A/N: So yes hello I am back w a new chapter. I honestly just get ideas randomly so it's not like I really plan the story out LMAO but yea hope you enjoy the chapter! Also holy shit this has already reached 800+ faves and 1000+ follows I'm hella stunned. Thank you so much for the support T^T I hope I can keep producing content you'll enjoy!
Just to explain: for this chapter, Mammon does indeed grow normally, and is about a year older than Adrianna. However, Mammon sometimes goes back to baby form with a simple spell. I envisioned it to be some variation of a Shrinking Spell. The reason Mammon does this is simply to fuck around. That is all.
Ah, and as for the languages, I typed dialogue under the assumption the Varia were speaking to her in English, until it eventually turned to Italian when she got used to it.
Warning: potential OOC…?
{ 3 }
Adrianna was six when she first found out about her adoption, and it was because of a nightmare that had kept her awake, leading her to tiptoe down to the kitchen for some hot milk. That was when her father walked to the kitchen with a raised eyebrow. An excited smile formed on her lips when she saw her father. She hadn't seen him all day because he was out of town, but it seemed he had returned.
"And why are you still awake, brat?" he asked her as he took the milk carton from her and poured some its contents in a mug. He placed the mug in a microwave before turning to the little girl.
"I had a nightmare, Papa," Adrianna said as she took a seat on a nearby chair, swinging her legs back and forth. "There was this woman with red hair. She was screaming. Then there was a green light. Then she fell over. I think she died."
Xanxus blinked when green met red.
"Papa, was that my Mama?"
Xanxus stilled his movements for a few seconds before he grabbed another chair and sat down in front of her. "Yeah. Lily Evans. 'Lily Potter', after she married your biological father."
Adrianna's eyebrows furrowed. "What does bi-oh-logic-all mean?"
"…You weren't my brat at first," Xanxus said. "You were someone else's. James and Lily Potter's. But they died 'cos of a fucking psycho trash and you ended up on a fucking doorstep for some fucking reason. So I took you."
"Oh," Adrianna said before frowning and looking at her hands, ignoring the fact that the microwave indicated that her milk was done heating up. To be fair, she did consider the possibility. The occasional trip to Gringotts with Mammon and Xanxus had her hearing the names 'James Potter' and 'Lily Potter' being thrown around, and she did wonder why they were looking at stuff from those people's vaults. She had to be related to them somehow, because Mammon and Xanxus could only access the vaults' artifacts and books when she was around. It was only now, though, that her thoughts had been confirmed, "but it doesn't matter, right?"
She looked up at Xanxus with wide green eyes. "We look alike."
"I blood-adopted you," Xanxus explained with a blank face. "It means you're also blood-related to me. That's why we look alike."
"It doesn't matter, though, right? That I'm adopted?" Adrianna shrugged. "And yeah, okay, they're my bi-oh-logic-all parents, but Lily and James dead. And you're my Papa. So, you know, you're still my Papa. Right?"
At Xanxus' silence, Adrianna continued babbling on, poking her pointer fingers against each other in a slight feeling of nervousness, "And Chiara from Lightning told me she's adopted, too! But she's not sad 'cos she got a new family! And, and, Papa, and Bel-fratello, and Luss-sorella, and Zio Squalo, and Zio Levi, and Mammy, and Fran, and the Varia are my family now, too!"
Adrianna bit her lip and chanced a glance at her father, who then placed his hand on her head, messing with her hair.
"Fuck yeah we're your family," Xanxus said as he got out her mug of milk, which was still quite warm, handing it to her.
Adrianna finished her milk in a few minutes and Xanxus placed the mug in the sink, filling it up with water before he picked the girl up and placed her on his shoulders, walking back to her room.
"So, the fuck were you doing today? Stupid shark didn't tell me shit when I came back this evening."
"Gianluca taught me some more French and then Fran watched a movie with me! It was about dinosaurs. Papa, if I was a dinosaur, which one would I be? I don't wanna be in the sea, though. It's scary, and —"
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Xanxus wasn't exactly sure how to tell Adrianna she was adopted. He recalled how he himself had practically exploded at the Ninth when he found out he was adopted, though he doubted she would react that way. The Ninth had let him think he had a shot at being Decimo, that he, like his brothers, had the Vongola blood to be a legitimate successor. And then it turned out they weren't even related at all.
