This work uses characters and/or ideas from both the Dresden Files and Katekyo Hitman Reborn. The Works Cited in MLA is on the first page.

Chapter 2

Harry slowly regained consciousness. It was kind of like his brain was rebooting one piece of a time, each part sliding slowly into place. And then he sat up, or at least tried to. Harry had to fall back onto the bed, (not his bed or his room- far too clean and comfortable and long enough to fit him), with a groan of pain. He remembered.

Marcone, the scumbag mafia boss, had used fire to save his life. As if the fact that Marcone had saved his life or could apparently use fire wasn't bad enough, he appeared to owe him a debt that making the man a free-holding lord in the Accords couldn't make up for.

Yes, he had somehow turned into Snape. The debt basically meant that Marcone had saved his life without any ulterior motives when he didn't have to, so now he owed the guy a lot. There was actually more than just saving his life he owed Marcone, it seemed from the size of the debt weighing on his soul. Which could turn out bad, because there wasn't much that the Scumbag couldn't ask him to do.

At least Marcone was somewhat decent as far as criminals go. Watching out for kids, and not shooting snarky wizards in the head was somewhat decent of him. Better than a lot of people Harry had had the displeasure of meeting.

Not that he'd tell Marcone that, of course

The occasional decency of the mobster aside didn't mean that Harry didn't owe a criminal his life, or that Marcone wouldn't just abuse it. If he was lucky, it could turn into a Chewbacca type scenario instead of the revision of Snape, after all Han Solo was a criminal too, right? Well he could hope that Marcone wouldn't ask for anything too bad from him.

Harry studiously ignored that he wasn't so law-abiding either.

And maybe he would explain more about that fire. It had felt kind of… nice. Protective. It reminded Harry a bit of the purple fire that liked to weave into his spells when he fought, but different. It was an odd feeling, having someone protect him, especially in the soothing way that the fire had and not in the watch each other's backs way he normally felt.

But that meant that either Marcone had magic, which he definitely would have noticed before, or that the fire was something else. Strike that, Harry knew that the fire was something else.

He just hadn't wanted to think about it, beyond the fact that it was there. He was thankful, though, for the presence of the odd purple fire that wasn't really magic but something else. Lash had seemed almost scared of it, and had shied away from the fire that seemed to be everywhere in him. He hadn't noticed until he'd gotten Lash, but it was hard not to realize it was different from magic when it was what kept himself away from her influence. When she treated his magic like something that would help her.

But the more he'd used it and relied on it, the more… openly possessive of his city and his friends he'd gotten. Among other things. It was like certain parts of his personality had been highlighted. To his embarrassment, Harry had even begun wandering throughout the city in his free time, stopping various crimes both supernatural and ordinary (Which had the pleasant consequence of drumming up business and causing half a dozen old ladies to bring him food semi-regularly so that he didn't starve), as well as checking on the homes and workplaces of his friends.

Waldo Butters, Billy, and the rest of the werewolves he could kind of understand, but Murphy was a scary ninja cop, Michael had a Heavenly security detail, and he didn't even like Marcone. Besides that, they could all definitely take care of themselves.

"You awake now, Dresden?"

'Oh,' Harry thought idly, 'Hendricks is sitting in the corner.'

Apparently the terrible achy pain he was in was affecting his thought processes and observation, because he wasn't entirely sure how he missed the Cujo in the room.

He was probably in one of Marcone's lairs, then. The room wasn't giving off hospital vibes, and it didn't quite have the technology that a hospital would have.

'Another thing that I owe Marcone,' thought Harry only slightly grudgingly. After all, he didn't want to be responsible for the life support in the hospital getting destroyed via magic.

'And,' thought a traitorous corner of his mind, 'You like how Marcone watches over the city, and keeps it from people who are worse than scumbags like him.' Because say what you like about Marcone, but he ran the underworld of Chicago like a particularly ruthless business man or maybe a ten-thousand year old crossroads demon from the pit. Or like Lord Vetinari. No one dared to step a single toe out of line, because the man was just that good.

