Sit deus nobiscum omnibus

“Are you sure?” Draco asked, his eyes holding an intense amount of worry as they scattered across Hadrian's face.

Hadrian chuckled.

“Draco. Stop, it’s okay.” Hadrian took Draco's wrists in his hands as he spoke, hoping that the touch would ground him as Dracos did for him. It seemed to work as Draco soon stood tall. Back to his usual self.

“Okay, good. I’ll leave you to unpack if you need to and - well I will be down stairs with everyone. Feel free to roam the halls if you want to. Just stay out of the far end rooms to the left of the hall. - okay i’ll leave you to it.” Draco spoke at a fast pace, obviously more anxious than he wanted to let on. Hadrian thought it was rather - well it made him feel sort of warm in his chest at the knowledge that someone really did care.

Draco, as he finished speaking, turned to walk back out of the room having received a nod of understanding from Hadrian. Just as he went to grab the handle to shut the door he began to speak once more.

“Dinner is at six, remember. As Long as you are down by that time you're free to do what you want.” Draco smiled and slowly shut the door. Hadrian could hear his footsteps disappear the further he got from his room.

Then silence.

The room was eerily quiet. Draco having been the main contributor of noise, as he always was. Now that he had left it was as if the room was shrinking Hadrian. Emptying the room of air as it seemed to grow around him in a hum. Hadrian felt his skin crawl as he slowly turned, the room growing larger as he did. Hadrian scrunched his eyes shut, gripping painfully at his wrist, his nails threatening to pierce his skin with how tight he was clasping it.

With a deep breath Hadrian, with his eyes still closed, made a quick walk to the large windows. Only stopping when he felt the cold surface on his hand that he had slightly outstretched.

He slowly opened his eyes with a large breath. Instead of the looming room, the green of the vast garden came into view. Hadrian sighed in relief. As he focused on the bushes down just hidden by the bottom of the window he felt the tension in his arms release, the hairs on his arms settling and the pit that he hadn't even realized had formed in his stomach slowly vanished. The room, as he slowly glanced at it from the side of his eye, had also returned to normal.

Hadrian stood there for what felt like hours but he knew couldn't have been more than a couple of minutes. Just breathing. Regaining his composure.

It was a room.

Not a person. Not something threatening. Just a room. And yet it had made him feel like nothing, as if he was smaller than a mouse. It made Hadrian feel pathetic.

However he didn't have time to overthink, he needed to unpack at least slightly. With one final breath he slowly turned to face the room head on.

Hadrian made his way to the foot of the incredibly large bed, standing still as he pulled out his shrunken trunk from his pocket and placed it at the foot of the bed. Just as they did at hogwarts. Of course the second it was out of his hand his trunk grew to its normal size once more. Hadrian released a quick sigh before opening his trunk.

Reaching inside, Hadrian pulled out a stack of pre folded clothes. Slowly, he moved to the large chest of drawers. Pulling open the first drawer, Hadrian placed his clothes inside. Separating them slightly to lay fully inside the length of the drawer. Hadrian made the same trip again, coming back with a smaller pile and again separating and placing his items in the same draw.

For a second Hadrian just stood there, staring at the drawer of clothes. He slowly turned to glance at his trunk. That had been everything. Two trips, two small piles. That had been it. His entire wardrobe, everything that wasn't his school robes, and they barely filled one draw.

Hadrian felt - ridiculous. An entire wardrobe and five extra drawers stood empty.

His entire life fit in a drawer.

Hadrian couldn't even bear the idea of placing his items in the wardrobe, it would look far stupider than a drawer and he could barely stand the sight of that. With a ragged breath Hadrian shut the drawer, noting how none of the items even scraped the edge as he did.

Hadrian turned and walked to his trunk and quickly with a slight slam shut its lid, his magic locking it instantly as it had been designed to. Snape had said it was to protect his valuables. The memory made Hadrian scoff, even now he had nothing to even consider protecting. Not that he wanted to admit that anytime soon, especially not to anyone but himself and definitely not Snape.

