(Chapter 3)
To say that Giotto di Vongola's ever famed Hyper Intuition was a supernatural anomaly, an unexplainable wonder, a thing of legend and "magic" would be to do the ability absolutely no justice, Tsuna thinks.
Actually, it would be kind of insulting, to be honest.
Very insulting.
First, it is important to note that Tsuna hates things that have no explanation attached. It's not that he's particularly inquisitive or anything, but Tsuna lives the life of the fantastical.
Flames, magic, time-travel - kami, he still isn't quite sure that he isn't schizophrenic.
(That would explain the whole having actual friends thing, though…)
While it is true that Tsuna considers himself to be a realist, he hardly ever feels that he has any true grasp on what reality is.
Is this real? Is it there? Is it not?
He wishes he could say he knew, at times.
Explanations made things feel real, not like some kind of a joke that his brain concocted to counter his case of chronic loneliness. If there was an explanation, if it made sense, then surely, it must be real.
Then yes, his life must be real.
As such, he had initially refused to believe that Hyper Intuition was actually a thing - maybe nodding along whenever it was mentioned in order to avoid any are you serious looks, trying to explain away that weird feeling that often served as a forewarning somehow, some way.
Then, eventually, he finally cracked and asked Reborn for an explanation. After all, for all that Reborn never explained anything as it was happening unless he actually had to, the man never failed to have an explanation, a reason, for just about everything.
Information is never going to be spoon fed to you, Tsuna, Reborn had once said with a chastising shake of his head. It's either you go out and find out on your own, or you properly utilize your sources and ask.
Tsuna didn't really like asking questions. Before, before he became someone, whenever he asked someone something at school they just looked at him like he was an idiot and ignored him, or talked to him as if he was a five year old - even the teachers.
Especially the teachers.
It took Reborn - with a condescending smirk, of course, damn him - announcing that a lack of information would lead to his early demise, that unless he wanted to have died of being no-good written on his headstone, then he'd damn well learn to ask questions and ask them well for Tsuna to finally get over himself and start verbalizing his inquiries again.
And so, Tsuna had asked about the trait that made everyone so certain that he was meant to succeed Vongola's bloody throne.
The explanation itself was relatively simple. Because of a dominant genetic trait that's involved in the expression of Flames, Tsuna's body is constantly emitting Sky Flames even though most people don't emit any kind of Flames at all, unless it's a conscious thing done by someone with a lot of control.
Flames are naturally connected to a person's nervous system, unless said Flames were lab-generated, of course. Something about them augmenting neural signals or whatever, he didn't understand it that well.
For example, when a Sun user heals a person, they first send their Flames through whatever it is that they're healing and allow only for the Flames to touch, not actually Activate anything. The healer feels exactly what's going on inside the patient, which lets a capable healer create a scarily accurate mental image of what they're trying to heal.
Then, from that mental image they start Activating things - like accelerating blood clotting in one area, forcing the immune system to create a specific antibody to get rid of an infection, etc.
It takes a terrifying amount of control, all of it - making sure that they were Activating the right thing, that they didn't Activate it too much or too little or anything.
Ryohei once told Tsuna that he had poured over three different medical textbooks (and science reference books for all the terms, too) when he had first learned to heal before he had felt even remotely confident enough to heal even something as insignificant as a paper cut.
Even the extremely smallest mistake could cause cancer, he had explained. It's extremely scary, but that didn't stop me! It just meant I had to pull a couple of all-nighters.
There's a reason why so few Suns heal, after all. There are very few people that Tsuna respects more than he respects those who do and do it well, like Ryohei and Lussuria. Even Reborn hardly trusted himself to do more than accelerate the healing of a broken bone - his reserves were too large to be reliably controlled on such a microscopic level.
Anyways, Hyper Intuition worked in a similar way. The Flames Tsuna emitted fanned out over a relatively small area that steadily increased as Tsuna's seal was undone. Then, they sent back information to Tsuna. They interacted with people and objects subtly, so no one ever noticed what exactly Tsuna's Flames were doing.
It was very useful.
