Skull was scowling as he stalked through the streets.
The fuckers had gone to ground.
Apparently the fact that Skull had taken out that stupid 'Earth-shaker' in their party (and everyone that had been present at the time) had caused those left to panic. Especially after the 'Purple Cloud' (he had a name now. From that violet tribal cloud mark he left at all the sights of his work. It was boring. Wizards were horrible at naming things) had disappeared.
They seemed to be under the impression Skull was plotting something. A large strike against them that required he stop systematically murdering them.
Unfortunately this meant they were behind some serious Wards, and had applied some serious security measures while he was gone from them.
Oh, it wouldn't stop Skull. It just made everything much more difficult which made him rather angry.
He was kind of tempted to live up to their expectations and plot something big.
O~O~O~O~
This fourth year had started on a high note. Their Cloud was going to the Quidditch World Cup with the Weasley family. It was refreshing to see Harry happy to see him excited.
They were beginning to learn however, that every time their Cloud was excited about something, something else went wrong. It was Murphy's Law at its finest.
And so they witnessed the attack that took place after the match.
The screaming crowds and the 'Muggles' (The Arcobaleno were just thinking of them as 'Civilians' in their heads) who owned the grounds being tormented.
They watched as Harry got right in the middle of the action. How he struck out at the enemy around him. How he was separated from his group, but still managed to hold his own. They watched their Cloud's eyes harden before he took control of those around him- calling out orders and shifting them around to better defend each other and the Muggles.
They watched Harry fight, twisting around spells, shooting off his own, and snapping commands.
And watching that- watching their Cloud in that situation- it hits them. It dawns on them that Harry James Potter- Skull De Mort- is a General.
Oh they know that right now it's the beginning stages. Right at that moment Harry was simply a natural leader taking control of an out of control situation. But it's the beginning- it's the start.
And they wonder absently if they're really ready to see the warrior- the survivor- in their Cloud. If they're ready to have the wool ripped away from their eyes completely. Ready for the cloud cover to disappear from where it had shielded them from the truth.
When it's over and the magical police show up (much too late and next to useless the Arcobaleno note with disgust) nothing is really done. It's all blustering and scrambling and the Minister trying to bury the whole mess under a rug.
It's enraging.
Especially as they watch their Cloud's eyes harden and burn with anger as he watches it all. (The Arcobaleno are all intensely relieved to note they can still read the body language of their Cloud. They can see the rage, the anger, the disgust in the line of his back, the stiffness of his shoulders, and the tilt of his head.)
(They will later realize that all the body language they had learned to read off their Cloud was his actual body language. Skull had just learned to portray the body language he wanted to be seen rather than his true feelings.)
They watch as their Cloud slips back into the shadows, blending out of sight of the adults before he slipped back into the crowd of students. They watch as he goes to the students and whispers the truth of what happened to them, tells them to warn others, tells them the adults are ignoring the truth that sat in front of them. They watch the students their Cloud had chosen nod, their eyes hard and slip away to spread the news.
The image of the General solidifies in their minds.
O~O~O~O~
Skull is pissed.
Not only are the Neo-Eaters hiding behind wards, but every time they step out of the protection of said wards they have body guards and protection amulets and enchantments on their person. It's going to be exceedingly difficult to get to them.
Skull isn't sure what he'd going to do, but their sheer stubborn annoyances are ensuring that whatever he does, he's going to live up to the peoples' expectations and make it big.
And painful.
And time consuming.
Like the decoding of the damn wards the bastards were hiding behind.
Skull snarls as he runs into another snag trying to figure out how to pull the wards down- even if it is just enough for him to get inside.
Just getting inside would be enough. And if the hole was small enough the wards would act against their owners and hide the massacre from the public until Skull is already finished with everyone inside.
It would be a real shock factor.
Especially since once Skull was inside the wards all he would need to do to get rid of all the wards was find the ward stone and either shut it down or destroy it. So one moment all would be normal and the next a massacre would be visible. He smirked to himself. He knew the effect a good strong shock and awe campaign would have. He'd seen the effects over the war and then during his stint in the mafia.
The terror that would take his enemies at the idea that not even wards could stop him would be absolutely delicious. Would cause panic which would lead to mistakes and allow Skull to expand on the terror in a repeating cycle until Skull stood victorious over the scum.
(Reborn had rubbed off on him over the years. That was such a Reborn thought, but he didn't care. War and life in the Underworld changed a man and there were absolutely worse people he could pick up habits from then the Arcobaleno.)
But in order to get to that point he had to destroy the wards in his way.
Skull frowned as he stared at the tome in his hands.
He wondered if he could overload the wards if he used his Flames...maybe even a combination of magic and Flames…?
