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

Author's note: Sorry for keeping you waiting. I've focussed on other stories for a while and have struggled with this chapter a bit. But now here it is :) I'm always happy to hear what you think about the newest (or even the older) chapters!

Rating: M

Warning: none

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

Instead of leading them to the regular breakfast room, Dino opened a door in a side corridor. Tsunayoshi stepped through the threshold first and was at once surrounded by his concerned friends. The tall, dark-haired one had wrapped an arm around Tsunayoshi's shoulder and earned himself a sharp glare and biting words from Hayato, while another teen proclaimed that he was EXTREMELY glad his friend was alright again. The little kid whose gadget was responsible for Harry's tumultuous state of mind, however, was currently sneaking towards a bowl of fruit and popped a whole bunch of grapes into his mouth in short succession.

Harry sidled around them in order to reach his part of the group, which had remained seated, but oozed just as much worry. He sat down next to Spanner and offered each of them a little smile in greeting, except for a certain Arcobaleno, whom he carefully didn't even glance at.

"Harry, how are you?" Blaise laid a hand on his shoulder, brows furrowing his forehead.

Harry more or less repeated the reply he'd given Basil. To be honest, the brunet was getting sick of hearing this question. Unfortunately he'd become quite familiar with it throughout the years and chances were it'd be a frequent companion in the future as well. It was a fact of life that he ended up in danger more often than he'd like — sometimes of his own volition, other times because danger had found him on its own.

"Do you know what happened?" Shamal inquired and there was something in the man's voice that told Harry the former hitman already knew. He'd probably seen a Sky-Guardian bond break in the past, if in a less convoluted situation.

"I do, more or less, but-" For a moment Harry stared at the scrambled eggs that Spanner had pushed in front of him. After taking a deep breath, he finally directed his gaze at Reborn, who stared at him with an indecipherable gaze. It was surprisingly weird to see the hitman like this, even though it was the form he should be used to the most. He had, after all, only seen the older version for barely five minutes. Harry had also expected the pain to get worse upon seeing Reborn again and was surprised, when it remained the same steady ache. "-but before revealing anything, I have to talk to Reborn first."

"So he did do something. Yesterday." Severus narrowed his eyes, an expression that had scared the living daylights out of quite a few students in the past. Fortunately, Harry had never been one of them.

None of his Guardians' grumbling would convince him to veer from his decision. Harry still wasn't thrilled about confronting this topic, but he didn't want it festering between them. Even if Reborn had no clue what was going on right now, sooner or later he'd find out on his own and possibly feel betrayed when he learned that Harry had known all along. It was best if they cleared everything up right away and went on from there.

By now Tsunayoshi had also sat down and started to shovel food into his mouth, apparently more than happy to bury his head in the sand in regards to any arising problems.

"Dino said there might be a problem." Harry was less inclined to ignore a potential catastrophe.

"Someone broke Xanxus Vongola out of his imprisonment," Reborn revealed. He was still staring at Harry with unblinking eyes, something that was getting more unnerving with every passing minute.

"Nono's youngest son? Didn't he stage a coup d'état?" Harry inquired curiously, before he finally ate some of his egg, when Spanner nudged him for the nth time. He probably had a small bruise from his brother's elbow, but the appetite he'd had in his room had mostly disappeared again.

Reborn nodded. "Nono stopped him him with a Sky technique invented by Vongola Primo called the Zero Point Breakthrough. He was basically frozen for the last few years. None of the guards can say who's responsible. According to them, they were knocked out somehow. Chances are high that the same people who've helped him during the Cradle Affair were responsible. They're Varia's highest ranking members nowadays. They've already been interrogated, but all of them have alibis."

Harry wondered why the other people responsible for the Cradle Affair had been allowed to stay in Varia, not to mention become high ranking members, and asked his question out loud.

"No idea why Nono decided to let them go-" Shamal, who Harry knew had refused an invitation to join Varia in the past, mused, "-but apparently all members used to be pretty loyal to Xanxus and probably still are. It's not that much of a suprise that those who helped him rose up in rank. Vongola has no say in what goes on with them, after all."

Harry nodded in understanding and pensively pushed the remaining egg on his plate around with his fork. "So... he'll most likely lay low for a while to recuperate and reestablish his powerbase, before coming after Nono and both Tsunayoshi and me, right?"

The brunet heard a loud clatter at the table next to them, the one occupied by Tsunayoshi and his friends. Harry didn't turn around to make sure, but assumed the other Sky had heard his conclusion and was starting to freak out.

"Most likely," Reborn agreed, also ignoring Tsunayoshi. "The whole of Vongola is looking for him and they've increased security for Nono, but so far they've found nothing. We have to stay alert, too, and will therefore cut our stay at Mafia Island short. It's too easy for Xanxus to get to you here. We will leave tomorrow. There's also-"

Harry raised his hand in a bid to stop him and was slightly surprised, when the hitman actually fell silent. He was more than sure that Reborn was about to drag up the topic of Guardians again and the brunet refused to have this conversation with an audience, especially when half of the people present were (more or less) strangers to him.