For example, if someone nearby was lying, then that felt weird. If they were nervous about something, then that also felt weird to Tsuna (albeit a different kind of weird). If something was disturbing the area like, say, an incoming bullet, then Tsuna was aware of it immediately after it entered his area of Intuition and could act accordingly.
And apparently, it also interacted with magic.
Tsuna recalls having felt a strange, though not unpleasant, tingling feeling in Magical Tokyo. The magic of the city, bright, warm and exciting - though not terribly overwhelming, touched his Flames, mingled with them and spread his senses out more and more. It was like his Intuition was on drugs - the new depth of perception had quickly disoriented him and Tsuna had been forced to grasp onto Yamamoto and Gokudera's arms before he fell over in shock.
The safety and home feeling of Harmonization, of their Flames instinctively latching on to his, quickly stabilized the new sensations and Kami, he loves his best friends so much.
They had continued onwards, exploring Magical Tokyo together with Mama and Reborn as Tsuna kept holding on to them with a tight grip, even when he had finally gotten used to the magically enhanced form of his Intuition. Tsuna recalls getting lost in their familiar voices, their happiness and laughter, joining in and getting to truly immerse himself in the magic - so long as some of the people that he loved most were by his side.
Now, Hogwarts is a different story entirely.
The moment that Tsuna stepped onto Hogwarts' grounds, he could feel the castle's innate magic latching on to his Flames, searingly bright and powerful but not malicious - like an ear-ringing hello from a proud parent welcoming their child home.
It was overwhelming.
Tsuna felt his senses expanding again, started to gain a general understanding of the feel of the magic of the castle and its occupants. However, this time there were no stabilizing bonds to keep him steady, Mukuro and Chrome having decided to opt out of this initial meeting with Albus Dumbledore - the man made Mukuro very uncomfortable for some reason, a feeling that Chrome shared, much to Tsuna's confusion and curiosity. If Tsuna had asked for them to accompany him then they would have, Chrome had assured him, but he didn't really want to ask any more of them than he already did.
Besides, he had Mama and Reborn. It would be fine, he had thought.
Unfortunately, Tsuna failed to account for the fact that he's a really pathetic Sky that can hardly survive a single day without at least one Guardian, since his life is just terrible like that.
Internally, Tsuna began to panic, vaguely registering Reborn's voice and Mama's warm, warm hand. He couldn't handle the sheer density of the magic - there was so much of it in such a relatively small area and he could feel all of it and -
Oh.
The magic withdrew within seconds, sort of, the intensity of its presence dwindling in an instant and somehow, it almost felt… apologetic?
The castle is sentient. Why is this surprising again?
Tsuna took a deep breath, repeating it's okay, it's okay, it's okay, don't worry about it in his head until he was sure that his Flames practically radiated the thought, receiving kind acceptance in response.
"Tsuna? Tsu-kun? What's wrong?"
Mama was worried. Tsuna winced, that was the last thing he wanted.
"Ah… nothing. Bloodline abilities," Tsuna deflected. Reborn wasn't fooled. "Tsuna."
Tsuna internally cringed at the unspoken promise of even harsher training if he wasn't honest. "No, seriously," Tsuna insisted. "This place has a lot of magic and it was making my Intuition go crazy for a second there. It's fine now, though!"
Really, it was. The magic was wrapped around him now, warm and comforting and not at all overwhelming. Mama placed a hand on his shoulder and he could feel her nervous grip tighten. "Ah… I'm afraid that I still don't understand how this power of yours works, Tsu-kun, but if you say that it isn't hurting you…"
Reborn frowned, contemplative. "The Vongola's Hyper Intuition can't, and shouldn't, ever be turned off. But the way that it interacts with magic is becoming a serious issue…"
Well, he isn't wrong. Tsuna imagines that going somewhere like the wizarding hospital, or the Ministry of Magic, might give him a panic attack at this point without any of his Guardians, or the understanding of sentient magic like Hogwarts'. "Maybe it'll stop doing that once I get used to magic being around me?"
"Perhaps," Reborn says non-committedly. "But it would be foolish to just go with that assumption. I'll look into it."