O~O~O~O~
The Arcobaleno watch with warm eyes as Harry spends the time after the Quidditch Match at the 'Burrow'. They watch the family welcome their Cloud into their home and ranks without thought. They watch as Harry smiles with them and are shocked at the difference between Harry and Skull.
Viper flinches a little when it hits her that the reason for the change is the upcoming war Harry will lead.
She commits the faces of the Weasleys to memory. The family that had taken their Cloud in deserved to be remembered and she would ensure that they were.
She knew even as she committed their likeness to memory the other Arcobaleno were doing the same.
O~O~O~O~
The Arcobaleno find themselves in the halls of Hogwarts once again.
They witness their Cloud shifting as his instincts prickle that 'something is coming'. They witness the anger over the canceling of Quidditch and then the excitement of the children when the Triwizard Tournament is revealed to be the reason why.
They witness their Cloud's nervousness that something will go wrong, and they witness his hope for a quiet year compared to the others. They watch the entrance of the competing schools, the way Harry slides between their ranks and asks questions about what their schools are like.
They see the night names are drawn from the Cup and Harry's horror as his name falls from Dumbledore's lips.
They watch as once again Harry is isolated from the people around him due to what happened. They watch as the Storm-Ron- loses his temper and turns from their Cloud while the Lightning-Hermione- refuses to move from Harry's side.
They are angry for their Cloud despite knowing that they can change nothing in a memory of what has already happened.
The Arcobaleno smirk as Harry's Slytherin side stirs and they watch the boy slink through the shadows gathering information, as he manipulates situations and people, as he cheats to find out what he will be facing in the First Task.
They watch in surprised horror as Harry discovers exactly what he was supposed to face in the First Task.
Mother Dragons.
Nesting Mother Dragons.
Harry panics as he scrambles for any way he can fight a dragon and the Arcobaleno watch it all with disbelief.
Dragons.
Dragons.
They're not sure what to do with that information. Dragons hadn't even been a thought for most of them beyond fantasy books and now they have to watch their baby Cloud face one.
When the time comes to choose what they're fighting from a bag the Arcobaleno are still and stating as Harry reaches into the bag.
And pulls out the fiercest and most violent of the set: the Horntail.
They watch their Cloud's face lose its color as the blood drains from his face. They wait at his side, listening as the older more experienced Wizards and Witch struggle to complete the task they had been given.
They step out into the ring at their Cloud's side and their breath catches at the first sight of the great dragon standing at the opposite side of the ring.
They are experienced murders. The best the Mafia has to offer in their fields and still their hearts stutter and then speed up at the sight of the apex predator in front of them. When they glance back at their Cloud the little 14 year old is still pale, but his face has hardened and they can see the determination in the line of his shoulders as he stares at the Horntail.
They're proud of him.
O~O~O~O~
More than once over the next few minutes the Arcobaleno reach for weapons to help their Cloud and Yuni grabs the nearest arm or hand hard enough to leave bruises.
It is one thing to know their Cloud is about to fight a dragon. It's another thing entirely to actually see their 14-year-old Cloud roll behind boulders in a frantic attempt to dodge streams of fire, to witness a nesting dragon's rage, to watch the frantic spell work of their Cloud as he struggles to give himself the time he needs.
They watch with their hearts in their throats, with their fists clenched so hard they would have left bloody crescents in their palms had they not been in a memory, as their Cloud slings himself onto his Firebolt.
O~O~O~O~
The Arcobaleno are amazed as they watch their Cloud outfly a dragoness. It's the sort of impressive most would view Fon in a martial arts match, Reborn taking a crack shot, Viper crafting her illusion with.
In other words: it's breathtaking and impossible and seemingly effortless on their Cloud's behalf.
And then the dragon breaks free of its binds.
And the Arcobaleno's hearts freeze in their chests.
O~O~O~O~
Reborn has the insane thought that he's finally solved the mystery of why Skull had done the death-defying stunts he had. If he had been doing things like out flying pissed off mother dragons at fourteen the other stunts probably hadn't seemed very dangerous at all.
He's also very sharply ashamed of himself which is a feeling he's not accustom to having at all.
Witnessing their Cloud's childhood (if it could be called that) as he was, witnessing his home life and the horrifying parallels between their treatment of Harry and his treatment of Skull…Reborn knows it may not be a feeling he's used to having but it's one he deserved to feel all the same.
O~O~O~O~
The Arcobaleno run to their Cloud shocked and panicked cries escaping them all in one way or another as they witness the tail of the great dragoness bite into their Cloud's back.
They can't do anything in a memory they know.
It doesn't stop them from running towards him anyway.
O~O~O~O~
Reborn's Sun Instincts scream at him to heal Skull. He's not very happy that he can't.
That it's all a memory he can only watch.
He relaxes a bit when Poppy heals Harry in the Med Tent, but he's still tense that he can't check.
