Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter and can't get money for this, but I can make him into a Mafia Prince.

Warning: Some chapters (the ones including pranks) might not be appropriate to read at work. Laughter may ensue leading your co-workers to see you as even more insane than they previously thought.

Chapter 2: Lessons of Choice

They quickly left the park by the back way after that and it was a somber ride home. Neither Harry nor Manuel talked, no music played, and they didn't once attempt to lose their shadows. Once they arrived at the house the car was immediately surrounded and the two were hustled into the house and into Manuel's study where the windows were secured while over half the men combed the mansion and grounds for intruders.

"What the hell were you thinking," Trevor thundered in both worry and anger, "We've gotten used to you two pulling this training stunt as you call it, but when you had the first hint of danger why the hell did you head towards a secluded area. You both know better. They had you outnumbered eight to two and Harry is only seven. Seven years old and he took out three, disabling the fourth. Sheer luck is what that was. He could have died as could have you Manuel, but at least you've had more practice in such situations. Are you trying to get your son killed?"

Manuel and Harry let Trevor continue with his rant knowing it would be useless to stop their longtime friend and bodyguard. When Trevor finally ran out of breath and it was announced that the mansion and grounds were secure Manuel stood and faced his head of security.

"You're right Trevor, but I could not let them open fire in the middle of the crowd. I also do know my limitations and I know Harry's just as well. I know Harry is only seven but he has been training since he could walk steadily and understand instructions clearly. I trust my son to guard my back just as I trust you and the men. Though I do agree we were lucky today. But let's forget what happened for now and concern ourselves with the prisoner tomorrow. We have a birthday to finish."

With that life in the Darkov household picked up as normal, attacks always happened and they moved on afterwards, trying to live as normally as a Mafia family can.

By midnight the Darkov household was shutting down and the men were leaving to head to their homes or posts after having stayed for Harry's birthday dinner and presents. Harry himself was just drifting off to sleep and thinking about the gifts he had received. He had gotten the usual weapons, the most outstanding being a katana from his Sensei who had told him that they would start instruction with staffs in a week and progress to the sword from there. Unfortunately the katana was too big for him currently so he would be training with specially crafted swords that fit his size. He had gotten gag gifts, books, games, and anything else he could have wished for. But the best gift of all had been spending the day with Manuel and having his father seem so open and carefree. The only damper, besides the earlier attack, was the thought of having to get up for lessons the next morning. He didn't mind the defense lessons but did he really have to have tutors for school work during the summer, he was already smarter than his classmates and he had skipped from first to third grade.

Manuel meanwhile was sitting in his study and staring at the fire. He has had Harry for six years and in four he would have to let him go away to a magical school in Scotland. His son would be on his own in a foreign world where the game of life would be played differently than what Harry was used to. Who would guard his son there, he couldn't send a bodyguard with the boy, couldn't go himself. Roughly Manuel pushed the thoughts away and took a sip of his vodka; he went through this every year on Harry's birthday, July 31st. He had always known that he would have to send Harry to Hogwarts when he turned eleven and hadn't kept any secrets from his son. He would deal with letting his son go when the time came, he had four more years with his dark angel until then.

… … … … …

The door made no sound as it opened but Harry knew someone was in the room with him. It had been a week since the attack on his birthday but Harry was still slightly on edge. As he had been taught he carefully evened out his breathing so that it still seemed as if he were asleep and gripped the dagger under his pillow. Five feet…four…two…the person was almost on top of him. Smoothly Harry flipped himself over and shot forward, twisting the persons arm behind their back and settling the cool blade against their exposed throat with a growl.

"Eek," came a very feminine sound from his assailant's throat.

Harry would know that sound anywhere, "Blaise?"

"Good morning to you too," sarcasm laced seven-year-old Blaise's voice as Harry removed the knife from her throat.

"What are you doing here," Harry was just a little confused, no one had mentioned Blaise coming over.

Blaise shrugged, "quite obviously we have lessons together, though I doubt you plan on going, and I'm to keep you amused. Dad also says I need to study more since I'm skipping grades with you and Manuel seems to thinks you're lonely for some reason."

Harry laughed, "in other words you're supposed to watch me and keep me out of trouble. Haven't they learned that we get into more trouble together than apart?"

Blaise smiled cheekily at her longtime friend, "how are we getting out of lessons today and what do you have planned to get rid of that evil crone they call a teacher?"

Harry smirked, "get out of here and let me get dressed."

In the end skipping lessons was a breeze. They merely short-circuited a few of the cameras positioned around the house like one of the guards had taught them, rode the dumbwaiter down to the kitchen, and snuck out to the stables where they mounted Harry's midnight colored stallion Azrael. The only problem was that they had taken too much time, way too much time. The moment the cameras had blacked out Trevor had sent men out to comb the grounds, he had come to recognize the children's handiwork. Unfortunately for them it was Trevor himself who spotted them.

"Harry Darkov, Blaise Zabini," Trevor yelled, "back to the house."

"Looks like he spotted us," Harry commented and Blaise nodded her head in defeat before Harry continued, "but he hasn't caught us yet."

Furiously Harry spurred Azrael on and they were flying across the open field towards the woods while a pissed off Trevor was screaming futilely at them to turn around before storming back into the house to organize the chase.

