Once she finished packing her belongings, the teacher gave the room - her former working office - a final glance before she departed from here, albeit unwillingly, once and for all; after the incident, Vernon had been incessantly complaining to her boss, even going as far as spewing several fabrications that she had started the fight. No matter how much she defended herself, her prejudiced and sexist boss refused to even listen to her, and all he cared about was to please Vernon, someone who held a position in the government workforce. And in the end, she was fired.

No doubt, she was beyond enraged at this incident but… what can she do about it? After she had calmed down, she could only accept her current reality.

The teacher noticed the class picture sitting on her desk - no, she shake her head solemnly, not hers anymore - and she picked it up, looking fondly at her students who all sported a bubbly smile, some grinning with their cheeks stretched wide. Although this was her first year working here, she truly love what she do and as a teacher, her role was to help nurture children and it was a shame that she wasn't able to continue doing so here.

During the course of the past two months, she had grown attached to a lot of the children, but admittedly, she failed to reach out her hand towards those who need the most: one like Harry Potter.

Yes, she had noticed Harry sitting alone and seemingly having fun by himself, yet she had never privately communicated with him and work things out. Before, she used to think that perhaps Harry would feel uncomfortable with her entering his personal space or that he'd preferred solitude, but now, she regretted that she had never take the initiative and break down Harry's walls.

She shake her head; there was no point mulling over the past. "Goodbye," she muttered and turned around, intending to leave but stopped in her tracks once an unfamiliar blackhead stepped into the room. Then, something clicked in her mind.

"Hello, are you by chance the new teacher?" She queried. Although she spoke in a friendly voice, inwardly, she felt bitter that her boss had already found someone to substitute her before she had even departed from the school.

"Hn," he replied monotonically, eyes flicking around, taking in the details of the school setting.

The teacher sweat dropped. 'He's quite antisocial… Will he be alright?' "Um... I guess I'll guide you around this building and explain what your job entails, alright?"

The man was still unresponsive and gestured the teacher to lead the way.

And during the entire trip, memories flooded her mind as she navigated her way through the day care.

'Smile. Smile. Don't let yours tears drop…' If the new teacher noticed her wavering lips, no comments were vocalized. And before she knew it, the tour was over and it was time to hand over her role to someone else...

Through the small window within the cupboard, the sunlight created a warm glow within this tight space and instantly, Harry snapped his eyes open, his mind warning him that it was time to get up.

Since there were no alarm clocks in his cupboard, Harry had to shoulder the responsibility of waking up on time - something that was repeatedly forced onto him by his relatives - in order to prepare breakfasts for his "family."

Therefore, Harry folded his worn-out blanket on the make-shift bed and walked out the cupboard, toward the kitchen. Standing on the stool, he poured oil into the pan sitting on top of open fire and cooked eggs and bacon. Then, he heated up toasts and made coffee and orange juices.

Trying to do everything quietly but also quickly, the breakfast was soon complete and Harry set it onto the table.

He turned to his guardian angel, shared a smile, and went back to the cupboard to grab his backpack, which used to belong to Dudley. But when he tried to bent down, a sudden sharp ache shot up from his abdomen.

Harry winced and gently nursed his bruises, which were probably still purple and green. Of course, Harry had considered grabbing some ointment from the medicine cabinet but after the incident, Aunt Petunia stored everything upstairs, away from him.

And although Harry could've looked for the ointment at perhaps night time when everyone was asleep, he wasn't familiar with the second floor as it was forbidden for him to trespass. Moreover, with the creaky floors, there was a high chance that Harry would get caught, then got beaten, and he would like to avoid another repeat at all costs.

And so the small, underweight child was forced to endure the aches and soreness from the bruises and could only wait until the bruises fade away naturally. And as for his guardian angel, Giotto couldn't do anything about it since, as Giotto explained to Harry, he possessed the Sky flame, not the Sun flame that could heal wounds.

"Does it still hurt, my child?" Giotto asked.

Harry quickly shake his head, and reassured him, "No! I'm okay!"

Giotto frowned as it was clear that Harry was trying to cover up his pain. Needless to say, he blamed himself for being so useless in times like this and often hoped that he could turn back time, preventing himself from committing that sin, which snatched the majority of his powers away when he was assigned as a guardian angel. But no matter how much he played this blaming game, the reality remained the same.

However... if he were to find someone who could see him, someone who could also utilize their flames to a large degree, then perhaps Giotto could somewhat alleviate the severity of Harry's wrecked life. And with that in mind, Giotto determinedly nodded to himself.