His eyes darted around the room, Hadrian couldn't stay in there. He could all but feel the walls beginning to shrink again. He had just about twenty five or so minutes before he needed to be down for dinner. He had time to explore. Besides, Draco had said he could. He just needed to get out of the room, he knew that much.

Quickly he moved to the door, his mind settling slightly once he gripped the door handle and pulled it open.

Hadrian quickly left the room, carefully shutting the door behind him, careful not to slam it.

The silence in the hall was also incredibly overwhelming but at least this time he didn't feel as trapped.

Hadrian looked left and right, not sure which way to go, he didn't know how long these halls were and he didn't want to get lost after all. Remembering that he and Draco had come from the right, Hadrian decided to go down left, deeper into the hall.

He kept his steps slow, he wasn't in a rush. Besides all the decorations were - well they were unlike Hadrian had seen before today. He was going to at least take his time to admire them.

With each step Hadrian could feel his room disappearing behind him, as he turned the first corner and completely from the room's view Hadrian felt more settled. The pictures on the walls became a rarer decoration the further into the halls he went.

Hadrian had lost track of time, his curiosity taking hold of every part of his mind as he practically examined every piece of decoration and each portrait as he passed them. Everything in the manor was pristine, not a speck of dust in sight nor a blemish on any of the windows and Hadrian expected the same for the outside of the house too. He knew there was a set of house elves on the property, Draco had warned him of such, Hadrian had yet to see or hear one however.

Despite a huge number of them being in Hogwarts they always seemed to stay in the kitchens, a few of the Hufflepuffs had seen them,what with their common room being near the kitchens and all. Hadrian was confused on why they were not used in the rest of Hogwarts, Mr Filch wasn't exactly doing a great job at cleaning the entire castle on his own after all and with no magic. If he was honest most things that hogwarts and the teachers did confused him. Though Hadrian tried to let those thoughts slide as he walked through the halls of Malfoy manor. He was here to forget who and what was happening to him in Hogwarts walls after all.

Without realizing it Hadrian had come rather close to the end of the hall, the last remaining doors clearly visible from where he had stopped. He also realized that just to his right was another staircase, just off from the end rooms that he had been told to not go near.

What caught Hadrian's attention though however was the wall to his left. Noticing a portrait out of the corner of his eye, Hadrian turned to face it.

This portrait was rather unlike any he had seen in the halls so far. Not only was it incredibly large in size, it was also painfully still. As Hadrian stared, he felt himself moving back step by step as to take in the full portrait. Hadrian found himself only a few steps away from the bannister before the picture was completely visible to him in the thin corridor.

Hadrian couldn't tear his eyes away. He felt as if he couldn't breathe for a moment. His focus solely on the painting.

The painting was of a boy. He was well dressed, outdated slightly but not a noticeable amount. He wasn’t far off from Hadrian's age, at least he looked to be youthful. His face was emotionless and his posture was straight, much like his friends stood in all of their family portraits that they had shown him miniature versions of. His hair seemed to be a deep black or perhaps dark brown, Hadrian couldn't tell. His hair was combed and well kept. Regal.

The boy's eyes were - well they were gorgeous. Once Hadrian's eyes locked on them he didn't want to look at anything besides them.

Hadrian could see the brush strokes, as little as they were, each brush of paint making up one of if not the most beautiful portrait Hadrian had ever seen. He felt his heartbeat louder with each moment he stared. This painting was still, a stark contrast of every other one he had passed in the halls. It was also old, holding a slight layer of dust within its brush strokes.

Who was he? More importantly, why wasn’t he moving?

“That's Regulus.” A voice spoke from behind him, causing Hadrian to jump at the sudden snap of silence. Hadrian turned to the left, in the direction of the voice.

Lady Malfoy.

