We find out who Hermione's Uncle is!
(Okay, so I've been mapping this chapter out since, like, three chapters ago -.-)
As of this chapter, the points will only be brought up from time to time and at the start of every Arc.
Neither ´Harry Potter´ or ´Katekyō Hitman Reborn!´ are owned by me. They belong respectively to J. K. Rowling and Akira Amano. I claim only possible Oc's, anything that does not happen in the stories, and the idea of The Vortex.
Hitsugaya Ren: Let's see wheather or not your suspicion is correct.
Penny is wise: Thank you =)
Kain Vixenheim: Oh yes, Lockhart won't have a nice year…
Critic (Guest): Thank you for your honest opinion.
.13: Ah… Fon's training methods… That will be fun~
shadewatcher: Hmm… I guess you'll see now =)
6. The Uncle
Fon blinked. The person sitting at the Granger's kitchen table blinked back. Fon blinked again. The person sent him a wide smile and waved at Fon. Fon blinked twice and rubbed his eyes, turner around, and stepped out of the door. The person took a sip of tea. Fon came back in and blinked once more.
"Tea, Fon?" The person asked.
Fon just nodded and went to the table, grabbing the offered cup.
"Where are…" Fon started, "Dan and Emma?" he got interrupted. "They left early this morning, just after I've come here. I love them, but Dan has always been slightly unnerved by me. When I told them that I'd be here for a few days, Dan and Emma decided that they could go to a week-end conference in Liverpool. They probably won't be back for two or three days."
Someone was running down the stairs, and then Hermione, with her bushy hair in knots and all over the place, showed up in the kitchen.
"Heya little Wildfire!"
"Dyadya* Cherep! You're here!"
"Of course I am. I did say I'd be here in the next fourteen days."
Fon stared with wide eyes as his student grabbed the other in a tight hug and kissed his cheek.
"What… Skull? Uncle Cherep? I…" Fon struggled with putting together a whole sentence.
"Skull, what is going on? And where is your helmet?" He managed to ask, his calm façade mostly back on (at least that was what he told himself).
The Cloud smirked at Fon. "What, you thought Skull de Mort was my real name?"
Fon's world fell apart (at least slightly)
"Well, technically it is," Hermione answered with an innocent smile. She didn't think she managed to fool Master Fon though, who's left eye was still slightly twitching. She turned back to her Uncle, who (in her mind at least) was more important than his kind-of-colleague, and started to bombard him with questions. Those reached from "Where all have you been?", "What have you been doing?", and "Have you created any new stunts? Will you have a show soon?" all the way to "Have you been taking care of yourself?", "Have you been eating enough?" and "You aren't just saying that to calm you down, are you?" (The last one said with narrow eyes, she knew him well, after all).
Over the next half hour Uncle Cherep dutifully answered every question she threw at him (at least to an extent, he masterfully talked around some things that Hermione could only guess at), and always reassured her that he was in good health, physical and other. And then, just to be a bit cheeky, she asked: "So, Uncle Cherep, have you met a nice girl?"
The reaction, while expected, was spectacular. Cherep, who had just taken a sip of tea, started to choke and splutter. "Hermione!" he stuttered, face red and eyes wide.
"Oh, I'm sorry, what about a man?" Hermione winked at Fon (it was her way of peace-offering), whose shoulders were shaking with suppressed laughter.
"Hermione~" Cherep whined, "Did you have to bring that up?"
"Bring what up?" asked Fon curiously. "And you still have not told me how you know each other. I did not come across anything that would point at a relation between you two when I conducted the background check."
"Ah, I think that's because of Aunty Vi, right?" Hermione questioned her Uncle, who nodded sagely, face still slightly red. "Uhu, they did a good job, didn't they? It's always reassuring to know that it can even withstand another Arcobaleno."
"Skull? An explanation, if you were so kind?" (If anyone would have asked Hermione right then, she'd say that he sounded slightly pained).
Cherep (Skull was the Cloud Arcobaleno, who was on vacation right now) heaved a sight and looked at Hermione. "The living-room?" he asked his niece, who nodded and made way to the couch. The two cursed men followed, Cherep carrying a fresh can of tea, fully aware that they would be there for a while.
