Disclaimer: I own neither Harry Potter nor Katekyo Hitman Reborn and I don't earn any money with this story.

Author's note: Hi, yes, I still exist. The last year has been... not good, but I won't bore you with my personal struggled. I've also lost about 90% motivation for this story, but I'm determind to bring it to a mostly statisfying end for everyone, because I hate not finishing WIPs. There will be another chapter after this one and then an epilogue. Both of which hopefully won't take another year to write. *Crossing my fingers*

Rating: M

Warning: none in particular

With a groan, George let himself fall onto his bed. His first full moon had been draining, both physically and mentally, but it had been a walk in the park compared to this one. As expected, Snape's words of warning against crowding and pestering him, had fallen on deaf ears. All of them were either mother-hens or nosy to various degrees. Some were both. So, instead of freaking out in peace and quiet, George had to answer a plethora of questions and convince his mother that he was just exhausted and not on the cusp of dying.

Years of making a quick getaway after pulling successful pranks had finally come in handy to escape his loving relatives. George solemnly swore that, no matter what decision he came to regarding Harry, finding a home away from his parents and siblings (bar his less attractive doppelganger, of course) was very high on his todo list.

"What am I going to do now?" George mumbled into his blanket, unsure if he wanted his twin to reply to his question or not.

"Dear brother of mine," Fred dropped down more on George than the mattress next to him and conjured a little blackboard. George frowned at him and poked him in the side, but his brother was too absorbed in creating a drawing with a remarkable likeness to Harry. It was waving at them. George was tempted to wave back, but suppressed the urge. "I think the main question is, if you want that bond to Harrykins in general."

"But-"

"Nope, don't think about me or that whole mafia stuff for now. This is about you and Harry. We've tried to support him during the last few years, but is that something you want to do for the rest of your life?"

George stared at his twin for a long moment and wondered how Fred could look this calm, while he himself continued to have a low-key meltdown. Even if his brother told him to 'just think about himself', it was obviously impossible to not factor Fred into his decisions. They'd been together their whole life and even though they weren't the same, they'd always been a packaged deal. George couldn't imagine a life where Fred wasn't by his side.

What he ended up doing was following Fred's advice, but imagining his brother being on the same page as him. They usually were anyway. He'd leave the (probably long and very emotional) talk with his twin to a point in the future, when he'd managed to puzzle through his own feelings.

"I'm sure you know why I'm here," George said, forcing a wry grin even though his expression wanted to shift into a grimace upon seeing the blank mask on Harry's face. The urge to rip it off was strong. It looked wrong on Harry's face for one, but it also sparked the guilt George felt for putting it there in the first place.

"I guess you want to continue our last talk." Harry's voice was flat, reflecting the wall he was erecting around himself. George could understand the need, but it still made him wince. He tried to get closer to lay a comforting hand on Harry's shoulder, but the brunet quickly stumbled back a few steps to keep the distance between them intact. George slowly let his hand fall to his side and balled it into a fist.

Words it was then.

"You were right to refuse me back then." George slipped his hands into his pockets to keep them from reaching out again. The urge to touch Harry was strong even without the need to comfort him. He was sure the possible bond between them was to blame. Harry had rejected him with words, but had never done so with his Flames. Without a clear dismissal or approval from the other wizard, from the Sky in front of him, they were in a constant state of limbo. "I had no idea what I'd get into."

"And now you do?" Harry sounded sceptical.

George frowned at him, bordering on a light glare. There was a lot to say about the chaos he and his twin spread on a constant basis, but nobody could ever claim they shied away from research, especially when it was important. Harry knew that, too, and it showed in his next actions. The brunet sighed and shuffled back another few steps to sink into one of the armchairs. Instead of blank, he looked exhausted now. George wasn't sure if that was an improvement or not.

"Sorry, that wasn't fair," Harry wearily waved his hand at the love seat opposite his armchair. Fred, who'd kept mum since they'd arrived at Rose Cottage, grabbed George's wrist to pull him to the seating, when he didn't move a muscle. "So if you researched everything, you see why it wouldn't work out."

George stopped mid-motion and slowly turned around to stare at Harry in disbelief. He wriggled his wrist out of his twin's hold and crouched down in front of Harry instead. Quick as lightning, he flicked the other wizard's forehead.

"Why must you be such a martyr, Harrykins?"

Harry glared at him through the fingers rubbing the now sore spot.

"I owe you a lot. My whole family does. You saved Ginny and almost died yourself. You sacrificed a lot in order to fight and win against Voldemort. You saved Fred's and my life and gave me back some peace of mind. Those things alone would be reason enough to continue supporting you. But-" George raised a forestalling hand, when Harry opened his mouth to, no doubt, refute his words. "But I know you didn't do any of those things to get a reward or whatever. That's one of the reasons I like you, Harry. You're a good person and I'm pretty sure you'll remain one no matter what the future throws at you. You're also too bloody self-sacrificing and a trouble magnet."

George grinned cheekily at the overwhelmed looking wizard in front of him.

"It's actually no surprise that you need a whole group of people, who are dedicated to supporting and protecting you. And I want to be one of those people."

Harry carded a hand through his hair, opening and closing his mouth a couple of times without saying anything. George could literally see him trying to come up with words to, once again, tell him why all of this was a bad idea.

"It's not an uninformed decision. I've drilled Shamal with questions about the mafia and did some soul searching." George finally dared to grab one of Harry's hands and squeezed it reassuringly. "I'm sure it's what I want to do."

