God I don't even know how long it's been since I updated this. Five months or so? Not my worst hiatus, honestly, but sorry for the wait nonetheless.

Warnings: Cursing, canon-compliant violence.

Disclaimer: If you recognize any terms, characters, or concepts, that's because they don't belong to me.

Chapter 6 - Dogs of War

Harry's return to consciousness some indeterminate time later was a dragging slog through thick, sticky mud. His eyelids felt caked together, his mouth stuffed with cotton. And his temple…

Harry groaned, then regretted it as the noise made his head throb.

"Harry-san!" a light, familiar voice called. Harry forced himself to focus through his daze and turned his attention in the direction of the voice. Tsuna, the brunet from before, was sitting at his bedside, brows crinkled worriedly above a thick gauze padding on his cheek, with the Sun Arcobaleno perched on his shoulder and watching him expressionlessly. Behind them stood a redheaded teenager – oh, the one the Varia tried to kill – and a black-haired girl – oh, the one who tried to kill me – along with two other teenagers he had not seen before, a dark-haired boy and a silver-haired one.

"Harry-san, are you okay?" Tsuna asked again. Harry blinked slowly, taking a moment to parse the question.

"Mm. Kinda fuzzy, but I'll live," he grinned – or tried to, at least. The way Tsuna's concerned frown deepened told him that he had not been entirely convincing. The redheaded boy from before started forward, opening his mouth to say something, but was cut off sharply.

"Who are you." Harry tensed at the flat, cool voice, incongruously high-pitched and issued from the mouth of an infant. The Arcobaleno with whom Tsuna and Dino were allied was staring at him sharply from the boy's shoulder.

"Harry. We met yesterday, remember?" There was the telltale click of a safety being flipped off, and the baby pointed a pistol into the wizard's face.

"Last name." Harry scowled at the order. He considered ignoring the question, but recalled from the 'supplementary appendix' Mammon had forced upon him that this was Reborn, the greatest hitman in the world, and Harry was weakened and prone and surrounded by enemies.

"Potter. And who might you be?" His snarky question was ignored as the baby's eyes narrowed, and the purple Arcobaleno – Skull, was it? – at the foot of his bed sucked in a sharp breath.

"H-How did Mammon recruit the Wizarding Savior?! That's cheating!" he wailed. Reborn leapt from his place on Tsuna's shoulder and landed feet-first on Skull's face.

"Stop yelling, loser," the hitman drawled. "But the question is valid. Why is Harry Potter working with the Varia?"

"What makes you think I owe you any answers?" Harry scowled. "And if you could stop breaking the Statute of Secrecy, that would be wonderful." He gestured harshly at the five teenagers in the room, four of whom were looking very confused, while the silver-haired one had perked up and seemed to be sparkling with excitement.

"Wait, Reborn, how do you guys know Harry-san? You didn't seem to know him at the dinner the other day…"

"I knew the name, but not the face, before now. There are no wizards among the Arcobaleno, but we are all aware of their existence, given our unique status. Naturally, we keep up with current events in all parts of the world, even pathetic fools like Skull. And the name 'Harry Potter' has been thrown about quite a lot these last few years."

"Okay, look, you really need to stop breaking the Statute," Harry said, exasperated.

"Magic is real?!" the silver-haired teen blurted, scrambling forwards and planting his hands on the bed. "You're a real wizard who can really do real magic?!"

Harry groaned. "Yes, but look, it's not a big deal," he lied, seriously downplaying the complexity of magical society. Skull looked as though he was about to protest, but Harry directed his most poisonous basilisk glare at him. The baby's mouth snapped shut. "It's just something certain people can do and others can't – like your flames – and we prefer to keep it a secret. Witch trials and all that, you know."

The boy was not deterred.

"Do you use wands or staves or both or neither? Do you have animal familiars? Do you perform nude rituals under the full moon? Do you–"

"Quiet down, Gokudera," Reborn barked, and the teen froze immediately, although he still stared at Harry, starry-eyed. Reborn continued grimly, "Why are you working with Mammon?"

"It's a bloody life debt, alright?" he snapped, then winced as his own raised voice made his temple throb. "Look, I'm an officer of the law, and as soon as this ridiculous battle is over, my debt is paid and I'm washing my hands of the mafia."