Afterwards, the two exited the house, focusing on getting to school without any idle chit-chit since Harry tends to get distracted when that happens. And if they arrived at school, then at least that way Harry would be protected by the staff, and Dudley couldn't possibly harm him under such a large audience without getting himself dragged into trouble.

Therefore, in that sense, the school was truly a haven.

Upon entering the Kindergarten, Harry noticed that something was amiss: the children were more rowdy and noisy than usual, especially the females. And everyone seemed to be focusing on an unfamiliar blackhead who was not only tall but also appeared to be strict and cool.

"Harry, why don't you ask your classmate what's going on?" Giotto advised, gesturing his head to a bushy-haired girl, Hermione.

Harry obliged and tapped Hermione's shoulder, "Um, do you know who he is?"

"Of course! How can you forget who he is when he introduced himself already?" A rather scandalous expression marred her face.

"I was... sick for awhile," Harry mumbled, hastily looking away from Hermione's condescending look.

"Well," she started, "he is our new teacher: Mr. Hi-barry?"

"Good effort, but the name is Hibari. Kyoya Hibari. Or you can just refer to me as Mr. H." Harry jumped and turned his body to the newcomer whilst onyx eyes scrutinized the small child, seemingly as if he could see through Harry's very being.

Harry nibbled his lips, squirming under the inspection, but alas, Hibari broke the silence and muttered, "Hn, herbivore..."

"H-huh?" Hibari ignored him and walked away, taking out the attendance sheet and called out several names.

Eventually, he reached Dudley: "...Dudley? Dudley Dursley?" When Hibari scanned the room for any affirmation or hand gestures, there were no results. "Alright, absent. Next-"

"Here," Dudley drawled, waving his hand in the air lazily. "Jeez, are you blind, Mr. High; can't see that I'm here?" He and his friends cackled at the joke, already taken to bullying Hibari.

However, when Hibari shot a lethal glare at them, Dudley instantly shut up and froze, unconsciously holding his breath.

"Kamikoroso," Hibari said in his mother tongue. Despite not knowing what that translates to, Dudley instinctively knew that it would be best to stay out of Hibari's radar and not provoke him unnecessarily.

Dudley shuffled toward his friends and turned away from Hibari, trying to make himself smaller and therefore, out of sight.

Afterwards, the rest of the roll call went by without any hassle and soon enough, it was play time. The kids split up into groups to participate in the activities they have an interest in while Harry himself decided to play with blocks.

He poured the blocks from the container onto the floor, fiddling with the pieces, deciding which ones should he use for the base of his castle.

"Harry," Giotto started. "Are you sure you don't want to play with your classmates?"

Harry shake his head, "No. Besides, I feel much safer with you than them," Harry quirked a smile, speaking from the bottom of his heart. Giotto was truly the only person he could trust and Harry knew that no matter what, Giotto wouldn't hurt him.

"Yes, but..." But I won't be always there for you, were the words left unsaid. It really was only a matter of time before Giotto's role as Harry's guardian angel was over.

"Daddy?"

"Nothing. Come on, this castle wouldn't build itself," Giotto urged and Harry nodded, stacking the blocks together. But when a sudden peals of laughter resounded in the air, the duo turned to their left and noticed Hibari playing... house with two girls.

"Darling, how was the food I cooked?" One girl asked shyly, twitching with embarrassment.

"Hm, delicious. Thank you, my wife," Hibari said, pretending to eat the colored blocks.

"Daddy!" The second girl jumped onto Hibari's lap. "When are we going to the park, again?"

"Did you finished your homework yet?" Hibari inquired rather sternly. "We're not going until you do."

"Aww, daddy," she whined.

Even if this was only a game, Harry couldn't help but watch them; part of him wanted to join in but the other part of him forbid him from doing so. And so he stayed rooted in place, observing them silently.

"Let's go play with them, yeah, Harry?" Giotto pushed encouragingly.

"Um... I-"

Harry was startled when suddenly, without warning, the base of his castle was knocked over with the pieces sliding on the floor. He looked up and Dudley smirked down at him, "What, freak? Have something to say to me?"

Harry wanted to scream at Dudley for all his unfairness and cruel pranks, wanted to stand up to him to get Dudley off his back. But he couldn't. He knew what the consequences would be if he even dared to toss words back at Dudley in which to his relatives, Dudley's welfare take precedence above everything else, even their blood-related nephew. And as Vernon's lesson was still fresh in his mind, he kept his silence and swallowed the ball of spiteful words threatening to spill from his mouth.

As his last resort, Harry sprinted away, away from Dudley and everyone else in the room.

Automatically, Giotto followed Harry and they both hid behind the bushes somewhere on the playground.

