don't even know what to do with myself anymore. You're all glorious human beings and I am a mess. When I started this it never even crossed my mind I would get anywhere NEAR 1000 Reviews, and here we are less than 10 away. (Edit- IT HAPPENED OHMYGOD)
Someone asked how Harry knew Sectumsempra when it was in Snape's potion book. I mentioned Harry dove into research during his fourth year, but apparently I edited out the part that mentioned he found the 'Half Blood Prince' book then. Oops.
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The Arcobaleno rage silently as they join Harry in his fifth year only to see the smear campaign the Ministry is leading with the help of The Daily Prophet. They are not happy to watch an entire population with very few exceptions (most of which are children) ignore the warnings, ignore the problems, ignore the war coming and stick their heads in the sand.
It disgusts the Arcobaleno.
O~O~O~
Skull is not happy. His research isn't helping him too much. Most of the books keep saying the only way he will be able to get into wards he is not keyed into is if he overwhelms the wards, or if he is invited inside.
If he tries to destroy the wards, his prey will be warned he is coming and escape.
The only way he can see everything working is if he gets invited inside, or if he manages to kill his targets when they step outside the wards' protection. If he kills the owner of the wards, they will fall and leave anyone hiding inside open to Skull.
He hums, running his options through his mind as he stares at the newest tome.
He could impersonate somebody else and slip inside the wards with an invitation that way. He'd need to do it without magic though or the wards would trigger and warn his prey.
That left the old fashioned civilian way, or the use of Mist Flames.
Skull shook his head. First things first. He'd see if he could find his targets outside their manors to kill them that way.
(He wondered absently if Verde would be able to create a portable device to stop apparation or portkey use around the target.)
O~O~O~
When Harry steps into the school, the Arcobaleno watch quietly. They watch him reach out to the friends in the various Houses that he had made the year before and begin networking.
They witness the General in their Cloud blooming into use as he begins working to strengthen his position and view. As he begins to counter the work the Ministry and Prophet had done to discredit him.
They are proud to see as it begins to work, even with the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher- Umbridge- there to try and discredit him from within the school.
And when Umbridge gets rid of all practical work, relying instead on theory the Arcobaleno are just as disgusted and angry as Harry.
The Arcobaleno watch the next series of events with surprise, but especially Reborn who- though he will never admit to it- loves teaching.
Harry takes to forming a club he calls the Defense Association where Harry teaches anyone and everyone who wants to join how to protect themselves.
He uses the teachings and routine he had been taught by Hound as well as all the practical uses he could come up with in regards to magic as his lessons.
He works the students around him into the ground just as he had been. He breaks and rebuilds them into stronger versions of themselves. They sweat, they bleed, they gasp for air…but they improve.
Colonnello is silent as he watches an army form around him. He is silent as he watches Harry flourish at the head of this army, as one of his students jokingly answers him with 'Yes Commander!' when he calls out an order, and how the nickname sticks.
He watches as the nickname goes from something Harry was jokingly called, an endearment, to a title- something that shows his students' respect for him.
And Colonnello mourns that he had never seen the leader in Skull who took on so much as Harry, who was willing to step up when all others- even the adults- stepped back. Who, Colonnello realizes with a start, had always been willing to step up to the plate when no one else would even as Skull.
(He remembers seeing the memories of Skull in the Future That Never Was. Of a Skull who shook with the effects of the poison in the air, but had still stepped out to face the army when they came for Yuni. Who had stood between an army and the others and never once faltered, never let an enemy step past him. A Skull who had fought viciously on their behalf, to buy them the time to get the little Sky out of there. Who didn't go down no matter his injuries, no matter the poison in the air chipping away at him, no matter his enemy until a sniper managed a headshot.)
(Colonnello remembers raging himself after watching Skull go down, how he had stalked the sniper responsible afterwards and killed him for it despite needing to go out and be exposed to the poison to do it.)
They had missed so much.
Colonnello swears to make it up to his Cloud.
O~O~O~
Harry is a Cloud. Umbridge pushes all his buttons, not matter how well Harry manages his fury temper, hides his loathing behind cyanide smiles and silken words. It is only a matter of time before he ends up in detention with the woman looking for any sort of reason to give Harry one.
They watch in silence as Harry is told to write lines. They see the narrowed eyes, the silent knowledge that something is off with the picture in front of Harry though Harry isn't exactly sure what the problem is.
And so it is that the Arcobaleno watch with horrified rage as the woman uses Blood Quills to make children write lines. As Harry writes the sentence 'I must not tell lies' over and over and over again.
So many times that the magic of the Quills cannot heal the marks.
So many times that the sentence is scarred into the back of his hand.
They rage silently as Harry goes to a teacher and is told to 'keep his head down'. As Harry realizes with horror that Umbridge wasn't just targeting him, but all the children. The anger as Harry decides that if no one else will do anything he will.
They watch as Harry goes to the friends he made in the four houses and asks them to meet him in the Room of Requirement with all the children that had seen Umbridge. And they see how he is obeyed without question.
He is their General, though it is obvious to the Arcobaleno that none of them, Harry or the others, realize that fact yet.
Reborn mourns that he had not truly seen the teacher, the protector, in his Cloud as he watches Harry's actions.
Once the children are gathered together, Harry asks them to come to him, holding a large bowl in his hands. They watch as Harry soothes the nervous children like he had been born for it, how he asks to see their writing hands, and how the children no matter their age offer up their hands.
