Winter Fun
Hadrian’s POV -
Like they do every winter, the Malfoy is hosting their Winter ball, and as Draco’s friend and a Lord, Hadrian has the unfortunate pleasure of going to the ball. Severus did point out that it would be a great opportunity to meet up with the kids of some of the lords to make more friends, but who cares about making friends when there is an ever-growing stack of paperwork that doubles every time Hadrian leaves the room? And he’s pretty on top of his paperwork. Needless to say, Hadrian thought the ball was a waste of time.
So how he got roped into helping the Malfoys set the ball up, who knows. This year, Narcissa chose the color palette to be navy, light blueish purple, dark pink, and light pink.
The entire ballroom was decorated with ribbons and draped curtains. The ceiling was enchanted to show stars like the one at the Great Hall in Hogwarts. The room looked magical. After helping set up the decorations, Hadrian had flooed home to get changed for the ball.
On his bed, Kreacher laid out a navy robe set with silver accents. Hadrian put the robes on quickly. After that, Hadrian flooed back to Malfoy Manor, joining the hoard of guests going into the ballroom.
“Hadrian, thank you for helping me set up the ballroom last minute,” Narcissa says as she walks over to him.
“Anytime,” Hadrian replies.
“Will you be joining us tomorrow?” Hadrian nods. “Wonderful. It would be best for you to come by 11.”
“Alright.”
“If you don’t mind, I have a lot of guests to greet, have a great time at the ball, and call any of us over if you need something,” Narcissa says. Hadrian nods and she walks over to another guest.
“Hadrian,” Someone calls out. Hadrian turns around and sees Draco. “Come over here, Blaise, Theo, Pansy, and the others are over here too.” Hadrian follows him to a corner of the ballroom where Pansy, Theo, Blaise, Daphne, Tracey, Vincent, Greg, and Millicent are. There are also a few other people that Hadrian doesn’t know.
“Guys, this is Lord Hadrian Peverell-Potter, Lord of the most ancient and esteemed house of Peverell. Hadrian, you know Tracey, Theo, Pansy, Blaise, Daphne, Greg, Millicent, and Vincent, so let me introduce you to everyone else. Next to Daphne, is her sister Astoria. She is a first-year Slytherin. Next to her is Violet Mason. Next to Violet is her brother Travis Mason, heir to the most noble house of Mason. Next to him, is Erica Harper. Next to her, is Alyssa Byrne, heiress to the most ancient and noble house of Byrne. Next to Alyssa, is Tristan Dixon, heir to the most noble house of Dixon. Next to him are Hunter and Levi Woods, Levi is the heir to the most ancient and noble house of Woods. Next to Hunter, is Julian and Ellen Miller. Next to Ellen is Scarlett Mccarthy, heiress to the most noble house of Mccarthy,” Draco said, each one making some sort of movement to help Hadrian identify them.
“Pleasure to meet you all. Please call me Hadrian.”
“Then, please call us by our first names,” Erica says. “We came to this corner to avoid all the stiff adults, not to be stiff children.”
“Erica is in Astoria’s year. So is Violet and Alyssa. Travis is a year above us and so is Tristan. Hunter and Levi are in their fourth year. Julian is in fifth, and Ellen is in sixth along with Scarlett,” Blaise explains.
“So, how’s OWL year, Julian?” Travis asks.
“Horrdeous, I swear I’m drowning in essays. Everyone wants a three-foot essay on something.”
“Do you know what you want to do when you graduate?” Hadrian asks.
“I want to get a mastery in warding.”
“Warding?” Violet asks. “I was under the impression that Hogwarts doesn’t teach warding.”
“It doesn’t. I’ve been self-studying it. But since the teachers haven’t given us a break, I haven’t had much time to look over it. I had to beg my parents to let me come today. They wanted me to keep studying.”
“What subjects do you take now?” Alyssa asks.
“The core subjects and then runes and arithmancy,” Julian says.
“Why those? I’ve heard divination and care of magical creatures is loads easier,” Violet asks.
“Yes, but warding requires some knowledge of runes and arithmancy. Also, I’m not a descendant of a seer so divination is useless for me. I’m also not really interested in magical creatures so care wouldn’t be the best choice.”