Reborn snorted amusedly and all of the children stared at him incredulously, as though he had said something crazy or unreasonable. And perhaps it might seem that way, Harry admitted to himself – people didn't often just wash their hands of the mafia, after all – but they obviously didn't know him and his infamous stubbornness.

"Anyway, where am I? What happened?"

"We're at my house," Tsuna said. "Enma-kun called me and told me what happened, thinking I might know more about the Varia team and if you were, um, safe to bring home and treat. You've been asleep for over a day; it's already almost four in the afternoon."

"Um. Sorry," the newly-named Enma muttered. "You saved my life from the rest of the Varia, even though you broke my watch. Adel thought you were the one that attacked me, though, so she hit you. She, uh, she hits really hard and you might have a cracked skull," the boy finished in a sheepish rush.

Harry glanced at the dark-haired girl by the wall, who was staring at him unrepentantly. Harry raised an amused eyebrow, then gave a shrug to Enma.

"It's cute that your girlfriend is so protective of you," he said neutrally, inwardly grinning as the teens turned red and began spluttering out denials. "I'm curious about why you called Tsuna, though. Were your teams allied?"

"No, we weren't allied," Tsuna spoke up. "But Enma is my good friend. My team is allied with Colonello's team, actually."

As Reborn launched a vicious kick at the teen's forehead for "volunteering unnecessary information to the enemy," Harry vaguely recalled that Colonello was the name of the Rain Arcobaleno, and resolved to let Mammon know about the alliance. Perhaps the information would smooth his integration back into his own team – Mammon and Xanxus had surely heard of his interference by now, and even if they weren't angry, the other four were surely still furious with him.

Much as he was dreading that particular reunion, better to get it over with sooner rather than later. Harry took a deep, fortifying breath, then carefully leveraged himself off the bed. He stumbled a bit as the blood rushed to his head, making his vision go dark and his temple throb for a moment. He might have even fallen, were it not for the steady hand gripping his shoulder.

When Harry's vision stopped spinning, he glanced over to see the dark-haired teenager who had hung back until now. Harry straightened and murmured his thanks.

"No problem," the kid grinned brightly. "You're a pretty resilient guy, huh? Adelheid doesn't pull her punches, and you're already up and about!"

"Moron!" the silver-haired teen hissed. "Don't insult Wizard-sama! You can't compare him to normal humans!"

"Haha, is that right?"

For some reason, this easy acceptance seemed to infuriate the paler teen, who promptly began cursing vitriol at the other, who just continued laughing. Harry stared, but judging by everyone else's lack of interference, this was normal behavior for the pair. He glanced back and saw that Reborn was threatening Tsuna with a crossbow of all things, and Adelheid was grinding Skull's face into the ground with her foot, and Enma had somehow fallen head-first into the trash can in the brief moment his back had been turned.

Right. Time to leave. Immediately.

Harry began tentatively edging his way towards the door, hoping that everyone's respective conflicts would keep them occupied while he made his escape, but no such luck; Tsuna was surprisingly unintimidated by the crossbow as his head swiveled to face Harry with eerie accuracy. Harry froze.

"Harry-san, wait! You can't go yet. My mom wants to feed you."

To what? Harry thought hysterically.

"Ooh, are we having dinner here, Tsuna? What's your mom making?" The dark teen – whose name Harry still didn't know – was apparently finished riling the lighter one with cheerfulness.

"What's it matter, baseball idiot? Everything Mama makes is delicious."

"Haha, true."

"Um, Tsuna, I think Adel and I are going now–"

"Wait, quiet!" Tsuna hissed suddenly, head swiveling once again to stare at the door. The room fell into a hush, and Harry strained his ears. A burst of boisterous male laughter followed by a woman's cooing erupted from downstairs, and at the sound of it, Tsuna grimaced.

"You know what, guys? Let's give my mom a break. We'll have dinner somewhere else."

And then the boy proceeded to climb out the second storey window, and everyone followed as though this were entirely normal. Perhaps it was, but Harry was determined not to stick around long enough for it to become normal for him. The moment the last of the group – Adelheid, with a firm, stabilizing grip on Enma's collar – had exited, Harry spun and Apparated away.

