Mysteries Around Hogwarts (October 1991)
October 1st 1991
Ever since meeting the older boy, Harry had always thought Hadrian was cool, and this was constantly confirmed by their interactions throughout the month or so that they’d been friends. From his different fashion style and graceful movements and sophisticated speaking manner to his ever-changing hair colour, Harry had always thought the other boy was elegant in an understated and somewhat rebellious way. But one of the times he’d thought Hadrian was completely extraordinary was on the first of October.
After getting into the Gryffindor Quidditch Team as their seeker, a feat he knew was quite impossible and hadn’t been done by a first year in a century. He’d been introduced to the team and had had to participate in gruelling practices and strategy meetings, all set up by the team’s psycho captain Oliver Wood. The team consisted of two beaters, Fred and George Weasley, Oliver Wood was the keeper as well as the captain and then the three exceptional chasers, Angelina Johnson (the centre and a third year), Alecia Spinnet (the left chaser and another third year) and Justinian Griffin (the right chaser and a second year).
On one such day, they were supposed to be practicing in the afternoon, but going to the field, they realised the Slytherin team was already in the air doing drills.
“What the…?” The Weasley twins muttered in unison.
“Oh yeah, they had the pitch booked for the morning. I just didn’t think they’d still be at it.” Oliver explained and the rest of the team, Harry included, groaned at that.
“Oh come on!” Angelina Johnson exclaimed before gasping loudly. Attracting the attention of her teammates, she pointed at the sky instead of answering their enquiring looks. Looking at where she was pointing, they noticed one of the Slytherin team’s chasers flying at a breakneck speed. Suddenly, the chaser jumped up and everyone screamed a bit in shock at the manoeuvre. He stood on his broom, took the quaffle thrown to him and jumped through the hoop with it, doing a small flip mid-air before landing on his broom and flying away.
The Gryffindors gaped at the chaser for a few minutes, unable to even process what had just happened. While they’d been silently thinking, the Slytherin team had finished their practice and landed in front of their rivals. Oliver blinked a few times before one sentence came out of his mouth, directed at the Slytherin captain.
“What the hell was that?” Marcus Flint, Oliver’s counterpart and year-mate, smirked at the other fifth year.
“That was our new chaser.” He then grabbed a boy by the shoulder and displayed him to the lions, and they were all shocked to recognise exactly who it was.
“Hadrian?!” Fred, George and Harry said at the same time, staring at the boy who currently had bright yellow hair with black roots. He was wearing the normal Slytherin Quidditch kit with clear goggles and black leather gloves.
“Oh hi everyone.” Hadrian greeted with a small smile, then turning to glare at Flint, who understood and dropped his arm from the boy’s shoulder. “You have the evening time, right?”
“Uh… yeah. How did you…?” Angelina stuttered out, not able to continue but just pointing to the hoops in explanation.
“Oh that…. I was trained in martial arts and gymnastics from a young age. That just helped with Quidditch I guess.”
“That….” Oliver trailed off, still staring at the second year with wide eyes.
“That was amazing Hades!” Gryffindor’s chaser, Justinian, exclaimed brightly.
“Thanks Justin!” Hadrian replied, smiling at the boy and clapping him on the shoulder. “We should probably go and let you use the pitch. Have a good practice.”
Hadrian then left, and the Slytherin team – shockingly enough – followed after him without even a second glance at their rivals. Not even Flint had said a word before leaving, just giving them a smug look.
October 25th 1991
“Harry!” A voice called out behind them, and the group of four lions turned to see a boy running towards them. He skidded to a halt right in front of Harry and he recognised who it was.
“Hadrian! What are you doing here?”
“I heard Draco bragging about what he did, so I came as fast as I could to make sure you were alright. I’d hoped you wouldn’t have taken his bait, but I suppose I shouldn’t have expected that from Gryffindors.” Hadrian exclaimed in between gasps of breath. He had obviously been getting ready for bed, as he was wearing black pyjamas with white dots and a matching black robe over it. His hear was the half black and half white Harry had seen when they’d first met, but instead of the cool hairstyle it’d been in before, it was messy, obviously from both sleeping and running.
“Sorry Hadrian….” Harry said, embarrassed. He really shouldn’t have listened to Malfoy of all people, but he’d just been so eager to prove him wrong and finally beat him.
“It’s fine. Come on you lot, I’ll take you back to your dorms.” Hadrian said, leading the way out of the hallway.