"You might as well give up, if you want him, brat," Shamal interjected, leaning in the doorway. "This little annoyance knows what he's walking into and he's still determined. They both are, so just decide if you want someone like him as your Storm or not, without fretting about anything else."

Harry turned his attention back towards George and traced his expression with his gaze. Every line of the red-head's face indeed spelled determination. The last and only time he'd seen George being this serious had been during the Last Battle.

Harry's already crumbling reluctance turned into dust. He took a deep breath and finally allowed his Sky Flames to unfurl in a welcoming embrace. George's Storm Flames met them halfway and then, as easy as breathing, the new Guardian bond clicked into place, like it should have happened years ago instead of a week. Tension drained out of both of their shoulders and a broad grin appeared, where a pout had lived during the last few days.

"I had expected some more fireworks," Fred joked after a long moment. Harry turned towards him, still a bit unsure where Fred stood in all of it. The twins had pretty much done everything together since birth. The Last Battle had been the starting point of tugging them into different directions - First the lycanthropy, the scars and the eye injury, then the whole Flame business and now George was Harry's Guardian. Fred had decided to follow George into a life he had less connections to and that could be a hotbed for regret and bitterness.

"Harrykins," Fred dropped down next to Harry and wrapped one arm around his shoulders and poked the pointer finger of his other one against Harry's forehead. "Stop brooding so much, you'll get wrinkles. Everything's going to be fine."

Harry wanted to believe him, but there was something lurking in the other man's eyes that was sowing doubts in his mind. George seemed to be of the same opinion, because he stood up from where he was still crouching in front of Harry and took a step around the armchair to stand right next to his twin.

"Fred, what's wrong? You can tell me anything, you know that. Even if it's that you want to back out of everything. I'll understand and we'll find-" George started rambling, but was interrupted.

"No!" Fred blurted out, uncharacteristically flustered. Usually both twins were pretty good at keeping their cool when caught out. "That's not it. I told you I'd stay by your side and I meant it!"

"But there is something going on, isn't there?" Harry asked, squinting up at Fred, who stubbornly avoided their gazes.

"I gave him one of Basil's Hyper-Dying-Will pills," Reborn announced after popping up on Harry's shoulder. At this rate, the whole household was bound to turn up in the sitting room. Well, whatever, he had to announce George as his new Guardian anyway.

Harry rather felt than saw the exchange of glares and smug grins going literally over his head and rubbed his face with both hands. Reborn danced to his own tune and oftentimes didn't care about personal boundaries or other people's secrets. The twins could be pretty vindictive when wronged, so the future was going to be very… interesting. Why did he have to choose so many chaotic people as Guardians?

"And why did you do that?" Harry asked, after sending his future self condolences and patience in equal measure.

"I knew twin number one would agree to become your Guardian," Reborn said and Harry held no doubt he'd have forced the issue if necessary. "Which means that twin number two will be a person of interest, as well. Another capable fighter would be best, but he must be able to defend himself in order not to become a burden. None of you can rely on magic soon, so the best option is to activate his Flames. I doubt you want me to shoot him with a Dying-Will-Bullet, so the pill is the safest option," Harry grudgingly admitted the reasoning was sound. The Dying-Will-Bullet could be deadly, if the 'victim' lacked regrets, whereas Basil's pills only led to problems if a person without Flames took them. Considering George had them, Harry doubted that would be an issue.

"Why didn't you tell me?" George asked his brother and Harry detected more hurt than anger in his words. He doubted the twins had many secrets from each other.

"You had enough on your plate. The plan was to tell you, when all of this was dealt with," Fred explained and grunted, when George dragged his brother into a tight hug.

"Idiot, next time tell me anyway, " George scolded in a low voice and then, barely discernible to Harry's ears, added: "The differences bug me, too."

When they finally released each other, Fred rummaged around in his pocket and unearthed a little, transparent box with a pill inside.

"Here goes nothing, I guess."

The moment Fred swallowed the pill, dark red Flames started flickering on his fingertips and forehead. His brown eye had a distinct red shimmer to it, the magical one stayed the same. Harry gasped, when he felt his new Guardian bond shift. George swayed and gripped the back of the armchair in a white-knuckled grip.

"What happened? I didn't switch with George, did I? That's not what I-" Fred weakly gripped the front of his robe, caught between panic and the forced calm of Hyper-Dying-Will mode.

"No, no that's not it," Harry denied, quickly jumping up from his armchair to put a comforting hand on Fred's shoulder. "I think you're both my Guardians now. I don't know if you can feel it like I do, but it's kind of like a cord now. I can feel both of the bonds individually, but they're also twisted together to make a thick one."

"But how is that possible? If you can do this with multiple people, why isn't Zabini your Guardian, too?"

George issued a good question, one that had Harry stumped, as well.

"It's not the first time something like this happened," Reborn had probably not only maintained his balance on Harry's shoulder, but also his smug grin. "I even know another pair of twins with a shared Guardian bond like this. I expected something like this to happen, assuming you're both Active before establishing the bond, but apparently it works with a little bit of time delay, too. There's not much known about how it works, but there has to be a deep bond between all three parties to make it possible."

The 'how' didn't really matter, Harry decided, when he saw the beaming smiles on his Storms' faces and was pulled into an almost too warm hug.

A little bit of trivia. Harry's Storm was the last one I decided on and even as I'd written the draft for this chapter, I was tempted to make it Fon. Just about every (possible) Storm was in the running at one point in time. All the other Guradians were pretty much a sure thing from the beginning.