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

Author's note: Hi everyone! After last time's interlude, we're progressing with the main story and are entering the KHR side of it. :)

Beta'd by the lovely NonchalantxFish as always. All remaining mistakes are my own.

Rating: M

Warning: Mentions of character death and severe injury

Harry glanced up at the unusually cloudless November sky and couldn't help but feel like the weather had been mocking them all week. Rain would've been more appropriate considering the occasion.

His gaze drifted back to where the coffin was being lowered into the ground. It was the last of too many funerals he'd attended in the past week. The last battle had been fierce and even though they'd won, much had been lost. Too many families had been torn apart, too many tears shed in the aftermath.

An arm wrapped around Harry's shoulder and squeezed. Even without looking he knew it belonged to Blaise. The wounds from Voldemort's tender care and the battle had been healed, but so far they hadn't had the chance to talk about his new state as an active Flame user. In addition to the numerous funerals, the trials for the Death Eaters who had survived the Last Battle had been held. Needless to say, Harry had barely slept during the last few days and he was just… exhausted, both mentally and physically. He didn't even want to know what sort of emotional and physical state Kingsley was in, considering the man had taken on the task of ridding the Ministry of Voldemort's marked and unmarked minions.

Harry's fingers gripped the wheelchair handles in front of him tightly. His fingers grazed bushy hair.

It was a miracle that Hermione was even alive. She'd been hit with an unknown curse that had dissolved her lower left leg from the inside out. The brunette had passed out due to the pain and that's how Spanner had found her. In the chaos of the battle, he hadn't found a pulse and considering Hermione had been barely breathing, he'd mistaken her for dead.

When they'd returned to her body, Shamal's better trained eye had noticed the faulty assessment. Severus had managed to bring her back from the cusp of death, but Hermione's leg was probably lost forever. The healers in St. Mungo had tried to reconstruct her missing limb, starting with Skelegro, though even that first step had failed. Some part of the dark curse was probably still lingering in her body and preventing any magical counter-measures.

Hermione was struggling with the knowledge, but Harry was glad that she'd survived anyway. She was a strong person, a fighter, and would learn to live with the handicap. And perhaps one day they'd find a counter-curse to make the use of Skelegro possible.

Harry closed his eyes, when he heard Mrs. Weasley's sobbing becoming louder. She wasn't the only red-head - or even person - here who was crying, of course. Charlie had been a very likeable person and would be missed by many.

It wasn't the only loss the Weasley's had experienced. Fred's eye had been damaged beyond repair, so he'd indeed opted to wear an eyepatch, and nobody knew what George's future would look like. The still-visible bite wound on the crook of his neck was a stark reminder of the day he'd been bitten by Greyback. It had been a full moon, but not yet night, so whether George would turn on the next full moon had to be seen.

One by one the guests said farewell to Charlie with a flower and silent words. Harry also said goodbye to his 'normal' life as a wizard.

"What're you doing out here? Are you brooding again?"

Harry looked up from where he'd been staring at the unruly sea. They were currently aboard a luxury cruiser bringing them to Mafia Island, where the brunet was supposed make his first appearance as Vongola Decimo. At the moment Harry didn't even want to think about what else Reborn had planned.

"I still feel bad about leaving everyone behind so soon after the battle," the brunet admitted to Blaise, who had joined him at the railing. Now that his friend was Active, he was joining Harry and his Guardians on their trip to get some training in controlling and using his Cloud Flames.

Blaise flicked his ear, which Harry reciprocated with a little, wandless Stinging hex and a glare. His friend didn't even have the decency to flinch, before he started to lecture him with logic .

"Hermione needs time alone to come to terms with her situation, she said so herself. Spanner's already working on a prosthetic for her. On your behest, might I add? The Weasleys need time to grieve. You've asked Shamal to find out Lupin's whereabouts. What else could you have done?"

"I could've-"

Blaise rolled his eyes. It was something that he liked doing a lot of in Harry's presence.

"What you need is a change of scenery after the last few years, and now is your chance." The other wizard gripped Harry's shoulders and steered him towards the door leading back into the ship. "Come on, the Arcobaleno wants to introduce you to someone."

When they arrived in the quite large dining room, bustling with activity due to it being dinner time, a host led them to their designated table. A blond man was already sitting there, talking to Reborn and Harry's Guardians.

"Hello, Dino Cavallone, right? Reborn's former student," Harry asked in Italian and offered his hand to the man whose (not very) intimidating expression had morphed into one of surprise.

"You already know who I am?"

Harry shrugged and nodded to a nearby table where a bunch of men in suits were seated, while he sat down after shaking hands with Dino. The whole group was staring in their direction, not even bothering with subtlety.

"I recognise one of your men. I've seen him in my grandfather's workshop." And he had learned a bit about the Arcobaleno's time as a home tutor from Shamal. "Reborn asked you to come?" Because honestly, why else would Reborn's former student conveniently show up onboard a ship to Mafia Island at the same time as him?

Harry saw the cogs in Dino's head turning, probably trying to come up with a lie or contemplating if he should just tell the truth. Harry raised his eyebrows pointedly and the blond sighed.

