Harry was beyond relieved when the third task ended...Cedric had managed to win through the skin of his teeth, thus proving that everyone who disparaged Hufflepuffs were all idiots (something Harry said loudly at the Great Hall before the task began, earning him a LOT of brownie points for pointing out that it a Hufflepuff had managed to keep and maintain the top score the entire tournament from the badgers) and the two other champions accepted their failure with grace.

Which meant it was finally time for them to go home to Italy.

Fortunately, the fact Daniela had shown up at Hogwarts in person after being taken to Hogsmeade to collect Xanxus and Harry meant that he wouldn't have to deal with any attempts by Dumbledore and his 'well-meaning greater good' to stop him from leaving England entirely.

He was heartily glad to be gone. Luna would be joining him as well, once she visited her father. Xenophilius had a rather... interesting...personality and had been very happy his "darling Luna" had found someone ready and willing to take care of her properly.

Like Harry, she would not be returning to Hogwarts next year. It was a very bad idea to separate a Guardian from their Sky. Squalo had only survived because he had been prepared for it and visited as frequently as humanely possible without alerting anyone where he was going.

Fon was quite glad to be out of that castle. The place itched on his well trained senses and not in a good way. He'd swear on his ancestor's he sensed a cursed soul fragment somewhere in the building and the fact that the wards hadn't picked up on it was a very, very bad sign.

It said far too much about how the wards on the school had deteriorated if he had been able to sneak around so easily without the express permission of the owner (which was the headmaster/headmistress) and he was able to sense something that dangerous and evil.

It was a good thing all of his clan's magically inclined children were taught in-house...he dreaded to think the damage this 'school' (and he hesitated to give it that much credit...the lessons were that bad) could have done to their future prospects.

Fon was very fond of Harry at this point. The boy was a true delight to teach and actually listened when you explained things in a patient and clear manner. Once he fell into the rhythm of fighting with martial arts only, he picked things up very quickly and actually put in the effort to commit his new skills to muscle memory.

He was the rare sort of student that picked things up quickly but never let it go to his head to the point it would get him killed. The kind people like Fon would literally kill to teach, because they were so rare and it meant that more of their skills and abilities would be passed on properly.

The fact that he was half-trained as a wizard said volumes of how bad the teachers in this 'school' were. None of them had seen the pure, untouched marble that was Harry Potter-Black and seen the masterpiece that could be sculpted from it.

They all saw the boy's parents, the image some fool had built up (he suspected Dumbledore, the coward), or the "Gryffindor Golden Boy" with the mediocre grades and not the person underneath.

It was ridiculous and pissed Fon off immensely.


Daniela grinned at the way Harry was practically using his cousin/older brother as a pillow, something she never thought she'd see save for the rare times people let small children around the volatile teen.

Which was ridiculous, because while Xanxus detested the idiocy of the older mafioso and those his own age, he was very protective and gentle with anyone under the age of eight. Much like a dragon with young...he protected them even if they weren't blood simply because they were children and thus innocent.

"They are adorable together. He's protective, but not coddling and Harry has a surprisingly calming influence on his Wrath," said Fon with a sedate amused tone.

"Tell me more," said Daniela.

"Xanxus seems to treat his younger brother like a fellow tiger...a half-grown one, but still a tiger. He will defend him, train with him seriously, and be there to act as a shield from others...but he has never tried to stop Harry from doing anything unless it remotely sounded dangerous to the point of stupid. Unlike his 'friends' who kept trying to butt in and acted as though they knew what was best for him without even bothering to consult him. Though they eventually got the hint to leave him be after one too many fireballs from Xanxus. The number of genuine allies Harry had in that castle were so few it was rather startling, considering he's an Active Sky. Out of them, only three people were even remotely drawn to him in a guardian sense and the other felt more like the Earth equivalent of a Sky," said Fon.

Luna and the twins would be heading to Italy soon enough once they got their things in order. None of them wanted to stick around England if their Sky wasn't there. Blaize would be picked up once he got permission from his mother...he had too many useful social connections to fully remove himself like the other three had without at least setting something up.

Interesting, but not important.

"And his skill level?"

"He is honestly wasted on those idiots. He'll be better off with private tutors that don't mind students who are work better with an active task than sitting down to learn by rote. Not that he is bad at that, but he's so used to downplaying his actual intelligence that any teacher he has trying to give him written work is going to get a tainted assessment of his actual skill level."

