Ohayo, Minna-san! Sorry to keep you hanging off the last chapter, so here's this one! Also, I'm surprised that no one has noticed one itsy-bitsy little thing. If you re-read the last few chapters—starting with when Charlus-tachi went to Italy and encountered Kitty-chan—you may notice something very important to the story. I'm not saying anymore, but the first person to guess what it is correctly gets virtual cookies and gets to give an idea for an Omake chapter.

Also, to Yoruko Rhapsodos:

I did not mean to imply that fluffy romance is in anyway bad—in fact I quite like it. It's just the fact that I have no romantic experience (outside of how my mom and dad interact, as well as how my brother and his girlfriend interacted), so anything I wrote along those lines would probably be quite…unrealistic and kind of, er, patchily put-together. To those who wanted Harry/Fran, go ahead and imagine that kind of stuff—I'm actually a Yaoi fan myself, so go ahead—I just won't be writing in this story. Perhaps when I've gotten some romantic experience or just have a better idea of how to go about it I'll make a one-shot, but just not here.

To Asherit:

The credit for the idea goes to Shi Kami the Murderous Prodigy (I think), from their fanfic Pineapple Samba. It's a cool fanfic, but it's only two chapters long and it hasn't been updated in a long, long time. Also, while the idea is Shi Kami's, I put my own spin on it and changed it around to try and make it more original—so no, it's not plagiarism (at least I hope not), but I myself did not come up with the original idea. Credit for the idea definitely goes to Shi Kami—not me. Hope that clears it up!

Disclaimer: I do not own KHR or HP.

Final Word Count: 2,394

Chapter 6—Training and Meetings

Tsuna felt contempt flood him as he thought about the color-blind old man he was about to meet. It felt wrong, allowing one of his Family (both Mafia and regular) to be near this man, and fight his war. To allow someone barely older than fifteen to fight a war they didn't have to.

"You shouldn't worry, Dame-Tsuna," Reborn's adolescent voice sounded in his ears. Tsuna jumped, and barely kept himself from cussing. Even after all of these years, all of the tor—ehem, training he went through, Reborn could (and would) sneak up on him. He turned to glare at the now teenaged hitman. "The kid wouldn't be in the Varia unless he was Varia Quality—meaning that your worry is misplaced and useless." Reborn smirked at him; the onyx colored eyes as mysterious as ever—and covered by a fedora.

Tsuna grimaced. "I still don't like the idea of sending a fifteen year-old into a war, Reborn," Reborn, true to his sadistic nature, whacked Tsuna upside the head; sending him into a face-plant with the floor (as per his usual strength and style). "The same age you fought Byakuran, you mean?" Tsuna glared at him venomously. "It's not the same!"

"How so?" Tsuna looked stumped. "You had only a year or two of training, Dame-Tsuna. This kid has had nearly ten. So, unless you want more paperwork, I suggest you stop worrying."

They were arguing in a hotel in southern France—a place that the Vongola had claimed for private meetings with either fellow Mafia Dons, or others. A place called Le Lion, or The Lion. They had arranged for this place, being fairly hard to trace back to Vongola, as the meeting place between the 'Wizards' and Vongola.

Xanxus was there, as well as all of Tsuna's Guardians. They didn't know when the 'Wizards' would arrive, but Tsuna felt relatively sure that they would. After all, they wanted to get them on their side. Tsuna felt a smirk slid onto his face. It would be fun to put these 'Wizards' in their place. Hard.

Then, a loud CRACK! sounded through the room. Tsuna drew himself up, straightening his suit and tie, allowing a relatively neutral look to take the place of the smirk.

Showtime.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Reborn watched as his student let a smirk—a vicious, Reborn-influenced, smirk no-less—flow across his face. Pride filled him. His student had an ingrained sadistic streak that he, Reborn, had cultivated. Now, he would see it put into play. He turned, pulling his fedora down to further cover his eyes, as a resounding CRACK! filled the room. He couldn't wait to see what his student had in mind for these 'Wizards'.