Tsuna doesn't doubt that he'll have a solution within a few days. Or at least, a strategy? The interaction between Flames and magic is a relatively unexplored territory, what with the natural separation between the two societies, but he has faith in Reborn's sheer tenacity in making sure that there isn't anything in the world that he doesn't know.
They'll figure it out, one way or the other.
They are greeted at the gates to Hogwarts by an extremely large man - he could probably dwarf even the likes of Lancia or Xanxus which was an… odd thought, to say the least.
Dwarfing people that had once seemed larger than life, that is. Not that they still were, Tsuna likes to think that he knows better now, but it really does put things into perspective.
"'ello there!" the giant of a man greeted, his voice as large as his size. "Ik-oo-say T'unayoshi and his guardians."
Tsuna winced at the butchering of his name, but it was to be expected. Japanese and English pronunciations were very different, after all. It probably grated his ears a bit more than it normally would have because he wasn't quite used that address yet either, though.
After Mama had finalized the divorce, with much protest from his father (that had been fun - not), Tsuna had been given the choice of keeping the name 'Sawada', or switching to Mama's maiden name, 'Ikusei'. Nurture.
It fits, Tsuna had decided. So now he was 'Ikusei Tsunayoshi' and yeah, it was taking a while to get used to it, to not reflexively introduce himself as 'Sawada'.
Hagrid, the groundskeeper, had a very thick accent. It was hard to understand, but Tsuna had been taught with Reborn's crisp, London-English, so he imagines that he's having much less of an issue comprehending it than say, Yamamoto would with his American-styled English.
Tsuna tried to listen and glean information from the man as they walked towards the large castle. Classes are in session right now, Hogwarts is a premier institution, and something terrible is going on if the false cheer and heavy set of Hagrid's shoulders were any indication.
The man was clearly trying his best to make Hogwarts sound as good as it probably was, but he wasn't a very good actor. He loves this place, but something's off.
Tsuna and Reborn exchange a look as Mama continues to listen attentively - she can be a bit careless when it comes to these things, sometimes - and return their attention to Hagrid. Proceed with caution, they agree.
It was a gloomy day and no matter how warm Hogwarts' magic was, Tsuna couldn't help but feel some kind of an unnatural chill. He didn't know what it was, but it set him on edge.
Tsuna thinks that he saw the fluttering of a gray cloak in the distance - why does that bother him so much? - but couldn't investigate. Hagrid sped up, practically pushing them into the castle - "it isn' good to be outside too long today," the man insisted.
Yes, very reassuring.
Too bad Tsuna didn't exactly have many other options…
Headmaster Albus Dumbledore, Tsuna can feel, is a lot like Nono. The tired twinkle in his eye, the disarmingly frail appearance that doesn't quite seem to match up to a man of his supposed ability.
A man that has been in power too long, he bets. But he probably isn't too bad - by Tsuna's standards, that is. He's the headmaster of a magic school, not the leader of some criminal citadel, after all.
But then again, being in charge of the most popular source of education for an entire country is a lot of power, a lot of influence over the future of a society. Tsuna imagines that if someone like that wanted to indoctrinate something into the very fabric of Wizarding Britain's culture, he could. Easily.
But again, the man doesn't feel terribly dangerous. So Tsuna will reserve judgement, for now.
"Good day, Professor Dumbledore," Mama greeted warmly with a small bow.
"And to you as well, Professor and young Mister Ikusei," Professor Dumbledore began warmly. "Forgive me, but I don't recall your companion's name being mentioned in your letters?"
It wouldn't have been - Reborn was something of a household name when it came to assassination and they hadn't been sure of what the extent of British wizarding intelligence-gathering capabilities actually was.
Surely a government that has been so successful at keeping something as big as magic a secret for so long couldn't be as incompetent as they seemed to be?
Well, according to Mukuro they absolutely were, but he's a bit of a cynic so Tsuna's going to take everything that comes out of his mouth with a grain of salt.
So they decided to just name-drop and see what happens - a simple strategy to test someone's information reserves.
There are a lot of ways that this could go, Tsuna's magical education, that is. Britain's current political climate made it impossible for the school to not be segregated into cliques based on "blood-status" - based on how dangerous a family was, their money, government positions. Tsuna, while his mother is a pure-blood, is undeniably a half-blood.
