Chapter 17
Chapter 17
A Father
Christmas with his elves was quiet. Hadrian opened the presents he got from his friends with huge smiles, but he also opened the gifts he got from random people around Beauxbaton. He had his elves write down the name of all those people and Hadrian made sure to send something small back to each of them later that day.
Hadrian made sure to spend some time with Kreacher at Grimmauld Place, and one of the many shocking discoveries he made was a hippogriff in the attic. Kreacher said his name was Buckbeak, and Hadrian cursed Albus Dumbledore's name mentally as he sent the creature to a sanctuary. Fixing up the house and ridding it of dangerous or worthless junk seemed bland in comparison.
After that, Hadrian was just excited to go back to school. Beauxbaton's Holiday Break ended three days before Hogwarts', which was amusing to Hadrian because it also started five days earlier. His Break was longer by two days.
The last day before he was meant to leave, the last day of peace he had at his Manor away from the bustle of school and his boisterous friend group, was interrupted by none other than his father under his other father's Invisibility Cloak.
"Sirius Black be in the entryway again."
"Of course." Hadrian sighed, rubbing above his eye and immediately stopping as his fingertips brushed the spot he knew his scar rested. "Just… bring him here."
"Yes Master Hadrian." Kigga nodded.
"Oh and please transport him using your Elf Apparation." Hadrian added, "I don't want him seeing the Manor just yet."
"Yes Master Hadrian." Kigga repeated, and then he was popping away. Hadrian felt sorta like banging his head on the desk he sat at, but he also knew his father was going to be appearing any moment and that would be very un-I'm-in-charge-esque.
Kigga reappeared with one hand grasping something that made a few of his fingers disappear, and then he yanked the Cloak sharply off to reveal a very unstable and disheveled Sirius Black. Kigga looked immensely satisfied as he placed the Invisibility Cloak on Hadrian's desk, which made Hadrian grin. His elves were usually so sweet, but when their vindictive sides came out Hadrian was immensely pleased that they were comfortable enough to express themselves naturally.
"Back again, Sirius?" Hadrian said, composing himself and placing his elbows on the desk to perch his chin on his hands as he raised an eyebrow. "You know, it's impolite to Floo in unannounced. I really should invest in getting my Floo altered to be a private Floo instead of an open one."
"Sorry." At least he had the right sense to look embarrassed. "I just wanted to pop in because last time it felt like we got a bit wrapped up in other stuff."
"Understatement." