Shall We Dance? — Chapter 3

Chapter Three

Tsuna was pretty sure he was completely doomed, but at least he would die happy.
Potter-san had the prettiest eyes.
Takeshi-kun had yet to stop laughing at him, he was silent but Tsuna could tell. It was in his eyes whenever he looked them all over, especially whenever Tsuna spoke to Potter-san who also had the prettiest smile too. Yes, Reborn could stick a fork in him, he was done. Completely. There would be no coming back from this, not like Kyoko-chan and Haru-chan. He could feel this in his flame, burning deep within his bones and blood, his Hyper Intuition as still and silent as a lake with the certainty of it all. As deeply and wholly as he had known when he stood in front of the prior Dons of the Vongola during the Ring Battles, when he burned Byakuran to ash in the future, when he took that second Dying Will bullet from Reborn when he faced Bermuda von Licktenstein in the Arcobaleno Tournament. He knew.
There would be no forgetting him.
Even if Potter-san left tomorrow and Tsuna didn't see him again for fifty or even eighty years, he would remember this boy, remember the curve of his nose, how it turned up a little at the tip, how his glasses slipped down them because they didn't fit right, the exact shade of red his cheeks turned when embarrassed, the green-green of his eyes, almond shaped, a little round, and upturned. That single dimple on his right cheek whenever he grinned. The thin lightning bolt shaped scar on his forehead that he tried so hard to hide behind his hair, little more than a thick mane of curls and spikes and waves. How he would smile at his friends, one arm around his cousin as she clung to him in overheated misery, talk to them with just a glance and a quirked eyebrow, dry sarcasm and laughter between them.
He was.... kind.
That was something Tsuna hadn't seen for a while. Not with the kind of company he kept. Kyoko-chan and Haru-chan were the closest he could claim to being kind, and they were. But it was the soft kind that came with naivety and ignorance, and not knowing how to be anything but kind. When he looked at Potter-san, it was hard for his eyes to miss the deliberate brand upon his forehead, the words carved into his hand, the thin slash that went from elbow to wrist, and the tail of something thick and ropey just peeking out from his t-shirt collar. He was hurt, had been harmed in ways that were cruel and deliberate. His hands were calloused as though he worked with a lot of tools, or weapons, his knuckles were scuffed as though used to fighting. His kindness was a choice. Much like Tsuna's was.
“Which would you rather first, phone or icecream?” he found himself asking as they stepped into the main high-street of Namimori.
Potter-san glanced down to his cousin and smiled a little, “Sunscreen and icecream first,” he decided, as she fanned herself miserably.
“The drug store will have sunscreen. We can pick a phone up on our way to get icecream?” Takeshi-kun suggested from the back, hands behind his head cheerfully. Tsuna beamed at his Rain who winked.
“That works,” Granger-san agreed with a short nod, “We should pick up some sunscreen for you as well, Ron. You burn just as badly,” she pointed out as she rummaged in her bag for something.
The red headed boy scowled in offence, “Luna goes to bloody Finland to get away from the sun. Mum puts us to work in the garden, I'm fine!” he objected.
“You peel. I don't want to go to sleep in a bed full of skin peelings,” she huffed in disgust, while Tsuna flushed brightly at the insinuation that their relationship was that far along.
“Me either,” Harry agreed with a grimace, making Tsuna's brain stall out. “Just wear the suncream Ron, you complain like a first year after Snape when you get burns.”
“Soo.... you three are?” Takeshi asked curiously, crossing his fingers together as the three looked at him in abject confusion. Granger-san got it first and started laughing, which made the boys peer at her in curiosity.
“No. Ron is my boyfriend yes, but he and Harry are practically brothers. We've been on the move a lot and sometimes there's just not enough beds, we've all gotten used to sharing,” she explained mirthfully while Harry and Ron exchanged long glances, and then theatrically fell into one another. Harry wrapped a leg around the red head's waist, the two of them speaking loud breathy dramatic English to one another that set the brunette girl into hysterical peels of laughter, and even had Reborn snorting a little from Takeshi's shoulder. Tsuna really wished he had paid more attention in English classes now. He had focused more attention on learning Italian because he was scared that Nono and his father may one day just yank him out of Japan to take over the Vongola – and without knowing the language, the two could make whatever decisions they pleased from behind the scenes and let Tsuna be the public face/puppet.
Harry shoved his hand into Ron's face, and practically threw his upper body backwards, hand on his forehead, exclaiming something melodramatically which was apparently the end of Ron's self-control as he burst out laughing, and made Harry crack up hard enough he lost his balance to the point where the two of them were having to use each other as support as they cackled.
Tsuna grinned at their antics, a little jealous that he couldn't really do the same with his own Guardians, though he knew Takeshi would probably be up for it – Gokudera-kun would pitch a fit and get upset though. He was getting better..... but still.....
“Every Sky need communication,” the blonde girl mused from beside him. Tsuna stiffened and looked down, she smiled distantly at him and directed her fan in his direction, “No one is a mind reader, and when you've been alone for so long, you forget how to talk those unspoken things. So you need to say them. Sometimes a Sky needs to be thunderous, even on a clear day.”
What.... what did that mean? Did she know about the Mafia? About Sky Flames?
Tsuna felt a chill, how ominous!

000

It was strange, Tsuna decided, the way that the red headed Ron-san and the blonde haired Luna-chan behaved in the convini. Hermione-san was carefully counting out how much change she had, squinting at the neat notes and coins in her hands with a suspicious glare on her face, Harry-kun meanwhile had immediately moved to the back of the store towards the hygiene section. Takeshi-kun moved to the drink fridges, muttering about melon cream-soda and ramune, leaving Tsuna at a little bit of a loose end until he awkwardly followed after Harry-kun, feeling a horrible mixture of lost and guilty – was he being creepy by following him? He didn't know. His only dating experiences were Kyoko and Haru, and they both became lesbians shortly after. Was he really that bad at dating that they would swear off all men?
“Is this... sunscreen? Or handcream?” Harry-kun asked slowly, crouched in front of several face-wash tubes.
Tsuna huffed a small chuckle at the cute frown on the foreign boy's face as he eyed the selection dubiously, “Face wash, actually,” he corrected.
“Ah. Right.” He scratched at his head with a frown, “I'll be honest, none of us actually know how to read Japanese,” he admitted wryly before turning those devastatingly green eyes up on him, “Help?” he pleaded.
Tsuna was pretty sure his brain broke a little.
“Y-yEaH! S-suRE!” he agreed, his voice cracking to his utter mortification.
He could taste the disappointment and scorn from Reborn, even here, on the otherside of the convini.
“Th-this one is pretty good. Factor thirty-five, and it's fairly cheap too,” he explained, his face practically burning as he leaned down and collected a tube a row to the left of where Harry was crouched.
“I think Loulou might need something a little stronger,” the foreigner admitted quietly, sounding a little concerned as he stood up and looked over to where the blonde girl was holding a bottle of chilled ramune to her cheek while Takeshi laughed at something Ron said as he peered into the fridges curiously – as if he had never seen one before.
Tsuna swallowed his embarrassment, and shook himself.
“Then.... here, Factor fifty? It's mostly for kids, but if she has delicate skin it should protect it,” he suggested, putting the first tube back and collecting another one, orange in colour with colourful rainbow hued bubble hiragana on it.
Harry-kun accepted it a little dubiously, “So little,” he muttered, weighing it in his hand.
“I think it's mostly for children when they go to the beach. But it isn't that expensive so you should be able to afford more than one, right?” Tsuna asked with a small frown, people on holiday usually brought a fair bit of money, right?
Harry-kun grimaced, “Our finances are a little tight,” he admitted before glancing over to Ron-san and Luna-chan. Instead of collecting a second factor fifty, he picked up two of the first factor thirty-five that was about twice the size of the children's tube. “As long as we use the fifty on really sunny days, it should be alright, shouldn't it? Does Namimori get very hot?” he asked curiously.
Tsuna shrugged a shoulder, “Eh, not too much. But it can get fairly bright. Definitely t-shirt and shorts weather, but we don't get many melty-days.”
“Melty-days?” the green eyed boy asked curiously, the look on his face suggesting that he didn't understand the words. Tsuna forgot that slang often wasn't taught when foreigners learned Japanese, unless they were picking it up from anime at the same time.
“Uh, days where it gets so hot that you feel like you're melting, those kind,” the Sky explained as they made their way over to the counter.
“Ooh, I understand,” Harry said with a nod and a grin before Hermione-san caught his attention with some rapid fire English. Tsuna stood back a little, watching curiously as Harry showed her the two tubes and likely explained his reasoning. Hermione-san's face spasmed a little before she looked down at the money in her hands and then said something almost gently to him. Harry grimaced awkwardly, and Tsuna really wished he knew what they were saying.
“Potter-kun is being cheap, and Hermione-san is telling him that they have enough money and he shouldn't worry so much,” Reborn announced, hopping onto his shoulder.
“It isn't being cheap!” the brown haired girl defended hotly as Harry-kun flushed and looked away awkwardly.
Tsuna caught the glance the green eyes boy flickered to his red head friend. Ron-san got burnt and peeled in hot weather too.... He was here with his younger sister and his twin brothers. That meant all four of them were likely to get sunburnt just as easily as they were all fair skinned red heads. That explained the two large tubes that Harry picked up, but that didn't..... It was definitely something about the price and – Tsuna took a closer look at the red head from the corner of his eye, and spotted the awkward stitching here and there of clothing repaired time, and time, and time, and time again. Clothing that had been taken in, and let out, that had been hemmed up, and then unpicked, that had been washed, and patched, and darned to the point of falling apart, but was still serviceable and – of course.
Second hand clothing. Four children. Not wanting to spend too much money.
“It's not embarrassing a friend,” he concluded, looking away from the red head to Harry who twitched a little and looked up at him with wide eyes. “You don't want to embarrass him.”

