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

Author's note: Not as long this time, but I think you'll survive. I love reading your reviews, your thoughts and speculations for the story. :) You already know one of Harry's Guardians for sure, some aren't hard to guess and others haven't appeared, yet. I'm curious about who do you think/hope Harry's other Guardians will be.

Rating: M

Warning: None

Beta'd by the lovely NonchalantxFish, thank you very much :)

Reborn couldn't sleep, which probably wasn't a surprise after the day he had experienced.

In the morning, he had been looking forward to finally getting some information about Potter and now his head was fit to burst with the onslaught of new information. The situation was a lot more complicated than he had first anticipated, but Reborn would be lying if he denied how excited he was.

Not only had he found a diamond in the rough, the next few months were bound to be very interesting in terms of action and information. If he was lucky enough, he might even make a breakthrough concerning his curse.

Flicking on the bedside lamp, the brunet dragged one of the heavy books that Potter had lent him onto the mattress. Leon, who'd been sleeping on the pillow next to Reborn's head, scurried under the duvet to escape the light, as if he hadn't napped beneath the hitman's fedora for almost half a day.

Shaking his head, Reborn flipped the leather-bound tome open and began to read. Two hours later he knew all about the rise and fall of the Dark Lord Gellert Grindelwald, but instead of getting sleepier, his mind had become more alert.

He shut the book with a deep sigh and hopped off the bed to get dressed. Maybe stretching his legs would help. With his suit and fedora in place, he flicked the light off again and opened the door to his guest room to step into the ridiculously long hallway. Wizarding Space, they had called it, a type of magic that expanded the interior of buildings and such things without it being visible from the outside. Very handy, from what he had seen.

Reborn silently descended the stairway and stopped at the bottom. Surrounded by dozens of lit and unlit candles, Potter sat cross-legged on the sitting room floor, his eyes closed and his steady palms facing upwards. Little, flickering flames were dancing across his hands and from time to time one would jump to a candle and light it.

The hitman watched quietly as the circle of light was slowly completed and the remaining flames in Potter's hands disappeared.

"Where did you learn that?" Adding Flames to objects – weapons in particular - or directing them to certain body parts to enhance them was normal, but he had seldom seen someone manipulating them like this.

Potter opened his eyes and offered him a wry grin. "Can't sleep either, huh? Well, this is a training exercise for Flame control. Using Hard Flames comes to me easily, but I have to really concentrate to use Soft Flames, so it's a good way to clear my mind of other stuff."

"That doesn't answer my question, idiot," Reborn criticised blank-faced and threw one of the apples from the fruit bowl on the sitting room table at the brunet's head. And he wasn't sure if he was surprised or not that a hand shot up to catch the projectile in mid-air, before Potter bit into it with a cheeky grin

"When I activated my Flames – I was twelve, if you want to know – I had a hard time controlling them. Sometimes they would just pop up out of nowhere and a few times I almost burned down the house. Due to his work, Grandpa knew a lot of people; among them, a Sky who agreed to help me out. She showed me a lot of exercises; most of them didn't really work for me, but this one did." He shrugged. "It's nothing special, really."

"And who is this 'she'?" Reborn inquired, his dark eyes narrowing. Most Flame users, especially Skies, were part of the Mafia, so he probably knew this person.

"'She' is someone whose identity I won't be disclosing to you," Potter replied calmly as he got to his feet, stretched and stepped out of the fire circle. "Don't bother trying to threaten me… or asking Shamal. He doesn't know her, either."

As if that would stop Reborn from finding out, anyway. And he would. One way or another. But first:

"You said you activated your Flames when you were twelve and now you're seventeen. Five years and you still don't have a full set of Guardians. That is unacceptable. By the time you're officially announced as Vongola Decimo all positions will be filled!" While Guardians weren't essential for a Sky per se, it was still a matter of reputation and security, especially for a mafia boss of the Vongola Famiglia.

"Perhaps," the wizard mumbled, while he gathered the still burning candles on the table with a flick of his wand. For a moment, Potter stared at the fire, before he turned around to face Reborn. "I have a connection to every Guardian that I do have, forged and nurtured by something more worthwhile than a need to satisfy tradition. I refuse to pick a few random men or women just because they have the Flame types I'm missing to 'complete the set'. Nox ." The candles flickered out, plunging the room into near darkness.