“Thank you.” Hermione Granger, the bossy girl who’d decided to follow them, said softly, looking at the boy with a bit of awe.
“Why are you helping us?” Ron Weasley asked harshly, glaring slightly at the second-year.
“Because I care about Harry, stupid, and don’t want him to get into trouble.” Hadrian said just as harshly, but instead of the completely unintimidating glare Ron had on his face, Hadrian shot him such a cold look, the four first-years couldn’t help shivering a bit at its intensity.
“In any case, thank you for the help Hadrian.” Neville Longbottom, the fourth addition to their group, said softly, getting a small smile from Hadrian.
“Of course Neville. Now come on.”
The five walked slowly and softly, trying to not attract any attention to themselves, but; unfortunately, it seemed as though luck wasn’t on their side, as the moving staircases they were on decided to shift at that moment, causing them to stumble and grab hold of the handles.
“Damn it!” Hadrian exclaimed as the stairs stopped on the third floor. At that moment, they heard the sound of steps and Argus Filch, the school’s caretaker and all-time hater of students, talking to his cat Mrs Norris.
They shared panicked looks before bolting into the corridor, wanting to not be caught. They ran and ran until they stopped in front of the door that lead to the forbidden corridor Dumbledore had warned everyone about. It was between whatever was behind the door and getting caught, and the looks they shared told everyone what they’d prefer.
“Alright move aside.” Hadrian told them, and the four first-years moved away to give him space. Tapping his wand on the doorknob, he whispered “Alohomora?” in a questioning tone, doubting the simple spell would work.
But shocking enough, it worked! And the door opened with a soft click. The group scuffled in, and shut the door behind them.
They listened at the door as they waited for Filch’s footsteps to recede but then Harry got annoyed.
“Stop it Neville.” Neville had been tugging at his sleeve frantically, and Harry had gotten frustrated. “What is it?”
He turned around and gasped at the sight. At the sound, the others turned and were greeted by the three heads of large black hound. While the four Gryffindors shuffled back and got ready to bolt, Hadrian, on the other hand, only stood his ground and stared the three-headed dog right in the centre-head’s eyes. The four didn’t know what was happening, but the giant dog suddenly bowed its three heads and submitted.
“Let’s go then.” Hadrian said calmly, and in their shock, the Gryffindors didn’t comment as he led them out of the room and towards their tower through a shortcut they hadn’t known about.
“Good night then everyone.” Hadrian bid as he turned to leave, but Hermione stopped him.
“Wait!” Her exclamation attracted his attention, and Hadrian turned to see what she’d say. “How did you do that?”
“Oh that’s my secret. You’ll have to find out yourself.” Hadrian smirked at them one last time before turning to leave.
The four shared a shocked and confused look but chose not to speak anymore, simply giving the password to the fat lady and going to their dorms in solemn silence.
Harry realised then, that this was the second time (probably of many) that he’d realised how extraordinary and very… different Hadrian Black was to others.
October 31st 1991
The third time Harry had this realisation was during the Halloween feast. After Professor Quirrell had announced to the Great Hall that a troll was on the loose in the school and the students had panicked accordingly, Professor Dumbledore had calmed everyone, given instructions to the teachers and then told the Prefects to take the students to their dorms until the issue was resolved.
Instead of complying like the Ravenclaws and Gryffindors were ready to do, the Slytherins and Hufflepuffs hesitated. People didn’t know why until someone stood up on the table and turned towards the Headmaster. Harry realised after looking closer at the figure that it was Hadrian (the bright blue hair helped greatly with that realisation).
“With all due respect sir, the Hufflepuffs and Slytherins have their dorms in the dungeons, where Professor Quirrell said the troll was. Do you really want us stampeding in the halls when a troll is on the loose near us?” His statements surprised the professors, except Snape who looked quite smug. Harry and Ron hesitated a bit alongside the other Gryffindors.
“Hmm, well that is a very good point.” Dumbledore said hesitantly, “then the Gryffindors and Ravenclaws will head to their dorms while the Hufflepuffs and Slytherins stay in the Great Hall until the troll is caught.”
The students didn’t really seem satisfied by this, but they complied nonetheless. Harry couldn’t help feeling awed by his friend, who’d stood up to their Headmaster for the safety of his colleagues.
He soon got distracted by the fact that Hermione was in danger and he needed to save her, but he did think about it again that night while he was getting ready for bed.
Why was Hadrian Black a Slytherin when he was so brave and heroic?