nature of the magic that surrounded his new host. "Clever girl," he muttered in admiration. "Clever, clever girl." Ancient magic surrounded his host, protective to the extreme, powered by the love of his mother, enabled by her willing sacrifice. There were very few people that the ancient warlock had ever admired and even fewer left him in awe, but this woman had quickly joined that list.

As he looked up at the attacker, he once again recoiled as he finally understood what his magical senses were warning him earlier. With no one to block his view of the attacker, he could finally see and feel the sheer wrongness coming from the attacker. The attacker raised his wand and pointed it at his host's forehead and smirked as if savouring the moment.

As he absentmindedly noticed that his host had started crying, he observed the attacker with as much concentration as his attacker was studying his host, trying to understand how one man could have so much hate in their body, trying to understand why he made every magical sense in his body scream at him to end this abomination in front of him.

The moment ended as he heard the attacker opened his mouth, the words "Avada Kedavra!" coming out of them as the same green light went out of his wand as the one that killed his host's mother. Merlin could only smirk in anticipation as the ancient magic around his host got agitated at the attacker's gumption to harm one under its protection, at how the magic in that green curse got absorbed by the protection.

The ancient magic, not satisfied with just absorbing the harmful magic that would dare harm one it was meant to protect, took a little of the child's own magic – and it was quite a sizeable amount, especially for one so young – and shot the same curse back at the attacker. At twice the speed and twice the power. The attacker, with how close he was standing to his host, didn't even have time to look surprised as his own curse hit him, the power of the curse so much that it blasted the body apart, leaving not even ashes in its wake, before going on to strike the ceiling and repeating the same.

Damn! Merlin swore as he beheld the results of the protection his host's mother wrought. I would not have wanted to get on her wrong side if I were alive, he thought in amusement before sobering up as he remembered that she was now dead and his host was most likely now an orphan if what she said about his dad was correct as well.

He was pulled out of his reminiscing as magic filled the air once again. A spirit rose from where the cloak and wand lay; the only evidence of the attacker's presence after the ancient magic was done with him. The hideous face of the attacker formed on the spirit before it rushed out of the now open ceiling.

As all the pieces clicked in Merlin's head, as he finally realised why the attacker gave him the sense of complete wrongness, as he finally realised how one human can hold so much hate, a second, smaller spirit with the same deformed face of the attacker seemed to form as well. With dawning horror, Merlin realised precisely what it was as it rushed towards his host. "No!" Merlin shouted, fear giving way to anger as the piece of the attacker's soul tried to merge with his host's body.

The protective magic around the child repelled the soul with contemptuous ease. If it was any other scenario, the piece of the soul would have clung onto the child, tried chipping away at the child's defences, leeched off the child's magic in a desperate bid to survive.

However, these were not normal circumstances. Merlin, enraged at the thought of Horcruxes, seeing what the piece of soul was trying to do to his host, lashed out with his magic. Even if the full soul of the attacker was trying to burrow into the child, like a parasite, what chance would it have against the most powerful sorcerer to ever live?

As for the small sliver of the soul in reality? It was ejected out of the body of the child, with prejudice. Merlin, not satisfied with doing only this, and with a natural hatred for all things Horcrux, entrapped the piece of soul in a sphere of magic. And then the mental avatar of the sorcerer, stone-faced, eyes blazing with arcane energy, enclosed his right hand, making it into a fist. And the sphere of magic outside mirrored the action, squashing the piece of soul between it.

As the wail of the dying soul reverberated throughout the air, as the child finally felt the effects of the stress its body was put under in the last few minutes and was forced to shut down and fall asleep, the magical portion of Great Britain finally released a collective sigh of relief as the war that had plagued it for the last few years finally came to an end.

Soon, they would all raise a toast to James and Lily Potter for their sacrifice, and to baby Harry – for not only surviving the Killing Curse but for killing the Dark Lord Voldemort as well. With the leader's death, his followers were either captured or killed. Some were let off in a clear sign of corruption. Life in Magical Britain moved apace as things slowly went back to normal.

Meanwhile, Merlin kept a watch over his new host. He knew that it was not over. He knew the attacker was still out there, with at least one more horcrux. But, even if he managed to get a new body, his host would be ready. For not only did he have ancient magic protecting him, but he also had another weapon. A Scared Gear – one who had the knowledge and the power of the greatest sorcerer ever to live.

The power the Dark Lord knows not.

A/N: So you guys made it this far? Thank you. Please review what you liked and disliked. I'm open to constructive criticism but flamers will be ignored.

As I mentioned in the first author's note, I am in obvious need of a beta.

Now, as for where I plan to take this story...it will start at the end of Harry's 2nd year. The first few chapters will follow Harry's life in Hogwarts as he grows into his powers, both natural and with his sacred gear. They will explore different characters that I find interesting, each coming with their own backstory. Unfortunately, that means that the main DxD plot will not start till the end of the war against Voldemort – something that will take me at least 10 chapters, even if I condense the main plot.

As for pairings, they would probably be a harem since it is Highschoold DxD. I have 3 people in mind – Daphne Greengrass, Fleur Delacour, and a genderbent Vali Lucifer. I have a very interesting plot point with Vali in mind and I absolutely cannot wait till I get there...

Till then, please follow, favourite, review.