000

Takeshi had gotten them all drinks, none of which they would be allowed to take into the phoneshop, so the group sat down on one of the benches not too far away to finish their drinks and relax. Right now they were discussing what animal they would turn themselves into if they could, and what animal would suit them best.
Thus far, everyone was having a laugh. Takeshi had declared himself and Ron-san as dog-buddies, the two of them having concluded that they would turn themselves into dogs if they could, and had agreed that they had personalities suited to the animals as well. Hermione-san had concluded that while she would like to change into an otter, she couldn't think of something better suited to her, and despite suggestions, she adamantly refused being an owl, mainly because despite their symbology, owls were not actually all that intelligent. And she pointed out to neither being quiet, nor fond of heights.
“You could be a Burrowing Owl,” Harry suggested playfully, and ducked away from the slap she aimed at the side of his head.
Takeshi tried to declare Tsuna was a lion, the Sky refused frantically because Box animals were not symbolic of their personalities despite sharing them. Natsu was far more awesome than he was. But he couldn't say that around Harry-kun and his friends without awkward questions. It didn't help that Reborn was declaring that as lions were the King of the Jungle, Tsuna had better be one.
“Wh-what about Harry-kun? What do you think?” the brunet deflected desperately. He did want to hear about what Harry thought of himself, and what his friends thought of him too. Tsuna may like him, and everything about him made his Sky flame practically purr (which was so many levels of weird that he had yet to stop screaming internally and was kind of trying to ignore it for the moment until he could properly panic later), but he wanted to learn more and what one's friends said about him could paint a much clearer picture than anything he himself said.
Both Ron and Hermione fell quiet and went thoughtful.
“Horse,” Luna declared almost immediately, sipping at her drink slowly.
“Horse?” Harry choked with a laugh.
She nodded, “Ginny's patronus is a horse,” she explained, “She might have grown out of such beliefs, but somewhere deep inside, she knows you'll still protect her. They're loyal, symbols of freedom, intelligent, and have quirky personalities.”
Hermione nodded slowly, “It does fit,” she murmured.
Ron wrinkled his nose, “But he's totally lion material too. C'mon, he wielded the sword of Gryffindor for crying out loud,” he complained pointedly.
“That doesn't mean he's Godric Gryffindor reincarnated, Ronald,” Hermione objected with a scoff, “I think the man would spin in his grave fast enough to drill through to the other side of the planet if he knew what we got up to.”
“Clearly you've never spoken to the Grey Lady or the Bloody Baron for long,” Harry stated blandly.
“Gryffindor would have gotten along rather well with Grandfather, I think,” Luna said mistily.
“See? Lion material,” Ron stated.
“Harry isn't lazy enough to be a lion,” Hermione refuted.
Tsuna spluttered, a little offended, but also unable to deny it because – yeah, he was a little lazy. Especially when it came to studying, and cleaning up after himself, and doing his own laundry.... and home work.... and chores....
“Lions are lazy?” Takeshi asked.
Hermione nodded, “Male lions spend more time sleeping than anything else. Lionesses are the ones who hunt, bring the kills home, rear the cubs, and patrol their home territory,” she explained factually, waving a finger at them which had Ron wrinkling his nose.
“Okay, that.... that doesn't sound like him at all,” he complained.
“See?” the girl declared smugly.
“I think I'd like to be a bird,” Harry announced, breaking the argument up, “It'd be nice to fly.”
Tsuna had to physically bite his tongue to stop himself from offering to give him a lift. Piggy-back rides via the X-burner did not a romantic evening make. And now his brain was filled with memories of flying Spanner through those tunnels on his parachutes, and, oh god, why – why brain?
“I could see you being a peregrine falcon,” Hermione admitted thoughtfully. “They're fairly small and fast.”
Harry gave her a wounded look, “Are you calling me short?”

000

They got Harry his phone, though, he hadn't the faintest idea of how to use it. And it was only when he explained that his Aunt and Uncle never allowed him to get a phone that Tsuna quickly realised he was practically dealing with a technophobe – or at least someone on that level. Which was alarming especially when considering that Harry apparently knew how to fix just about every kitchen appliance known to man, and how to rewire light fixtures amongst other things. Evidentially his Uncle didn't trust electricians, so Harry learned how to do the household maintenance himself.
Tsuna taught him how to add contacts into his phone, and tried not to squee too much when his name became the first in his address book. Quickly followed by Takeshi, Hermione's home-phone, and another number titled 'Emergency'.
When asked, Harry just shrugged and said it was one his grandfather told him to ring if he ever got in over his head, a distant family member would come and bail him out. But it was only for emergency-emergencies.
Somewhat despairingly, Tsuna wondered how long Harry-kun would last in Namimori before he needed to dial that number.

0000

And chapter finished. Slightly shorter, but mainly because I am literally falling asleep into my keyboard. Enjoy your new chapters y'bastards. That's two in one day! This and Rabbit's Foot!