"Idiot, Dudley is a big, fat idiot," Harry kicked the dirt with the sole of his shoe, releasing his anger that way. "Why is he always bothering me? I didn't even do anything to him!"

"I know, but that's why we must ignore him, Harry. It's either run or hide-" Giotto's words were cut off as he looked up sharply; was that a flame he detected? Nevertheless, it was gone as quickly as it came, but Giotto knew that it wasn't his imagination; his hyper intuition was never wrong.

Besides, there was no way he could mistaken such a pure, raw, strong flame despite lasting only for a second. And the aura the flame gave off was mysterious, cold and manipulative, dearly reminding Giotto of his former Mist guardian, Daemon. But that couldn't possibly be him as Daemon had passed away centuries ago.

"Daddy?"

Giotto quickly reassured Harry before flying up, looking down from a birds eye view, hoping to locate the source of that power, but to no avail. Either that person was incredibly skilled with concealing their flames or that person was already gone.

The former mafia boss hoped that it was the latter.

Spotting no imminent danger, Giotto flew down and upon witnessing Harry's worried countenance, Giotto would've ruffled his hair if he could, but opted to use words to clear away Harry's worries. "Everything's fine, my child; it was a false alarm."

"What happened?" Harry furrowed his eyebrows quizzically.

Giotto shake his head; he shouldn't disclose this information and let the small child fret over something that he wouldn't get involved in anyways. "Let's get back, alright?"

Harry pouted. "Will you tell me when you are ready?" It seemed that Harry was always the one sharing things with Giotto but the opposite was never the case, or at least on the things that weighed heavily on Giotto's heart.

"Yeah," the guardian angel affirmed. "If the time comes, I will."

Harry huffed; he'd take what he can get. "Alright." And so the two walked back to the Kindergarten, unaware of the fact that a pair of onyx eyes were staring at them the entire time.

Soon enough, the clock chimed 3 o'clock,and every student was anxious to depart from the Kindergarten – all except one that is.

Harry watched his cousin practically tore the door open when his parents walked within his line of vision, standing near the school gate, and Dudley flung his body to Vernon with Vernon gladly catching his precious son. Meanwhile, Harry followed shortly at a more sedate pace, not daring to intrude on the family bonding time where an outsider like him doesn't belong in.

As he walked closer, it became glaringly obvious that his relatives were displeased with him, and Harry's stomach felt unsettled, making him hunch over slightly. He gulped anxiously, dreading to get closer but he knew that he was only prolonging the inevitable as no doubt, Dudley had already spew pretenses at his parents' ears.

Although he had expected this, Harry nevertheless flinched when Vernon grabbed his wrist and snarled at his face."You ungrateful brat; been causing trouble for Dudley, have you?"

Knowing that any efforts to defend himself was in vain, Harry wisely kept his silence and bowed his head, hoping that Vernon would take this as an act of acquiescence and hopefully, punish him less severely.

Harry gasped in pain when Vernon tightened his grip on his wrist, "Just you wait, boy; I'll make you regret for-"

"I hope there's no trouble here?" A voice interjected and they all turned to Hibari who stared at them with an emotionless, cold expression. But for those who knew him better, they can easily identify the fiery anger darkening his eyes. His posture was stiff and along with his tall build, it cast an illusion of him staring down at the Dursleys.

Vernon forced a wary smile, his beady eyes trying to read Hibari's intentions. "Not at all. And you are…?"

"Mr. Hibari, the new teacher for this class." Hibari peeled off Vernon's hand off of Harry, but his eyes stayed in contact with Vernon's the entire time; he was quite good at the intimidation game, after all.

"I see. Well," Vernon shrugged, "my family had to get home soon. So if you don't mind, lad." He take off his hat as a mock salute, then dragged Harry away with Petunia and Dudley trailing behind.

"Mind?" Hibari muttered once the Dursleys were far from earshot. "That wouldn't be a word I'd use."

'Oya, Kyo-chan. Are you still dealing with those bratty kids?' A familiar voice rang inside his mind.

'Call me Kyo-chan and I would gladly give you a deformed body tonight,' Hibari retorted.

'I'd love your sadistic side, lover. Sexy.' He chuckled.

'Enough. I have a job for you.'

'Oh?'

'Follow that family and protect that herbivore.' At this moment, Hibari turned and walked back to his office.

'Why so interested in him? Should I be jealous?'

'Just do it.'

Immediately after the door was slammed shut, Harry was pushed inside and he landed on the ground with considerable force. "Brat, what have you said to that teacher, huh?" Vernon demanded and grabbed Harry by his shoulders.

"I d-didn't," Harry protested.