"I think we should try to get some sleep. Today, we'll go back at the cave to get the Horcrux. Good night."

Potter nodded at him before going up the stairs, leaving behind a contemplating Reborn. His new pupil seemed much too stubborn to be bullied into anything he didn't want to do, so the Acrobaleno had to think of a different way to accomplish his goals. A smirk appeared on his lips, accompanied by a calculating glint in his eyes.

By the time the Succession Ceremony rolled around, every Vongola Ring would have a new wearer.

"I upgraded the Spidbots, they should be more resistant to water and fire now. I also tweaked the E-Googles, they are thirty percent more accurate. Then we have the-"

Reborn eyed the ever-growing pile of gadgets on the kitchen table, then the tall, slightly gangly teenager who had built all of them. At only sixteen, Spanner had already constructed quite a few interesting and useful inventions. He was bound to be an asset for Vongola, but this was a bit too much. There was no way they'd be able to carry all of this.

Potter seemed to agree, because he dragged the taller teen into his arms mid-sentence and squeezed him.

"I know you're worried, but I promise we'll be extra careful this time."

"For you, 'careful' means running headlong into danger," the blond deadpanned, but returned the embrace anyway, leaving behind an oil stain on the back of Potter's shirt.

That was the moment when Snape stepped into the room. He set his sights on the table, regarded the hugging brothers and sighed.

"Have you finished preparing? The others are waiting for us on site."

"Just about." Potter squeezed the blond one last time, before he turned to the table and shoved some of the gadgets into a pouch that was attached to his belt. A pouch too small to logically contain all of the things which had disappeared into it… Wizarding Space, then.

Internally shaking his head, Reborn jumped onto the teen's shoulder. Potter looked a bit surprised but not averse. Not that Reborn would have cared if he had.

"Hold on tight, I don't want you to get lost or splinched. See you later, Spanner."

The hitman had only seconds to prepare for one of the worst forms of travel he had ever experienced. One moment he was reaching out to clutch Potter's head, the next, the kitchen from the 'little' cottage in the middle of nowhere disappeared from his eyes.

When he regained his wits, they stood in a narrow, green valley, which was surrounded by mountains on three sides; the fourth was mostly covered by rocks and shrubbery.

"Where are we?"

"Somewhere in the Scottish highlands."

Reborn aborted a frown and turned to the person who had answered him. It turned out to be a tall man with red hair and a charming grin. He was accompanied by a bald man of similar height and seemingly African ethnicity, who was eyeing the hitman sceptically.

"These are William Weasley and Kingsley Shacklebolt. They will assist us in our mission to acquire the Horcrux. Bill, Kingley, this is Reborn, one of Shamal's acquaintances, who will be helping us from now on," Snape introduced and waved a hand at a seemingly random part of the mountain next to them. "If you would, please, Bill."

"Right down to business, as usual, Severus." Still grinning, the redhead turned back to Reborn and his wizard-shaped means of transport. "It's nice to meet you, Reborn. Harry, I'm glad you're feeling better. Tonks wants me to tell you, once again, that she's sorry."

Potter uttered a sigh but quirked a smile.

"Then please tell her, once again, that it's fine. It could have happened to any of us. The rock looked like any other."

Weasley nodded, squeezed the younger man's shoulder and finally approached the mountain. With a flick of his wrist a wand appeared in his hand, which the redhead promptly started to wave around - not unlike a conductor, to be honest.

"The wards are still down. I don't think V knows that we've found this hiding place. Let's go inside."

Both of Reborn's eyebrows disappeared beneath his fedora.

'Go inside'?

There was neither a cave entrance in sight nor any indication that someone had disguised the entrance to look like a part of the mountain. Then again, even Mist Flames were quite capable of concealment, so they were probably standing right in front of the entrance without seeing and feeling it.

And yep, Weasley had just disappeared through a solid looking rock face, followed by Shacklebolt and Snape.

Potter took a deep breath and approached the entrance, as well.

"Well, let's hope we don't have to find out if third time's really the charm, huh?"