Harmony couldn't make it a full day without throwing up. After seeing what Fon did to Ron (which still had her smiling so wide it almost hurt and would likely be fueling her patronus charm for a very long time) the Order had left, not wanting to challenge anyone capable of literally shoving someone's head up their ass, tiny size or not.
Never mind the fact Fon used several pressure points to render Ron impotent for the rest of his life, since it was unlikely the magicals would know how to reverse it.
Though now that they knew where she was, she was reluctant to spend the night in the house any more. Not until their war was over with permanently.
She lost enough, thank you. And if they expected her to martyr herself for their ungrateful asses, they had another thing coming. Unlike Dumbledore, she didn't have a thing for giving people a second chance if they were unwilling to get off their ass and do something about it.
Dino held back her hair, which was in it's usual pony tail (something that had always made him laugh) as she threw up what little she had eaten for breakfast.
"I think I have a stomach bug. I can't seem to keep anything down."
Dino wrapped his arms around her waist, letting his Sun Flames gently curl around her... his eyes widened quite a bit when he realized what he was feeling back from them.
"I don't think it's a stomach bug," he said slowly, his a little shaky.
Harmony blinked at that.
"Well then what is it?"
"I'm calling Reborn. He's better at this sort of thing than I am," said Dino quickly. And as his Sky, Reborn had made her health his priority.
Within an hour, Reborn was coming through the portal and checking on Harmony's health. His eyebrows went up, silently confirming Dino's suspicions.
"You're pregnant. Definitely several weeks along, if not a month and a half," said Reborn.
There was the sound of a crash from outside as Colonello tripped on something. He was quickly joined by Fon and I-Pin.
"You sure about that?" asked Colonello.
"Positive. They have been going at it like rabbits since they were married after all, and I highly doubt stupid Dino bothered to remember protection since he got hitched," said Reborn flatly.
"Well that explains why I can't keep anything down," she said with relief.
Dino kissed the top of her head. Romario was going to be pleased, and so would the rest of the family. Harmony being pregnant meant they would soon have an heir, and this was before they found out she was a Sky as well.
It was a commonly accepted fact that when female Skies, especially ones as strong as Harmony was, had children then the odds of that child being a Sky skyrocketed into almost near certainty. It was an almost guarantee when the father was a Sky as well.
"You do realize this means you'll have to move into the manor, once it's confirmed," said Fon.
"Until I grow so big that I have to waddle, I'm going to keep working. I'd go stir crazy otherwise," said Harmony flatly. "Besides after I upgraded the wards to keep magicals out without permission, it's safer here than it is there. Dino isn't without his enemies and people are still operating under the mistaken impression I'm a civilian who's only in the know because I married him."
"She has a point," said Colonello reluctantly. "She's more or less out of the way here and very few know where she lives. And thanks to that Mist barrier of Mammon's, only those invited can see the ranch at all."
Mammon had installed it at Harmony's request to keep the idiots from England from bothering her a second time after the others threw them all out. The price was surprisingly cheap... even if it cost Squalo a lot of dignity.
Apparently the video of the Rain singing Bad Romance after yet another night out drinking was more than enough to pay off the cackling Mist. He claimed he didn't like Lady Gaga, yet he always chose those songs when it came to karaoke while drunk.
It was something of an inside joke, even if Squalo almost skewered Belphegor when the Prince got his hands on the man's phone and changed all the songs to Lady Gaga songs...and proceeded to dial him from different phones at the worst times to piss him off.
Harmony was now Belphegor's second favorite person next to Mammon.
I-Pin looked confused...until Fon patiently explained it to her. Then she squealed and hugged Harmony around the arm, careful not to jostle the stomach. Harmony picked the little one up and I-Pin settled around her neck, hugging her tightly.
By this point I-Pin considered Harmony a mother figure, something the girl openly encouraged. The little one loved the ranch (especially the unicorns, which she never got tired of) and the fact Fon trained her in the mornings and still let her live with Harmony. Though he did make a point to seal her special technique, as it could harm the horses which would have devastated her.
"I want to celebrate, but that would mean risking people finding out about her condition or the fact she has you three," said Dino.
"I completely agree, and she's banned from any alcohol until the sprog pop out," said Colonello with sympathy.
"For all you know it could be twins. I am related to the Weasleys after all," deadpanned Harmony. "And god only knows what that woman would have put in my food, expecting me to marry one of her sons because they were practically the only family I had before now."
That had Dino and Reborn on her in a flash, which had her rolling her eyes.
Overprotective idiots.
"Too soon to tell, but anything they added would have been gone a long time ago since you left five years ago," said Reborn.
"And I can't take any purgative draughts because they run the high risk of purging everything from the body," said Harmony in annoyance.
Still, the day was rather happy...even if Harmony had trouble keeping anything down.
Eating was going to be a hit or miss, though she quickly learned raw fish set it off, as did the smell of too much garlic. Apples seemed to settle it though, which didn't surprise her overly much.
Within a month, Harmony was very twitchy. Everyone was acting like total mother hens, save for I-Pin who believed Harmony was strong enough to handle anything like her teacher.