So considering that one big clusterfuck, Xanxus really didn't know when or how to tell Adrianna about the blood-adoption since he knew he'd have to tell her eventually. He didn't even expect to tell her when she was only six, but it had been a long trip for him, dealing with idiots who couldn't even think for themselves, and the kid just had a nightmare, one that completely described how her biological mother had died.
His Intuition did tell him to tell her, it won't hurt, it's best to tell her now, and so he followed it.
She surprised him and handled the situation pretty well, and briefly, Xanxus did wonder what his relationship would've like with the Ninth had he handled it more maturely, too. (But, the Ninth was a pretty big asshole, too, so perhaps things would have stayed the same, anyways.)
And Xanxus wasn't one for showing affection. At all. To anyone. But, when Adrianna started talking about how he and the Varia were her family, who was he to say she was wrong when she was completely right?
A part of him had been hesitant to get close to her considering she could have totally reacted the way he did upon dropping the whole adoption bomb, but here she was, shrugging it off and acting completely normal.
But, then again, this was his daughter, and his daughter was going to be the fucking best there ever was.
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"Hey, Mammy," Adrianna began as she stared at her father's Mist Guardian. She knew toddlers grew over the years but Mammon had always appeared to be a toddler to her, so why was Mammon now taller than her? "How come you're taller now?"
Mammon looked at child. They supposed they were a strange sight, when the girl was so used to Mammon being smaller than her. "I told you about how… a man had cursed me before, yes?"
"Mhm."
"The curse broke before you got here," Mammon explained, "so I wasn't stuck as a baby anymore. I wasn't back to an adult, but I was instead growing as if I really had been a toddler."
"So why do I still see you as one sometimes?"
"It's more fun to float around when I'm in a smaller form. A simple spell helps with that."
"Ah."
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Adrianna was eight when Xanxus and Mammon finally told her everything that they knew of in detail: the reason her biological parents were killed, about Albus Dumbledore, and the like.
She sat there on the couch as the words spilled out of their mouths and she wondered.
She hadn't known was that her biological parents had died because of a guy who couldn't handle the fact that they didn't want to switch to his side. Or that someone had betrayed her parents' location, which ultimately led to their deaths — she wasn't blaming Sirius Black on this one, though. She was aware he was accused of it, which was why he was currently in Azkaban, but until Mammon had solid proof that it had been him, she was going to give him the benefit of the doubt. (Besides, the voice in her head had doubts about Sirius Black being the traitor.)
No, she was more annoyed by two things.
The first being Albus Dumbledore. How dare he declare himself her magical guardian but leave her on a cold night on her relatives' doorsteps without even ringing the doorbell? Did he even realize how stupid a move that was? What if she ended up with hypothermia?
(Do wizards even possess common sense, she huffed.)
And what right did he have to make himself her guardian when had made no move to search for her? When Xanxus took her, surely he would have noticed days later?
The lack of action spoke volumes of how he was a guardian.
Plus, he wasn't even related to her at all! Sure, all wizards could probably trace back their ancestry to a common ancestor, but he wasn't even a third cousin of hers. He was simply the leader of an organization that her biological parents were part of.
To sum it up, he was a troublesome individual, and he would have to be dealt with at a later date.
The second thing that bothered her was Mammon's story of how they went on their regular Gringotts trip and passed by Diagon Alley. They noticed bookstores selling books that supposedly contained information about Harriet Potter's life. So many lies were woven into the books' pages — did people really buy the fact that she was in hiding and being trained by the best wizards in the world while simultaneously saving children and leaving lollipops behind for them? — and even the sellers spoke of how revered Adrianna was in their world.
(Mammon had to stop themselves from threatening to sue. Wouldn't do for Dumbledore to realize she wasn't under his control anymore.)
It was worrying how wizards and witches placed her on a pedestal, calling her the Girl-Who-Lived. Why praise her for something she couldn't even remember doing? Sure, she was lucky she survived the death curse, but to assume she was their hope for a better future and all?