"I take it you know about Sofia?" Fon, newly seated on one of the armchairs, nodded, curious on where this would go.
"Well," Cherep went on, a sad look on his face "she was my twin."
Fon's eyes widened a fraction. "I am so sorry, Skull" he said, compassion and understanding filling his voice.
"Skull is on vacation," he replied automatically, his voice slightly watery. But he shot the Storm a soft smile and nodded in thanks. "Of course, little Emma has a different father. Jacques had no problem adopting us as his, even though we both kept Smerti as our last name."
"I take it that's where the `de Mort´ comes from?" Cherep grinned unabashedly.
"I was always good at `changing faces´, is what we call it. Of course, growing up in the Circus helped me a lot, and I use make-up and clothes to… strengthen the illusion, I guess you could call it."
"`Changing faces´?" Fon questioned.
"It's a bit of a Smerti-trait." Hermione, who was slightly curling into Cherep on the couch, stepped in. "It's easy to change who we appear to be."
Fon nodded understandingly "Emma…?"
"Mom takes more after Grandfather in that sense. She doesn't really have that gift, and isn't even fully aware of it."
"How can she not be fully aware of it?"
"Ah," the Cloud took over again, "Most of those that don't have it, think that it's kind of like being a 24/7 Showman or –woman. They easily see it as nothing but a small act. What they don't realize, is that it truthfully is a lot more complicated than that. An act can be seen through, what we have is more akin to what Viper does. Hermione does it with her Know-It-All routine and I do it with the Bragging-Loud-And-Weak-Stuntman thing. I could change my clothes, act like a toddler, and walk in front of Lal or Colonnello, and neither would recognize me."
Fon narrowed his eyes. "You could do that, but you would still draw attention, wouldn't you?"
"Yeah, that's a pretty big draw-back. It's impossible for us not to stand out in one way or another. All we can do is choose how people perceive us." Cherep went on with his explanation. "All in all, Showman is, I guess, an apt description for us, no matter how… primitive it is. I just like to do stunts, therefore usually acting as a Stuntman. Reborn-Senpai is mostly aware of the whole story, my act got busted that one time in Paris, a few months after we first met. He helps me keeping up my cover in the presence of other people".
"Wait, everything Reborn has pulled on you has been an act?" Fon asked stumped.
Cherep grinned at him. "Senpai is aware that getting underestimated, especially when you're a civilian in the mafia, could be someone's saving grace someday. Well, it's also a great chance to cause chaos, confuse people, and make things more interesting, if you ask him."
The Storm nodded in acknowledgment, and Cherep went on "But you were already aware of my act, weren't you? At least to a part."
Fon smiled, but didn't comment the last statement. "And how did you hide the information?"
"Ah, I won't go to deep into it – it'd be too expensive, but shortly after we met, I helped Viper with something. They didn't feel like owing me anything, so I asked them to make sure that nobody could link me to my family and called it even. Ever since Hermione was born, Viper has been making sure that she is safe."
"Oh, oh! I met Aunty Vi when I was… four, I think? Uncle Cherep wanted me to meet them for some reason… They are really cool!" Hermione told Fon with a wide smile.
Cherep snorted. "It was kind of terrifying, to be honest. Viper spent a few hours with Hermione and now they hardly ask for any money when it comes to her."
When Fon saw Skull (Cherep, apparently) in the kitchen of his new student, and not wearing his helmet, he was slightly weary. When he realised that the Cloud Arcobaleno knew the Granger Family – that Emma and Dan obviously trusted him, and more importantly that he was his new students Uncle, Fon didn't know how to take it. Though, he did have to admit, the exchange between them was amusing (and he would have to ask Hermione what Skull meant with `bringing that up´).
What followed was, what one could only classify as an information overload. To have a family ability that acted almost like Mist flames… Fon planned on making sure that nobody would ever find that piece of knowledge out, and at the same time adjusted his teaching plan. He would, of course, still teach her how to fight (though now there was a chance that he would have her learn at least one type of weapon from the beginning – something small that she could always carry on her…) but he also planned on adding a basic knowledge of multiple languages into his training plan (excluding Italian, Hermione would be able to speak and understand that language fluently – the mafia community there was too big to risk her being caught unaware). So that should she ever be in danger, she'd have the ability to either get herself to a safe place, or stall until someone could come and get her.