Shall We Dance? — Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Ginny, the utter bitch, took one look at his face and lit up like the Hollyhead Harpies had just sent her a personal invitation to join the team.
“Oh my fucking god, Harry!” she shrieked gleefully, slapping his arms and chest.
He groaned in utter mortification because of course his ex-girlfriend would notice. “Ginny, stop it!” he hissed, face burning as he tried to bat her hands away.
“Which one is it? Tell me! Is it the tall one? Cho was pretty tall, and she had dark hair, you have a thing for that. No? Your face says no,” she babbled quickly as the twins appeared on eitherside of their Lord.
“What's this?” Fred crooned mischievously as they draped themselves over his shoulders, and Harry felt his stomach clench in horror.
“Does ickle Harrykins have his eye on someone?” George asked slyly.
“What?” Ron yelped while Hermione looked up from her papers in interest. Luna giggled.
Ginny was eyeing the group thoughtfully, head tilting this way and that as she looked each of them over with narrowed eyes. Her fingers twitched on her chin, and her eyes widened before she slowly turned to look at him. Oh no. He knew that look. She knew. She knew exactly who. And she took one look at his face and knew that he knew she knew.
She grinned, all teeth, and Harry wheezed lunging for her – Fred and George handily picking him up before he could get to her and cackling as they pulled him away.
“OI SAWADA!” she screamed down to the group in her slightly awkward Japanese, immediately stopping the chaos happening below, and making them all look up in surprise. She pointed at him, and Harry hissed, twisting and slipping free of his Dark Sapphires in one of Felis's favourite evasion techniques. “MY FRIEND THINKS YOU'RE HOT-” Harry tackled her, just that split second too slow to cover her mouth as they both went down, Harry with a furious shout, and Ginny with a cackle of laughter while the twins positively hooted with glee.
Someone from Sawada's group 'hiiiiiieeee'd, and the group exploded into noise, laughter, and screaming while Ginny rolled backwards under him, planted her feet against his legs and neatly threw him over her head. He let her, rolling to his feet and directly into the hands of the twins.
He froze at the identical evil grins on their faces, “The best way to gather information,” Fred began.
“Is to cause chaos and see what happens,” George finished as their grips tightened on him.
“Oh hell no!” Harry squawked, squirming desperately as his Knights grinned wickedly.
“Hey, let's not – ” Ron began to say, taking a step forward right before the twins scooped him up bodily and threw him at the approaching Vongola group, flickers of Sapphire Aspect catching at his eyes, ears, and ankles. Light touches, not enough to dye their hair or eyes, but enough to disorientate their little Lord, prevent him from righting himself. Making him blind wouldn't work, he was too well trained for that, but putting his perception half an inch off, and tricking his inner-ear into thinking he was rightside up when he was upside down, and making him think his ankles were heavier than they should be....
He flailed like an alarmed cat in the split second before he landed on the Vongola.
Yelps went up amongst the teenagers, the girls squealing as they scattered, and shouts going up from the pale haired boys while the tall one danced back with a burst of laughter.
“Juudaime!” the silver haired Ruby Knight yelled, and Harry groaned, shaking off the lingering wisps of Aspect that clung to him and glared at his cackling Knights.
Someone groaned under him.
The Gryffindor yelped, scrambling to his feet, “I'm sorry!” he squawked feeling his face burn dark red as he found himself getting shoved away by the Ruby Knight who immediately began to flutter around his Lord. Harry covered his face with a hand, “I didn't think they would actually throw me at you.”
Sawada huffed an embarrassed laugh as his Ruby helped him up, and Harry wanted to die a little because that smile was not fair. “It-it's okay. It's not the first time someone's landed on me,” he assured him as he dusted himself off and looked up, immediately turning red when he realised who landed on him, and rubbed the back of his head as he quickly looked away. Harry was going to kill Ginny, and the twins. Tell their mother what they did and watch the – damnit, no, he couldn't do that, because then she'd know that he left the country as well. “A-are you alright?” Sawada stuttered awkwardly, peeking up at him and then away again.
“I'm fine! I – ah – I had a soft landing,” he joked quietly.
The smallest of the children, the little boy in the hat that had been waving around a rifle earlier, leaped up and kicked Sawada in the back of the head, pitching him forward directly into Harry, who froze on the spot. Did he catch him? Did he sidestep? What did he do?
“Don't be so pathetic Dame-Tsuna!”
Harry caught him. The child landed lightly where Sawada had been standing a moment later, and pointed at the pair of them scoldingly as the brunet grabbed the back of his head in pain, whirling around to face the child.
“Reborn! What was that for?!” he cried in dismay.
“You're too naïve, Dame-Tsuna,” he chided, “Your seduction techniques are too childish, and shoddily demonstrated! You are still Dame.”
The brunet went sunset red, wheezing and spluttering in utter mortification as he flapped his arms, frantically trying to formulate something to say. Frantic garbled denials and incomprehensible stutters spilling from his lips as he blushed from ears to neck, and possibly lower. And to Harry's complete and utter horror, his brain disconnected from his mouth and he found himself saying: “...I wouldn't call it shoddy.”
Immediately everyone looked at him, and he felt his face burn.
Fuck.
He immediately turned away, woodenly dropping his hands from where they had been braced against Sawada's shoulders when he caught him, “Excuse me. I need to kill my cousins,” he decided tightly, distantly hearing the sound of Ginny and the twins howling with laughter in the background.
Ginny took one look at his face as she wheezed on her laughter, and bolted, while the twins squeaked in alarm and followed suit, splitting up in three different directions; leaving Ron, Hermione, and Luna to watch their retreating backs and then see the way that Sawada caught hold of their Lord's wrist when he moved to follow the trio with a scowl.
“W-wait!” the brunet spluttered, only to freeze when Harry glanced back at him, his eyes frantically darting to anywhere but his face as his mouth opened and closed soundlessly, “...C-can we exchange numbers?” he finally burst nervously.
Harry's stomach clenched, and he felt his heart give a particularly hard thump.
“I uh...” he didn't have a mobile phone, but, he couldn't – he really wanted – but – “...S-show me where to buy a mobile phone first,” he said, butterflies erupting in his stomach at the way Sawada's face went very still for a moment as he blinked, before he lit up excitedly.
“Sure! I'd be happy to!” he said brightly, only to freeze for a moment and then turn brick red, “I – I just realised, I never asked for your – m-my name is Sawada Tsunayoshi! It's very nice to meet you!” he shouted, letting his wrist go and darting backwards a step to bow frantically and repeatedly at the waist.
Harry almost wanted to say that he knew, but he recognised a social cue when he saw one and quickly followed suit, “Ah, it's nice to meet you too! I'm Potter Harry! Uhm, my cousins behind me, the red heads are Weasley Fred and George, the twins, Weasley Ron, and Weasley Ginny, the girl. The blonde girl is another cousin, Lovegood Luna. And the brown haired girl is my friend Granger Hermione, and Ron's girlfriend,” he introduced, turning and gesturing to his trustworthy and most beloved Knights to come down and join him.
Sawada flushed and flapped his arms, “Hiiiiee! I – yes – these are my friends! Yamamoto Takeshi-kun, Gokudera Hayato-kun, Sasagawa Ryohei-niisan, Sasagawa Kyoko-chan, Miura Haru-chan, Dokuro Chrome-chan, Bovino Lambo-kun, I-pin-chan, and Reborn-san,” he introduced quickly, turning to each of his Knights in turn, the unknown little girl who seemed to have a Sworn Hand bond instead of Knight one, and the child that kicked him earlier, Reborn. His bond was.... strange. Almost a Knight bond, or would have been if the male Sasagawa sibling were not already filling that position. Regardless, there was a bond there, a powerful one. The other two girls were only Aspect Apparents, an Inverted Dark Sapphire for Sasagawa Kyoko, and a Classical Emerald for Miura Haru, neither of which had any manner of bond beyond the faintest of Territory Influences to Sawada. Aside from them, Gokudera, the Ruby Knight, glared hot death at Harry from where he was in a firm headlock, his mouth covered, by the Turquoise Knight Yamamoto who was smiling brightly at them all, the male Sasagawa stood to the back looking confused, but quiet, next to his sister while the three girls were beaming and giggling to one another with the two children, the girl, I-pin, and the seven year old Lambo who happened to be Sawada's Emerald Knight.
A seven year old Knight. Harry found his gaze lingering on the little boy with a sting discomfort. What kind of person would drag a child so young into such a dangerous situation that their Aspect would manifest? He was seven, and Sawada had been fully Crowned for three years already, meaning the child would have had to be four or five when he was put into a situation so dangerous he believed himself about to die.
“What are you guys doing in Japan? Are you liking it so far?” Sasagawa Kyoko asked brightly as the rest of Harry's friends and family arrived.