Finally after seeing Reborn attempt to coddle her a little too much while in cosplay, her patience snapped. She needed to run before she was driven crazy.
So she slipped out of the house and into the pegasus stables. Between the barn door and the outer ones where the horses were allowed to wander freely (they knew to return to their stables before dark thanks to the centaurs translating for her) where Harmony had been was now a magnificent black unicorn.
Within moments she was taking off at a gallop before taking flight. Thanks to Sky Flames, she could literally run on the air without the need for wings.
It felt like pure freedom, and she felt much more relaxed. It didn't take much for the others in her herd to take flight with her, including the Thestrals.
She whinnied, and took to swooping dives.
Seeing Dino looked around in a panic for his missing pregnant wife (likely alerted by Reborn and the others) she came to a smooth landing and looked at him with open mischief in mind.
It wasn't until too late that he saw the water trough kicked over, hitting his pockets.
He yelped as his turtle Enzo was drenched and began absorbing the water, only to begin growing larger.
Harmony always found the odd creature which was technically Leon's child hilarious. That and she found it amusing to pour a bottle of water on him when Dino wasn't looking. He was cute when he was flustered.
Dino managed to knock his pet into the paddocks and gave the odd unicorn an odd look. Especially when she started nibbling in his pockets for treats.
She knew he liked to carry apples since he married her. Especially since she became pregnant, since they helped her stomach. She was particularly fond of the tart green ones.
"Easy girl," he said soothingly. He chuckled when the mare nipped at his hair.
He looked around for Harmony. This was right up her alley, and he wasn't oblivious to the fact she liked to fluster him through Enzo.
He was worried... the last thing he wanted was for her to lose their child from a kick from a horse.
Never mind that he had never seen any of her charges even look like they were about to rear up at her.
So he was quite surprised when Fon hopped up onto the fence, looked the horse in the eye and openly relaxed.
"There you are Harmony. You gave us all a fright."
Harmony whinnied and flicked Fon on the nose with her tail. Dino stared openly.
"...Harmony?"
The mare walked off...only to shift from equine to human within a few steps.
"Ruin all my fun will you," she said to Fon playfully.
"How?" asked Dino, fascinated.
"I am a witch, dear. Animal transformation isn't nearly as hard as they want you to believe, though it takes a lot of patience and actual work to pull it off. I don't need to tell you what a limited supply the English have of that."
"So you're a unicorn?" asked Dino.
"A shadow unicorn. It comes with a few extra perks, and thanks to my Flames I can fly without the wings," she said mischievously.
Fon had an amused glimmer in his eyes as well.
"So what's your cutie mark?" he joked.
I-Pin had become a die hard fan of the recently revamped My Little Pony series and was a huge Princess Luna fan. She also liked Pinkie Pie, since it reminded her of Harmony when she was at her most mischievous. Fon didn't mind it because while it was a children's cartoon, it wasn't completely ridiculous and the songs were actually quite catchy.
"Probably something similar to Luna or Nightmare Moon's. Though without the crescent moon. I call my animal self Equus, after something I saw while I was trying to sleep when I first opened the ranch."
She found the horse creature from the Pandora Hearts fascinating, especially when she figured out how to replicate it's ability to pass through shadows.
That would be an unpleasant surprise for anyone stupid to think they could hold her.
Dino made sure Enzo wouldn't be up to trouble, before he wrapped an arm around his wife and kissed her on the forehead.
"Could you please not scare me like that again?"
"Tell Reborn and the others to back off or I'll show them my secondary and I'll consider it," she deadpanned. "At least Fon has the sense not to mother hen me so much."
"I'm not stupid enough to make someone with such a strong Cloud secondary feel caged," said Fon bluntly.
"...That explains so much..." said Dino.
Obviously the horses and the ranch were Harmony's territory, and Clouds got really pissy if they thought someone was challenging them or trying to cage them. It also explained her extreme reluctance to leave the ranch for his home, though the way she explained it was also pretty logical considering they both had enemies all to happy to kill them.
Well, at least he knew better than to try and take it away from her. He wasn't an idiot and Clouds were notorious with being very violent if they were protecting their territory.
Colonello and Reborn both grumbled when Fon finally told them why Harmony had bolted. Apparently it never occurred to them that she had a Cloud secondary.
At least they gave her some space now.
Harmony was entertaining Dino with the tale of the infamous "Lockhart Valentine's Day surprise" (it was unlikely anyone who went to Hogwarts that year would forget the 'singing cupids' and the ridiculous appearance of those poor dwarves) when she noticed Colonello's depression.
"Upset about Lal?" she asked, wrapping him up in a hug.
Colonello said nothing, but leaned into her hug anyway. Dino was preparing for tonight, since he had to adjust the usual plans due to Harmony's condition.
He held out a card. It wasn't anything fancy, nothing like his usual grand gestures. And it was highly unlikely to reach her this late, even with same-day delivery.
She hugged him a bit tighter.
"Maybe now she'll get the hint that you were serious when you told her you'd quit bothering her. If she hasn't responded to your attempts by now, maybe it's not meant to be."
