Blaise, once he got over the initial grimace of exasperation learning that Skull could now legally keep the Horntail in his case (having that many dangerous magical creatures so close to his bed was not doing well for his mellow...he really wished he was a Rain and not a Cloud), was able to get over his reaction with the usual reminder of keeping the more vicious creatures far, far away from him.

Hagrid was almost beside himself learning that the board of governors were seriously considering allowing a pair of breeding dragons (specifically the Norwegian Ridgeback which meant he could have Noberta back along with her mate) so long as certain requirements were kept.

Skull would have to make sure that those requirements were almost religiously upheld by the half-giant...he had a bad habit of forgetting that not all students were as durable as he was to damage.

Which was why Remus was seriously considering a permanent position as the COMC teacher, if only so Hagrid was kept in an assistant role and in charge of caring for the animals.

He was a good man, just highly forgetful and loved the more dangerous types of animals a bit too much to be healthy for anyone.

Business went on as usual... at least until the second task.

Skull honestly had to blink a bit when he registered he had just been kidnapped by an overly eager Death Eater trying to resurrect Riddle.

He peered at the face for a moment before he realized who he was dealing with and rolled his eyes.

"Really Dolohov, you can't possibly think this is going to end well for anyone, especially you. Never mind what your precious Dark Lord will do once he's back, you should have remembered the demonstration I made of that fool Pettigrew," said Skull, shaking his head sadly at the sheer idiocy of some people. "One would almost think you were a Gryffindor with this level of intelligence."

"Silence, Black! Your contribution will make way for our Lord's return!" snapped Dolohov.

"Yeah, yeah. Let's just hope you enjoy his reaction to what I'm going to do once these ridiculous chains are removed," said Skull sarcastically.

Honestly, some people had no brains to speak of. So what if the idiot had his wand? That was little more than a polished stick he kept around so people didn't ask where his real one was.

No one ever suspected the metal ring on his finger to be his actual focus, or that it held wand wood and a bit of blood to act as the core. Far more reliable than a simple wand which could be snapped during a fight and render the wizard helpless.

Far easier to hide too... his current focus was current being used as a toe ring and was safely hidden inside his shoe. No one ever inspected those and he just needed to focus a bit more to get the spells down.

Skull was positively bored watching Voldemort resurrect himself. Like he hadn't seen this shit coming... oh wait, he had, just not this damn early! Clearly Dolohov was a bit more proactive than Peter ever was.

Not really in the mood to trade barbs, instead he said something that had the idiot sweating bullets.

"You know I read this ritual works better if the servant doing the sacrificing uses something other than their limbs," he commented.

Voldemort paused in his obligatory "evil villain" speech to actually look at him seriously. Then again, even he had heard that "Harry Potter" was more of a Black by this point.

"How so?"

"Well according to one of the Black family rituals, you would have gotten a much bigger boost from the potion if he had sacrificed something a bit more important. Especially his ability to actually procreate. It wouldn't have to be his actual 'wand'... his balls would have been perfectly acceptable. I guess he wasn't that devoted to bringing you back with a little something extra, if all he gave up was a hand," said Skull with a perfectly straight face and serious expression.

Dolohov was sweating bullets, clearly not anticipating this sort of reaction...especially considering the displeased look on his Lord's face.

Skull was too busy trying not to blow the fact he was spouting complete bullshit by laughing his ass off. Arcturus would be proud and Sirius was almost certain to get a good laugh...once he got over the initial panic attack about his godson being kidnapped in the first place.

Voldemort looked at his loyal follower annoyed.

"You and I will be having words about your dedication level," he promised darkly. Dolohov whimpered hearing that.

Seeing all the Death Eaters that were foolish enough to answer his call (Skull made a note of who for later...he would already be warning their children that he was open to the idea of removing them from the country in case the Dark Lord attempted to build the numbers back up using them as his new slaves) Skull grinned.

They were so boned it wasn't even funny.

"Now then Black, I should hope you at least know how to duel."

"I will be making house calls later," said Skull to the idiots who actually fell for Voldemort's bullshit.

He had plans for anyone stupid enough to side with Voldemort this go around. Screw waiting for the Order to do their damn job...he was going to make their lives hell until they came begging for his almost nonexistent mercy.

"Shall we dance fucker?" said Skull with an evil grin.

This was going to be fun.

"Where the bloody hell were you?" demanded Blaise.

"Gather all the Slytherins and those associated with the 'loyal' Death Eaters who didn't have the sense to take the out when it was presented to them. Oh, and alert Sirius and the others that Midnight is going to go into active status by next month at the earliest," said Skull promptly.

Blaise didn't ask stupid questions or make demands. This wasn't Cloud Skull he was dealing with... this was a Sky who was very annoyed at his territory being infringed upon and all too willing to remove the 'problem' before it got out of hand.

Camellia was at his side within moments, as was Fon and Verde.

"So we're going to become official next month then," asked Fon almost conversationally. One would mistake him for being calm if they couldn't detect the undercurrent of barely contained bloodlust coming from him.

"I wasn't expecting it to happen this early, but the fool who kidnapped me is going to be very unhappy thanks to a minor bit of misdirection I gave regarding the ritual used," said Skull grinning evilly in a way that would have made even Reborn proud.

