Strings Attached

Prologue

This chapter isn't edited in any way, shape, or form.

Disclaimer: I don't own HP, KHR, or any of its wonderful characters.

Warnings: SLASH, cursing, general. Romance will be a SLOW-BURN, because fuck if I know how to do that. Aromantic Asexual here trying to write anything remotely romantic is bound to burn, lolololol.

A/N: I did promise that I'd try to write more Tsuna/Harry pairings. And this whole thing was born from procrastinating on doing a research paper that is due tomorrow. Shit. And I finally finished reading Goblet of Fire, and man, was I inspired. I also got inspired to write because I sent an ask to Araceil about some writing advice, and hey-ho, they replied!

Fuck, I love her works.

Anyways, enjoy!

"Do you know how to duel, young Harry Potter?"

The question was aimed at Harry, but Harry barely moved. His eyes flicked once more back at the cowardly Wormtail, before back again at the once-again risen Voldemort. His stomach churned in repulsion, and his body felt tired and weary, his injured leg forgotten momentarily as he stood stiff and straight. The feelings that were beyond numb comprehension were out of Harry's league, and he palmed his wand nervously. There was no chance at escape. No chance at running.

Fuck, he didn't know how to duel.

That class Snape and Gilderoy taught so didn't count. All he really learned from that Duelling club was the one spell expelliarmus, and that he was a parselmouth. And one of these things weren't like the other, his mind warily said.

He was going to, once again, face the Avada Kedavra curse.

And his mother wasn't here to protect him this time around.

Fuck, fuck, fuck-!

"We bow to each other, Harry," Voldemort told him, bending down a little. He kept his snake-like face upturned, though, watching with those insidious red eyes. "Come, the niceties must be observed. Dumbledore would like for you to show your manners." A mocking tone was heard with the next words, "Bow to death, Harry..."

How Voldemort and his Death Eaters found any of that commentary funny was beyond Harry. Or maybe they were just laughing at the fact that he was completely helpless in this situation. They seemed like the type to get off on this.

Harry continued to stand, stiffly. Like hell he was going to bow down to anyone; much less to a dickwad like Voldemort. He wasn't going to play by the rules, especially if he was pretty much expecting to die in the next few moments. If Voldemort wanted to play with his meal before eating it, Harry was sorry -not really- to disappoint.

"I said, bow," Voldemort snapped, raising his wand.

Harry felt like his spine would snap, when he felt like an invisible hand was ruthlessly bending him forward. He gritted his teeth when he heard the Death Eaters laugh even harder.

"Very good," Voldemort praised, softly. He raised his wand, and the pressure holding down Harry lifted too- he snapped straight up, stiffly and glared at the snake-like man. "Now face me, like a man; straight-backed and proud, the way your father died."

Harry wasn't going to give into the bait, and Voldemort only smirked a lipless smile.

"And now, we duel."

And before Harry could even react- he was hit with the Crucio again.

The pain flared, and Harry screamed. His head was about to split, and it seemed like every inch of his skin was pierced with white-hot knives.

And as soon as it started, it was over.

Harry staggered upright, and stumbled slightly. He had stumbled into the wall of Death Eaters, and he was pushed back towards Voldemort. Oh god, that was horrible. His heart thudded dangerously in his chest, and he was panting harshly. His body still trembled with the after-effects from the Crucio curse.

As he was put underneath the Imperius curse, Harry had to think: this was not a fun day. Not at all.

Even as he shot the only dueling spell he currently knew, the Expelliarus, at Voldemort's Avada Kedavra, he was just left with the strong sentiment that this day sucked. Really, out of all the thoughts to notice most, Harry thought. It was that this day sucked, and would continue to do so until his last breath.

The moment he returned to Hogwarts, Harry told himself, he was going to throw himself into spellbook after spellbook about Defense Against the Dark Arts. That is, Harry finished duly, if he made it out of this alive.