"He openly admitted to downplaying his homework as a child to avoid his 'relatives' being mad because their son was a lazy brat who hated actually working for anything."

"Which was only exacerbated by the fact his first 'friend' is just as lazy and hates school work, and the other is an overachiever who takes great offense to being second-best while harassing him about school work," said Fon, shaking his head.

What had started out as a self-preservation habit had gotten stuck as an unintentional side effect of having a lazy friend and an over achieving one. In order to keep both sides happy he would have had to stay as close to 'middling average' as possible while his real intelligence was completely wasted.

It was a complete disgrace and did a great disservice to his intelligence and ability.

At least with martial arts and actual live-combat training Harry didn't have an ingrained reflex to hide his actual skill. Which was great...except he was so used to hiding that it would make it very difficult to find him proper guardians since he had a lot of valid and reasonable trust issues.

There was a reason why no one abused Skies, and it wasn't just because they were so coveted.

"Are you aware they plan on hatching actual dragons sometime soon?" asked Fon in a pained voice.

At least they were more than willing to hand over the Chinese Fireball egg they had inadvertently rescued. Besides the fact it was from his homeland, Fon was more than aware of the fact that the Emperor (who the magicals had not removed from power despite their less-magical half replacing it with the Communist party) was very fond of the breed and used it as an open sign of their right to rule, with the Empress doing the same for Phoenixes. True Feng-Huang had not been seen in several centuries...which was understandable, so it was perfectly acceptable to use their Middle-Eastern counterparts.

Fon fully planned to hand that over to the Emperor personally and suggest he launch an inquiry as to why a nesting mother and a full nest of unhatched eggs had been permitted to leave national boarders the first chance he had. Not only did it rankle against his pride as a Chinese wizard (even if he hadn't bothered to use it since dedicating his life to martial arts rather than magic), but the fact the idiots had lost three nests and allowed real eggs to be used as mere props angered him greatly.

At least they had the sense to consult someone who knew more about magical creatures and beasts than they did themselves. Someone with decades of practical experience handling, hatching/birthing and raising their young before releasing them into the wilds of their natural habitat.

"And his physical condition?"

"Food and actual training will do most of the work. He's in decent shape, but once Lal or Colonello get through with him..." said Fon.

For someone like Fon to say he was in 'decent' shape meant that he was in much better condition than Daniela had expected. It was a very hopeful assessment.

"I've also been working on teaching him Chinese. He seems to be rather quick at learning languages, surprisingly."

Fon had been very pleased with that. It had been amusing when Xanxus joined in, though his pronunciation was positively atrocious and Fon had immediately gone to great pains to correct it at the first chance.

The older teen didn't really join in as much, seeing as how Daniela had specifically hired Fon to help her nephew who would be joining Mafia School for a trial period of one year once he finished training for a few months under either Lal Mirch or Colonello, but occasionally Fon found himself with two students. Usually though Xanxus acted as Harry's sparring partner, and only ever joined in as an extra when it came to learning Chinese.

Varia requirements specifically stated that all members had to know at least seven languages on top of being able to kill. Xanxus was passable in Chinese, but with Fon's help had become closer to almost fluent in it. Give him another month or two and he'd be much better at it.

Harry would have a full week of down time, partly so he could get adjust to the fact he'd never be seeing Hogwarts again but also to finish arrangements with Lal Mirch or Colonello about training, before he'd be dumped on the one of the two for at least three full months or until they deemed him ready. He'd get another week of downtime after that before he was sent to Mafia School to hopefully make connections and with any luck, bond with Guardians.

Daniela was giving him free reign on that front, as opposed to shoving various allied Elements on him and waiting for a bond to happen or him to show a little interest in the idea. Considering the mess her son had made of his own children (save for Xanxus, who didn't give a crap and actually HAD Guardian bonds), that was a wise move on her part.

As it was, Timoteo Vongola had washed his hands of his cousin and was apparently going to turn a blind eye unless he had to since it meant his mother would leave him alone as long as she had her new 'toy' to play with and train.


"So you're the new Vongola heir, kora! You seem to be a bit of a scarecrow!"

Harry gave him a flat look.