He reappeared beside a dumpster behind the hotel. He took a deep breath to center himself – which he regretted immediately – before emerging onto the street. His eyes raked up the building's façade, zeroing in on the plastic-covered broken windows of the top floor. Harry grimaced, but pressed forward.

The ring of the elevator bell as it reached the penthouse suite echoed in Harry's ear like a death knell.

He emerged into an utterly silent room, but it was far from empty. All six assassins were assembled and staring at him with varying degrees of hostility. Levi still appeared utterly furious, and Bel was leaking bloodlust. Lussuria watched him with unusual seriousness as Squalo sneered, but his temper seemed to have diminished somewhat. Xanxus, as usual, simply looked bored, and it was Mammon who finally broke the silence.

"I've been told that you betrayed the team, and our debt by extension. What do you have to say for yourself?"

Harry snapped, gesturing wildly around the room. "Oh, you mean stopping these lunatics from killing a child?"

"You agreed not to interfere–"

"I agreed to help break your curse to fulfill the debt! I never agreed to be complicit in the murder of a child. And if you're telling me that's part of the deal, then damn the consequences, I'm calling this debt off and making sure you won't hurt anyone ever again."

"Ha!" Levi barked, all amused derision. "You trashy little shit, you think you can take us all out?"

Harry ignored him, staring darkly at Mammon. "All it takes it two words, Mammon, and a lot of anger. And I'm feeling pretty angry right now."

Mammon stared back at him coldly. "…If your naïve little morals lose this competition for me, then we'll see whose anger is greater."

Harry snorted. "Yeah, we'll see. Here's the bloody watch," he said, dropping Enma's crushed boss watch on a table. "You like your trophies, don't you?"

He made to sweep out of the room into his private quarters before the more impulsive assassins could react, but was stopped by a bottle smashing into the wall beside him.

"You better watch that cockiness, trash," Xanxus growled. "The Varia doesn't tolerate disrespect."

"Respect is earned," Harry said coldly, then shut the door.

And then he immediately thought oh shit and began layering the strongest protections he could think of on the door and walls because he had just mouthed off to a whole squad of super-powered elite assassins.

When the door was practically glowing with wards, Harry finally slowed his fervor and pressed an ear to the wood, listening for raging tantrums or plotting against his life. Nothing. No voices, no sounds of movement; either they were all laying in wait for him to emerge, or they had left.

Either way, Harry's only option was to wait. He settled on his bed with a section from Mammon's supplementary index – Sun Flames and their Users, Strengths and Weaknesses – intending to learn more about the Arcobaleno Tsuna was representing.

It wasn't long before he was distracted. The sun sinking below the horizon cast blinding gold rays through the window, reminding him that the day was nearly over and there had not yet been a call to battle. Surely it would come soon, and he would need to reunite with the Varia if they were to fight together again. By now, he had heard a bit of commotion outside his room, the raised voices informing him that the assassins had gone to dinner after their confrontation. Harry wondered if the meal had mellowed their tempers at all and was just contemplating testing his luck when his watch began to shriek.

"One minute until battle start!"

Harry jumped at the cacophony and hurried out of the room, where the others appeared to have been in the middle of gathering their gear scattered about the room. His presence was largely ignored, but for a few sneers.

"About time!" Levi crowed. "I need to kill someone." He leered nastily at Harry.

"Who will we bleed this time?" Belphegor snickered, shrugging into his jacket and slipping the knives he'd been juggling up his sleeves and into pockets.

"We'll head towards–" Squalo started, then paused as the elevator door to the suite squealed open. And then he smiled, wide and thrilled. "Vooi~ And just when we were about to head out…"

Harry glanced at the single boy stepping into the suite and frowned, unable to recognize him. But then, he really didn't need to; there was an Arcobaleno sitting on his head – Fon of the Storm, judging by the red pacifier. Tch. What was with their opponents so far, having teams with only one representative? Did they even want to win?

"Wao," the boy smiled coldly under cruel, half-lidded eyes. "This place is like a savannah."

"Battle Start!" shrieked the watches. Before even the trained elite assassins could react, the dark-haired boy was already moving, darting forward with some blunt metal weapon in hand and an unholy glint in his gray eyes. Yes, Harry thought dazedly, they were planning to win.

Levi had just begun to pull his parabolas off the hostler rigged to his back when the boy's weapon smashed into his watch with enough force to knock the man into the wall behind him.

"VOOOIII!" Squalo bellowed, brandishing his sword and lunging at the boy, who ducked and slipped through the white-haired assassin's swipes, snake-like and mocking, all while wearing a vicious grin.

The grin slipped a bit, twitching into a brief expression of annoyance as he was forced to dodge Lussuria's knee, suddenly thrust forward towards his throat. The teenager bent nearly backwards to avoid the hit, simultaneously bringing one of his weapons up to guard his exposed ribs from Squalo's blade.

He twisted into a cat-like roll, distancing himself from the pair as they pursued him, only to hiss and reverse direction as his momentum carried him into a web of razor wire that sliced the black jacket and a line of flesh from his shoulders. Belphegor had decided to join the fray, apparent–

Or not, Harry thought with a wince as the dark-haired teen ducked in close under Belphegor's guard and caught him with a vicious elbow to the temple, simultaneously smashing the assassin's watch. Squalo roared as Bel dropped, and Lussuria redoubled his efforts to crush the teen's ribs with his knee.

Harry laid in wait, crouched against the wall out of the way of the combatants. He licked his lips, eyes jerking to and fro as he tracked their complex movements. Had he not been able to scent the blood in the air or hear the dull smack of metal on flesh and the ring of metal against metal, he would have thought them dancers playing out some elaborate choreography.

Harry could hold his own in combat, he knew, but he was no fighter, not like this. Battle did not make his blood sing and his heart soar the way he could tell it did with these men; their wild grins amidst the rampant chaos told all. Squalo and Lussuria were alive in a way he had never seen them before, and the teen easily matched them for exuberance, grin never faltering even as Lussuria's sharp elbow jab abraded his cheek and jaw.

As entrancing as the fight was, Harry knew it had to end quickly, before they ended up destroying the hotel. He readied himself, watching for an opening to jump in and finish the battle. He did not have to wait long.

There! Harry's heart leapt into his throat as the boy maneuvered Squalo back against a wall and Lussuria moved to drive a knee into his ribs from the side, leaving the boy's back completely exposed.

"Stupefy!" Harry yelled. A brilliant burst of crimson light spouted from the tip of his wand, connecting right between the teen's shoulder blades. He immediately dropped to the ground and lay there, still and sprawled.

Lussuria stumbled a bit as his target disappeared and Squalo paused for a second to stare, both shocked at the sudden end to their battle, shooting uncertain glances between Harry and the prone figure on the ground. They returned to their senses quickly; Squalo settled back against the wall to wipe blood from his brow while Lussuria crouched down, reaching for the teen's watch to break it–

–and then he was gone, just a black-and-green blur flying across the room to smash, unconscious, against the far wall of the hotel suite. In his place stood a tall Asian man in red and white, a long dark braid whipping around him. He rotated in place on one foot, too fast for Harry to see anything but a swirl of crimson, and planted the other foot squarely on Squalo's chest. Or at least that was the intention; Squalo had seemed to read the other's movements – impressing Harry more than anything else he'd seen the man do – and had reacted in time to bring the flat of his sword in front of him, protecting his sternum from the man's kick.

It did little to help. The martial artist's strike was just too powerful, and Squalo disappeared into the new hole in the wall.

And then the man was gone, having transitioned smoothly between punching Lussuria across the room, kicking Squalo through the wall, and swooping down to heft the unconscious dark-haired teenager onto his shoulder before leaping out the window, all in the course of five seconds' time.

"What the bloody hell was that?" Harry said faintly.

"That was Fon," Mammon answered darkly, finally reappearing from the back rooms with a frustrated-looking Xanxus in tow. "One of the other Arcobaleno. It appears that the 'present' we are allowed is the chance to return to our uncursed forms."

"Righty-tighty toodle-doo!" Wonomichi chirped from directly behind Harry. He absolutely did not screech in shock. "You get three-hee-hee minutes to fight in your adult forms, the only time the Arcobaleno are allowed to interfere-here-here!"

"What the fuck have you pieces of trash been doing out here?" Xanxus snarled. The subtle twitching of his facial muscles set Harry on edge. "And what the fuck is that shithead doing here again?"

