Disclaimer: I own neither Harry Potter nor Katekyo Hitman Reborn and I don't earn any money with this story.

Author's note: Wow, it's been a while, huh? Sorry guys. Corona sucks, enough said.

Rating: M

Warning: I don't think any are necessary? Otherwise please tell me and I'll add them.

Beta'd by the lovely NonchalantxFish, as usual! :)

Harry spun his new staff in a figure eight move to get used to the feel again. It was probably the easiest spin possible and not particularly useful for actual fighting, but it was the only one he could still do without screwing up too badly.

He hadn't been overly surprised when Spanner had pressed the finished Sky weapon into his hands barely two days after Harry had entrusted the Storm version, which the brunet had bought in a souvenir shop on their first day on the Island, to him. They were literally in paradise when it came to weapon owners of all kinds, so getting the materials must have been easy. Also, Spanner was a genius when it came to engineering. This had probably been child's play for him.

"So it wasn't on a whim that you choose this one," Reborn, who was watching with an assessing glint in his eyes, commented.

"A few-" Harry paused when he almost brained himself with the metal staff as his concentration veered away from controlling the movement. He sighed and rested one end on the ground of Mafia Land's training ground. Reborn had wanted to get at least one training session in to assess his current level, before they had to leave ahead of schedule and return to a well of distractions. Harry couldn't fault his logic. "A few years ago I learned some, but it was mostly showy stuff. Any possible opponent would laugh themself sick about how bad I am at fighting with this thing."

"You will get better at it." As usual Reborn's tone of voice broke no argument. Harry decided to give him this small victory and didn't disagree for a change, because he did actually want to get better at it. A mistake, Harry figured out short moments later, when the Arcobaleno's emerging smirk promised something outrageous. "Your goal is to defend yourself against bullets. My bullets."

Yeah, he should have objected on principle.

"You want me to become quick and skilled enough to see and react to bullets coming at me and knock them away with my staff," Harry summarised sceptically. He doubted it was physically possible. Spanner would have to build a more durable version of the staff. A bullet would go through the current one like a hot knife through butter.

"I'm sure you can do it!"

Harry returned Basil's encouraging smile with a slightly strained one of his own.

Reborn's smirk widened.

"At best stop them to avoid ricocheting, but yes. With Hyper Intuition you should be able to with time. We will start slow. I will also find you a suitable teacher to give you some pointers after we've covered the basics. I already have someone in mind."

"I figured you'd try to teach me everything yourself." Harry tilted his head slightly to the side and raised his eyebrows.

"My specialty is guns and my prefered fighting style hand-to-hand." Reborn tipped his fedora higher and patted the gun in his hand like a beloved pet. Harry swallowed a comment about how creepy that was down with some difficulties. "I'm good at other combat styles, but what you need, sooner or later, is a master. When I was tutoring Dino, I found someone who specialised in whips, too."

Harry was surprised Reborn was so willing to share his reasoning with him and wondered if it was the hitman's attempt to get to know each other better even without bribery in the form of desserts. Either way, Harry offered him a tentative smile.

"Alright, what should we start with, then?"

"Tennis balls." Reborn stated and promptly pulled one out of- Actually, Harry didn't even want to know where it had come from. "Good training for a new Cloud, too. Afterwards we'll check your hand-to-hand skills."

Blaise and Severus had disappeared to a farther-off part of the training space, where the older man was trying to explain what he'd learnt of Cloud Flames and their uses through trial and error.

Reborn called them over and ordered the new Cloud to multiply the tennis ball in his hand, to turn them into usable ammunition. The teen looked skeptical, but after a short nod from Harry he did as instructed. Shortly thereafter a few big, conjured baskets were filled to the brim.

Ignoring the other side of the field, where Tsuna and his Guardians were currently training and which had suddenly become suspiciously quiet, Harry took a deep breath, but didn't yet enter Hyper-Dying-Will Mode. He wanted to test how well he'd do without that added boost.

"Okay, I'm ready."

And then the steady onslaught of projectiles in his direction started. Reborn wasn't his only opponent. Basil and Blaise had joined the Arcobaleno, while Severus was watching on with a sneer. Harry managed to hit a few of the balls and noticed additional ones coming at him, but wasn't quick enough to fend them off. His body was bound to be riddled with bruises the next day for sure. Still, for a first try it wasn't a complete catastrophe.

After a while he entered Hyper-Dying Will Mode and his performance picked up, especially when it came to awareness. He still wondered how he was supposed to do this with actual bullets, no matter how much he was (hopefully) going to improve.