"And you seem to be a runt with delusions of adequacy, going by the size of that gun," he deadpanned.

Daniela didn't even try to keep a straight face. She started howling.

Before Colonello could get a shot in (whether by kicking the brat for that comment, or to start a verbal game of one-uppage), Falco flew in and Harry's boredom turned into full interest.

"Is that an eagle?" he asked with open interest.

"His name's Falco, kora."

Harry grinned. He might like this instructor after all, because he gave a sharp whistle...which had Hedwig landing primly on his shoulder much the same way Falco was sitting calmly on Colonello's helmet.

"Her name is Hedwig."

The two predatory birds sized one another up, before an open truce was made between them.

Colonello gave the owl a once over before he grinned.

"She's a beautiful little lady," he said appreciatively.

"And yours is a handsome one, and very well behaved," said Harry grinning.

"Harry here has shown a natural aptitude for sniping. Though the same can't be said for the smaller calibers," said Daniela.

Colonello's grin was positively vicious.

"So what does the former Vongola Donna want with me anyway? Lal didn't give me any specifics, kora."

"Harry is formerly civilian. I want you to treat him like any other new recruit and get his conditioning up and acclimatized to how the mafia does things for at least three months. Especially since I'll be sending him to Mafia School once he's done training with you."

"You're leaving me with an Active Sky for conditioning?" said Colonello surprised.

"My son has made enough of a mess with his own children and botched things entirely with his adopted son. I refuse to let him handle Harry's training when I could arrange competent people to do it and with half the headaches. If he happens to form Guardian bonds, that's not my problem."

Colonello raised an eyebrow at that.

"You're letting him find his own Guardians, rather than parading a bunch of loose, but allied Elements near him?" he said in disbelief. That was a new one.

"I have trust issues. Legitimate ones," said Harry shrugging. "If I'm going to be stuck with a group of people because of some sort of spiritual glue, I would rather it be people I can both tolerate and actually trust to be loyal without having to rely on the whole Sky Attraction thing."

Colonello liked this kid more and more already.

Daniela suddenly remembered something.

"I almost forgot... Harry isn't a very good swimmer. He never had lessons before he came to live with us, and at most he can dog-paddle at the moment."

"So no throwing him into the shark-area?" said Colonello with disappointment.

"Wait... you have actual sharks in a specific area? I thought this island supposedly moved on a circuit? How do you keep them from swimming off to other waters outside of migratory patterns?"

Colonello blinked.

"I...honestly have no idea. I think they mostly tend to stick around because we regularly toss idiots too stupid not to get killed on the island into their feeding area, or whenever the place gets invaded and the familigia responsible doesn't bother to claim the bodies," admitted Colonello. He had never thought about it much. He just knew that the sharks were usually around, though the species generally varied. Tigers and great whites were fairly common though. "How good an aptitude for sniping?"

"Do you know what quidditch is?" asked Harry.

"Some ridiculous magical sport several of the first gens love, though they do have a pitch somewhere outside the beaten path. Why?" asked Colonello.

"I'm a seeker. Have been since I was eleven. Only took me three shots before I was able to take into account wind resistance and movement well enough to play merry hell with the Acromantula colony while I was on one of the towers," said Harry.

"What's an Acromantula?" asked Colonello, almost certain he wouldn't be liking the answer.

"Big. Freaking. Spider. As in bigger than most cars when fully grown. Openly consider humans a food source," said Harry, summing it up nicely.

Colonello shuddered at the thought. He hated spiders at the best of times!

"They were really fun to explode with large caliber bullets," admitted Harry. That got Colonello grinning. "Though not nearly as fun as conspiring with Reborn to 'liven up' the Vongola Christmas party before Auntie dropped the bomb on her son that he had a cousin who was also an active candidate as heir."

Colonello gaped at him.

"That was you? Lal was actually howling when she mentioned that party!" said Colonello.

"I have cupcakes that can turn people into canaries for five full minutes with no ill effects and a pair of Mists all too happy to supply temporary pranks so long as they get records of what the effects are on unwilling vic... I mean test subjects. Constant Vigilance after all," said Harry with a straight face.

Colonello did not bother to hide his reaction. This was going to be fun.

His unholy cackling sent shivers of doom down the spines of all the security forces on the island. Something horrible and almost certainly humiliating had happened.

An unholy alliance had been formed.