So there are two specific routes that Tsuna can take. He could stay quiet, keep his head down, get in and out of Hogwarts without any trouble - after all, who would try and bother a foreign half-blood? Why bother? There wouldn't be any benefit to it, especially in as Eurocentric of an environment as Hogwarts.
Or… he could actually go along with that crazy half-assed idea that he had originally proposed to Mukuro (and gotten approved by Reborn - why did he do that?) and try and create a wizard-vigilante alliance.
In that case, it would make more sense to integrate himself with pureblood families, like what Primo had originally done when he was first creating the Vongola. Tsuna didn't want to draw innocent, normal people into any of his mess, but he highly doubted that any of those families were entirely clean, if the information they had gathered thus far was any indication.
And… well… he could definitely see the benefits of the approach.
Magical technology really was incredible in a lot of ways, and he imagines that incorporating it into the gear that he and his Guardians, the whole Family, used would probably make all of the dangerous situations that they tended to get into on a regular basis much less dangerous.
Having significant connections in the magical world, ones that wouldn't rely on his mother in any way, shape or form and drag her into his mess? That would be the best way to get said technology in bulk amounts and developers.
And, well, if there is a way to make sure that the people he loves come home with less injuries, to help make sure that they even come home at all?
Well. Never let it be said that Tsuna had anything against getting his hands a little dirty for his greater good.
"You wouldn't have," Reborn said with almost-dismissive confidence. Asserting dominance - a very typical Reborn thing to do. "I am Reborn. Ciao."
Not giving them Reborn's name initially, then dropping it later, was an easy way to see exactly how much Professor Dumbledore actually knew about the muggle underworld, and exactly how wary the man would be of Tsuna.
The pronouncement did little more than draw amusement from the elderly wizard. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Reborn. That is quite the interesting name."
Was I supposed to have heard of it before?
Tsuna choked back laughter - the man basically dismissed Reborn just as the hitman did him. The look said it all - you may think that you are dangerous, but you are naught but a child.
A younger Tsuna would have found the whole situation terrifying, all the politics, the magic, Reborn - but honestly, after the whole Byakuran-incident, Tsuna really does find it hard to find most "terrifying" things as anything other than slightly anxiety-inducing.
"It is, isn't it," Reborn replies mildly. You don't know who I am, but you will soon enough.
"Um," Tsuna interrupts with all the elegance and social grace that has been beaten into his sorry ass for the past two years. "This is a very nice school, Professor. The magic feels very warm."
Tsuna can practically feel Reborn's irritation at Tsuna's meekness. It isn't exactly very "rich, powerful heir" of him, but Tsuna really isn't that good at any of this stuff yet.
Sure, he can fight. And yes, he does have a pretty solid grasp on politics and etiquette.
He just has some trouble putting the last bit into practice. This is pretty much his first "sink or swim" situation in that particular area.
"Magic sensors are very rare, my dear boy," Professor Dumbledore said, gently, and Tsuna got the feeling that the statement was meant to lower his guard, then turned to Mama. "But most don't develop their abilities very quickly at all. You said that your son has only been aware of magic for the past two months, correct?"
Mama nodded. "Ah, yes, it's, ah… something that runs in the family."
Tsuna had a feeling that Reborn was about a hair length away from banging his head against the wall at this point.
"I see… I find it hard to believe that such an ability wouldn't have manifested earlier in his life, as abilities like this one tend to act separately from one's magic," the man explained thoughtfully, pausing. "I don't mean to insult you, but would this not have been an indication that your son is not in fact a squib before this point in time?"
Okay, yeah, Tsuna can see that logic. Magic abilities only show up in kids with functional magical cores. He basically just let Professor Dumbledore know that he has a well-developed, easily noticed magical ability because he couldn't think of anything better to say, which blows quite the hole in their story.
Reborn cut in smoothly. "Tsunayoshi's ability has been manifesting in ways unrelated to magic as a result of his condition, thus it went unnoticed. I am sure you're aware of your kind's inability to take notice of anything outside of your little bubble?"
Tsuna's eyes widened at the blatant insult. Why. Why does Reborn have to do this?!