“We only arrived today,” Hermione explained with a small smile, “It's probably why Ginny and the twins have been such a pain, they don't particularly like being cooped up for long periods of time.” She, of course, meant Grimmauld Place and the Order, but the teenagers took it to mean the plane flight over and nodded knowingly. “It's very clean, I've not seen at litter yet which is surprising!” she gushed a little with a grin.
Ron rubbed the back of his head, “I – haven't really seen enough to say. Sorry,” he apologised with a sheepish smile while Luna faceplanted into Harry's back, wiping her face on his t-shirt.
“The heliopaths are mating today,” she complained breathily.
Harry squawked, “Luna! Don't wipe your sweat off on me!” he complained.
“But the heliopaths – ”
He sighed and patted her head, “I know it's hot, we'll stop off for icecream in a bit, yeah?” he suggested kindly as she nodded miserably, looking flushed and damp in the summer heat. He felt a bit like kicking himself, he had no idea Japan would be so hot in Summer, but he knew that Luna spent a lot of the summer up in Sweden and other equally Scandinavian territories to avoid the heat and sun of the British summer. She was going to burn pretty badly in this weather. He looked at Hermione, “Did we think to pack any sunscreen?” he asked anxiously.
It took her a moment before she glanced at Luna and realised what was bothering him, her eyes widened as a hand rose to cover her mouth, “No, we didn't. Damnit, I knew I should have researched more!”
He shook his head, “Not your fault. We'll just have to pick some up in a bit.” He turned to Sawada with an apologetic smile, “Sorry guys, we should probably head off. I promised this one icecream, and we still haven't found a hotel yet,” he explained as he patted the thoroughly miserable looking blonde girl on the head as she clung to him, getting him just as hot and sweaty as she herself. Gross, but he wasn't about to shove his Amethyst off when she actually wanted physical affection – it had taken a long time for Luna to feel comfortable to get clingy, and he didn't want to undo that.
“Ah, I – we could show you a good icecream place?” Sawada suggested in tones bordering desperate as he glanced over to his friends, “Right? And- Gokudera-kun should know some good hotels right? From before?” he asked the still restrained Ruby Knight who kept giving Luna wide-eyed looks of interest, having practically lit up like a puppy at the mention of heliopaths as he did at the mention of UMAs.
“Sounds like fun, I'm in! Oh, and I can show you the best sushi place in Namimori! My dad runs it, so maybe I can swing a discount on your first meal!” Yamamoto boasted proudly with a laugh.
Miura Haru giggled, “Sorry, I have a lot of homework tonight, you guys go without me,” she said.
“Yeah, me too. Sorry, Tsuna-kun,” Kyoko-san agreed with a bright smile and a small bow.
Tsuna drooped a little, “Oh, that's too bad. Get home safe you two, see you tomorrow.”
“WE WILL BE EXTREMELY CAREFUL, SAWADA!” the thus far quiet Sasagawa Ryohei abruptly roared, making all of the foreigners skip back a step. The movement jarred Luna, drowsy and miserable as she was, it startled her into snapping her hand up to her head where she had her wand twisted into her hair, her other knotting into the back of Harry's T-shirt, ready to physically launch him halfway down the street and out of danger if need be. Harry jerked at her hold, making her pause, and hummed soothingly, pushing back against her hand as he glanced over his shoulder to her. Slowly, the slightly heat-frazzled Knight relaxed, and then whined, burying her face into his arm as he huffed a small laugh at her. She didn't appreciate the momentary alarm ramping her Aspect, and thus her temperature, up.
“Bye bye, Tsuna! Nice to meet you all, I hope you enjoy your stay in Japan!” the two girls chorused as they moved off with the noisy Topaz Knight.
“You have good reflexes,” Reborn observed from beneath his hat, his head tilted towards Luna and Harry.
Harry shrugged, “We get into a lot of trouble at school,” he admitted self-depreciatingly as he gently petted his Amethyst.
“That's for sure,” Ron grumbled shoving his hands into his pockets.
“S-should we wait for your friends?” Tsuna asked, using the excuse of peering over Harry's shoulder for any sign of the trio of red heads that ran away to get a little bit closer to him.
Ron snorted in amusement wrapping an arm around his girlfriend's shoulders, “Nah. They'll come back begging for scraps soon enough. Or rather, the twins will. Ginny'll just try to steal either mine or Harry's,” he said with a grimace while Harry folded his arms and huffed.
“She'll get it in her hair if she tries that after earlier,” he promised, flushing darkly in embarrassment. She was super lucky that he loved her, or he'd have done more than tackle and try to tickle her for that stunt. She knew he hated it when people drew attention to him, screaming down the street that he thought someone was hot was.... he suddenly wanted to strangle her all over again.
“LAMBO-SAMA WANTS ICECREAM!” the Emerald Knight yelled brattily latching onto Sawada's trouser legs, “Dame-Tsuna! Let's gooo! Icecream! Icecream!”
“Lambo-kun, don't yell,” the little girl, I-pin, scolded as Sawada laughed.
“Yes, yes, let's get icecream,” he agreed brightly, making the boy leap back with a 'diabolical' laugh as he struck a pose, it was actually pretty cute, a moment before Reborn attempted to round-house kick the young Emerald Knight. It probably would have landed, if Harry hadn't reached over and caught the little Knight by the back of his school uniform, neatly hoisting him out of the way, and onto his own hip. Somehow, he got the feeling that attempting to do the same to the violent child, Reborn, would have gotten his arm removed, or one of those guns aimed at his face. The fight that would have kicked off then would not have been pleasant.
“SHUT THE HELL UP, COW-BRAT!” the Ruby Knight bellowed, snatching the seven-year-old away from him, and then shaking him. Harry spluttered in horror, glancing back to Hermione who had her lips pursed in anger. Was this normal behaviour towards Emerald Knights in other parts of the world? She nodded unhappily, and he scowled. The first person to raise a hand to her was going to be beaten to death with it.
“G-Gokudera-kun!” Sawada squawked immediately flailing and snatching the seven year old away while his Turquoise Knight just laughed. Well, at least their Lord didn't treat him poorly, he noted as the brunet gently allowed the slightly dazed seven-year-old to slide down to his feet.
“Che, bothering Tenth all the time,” the Ruby Knight huffed caustically.
Ron strained chuckle, falling into step with his contemporary as the large group of teenagers began to walk away, “He's a kid. All kids are like that,” he pointed out.
“And what about you? Bothering Tenth, I won't accept it. No way,” he seethed glaring at the back of Harry's head as Tsuna lead them towards the only dessert parlour in Namimori that hadn't yet banned them for Lambo or Reborn's antics.
Ron shrugged a shoulder, “Well, you kind of have to,” he pointed out lazily, meeting his fellow Ruby Knight's furious glare with his own steady one, “It isn't your place to decide how he lives his life, y'know?”
“Just to make sure he doesn't get hurt in the process, and pick up the pieces afterwards,” Hermione agreed solemnly as she rummaged through her bag, careful to prevent their research papers from being seen as she carefully pulled out a rolled up sun hat. “Luna? Here, this should hopefully help a little,” she said, gently plonking the large hat on top of her fellow Knight, and then handing her a small wooden hand-fan.
“Thank you, Hermione. Harry, look what Hermione gave me,” the blonde said dreamily, wafting cool air in his direction using the fan.
“That's nice. But I'm alright, Loulou. You focus on yourself,” he told her gently, nudging her wrist back so she could fan herself under the hat. “– We're looking into a few things our School Headmaster said,” he explained to Tsuna with a small smile, “We wanted to form our own opinions before agreeing or disagreeing to his plan.”
“Plan?” Tsuna asked curiously.
“S-so,” Gokudera began, sliding to the otherside of the foreigners to get closer to the tiny blonde girl, “You said something about Heliopaths earlier? What are those?” he asked excitedly, digging into his pocket for a notebook and pen.
Harry nodded, paying no mind to the conversation that started up next to him between Sawada's Ruby and his Amethyst, only patting Luna's hand when she linked their arms instead of hung off him. “Mm. He wants some kind of business deal, but it involves a bit of a sacrifice on my part. So I figured I'd look into the situation personally and find out whether it was worth my while.” Right now, while part of him wanted to say yes please right away, the other part of him was significantly more pragmatic and wary. “The others came because I could find trouble in a laundry basket and refuse to leave me unattended,” he added with a grin over his shoulder at Hermione and Ron who snorted and laughed in agreement.
“When we were eleven, Harry and I were in detention helping out the groundskeeper. One of the school horses had been found dead, and another had gone missing, so we were helping him look for tracks in the forest next to the school, just in case she got loose and one of the local wolves got her. Instead, Harry manages to not only find the horse, but also the psycho that had been killing and eating them raw,” Hermione explained with a disbelieving shake of her head as she edited that horrible first detention they ever received and their adventure finding Voldemort eating unicorns in the forest, ignoring the horrified squawking of those present. “He was lucky that one of our teachers had been out star gazing that night and heard the commotion.”
Ron nudged her with a grin, “Don't forget the time when you were too ill to leave the hospital wing where we found Slytherin's secret lab, and all the horrible creepy crawlies that had been in there,” he continued blithely.