Well, one step at a time.

"Alright, that's enough for now," Reborn declared, when they'd emptied all of the baskets twice. "Let's move on to sparring. You did some martial arts in the past, correct?"

Harry, still panting for breath and drenched in sweat, raised his eyebrows, but wasn't particularly surprised that the hitman knew that.

"Before I went to Hogwarts, yeah. A bit of Jiu-jitsu, but I can barely remember anything."

Reborn uttered a drawn-out sigh, like he'd feared that answer and wasn't at all happy with it.

"We're starting with the basics, then."

At the end of their training session Harry felt like dying. Actually, he'd felt better when he HAD been sort of dying. He just knew he'd be sore the next day and hoped Severus would help him out with a muscle relaxing potion. Either way, he was going to sleep like a log during the night.

As they returned to the train, which would take them back to the front of the island, Tsunayoshi shyly sidled up to him. He, too, looked exhausted.

"Did you- Can you really enter Dying-Will-Mode without help? I have to take these." He held up a little box. Harry knew Basil had a similar one, which contained Hyper-Dying-Will pills.

"Yes. I guess it's because I was dying, when I awakened them? I figure it's more difficult, when you awaken them artificially," Harry mused. From what Reborn had told him, the younger teen's first contact with his Flames had been due to a Dying Will Bullet. "You can probably learn to do it on your own regardless, but I don't know how."

Tsuna nodded and for some reason looked like he'd dodged a bullet.

"I knew training with Reborn would be dangerous."

Harry blinked and in his exhaustion needed a few seconds to connect the dots. Laughing, he ruffled through the boy's fluffy hair. Tsunayoshi flushed, either pleased or embarrassed, but didn't try to evade him.

"Oh, no, that was a few years before I even met him. I was bit by a- well, let's call it a big, very poisonous snake. But I agree, you probably would've been miserable with Reborn as a teacher."

Harry had no problem with the Arcobaleno, though Reborn did provoke exasperation occasionally, but from what he'd seen so far, Tsuna was a bit of a push-over and Reborn would've bulldozed him right into the ground.

There was no way Harry would let anyone force the other teen into becoming Vongola Tenth.

Harry, in fact, did not sleep like a log that night.

He was exhausted, but every time he closed his eyes and drifted off, nightmares started to haunt him. It was a nice mix of all the issues he was still dealing with, mostly memories from the war with Voldemort and the recent, rather traumatizing way one of his Guardian bonds had snapped.

Two hours into tossing around in his hotel bed, the brunet gave up and threw on some clothes. The best way to clear his head when he had trouble sleeping had always been going for a walk. Although the hotel didn't have Hogwart's magical atmosphere or the tranquility he associated with both his grandpa's and Rose Cottage's garden, it would do.

The first obstacle to his stroll presented itself right outside of his room. Two of Dino's men were standing next to the door, looking suspiciously like bodyguards. This felt way over the top, especially, when both of them started to follow him, after Harry nodded at them in greeting and walked down the left corridor.

The wizard stopped and slowly turned around. His apparent bodyguards were standing a few feet away, not even trying to be inconspicuous. It would've been hard to miss them, either way, considering their beefy physique and recognisable hairdos. One had a Mohawk, the other one's fluffy blond hair was secured to his head by a dark thin headband.

"You, uh, you don't have to follow me, you know?"

"We were instructed to-"

Harry sighed and momentarily considered just Apparating away.

"I really don't think this is necessary. I mean, thank you, but I'm just going to walk around for a bit and then come back."

The men shared a glance, but didn't react in any other way. Suspiciously, Harry turned back around an resumed his walk, as did the steps behind him as soon as he turned the corner. The brunet rolled his eyes.

He was going to have a word with Dino in the morning. It was one thing to give him a security detail when he was out of commission, but a whole different one when he was in working order. For now he was going to give the men the slip to get some peace and quiet. He barely even felt any guilt.

A few minutes later, he sighed in relief. Blessed solitude.

From time to time he crossed paths with other hotel guests, but most of them were too busy with their own lives to pay him any attention. After a while Harry ended up on some sort of roof garden. The center featured an ornate fountain, from which several illuminated paths led off, which quickly disappeared between fragrant flowerbeds and artfully created boxwood figures.

Harry leaned against one of the balustrades and stared down to the bustling nightlife of Mafia Island. Rustling in one of the bushes made him flinch, then tense up. Something was teasing at his Intuition, making the little hairs at the back of his neck stand at attention.

