It has been a long time since Harry felt like his life was stable enough to have any sort of control but it’s finally starting to feel like it might be ok.
Ever since he fell through that arch in the department of mysteries everything has been so confusing. He woke up in the middle of Stonehenge with only the cloths on his back, his wand, pouch, and luckily his cloak in his pockets. At first, he tried walking to the magical touring center he remembered reading about (he might have planned a trip or five considering how much of a history nerd he is.) but he found no trace of that.
Next, he tried calling the night bus, but nothing happened, sending a patronus didn’t work either to his frustration. It didn’t take much after that to figure out that he was in a different world, which considering he fallen through an arch in the department of mysteries made sense.
Thanks to his relatives care he knew how to live of the land for a while from how often they threw him out of the house. The good thing was that at least now he could use magic to get by, so it was far easier to transfigure a simple shelter and a bed to rest and figure out what to do. Well, after the insane melt down he had when he couldn’t find anything and anyone…
The disturbing thing was that he felt like he was on fire and nothing he did helped. At a certain point he found himself standing in his boxers in the rain because it was the only thing he could think of to cool of. The orange flames engulfing him did not improve his panic!
It took him a few weeks, but he got the weird fire under control and figured out a game plan to survive. Since he learned about the magical world, he made an uncomplicated way to earn money that he was planning to use once he had his OWL’s, now it didn’t really matter anymore. Though thankfully he learned all the charms and enchantments that help for his livelihood.
Harry went to junk yards, and scoured the streets looking for things that he could fix with his magic and sell for various shops. Thanks to his years of surviving on scraps he knew how to haggle and quickly earned enough cash to pay for a place to live.
Next, he might have had a discreet visit whilst wearing his cloak to a gov’t office or 3 and got himself legal identifications. Whilst he was there he changed the ownership of an abundant property near Madestone, Kent. He figured something close to the border, along with it being near a largish town would be a good base of operation. Normally he would feel bad, but that farm has been emptied since WWII, and the property belonged to the state since there was no inheritance. He checked!
He liked his new home and worked hard on making it his, the main house required a lot of work, easpcially since nothing in it was modern, but it was better that way since magic and muggle technology aren’t the best combination. He used a lot of the restored furniture to upgrade the house, and transformed quite a lot of the structure to fit what he liked. The garden was fairly big, and for once all his. He had fruits and vegetables, and not a single flower. He loved it
Harry even managed to buy a motorcycle and a car using legal money he earned thanks to his work in restoration. (Sure, magical restoration, but restoration none the less!) he was happy that Ron insisted they put all their stuff in their pouches since they all assumed they wouldn’t be able to return to Hogwarts, it ment he still had all of his belongings with him, including plenty of books he might have ‘borrowed’ from Number 12 Grimmauld place. But in his defense, they were planning to get rid of them!
He spent 2 years of learning what he could from what he already had, which was far more than he originally realized, and was able to expand from there. Turns out a lot of magical systems depended on runes in various languages that are known in the muggle world, as a result once he had accesses to universities that teach ancient studies of various cultures, he was able to push his education further.
He is fairly sure he taught himself warding, curse breaking, and several other things while trying to figure out if he would ever be able to get home. In his quest to learn more he met a few odd people that had fire like his but in different colors, most were unhinged and violent, they tried to force their fire on him, but he was always able to defend himself. One of them was tolerable if a little loud, he wasn’t aggressive but was concerned about Harry. He was also the only one that set him down and explained what was going on. So sure, Skull was annoying, but he was now a friend…
After some talking and many clarifications, he finally asked the loud midget what the aura of chains around him was, it was driving him mad since he first noticed it, and wanted to understand if his only friend is ok. This was when he learned about the curse and boy did Harry felt bad for the little guy. If there was something he understood it was getting your life thrown in a garbage bin while you are on fire with a rash that just won’t let go. Harry barely recovered from the last time it happened; he still cries himself to sleep in despair and loneliness. Figured it is just a way of letting it out, instead of letting it all build to something more explosive like last time he couldn’t handle the loneliness…
He decided to help his only friend in the world, which at first Skull tried to talk him out of getting involved, he quickly understood that it was pointless and figured he would help the madness. Harry knew that if in 20 years they haven’t found anything it was likely because they didn’t have a perspective of a magical, the few books he had with him didn’t make him an expert, but it sure made him more knowledgeable than uninformed muggles. It took some work, traveling, some breaking and entering but they found most of what they needed to learn.
Skull was shocked to realize that his fellow Arcobaleno were looking for solutions in the wrong places. They investigated flames, science, and technology when they should have studied the past. In 4 years, Skull and Harry traveled the world and studied Egyptology, Hinduism, and oddly Japanese history. He is still not sure why Harry insisted but something in him kept saying they will find the answer there. All along Harry would always visit junk yards, and garbage sites to find something interesting for his restoration business. He must admit that he made a fortune with his work. It was impressive.
Eventually Harry told him that he had most of it figured out, but they were missing a component, something he know they will find in Italy, but he doesn’t know what or where. That was when Skull knew he had to get Harry to disguise his flames more thoroughly. There was no way a sky as powerful as him wouldn’t be snatched away. After he explained to Harry the issue of Sky’s and Sky attraction Harry worked for a few days to disguise his soul fire, that was surprisingly affective.
Settling down in Italy wasn’t as difficult as they thought, they found a relatively neutral area near the Vindice and Harry decided to open an antique and restoration shop so he would have something to do until he figured the finale piece of the puzzle. Skull was exhausted by his friend but went with it. He needed a secure location for the Sky when Skull must go on jobs or when a fellow Arcobaleno calls. He didn’t like it, but he knew it was safer that way. The last thing he wanted was for his civilian sky to be pushed in to the mafia.