“Or the one unguarded secret passageway from the school into the village where you ended up face to face with a rabid wolf and a murderer,” Hermione continued as Harry grimaced.
“In Sirius's defence, he never actually killed anyone, he was just trying to,” he said weakly, attempting to defend his late godfather's poor decision making skills.
“Hiiiiiiieee! Th-that doesn't make it any better!” Tsuna shrieked flapping his arms in disbelief while Yamamoto-san laughed, and Gokudera sweated, making notes over whatever it was Luna had been saying in his little notebook, his recently appeared glasses fogging up with excitement.
Luna hummed dreamily and leaned even more firmly into Harry's arm, “Harry started a school wide rebellion against Government interference where he taught all of us self-defence when Professor Umbridge started torturing us.”
“And told Snape to go fuck himself!” Ron added with relish.
“Clearly the greatest accomplishment of my life,” Harry added dryly.
“Definitely the most dangerous,” the red head agreed, the two high fived while Hermione groaned, rubbing her temple in exasperation.
“Ahaha, sounds like you guys had as interesting a school life as we did, right Tsuna-kun?” Yamamoto laughed breezily, hands braced behind his head as he followed the group next to Chrome and Hermione.
Tsuna seemed to be struggling with himself as he stared between Harry and the rest of his friends, flushed to the tips of his ears, and twisting his fingers, “I – uh – Gokudera-kun and I blew up the school playground once?” he offered shyly, “B-but we were told to! One of the teachers said there was a time capsule there and that we had to find it!” he spluttered.
“What, really?” Harry squawked, while Ron whispered a heartfelt 'wicked'.
Hermione spluttered, “Blew it – you blew it up?!” she screeched, eyes widening.
“Uh oh,” Ron muttered, exchanging a glance with Harry who nodded grimly and quickly slid himself between the two as Hermione bore down on the Japanese boy, while her boyfriend caught her by the shoulders to try and hold her back.
“Do you have any idea how dangerous that was?!” she shouted, “You could have been hurt, or even killed! Or worse! Expelled!” Harry snorted, turning her glare onto him, “I don't see what's so funny Harry James Potter!” she exclaimed, jabbing him in the chest.
“Just that you said that the first time we met Fluffy,” he pointed out cheerfully, not in the least bit cowed as Tsuna practically cowered behind him.
“I knew what I was doing, damn woman!” Gokudera spluttered in mortal offence, “Tenth was perfectly safe and knew exactly what to do! If not for him, we'd have never found the proper fault line! He did the most damage and found the time capsule!” he gushed proudly, turning adoring eyes to his Boss who wobbled a weak smile in his direction.
“I think Snape would have pickled our entrails if we ever dared do something like that,” Harry said with a grimace and an admiring glance at Tsuna who flushed and smiled.
“Haha, it was really cool! They got Nezu-sensei arrested for fraudulent teaching qualifications after that stunt!” Yamamoto Takeshi explained with a cheery laugh as Hermione spluttered in wide eyed horror.
“Sorry about her, she's, uh, pretty intense about education,” Harry whispered softly to Tsuna who flashed him a significantly more relaxed smile and, fuck, his stomach fluttered making his fingertips tingle. That smile was entirely unfair.
He tripped.
He actually tripped. Him. Heir to the Black family legacy, personally trained by the World's Greatest Master Thief Felis Black, The Ghost.
He tripped over his own goddamn feet because a boy smiled at him.
Someone kill him. Please. Let the floor swallow him whole. Let him become one with the stone he was about to meet with his face.
Tsuna caught him, and they both went down with yelps.
“Tenth!” - “Harry!” - “Ahaha, wipe out!” - “You okay there, Tsuna?” - “Boss, are you alright?”
Harry grimaced and looked down at the Japanese teenager, “This is getting ridiculous. This is the second time I've ended up on top of you in an hour, and you haven't even bought me dinner,” he complained making the other seventeen-year-old squeak and flail as Harry got to his feet, and hold a hand out to help him up.
That seemed to be a bit too much for Tsuna's Ruby Knight who immediately knocked his hand away and got between them, “Keep your hands to yourself! Tenth, here, let me help you up!”
Tsuna drooped in disappointment as he let the silver haired boy pull him up, “Gokudera-kun....”
The Ruby Knight ignored him, or just didn't notice his expression as he turned on them, “Who the hell do you think you are, coming out of nowhere, bothering Tenth like you're actually worth his time! Go sniff elsewher– ”
“Ah, noisy as ever, Hayato-kun,” a smoky female voice greeted, making the group turn and the Ruby Knight to gurgle, his face immediately greying as he crumpled like wet tissue in front of the plum-pink haired young woman.
“Bianchi-san!” Sawada yelped as she immediately swept forward to hug the tiny Reborn, blushing happily as she cuddled him to herself.
The woman smiled serenely at him, and Harry felt a fissure of unease but.... She was most definitely Scorched. A broken Knight. But it was old and healed. Sawada's Amber had patched her up, she was supported by a small rainbow of Aspects belonging to the Tenth Generation, the little Topaz in her arms, and a muffled Inverted Sapphire had wrapped her up in the feeling of home and contentment. This was unprecedented, a broken Knight, almost whole? How?
“Your father rang,” the young woman announced sweetly, “He intends to visit next month. Your mother and I are cooking tonight in celebration, I'm just fetching more ingredients of love.”
Sawada blanched, “I-I see. Wh-what will you be cooking Bianchi-san?” he asked warily.
She blushed happily, “Mama said I could help her with the rice and the sauce. I should get back soon.”
“You should take Gokudera too. He's had a hard day,” Reborn pointed out, nodding to the boy on the floor that Hermione was slightly panicking over. He was foaming at the mouth now.
She sighed and set the child down on the floor, “My troublesome little brother. He's old enough now to know not to push himself.” She blushed happily then, cupping her cheek, “But it would be nice to share a meal together. Alright.”
“Forgive me if I'm too forward,” Hermione began tightly, scowling as the strange woman walked off with her brother slung over one shoulder, “But I can't help but notice the lack of concern any of you displayed when one of your own collapses like that.”
Sawada stuttered, flapping his hands while Yamamoto-san just laughed, “It's always been like that. Though sometimes it doesn't happen. I wonder why,” the taller of the two mused curiously, blinking up at the sky.
“That's because Bianchi hides half of her face,” Sawada whimpered, covering his face in both hands with dispair.
“GYUPAA! WHO CARES! LAMBO-SAMA WANTS ICECREAM! DAME-TSUNA MAKE THEM HURRY UP!” the Emerald Knight screeched, stomping and jumping up and down in the middle of the street.
“Lambo-kun!” Sawada moaned in a mixture of annoyance and embarrassment.
The girl who had been silent thus far, Chrome, knelt down next to the screaming child, “You want icecream, Lambo-kun? That shop sells really good grape flavour, why don't we get some, and Boss can help Potter-san and his friends while we play?” she suggested sweetly, her girlish voice barely above a whisper but enough to be heard and get the tantrum throwing child to stop immediately.
“And we'll play? And get more candy?” he demanded insolently with narrowed eyes.
“Yes. But not too much, or Mama will be upset when you don't finish your dinner,” she explained, casting a small smile up at Sawada who relaxed and looked like he could have kissed her.
“Thank you, Chrome-chan!” he exclaimed, “I'll buy you lunch tomorrow!” he promised, clapping his hands together and bowing his head.
She giggled, “Have fun, Boss,” she said as she corralled the two older children and began to lead them towards a small cafe down a side road.
Tsuna smiled awkwardly back at them, “Shall we? The icecream place is only another ten minute walk,” he said.
Harry exchanged a glance with the others, Luna was still fanning herself and a little dazed, she would follow his lead regardless. Ron and Hermione though. Hermione wore that sour lemon expression of displeasure she had once when she found out about the house elves, he knew he was going to have to brace for an earful tonight. Ron looked a little disturbed, but he wasn't angry, just watching the way Bianchi walked away with her younger brother with a thoughtful look on his face. He caught Harry's eye when he realised he was being watched. Harry twitched an eyebrow in askance. Ron twitched his nose and flicked his eyes between Sawada and his Turquoise before looking back to Harry and then over to the departing Ruby. He shrugged a shoulder, and Harry nodded slightly in understanding. Alright, Ron wasn't too worried about that, something he was going to have to talk to him about later. Of them all, Harry had the most reliable and finely tuned Intuition of them all, but both Ron and Luna could sometimes get insight that bordered on foresight sometimes. It depended on the circumstances, he just had to trust them.
The Gryffindor turned back to Sawada and nodded with a small smile, “Sure. Lead the way.”
He'll give it a bit more time, get some more information, before he passed judgement on Sawada and his Court. Nothing was ever clear-cut, and he wanted to know the why's over the how's right now. He just had to talk Hermione out of bundling them all up and immediately cutting back to England to reject Dumbledore's plan straight out.
Sawada beamed at him, his cheeks flushed happily, and Harry swallowed back the fluttering in his stomach.
He really hoped this didn't bite them in the ass. Ginny would never let him hear the end of it if he got duped by a pretty face.

0000

Done. Special thanks to Reighost and Eyugho for helping me hash out this chapter. Also, as a heads up. I am moving TOMORROW. And the new place isn't going to have any internet for at least a week, on top of that, my phone has no data anymore, and I have no means of getting more. Hah, great stuff. O2 your mobile top-up plan sucks testicles.
So, I'll be gone for a while. Hopefully with a few more chapters to give you once I'm back but still. I'll be exhausted and probably bruised from getting everything up three flights of stairs. Should be fun 8/

Shall We Dance? — Chapter 1

When Dumbledore entered into negotiations with a known element of organised muggle crime, Harry had been suspicious. When marriage was put on the table, he was annoyed but not surprised. Determined to investigate the situation, he finds himself pleasantly surprised for once. Tsuna/Harry, arranged marriage trope – with a twist.
THIS IS ALL REIGHOST'S FAULT GOD DAMNIT

Chapter One

He wondered what it said about his prior experiences, when the idea of Dumbledore making a fucking arranged marriage between himself and the heir of an Italian Mafia syndicate in exchange for aid against Voldemort didn't garner more of a reaction beyond a raised eyebrow, a headache, and a quiet, but entirely heartfelt curse of “are you fucking serious?”.
It also said something when the only response from his friends were equally dull-eyed and unimpressed “Yeah.”s, before they slammed a large bottle of Firewhiskey on the table and conjured several glasses.
Harry pinched the bridge of his nose, and closed his eyes as the twins handed out the conjured tumblers filled with shots of gently steaming alcohol in the middle of the cleaned up Black Library. Already beginning to feel the onset of a stress-migraine beginning to form, a not unfamiliar sensation given the amount of utter bullshit he had been putting up with from both Dumbledore, Voldemort, and the Ministry in the last two years since the incident in the Ministry Atrium where he went from little baby Boy Who Lived, to a fully fledged and fucking Coroneted Lord in front of the Order, Dumbledore, Voldemort, Bellatrix, Fudge, and who fucking knew who else. And of course, when he popped, so did his nearest and dearest, all of whom becoming his Knights, or so the information texts (and the Press) declared.
Dumbledore had swooped in and almost immediately attempted to snuff him out, declaring that his power was a threat, that clearly it was related to the shard that Voldemort left in him – only to have a Ministry UNSPEAKABLE immediately correct him in deeply unimpressed tones.
Harry Potter was a Lord, and not in the hereditary title manner, no. He was a Lord as so dictated by magic, the amber Soul Shade he had taken such pains to hide in his third year during Divination had only proved it when it burst into flaming brilliance around him during that confrontation with Voldemort when the Dark Lord attempted to possess him. If Harry so desired, with the Lord's Aspect, he could very well simply take over the Ministry of Magic, and there was nothing legally stopping him, in fact, there were many Laws actively encouraging a Lord to take the Minister post. Which of course put Fudge's back up, and he was immediately siding with Dumbledore in advocating for Harry's suppression. They couldn't allow the will of the British public to be ignored simply because of some funny coloured wandless fire. But then Dumbledore changed his mind. He decided to mentor Harry much more officially, closely. The elderly wizard, whom Harry was beginning to suspect may have had an Apparent Amber Aspect, took him 'under his wing' as his apprentice in all things magical, and political. At least to the public eye.
In reality, he may as well have attempted to leash and muzzle him, force him into a mould and break his every bone to fit it as he desired.
Not that it worked.
Harry wasn't purely an Amber Aspect Lord, he was just as strong an Amethyst Aspect as he was an Amber, and they were nothing if not determined to maintain their freedom. With him stood his Knights, Hermione in crackling Emerald, Ginny and Ron sharing seething Ruby, Fred and George with obscuring Dark Sapphire, and Luna floating distantly as his Amethyst. All he lacked was a Topaz and a Turquoise Knight, both of which Dumbledore had already attempted to slide his own supporters in, not realising that by its very definition of being a Knight to a Lord, such a thing was impossible.
He had spent the last two years since his Coronation fending off fools attempting to gain his favour, Dumbledore's machinations, Voldemort's increasing violence, the Ministry's interference, and the intrusions of the press while furthering his own education in both magical and flame-based disciplines. Thank Merlin for the forethought of Felis and Demeter Black, the founders of the family, who had ensured there would always be a means to teach their flame using descendants even if all knowledge of the art was wiped from the family archives (which it was).
“So. Who is this person?” he asked dully pressing the tumbler of whiskey to his temple as he watched his Knights through lidded eyes.
Fred chugged what was in his glass, “The current Heir of the Vongola Famiglia,” he announced idly as he swung his empty tumbler from his fingertips. The red head was sat cross-legged on the carpeted floor, his twin sprawled lazily on the back of the lounger that Ginny was reclining on, legs crossed, Luna curled up cat-like using her lap as a pillow. Opposite them, Hermione was sat in one of the armchairs, a levitating lectern in front of her with a large leather-bound tome from the sub-basements in front of her, and Ron sat on the arm of the chair, one foot braced on the coffee table in front of him at Harry's left.
“The Vongola? Wasn't that Grandfather Felis' favourite family?” Ginny asked with a frown, peering down at her half empty glass with a wrinkled nose. She was more of a vodka girl. At sixteen many would say she shouldn't be drinking, but she had already been forced to kill men thrice her age in self-defence, as far as she was concerned she should be allowed to do as she fucking pleased.
Harry sighed, “Favourite one to frustrate,” he corrected.
Luna chuckled, “Aren't we all related to the Vongola though?” she asked slyly, prompting grimaces from all present.
“You may be. Me, not so much,” Hermione teased as she sipped her whiskey, “I'm muggleborn.”
It was a source of much hilarity to the flame using portraiture within the Black house that the founder of their line had been responsible for terrorising the Vongola Primo out of Europe when the blond insisted on trying to marry his daughter, Vega Black, after a somewhat drunken rendezvous at a party that left the young woman pregnant with his child. He had asked her, but received nothing but laughter directly at his face from the young lady in question. Vega had been just as much of an Amethyst as she had been an Amber, and refused to be tied down by anything as mundane as marriage vows or the duties of womanhood in that day and age. When the Primo insisted, she refused to hear from him again, and her male relatives took him to task for badgering her. When faced with three very powerful and displeased Amethysts who had been trained extensively in assassination (though took to using their skills in theft), the Primo fled to the otherside of the world and did not seek to bother her again, though supposedly he sent letters often. None of them ever reached Vega for whatever reason.
“Eurgh, incest,” Harry complained.
“Hah, Harry, if you call that incest, what would you call us? We're more closely related than you would be to this guy, it's been ten generations!” Ginny pointed out with a cackle, reminding him of their short, somewhat disastrous relationship the previous year, and of the fact that his grandmother was a Black, while both of Ginny's parents had ties to the Black family.
He squeezed his eyes shut and tossed back the glass of whiskey, “Please don't remind me,” he croaked, fire spilling from his lips as he spoke.
Snickers went up amongst the assembled teenagers before they all lapsed into slightly awkward, sullen, silence.
“Anything else?” Ron prompted, peering over at his brothers as Hermione banished her book back to a shelf, and summoned another one to replace it.
“He's a fully Coronated Lord, like Harry. He's got a full Court too according to the old geezer's bragging. Last of the line, direct descendent of the Primo unlike old man Ninth. Apparently when Felis, Castor, and Pollux drove Primo outta the country, he handed the reigns over to his cousin Ricardo and got hitched out in the motherland. That's where the current line descends from. Japanese, son of the current head of CEDEF, the Young Lion. Though he's getting on in years now,” George answered from behind Ginny using a conjured straw to dribble lengths of whiskey into his mouth, and then blow smoke-rings out to the ceiling.
Hermione's nose wrinkled, “The Ninth had four children. We know three are dead. What about the forth?” she asked suspiciously.
“Proven to be adopted. He ain't blood related, or at least closely enough to count despite practically being Ricardo's reincarnation,” Fred explained as he refilled their glasses. “Supposedly the entire Tenth Court are reincarnations of the First.” He shot a grin at Harry, “Convenient that they're talking of hitching you two together when you're practically Vega's reincarnation. Just with smaller balls.”
Harry treated him to the same unimpressed expression he usually gave Dumbledore when the man tried to shove another one of his loyalists into his Court. “Try to remember how high a proof Firewhiskey is, and then remember how few qualms I have lighting things on fire, Fred,” he warned without heat. The red head pretended to quail, drawing snorts of amusement from the others present. They all knew that Harry was all bark and no bite when it came to them, he let them literally get away with murder on more than one occasion.
“The only reason his are smaller is because hers were so big they had to be put on her chest to avoid chafing,” Ginny declared proudly with a grin as snorts and giggles went up in the room again, “Seriously, seducing the Primo and running away with one of the most valuable bloodlines in Italy. She had brass ones.”
“It wasn't valuable yet,” Hermione corrected with a sniff, “He was just some upstart with power back then, don't forget.”
“He's still just an upstart with power,” Harry huffed, tipping his head back against his chair. “They all are,” he complained half-heartedly before making a sound of disgust, “Tch, arranged marriage....” he grumbled in mixed disbelief and annoyance. “It sounds like something out of one of Lavender's Selwyn novels.”
“You ever read one? They're not bad,” Ginny suggested as she peered down at Luna, she huffed a small smile, “Sleeping like a baby,” the red head complained fondly, stroking her fingers through blonde hair.
“Me, read a romance novel? You do remember what I was like when we were dating. Are those the actions of a man familiar with romance?” Harry asked mirthfully, grinning at her from behind his glass as laughter went up amongst his Knights.
“Fair point,” she said. “But you had your moments. You can be incredibly sweet sometimes, but so boneheaded otherwise.”
Harry flicked a colour changing charm at her, “Like you were any better.”
“I,” Ginny declared haughtily as she casually deflected the charm and returned fire with an itching hex, “was the very picture of romance, ladyship, and – ”
Harry batted the hex aside, “You tripped on the hem of your robe and swore hard enough that you literally charmed the air blue, and then set me on fire for trying to help you up because, and I quote, 'Harry bloody Potter, I am perfectly fucking capable of standing on my own two bloody legs, fuck off'.”
“Yes,” she agreed, sniffing delicately, “The picture of ladyship.”
“Well if that's the example I have to work off on this marriage, I can't see how it could ever go wrong,” he lamented sarcastically as he propped his head up on his palm and grinned at her.
Ginny grinned at him, “Stick with me Harry, you'll be a real Gryffindor Lady in no time. Our next lesson will be smuggling alcohol in your bra, and knives in your garters.”
“That would actually be useful,” Hermione decided from behind her book as she leafed through a small handful of pages, clearly looking for something. “May I join in? I promise to add hair-taming lessons to the study group. Harry could do with knowing a few,” she added with a smirk as she peered over the top of her book at him.
“We can teach ickle Harrikins to smile all pretty and poison his drinks?” Fred and George chimed in helpfully.
“Uh,” Ron offered before looking at their Lord desperately, “....punch him on the nose?” he suggested.
Harry burst out laughing, and the others counted it a win. Though his face, voice, and body language never gave it away, they could feel his Amethyst Aspect roiling with agitation inside him. The idea that he was a possession to be bartered away at the whims of a Lord Apparent, and then kept like a pet or a plaything by a criminal.... Very few relationships between Lords were benign or supportive, Felis had near enough hit the roof with rage when he realised that while to the world at large Dumbledore played the mentor, behind closed doors, tried to systematically destroy his daughter's only Amber Aspected descendant. To be fair, he probably had no idea he was actually doing so. The old man was not educated in Aspects and Courts, and the wizarding world had so much misinformation on the ancient practice because so very few magic users ever ended up reaching for their Aspects instead of their magic. While consciously the Headmaster probably believed himself to be doing his best to help, Felis had told them in no uncertain terms that even though the man was only Apparent, he was still a Lord to some degree, and thus was trying to kill off the competition for his local area. Only a Core Druid could share the same territory as a Lord without the instinctive need to kill each other.
As of right now, their little slice of the world was in the middle of a three-way Court Battle between Voldemort, Dumbledore, and Harry. Not that the latter of the three was even interested. This wasn't his territory, and he had no interest in changing that fact.
The people however, were a different story. Harry may have been the youngest of the Lords currently fighting, but he was the only Crowned one. Meaning that his Aspect had greater influence over the territory, and the people in it. Being that he also had a strong Amethyst Aspect, that also leaked through and affected the citizens. Before his Coronation, Harry would have assumed the people of Wizarding Britain would have hidden from the conflict, gone on the run, put their heads down, tried to act as though it weren't happening. Now though, with his Aspects influencing them, things had.... not gone that way. The way that both Dumbledore and Voldemort had anticipated as Lords Apparent. The people fought back. They wanted their freedom, and they weren't about to just let these crumbling old powers, stunted and faded, lesser, rule over them when they had something better. Harry.
The day one young man in particular dumped the corpse of an unknown Death Eater at Harry's feet in the middle of Hogsmeade was one that no one would be forgetting any time soon. If the man had a tail, it would have been wagging hard enough to kick up the snow-drifts behind him as he beamed up at Harry's stunned facial expression.
Back then there had only been a minor Auror presence in Hogsmeade, before the first of the attacks, and Harry had panicked when he realised the patrol was literally around the corner. Ginny was his hero that day. She stepped forwards, shoved the idiot back, and then immolated the corpse with her Ruby Aspect before telling him to get lost and never bring such trash in front of her Lord again. Thankfully he never did. In fact, Harry never saw that man ever again.
“....Did you get anything else about this guy?” he asked looking at the twins once he had his laughing under control, shooting Ginny a look when she opened her mouth. “We're not going to poison, or punch him, or stab him.” The red head shrugged a shoulder and settled back to continue playing with Luna's hair. Harry shook his head smiling.
“Not much. He's a good fighter, they all are according to word. A hard worker, but that's about it,” Fred explained with a slightly frustrated shrug. At nineteen, he was used to being able to get what information he wanted, when he wanted. Being denied as a follower of the Marauders was frustrating.
He drained the last of his whiskey and vanished the glass, “Then we'll just have to investigate him ourselves,” he declared, pushing to his feet. “Hermione, think you can get into CEDEF and look up everything on their Young Lion? Fred, George, you two see if you can get more information out of the Ninth and Dumbledore about this. Ron, you stick with Hermione, help her avoid their security. Ginny, you stick with the twins, keep them out of trouble, and if a fight kicks off, you know how to handle it. Loulou, you're with me, we're going to book a Portkey to Japan,” he said to the sleeping Amethyst who hummed and turned to bury her face into Ginny's stomach.
“M'always w'you,” she assured him softly.