He resolves to himself that he was going to look over Skull's injuries no matter their age when he gets out of the memories whether Skull likes it or not.
O~O~O~O~
The Arcobaleno watch in amusement as Harry is taught how to dance and turns out to not be very good at it. Skull is actually very good on the dancefloor and Lal spares a moment to wonder when Skull had improved on this skill.
They watch as Harry works out the second clue with a bit of help, and are horrified to hear the riddle inside the egg.
Harry hadn't put the pieces together as quickly as the Arcobaleno, that the 'dearly missed' thing was actually a person. The Arcobaleno can see it immediately though and they are horrified to think of what that will do to Harry and his Cloud Instincts.
The Wizarding World has no idea what they're poking.
O~O~O~O~
When the day comes, and Harry goes into the Lake with Gillyweed (Verde has a bit of a Nerd Attack and really wants to experiment with it) the Arcobaleno prove right to worry.
The moment Harry sees the hostages under the lake he snarls and the water around him boils as his Flames surface sharply and enraged. It actually turns out to be worse than the Arcobaleno planned, when they see that both of Harry's 'heart-siblings' are under the water as well as a child that Harry knows to be Fire-Natured and therefore not meant to be submerged underwater for long lengths of time. He doesn't know the fourth, but he wonders if she had even been asked- if any of the hostages had been asked (Because if they had been he knows the Fire Child at least would have said no.)
Harry wastes no time in approaching the four hostages and burning the ropes. It takes him the work of a few seconds to tie the ropes together and then around his waist.
The Merfolk try to stop him, but all they succeed in doing is getting burned as Harry snarls at them, his green eyes flaring a bright vivid violet.
In the end Harry gets out of the lake, dragging the four previous hostages with him, and trailing after him are Victor and Cedric as Fleur had been forced to retreat thanks to the lake creatures. He doesn't give any of the Judges the time to say a word as he pulls the now conscious coughing hostages up onto the makeshift deck and then whirls around.
He snarls threats and rages at them over their stupidity. Not one of the adults are given a moment to speak, as Harry lays into their choices and actions. As he asks questions in the now silent stadium surrounding the lake.
His Flames are flaring bright and wild around him, and Harry doesn't even notice how he has shifted to place the four used as hostages behind him, but everyone else has noticed, and it doesn't matter that Harry is standing there, slim, skinny and half naked- he is the most intimidating thing they had ever seen.
The Arcobaleno watch the first time the Wizarding World experiences a Cloud's Rage.
They laugh.
O~O~O~O~
Skull has so far managed to discover that in order to 'break' a ward he needs to overwhelm it if he can't get to the ward-stone.
He frowns at the newest tome to grace his hands. He doesn't want to break the wards- he wants to crack them just enough to slip inside.
It's going to be a careful balancing act. Not to mention that when he touches the wards, he's going to trigger them and let whoever was inside know he was there.
That's a problem.
He doesn't want his prey to run after all, which means research.
Damn.
O~O~O~O~
The Third Task approaches and the Arcobaleno are nervous.
They know it is a maze that their Cloud will need to navigate, but that isn't what has them nervous. No it's their Cloud's nervousness that stirs their own. They recognize that Harry's instincts are screaming at him, though none of them can pinpoint about what.
They watch their Cloud pour over as many books as he can manage, as he stays up late and gets up early to practice and read ahead. They watch as he flourishes as he applies himself (and they try very hard not to remember the Dursleys had beaten it into their Cloud to not do well, to downplay his intelligence) and devours anything put in front of him. They watch as he ignores House boundaries in his quest to survive, and makes friends in all four Houses. They watch Hermione help as much as she can, researching right beside their Cloud and Verde can see it now. He can see what Skull meant when he said Hermione was a woman he would have liked, who he could have talked to rather than at.
He wishes he had gotten to meet her.
(He isn't the only one.)
O~O~O~O~
The Arcobaleno follow beside their Cloud as he enters into the maze. They walk with him and watch in mixed awe and worry as he faces creatures of myth, traps and illusions. There are many obstacles in his way, but all that studying had paid off as Harry works his way through the maze.
(They only hope there is not another dragon to be found inside.)
(Later they will wish it had been a dragon to find Harry.)
They are proud when Harry makes it to the center of the maze.
And they are whisked away alongside Harry and Cedric when the boys touch the Triwizard Cup.
O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~
Skull argued with me the entire chapter. He wanted to do it his way and was not having it when I tried to argue. The next bit will go really AU to what happened with the HP books. Some things will stick, but the aftermath and such…that's gonna change.
ALSO. 850 reviews you guys. I'm screaming. When/If I hit 1000 I want to do a special or something. So what do you guys want to see? Let me know!
The Slip Up AU I mentioned is up by the way for those of you who haven't seen it yet.
8/10/16: Edits because I posted this at like 4am and made mistakes. XD