Why Hadriana?
“Why Hadriana?”
Hadriana looked up from the runic equations she was working on to see the Dark Lord staring at her expectantly. Ever since they’d made those oaths, she had grown slightly more…accustomed to his presence in her mindscape. It didn’t bother her as much as it used to, but sometimes he was deliberately pestering her out of sheer boredom (probably) or for his own enjoyment or it was his twisted way to get to know her better. Apparently, it was one of those times. Narrowing her eyes at the ambiguity of his question, she simply returned it. “Why Tom?”
“Because my mother was lacking imagination,” he replied dryly.
Hadriana blinked. “What?”
“And she was in a rush to name me,” he added, raising his eyebrows to say ‘your turn’.
Ah, so that’s the nature of his question. “Well, because my Dad was imaginative and had a lot of time?”
Tom glared.
Hadriana raised an eyebrow in challenge.
She grinned when he sighed as he stood from his desk and walked towards the couch she was lounging on, carefully picking up her feet and placing them down on his lap as he sat beside her. “So, why do people call you Adi then?”
“Hadriana’s a mouthful,” she responded as she scrunched her nose. “But Adi’s reserved for those who are closest to me. You know, my family, some of my friends, my team.” Technically, it was true. “It’s also a bit of a distinction, I’d say. To most in the magical world, I’m Hadriana or Miss Potter and to those in the mundane world, it’s Miss Stark or they go full — Miss Adi Stark. And then some of my mundane friends baptized me with a new name: Audrey.”
“You have muggle friends?” Tom asked incredulously. To his credit, Hadriana thought, there wasn’t a sneer that accompanied his question.
“Why, yes. It’s important to have connections, you know?”
“Well, how very Slytherin of you.”
“Oh, fuck off.”
“Should I call you Adi as well, then?”
Hadriana pondered for a moment before shaking her head. “It feels weird if you call me Adi.”
“How about Ana?” Tom questioned and it wasn’t until she looked at him that she noticed how Tom’s hand was still on her knee. It still surprised her that whenever they were in her mindscape, Tom would always seek to touch her. Not anything untoward, no, just light brushes and careful touches around her arm or her shoulder or in this case — her knee. Hadriana found it endearing.
“Ana?” She questioned with furrowed brows.
“Yes, like Bonnie and Clyde. We’re Tom and Ana.”
Hadriana stifled a giggle. “So we’re the non-robbing Walmart version of Bonnie and Clyde, is that it?”
“What’s Walmart?”
At Tom’s genuine curiosity, Hadriana burst out laughing before blocking a stinging hex. “I’m afraid I can’t be the Bonnie to your Clyde, Tom. I haven’t robbed a bank yet.”
“We’ll plan on it,” Tom said nonchalantly like it was normal for him to rob a bank, she wouldn’t put it past him, that charming bastard. “But for now, we’re just Tom and Ana.”
Hadriana tilted her head slightly to the side before smiling. “Yeah, we’re Tom and Ana.”