"Oh gods, what did you do this time?" demanded Blaise.

"I may or may not have insinuated that there would have been a power boost given if the 'loyal servant' doing the sacrificing had used something other than his hand as the ingredient."

Verde was the first to catch on.

"You are an evil, vindictive asshole when you put your mind to it. Did he actually believe that tripe?"

Fon and Blaise blinked, before they caught on as well and winced slightly at the implications.

"I would definitely say yes, because Riddle said he would be having 'words' about the idiot's dedication level if all he was willing to give up was a hand," said Skull grinning maliciously.

Reborn wasn't the only asshole in the Arcobaleno, just the most obvious one.

"Evil, but definitely an appropriate level of payback," said Blaise with approval.

"I bet old Arcturus is rolling in his grave laughing his ass off that the lie worked," said Skull grinning.

"Almost certainly," agreed Camellia grinning.

"So officially what is going to be Midnight's main source of income?" asked Blaise.

"Officially we're going into import and export of magical creatures, ingredients, food and other basic necessities for the underworld."

"And unofficially?" asked Blaise. This was the mafia they were talking about after all.

"Unofficially we're relocation/retirement specialists. We'll take people ready to transition out of an active role in the underworld and give them new identities and homes in exchange for a subtle role in our organization, such as helping with the farms or the security around the villages and towns. They'll also double as an informant network if we do this right and the favors they'll owe us for giving them a chance to live out the rest of their lives a bit more peacefully will come in handy long term. Add in the misplaced first gens or half-bloods who never quite fit into the magical subculture or are too out of date to live in the mundane side of things, and we'll have a loyal support network to work with. All we need is to get everyone to sign secrecy contracts to keep the Ministries and the Vindice off our ass, and we'll be in business."

"It sounds exhausting."

"Not really. There are countless army bases, towns and villages more or less abandoned all over the world for various reasons. We go in, figure out the actual problem and determine if it's a worthwhile endeavor to fix it and make it habitable again. The real trick is buying up the land without anyone noticing," said Verde, pushing up his glasses.

Skull grinned at that.

"I have an idea about how to deal with the British side of things at least."

"Why do I have the awful feeling you are going to do something so ridiculously insane that it'll drive all of us to drink after the fact?" asked Camellia, pinching her nose.

"I plan to kidnap the Queen of England and give her a chance to blow up a Death Eater's manor. A sort of 'fuck you' towards their bullshit and give her a chance to make a personal strike against the idiots harming her people," said Skull shrugging.

Blaise didn't even think. He grabbed Skull by the collar with a dark expression in his eyes.

"Don't. You. Bloody. Well. Dare," he hissed. "Your regular hijinks are bad enough, we don't need to add kidnapping a sitting regent on top of things!"

"You kidding? I fully plan to kidnap the Emperor for a bit of fun at blowing up a few minor Chinese Military bases!"

Fon was the one who made the face now.

"Dear gods, you're getting worse. I didn't think it was possible."

"Oh please, like you aren't equally eager to join in on that particular bit of fun," said Skull grinning.

"I think it's stress. He gets worse the more stressed he is, trying to compensate for his inability to process things," commented Camellia with concern.

She had the feeling she was right in that regard with the way Skull leaned into her side when she gave him a one-armed hug.

Fon shared a look with his betrothed.

Camellia nodded, and the Storm promptly abducted Skull for a bit of sparring practice. Camellia went and got some strong booze, which seemed to be their standard protocol for this sort of situation.

Fon would wear him down and then they would get him drunk enough to vent without realizing it.

Even if it didn't help in deterring him when he came up with his crazy schemes, at least he wasn't bottling everything up inside like he did before.

Blaise patiently waited for Verde to give him a general report once Skull was safely out cold. Fon and Camellia were the usual tag-team to keep Skull calm and actually sleeping.

"Well?"

"He's concerned that Dumbledore might try something once word reaches him about Riddle's return. Considering what he went through last time it's understandable, but foolish. Then again last time his support network was so laughable it couldn't even warrant the title," sniffed Verde. "He also expressed a very valid concern that Riddle will attack Azkaban sometime within the next year, once he gets enough fools to follow him. Shattered or not, the man is still a Sky, however limited his influence has become."

"Which means Camellia will almost certainly have to face her parents soon. That's an almost guarantee not to end well for anyone," said Blaise grimacing.

"Yes, but we highly suspect that when the confrontation does occur, it will cause a reaction to bring Viper out rather than Camellia Potter-Black," said Verde.

In fact Skull was almost positive (though he didn't say as much in front of her) that being forced to confront Bellatrix or her father would result in the Mist Arcobaleno Viper to come back, though she would have a rough time dealing with the inevitable side effects.

Skull had the easiest transition, likely due to his status as Master of Death, or possibly because of how quickly he had learned to adapt as a child. Fon and Verde, however, had to undergo weeks, if not months of trying to sort through the mess before they were even remotely able to handle daily interaction again.

For Viper it was an almost guarantee to be a massive headache, considering there was such a vast difference in how her childhood went thanks to his meddling.

Blaise sighed. The work of a Left Hand was almost never finished, but at least he knew that boredom was firmly off the table. Skull and Boredom simply did not mesh, and he was always getting into trouble.