Hadrian had been so lost in his head that he hadn't heard her walk up the steps. She smiled at him as she moved to stand at his left. Turning to face the portrait as he had been doing.

“Who is Regulus?” Hadrian asked, not able to speak above a slight mumble. As if raising his voice would break the calm that surrounded them. His eyes focused on Lady Malfoy as she stared at the painting, a slight wetness to her eyes that he hadn't noticed before. After a second she turned to face him.

“Regulus is - was my cousin. The youngest of us. Sirius Black's brother.” Narcissa choked out, a sad smile on her face as she finished. Keeping her eyes on him, seemingly not wanting to face the portrait any longer.

“Sirius Black’s brother? I didn't know he had one. So you are related to Black?” Hadrian questioned, confusion still eating at him.

“Yes, Sirius Black is sadly mine and Bellatrix’s cousin. Though he has been disowned for longer than he was ever a Black.” Narcissa spoke, straightening as she spoke about Black.

“Lady Malfoy, -” Hadrian began to speak, wanting to ask her what was eating at him. Only to be cut off by the woman.

“Please Hadrian, call me Narcissa.” She smiled. Hadrian couldn't do anything but smile back.

“Narcissa, what happened to Regulus?” Hadrian managed to finally ask after a second. Slightly chewing at the inside of his cheek in worry. He didn't want to upset Lady Malfoy. The topic seemed to not be a nice one, just as he had suspected.

Narcissa slowly turned her head to glance at the portrait, sighing and shutting her eyes and turning her head down as she did before turning to face Hadrian again.

“We - We don't know. Not for certain. Come. “ Narcissa began to speak, grabbing at his wrist as she finished and slightly pulling him to a cushioned bench that Hadrian hadn't noticed was under the large portrait.

As they sat Narcissa to his right now, both of them slightly angled towards each other as they sat. Narcissa gripped his hand, rubbing her thumb in circles over his knuckle as she breathed out a sad sigh. Slowly she began to speak, looking at him as she did.

“When he was growing up, Regulus wanted nothing more than to make Aunt Walburga proud. Sirius as you could guess never managed to, but Regulus? Oh he lived to make his mother proud. Replace Sirius as much as he could. Make his father proud, though he never really managed to. When he was sixteen he joined the Dark Lord. He - he was doing great. Took the mark with honor and was proud to be with people that finally respected him and his talents. He was so gifted, Hadrian. One day, we all waited for him to arrive at a meeting. Regulus was nothing but punctual you see, but - he didn't turn up. Ten minutes. Then twenty. Then an hour. Then two. And he - still wasn't there.” Narcissa spoke slowly, choking out each word as Hadrian saw tears in her eyes that were threatening to fall with each second. Narcissa scoffed at some words and paused at others, each action making Hadrian slightly grip her hand tighter.

Narissa paused, a stray tear falling down her face before she spoke again, quickly wiping it away as she did.

“The meeting carried on in his absence. The dark lord was of course angered at this, at first we all were. At that time, we all thought that Dumbledore was going to try and intercept him and force him to his side as he had all but done with Sirius. The meeting lasted four hours, once it had ended the dark lord ordered me and Bellatrix to speak to our Aunt. Find out where in Merlin's name our cousin was. This was in the summer just before his seventh year. He should have been home, so we quickly went to ask what he thought he was doing missing a meeting like that.” Another tear fell from Narcissa’s eye, though this time she made no move to wipe it. Hadrian felt his heart start to break.

“We flooed into the Black home, It was silent as it always was in the floo room. Our Uncle Orion had put a silencing spell up a few years before. It made the sound we heard as we left the room all the more gut wrenching. Screams. Loud, ear piercing screams. I remember Bellatrix and I looking at each other before all but sprinting in the direction of the noise. It of course was our Aunt. Our emotionless Aunt was sobbing and screaming. We came to the entrance of the tapestry room. You see our family has our family line on a magical updating tapestry on the walls of the ancestral home. That was where we found her. Hair a mess, pale and collapsed in a heap on the floor of the room sobbing. Of course we rushed to her side. One of us on each side, trying to console her, get her to speak. We wanted to help her, but she just kept screaming.” Narcissa had to pause, sniffling slightly and wiping the few stray tears that had fallen as she spoke.