On cue, Harry and remaining conscious Varia turned in the direction the boss was gesturing with his gun, only to see Dino sheepishly peeking through a hole in a wall. He appeared to instinctively jerk back out of sight when they focused their attention on him, but stepped back into view at the urging of a man in a dark suit behind him.

"Heh. Um, hey guys! What's up?" He smiled broadly, belying the nervous lilt to his voice and the way he was anxiously twisting a whip between his hands.

"You fucking spying on us, Cavallone?" Squalo growled, gingerly pulling himself back through the hole. His dark uniform was dusted with white plaster and his long hair was matted with blood.

"Well, yeah," the blond said bluntly, looking a bit startled, as though he had thought the answer obvious. "I–"

He was cut off as Xaxnus fired a massive burst of Wrath Flame at him. Dino threw himself to the ground, barely dodging the strike.

"Porca miseria!" the blond cursed, rolling to avoid another shot that obliterated the wall behind him. "Romario, stay back!"

Harry could only watch, wide-eyed, as the pair launched into battle, Xanxus unrelenting in his pursuit and Dino surprisingly nimble in his evasions and counter maneuvers.

If he'd thought the fight earlier was incredible, then this was… he had no words. Xanxus, he could believe it of, but that was Dino out there, clumsy, goofy Dino going toe-to-toe with a monstrous assassin and matching the man in skill.

The sheer power behind each of Xanxus' strikes was overwhelming, blasting through the walls of the suite and Harry understood instantly why Squalo had advised him to leave a battle immediately if Xanxus stepped in.

But Dino was smart and fast, adroitly dodging the massive bursts of flame as he snapped his whip at Xanxus' face, hands and feet to disrupt his focus, and even expending the extra effort to divert Xanxus' aim away from surrounding buildings and civilians. Harry was faintly ashamed by how badly he'd misjudged the man.

But he was wearing down, Harry could tell. His clothes and hair were scorched and he'd acquired a nasty burn along one forearm. The blond's movements were becoming sluggish and his breathing had turned ragged, and despite himself, Harry found himself wishing the blond could just hold out until a little longer–

"Battle End!"

And he got his wish.

"Meno male," Dino muttered with weary relief, then lurched to the side as Xanxus very deliberately continued his attack.

"Ah-ah-ah!" Wonomichi piped up again. Harry couldn't keep his shoulders from jerking in surprise; he had forgotten the strange man was still there. "Fighting amongst competitors is forbidden outside of arranged battle times! Persisting will result in a forfei-hei-heit!"

"Perfect!" Dino yelped. "Sounds great!" He collapsed onto his rear, relief palpable, as Xanxus finally halted, gritting his teeth with barely restrained fury.

"You listen to me, shithead," he growled at Wonomichi. "You ever try to interfere with my fights again after this and I'll fucking slaughter you. Got it?"

Wonomichi's eerie black eyes seemed to widen and he nodded rapidly.

They all paused as a faint jingling rang out. "Ah, my phone?" Dino blinked. "Heh, I'm surprised it survived that fight…" he murmured as he brought the device up to his ear. He listened for a moment before suddenly gasping, his mouth dropping open as his face drained of color.

"Wha– how could that happen? I thought all the teams were accounted for! Yeah, mine's still here, and Kyouya got away too… But, Reborn, mio dio, how did that…? Okay, I'll let them know." Dino ended the call shakily, then turned to look at them all wide-eyed.

"Colonello's CEDEF team has been completely annihilated."

So, how about a little lesson in Italian idioms? Porca miseria literally means 'misery pig,' although in this case it's more of a, 'misery, you dirty bitch!' sort of deal. It's a popular general curse for whenever something goes wrong. Meno male literally means 'less bad,' and is sort of the equivalent of the English 'thank goodness,' meaning that things have worked out for the better. Mio dio, of course, means 'my God.'

Despite what this chapter implies, I do not think that, at his current age, Hibari would be capable of taking on the entire Varia. He had an element of surprise over Levi and truly extraordinary battle instincts allowed him to work around Lussuria and Squalo for a short time (shorter than the text implies), but he really doesn't have the experience or stamina to be anything more than a minor threat with a lot of potential in the long run.