His Cloud
Staying at a nice hotel after they excused themselves and left a nice big tip for Mabel and Anjayleen despite their protest, Harry was seated on his bed in the double-bed room that he and Skull had rented.
After the confusion about the existence of flames was cleared up, Harry was glad to see that Skull took it all in a positive streak and was happy with their bond.
More than happy actually. It took a long while before Harry was able to peel the clingy teenager from him and even longer to convince Skull to let Harry out of their sight.
The files that Viper gave him could only explain so much about bonds and Harmonization. But he needed an in-depth explanation from someone who was not a civilian. So calling Viper it was.
Harry managed to get Skull away by giving the teenager some money and telling him to buy them some lunch which should buy him about half an hour. So now it was much easier for him to talk to Viper without any distraction, as pleasant as a distraction talking with the enthusiastic purple teenager was.
"Mou, hello Harry. Why did you call?"
It was not the second time that Harry had called the mysterious mist. In between his trials of trying to understand more about flames, he was forced to call the miser.
But it seems that Viper wasn't that bad. True that they were hoarding money like a niffler hoards shiny things. But they also make sure to cater to his questions carefully and answer them all to the best of their abilities.
They also started giving him discounts after the next 4 calls because according to them, it would be such a shame if they drove him into poverty if they didn't give him time to replenish his money. Not that Harry really needed to do something to replenish his vaults and inheritance.
"Hey, I just wanna check in about bonds and Harmonization you know? So... what do you normally do after being Harmonized with another element? I read that there is a time period where the elements become pro—"
"What"
Viper cut him off from his questions with a voice full of venom and unheld fury that made Harry's spine feel like it was poured with molten ice.
"Who? Which sniveling rat dares to—"
Harry was very much confused and disturbed by Viper's sudden mood swing. But his instincts told him that if he didn't explain this soon then something bad was going to happen.
"He's a civilian just like me. Purple. Yes, purple. Skull's a cloud but doesn't really act like it. I think he's inverted. We just Harmonized suddenly last night. Is it normal to Harmonize so fast? We only spoke and met for about an hour and a half before we suddenly Harmonized and I didn't know how it happened"
He prattled on in hopes of Viper calming down. While it seems that Viper likes his wallet more than him, Harry would still like to call Viper a friend that helped in adjusting to this new world.
"Mou, Civilian? Cloud?"
Their voice seem calmer but Harry could still feel the killing intent bleeding through. This was very different from the sarcastic miser informant that he was used to. Just what kind of world was the underground.
"Yes, helped him out when he went flying after crashing his Motorcycle. I even had to explain about flames and everything. He doesn't act like a cloud but he definitely had cloud flames. Propagation likely help him through strengthening and healing his body since he told me that he always gets healed after being injured"
He and Skull talked a lot about flames and the bright teenager asked many questions about his own flames and abilities. Skull seems excited to know that there are many of them out there with them having a secret society. But also healthily wary.
To further help his cloud. (Merlin, his cloud. Harry is bonded to his own element. A literal soul bond) Harry also brought up the darker side of the Mafia such as the fact that as long as a person activated their flames then they were forced to join a famiglia or be killed.
Finding an unaffiliated flame user was rare and has to be powerful in their own right to be able to continue being unaffiliated.
But he calmed his cloud's worry by stating that he himself was unaffiliated because he was very good at hiding from the mafias and if Skull didn't want to join then he didn't need to.
That calmed the teenager and brought him back to an energetic mood.
"An inverted civilian cloud. He's just as bad as you Harry. Congratulations on finding your soulmate"
Harry blanch at Viper's snark and had an itch to throttle the information broker. The worst part is, Harry doesn't know if they're kidding.
"Ha ha ha very funny. But I don't regret it. I like having Skull around and there are worse people to be bonded with. I guess I will be taking this one home. And here I was going out to buy a kitten to take home but ended up with a teenager with an unhealthy dose of obsession for dangerous stunts and purple"
Harry could hear Viper shudder and gag from the phone and he cackled with mirth. Although Skull sounded ridiculous based on his actual description. Harry sees the great things in Skull. As obnoxious and loud as the purple-clad teen was, even a blind person could see that he has a heart of gold.