It was after lunch when Blaise and Harry decided to head back and face punishment; both of them were very hungry. They had spent the whole morning moving from place to place within the forest to avoid being caught before finally settling deep in their secret cave to plan pranks for their newest teacher. The return trip was much faster since they didn't have to hide and at various points in the woods a guard on horseback would slip along side them, forming a protective barrier as they were herded back to the house. None of their 'captors' spoke a word as they were leaving the scolding up to Trevor and truthfully most of them found the children's antics amusing, even going so far as to encourage it.

Azrael was taken from Harry and Blaise the moment they arrived at the stable while the two miscreants were whisked straight away into the house and into Trevor's study, forced unceremoniously to sit in what they termed the interrogation chairs. Trevor paced behind the desk trying to reign in his anger before turning to Harry first.

There was a glint in his eyes and his voice was dangerously soft, "explain."

Both children gulped and Blaise tried to speak first, attempting to soothe Trevor a bit, "Father…"

A sharp slicing motion of Trevor's hand cut his daughter off.

Harry lifted his head, his father had always told him to take things like a man, "There is no explanation, we decided to skip morning lessons and so we did."

Trevor resumed his pacing, "punishments will be dealt. Why did you skip the lessons? That's the thirteenth time this summer."

This time Blaise was allowed to speak without being interrupted, "that teacher is an evil crone, we can't learn anything from her. The only thing she does is yell and tell us we aren't doing good enough."

Trevor sighed in exasperation, "you won't have to deal with Mrs. Towart anymore. She resigned this morning after you two disappeared."

Harry dared to groan, "all those good pranks planned for nothing."

For a brief instant amusement shown in Trevor's eyes before he grew serious, "since you can't be bothered to go to your classes then you obvious can't be bothered to meet with Sensei, you will instead work out of your books until dinner."

"You can't do that," both Harry and Blaise argued, "you can't cancel our lessons with Sensei."

"That is your punishment," Trevor firmly replied.

Suddenly Harry changed tack, "you're right, we shouldn't train with Sensei, we'd only be learning further skills to protect ourselves with. Besides as we are already late I don't care to face Sensei's wrath, last time…"

Harry trailed off with a shudder. Trevor willingly took the bait, he knew of Sensei's punishments and from Harry's reaction figured the boy wasn't all that fond of facing Sensei's discipline, what he didn't know was that Harry and Blaise would rather face Sensei than do homework no matter what Sensei put them through.

"You're right," Trevor said with a slight look of anticipation on his face, "you can't not train with Sensei and he's waiting for you. Off you go."

Harry and Blaise waited until they were out of sight before slapping each other high fives.

Sensei trained them hard that lesson, harder than usual, as a form of discipline punishment. Time after time Harry and Blaise found themselves forced to the mats, but they rolled with the punches and came back up fighting as they were expected to do. At the end of class Harry and Blaise were allowed to engage in a sparring match. Blaise briefly gained the upper hand when she managed to flip Harry to the ground, but the wily boy turned the flip into a leg sweep that threw Blaise to the mats. Quickly Harry came through with a cross-hand blow to the neck, checking it right before contact.

Blaise considered her options before sighing, "I yield."

Grinning Harry helped her up and they bowed to their Sensei.

"If you are ever late again," Sensei admonished them, "you will not like the consequences. And congratulations on losing yet another teacher."

Sensei prided himself on being the only teacher the kids hadn't tried to get rid of.

Summer passed quickly for Blaise and Harry as Trevor took over their schooling, sometimes they almost wished the crone was back, they had a better chance of escaping her. Sensei was working them hard as well as he guided them through the martial arts. Sensei was pushing them hard to learn the art of the staff so that he could gradually eased them towards preparations for training with blades. Manuel was being consumed by work and more attacks had been made on the Mafia King, leading towards him spending less time with his son as he tried to get to the bottom of the attacks. Harry was glad that Blaise was around, they were fast becoming inseparable and he didn't know what he would have done if she wasn't there to keep him company.

All too soon September first rolled around and Blaise and Harry prepared to skip from the third grade to the fifth. They had spent the last two weeks shopping for clothes; school supplies; and in Harry and Blaise's case, prank items. If they were going to skip grades they had to prove they could hold their own not only academically but among the other students and Harry planned to have fun while doing so. It was going to be one hell of an interesting school year, no Darkov or Zabini ever backed down from a challenge.

Trevor and Manuel escorted their children to school the first day, a wary guard sitting in an idling car a few feet back. Both men restlessly scanned the grounds without appearing to do so before turning their attention back to Blaise and Harry, the four of them looking every inch the part of danger in their form fitting black clothes.

"Be alert," Manuel told Harry as he quickly hugged the lean boy and checked to make sure he was armed, "do well and stay safe."

Manuel knew any comments on staying out of trouble would be wasted on his son and did not bother. Trevor stood after having given a similar, yet sterner, talk to Blaise.

"Do you both have your tracking charms? Are your radios tuned to signal four," Trevor asked all business.

At Harry and Blaise's nods Trevor went on, "you know not to reveal your weapons unless necessary and someone will be nearby at all times. Have a good day."

Trevor and Manuel drove off after a last warning of no fighting on school grounds, leaving Harry and Blaise to enter the school, the second car only moving after discharging the single passenger entrusted with the lives of the Mafia Prince and his companion.