Fon knew that his façade was mostly down, however, with Cherep letting him into his family, he found that it was only polite to do so.
What the Storm could have never foreseen, was Reborn, of all people, being not only aware (that was to be expected, truth be told) but actively helping Cherep out with his act. He had always thought that the actions of the Hitman stemmed out of worry (no matter how… unorthodox his methods usually were) for their Cloud (and yes, Fon was aware that Cherep was acting, he just thought that it was to annoy the others).
And oh, to have Viper of all be known as Aunty Vi to Hermione. Fon wanted something stronger to drink. And looking at Cherep, he probably agreed. Fon decided (for his health and sanity) to not ask about Hermione and Viper while sober, especially if it brought the Cloud to drink only by thinking about it.
The rest of the day, and until the early morning (they only broke out the alcohol after they've sent Hermione to bed at a reasonable time), Fon and Cherep continued talking, bringing up various anecdotes and stories from their times as Arcobaleno and even some of their youth, entertaining Hermione with their attempts to one-up each other. At one point in the evening, Fon inquired about how Cherep even knew that he was there. The Cloud, in response, brought out his Cellphone and showed him Hermione's message, as well as his response.
"Beautifully crafted," Fon admitted. "I take writing Valentine with a small v stands for fourteen days?"
"Yeah, I don't really want to say a number, it's just too risky. Doing it like that is simple enough to remember, and obvious enough that nobody thinks about it."
Fon snorted at that, Cherep was right, of course, he himself had used similar methods before. It was amazing how the mafia wanted to complicate every little thing, and how easy it was for them to ignore some of the more simple solutions.
"Does she know?" Midnight had passed a while ago, when Fon finally asked the question they knew was comming.
"Meh, I had her promise me to not look into it. She's too intelligent and perspective for her own good, notices almost everything." Cherep sighted and attempted to sit a little bit straighter. Fon hid his smile by taking another sip out of his cup. "She knows I'm involved in something illegal, and has seen my flames before," he shook his head, "I gave Hermione enough information for her to guess that there are different types, and what they more or less present. Mostly so that she knows to get the hell away from people talking about it. Or at least contact me or Viper."
"How did they get pulled into this?" Fon wanted to know that one for a few hours, but thought that demanding answers would be rude.
"As I said, Viper owed me one, I cashed it in by protecting my family." Fon raised an eyebrow, wondering if he would elaborate.
"Well, you've noticed, right? Hermione's really intelligent. Sometimes too intelligent for her own good. Hermione… Well, between being her brilliant self and not quite five years old, I thought it would be best to intervene."
"And so you introduced a grown person, in a baby's body, who one could probably class as a genius – especially concerning numbers and collecting information – to her."
Cherep's smile was slightly maniac. "It was expensive. Really, really expensive. But honestly? Soo worth it."
"I take it things went well?" Really, it was more a statement than a question.
"A few hours later, Hermione was calling them Aunty Vi and any question on what they've been doing had Viper telling me that I'd need to pay the two of them. Hermione found it great, and smiled her mega-watt smile. It honestly kind of terrifies me."
Fon paled slightly at the thought of Viper and Hermione working together. Of course, right now Hermione was still young. However, in another ten or so years, his protégé was going to be terrifying.
He looked into his half-full cup and lifted it towards Cherep. If the world was going to end, they might as well watch it unfold while drinking alcohol. "To chaos?"
Cherep grinned earnestly. "To chaos."
In Italy, Reborn felt a shiver go down his spine. Someone was about to cause chaos, and he wanted in on it. If only he knew who it was… It would be a lot of fun.
(No, Reborn, you can NOT claim to be the reason to the havoc Hermione causes, just because chaos is usually your thing.)
* Russish: Uncle
* Smerti is Russian, and (according to Google) translates into 'of death', which translates into de Mort in French. What a coincidence… (Cherep (Russian) means Skull, in case you were wondering)
I love a good `There's-More-To-Skull´ fanfiction. He's a character who's very flexible and adaptable.