Idly, he couldn't help but wonder what Verde would say if he met these 'Wizards'. Probably try and get one to experiment on…

Reborn looked at the color-blind old man who claimed to be called 'Albus Dumbledore'. A smirk slid onto his face. Oh yes.

He couldn't wait.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

"So, shall we begin?" it was those words that convinced Alastor 'Mad-Eye' Moody that they—all of those who had come with Albus to negotiate with the Vongola—were in deep, deep shit. It wasn't so much the words, but the tone and intent behind them. He could feel the dangerous, cold killing intent hidden behind the soft words. The competence with which the Vongola moved scared him. They were in their twenties, but they showed the signs that if they wanted to, both he and those who had come with Albus would be killed. Some called it paranoia. Then again, it wasn't really paranoia if they were really out to get you, now was it?

He watched as the two, Albus Dumbledore and Tsunayoshi Sawada, negotiated. The pleasant, cordial smile never flickered off of Sawada's face, while Albus' twinkle in the eyes died slowly as he realized that he wasn't getting his way. "Come now, there isn't any real need for more than Harry to come, is there my boy?" Albus asked. Brown eyes narrowed, the smile never faltering. "With a supposed war in your world, Professor? Yes. And, you do realize that I am not your 'boy', correct?"

"But my boy—" Sawada interrupted him. "I am not your boy, and I am not wavering on this. Either the Varia goes with Harry-kun, or he doesn't go at all." Albus' eyes narrowed, the blue becoming icy. Alastor shivered. Albus rarely lost the twinkle.

"Che, you could say that again, trash," the red-eyed man, Xanxus, spoke up, glaring and scowling at Albus. Alastor eyed him warily, his magical eye finding the guns holstered at his hip. Not to mention the other weapons stored in various places.

"My boy, Hogwarts is the safest place in the world—" again, Sawada interrupted him. "Hardly safe though, is it? From what I've heard, you've had three 'intrusions' by this mad-man you call 'Voldemort' in the past four years. That means it's hardly safe, now is it, old man?" finally, McGonagall spoke up. "Show some respect, young man! The Headmaster is far older and wiser than you are!" Sawada's brown eyes flickered orange. "Is that so?" at her nod, his cordial smile turned into a sadistic smirk. "Then tell me this. Is a man," he gestured calmly to Albus, "that allows a madman into his school, under his very nose no less, truly wise?" he held up a hand to stop her interrupting. "Is a man, who stores a so called 'Sorcerer's Stone' in a school filled with children, safe-guarded by traps that eleven year-olds can get through, much less an adult, truly wise? Is a man, who allows a Basilisk to run rampant through a school filled with children—when he could have surely figured it out—as well as a registered pedophile; while a twelve year-old faced and defeated a Basilisk that should have been found by the man, truly wise?

"Is a man, who allowed creatures called 'Dementors' to surround a school, who suck the happiness out of people and guard a prison, truly wise? Is a man, who allows a fourteen year-old to be entered against his will, I might add, into an extremely dangerous Tournament, to be tortured after the 'Third Task' by the madman who wishes to kill said fourteen year-old, truly wise? In fact, looking back at all of this information, is the man even smart? I do not think so. Unless, of course…" Alastor spoke up. "Unless what?" but he had already figured it out. Sawada's next words only confirmed his suspicions.

"Unless he set it all up—everything, from the 'Sorcerer's Stone' to the Basilisk, the Dementors and a supposed mass murderer to a life threatening Tournament—to test the spoken of fifteen year-old, as of the 31st of July, this year."

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Lily felt a numb, lifelessness flood through her. It couldn't be true! Could it?

Albus couldn't have set her darling Charlus up as bait, could he? But…everything Sawada said made perfect sense. The logic was undeniable. She looked at Albus. His blue eyes, normally twinkling, were like chips of ice. The normally grandfatherly smile had twisted slightly, looking more like a grimace than anything. Doubt flooded her, overriding the numbness.

What if everything had been a set-up? Her darling Charlus traumatized as Albus attempted to make him into bait for You-Know-Who? Her other son, Harry, sent away to try and make Charlus more vulnerable?