An insecure teenager that hides his fears behind flashy purple makeup and piercing. A coward that does death-defying stunts for a living. A conflicting being. But Harry knows a good person when he sees it and Skull has a beautiful heart.
"You, only you Harry", they sighed as if a budding headache was forming in their head. "But I will still need to meet him to further explain his role as a guardian. It's only fair I help, It wouldn't even cost you anything"
Harry's eyebrow raised to his hairline and he croaked out a baffled sound. Now there was definitely something wrong with them.
"Viper, I may only have known you for a week and have talked to you about 10 times but I know you are a miser. No—you are THE MISER. So what did you eat for you to give up something for free? Are you in trouble? Drunk?"
The wizard wasn't kidding. He knew Viper enough that you would have to pry away their cold dead corpse with a crowbar to get something free out of them. So them volunteering to do something free was as likely as the sun rising from the west.
"Mou, you idiot. What are you going to do without me"
With that, they cut off the phone call. Viper does have a bad habit of cutting off the call before Harry could finish. One of these days, Harry is going to be the one to do it and rub it in Viper's face the next call after that.
"Harry! I bought some Chinese food from the street across the hotel! I got some wonton noodle soup, dumplings, and a couple of spring rolls"
Skull slammed the door open to the point that he could hear it rattle along with a shout of 'Shut Up' from the room beside them.
The teenager then sheepishly smiled before closing the door gently this time.
"Sorry. I'm just excited! We get to travel to your home in Florence after lunch! I get to go home with you"
The sheer joy in Skull's words made Harry blush red. The green-eyed wizard was at first worried about their living situation since Harry lives in Florence while Skull lives in who knows where.
But then the cloud let it slip that he didn't have a permanent residence. Skull was someone who spent more time in a motel to crash for a while depending on the place where he was to do a stunt. Even then, the cloud prefers to constantly travel using his motorcycle.
Skull was also born in a traveling circus with his mother as one of the performers. The father was out of the picture and he grew up learning everything he did with the other performers. So no education degree whatsoever which made it hard for him to find a decent job. But he left the circus when he was 15 after his mother died and decided to do some stunts for movies as a living.
Skull was indignant when Harry asked if he was even 17 years old and was told that he was going to be 19 in July.
When Harry pointed out with a raised eyebrow that July was still 8 months away, his cloud pouted and pretended not to hear it.
From what he had already learned from the files, after a Harmonization, there is going to be a time period where both guardian and sky both be territorial of each other and be clingy as hell. This was because the bond was still settling down and their instincts would try to avoid any possible scenario where their bond could be in danger.
During such time, it was best for the sky and his new guardian to stay together for about a week or more.
Thankfully, Skull just finished the last of his scenes and was free up until February for his filming stunt.
Harry liked his space and soul bond or not, he only knew Skull for less than a day. So he was justifiably worried about letting the other man stay with him at his home.
Let's not even bring the topic of magic to the table. Skull looked about ready to explode from all the explanations of the Dying will flames, mafia, underworld, and the omerta. The poor bloke would probably collapse if he explained magic too.
But... Harry needed to explain it because he apparated right into the heart of London without any passport or any identification whatsoever.
So after both had eaten their fill of lunch and had cleaned up after themselves, Harry sat on his bed while Skull dived into the same bed and laid on it.
Harry shivered when he felt Skull's arms wrap around his waist and he swatted the other's head when it got too tight.
"Skull, I know that Harmonization makes us clingy but personal space does still exist", he mumbled as he scrolled on his phone to see the text that Viper left earlier on how to better deal with newly formed bonds and clingy guardians.
A whine left Skull's mouth as he tried to snuggle closer. The teenager was much more soft and sticky because of the presence of the sky flames in the room.
Harry had written temporary runes on the sides of the room to help seal the presence of the flames so that he could take off his necklace and let his flames reappear. While newly bonded, it was necessary that new guardians bask with the sky flames, and the sky soak up their guardian's flames in return. This was so that the bond stabilized much easier and faster.
So Harry now has the fluffy sticky cat that he wanted. Except this one was just as tall as him and purple. He was also unfortunately a human being with cloud flames.