000

Seven tickets to Japan did not come cheaply, nor was it possible to even get those tickets in England without half the Portkey registration office either reporting it to the Prophet, Voldemort, or Dumbledore. They employed a particularly sneaky loophole that – well, they all intensely regretted but needed to use.
They took one of Vega's portkeys from the Lightning House (Grimmauld Place), to the Storm Estate in China.
Harry needed the rest of the day to recover as he spent the majority of it vomiting and cramping, curled up in a miserable ball in the musty smelling bed that Hermione hastily spelled clean. Luna and Ginny remained with him, making sure he didn't choke on his own vomit, occasionally getting him to drink some water – though it would inevitably come back up eventually. It it was less painful to vomit water than nothing at all. Ron, Hermione, and the twins went to the Chinese Ministry in order to get them a portkey to Japan's magic quarter at less than a tenth of the price it would have been to get from England to Japan.
They garnered a little unpleasant attention outside the magic quarter, a group of rough looking men with tattoos and missing fingers attempted to make a grab at Hermione while Ron was trying to get the twins away from a traditional medicine store. But the Emerald was hardly the same girl she had been at fifteen, and with the hardening and magnetic capabilities of her Knighted Aspect she quite handily laid the three men out in short order. The twins looked down and started giggling when they saw the men sprawled out on the ground and hurried over while Ron folded his arms and looked amused as his girlfriend leaned into him with a pissy scowl in place. Between the two of them, the twins made sure the three Triad members wouldn't remember their faces. Just that they had been stupid enough to attempt abducting a fairly powerful 'Lightning Guardian' while she was on an errand for her 'Sky', and unceremoniously had their asses beaten down for it. And a good thing too, because she hadn't been alone. A 'Storm Guardian', and a pair of 'Mist Guardians' had accompanied her, and it was only their determination to return to their 'Sky' in a timely fashion that prevented them from pursuing the matter with their Chapter Head.
Evidentially, they had 'flames' of their own, but weren't trained, or sensitive, in detecting the bonds or strengths of other 'flame' users. They had just seen Hermione as a foreign female with 'lightning flames', and sought to snatch her up for their Triad group and earn a bounty, perhaps a woman, in exchange. Their bad luck.
“Did you kill them?” Ginny asked from where she was sprawled out on her back against the pillows, Harry dosing lightly against her shoulder looking absolutely ghastly, with Luna wrapped around his spine sleeping soundly.
Hermione shook her head looking scandalised, “No!” she said loudly before looking at Harry and lowering her voice, “I did not kill them. That's more attention than we need or want right now. Here, your tickets. Our object of interest is a broken shopping trolley, it should be behind the public restrooms at the park down the road,” she said handing over three pink tickets with gold lining and a large black stamp inked over them.
“Shopping trolley, huh?” Ginny asked, eyeing her ticket before tucking into the front cover of her book at setting it on the bedside table. “Should be big enough for all of us, anyone else joining in on the cross country trip?” she asked, they didn't have the finances for a private portkey, so given the size of the key there might very well be more than just the seven of them taking it.
Hermione shook her head, “Relations between China and Japan aren't the best, not that they ever have been. But we should be alone for the trip, there was no one else on the list.”
Which was a damn good thing, they didn't know how famous Harry was outside of Europe, but undoubtedly as the only Crowned Lord in magical England, as well as the only survivor of the Avada Kedavra curse, he would have a level of fame the world over. Whether that was household, or school, none of them were sure, or overly willing to risk when they were out of the country without permission, or guards.
That night they enlarged the bed, and all slept in a pile together. Breakfast was a simple affair of granola bars and yogurt that Ron had picked up from a convenience store on their way back from the Ministry, and then they were off, leaving the Estate and its cheerful portraits and heading towards the park chattering about this 'Tsunayoshi Sawada'.
“Literally no one has anything negative to say about him, that's suspicious in of itself,” Ron complained as they walked, “No one is that perfect! Hell, people have negative things to say about Harry all the time!”
“That's because he's a massive berk,” Ginny pointed out, laughing at their Lord's offended 'oi' from Luna's side. “But we love him anyway,” she continued (“That's better,” the Gryffindor said, sufficiently mollified). “So, chances are information on this Tsunayoshi Sawada is compromised?” the red haired girl asked looking sceptically at her brothers.
Fred huffed, looking insulted while George wrinkled his nose and shrugged, “It's possible. I mean, we're good at what we do, but the Vongola have a much higher level of experience dealing with espionage. What information we found could have been doctored, and we might be walking into a trap for enemies of the family. In which case, we're all in deep shit when word gets back to the Order,” George complained.
“Mom'll bring us back to life just to kill us herself,” Fred added with a theatrical shudder.
“And if it isn't, and this guy is actually there?” Ron asked looking at them.
“Then we see what kind of person he is for ourselves,” Hermione declared primly, “We form our own opinions.”
“And if we don't like what we see? What then? You know the Order are going to push for this as hard as they can,” Ginny pointed out with an angry grimace.
“We start watching Harrykins' drinks a lot more carefully, that's for sure,” Fred growled as he folded his arms. A year ago, Hermione would have gasped and immediately rushed to Dumbledore's defence, exclaiming that he would never do such a thing as dosing Harry with potions. Now though, they knew where the lines had been drawn, and they had chosen where they stood. Even the fact that the option existed was enough for them to take the risk seriously.
“If we don't like what we see,” Harry said seriously, drawing their attention, “Then I'll refuse this arranged marriage in as public a location as possible. I'll need your help with that, Fred, George. The bigger the scene we make, the more chance it'll hit the right ears, and then it'll be impossible for Dumbledore to try the force route. Diagon would be good.” He rubbed his chin as they crossed the park, “Everyone knows you're part of the Order, and they know the Weasleys never held with that kind of political manoeuvring. We play it like you found out during a meeting, overheard someone or whatever, and immediately set up a meeting to tell me. Give me time to escape or something. I blow my shit in the middle of a public location, people will go sprinting for the Prophet and Ministry alike. That'll effectively close the door on the Vongola's efforts to get a foot in with us, and it'll mean the Ministry will tie up Dumbledore's attention long enough for us to handle Voldemort ourselves.”
“Have we got all his Shards?” George asked curiously, the twins having been too busy keeping the Order out of their business and handling the WWW while smuggling muggleborn to safe locations to be involved with the rest of the Court's activities in handling their resident psychopath.
“All that remains is Nagini,” Hermione told them.
Fred whistled, “So, you lot actually managed to break into Gringotts and out again without anyone noticing?”
“Just Harry,” Luna said dreamily as she hung off his arm, “Felis taught him the shadows well.”
“Right. Quickly now, everyone got your tickets? We've got twenty seconds,” Hermione called as she sped up, the others following suit and immediately picking up their pace as they rounded the side of the restroom and saw the upside down shopping trolley shoved against the wall.
Everyone grabbed onto the mesh, and not a moment too soon. Harry grimaced as he felt a hook lodge itself in his stomach, and the world yank out from beneath his feet.
They vanished.
And a bare few seconds after they did, a red eyed child peered out from behind the corner curiously, only to double take when he saw no one there.
After the incident yesterday where a few of his younger brothers attacked a visiting Lightning Guardian, his Triad had been on the look out specifically for foreign teenagers in the hopes of either apologising, or stealing the lot if they proved weak enough. He had no such intentions but the taste of such powerful Sky Flame had his interest regardless, and then they mentioned both Tsunayoshi and the Vongola they earned his attention.
Fon wondered if Reborn was aware Timoteo planned to marry his student off.
Perhaps he should pay a visit to Japan, if only to watch the fireworks kick off when word finally reached the Tenth Generation.
It should be most entertaining.