Lily felt her entire world slowly, oh so slowly, crumble beneath her feet.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Charlus ran, jumping to avoid the staff that would crack down near his feet. He was running an obstacle course designed by his trainer, Skull De Mort, and while it was terrifying—from pitfalls to cliffs he would have to climb up while dodging boulders, not to mention Skull's staff, and other things—he had never felt more physically in-shape as he did now. Every day, he woke up at dawn to warm up and train with Skull. While the obstacle course was arguably the worst part of the training, the warm up and fighting was cool.

Skull was teaching him to fight with what he called a bo-staff. To Charlus, it felt off—not right in his hands. Skull had shrugged it off, simply saying that it wasn't the weapon that suited him, that felt right. They would find it eventually, but for now he would be learning with the staff.

They would both warm up together, a simple regimen of jogging, running, and stretching with a few other things thrown in. Charlus, as he barely avoided a pitfall, let a tiny smile slip across his face—the emptiness that had always been there in his chest, the hole, seemed a little fuller now.

Of course, he didn't realize just how close he was to finding his brother.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Harry grimaced. He had had a headache all day, and it made him irritable. His head pounded, and he burrowed deeper into the covers of his four poster, king-sized bed where he was hiding from the rest of the Varia.

He closed his eyes, pleading with Lady Time, Lord Space, and Dimension to just show him what they wanted him to see, and stop the headache!

He felt a sort of rush and a weightlessness—like he was free falling from a great height. Suddenly, images fluttered like a movie behind his eyes, flashing without order or sense.

Red and green light flashed by, illuminating the face of a woman with stringy black hair; a man with red eyes and no nose smiled cruelly as he tortured a woman in a decrepit, old house; two people, both with black hair and green eyes looked at each other, faces unreadable; an old man wearing robes fell from a tower, eyes already glazed in death; a toad-like woman wearing pink handed a boy wearing robes with red and gold lining a quill with a sharp, metal nib, smiling a sickly sweet smile;

All this, and more flashed behind Harry's eyes, before, finally, it stopped. But blackness, ever present, still engulfed him. A voice, soft and spidery, rasped into his ear.

Do not lose yourself, Child of Darkness, lest the world follow you into your crazed insanity.

He felt exhaustion, worse than any he had felt before, engulf him, and he knew no more.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Lady Time, in all of her infinite beauty, watched her current favored child reached out for her help after being overwhelmed by the visions. She felt pained, knowing that her favored would slowly, oh so slowly, be overwhelmed by the visions, slowly falling into the insanity that very nearly claimed his predecessor, Dorea.

She watched him fall into the blackness of a dreamless sleep, the only comfort she could offer. She could only hope that he would follow in Dorea's footsteps, and not lead the world to Darkness, with the Child of Light keeping his path bright.

/End.\

Sorry if it seemed a bit rushed—it was just difficult to write. Anyway, next chapter will, hopefully, have Harry at the very least getting to the Hogwarts Express. Also, I'm going to have to have something for the Varia. If you have a suggestion for what they could do while at Hogwarts, let me know in a review—for the moment I don't accept PMs.

Also, while it may seem like there is Dumbledore!bashing in this, it isn't. This part was written mostly because I wanted the Vongola to know what Charlus went through, without knowing exactly what happened. They only have the overview of his years at Hogwarts with few in-depth details as their informants (as you will see hopefully next chapter) were not at Hogwarts to experience the events and were, therefore, unable to capture the true depth and scope of what happened. And, despite what it may seem, I don't truly think of Dumbledore as a bad guy. In the books, the way I saw it, is that he was damned if he did, and damned if he didn't. So, I'm sorry if you might have wanted Dumbledore!bashing, but that ain't happening in this fic.

Anyway, tell me if you have suggestions or criticism—I need all the help I can get as this is my first fic and I'm proof-reading and stuff by myself! Don't be afraid to tell me!

Hope you liked!

Ja ne, Minna-san!

Happy Camper27