“Oh,” Violet replies.
“Hey, Ellen, how did you do with your OWL?” Hadrian asks.
“I got an O in all the core subjects plus Latin, Spanish, French, and Russian. I got an EE in runes, arithmancy, and healing,” she replies after a moment.
“Are you continuing in all those subjects?” Blaise asks.
“Yep. I’m self-studying history though.”
“Because of Binns?” Alyssa asks.
“Yep.”
“Did you self-study all the languages and healing?” Violet asks. Ellen nods. “That sounds like a lot of work.”
“Not really, our mother is fluent in Spanish and Russian, and our father is fluent in French. The only thing Ellen needed to study was Latin.”
“So, um, second years, what electives are you planning on taking?” Julian asks.
“I’m going to take runes and arithmancy,” Draco says.
“Same,” Theo adds.
“Me too,” Hadrian answers.
“I think the better question would be who isn’t taking runes and arithmancy,” Travis says.
“Well, I’m taking runes and care,” Millicent says.
“Same,” Daphne adds.
“So the rest of you are taking runes and arithmancy?” Tristan asks. The rest of the second years nod.
~Meanwhile, at the Burrow~
Percy Weasley’s POV -
“MUUUUMMMM! Fred and George pranked me!” Ron yells, rushing down the stairs to the kitchen where their mother is making dinner. Percy looks up from the desk at the side of the living room. Ron has green and silver hair with green polka dots all over his clothes. Why didn’t I go up to my room again? Right, because Ron was up there.
“FRED! GEORGE! GET DOWN HERE NOW!” Their mother yells. A few thumps could be heard before the twins appeared at the bottom of the stairs. “Fix your brother this instant!” Percy resists the urge to roll his eyes. He knows that prank. This happened earily that summer because Ron was snooping around the twins room. He probably tried to open something and got pranked as punishment. You would think he would learn.
“We”
“Didn’t”
“Prank”
“Him,” The twins say, switching back and forth.
Despite what most people believe, Percy had a pretty good relationship with most of his family (everyone but Ron and Ginny). Percy was also more observant than most people would like to admit. If everyone thinks you're not paying attention because you have your head in a book, then they are more likely to let their guard down. The ruthless rule-following prefect is a great reputation to have when the twins are your siblings. Teachers always believe you, so getting the twins out of trouble is easier than expected. Of course, you have to throw the twins in detention every now and then to keep the facade up. Though it's not all a facade, Percy does like books, and getting good grades. The point is, that the twins only go back and forth with people they don’t like. And it’s not hard to find a reason as to why their mother is on that list.
“Don’t lie to me! I know you did this to your brother! Fix it!” Mother demands.
“Mother, the pot is over boiling,” Percy says.
“Huh?” Molly turns to face the stove. “Oh no, oh no, oh no,” she says running over to the bubbling pot, quickly turning off the heat. “The point is boys, fix your brother!”
“We”
“Can’t”
“Fix”
“It”
“Because”
“We”
“Didn’t”
“Do”
“It” The twins say, switching back and forth again. Percy gives them a look. They know exactly what Ron did, they know how to fix it. They just won’t as punishment to Ron. Their mother looks at them.
“You two are grounded until you fix your brother!” Their mother yells.
“Grounded, what are they grounded for?” A voice asks as the door opens, revealing their two older brothers, Bill and Charlie.
“Until they fix their brother,” Their mother says stubbornly.
“How do you know that they did it?” Charlie asks.
“Because they always do it,” Their mother replies.
“So you just blame them because it's convenient,” Charlie says.
“No! I blame them because I am right!” Their mother yells. Charlie opens his mouth to say something else, but Bill gives him a look to drop it. The two of them along with Percy and the twins set up the tables for dinner. Ron goes back up to his room.
“So, where’s Ginny?” Bill asks.
“She’s upstairs in her room, probably sulking over Hadrian,” Fred says.
“Isn’t she a bit young to have a boyfriend?” Charlie asks.
“Hadrian isn’t her boyfriend, he’s the unlucky boy Ginny is stalking,” George corrects.
“Yeah, she has a scrapbook of pictures of Hadrian, it’s really creepy,” Fred adds.
