Chapter 18
Severus was very angry that Hadrian had disobeyed them and left the rooms, encountering a troll along the way. But he wasn’t angry at Hadrian. He was angry at himself for leaving Hadrian on his own, they had never even thought of the fact that Hadrian would be bored on his own and want to go exploring. They also knew that they shouldn’t have left him on his own either but both him and Lucius were needed and they did have a house elf checking up on him which is how they knew he was gone.
He looked down at his son his arms, his little hands in fists holding onto the black lapels on his robes and noticed the slightly fearful look across his baby’s face.
“I’m not angry at you Hadrian.” He said softly. “I’m a little bit disappointed that you left the rooms when we asked you not to but that is our fault not yours. We, your papa and I, didn’t think that you would be bored and we also forgot that you wanted to go and explore the castle at some point. You shouldn’t have left the rooms but you have been through a very terrifying ordeal and I don’t think I need to add punishment on top of that.” He tickled his sons side and smiled when he let out a little giggle. “Now, how about we get some food in that tummy of yours? I’m sure you must be hungry?”
“Yes please Daddy” he smiled, glad his daddy had forgiven him for wandering around the castle on his own. “Daddy, are Freddie and Georgie okay?”
“Yes Haddy, a few bumps and scrapes but nothing major thankfully. They did very well to hold off a fully grown mountain troll all on their own till we arrived!”
“Good, I’m glad, they are my best friends!” Hadrian stated happily.
“Oh?” Severus wasn’t aware that the twins and Hadrian had met before. “I didn’t know you hung out with them?”
“Oh I haven’t Daddy. I only met them today.” Severus let out a bark of laughter. Amusement running through him at the way a six year old mind works.
Draco and Lucius entered the quarters shortly after.
“Draco, you might have some competition. The Weasley Twins are Haddy’s best friends!” Severus told the pair laughing.
Hadrian turned to glare at his Daddy before slipping out of his arms to go and stand in front of Draco, grabbing his hand.
“No Draco, you are my best brother.” He said firmly.
“You only have one brother Hadrian” Draco laughed, going to sit on the sofa, ruffling Hadrian’s hair on the way past. Lucius smiled from the door way as his family settled onto the cushions, accioing their favourite hobbies to them so that they could sit quietly in peace. His family were all safe, and fine.
Lucius sent out letters that night when Draco and Hadrian had gone to bed, to the all the Governors of Hogwarts arranging a meeting for the very next morning so that they could sort everything out. Using the Malfoy’s hawk, Achilles, he had replies from everyone within the space of an hour.
The next morning Lucius left Severus with their two boys, fortunately it was a Sunday so neither of them had any work, and flooed to The Three Broomsticks and then onto Malfoy Manor. He could of gone straight to the Manor but he was certain that Albus Dumbledore had a tracker on the floos and decided it would be safter to travel to the alley to make it seem like he was just going to shop.
He welcomed all the other nine governors before calling the meeting to start.
“I know we usually record these meetings with the Hogwarts Transcriber Stone but unfortunately I am not entirely sure if we want the Headmaster to know what we have spoken about yet. You will have also noticed that we are missing one Governor from this meeting. I will explain more in a moment but I asked Dowager Longbottom to bring her own Transcribing Stone so we will have this meeting on record still.” He gestured to Augusta to start the transcription before speaking again.
“Some of you with children in the school may already be aware of the incident that occurred yesterday during the Halloween feast at Hogwarts. For those that don’t, a troll managed to get through the wards and was close to killing my son. Fortunately, Fred and George Weasley happened to hear the screams of my son and saved his life. They barely got through without major injuries and if we hadn’t been informed then I am absolutely sure they would have both been dead. Now I called this meeting firstly because the wards should not have allowed a troll through onto the school ground and secondly I am absolutely sure that the headmaster is alerted when something negative or hostile tries to enter the grounds?”
“Yes, you are correct Lord Malfoy,” Lady Nott spoke, “The Headmaster of Hogwarts in fact has to accept entry to anybody who isn’t already keyed into the wards. So if a troll got in it was either keyed into the wards prior to entry or he accepted it when it stumbled across the wards.”
“So Albus Dumbledore purposely put our children at risk!” came the alarmed reply from Dowager Longbottom. Neville was the only family she had left, with her son and his wife occupying beds in St. Mungo’s.
“Yes, I think you are current Dowager Longbottom. The second thing I wanted to discuss before we continue is my son Hadrian was missing during the Halloween Feast, hence why he managed to encounter the troll, but when Severus and I asked to leave the feast to find him we were denied, saying that all teachers needed to be at the feast, otherwise it didn’t set a good example to the students, who all needed to attend. As I said in my previous statement, not all the students were at the feast and Albus wasn’t doing anything to find them either.”
“Sorry, correct me if I’m wrong but Dumbledore not only let a troll into the school but also refused to allow you to go and find your son in a school with a troll on the loose?” Lady Parkinson fumed.
“Whether he knew about the troll or not is bad enough as well! Hogwarts is no place for a six year old child to be walking around in on his own. There is always something dangerous that could pop up, which is another thing we need to address at some point, and Hadrian’s core is not matured properly and isn’t able to defend himself. What is that man thinking?” Lady Zabini entered the conversation. She didn’t normally speak during these for her to do so was enough for all of them to be cautious about what was going on. “However I believe that we as Governors need to keep a closer eye on the old man. I have a feeling he is more senile than we originally thought and I know you are keeping something from us about that Lucius but I understand why you are keeping a secret.”
Lucius tried to interrupt to refuse the accusation.
“No, you don’t need to explain. I know that when the time is right you will fill us in with the necessary details. You forget Lucius that I had known you since we were both in nappies. I know you don’t hide information when it is something as important as this. Now, I suggest we hold another meeting in the next few weeks to discuss what we should do about the dangerous aspect of Hogwarts that Albus Dumbledore has done nothing about. Governors, if you could remember from your time at Hogwarts what was dangerous and where and send them over to Lucius he can check if they are still there or not. Lucius, can you also compile a list of dangerous things that currently reside at Hogwarts? If we have a list we can make Hogwarts safe again.”
After all, the Governors had more power than Albus Dumbledore, not that he knew that of course. It was perfect for when they needed to blindside him, and what he was doing at the moment provided them with a perfect opportunity to knock that blasted Albus Dumbledore down a few pegs.