Of course, that is when the Don in question walked into the room with Gard on one side and some guy he'd never really seen before on the other. Harry immediately disliked the guy, maybe because he gave off the sense of a hardened killer that enjoyed his job a little too much, or maybe because he bleached his hair. It could even be the unsettling two toned gold and ivy colored eyes, like and amused, malicious dragon.

"Dresden," said Marcone, "Do you remember what happened."

"Yes," Said Harry, "What was it?" Marcone just lifted his eyebrow. "The fire, Scumbag. You definitely didn't use magic, so…"

John Marcone took pity on the inadvertent cloud's obvious confusion. "Dying Will Flames."

"You don't seem very suicidal to me," he studied Marcone doubtfully.

A sigh came from Marcone, even as Malfoy Hair next to him snorted, "The name refers only to how they are commonly unlocked. The will to not die. Though really, so long as your determination to do anything is strong enough your flames can be unlocked."

"Why are you telling me this?" Because as far as Harry was concerned, Marcone and by extension his minions didn't even have to tell him the name of the odd power, let alone begin to explain what Flames were.

"Honestly Harry," Marcone looked entirely too amused, "Can you really tell me that you don't know why?"

Harry Dresden scowled at the Mafia Boss of Chicago, and was about to give an angry retort when he paused. And thought back to what had kept him going during so many fights, had allowed him to win against more powerful opponents, had kept his mind safe against a literal fallen angel. And gave a sigh with his shoulders slumping as best they could when he was horizontal and in pain.

"Explain," said a weary wizard, that added as an afterthought, "Please."

When Marcone gave a very shark-like grin, and all of his minions seemed to also give off a similar cat-that-got-the-canary feel (even Hendricks, which was just plain weird), he knew that he had made a mistake.

Marcone was just laughing internally at the 'Oh, crap' look that Harry gave off.

"You wish to learn more about flames, even learn how to properly use them," began Marcone, "And I have found myself needing consultation that you would be the best to provide…"

"I'm not going to work for a scumbag like you," hissed out a suddenly struggling Dresden. Even though his everything ached, he was going to leave. Not even the Winter Queen herself had managed nab him as the Winter Knight no matter how much she had desperately wanted to, he wasn't gonna let Marcone sink his claws in either.

"Dresden," cam a sharp voice that had him stilling for a moment, before he freaked out even more, "Harry," Then came a sigh, "Nathan, if you would." And a blue fire reached out to Harry, and involuntarily caused him to relax. And with that relaxation, he lost the will to continue to struggle, the pain and exhaustion catching up to him.

"Why," Harry wondered, "What do you gain from all of this?"

"If you agree to my deal, you'll find out," Marcone's previous amusement was gone replaced by something that seemed sad or maybe a little bit angry, "Trust me." At the look Harry gave him, the Don shook his head a little and said, "I promise you won't have to do anything more illegal than what you already did, all I need is, like I said, consultation from a wizard Private Investigator and a show of unity to discourage anyone from trying to take away my city."

And maybe it was just the day that it had been, or maybe the week or month or, heck, the year, but Harry Copperfield Blackstone Dresden, not for the first time and maybe not for the last, felt so tired, and weary, and Done with it all that he looked up into John Marcones face. Into the worn dollar bill eyes that showed the soul of a tiger

Decided that he really didn't care anymore.

Nodded once to show his assent.

Then fell unconscious once more.

The last thing he felt before the blackness that had been creeping up on him the entire conversation took him, was this odd sense like he'd been warmly welcomed into someone's home and sheltered behind a ridiculously strong threshold.

He didn't notice the way his flames tentatively curled around the flames of the one person that had never pushed too hard, that had always offered and never taken or threatened, and formed a bond. A thin, fragile one for sure, but every person in the room knew that Marcone would not allow the bond to break.

And even though Harry Dresden was a snarky, disrespectful Cloud, from what they had managed to find out about his history had caused them all to respect him. And want to murder a number of people.

When the cloud was truly theirs, they would all go hunting. It would be a wonderful bonding experience.

:So, I kind of like this idea. Still have no idea where the plot's going to go, though. And yes, I did decide to give Childs a part as a Guardian to Marcone. I have zero idea as to his first name, so it will have to be made up.