Just then, the floo flares. Percy looks at the clock on the wall with all their names on spoons and sees Dad’s spoon move from in transit to home.
“Dad’s home,” Percy says.
“Hello boys,” Dad calls out from the fireplace, receiving various greetings in return. “Would you happen to know where your mother is?”
“The kitchen,” Bill says. Dad nods and goes to the kitchen.
~Back at Malfoy Manor~
Hadrian’s POV -
“So, who is the worst DADA teacher you’ve had?” Blaise asks.
“Lockhart,” Travis says immediately.
“You think Lockhart was bad, we had this one teacher who just had us reading the entire time. At least Lockhart was teaching something. And the worst part is that he gave a detention to anyone who made a sound. One time, he gave someone a detention for breathing too loud,” Hunter says. “Horrendous teacher.”
“You think he was bad? We had a teacher who expected us to be there five minutes early, waiting outside by the time the bell rang. If we weren’t there when he walked outside, we got a detention and he took 20 points. He was insane,” Ellen said.
Suddenly, there was a commotion on the other side of the ballroom. Blaise looked at Draco, who looked at Hadrian. The group heads towards the commotion. A large crowd gathered around an opening in the wall. Draco almost tripped on a piece of debris. At the center of the crowd was Lucius, Narcissa, Mad-Eye Moody, and some aurors.
“Draco, floo Madam Bones, tell her what’s going on,” Hadrian says. Draco nods and runs off.
“What on Earth is going on? Why have you broken into our manor?” Narcissa asks. You could hear the furry in her voice. Behind the hole in the wall, you could see a large hole in the wards.
“We are here to arrest everyone on suspicion of this being a Death Eater gathering,” Moody says with a slight smirk on his face.
“Death Eater meeting? We are hosting a party like we do every year,” Narcissa says.
“Please, we all know its a cover-up for a Death Eater gathering,” Moody snarls.
“How dare you,” she says.
“What is the meaning of this!?” Madam Bones yells from the crowd, which parts for her. Draco rejoins the group. “What are you doing here Moody?”
“They are holding a Death Eater meeting!” He accuses, pointing at Lucius.
“Yes, a Death Eater meeting with almost 3/4s of the Wizengamot present plus their families,” Madam Bones says sarcastically. “Aurors, you will follow me.”
Madam Bones leads them out of the manor through the hole.
“Everyone, I hope you had fun tonight. Please use the floo to go home, and we hope you enjoy the rest of your night,” Lucius says. Everyone starts to leave, including Hadrian after quick goodbyes to his friends.
~The Next Day~
~Malfoy Manor~
Hadrian flooed to Malfoy Manor. Stepping out of the fireplace, he sees an elf.
“Master Hadrian Peverell-Potter, please come this way,” the elf says. Hadrian followed the elf to the living room, where there was a stack a presents. The Malfoys were all on one couch. Marvolo was sharing a couch with Severus. And Antonin was sitting on a sofa.
“Hello Hadrian,” Marvolo greets.
“Hello,” Hadrian replies while taking the empty seat.
“I should probably give you this now before he spoils the suprise,” Severus says, He got up and pulled out a box. Hadrian unwraps the box and inside is a green snake with black dots scattered around the body.
“It’s a boomslang,” Severus says. “What are you going to name it?”
“Jörmungandr, or Jormy for short,” Hadrian said after pausing for a moment. Marvolo gives him a look.
After about an hour, everyone has opened their presents. Hadrian got Severus a potions book from the Chamber of Secrets which was translated from parseltounge as well as some of the shed basilisk skin. Marvolo was given a wand holder made from basilisk skin and crafted by the goblins. Hadrian gave Lucius robes, and Narcissa a scarf which he crocheted. Draco was given an enchanted communication bracelet that Hadrian had a matching pair of. Antonin got some old books Hadrian dug out of his vault. Hadrian got books and a new set of sets from the group. He also got chocolates from quite a few people and a Weasley sweater.
When Hadrian was going to touch the Weasley sweater, his ring heated up. Severus cast a spell on the sweater and found it riddled with compulsions. Marvolo then cast spells on all the chocolates, which still had their cards attached, and found most of them to contain a love potion or two.
Lucius had an elf take them away for later so Hadrian could press charges. All in all, it was a pretty fun day.