000

It was only the extensive training he undertook with Felis in the sub-basements that prevented him from landing on his ass the second the portkey slammed them onto the ground. He still wanted to vomit though.
Masterfully, he swallowed his gag reflex back, and breathed deeply and slowly, holding his breath on more than one occasion as he waited for his stomach to stop turning. Luna hummed softly, a warm weight at his side, her hand rubbing soothing circles across his back as Ginny started bickering with Ron in order to cover for him, the two easily falling into the roles of fractious siblings so he could settle himself without anyone paying too much attention to him. He loved his Knights dearly.
“That's enough, let's get moving and find a hotel,” he said quietly, immediately getting the group of them moving, the siblings continuing their bickering with the twins eagerly egging them on every now and again with sly comments.
Magical Tokyo's portkey station looked like a train station instead of a strange public bathroom like England's. Instead of small personal 'toilet stalls' for each designated landing point, the stone room stood impossibly tall and filled with stained glass windows, the various coloured lights streaming through lighting up sections of the large grey room to indicate landing points. As they moved past towering stone pillars overgrown with moss, the path out into the magic quarter was littered with small, moss covered, statuettes of squat little monsters and bald headed men. It was fairly busy, but no one paid them any particular attention beyond glancing to Ginny and Ron's argument and quickly turning their attention else where in thin-lipped disapproval.
The magic quarter certainly looked very traditional in terms of Japanese culture, enough so that Hermione wondered if perhaps they had landed in the Kyoto magical district by accident. Moss and rock gave way to concrete and steel in short order as they stepped into a modern looking building at the end of the long street, and then left the magic quarter entirely through a set of electric doors into a small lobby with a second set of sliding doors, and wall to wall windows showing the outside world of muggle Tokyo.
“Welcome to Shibuya, I hope you have a wonderful stay!” a woman in a neat uniform with a dimpled smile announced, presenting them with a bag in both hands as she bowed. Hermione accepted it with a grateful bow in return, and the group moved on, distantly Harry could hear her repeating her welcome to a second group of people, and then repeating herself in a language he wasn't familiar with, but sounded a little like what little he heard between Pavarti and Padma when they didn't want anyone to know what they were talking about.
“Language Lozenges,” Hermione explained, handing out a single walnut sized cherry red hard sweet that looked rather like a cough drop. “They'll teach you the language you hear most while sucking on them. Shouldn't take more than a few hours to be completely fluent if we only hear the one language,” she explained as she popped one into her mouth and tucked the rest into a pocket. “Tell me when yours dissolves, I'll give you another.”
The group made their way to the nearest train station and carefully stumbled their way through the ticket machine in order to get to Namimori Prefecture, supposedly where this Sawada lived. They sat in the train, listening to the whispered conversations of business men and woman, and then later school children on their way home, absorbing as much as they could before they got off at Namimori Shrine. They hadn't learned much in that time, apparently it was a cultural faux pas to be noisy on the train so they were only semi-fluent as they wondered around, sucking on the last of the lozenges.
“So. He's about our age. So that means he would be in Highschool, right?” Ron asked, peering over at Hermione who nodded.
“Second or third year Highschool, preparing for University entrance exams unless the Vongola intend to pull him out to Italy,” she explained as she rummaged a folder from her purse. “We're looking for.... Japanese male, five and a half feet, so a little taller than Harry, brown hair, brown eyes, pale skinned. Supposedly has semi-androgynous facial features. Likely to be accompanied by a half-Italian half-Japanese silver haired male, about six foot in height, with green eyes and a rather punk-rock aesthetic; a dark haired Japanese boy about Ron's height with brown eyes and tanned skin, supposedly a baseball fan; a short white haired Japanese teenager with brown eyes, a boxer, so he should be fairly muscular, about as tall as the twins; a trio of girls about Ginny's height, one light brown haired girl, one dark brown haired girl, and a one-eyed girl with purple hair. There's also a high chance of multiple children, two boys and a girl, being within the vicinity,” she listed as she flipped through her notes of stolen information that the twins had compiled along with her own efforts to break into the CEDEF.
“How convenient,” Ginny said dryly, before pointing down the road, “Would that be them, I wonder?” she asked pointing to a very noisy group in the distance.
Harry eyed the general chaos happening amongst them. Well. For all that they were apparently mobsters and criminals about to take over one of the most blood-soaked criminal empires in the world, they certainly acted like normal teenagers. If one ignored the guns the child in the hat waved around, the grenades the little boy with the curly black hair was waving around, and the sword the tall black haired boy had over his shoulder.
Which one was Sawada?
Must have been the brunet attempting to wrestle grenades off the curly haired boy.
He watched lazily, prepared to be unimpressed with his so called future husband, when he finally managed to pry the pink weapon from the child's hand, and turned to his silver haired companion to hand it over.
He flushed immediately when he got a look at the other boy's face.
Oh no.
He was hot.

0000

And Harry is now a lost cause. Hello hormones. Wham, HIT BY A FUCKING TRAIN.