"Yes, he asked me to." Dino grinned sheepishly, suggesting the 'asking' had been a clear order.

Harry mirrored the grin with an amused one of his own. He could imagine what type of teacher the Arcobaleno was, because the hitman had already tried to use some of his training methods on him. Harry didn't take bullshite from anyone, though and, more importantly, wasn't scared of Reborn. There was no doubt that Reborn was highly skilled and dangerous and, for now at least, a lot stronger than he was, but he wasn't Harry's enemy. Not at the moment, and hopefully never.

"How do you feel about being Vongola Decimo? You're a lot calmer than I expected," Dino asked after the waiter had left with their order.

Harry hummed contemplatively as he took a sip of water, then focused his gaze on Dino as he set the glass back down on the table.

"It's not exactly my dream job, and if the situation had been different I would've probably kept a low profile, but I chose to accept the position in exchange for Reborn's help with a... let's call it a personal problem. Now it's time to fulfill my end of the deal."

Dino was opening his mouth to reply, when a scream disrupted the relatively calm atmosphere in the room. Harry's muscles tensed, his mind was switching to battle-mode in a split second. It was a reaction honed by years of fighting against Voldemort. The brunet zeroed in on the woman who'd screamed and followed her panicked gaze to one of the aquariums, which were placed all around the room. Between colourful fish and water plants an unnaturally fast-growing turtle could be seen. Seconds later the aquarium's glass walls shattered under the pressure of its still expanding bulk. The turtle's head darted forward and took a bite out of the closest table, which prompted the table's occupants to leap up and scramble away from the overgrown animal.

"Enzio! How did he-?" Dino, too, had jumped up from his seat and was staring at the turtle in horror. Considering the blond knew the animal's name, it was probably his pet. The wizard was looking forward to the explanation why it had a built in expanding-feature, but that had to wait until later.

"Can you stop him?" Harry asked, even as he climbed onto their table. Dino nodded, while Severus and Shamal were sighing, already knowing what he was up to. Spanner just looked resigned.

The room had turned into pandemonium with three types of people: those who were (unsuccessfully) shooting at the giant turtle, the ones stampeding out of the room in a panic and falling all over each other and the third consisted of a bunch of mafia bosses fighting over who'd be the leader in getting rid of the threat.

Harry had expected more from a ship full of mafia members.

"Shut up and calm down!"

When nothing changed, Harry grit his teeth and flared his Flames, like he'd felt Aria doing a few times in the past. At once, most people in the room stopped what they were doing to look around for the source. Even Dino paused briefly on his way to Enzio, but quickly resumed his approach, while readying his whip.

"Great, now that everyone has stopped behaving like headless chickens," Harry started, taking a short look around, "Stop shooting the turtle and get out of here. In an orderly fashion. The problem will be dealt with shortly by Don Cavallone." Dino had already reached the other side of the big room and was trying to wrangle his pet into submission with his bullwhip.

"And who are you to give us orders?" One of the mafia heads shouted. His fellows were nodding along instead of being reasonable. Fortunately, quite a few other people were following the order and streaming out of the room much more calmly, helped along by a few more level-headed individuals, among them Harry's Cloud and Mist.

Harry pinned the man down with his gaze and actually managed to make him flinch. Before the brunet had the chance to answer though, Enzio's flailing shattered another aquarium. The turtle broke free of Dino's hold as he grew another few feet. Harry's intuition raised an alarm. The wizard jumped off the table and tackled a teen to the ground just as Enzio's claws would've sliced into him. Harry hissed as some of the sharp spikes on the teen's choker stabbed into his shoulder.

When he got back onto his feet (his Guardians would be bitching at him again, he just knew it), Enzio was already passed out. One end of Dino's whip was wrapped around the turtle's neck, while the chandelier above them functioned as a pulley. In the meanwhile, the young man he'd saved had stood up too, and looked unexpectedly unperturbed. Maybe it was the shock?

"Are you okay?" Harry asked as he checked the teen for injuries. Said teen shoved his hands into the pockets of his ripped jeans. The amused smile on his lips looked totally out of place, considering he could've sustained life-threatening injuries just moments ago.

"You're an interesting one, aren't you, Harry Potter of the Vongola Famiglia?" With those parting words, the teen wandered off.

Harry kept his gaze on the weird bloke's back until he'd disappeared through the door.

What the hell had just happened?

"We need some blow dryers to shrink him!" Dino called from where he was standing next to the still unconscious Enzio with a worried expression on his face. A few minutes later a few waiters came running with said electric appliances.

Oh God, was this his life now? It was in no way less weird than the one he had lived before.

"Good job!" Reborn, who had appeared on Harry's shoulder, patted his head. And oddly warm tingle travelled from his scalp downwards and- It couldn't be, right? The brunet glanced down and saw smooth flesh where the bloody puncture wounds in his shoulder used to be. The corners of his mouth twitched.

Harry still felt like he was letting his friends at home down, but Blaise had a point, too. He'd be able to see them again soon, hopefully with the means to make their lives a bit easier, and in the meantime he'd venture his first crazy steps into mafia life.

At least his life had no chance of becoming boring.