Dudley smirked and turned to Vernon with dripping crocodile tears, "Dad, he threw blocks at me when I asked if I can play with him!"

"Aw, my poor Duddy-kins. Are you alright?" Petunia twirled Dudley around, checking for any visible injuries. Then, she glared at Harry, "As expected, just like your good for nothing parents! We were wiling to take you in and what did you do to return that favor? Nothing! Eat free food, pay no rent, wear free clothes; I ought to charge you with every cent you used from our pockets!"

"Petunia," Vernon patted his wife's back to placate her anger. "Words just aren't enough. We need to use more severe lessons."

Petunia smiled, liking where this conversation was going.

Vernon crossed the room and turned on the stove, heating the wooden spatula over the open flame. He grinned as the spatula sizzled, turning more red and red.

Meanwhile, Giotto's body tensed with terror and fear. Vernon wouldn't... But Giotto knew that the heartless man was capable of committing such inhumane crime. As such, his hands began to tremble, gathering his Sky flames within his hands; if worst comes to worst, then damn the consequences, Giotto was prepared to fight.

"Harry, when I count to one, run outside and call for help, alright?"

"W-Why?" Harry whispered, looking at Giotto and Vernon back and forth.

"Please, Harry," Giotto pleaded as the flames grew bigger and bigger while simultaneously, sweat caked his temples and back; in the past, using this amount of flames was a piece of cake, but now, with his restrained power, summoning his flames was a difficult challenge.

Vernon turned to Harry with the glowing red spatula. He cackled, "Disobey us again, I dare you."

"... 2... 1! Run!" Giotto charged forward while Harry sprinted toward the door as fast as he could, but it was fruitless. The door handle was so close, merely a foot away, but he didn't make it as Petunia snatched Harry by his waist, pulled him back, and yelled at her husband to hurry up.

Meanwhile, Giotto was about to slam the ball of flames onto Vernon when abruptly, at this inopportune moment, the flames completely dissipated, and Giotto's heart dropped. "No, please, no! Please let me protect him, God!"

No one answered him.

And what happened afterwards went by all too fast.

With Petunia holding Harry's shirt up, ignoring the small child's fervent struggles, Vernon swung the spatula down, and Harry squeezed his eyes, bracing himself for the impending pain... but that pain never came. When the spatula was about to make contact with Harry's skin, suddenly, someone knocked the doors.

Vernon yelped when some invisible force pushed him back, jolting him; at the same time, the spatula flew several feet away from him.

The Dursleys couple shared a look, wondering what in the world had just happened; once can be shrugged off as a trick of the mind, but twice? It was as if a supernatural being was protecting Harry.

"V-Vernon...?" Petunia's shaky voice brought Vernon to his senses and he stand up, walking toward the door that seemed to be incessantly pounded by someone.

"Coming! W-Who is it? He pulled the door back and was greeted by two policemen. Vernon froze.

"Good evening, sir. We heard some strange sounds coming from your house and we are just wondering if everything is all right."

Vernon shake his head a couple times with anxiety clearly getting to him. "N-No, w-we're good. E-Everything's alright, r-right Petunia?"

Petunia only wordlessly nodded her head, too speechless to say anything because having policemen in your house was a bad sign. Had they somehow caught word of what had happened?

"Is that so? But why is that child sitting on the floor, looking so terrified?" One of the police officers stepped forward and it take Vernon everything to not let out a meek sound.

"Ah, well, he love to play on the floor, that one. Nothing's wrong, police officers; we swear!" Inwardly, Vernon prayed that they would leave as soon as possible.

"Alright, then. If you need anything, just call us; we are stationed at this block, so we'll keep an eye out on everything. And rest assured, we have security cameras around along with our daily patrols, so we will catch wind of any misconducts around here at any given time."

Everything... somehow Vernon's gut feeling was telling him that these police officers knew exactly what they were intruding upon.

"G-Good work. Thank you." Vernon let out a sigh of relief once the doors fell shut.

"I guess we can no longer discipline him, can we, Vernon?" Petunia whispered in his ear.

Vernon curtly nodded and gestured his head to the cupboard.

Harry needn't be told twice as he automatically moved into his haven. Giotto however, didn't follow suit in which he flew outside and followed the officers. And as expected, the officers disappeared once they turned around the corner, leaving a faint Mist flame in their wake.

Whoever was helping them, Giotto was eternally grateful and will be forever in their debt. "Thank you very much," he whispered. Afterwards, Giotto returned to Harry's side. At least this way, Harry will be safe.

And for now, that was what matters the most.

So yes, Hibari will play a significant role in this story, and you'll see why.

Please do leave your thoughts behind in a review!