A squirrel darted out of the dark and quickly disappeared up a potted tree.

The bad feeling didn't abate.

Harry blinked once and gasped, suddenly surrounded by what could be hell on earth. The dark blue of the sky had turned into a bloody red, the roof garden and the buildings below looked one crack away from completely falling apart and the nature around him had withered and dies. Hissing snakes were slithering around his feet, chanting their wish for Harry's death, but not yet moving to strike.

"Fancy meeting you here."

Harry spun around on his heel and gaped at the Sun he'd talked to during the Meet-Up - Luca something or another.

The blond was smiling at him, but instead of the friendly quirk of the lips he'd been sporting before, the dash of his lips now reminded Harry more of the cat that caught the canary. The sudden appearance and the expression weren't the only things that made alarm bells ring in the back of his mind, though. The wizard couldn't quite remember the man's eye colour, but he was pretty sure it would've stuck in his mind, if one of them had been a glowing red.

As subtle as possible Harry propped one hand against his hip and pushed one of the buttons of the beeper he still carried everywhere with him. Old habits died hard, after all. He wasn't sure if he got the right button, but he figured his Guardians would be alarmed either way. Maybe he shouldn't have given the slip to those bodyguards, after all. Who knew what Luca had planned? Well, at worst he'd have to use magic and obliviate him later.

"Yeah, what a coincidence," Harry deadpanned and shifted his weight in preparation for a fight. "What do you want?"

"Why so hostile? Didn't we get along well the last time?" Luca stepped closer, the water gushing out of the fountain behind him looked disturbingly like blood.

"Let's cut the bullshit! What. Do. You. Want? We've met only a few days ago, so, a vendetta against the Vongola or something?" Harry guessed. It honestly was the only thing that made sense.

The blond huffed out a weird little laugh, then full-out smirked at him.

"Oya oya, it's really no surprise that they chose you instead of that shivering ball of fluff, but I'll deal with him in due time, too. Maybe I'll even use you to do it. Wouldn't that be beautifully ironic? But I think we should reintroduce ourselves first."

Harry's eyes widened, when the young man in front of him slowly turned into a teenager whose only similarities were the red eye and the smirk. "I'm Mukuro Rokudo. It's nice to finally meet you." The newly introduced Mukuro sketched a mocking bow.

"You're not the one I met a few days ago," the wizard stated, frowning.

The teen had used Mist Flames to conceal himself, pretty potent ones, too, and the Luca he'd met had undoubtedly been a Sun. Everything pointed to Mukuro not working alone, but he couldn't see anyone else on the transformed roof garden. Was the other teen concealing his allies with illusions? This hellish backdrop pointed at it. If so, he could be surrounded right now without knowing it.

"Oh yes, the real Luca has already passed. His only purpose was to do a little something for me," Mukuro shrugged nonchalantly, like he hadn't just admitted to having killed someone or having at least ordered it. "You know, at first I'd planned to just kill you and that pathetic spare, but then I thought it would be such a waste. The Vongola are, after all, the Head Famiglia of the Italian mafia. With you on my side, I can finally get rid of everything."

Harry grit his teeth, the glare directed at the nutcase in front of him felt hot enough to burn.

"As if I'd help you!"

Another creepy laugh followed Harry's words. Mukuro didn't look perturbed in the least.

"Oh, you will. Maybe not voluntarily, but that's why I sent Luca to you."

The snakes suddenly darted forwards as if following a silent order and as they wrapped around Harry's body to restrict his movements (giving the brunet an unpleasant flashback), they turned into cold steel bands.

Even with the red sky as a backdrop, Mukuro's right eye glinted dangerously. His smirk sharpened as he conjured a trident out of nothing. One of it's prongs was missing a tip.

"You're already mine."

Meanwhile, on the other side of the hotel, Dino knocked on Reborn's door with a dread-ladened heart.

The men tasked with guarding Harry had reported to him short moments ago. Vongola Tenth had left his room and given them the slip. Their search had steered them to a hallway, which was supposed to lead to a rooftop garden. Instead it was no more than a dead end now. The presumption was concealment through Mist Flames, but neither of them had been able to look through the possible illusion.

The door in front of the blond opened, the Arcobaleno on the other side was still clad in pyjamas and a sleeping hat, but his eyes were attentive and slightly narrowed.

Dino gulped.

Reborn had been an effective teacher, but he occasionally still featured in the blond's nightmares.

Reminding himself, that he was the head of the Cavallone Famiglia now, Dino straightened his back and took a breath.