Harry could practically hear Hermione now. 'Harry you cannot compare a human to a cat! You can't just pick up any strays you come across you stupid sod! I'm talking about both cats and humans in this regard Harry!'
Then Ron the smitten bloke that he was would agree with his wife and just say 'Yeah mate, constant vigilante like Moody says'
Harry was lost in his thoughts that he didn't notice that his flames had deemed in response to his nostalgic and sad thoughts. But Skull didn't.
Suddenly, Harry felt Skull let go of his waist and instead grabbed both of his wrists. He blinked in shock when he got pulled into the bed and pinned on it using his wrists that were tightly gripped by Skull.
His cloud peered above him with a tilted head and cold purple eyes that are so unlike the cheerful stuntman.
Then they smiled, it was not a bright thing. But rather sly and far too pleasant and calm that it should have any right considering the madly flickering purple flames.
"Neh, stop thinking about bad things. Skull-sama doesn't like it. The sky shouldn't be sad"
Those purple eyes seemed to glow even as they curved into crescents with that light smile on him.
It was then that Harry remembered parts of the notes given to him by Viper.
'Clouds are generally possessive of their territory and are the most dangerous of all elements. It's hard to harmonize with one since they prefer their freedom and they are most likely the last to be found when trying to form a set. They are known for their 'cloud rage' which could make them go on a feral-like rampage. I don't know much about inverted clouds since they are practically unheard of but I have a theory that instead of a territory they are more likely to cling to a person or thing instead. Cloud is still a cloud, inverted and civilian or not. So be careful of those possessive impulses your cloud will get into'
Harry squinted to observe Skull's eyes better and saw that his eyes were indeed too purple than normal and they literally glowed like flames were flickering behind them.
With that, any guilt Harry could have about thinking of kicking his cloud disappeared. Placing a matching smile on his face, he lifted his right leg and gave a quick kick on Skull's side to fling him to the other side of the room.
"You're a hundred years too early to try to challenge me, Skull", he proclaimed while watching his cloud snarl on where he landed. He manipulated his flames to concentrate and pressed them towards Skull with the intention of calming him down.
Skull dropped to the ground like a marionette cut from their strings and whimpered as his sky flames enveloped him and tangled with his cloud flames.
"Wake up", Harry then retracted his flames, and Skull's eyes widened as their purple glow lessened.
"Um, what?"
Harry sighed before sitting up from the bed and grabbing his phone that had almost fallen from the side.
"Pack up Skull, we're leaving at 2"
Despite looking confused the whole way while carrying his luggage, Skull kept his mouth shut and just followed after him. Eyes drifting to Harry's empty hands, clearly looking for where his own luggage was.
The teenager still couldn't look Harry in the eyes after the incident and kept on turning a shade of red whenever it was brought up.
Harry had a good laugh and waved it off but Skull was stubborn and was still ashamed of it.
When the two reached a secluded place where Harry was sure that no one could see or record them, he grabbed Skull's shoulder and let his flames blanket him for comfort.
"Okay this might feel weird but just make sure not to panic too much okay?", he ordered while tapping into his magic when he pulled the elder wand out of his holster.
And before Skull could even ask him a question, he apparated himself along with Skull and his belongings.
Harry felt the gut-wrenching feeling of being sucked and pulled into a straw that apparition always brings and when he opened his eyes, he was already at his home in Florence.
The moment Harry let go of Skull, the poor teenager collapsed on his knees but didn't throw up like other people who tried apparition for the first time. It might have something to do with Skull's endurance in gut-wrenching feeling since he was a stuntman.
Skull's head snapped up as he looked all over the room in bewilderment. The guy's luggage was left on the ground and his helmet lying on the floorboard beside Harry's feet.
"What was that!?", he screeched and dubiously stared at Harry for explanation. "You did not mention that about flames"
Harry shrugged before grinning mischievously. He winked at the confused teenager before putting a finger over his mouth in a shushing gesture.
"Magic", he said while widening his grin.
It seems that Skull didn't appreciate his mischief half as much as he did when he just blankly stared at Harry and cried out like a poor kitten being bullied mercilessly by his new owner.
Looks like Harry did manage to bring home a cat after all.