It was complete bull.
Adrianna huffed before walking over to her father and plopping down on his lap, wrapping her arms around him.
Xanxus stiffened at the contact before relaxing in her hold. Hugs were rare between them, and he usually settled for patting her head.
"Papa."
He grunted in response.
"I don't want to be the Girl-Who-Lived. I don't want to be some savior. I don't have to be that… right? I don't…"
"You won't have to go to Hogwarts if you don't fucking want to," he told her as he placed a hand on her head. "If you want to be in the Mafia... go ahead. If you want to remain a civilian, go ahead. You'll do what you fucking want. Anyone who says otherwise can go fuck themselves.
Nothing can change the fact that you really did survive that shitty curse but you're not their fucking savior. And you're not obligated to be."
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Apparently, there was a reason why they decided to tell her about all of those. They would have preferred talking about it in a year or two, but there were things she had to know right now.
And the reason was standing right in front of her, looking at her with a mix of apprehension, relief, and care.
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Remus Lupin did odd jobs here and there to make ends meet, even if some of the jobs were in Knockturn Alley. As a werewolf, there were only a handful of people willing to hire him, and even then, most of them were wary of him.
He didn't blame them, but he knew that he couldn't just live on odd jobs. He needed a stable job to be financially secure, but he just didn't know where to look.
He sighed as he walked through Diagon Alley, going past a few kids who stared in awe at a new broomstick model, their parents lightly scolding them for taking too long because they had other things to do.
Lily would have been the one scolding Harriet and James for salivating over the broom. James would have whined before cuddling his daughter and using her as a shield from Lily. Lily would have eventually caved and let them go nuts over the broom with a fond smile.
Oh, the what-ifs and could-have-beens.
If Siri— if that traitor hadn't sold them out, if he hadn't pretended to be friends with them, if Remus himself had just figured it out, would they still be here with little Harriet?
Harriet.
He didn't even know where she was. All Dumbledore would tell him was that she was at a safe location under protective wards, but that he couldn't divulge the location lest someone end up finding her.
Remus knew about the importance of secrecy. Really, he did, but this was Harriet they were talking about. It hurt that he couldn't even get to see her. The darker part of his thoughts whispered that maybe Dumbledore was keeping him away because he was a danger to Harriet, a Dark creature that could easily harm her.
As the negative thoughts accumulated in his head, he didn't notice someone had been following them until the person coughed to gain his attention.
Behind him was a... a peculiar boy wearing a large, frog-shaped hat of all things.
"Er, can I help you?" Remus asked as the boy stared at him with a blank expression.
"Huh, you have terrible situational awareness. Senpai might want to fix that," the boy mumbled before speaking the next words clearly, "You're Remus Lupin."
"Yes, I am. May I know who's asking?" The werewolf in him wasn't growling at the sight of the boy, so he wasn't going to treat him as if he were a sketchy person. Still, it didn't hurt to be wary.
"Hmm, that's good."
And that was all he remembered before being knocked unconscious.
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When he came to, he noticed that he was in a room with six other individuals who reeked of danger. His werewolf even felt intimidated by them, and they were doing nothing but sit down and stare at him. One of them was even a child, for crying out loud!
But where was the boy with the frog hat?
"Shishishi, if you're looking for the froggie, he's with the principessa right now," one of them, a blonde with a... tiara?... on his his head said as he twirled a knife in his hand.
"What do you want from me?" Remus asked. Diplomacy was the way to go here, especially when he couldn't feel his wand on his person.
At first glance, these people didn't seem to be wizards. In fact, their clothes screamed Muggle. But he wouldn't discount the fact that they were simply dressed like that to throw him off. It would have worked had they not taken his wand. That simply indicated that they were aware he was a wizard. (That and the fact that he was tightly bound to a chair via rope meant it would be nigh impossible to escape.)