They can see the suppressed rage in his eyes as one by one the injuries are revealed. The red irritated skin, the open wounds, the few who had written so much they would scar as Harry would. And they watch the gentle way that Harry takes their hands and places them in the bowl, as he heals and soothes the wounds of the people around him.
Reborn mourns for what he missed. For ever doubting the strength of his Cloud. He swears to himself that he will never doubt Skull in this way again.
O~O~O~
The year passes and Harry slowly but surely takes over most of the school.
The Arcobaleno watch as the children around them are shaped and molded into an army. They watch as the children develop muscle and stamina, as Harry teaches them to fight to survive what is to come, as he teaches them to work together, teaches tactics and battle plans. As he breaks down House barriers and teaches the children to do all of this without letting the teachers around them see how much the inner structure of the school has changed.
They are there when Umbridge threatens their Cloud with the Torture Curse (and more than one of the Arcobaleno try to part her head from her shoulders for it).
They watch as the Prophet comes in and talks of 'disappearances' and 'missing people'. They see the beginning of the war. As Harry steps up training in response to it, and how the students push themselves harder and harder to keep up with the lengths Harry pushes himself to.
They are there when Harry gets Umbridge into the forest and surrounded by centaurs. And despite their rage at this woman, their desire to see her dead, their disgust with her, they still manage to grin at each other when Skull's sarcastic side rears up in Harry.
"Tell them I mean them no harm Potter!" she screams.
"I'm sorry professor." Entirely insincere "But I must not tell lies."
O~O~O~
Skull grins to himself.
He can't do anything about the wards yet. But he can deal with the Neo Eaters that step outside of them. The protection amulets work for magic, and the bodyguards can only stop him if they see him.
Physical attacks can only be stopped if someone sees them coming.
Skull has lived over 30 years at the top of the mafia. His family consists of the best of the best of the mafia. He is a war veteran. A survivor of the front lines.
No one sees him coming.
He takes to throwing knifes and daggers into throats, hearts, and brains. Each handle has his cloud motif on them just so they know who is taking them out, and the moment anyone tries to touch the weapons they burst into purple flames and dissolve into nothing.
Once Skull's targets are dead, their wards fall, and Skull goes to the mansions and clears them out.
The only ones that will be left are the ones that are smart enough to stay in their mansions behind their wards. And Skull refused to let that stand for long. He'd get them all one way or another.
O~O~O~
It is after the incident with Umbridge that things go wrong.
Their Cloud is in the middle of his common room when the vision hits, and the Arcobaleno witness their Cloud jerk in place and collapse against the couch, before their surroundings jerk and shudder until they witness the vision of Sirius being held captive and tortured.
They witness Harry rush to confirm his godfather's state, and the scramble when he can't get ahold of him. They watch as Harry gears up to go to war, and how his friends, those he had trained to be soldiers, gear up beside him.
And for the first time, the Arcobaleno witness Harry take control of a situation, begin making calls and decisions, witness the first appearance of 'The General' in a wartime scenario.
O~O~O~
It's a trap.
The Arcobaleno watch the situation spiral out of control, as Harry takes in the facts around him and reacts. As he calls out orders and commands, as he flings spells and curses, as his Flames flare into being and mix with his magic and make him deadly.
They jerk and react to the situation around them automatically, moving to shield and react to the battle around them on instinct. They move as if they could stand back to back with Harry in battle before it dawns on them once again: they are in a memory. Everything they are seeing has already happened.
They cannot help.
O~O~O~
Sirius falls into the veil and Harry snaps.
The next few minutes see Harry spinning out of Remus' hold and raging across the Ministry. They witness as Harry flings curse after curse at the Death Eaters around him, as their bodies drop to the floor.
How the children Harry had trained respond to his actions, how they attack with the intent to make sure their enemies will not get back up.
The Arcobaleno realize they are seeing the first battle of the coming war and they still, taking in every detail of the battle around them.
When it's over and Harry returns to Hogwarts, he gathers the students that went with him, makes sure they are all alright, gets himself looked over at their insistence, and then retreats to the Room of Requirement.
It is there that the Arcobaleno hear the prophesy their Cloud had taken from the halls. The prophesy that has shaped their Clouds life.
"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches... born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies... and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not... and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives... the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies..."
It is there that they witness their Cloud scream, witness him break things as he comes to terms with what had happened to him, and what he now knows. Where Harry destroys the orb so no one can get ahold of it again.
And when Harry marches out of the Room, his head is held high, his back is straight, and his eyes are narrowed.
They witness the Minister storming into Hogwarts and demanding Dumbledore hand over Harry for 'breaking and entering' and 'destruction of Ministry Property'. How the students Harry had taught move to defend him, how they move before Dumbledore or the teachers can do anything, and how they are quick to block the Minister's view as Harry is shuffled into the crowd. How some students start yelling about Harry Potter breaking into the Ministry being insane, and what could he possibly be thinking to cover up the true reasons for the students' mad shuffle and movements.
The Arcobaleno's eyes are warm with approval as they witness Hufflepuffs quickly hand over a change of robes, how Harry drapes the colors of Loyalty and Hard Work over himself and is shuffled out the doors without any of the teachers or the Minister being aware of what happened as all the actions and movement is covered up in the 'panic'.
It is the year that Harry is forced to go on the run from a Minister convinced he is the villain.