“After a minute she - she was able to settle slightly enough to realize we were there. She gripped our hands and started sobbing again although this time she was screaming words. ‘My baby! My boy! My wonderful boy! He’s gone!’ It was then that she pointed to the tapestry. Regulus’ picture was now a skull. We didn't know how or when- but Regulus was gone. Aunt
Walburga had checked the tapestry the day before and it had been normal, then within the night Regulus was gone. A few days later it was in the paper, the world knew we had lost the heir to house Black and the days continued as always. We held a funeral of course, without a body. My Aunt never recovered and drew herself to madness. Sirius - he never came to the funeral. Within two or so years my Aunt followed her son and husband. Just like that they were gone.” Narcissa finished.

Her eyes were red, she tried to hide it but she was visibly choked up. Though she regained herself in record time that Hadrian assumed came from years of practice. Though she never let go of his hands. Squeezing them slightly as she returned to her smiley self, though Hadrian could see the pain in her eyes as she did. Afterall he had done the same thing before.

“I’m so sorry Narcissa.” Hadrian whispered out, gripping her hands as he did so.

“Thank you, Hadrian. It was nearly seventeen years ago now. This portrait was painted just a year before that.” Narcissa explained, smiling a genuine smile at the memory as she did.

“Why does his portrait not move?” Hadrian hesitantly asked.

“We aren't sure, normally when a wizard dies his portrait comes to life as you know. We don't know how Regulus died, but however he did it led him to not be able to pass properly perhaps- we aren't certain.” Narcissa explained slowly, not able to hide the sadness in her tone as she did. Though she quickly pushed it all aside.

“Anyhow, why don't you come with me and we make our way to dinner. Sadly most of your friends had to return home but they'll all be back tomorrow.” Narcissa stood as she spoke and gestured to the stairs as she began to make her way to them. Hadrian of course stood quickly after her.

Hadrian made his way to the top of the stairs, following as Narcissa made her way down them. Before Hadrian took the first step he turned to glance at the painting. As if saying goodbye.

He turned back slowly as he made his first two steps, however his eyes caught on something to the end of the corridor halting him in place on the second step.

The rooms at the end of the hall- though he had overlooked them before they now incredibly unsettled him. The doors were still shut and the window at the end of the hall still shone as bright- yet the doors just felt wrong. As if something was rolling off of them in waves. It sent chills up Hadrian's arms and made him nearly gulp in worry.

The last time he felt this unsettled over a door he-

“Hadrian dear, we musnt be late.” Narcissa spoke from the bottom of the stairs, breaking Hadrian from his thoughts.

“Of course sorry.” Quickly Hadrian made his way to the bottom of the stairs, meeting Narcissa’s smile with one of his own as he did. Slowly they made their way down a short corridor and into a large dining room.

The Lestranges and Malfoys sat around the large table, waiting for them both.

“There you are. Are you okay Hadrian?” Draco asked from his seat near the end of the table. Narcissa moved to sit between Draco and Lord Malfoy who sat at the head of the table, though Draco paid her no mind as he spoke.

Hadrian smiled, moving to the seat beside Draco to his left.

“Yes I am, just exploring.” Hadrian answered as he sat, turning to smile at Draco whose smile widened as their eyes met.

Dinner started soon after, everyone around the table animated with chatter as they ate. Hadrian, although speaking when addressed or adding his own opinions when he wanted to just sat in awe of the people around him.

After all, he had never had a family dinner before. Although he was just a guest here-he felt warm.

Regulus still at the front of his mind- Dumbledore and Hogwarts luckily gone from his mind. For now.