"Remus Lupin. Born March 10, 1960. Half-blood. Went to Hogwarts and was sorted into Gryffindor. Became friends with James Potter, Sirius Black, and Peter Pettigrew. Werewolf, hence the many part-time jobs you've had. Was a part of the Order of the Phoenix," the hooded child — though he supposed they weren't actually a child. A glamour, then? — stated before turning to the man at the center of the room. The man had black hair and red eyes and seemed to be the alpha in the room, given how the others' seemed to defer to him.
Remus wasn't too worried about the knowledge being spoken. That was just basic—
"Wasn't the Potters' Secret Keeper so he couldn't have been the traitor. Sources say he's asked after Harriet Potter but has been turned away by Dumbledore. He was also quite close to Lily Potter, since she's left him around 30,000 Galleons according to the will."
Well, he spoke too soon.
"How do you know about that? And what will?"
So maybe Dumbledore had a point in not telling him about Harriet's whereabouts since these people managed to get information on that, but what will? Lily only had one will and that was the one in the Potter family vault that Dumbledore was keeping locked up.
How did these people know about that exactly?
"We're asking the questions here," a white-haired man told him with a scowl as he drew a sword and held its tip close to his neck in a flash.
Remus was astounded by the man's speed but was also painfully aware of the fact that his neck would be sliced open with one wrong move. "...alright. What do you want to know?"
"Why were you looking for Harriet Potter? You're a friend of her parents, yes, but there must be a reason why you still continued to ask for her," the not-toddler said. "What were your plans if you had managed to find her?"
Well, those were questions he wasn't expecting at all.
Still, given the circumstances, he had no choice but to be honest. He had no way of getting out from this situation, anyways. "I wanted to see how she was doing. Get to know her, if she'd let me. I let her down when I didn't fight Dumbledore for the right to take care of her."
"You were on the list of people who were meant to take care of her in the event that the Potters died."
"Yes."
"And what would you have been to her?"
"An uncle?" he said, wondering if he understood the question right. "I would have done my best to help her learn about the wizarding world, about the sacrifice her parents made, and to be there for her."
"And her role as the Girl-Who-Lived. Does that mean anything to you?"
"It's a lot of pressure for one little girl to take on," Remus said, "especially when no one can tell us what really happened that night in Godric's Hollow."
"Would you be one of the ones to pressure her to live up to that title then?"
Remus furrowed his eyebrows. The questions were centered on Harriet, but the people didn't seem to be looking for her at all. The questions were so odd. It was almost as if—
"You know where she is," he gasped as his eyes widened.
The swordsman clicked his tongue before moving his sword closer, effectively drawing a thin line of blood from Remus. "Answer our fucking questions, voi."
"I would never do that to Harriet!" Remus exclaimed. "She deserves to live a normal life."
The swordsman stared at him before looking back at the man with red eyes.
"Would you ever put her in danger?" the man asked as he downed a glass of what seemed to be whiskey.
"I'm already a danger to her, aren't I? I'm a werewolf," he replied with a sardonic smile.
"Aside from that shit," the man waved a hand impatiently.
Remus was visibly surprised. No one save for a few simply brushed off the fact that he was a werewolf. 'A menace to society', as a certain undersecretary would put it.
"No. I would never knowingly put her in harm's path."
The red eyed man stared at him for a moment before nodding at the swordsman. The swordsman brought up his sword and Remus' breath hitched when the sword quickly went down.
Instead of seeing his blood, Remus found that the ropes had been cut and he was now free to move. His body felt immediate relief when it was free from its bindings.
"What happens to me now?" Remus asked warily.
A person with sunglasses and a brightly colored mohawk grinned and walked up to him. "I'll explain, hun. Well, after I bring you to our infirmary."
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Remus sat in a small room that the Varia had provided for him. It only contained essentials, so there was only a small window, a bed, a desk and chair, a closet, and a small bathroom.
As he sat on the edge of his bed, he mulled over the information he had just received.
One: Harriet — no, her name was Adrianna now, so he had to get used to it— was alive and was in the Varia's care.
Two: Adrianna was in the Varia's care because Xanxus, the red-eyed man, found her on a doorstep in a Muggle neighborhood of all places at night. She must have been left to Petunia, as the woman was probably Adrianna's closest living relative.