But the moment his red curse hit the acidic green one, and both Voldemort's and Harry's wands connected, Harry felt a brief feeling of hope. A phoenix song vibrated in his ears, as the golden web globed around them, and beads of light were dripping along the golden threads- Voldemort's Death Eaters were understandably panicking. Hell, it seemed like Voldemort was on the verge of panicking.

Harry, on the other hand, had panicking down pat. So much so that he didn't even react anymore, just tightened up his breathing and going with it.

Then the dead people started to appear, seemingly birthing from the tip of Voldemort's wand. Cedric, then another man, Bertha Jorkins- these shadowy figures circled the golden webbed globe, whispering at Harry, hissing at Voldemort- Dead, dead, dead-

Voldemort must be pissing himself now, as scared of death as he was.

The next shadowy being that fell from the tip of Voldemort's wand made Harry's breath hitch. His mother, the mother that died protecting and had been occupying his thoughts all night, stood up, observing the going ons with solemn eyes. When they met eyes, Harry gritted his teeth and had to keep straining to keep Voldemort's wand connected to his.

"Your father is coming," Lily Potter said, softly. "Hold on for your father... he is coming...," she loomed closer, and Harry wanted to cry. "It will be alright. Hold on."

His father did come. He was tall, and his hair was almost as messy as Harry's. Both of his parents walked closer to him, and Harry had to force himself to split his attention between the angry shaking his wand was doing, and his straining of trying to hold, hold, hold- and getting a good glimpse at his parents -dead- parents- James Potter spoke to him the same echo-y voice as the rest, heard from far away.

Voldemort was livid with fear, as his past victims were stalking around him. He wasn't paying attention.

"When the connection is broken," his father said, words soft. "We will linger only for a moment. But we will give you time. You must get to the Portkey, it will return you to Hogwarts... do you understand, Harry?"

Harry's name leaving his father's mouth made Harry give a forceful shudder through his body, chest tightening uncomfortably. "Yes," he gasped, wand slipping and sliding through his fingers now.

Cedric appeared, and he gave Harry a wan smile. "Harry," he whispered. "Take my body back, will you? Take it back to my parents..."

"I will," Harry promised, face scrunching up in concentration.

He'll think about this later- later, when he was safe. Later, when he was gone from the graveyard. Later, later, later, Harry thought, desperately. Because there will be a later, the ghost of his parents and his friend and others Voldemort's victims were here, and they were going to give him time to run.

"Do it now," his father instructed. "Do it now-"

"Now!" Harry shouted, wrenching his wand away and breaking the connection.

The golden light evaporated, the phoenix song stilling into silence- the ghosts stayed, and they loomed closer to Voldemort, blocking his view of Harry. His wand was burning way too hot to be normal, but Harry barely paid it any attention was he made a run for it. He ran like he never ran before, knocking two stunned Death Eaters aside and he was running amongst tombstones and the dead. Death Eaters gave chase, and Harry could hear spells being rebounded off the tombstones and graves, his injured leg practically forgotten as he continued to run.

"Stun him!" Voldemort screamed. Harry managed to dodge behind a stone angel as the stunning spells hit, a huge beam of red breaking off it's wing. His wand was burning, and Harry could practically hear his own skin sizzling as he clutched it tighter.

"Impedimenta!" Harry yelled, pointing his wand somewhere behind him. He ignored the flash of pain that shot up his arm, and he was satisfied to hear a Death Eater behind him give a muffled yell and fall.

He didn't have time to check, though, as he jumped over the cup and dived towards Cedric's body. Flashes of light burst over his head, and his fingers closed over Cedric's wrist- but he was too heavy to drag back over to the cup, even as he heard Voldemort scream:

"Stand aside! I will kill him! He is mine!"

The cup was too far out of reach-

Voldemort's red eyes were flames in the dark, his lips curled into a merciless smile. His wand raised.