Colonello felt miserable, since he really did love his old captain. But he had told her on New Years that he would quit bothering her with his usual gestures since she clearly didn't care in the first place. It had hurt like hell, but he knew that with time the hurt would heal over.
That didn't mean he would have to bear it alone. Harmony wasn't about to let him suffer like that.
He soaked in the feeling of her Sky, just allowing it to wrap around him.
Harmony had to hold back a smile when the next day, Lal Mirch showed up rather irate that she hadn't gotten anything from the "idiot student" of hers.
That was when she realized what was really going on. She desperately tried not to laugh.
Colonello looked openly stunned that Lal had come to see him when she didn't hear anything from him for the entire day, when he usually bothered her with a crappy serenade and large gifts of flowers. She had feared the worst and couldn't concentrate at all.
She was relieved to find out he was alright, and hurt that he hadn't done anything.
"Oh god... she's a Tsundere! No wonder you kept getting mixed signals!" said Harmony, laughing hard.
"A what?" said Colonello baffled.
"She hides her real feelings behind her tough woman mask, but underneath it all she's a total softie," explained Harmony, once she got over her giggle fit.
Lal looked irritated, but was stopped immediately by Colonello to keep her from kicking Harmony.
"She's pregnant," he explained quickly. "Not even three months along."
Lal looked stunned.
"Why haven't they announced it yet?"
That would have been something she would have heard by now.
"We're keeping it quiet. Dino has enemies and it's easier to keep me from being targeted simply because I'm carrying his child," said Harmony.
That and pregnant Skies often had great difficulty controlling their Flames. She could be accidentally outed as a Sky if she stayed in the mansion once people found out.
Worse, she could be outed as Reborn, Fon and Colonello's Sky. That would make her an instant target, never mind the idiots trying to force a Guardian bond with her.
Lal decided to kick Colonello instead.
"Do you have any idea how worried I was when you didn't even call, you stupid idiot?" she said, upset.
Colonello had a weird look on his face.
"Well what the hell else was I supposed to do? You always yell at me and use me for target practice without even once saying anything about my feelings! For god's sake I took the brunt of this damn curse for you! What else am I supposed to do to get you to notice me!" shouted Colonello.
Lal winced at the reminder.
"I didn't ask you to follow me that day, you damn idiot!"
Harmony's amusement shifted to irritation. Lal's pride was the main problem, and while Colonello was persistent and loyal, eventually he would say enough.
Maybe not today, but somewhere down the road.
"And how long are you going to be guarding a civilian? It's not like she understands the dangers of our world!"
"It's a permanent gig! And she knows a hell of a lot more than the poor woman who married that ignorant jackass you call a boss!" he shouted back.
Lal stared at him in disbelief.
"No way in hell could the Cavallone pay one of us enough to have a permanent body guarding gig, no matter how lucrative it is!" she said, eyes narrowing. "What's really going on Colonello?"
Colonello shut up immediately. He was not outing his Sky, even to the woman he had loved for years because there was too high a chance she would tell Iemitsu.
Harmony's biggest protection was that no one knew she had Active Sky Flames or that she was the Sky to three Arcobaleno. Her pregnancy was dangerous enough!
Lal looked between Harmony and Colonello.
"Why are you really protecting her?"
"I'm not afraid to invoke Omerta against you Lal. There are some things we are not sharing with those not already in the know and the Vongola have been shit when it comes to security lately," said Colonello bluntly.
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"Two heirs already dead and a third one iced for over five years? And the last heir doesn't really have a life expectancy that would impress anyone, especially with his habits and crappy Guardians. And the less said about how little I trust that jackass Iemitsu, the better," said Colonello.
Lal looked between him and Harmony. There was an odd expression on her face...right before she added several little clues up. Her eyes went wide with shock and realization.
"Oh my god... she's your Sky, isn't she?"
Colonello looked at Harmony.
"I already have the fidelius running regarding that secret. Even if she did figure it out, she won't be able to tell anyone or communicate it without our permission," said Harmony.
Colonello sagged.
"Harmony isn't just my Sky. She's also Reborn and Fon's Sky as well," said Colonello.
Lal's mouth open and closed in shock. The mystery Sky of Reborn and Fon was right under their noses the entire time?!
Colonello looked at Lal with a dead serious look.
"I care for you Lal. I always have and I probably always will. But I swear to god if you even try to tell Iemitsu or the Vongola who Harmony is, then you're my enemy. Her safety is more important to me than any relationship we might have had. And to be honest, I'm sick and tired of the way you always reject me so callously," said Colonello bluntly.
Lal stared at him...this wasn't her idiot student. This was a Rain Guardian protecting his Sky from a potential threat. The bond between them was strong enough that he would even disregard his old feelings for her to keep her safe and she hadn't even asked him to.
She said nothing when she left the ranch, though her emotions were in turmoil. She had no idea how to react to the revelations she just had, and to be honest the last thing she wanted to deal with was Iemitsu's stupidity.
Either way she knew a lot of things were going to change once people found out what Harmony was.
And that was before they found out she was pregnant.
