Chapter 11
Chapter 11
The Letter
"We're in the same class!!" Amelie screeched, pointing at Jaecen's schedule. "Look, slot 3, directly after lunch. Literature 1!"
"I'm in that class too." Trill blinked.
"Same." Trollman added with a nod. Hadrian noticed Trill shutting his eyes and taking a breath immediately after, which was odd.
"Jackson, Henry and I are all in the same Etiquette 7." Hadrian said, glancing between their schedules.
"Me too!" Jaecen grinned. "Hadrian, we actually have a lot of classes together. Etiquette, Astronomy, and Drama."
"Because we're both in a lot of Year 7 classes, but Amelie has Drama with us." Hadrian nodded in agreement. "Oh! Jackson, we both got into Dance 2."
"Joy." Trollman deadpanned. Hadrian laughed.
"We have a few together." Trill said to Amelie, "Because we're both in Year 5 for most of our classes."
"What're your days off?" Hadrian asked, "Mine are Sunday and Friday."
"Same!" Henry gave Hadrian a high five, which made him laugh.
"I got Saturday Sunday, and so did Amelie." Jaecen grinned at her.
"Sunday Tuesday." Trill shrugged.
"I got Friday, Saturday, and Sunday." They all paused to look at Trollman, who stared nonplussed right back at them.
"Oh yeah, you have six Masteries." Hadrian realized, "That's awesome."
"Six of them?" Jaecen choked, "And here I was thinking Hadrian was the coolest!"
"Well I'm a sixth year." Trollman shrugged. "Hadrian and I are basically on even footing. Our Year matches our number of Masteries."
"Oh, I hadn't thought of it like that." Jaecen paused, and then nodded. "Hold on, we all have Sunday off!" Jaecen exclaimed, realizing. "We should get together every Sunday to hangout or something."
"We could set up a weekly study group." Trollman suggested thoughtfully.
"Oh!" Hadrian beamed, "That's a great idea! We can check in about our classes and help each other if we feel like we need it."
"We could also use it to get ahead if we want to move up a Year." Trill pointed out with an approving nod.
"Of course you'd turn it into a school activity." Jaecen sighed. "I suppose it's better than nothing."
"Etiquette is all you have on Monday." Henry said in surprise, leaning over to look at Hadrian's paper. "Seriously?"
"Yeah, I have a ton of Passing periods." Hadrian hummed, "One class on Monday, two on every other day."
"Man, I have three classes every day but one." Jaecen whined.
"Does anyone have a full four slot day?" Amelie asked, "I don't."
"I don't think so." Henry shook his head. "Most of mine are three slot days."
"Same." Trollman shrugged. "Though because of my three day break I think I can live with it."
"I bet." Hadrian laughed, and then he glanced down at his wrist. "Oh, I have an owl for me." The seams of his jacket sleeve glowed blue, indicating an owl had landed in the Owlery with a letter addressed to him.
"Really? From your Hogwarts friends?" Amelie asked.
"I assume so." Hadrian shrugged. "I'll be back for lunch, alright?"
His friends gave him varying levels of acknowledgement, and then Hadrian was climbing the stairs up to the sixth floor, heading down the south corridor, climbing the spiral staircase up and up until he reached a turret above the seventh floor that held the Owlery.
It was a medium sized space with large windowless spaces in the walls, perches for dozens of owls at a time, and benches for students. There was a station for anything the owls might need across one wall, and students usually avoided the area for multiple reasons. One, the owls didn't really appreciate being disturbed when they were eating, and two, the space over there didn't smell great.
Hadrian had barely stepped out of the staircase when an owl hopped in place on one of the nearby perches and hooted at him brightly. He smiled.
"Hey beautiful." He greeted, running two fingers down her feathers, "What have you got for me?"
She shook one of her legs, and Hadrian gently took the letter that was tied there. Thanking her politely, he stepped back so she could spread her wings and launch out one of the windows. That was when he examined the envelope.
H. O. B.
Odd that it was addressed as such, but Hadrian shrugged it off to pull the letter out and unfold it. Just reading the first few lines was enough to make him pale considerably.
H. O. B.
I have made a mistake and I do not know how to admit what I have done. I hope it does not affect you too badly, seeing you are currently safe where you are, but it's about your brother.
When we last spoke, I made a promise to you. You confided in me, and I made a promise to not break your trust. Even so, I have broken your trust. In addition, you told your cousin that you had a brother, and I heard about him from that. I was forced to reveal information about you, and I revealed the identity of your brother. I did not break my promise.
Who I told was possibly the worst person who could ever hear about it. You might not believe me, but think long and hard about who your brother has for enemies. Not you, your brother.
I'm truly sorry for the trouble I've caused you, but I hope that my warning will be sufficient enough to keep you as aware and safe as possible. Your brother's enemy seeks to harm you in your brother's place. Be careful.
S.S.
Hadrian's hands were trembling. The letter shook badly enough that Hadrian had to shove it in his book bag lest he risk tearing it.
It was Snape. He had written to him, risked angering Lord Voldemort just to warn him. Hadrian didn't know how to feel. He'd spent all night awake, panicking and shaking and trying not to be sick. He'd felt both betrayal and relief, which he was feeling all over again.
Taking a deep breath, Hadrian moved to sit down on the steps back down, sliding down the wall and leaning into it with his eyes pressed shut.