But that was the problem. He may not have known the contents of Lily and James' will but he was dead sure they would never list Petunia Evans-Dursley as someone to leave Adrianna to. With the Longbottoms in St. Mungo's and the traitor in Azkaban, she should have gone to someone else other than Petunia.
Something just didn't add up, which brought him to number three: Albus Dumbledore was a problem. If you told him this years ago, he would have done a lot to deny that allegation, but now, he knew better.
He sighed before letting himself fall down on the bed.
There were so many things he just didn't have the answers to, but one thing was for certain: he was going to meet Adrianna again.
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When told that he was going to be her magical tutor, Remus had readily accepted. He had wanted to be a teacher at one point, but his status would have prevented him from doing so. Plus, this was one way of getting to know little Adrianna.
He was rather wary of the Varia though. He understood that they had to interrogate him thoroughly to make sure that Adrianna would be safe — it would explain why he could feel people watching him right now — but they screamed danger. He wondered how Adrianna turned out since she grew up in this environment.
Still, he conceded that she must have been better off here. The Varia cared about her safety so surely they treat her decently? Well, he'd like to think these were better conditions than living with Petunia and her family, anyways.
He stopped in his tracks when he saw someone in front of him. It was the not-child, who had introduced themselves as Mammon.
"Let's go," Mammon said as they prepared to leave Varia's headquarters.
They were going to be purchasing supplies for the tutoring sessions today. Mammon was going to be accompanying him as it was revealed that it was Mammon who possessed a Gringotts key to Adrianna's vaults. (Though, he supposed Mammon doubled as someone to guard him.)
His mind went through the books that would give Adrianna a good grasp of the fundamentals, the way a child who had grown up in the wizarding world would. He supposed he could throw in a book or two on other subjects like Arithmancy and Ancient Runes, just to get an idea of what would peak her interest.
He felt a bit of excitement as he let his mind wander.
He would see her soon.
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"Papa, who's our guest?"
Remus inhaled sharply as he looked at the girl with black hair and green eyes, a perfect mix of James and Lily, but with a hint of Xanxus' skin tone. The girl had taken one look at him before walking over to the red eyed man who stood a few feet away from him. She gripped the side of his shirt in her hands as she gazed at Remus.
(He didn't miss the fact that she called the man 'Papa'. It certainly explained why the Varia were protective of her, and it brought him relief since it meant she was probably in good hands. Still, a small part of his brain whispered that if not for the traitor, a different man would have been called 'Papa'.)
"I'm Remus Lupin," he told her with a polite smile, "and I'm going to be your magical tutor."
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Arabella Figg frowned as she watched the Dursleys from her window. Of course, to another Muggle, nothing was abnormal about the Dursleys, but Arabella knew better.
For eight years, she watched as Vernon Dursley drove off to work in the morning and returned after the sun had set. Petunia Dursley worked on her garden, something she liked bragging about. Dudley Dursley would usually be indoors except for the few moments where he would be off with the Polkiss boy.
But where in that normalcy was Harriet Potter?
When Dumbledore had asked her to be his eye in Privet Drive, she had agreed because it wasn't too much for a Squib like her to do, but in these past years, she had seen neither hide nor hair of the girl Dumbledore had entrusted to the Dursleys.
Making up her mind, she pretended to be walking one of her cats as she approached the Dursley residence. Petunia was currently watering her flowers.
"Good afternoon, Mrs. Dursley," she greeted.
"Good afternoon, Mrs. Figg," Petunia responded stiffly.
"Your flowers are looking great today," Arabella said.
Petunia gained a smug look on her face. "Well, of course!"
And Arabella held the small talk for a while before interjecting, "And what of your niece?"
"Niece? What niece?"
Arabella was stunned when Petunia Dursley genuinely looked confused. She was either a good actress, or Harriet Potter simply wasn't there.
"Ah, apologies. I had been thinking of Ms. Robinson's niece over at #9. Well, must be off. Good day, Mrs. Dursley."
The woman said her own goodbyes but Arabella felt that something was up. She trusted Dumbledore, so it was impossible for the Potter girl to not be there, which meant that the Dursleys simply didn't want Harriet Potter's existence to be known.
