Coming to full alertness took a bit more time than usual, but when it did, the memories of the past day hit her like a brick.

A figure had appeared in her own personal hell, bearing a letter from Sirius from beyond the grave. The person, Viper, had been paid a very large sum of gold by her godfather to remove her from England and set her up with an entirely new identity in a different country that would rather snub the English wizards than return her so long as she made it clear she didn't want to go back.

She wasn't in England anymore. Viper had taken her on a red-eye flight that took off at four in the morning in order to be out of England as quickly as possible, and she had no idea where.

Hedwig was off hunting at the time, but she had no doubt her owl would find her soon enough.

"Mu. I see you're awake," said Viper. They were clutching their coffee like a life line.

"Where are we?"

"Sicily," said Viper.

She blinked.

"Isn't that in Italy?"

"Yes. Your godfather paid me to set you up someplace the wizards won't find you, and considering the fact I could sense you from half-way down the block, the best way to do that is to make you my temporary assistant until you learn how to operate on your own," said Viper bluntly.

"Temporary assistant?"

"I'm an underworld information broker. From what I read about you, you can talk to snakes, correct?"

"Yes...?"

"Would you be adverse to using them as informants?" he asked.

"Not particularly. I have no issue with snakes so long as I don't have to deal with the same bullshit I had to put up when I was twelve," she replied.

"Do you know how to speak Italian?"

"I would barely be able to muddle through a conversation in Latin," she answered. "And that's only because of the butchered version we use to cast spells with."

"Mu. Sit still. I'll implant the basic knowledge and we'll stick to using that language only until you become fluent in it," said Viper.

She stills.

"And what...exactly...would that entail?"

"I would use my flames to implant the knowledge and leave," said Viper.

"Just the language, right?"

Viper paused.

"You've had experience with someone who can enter minds before."

"A man who despised my father and made it abundantly clear everyone knew that fact was ordered to teach me how to make a shield within my mind to block out anyone trying to read from it. Instead he gave me all of thirty seconds after yelling to clear my mind with no instruction how to do so before forcibly entering it and ripping whatever information he wanted. And he would repeat that for an entire hour at least once a week before I snapped and broke into his mind, only to find out what a bastard my father was as a teenager," she replied bluntly.

Viper frowned.

"Which means you would be naturally leery of anyone who can do the same, if only to avoid similar treatment. What sort of idiot uses the brute force method when it's far more likely to destroy any shields you have instead of building them? And even if it did work, the shields would become more akin to an animal lashing out instead of a defensive application."

A quiet silence descended upon them.

"You do realize that your limited information on the magical communities and the area around Surrey is useless to me," commented Viper. "And I have no interest in your personal information, which means I have zero reason to rifle through your mind for painful details."

She paused. Viper had a point...they had nothing to gain from her limited information on the magical society and her personal life held no interest to them in the least when they were being paid to set her up in another country and leave.

She sat calmly in front of Viper, who sat across from her with a cup of tea in front of them.

"How are you going to enter my mind when we aren't making eye contact?"

Viper scoffed.

"Only magicals use such a bastardized method," said Viper.

And that was when she felt it. A slight pressure against her mind, only it was considerably more gentle than Snape had ever been.

'Whoever was in your mind before was an idiot. These shields wouldn't keep out a blind novice, much less a determined attack,' said Viper in disgust.

She gasped as she felt Viper do something, and the ever present low-grade headache she always had after Snape started those damn lessons disappear completely. She also felt a slight pressure as something was left behind.

Viper left almost as quickly as they had broken through her mental defenses.

"Implanting languages is simple enough, but considering the level of damage done to your defenses I set it up so that it would unravel naturally while you're sleeping, when your mind is in a relaxed state. I also added a few 'packets' of information that would only open up if the correct trigger was presented that will otherwise remain dormant."

"Trigger?" she repeated.

"Words or images that trip the required amount of stimuli in order to open the information. Naturally it has a limited shelf life considering how quickly information can become outdated, but it would give you enough general knowledge to fool others if required which is enough," explained Viper. "Much like how certain sounds or scents can trigger a memory. That is the bare basics of the packets are."

Seeing her interest in the subject and how it made her relax subconciously, Viper went into detail what they actually knew of the subject beyond the practical application.

By the time lunch rolled around, her stomach made sounds of protest because she had been so fascinated with the discussion that she forgot to even eat breakfast.

She was already thin enough...she could ill-afford to miss a full meal.

Setting up the identity was both difficult and easy at the same time. Viper had the skills to fake an entire new identity, but it was the personality that was giving her a lot of trouble.

She wasn't an idiot, and she had more common sense than half the school put together and that was being generous.

If they were going to be looking for a thin girl of about sixteen with black hair, green eyes and a scar who wore glasses that was somewhat subdued and wore ill-fitting clothing and prefered the peace and quiet, then the best method to avoid detection was to be the exact opposite.

She had to admit, if she hadn't helped Viper craft the new appearance she never would have recognized herself in the mirror.

Her hair was now a shade of deep purple, and her eyes looked closer to amethysts instead of emeralds. The scar she hated so much was covered by a careful application of make-up, and to keep people from asking questions about how pale she was, she put on purple eye-shadow and lipstick.

Her old clothes were replaced with mostly leather, including no less than three full body suits.

Naturally she would need an explanation for her appearance, so the two of them thought it over until the idea of a stuntman that was hated by death was created.

Her new name was "Skull de Mort, the Immortal Stuntman".