Betrayed. He felt betrayed because he'd made Snape swear a Blood Oath not to reveal the truth about Harry Potter. He couldn't tell anyone about who Hadrian used to be, or where Harry Potter had really gone. Despite that, he'd still found a way to endanger Hadrian by telling Voldemort that Harry Potter was his brother.
But he was relieved because at least Snape hadn't told the truth. Snape had heard the story Hadrian had come up with about having a brother. A brother who was dead. Snape had taken that story and ran with it, citing that Hadrian Black was Harry Potter's older brother. It was smart, really, it meant he wouldn't be tortured anymore. But it had also made Voldemort even more interested in Hadrian than he had been before.
So it could be worse, but not much worse. Voldemort wanted to kill him either way, apparently, so Hadrian wasn't sure if the lie really was much better than the truth.
"Hadrian?" His eyes flew open and he straightened where he sat, and his eyes found Trollman crouching on the steps below him so they were on the same level.
"Jackson." Hadrian exhaled roughly. "I'm sorry, am I in your way? I'm sort of blocking the staircase."
"No, I was just looking for you." Trollman said, eyes calculatory. "You missed lunch. Your friends were worried."
"Oh, I'm sorry." Hadrian sighed as he rubbed the same of his head with the palm of one hand. "I wasn't paying attention to the time."
"You're upset." Trollman concluded. He moved to sit down on the stair below Hadrian, and he leaned against the wall so they were shoulder to shoulder.
"I guess, yeah." Hadrian smiled ruefully.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Trollman's voice wasn't soft or careful, but it was genuine and serious. Hadrian sighed, and leaned his head to the side to rest on Trollman's shoulder.
"I got a bad letter, that's all." Hadrian admitted.
"I see." Trollman replied. Hadrian knew he would listen if Hadrian chose to say more, but he also wouldn't pry and ask for anything Hadrian wasn't willing to tell him. It made Hadrian smile, and he allowed himself to tell a partial truth.
"I got a letter about my brother." Hadrian said quietly, shutting his eyes. "He died when I was barely twelve." Trollman said nothing, but he gently took one of Hadrian's hands. "I lived in Britain before that, we both did. But after he died, I sort of… ran away from everything. It's one of the reasons I came to Beauxbaton. One of the Hogwarts professors knew my parents and he, well, he sort of knew my brother. It's a letter from him, about my brother."
"And it upset you." Trollman concluded.
"Yeah." Hadrian sighed, opening his eyes finally. "Sorry, how worried were the others?"
"Pretty badly." Trollman said bluntly. "I offered to check the Owlery, but the others were sure you'd gone to the library and gotten side tracked." Hadrian laughed slightly.
"That does sound like me."
"I figured you had a reason not to come to lunch." Trollman continued. "The most reasonable explanation was that you'd been caught up at the Owlery. I was mostly right."
"Yeah, excellent detective skills there Jackson." Hadrian teased lightly.
"Do you want to go back down?" Trollman asked. Hadrian considered it. His friends were worried, and he should eat something, but he also liked the feeling of leaning into Trollman and holding his hand. It was… comforting.
"Not really, but we should." Hadrian sighed. "They're all worried, right?"
"We don't have to, if you don't want to." Trollman said softly. "If you need more time, it doesn't really matter as much if your friends are worried."
"I guess." Hadrian said quietly. "I don't really need more time, I just really like holding your hand."
"I like holding your hand too." Trollman replied. "But if that's all, you can hold my hand whenever you want to. You know that right?"
"Really?" Hadrian sat up to look at Trollman.
"Of course." He shrugged. "I like physical affection like that. You're the only person I've found who doesn't mind me randomly hanging off them. Even Henry has his limits."
"Oh, that makes sense." Hadrian smiled brightly. "I'm glad we're friends."
"Me too." Trollman smiled back at him. "I also… I want to thank you for not taking it the wrong way."
"What'd you mean?" Hadrian frowned.
"Well, I'm AroAce." Trollman explained. "I'm not really interested in romance or dating or anything else either. Sometimes people get the wrong idea when I hold their hand and things. Henry pulled me aside one day and firmly told me he was straight and uninterested. I was making him uncomfortable, I think."
"It doesn't make me uncomfortable." Hadrian assured him quickly, "The opposite. I really like flirting with people, it's a big part of my personality, as I'm sure you've noticed. But I'm not interested in anything serious right now. I have a sort of… I'm sort of seeing someone?"
"You are?" Trollman asked, tilting his head.
"Yeah, I really like this guy I met back at Hogwarts." Hadrian sighed, a small smile forming in his face. "We had a thing right before I left, and I know he likes me too, but we never really made it official. At least, I don't think we did? I don't know, it's especially complicated since we're so far apart now."
"Oh, I see." Trollman nodded. "I'm sure you'll figure it out. You're the kind of person who's determined enough to go after what they want."
"Thanks." Hadrian smiled brightly.
"So now do you want to go back?" Trollman raised an eyebrow. Hadrian snorted a little, and nodded.
"Yeah, let's go." Hadrian decided. They both pushed themselves to standing, carefully making sure they didn't lose their balance and go tumbling down the stairs.
Hadrian wasn't sure what was going to happen with Voldemort, but he now that he was calmer he was more ready to face it. One thing was for sure, he wasn't going to let anything happen to his friends. Dark Lord or no, Hadrian wouldn’t let anyone lay a finger on the people who mattered to him.