As a desperate measure, Harry yelled, "Accio!" His wand burned him, even as it obeyed him and the Cup flew towards him. Harry caught it by the handle, wincing as it slammed his wand deeper into his palm- burns, ow, burns.

Voldemort's scream of outrage was the last thing Harry heard, as he felt the jerk behind his navel. The Portkey worked, and was whirling both Cedric and Harry away in color and wind.

-0-0-0-

Tsuna limped home from school, almost whimpering each time he took a step. The fight with Mukuro took it's toll on his body, and his body ached terribly. Reborn just cackled and pushed Tsuna harder in training, saying something along the lines of, "Now I know you can take up the reigns of a proper mafia boss, blah blah blah-"

Tsuna didn't even want to be a mafia boss!

And he somehow doubted Reborn cared whether or not he could take it. Probably just trying to justify his torture.

Tch, Tsuna thought, annoyed. Then he paled, and glanced around fretfully, suddenly fearful that Reborn was around, watching, waiting, knowing- nope, not there. Thank kami, Tsuna breathed a sigh of relief. Surprisingly, today he was alone in walking home from school. Gokudera was away, making more weapons, and still recuperating from the brief reprieve that Shamal had given him during the Mukuro incident. Yamamoto had thrown himself into training even harder for the baseball tournament that was coming up, and Hibari recovered like a beast. It was like he never was hurt at all!

Still, though, Tsuna could see the impact Mukuro had on everyone he knew. Fuuta was a trembling mess at night, and both Bianchi and Gokudera showed signs of wear and stress. Hibari was a stone-cold wall, but Tsuna noticed more and more lapses of threatening silence, and the way he hit everyone that stood before him with more ferocity than before. Tsuna thought that Mukuro possessing them had something to do with it, and Tsuna felt a sense of utter disgust at the thought of the eery young teenager that scarred his friends like this.

As a mental rule, Tsuna tried not to think about Mukuro often. If he did, he often felt a shudder of something in his spine, a feeling of being watched. And that was creepy. So, so creepy. So, yes, Tsuna tried not to think about the whole ordeal with Mukuro much. He was just glad that he and his friends were safe, and that they could focus on what's important- school.

And totally not the mafia, nope.

Tsuna sighed, again.

He was getting close to his home, when something happened.

And by something, he means there was a loud pop, like his ears popped and then something slammed down on top of him. Tsuna grunted at the impact, brown eyes blinking wide in surprise and startelement. Tears sprung to his eyes as pain registered shortly after, from both the heavy impact of hitting the ground, and from what had slammed into him. Ow! What the hell!?

He struggled to turn around, and he registered dull grey eyes staring at him, at nothing.

Tsuna screamed.

"D-dead!" Tsuna shouted, struggling to heave the dead corpse off of him. He had to turn his head to squash the need to retch, stomach reeling- his mind was whirling. What was this!? What!? What. "Hi-hiee- HELP-!"

"Will you shut up," a soft voice groaned, as Tsuna finally pushed the dead body off of him. The other person, thankfully alive, rolled off to the side as well. His glasses were askew, and he looked dazed. "I can't think straight with you screaming like that." Tsuna didn't understand him, staring wild eyed at the other boy.

Boy. Teenager.

He looked to be around the same height and build like Tsuna, though his skin was paler, and stretched tighter across his bones like he was malnourished. His dark hair was wild, and untidy, curling out at random moments like it was striking out against something- he wasn't bad looking, if Tsuna was being honest. Nothing really to write home about, though, but still lovely to stare at, and the only striking thing that honestly almost left Tsuna captivated was his eyes. They were a striking green, and weary, his expression off-putting for someone who looked so delicate.

Then Tsuna noticed he was hurt, and he screamed again.

"H-hospital," Tsuna stammered, scrambling backwards and let his bag drop from his shoulder. He shakily searched his pockets for his cellphone. "You- you need it, please, er-" did this boy even understand Japanese? From the confused look on the other boy's face, he doubted it. Shit, Tsuna whined in his head.