She frowned as she entered her house, heading straight to her room as she began penning a letter to Dumbledore. She wrote down her observations along with her suspicions before handing the letter to one of her Kneazles. (Smart things, her Kneazles. They always managed to find an owl.)
She hoped her suspicions remained as such, because if Harriet Potter wasn't there—
Well, she didn't even want to consider the possibility.
A/N: And that's the end of the chap hope it was ayt c":
General reply to reviews:
( 1 ) On Dumbledore. Yeah, I'm pretty excited for when he finds out she wasn't at the Dursleys all along. I mean, he never checked on Harry, so I doubt he'd check on Harriet either.
( 2 ) Appearances from Tsuna's Famiglia. Yes! There will indeed be appearances, and I'm hoping to add a Yamamoto/Adrianna interaction next chapter. And maybe a visit to Uncle Tsuna in the future lmao.
( 3 ) Adrianna's Guardians. Currently planning for Fleur to have Storm Flames, partly because according to the HP Wiki, Veelas can "launch balls of fire from their hands" when angry, and I think Fleur really would lean towards a Storm idk how to explain it. On that note, I might just go with a mix of Guardians, though I wouldn't be opposed to the idea of Adrianna having multiple Guardians for a single Flame. Storm, for instance, since I plan on having Fon and Fleur there.
Draco? I'd consider it. I think I've only read like two(?) fanfics with him as a Guardian so maybe. Blaise? I might but then I see him a lot so I'm not sure. Luna? Maybe. Neville? I'd rather not tbh cos as of now, I'd rather Neville be some sort of ally to Adrianna, or to have Adrianna and Neville have the same friendship as Tsuna and Enma. I-Pin, maybe not. I have nothing against her, but I just don't know her character too well. Oliver Wood, would consider tho.
( 4 ) My daily life. Yes, learning Chinese is so difficult, but my attention span has brought me back to Korean HAHA. I've recently finished a Korean course in Coursera, so now it's just a matter of reviewing the vocab I've learned and using what I've learned in daily conversations for practice.
( 5 ) Pairings. Ok so if my calculations r correct, Reborn is leading followed by Fon then Colonello but alsO I'M SO TORN HAHA. Like UGHHHH what if I just,,, make it all three of them x Adrianna,,, HAHA JK,,, unless 0-0
( 6 ) Adrianna's magic. I'm planning on her trump card being the fact that she can do wandless magic, but I'm still unsure if she'll be revealing that fact early on at Hogwarts.
( 7 ) OK so there was a part last chapter where I mentioned my argument for not choosing the Vongola Guardians as her pairing and looking back wOW WHY DID I TYPE THAT IT MADE NO SENSE HAHAHA so thank you, WearyCurmudgeon and Elyngas, for pointing that out. I have a tendency to talk without thinking (and that translates to typing too) so I appreciate that you let me know that.
( 8 ) Adrianna's Flames. I started this story planning for her to be a Sky, but I wouldn't mind a Cloud secondary for her. I'll still think about how to write that tho.
( 9 ) GENERAL: i do appreciate reviews with nitpicking it helps me bec im very forgetful and things really do just slip my mind
So now I'd just like to thank the following people for reviewing the second chapter of Little Sky uwu: Kourtney Uzu Yato, xXxOtAkU-444xXx, Palancar, Iris D. Peverell, Topaz Leaves, Rajani-the-Freak, lara . niric, CAD270895, Outerjay, AysaWolf, Yuelliya21 . iy, Valen Goncalvez, LetTheWorldHonorTheFallen, kaiirine, Lyryenn, foxchick1, Dawn Nightshade, Lil Hamari, shadewatcher, XxXxMuseXxXx, CrimsonQueen24, Mucina, Guest (May 22), Krxso, Ana Luisa, WearyCurmudgeon, Miyu Kokomi, Rin, Sakihinata, Guest (May 26), Serenata, LadyMikleo, 666Neko, TomRiddlesTwin, InudaTheFox, Elfin69, Elyngas, sandipi, strdrgn, and S-Lioness!
Yall are the best much love
See you guys in the next chapter! And I hope yall are staying safe!