Viper had been rather pleased learning she was a natural actress...a by product of living with the Dursleys for over a decade and having to learn how to hide her true thoughts from showing on her face. Couple with that with her lack of fear when faced with dangerous situations, her higher than normal pain tolerance, and the fact she enjoyed doing insane stunts, and it had only taken Viper fifteen minutes to come up with 'stuntman' as her future career. That or tomb raider, which they had only thrown out as a joke, but she didn't have the background for it and the aim they were going for was 'hiding in plain sight', not 'avoidance through partial isolation'.

The problem was that "Skull" had a boisterous personality and she...didn't. She had spent years keeping a low profile in order to avoid attention being drawn to herself, as reminding her "family" that she existed always meant a beating.

In the end, Viper felt they had a good compromise. Skull was loud and a braggart, but he was disinclined to be around large crowds because it make escape difficult. If anyone questioned Skull's odd paranoia about having an escape route, they could honestly state that "Skull" had been locked in a closet for several hours when his family was out of the house and had developed a mild case of claustrophobia. The fact this fit in perfectly with a Cloud's preference of avoiding others and not joining up in groups readily made it easier to hide.

As far as anyone needed to know, Skull was an Inactive Cloud with a loud personality.

Considering the amount of near-death experiences, Viper was fairly certain the lighter flame that came out with the vibrant purple was in fact Sun. It would neatly explain the accelerated healing Skull had.

All too soon, the day Viper's official contract would end drew near.

Skull...wasn't looking forward to that. Viper was refreshingly blunt and their motivations for what they did were clear. When asked a question, the Mist was more inclined to give a straight answer instead of a convoluted one that didn't tell her anything. They openly approved of the fact that Skull took nothing they told her at face value and at least tried to look at all the angles.

Skull hated crowds, but the thought of being entirely alone by herself was even worse.

So you could imagine her relieved shock when Viper offered an alternative...mostly out of self-interest.

They would continue to live together, but they would have to be a bit more discreet if only because of Viper's job.

After all, at the moment Skull was still safe from the underworld and some people didn't exactly take to the criminal life style. Viper had no way to accurately predict how Skull would react to joining the mafia as a freelancer, especially considering the fact that the second any famiglia realized she was an unattached and powerful Cloud they would do everything in their power to recruit her.

Clouds were almost as rare as Skies, and having a full harmony was a massive status boost for any famiglia. Especially if that harmony had strong Guardians. Just look at the Vongola!

Skull was considerably stronger than most, because her will to live was much higher than normal. Add in the fact she was a Cloud, and she was already highly valuable.

The irony was that any famiglia trying to forcibly recruit Skull would have a very difficult time of it. She was independently wealthy from an old and titled background, she had no family to speak of and the odds of someone figuring out her real name were next to nonexistent with how thorough Viper was. After all, they hadn't exactly entered Italy legally, so there was next to nothing that could trace back her country of origin.

Any connections she had were already well protected by the magical society, which the mafia had little to no clue about. Viper only knew because their power was often mistaken as actual magic, which meant they could freely enter magical alleys and could bypass their wards to keep away those without.

Viper mostly decided to keep Skull around because she respected their privacy, and was cheaper than hiring a house maid. Besides, the snakes that they sent out to investigate certain areas were already paying back massive dividends from the fact that no one would suspect an animal native to the area to be a spy. Even if they had a witch or wizard under their employ, any scans would reveal a common snake.

No one would suspect Viper had a parselmouth working for them to translate what the snakes saw and heard. And they heard far more than the Mist ever could have anticipated.

In reality, Skull was a very low-maintenance roommate. Sure she had a number of psychological issues and Viper knew she had terrible nightmares, but compared to the idiots they had to deal with as clients she was considerably more tolerable being around long term.

Thankfully magic wasn't too dissimilar to Mist flames...Viper only had to walk Skull through the basics of teleporting using their Mist before she figured out how to replicate it with her magic. It was far more silent than apparition. So long as she had a clear image of where she wanted to go, she could visit almost anywhere she wanted with very little drawbacks.

Which meant she could be on a job working as a stuntman and still be home in time to make dinner. Even if that job was in another country entirely.

It had been almost a year since Viper saved her from a living hell, and Skull could honestly state that it was a turning point for her.

For one thing, being around someone like Viper on a constant basis had altered her mindset regarding magic. She had always been fairly open-minded about how to go about solving problems, but now she was swiftly realizing that wands were less a 'necessity' than the wizards would like to admit.

She found that she could do almost anything without an incantation or wand movement so long as she believed it was possible.

It the end it all boiled down to the surprisingly simple concept of "I believe I can, so I will. And if not then I'll figure out an alternative until it does."

It made her wonder if those five years at Hogwarts was worth all the headaches and heartache she put up with in the first place.

So you could imagine her confusion when a man who reeked of old magicks and wearing an obvious disguise approached her with an offer to become part of the 'strongest seven'.

Particularly when she found out Viper had been recruited as well.

A cold chill went down her back when Viper noticed her. After living together for the better part of a year, the Mist could speak with her telepathically in small doses.

'What are you doing here?' asked Viper.

'Some man in an odd mask asked me if I wanted to be part of the strongest seven. I mostly came to find out what he meant by that, but now I think I should have stayed home.'

'Everyone here except for the soldier is part of the underworld. Be leery of Renato, the one with the hat. He's a known flirt and an asshole...if he finds out your gender he might attempt to seduce you,' warned Viper.

'Please, he is little more than a more successful Malfoy with actual skills. His good looks count for nothing...and did that asshole just dismiss me during my introduction? What the hell?' said Skull in outrage.

'You are a civilian. They think you are completely clueless about the underworld and will only hold us back,' said Viper.

'I really don't like the way Luce is looking at me. Something about her seems absolutely fake.'