The other boy's arm was slashed deeply, vertical. It was bleeding profusely, and the rest of the boy's outer appearance looked like he had seen better days. He was dressed in a strange get-up, in a deep color red- his leg looked injured. He looked like he was barely conscious!

Even if the other teenager didn't understand him, he seemingly understood enough when Tsuna finally found his phone and began to tap in the number for emergency services.

"Don't," the other boy pleaded, grabbing Tsuna's wrist in a bruising manner. "I can't- i need- where am I? I'm not at Hogwarts, am I? Where am I?" He shook his head frantically, and Tsuna wanted to sob. Why, oh why, did things happen to him?

"You're hurt!" Tsuna said, disbelieving.

"JUST TELL ME WHERE I'M AT!" The other boy snapped, eyes flashing angrily. They looked unfocused, though, and Tsuna felt a flare of irritation. He was empathic towards the injured teenager, but it was clear that he didn't want help. Well, he was going to get it, dammit.

Then he noticed something hard pressing into his wrist, and his eyes were drawn to a smoldering stick that was wedged in between the other boy's bruising grip and his wrist. It didn't hurt, at first, but soon, Tsuna realized that it was burning, and shit- shit- he tried to yank his wrist out of the other boy's hold, face contorted in pain.

Then the stick that was seemingly glued to Tsuna's skin, and the other boy's hand, burst into flame. Tsuna screeched, trying harder to yank his arm away. While the burning didn't increase, it was alarming to see something so clearly erupt into flames. But while it burned, something else was burning, inside Tsuna- burning a connection, a link, something that hurt as it forced a connection to blossom between him and the other boy.

And as quick as the burning started, it stopped, and something exploded behind Tsuna's eyes, making him falter.

All of a sudden, he was the boy. And the boy was him. Tsuna suddenly knew how it felt to be abused and neglected as child, forced to cook, clean, be beaten- memories, concussions, broken bones and odd occurrences of magic, magic was real, magic was real, and then suddenly, he was going to school called Hogwarts. It was all new and shiny at first, before darker things started to happen- it was his fourth year when something happened, literally just happened, and that man- that monster, he was back. Voldemort was back, and I- I need to get back, I need to get back-

Tsuna fell away with a gasp, the flood of emotions and memories, thoughts and the connection; that was overwhelming, and a headache was climbing up behind his eyes, lengthening and pulsing behind his skull. Information overload, sensory overload, Tsuna thought desperately, breathing harsh and rapid.

The other boy - Harry, his name was Harry- seemingly felt the connection between them as well. Tsuna was surprised to see Harry's previous green eyes -his mother's eyes- bleeding orange, before he collapsed forward in a shuddering heap that stilled with a muffled gasp.

That left Tsuna alone on an empty street, with a dead body -Cedric, his name was Cedric-, and a boy he knew now, on a personal level. Tsuna felt oddly violated, stripped bare in front of the other boy, but he knew that the other boy would surely feel the same way, being forced to unravel himself and his secrets to Tsuna. The connection was still there, throbbing in Tsuna's core, and he tried to collect his breathing. With it, Tsuna briefly wondered how he could lived before without it- something nestled in his core, next to the burning flame that Reborn always awakened him inside him with Leon.

Tsuna glanced downwards at his wrist, and saw the imprint of a long feather that curled delicately around his wrist. It was a burnished orange with tinges of gold, and it was engraved into Tsuna's skin like ink. Tsuna wanted to throw up at how off he felt, now, due to the connection and the sensory overload.

After a few moments of hesitation and thinking, Tsuna shakily picked up his phone, and dialed a number. Not the emergency number, but someone he knew that could help him, for a price, and he knew that he needed Reborn, and now.