"I think we should have that conversation now. I'll see you all later."

"But you barely ate-" Blaise started, but sighed deeply, when Harry got up. He pressed an apple into his friend's hand, which he accepted reluctantly.

Harry quickly angled his body away from Reborn as he left the table to dissuade the Arcobaleno from using his shoulder as a means of transport. It was obvious to him that Reborn didn't know what had transpired between them and therefore didn't know how difficult it was for Harry to be even in the same room as him at the moment.

Apparently the hitman understood the hint anyway, even though he clearly had no idea where it stemmed from exactly, because he walked beside Harry until they reached Reborn's room, which was the closest one they could talk freely in .

"What did you want to talk about?" were the first words out of Reborn's mouth, when the door closed behind them.

Something was going on between them and the hitman was dying to know what it was. He wasn't clueless. Had Harry not wished to talk to him, Reborn would've known something was up regardless. The Sky's defensive behavior towards him since he'd walked into the breakfast room and noticed the Arcobaleno spoke volumes. It wasn't fear exactly, but the teen was uncomfortable in his company and that was an unwelcome development. Just what the hell had his older self done to Harry? The brunet was still slightly paler than usual and from time to time his fingers trembled, similar to the first time he'd met the wizard.

"Do you know what happened yesterday?" Harry asked after a few moments of awkward silence. He was fiddling with the apple Blaise had handed him, which directed Reborn's gaze towards the bracelet on his wrist. It was jewelry Reborn hadn't seen before and he wondered where the brunet had got it from. "I know you were obliviated and… I'm pretty sure the one who did it was me."

Harry pulled one hand away from the bracelet and splayed it on the middle of his own chest, finally trying to make eye contact with Reborn. The hitman was rolling this new tidbit of information through his mind, but his attention kept getting drawn to the hand on Harry's chest. It was the same spot, where he seemed to feel the pain the most. Was Harry feeling the same? Was this the reason why he'd passed out the previous day?

"Do you know what happened?" He repeated and Reborn reluctantly shook his head.

He hadn't felt this wrong-footed for a while. Not even magic had thrown him off-course like this. But then again, this was more personal to him.

"The… the pain you must be feeling, it's from a broken Sky-Guardian bond. You Harmonized, while you were in the future and when you went back to the present it snapped, because the other side of the bond wasn't there anymore."

Reborn was staring at the brunet for a long moment. His usually quick mind had some trouble processing the new information. Then he had to admit it made sense. The pain felt deeper than anything physical could, but when souls and Flames were involved- wait-

"You're the Sky." Reborn said, his voice certain, but quieter than intended, almost a whisper.

With these new puzzle pieces added into the mix, it wasn't a surprise Harry'd had a panic attack. Even now, the feeling of apparently finding and losing his Sky in a matter of minutes was worse than anything the hitman had ever felt before, including his regression to toddlerhood due to the Arcobaleno Curse.

How did he feel about this? Not about finally having Harmonized with someone and not even remembering how it had felt, before it had been ripped away from him again, but about Harry being that someone. The Sky wasn't someone he'd disregard completely even now, but after some musing, Reborn was still of the same opinion he'd been when Harry had first tried to forge a bond between them during the final battle with Voldemort - Harry had potential, but at the moment he wasn't someone he'd happily call his Sky.

In the future, though…

"I know you don't want me, right now anyway. I… I don't think it would be possible at the moment either way…" The wizard clenched the shirt where his hand hadn't moved from his chest. "But do you think that, maybe we could try to get to know each other better for now and see where it goes? Even if it's hard?"

"You still haven't made me more dessert after that tiramisu," Reborn said - blurted it out really. After rethinking his words for a moment he found them fitting enough, however.

"What?" Harry blinked in surprise and Reborn smirked. The expression was only half forced.

"You still haven't made me more dessert," the hitman repeated. "Information about me isn't for free, not even for you."

Slowly understanding trickled into the brunet's expression, who snorted a short moment later.

"You mean 'something interesting may happen' means I can exchange food for personal trivia?" Harry grinned, but didn't seem uninterested. Like this both got what they wanted. Getting new information about the teen was more than easy now that he was in constant close proximity to him. He didn't need an exchange for that. Tasty desserts on the other hand... "Can I at least ask the questions I want an answer to and you'll answer?"

"You'll just have to try it out, won't you?"

"You strike a hard bargain." Harry's grin got wider, even as his body lost some of the visible tension. This was how the brunet should be towards him - self-assured and teasing. "Alright then, I'll keep it in mind. Maybe when we're back at Rose Cottage. That reminds me. When do you think Nono and Sawada will insist on the ring battle?"

"Hard to say. For now, Nono seems to be content with the current situation and Iemitsu knows Tsuna has no chance against you right now and will probably wait a while longer. Most likely Xanxus will be the one who will make some kind of move first."

Harry sighed.

"And in the meantime dozens of other things will probably go wrong," the Sky murmured.