"We can be a bit narrow-minded, yes," Dumbledore agreed easily enough. "However, I also have my doubts that this 'condition' could have so severely altered the nature of a sensor."
Wait, Tsuna thought that their story was just that magic is weird, not that there was something specifically wrong with Tsuna and shit, Tsuna never actually asked to see Mama's letter to Professor Dumbledore, he doesn't know all the details of the cover, shit, shit, shit he should have asked -
"Untrained magic is unpredictable," Reborndemurred. "Your kind says it often enough in the multitude of texts on developing magical cores. Trauma is a terrible thing, wouldn't you agree?"
"Of course. That being said, trauma is known to cause a magical core to go into overdrive, not seal itself away for years at a time," Dumbledore pointed out. "If I am to provide Tsunayoshi with the best possible education, then it is important that I be completely aware of the circumstances surrounding his unique situation, Mister Reborn. I'm sure you can agree with that?"
"Perhaps," Reborn allowed. "However, we have already provided you with all of the information you need. Tsunayoshi is a fast learner that is already on par with, if not better than, your soon-to-be fourth year students. He does not require any special treatment beyond that which we have already requested."
"A student with only two and a half months of magical training, whom needs to return to Japan every weekend without failure," the old man began, more seriously than he had been speaking before, "- is an unprecedented case. His scant education has only been provided by two people, one of which is non-magical. Objectively speaking, I cannot in good conscious allow for him to simply join the fourth year class with the information I have now."
"With all due respect, Professor," Mama cut in, "- my son's education has been optimized for him to learn as much as he can within a short amount of time. I've been an educator for over a decade now and I can assure you, that he has done wonderfully. He will have no trouble integrating with the rest of the class."
Tsuna felt a swell of warmth in his chest at Mama's praise. Dumbledore's right - it is hard to believe that someone like him could just… fit right in in a situation like this. But he has Mama and Reborn and Hibari, will have Mukuro and Chrome with him.
He can do this.
Tsuna found himself nodding along. "And to address your other concern, Professor… I won't be returning every weekend because of my situation with magic," he said firmly, pouring his resolve into his words.
"Then why will you?" Dumbledore asked and Tsuna could see something akin to approval in those wise, old eyes.
"I have a responsibility to my family in Japan," Tsuna declared, meeting the man's gaze head-on. "There are children that depend on me and people that need me. To abandon them now, even for the sake of my education, would be selfish."
Tsuna paused, taking a deep breath. "I would rather remain home without any magical education at all than abandon my responsibilities. If I can't Portkey back weekly, then we should save ourselves the trouble of having this conversation and end this now."
Dumbledore paused for a moment, mulling over Tsuna's declaration. Tsuna nearly shrunk back, surprised at his own forward-ness, but a glance at Reborn showed that the man looked… proud, proud of what Tsuna just said, did.
Tsuna couldn't back down now.
"Very well," Dumbledore said, finally, warmly. "I can make those accommodations. That being said, I still have my reservations about your joining of the fourth year class."
"Then he will prove himself."
Wait, what?
Tsuna looked at Reborn incredulously. "I will?"
Reborn nodded, lips curving into a smirk. "Yes, you will."
Tsuna brings a palm to his face. He should have expected something like this. Really, he should have. Reborn did say to be prepared for anything, but come on… "Right now?"
"Right now." Mama nodded enthusiastically. "Why, of course! I just tested your knowledge a day ago, you should be just fine, Tsu-kun."
Tsuna shuddered at the reminder. Okay, yeah, this is fine, he highly doubts that whatever it was that these people could throw at him had anything on what Mama and Reborn were capable of pulling on a regular basis.
"Fortunately," Dumbledore began jovially, "- we have just the thing for that. An assessment has been prepared for that very reason."
"Oh. That's great."
Well. That's just what he gets for failing his first exam of the day, Tsuna supposes.
A/N
Well… this took longer than expected to finish. Funnily enough, this is only about half of what I originally had planned for this chapter, but alas, if I had decided to put everything in then it would've taken another semester to publish, what with all of my classes and fencing going on and all that.
Hopefully the next chapter won't take as long, though - expect another update within the month.
Ciao!