-0-0-0-

Hibari Kyoya came, and did nothing but curt an eyebrow at Tsuna's position. A dead body, a golden Cup, ashes, and an unconscious boy cradled in his lap.

But he didn't say anything, which Tsuna was grateful for.

-0-0-0-

"What is this, dame-Tsuna," Reborn growled, after everything settles down and Tsuna settles back into the wall of his living room. His head throbbed, and he still felt slightly off, but his connection to the other boy was fine, and he was fine, and Harry was fine- Tsuna took his time to take a breath of relief.

"What is what, Reborn," Tsuna asks, tiredly. But he knows what Reborn means, and he cast a quick glance at Harry. He looked so small in the pile of blankets and pillows his mom somehow procured when one of Kyoya's men appeared with him. Tsuna didn't know his mom knew first aid, but what couldn't his mom do? It just seemed natural, even when Bianchi came and poke her nose in, shooting Tsuna a wild glance of curiosity.

Tsuna just grimaced back at the older teenager; not now.

Bianchi just nodded, and took the kids out to the park. Fuuta faltered, but smiled encouragingly at Tsuna, which Tsuna returned weakly.

Reborn was unnaturally silent.

A gun was pointed at Tsuna, and Reborn said, "Don't play games with me."

"I'm not playing games with anyone," Tsuna muttered, testily. "Just- I had a long day, Reborn," he scrubbed a hand over his face. It was like all of who Harry was was just dumped on top of everything that Tsuna was, and they were trying to meld together now, finding places to fit- Tsuna had a headache. Maybe his mind was trying to get used to the new information and memories, and trying to work with the connection that was now open to Harry. "I need a moment, Reborn," Tsuna told him.

"I need an explanation."

No shit. Tsuna grimaced and sent a dead stare at Reborn. Reborn had put Leon up, but looked no-less threatening and intimidating as he stared at Tsuna, expression stoney.

"I can't explain it, Reborn," Tsuna said. "They just appeared out of thin air, he just appeared out of thin air. He was panicked and hurt, and something happened between him and I. Then he passed out," Tsuna stared at Harry's unconscious body with worry. "I know him, Reborn- it was like a link opened up between us, and I know him. And he knows me!"

Reborn stayed silent, dark eyes gleaming.

"And I want to explain what I know about him, I do," because maybe Reborn knew how to help Harry. Help Tsuna. But he couldn't do that, not without Harry's permission. It was unfair of Tsuna to do that to Harry, especially seeing as of that Harry was the victim as much as he was here, and that he was hurt, and unconscious. "I know because I've seen through his eyes, lived with him as he experienced stuff- it's-" Tsuna felt slightly green, trying to wade through his muddle thoughts as he tried to remember what the experienced with Harry. "I need a moment."

He pulled his knees to his chest, and pressed his face into his knees- Tsuna took a breath, and released it in a shuddering go.

"When he wakes up," Tsuna said to Reborn, lifting his head to stare seriously at Reborn. "We'll talk. We'll figure out something to do then." Harry would wake up, but not soon- Tsuna felt his end of the connection almost numb with sleep.

Reborn surveyed him with his dark, beady eyes- his sadistic brain was no doubt trying to come up with ways to torture Tsuna into next Tuesday by the time he went to sleep, but at last, he conceded with a slight tip of his head. "He's your responsibility, then," Reborn said, padding towards Harry. Tsuna stiffened, and was going to ask what the hell Reborn was doing when he continued, "I'll stand guard. Go rest up, dame-Tsuna."

Tsuna watched with a bewildered stare as Reborn jumped onto Harry's blanketed form, and settled in, tipping the hat forward to shadow his face. Soon, the tell-tale signs of slight snoring from Reborn told Tsuna that- well, Reborn was asleep!

"WHAT THE HELL, REBORN! GET OFF OF HIM!"

Review, favorite, follow, or whatever you do on stories that you read.

Or give me coffee because that's my new blood supply, apparently.

-v-

-mms