Harry liked his new shop in Genoa, it didn’t have a lot of traffic but those that came had character. Or so he keeps telling himself to keep from slaughtering them. If he happened to go on night strolls while wearing his cloak so he has better grasp on the area he was in than it was no one business but his own. He might have also accidentally turned into one of the better information brokers in the region. A friend of Skull always keeps coming back for more.
There was a situation with a few familias that experimented on children that were erased and the children mysteriously found themselves in safer familias territories where they could recover. He has no clue how it happened, Skull and Viper better stop squinting accusingly at him!
Besides, it’s not his fault the Esperanza familia and all their members reached a painful demise, they had children in cages. Someone must have found out and was triggered!
Those damn cages were about the size of his cupboard for merlin sake!
It was odd how in the middle of the argument Skull, Viper and he bonded. It seemed something about it pushed them all closer. The bond was all encompassing and possessive, and for the first time in a long time all 3 felt like they might actually be ok…
Later when they were no longer hazy from the new bond they talked, and he came clean about who he really is, where he was from, his family, friends, and everything he lost. Skull talked about his childhood, his traveling and what it ment for him, why stopping in one place felt like a noose. Viper reluctantly explained why it was so important to them to charge for everything. The true insult at their hard work being dismissed at best, destroyed at worst. How not knowing cost them everything.
After that some things changed. His guardians demanded that he improve his fighting skills if he insisted on going out on his own for ‘idiot stunts’. And that he should at least take one of them. That was after he made it clear that refuses any other ‘suggestion’ they dared to have. If Harry discreetly added a room for Viper, since skull already had his own it was only natural to make space for your family. His mist didn’t voice it, but he could tell the liked the permanency in his home. Viper also insisted to have Harry use a clause with the mafia to have his store and himself declared neutral so his Sky status wouldn’t later bite them in the arse.
That required a meeting with Lord Bermuda of the Vindice which he was really not thrilled about but needs must. The meeting ended up being more enlightening than originally planned, it also gained him 6 new best friends. It took one time to see the use of their flames and find the missing ingredient to the Arcobaleno curse. When he tried to politely ask them if they were willing to lend a hand, he was shocked to discover that it was a main goal for them, they were an enthusiastic yes.
They had a few months to arrange for the new system, and work on calculations since the ritual can only be preformed on Samhain. That allowed Viper and Skull to get the rest of the Arcobaleno on board, and boy was that an experience. For the most part he was fine with them all, the constant confusion and side eyes toward a miser that solved their curse was something that threw them off. (They were yet to be informed that he was a sky because Harry wasn’t ready, and Viper and Skull respected that.) Aria pissed him off thinking that just because she is a seer it means she knows anything. She kinda reminded him of Pensy, safe to say they did not get along.
Fon and Lal were sweet, the two decided he wasn’t going to last long with his current training and went out of their way to make sure he can fight his way through an army. Harry figured it was their way of saying thank you. Colonello, and Reborn are chaos incarnate and the 3 of them might have pranked a familia or a dozen. Verda was intense and fairly baffled about Harry’s mismatch education since he seemed to know nothing about science and technology but was pretty much an expert in ancient studies and was fluent in 27 dead languages. Never mind that he ran a successful business for restoration that they were all sincerely impressed by.
If each of the elements found a friendship with the odd miser, it was no ones business. And if each was touched to realize he added a room for them in his apartment above his store, well… as Harry said, that what family does for each other. No one voiced that Aria was at most invited for dinner with a lot of passive aggressive comments. Viper and Skull were thoroughly entertained and wondered when any of them will realize the little seer’s classic sky envy…
When the day of the ritual arrived, they were finally ready, they went to Vindice headquarters where each Arcobaleno and member of the Vindice took their spot around the new system. Harry stood in the center of the circle and started chanting, at the third iteration each started to realese their flames. Slowly but surly the power in the system builds and gradually chains on their auras broke. When Harry finished the 13 iteration the ritual was at its peak and the energy was flowing. By the time it was done all 14 of the participants were unconscious, and Harry started to move them all to beds he might have transfigured on the spot.
When they woke in the morning most of them had a few questions in regard to the bruises on him, and why was half the Vindice headquarters so damaged, but he just brushed them off telling them the ritual was very intense.
If both Bermuda, and Viper later found camera footage from outside the Vindice headquarters showing 2 beings fighting, and a man in an Iron Mask getting the living crap bitten by a scruffy brunette, well… none of them was surprised.
If a copy of said footage discreetly found itself to the other Arcobaleno for a hefty fee and made them all giggle like schoolgirls there was no proof. However, the constant social visits in Harry’s antique shop never diminished. ‘Prongslet antiques’ was under Vindice protection so none of the elements were concerned, that didn’t stop them from sending a clear massage that they were tightly allied with the Arcobaleno and it’s not just the Vindice you have to worry about.
After that things were quiet, well as quiet as living in the center of fire mafia and functioning as one of the most terrifyingly connected information brokers. Harry had weekly dinners with Viper and Skull, and often invited the rest of the Arcobaleno, it was nice. It didn’t stop the random visits, nor the regular training and sparing sessions with Fon, or Lal. The chaotic trio of Harry, Colonello, and Reburn constantly enjoyed their prank wars, and no familia was safe. Verda didn’t mind surprising his friend with various books of ancient cultures and languages to study. It was fun comparing the past with the potential future for the scientist.
Viper, and Skull didn’t mind the circling elements, though both were keeping a close eye. They were very amused when their fellow Arco’s discovered who their sky is, and even more so when none of them were surprised.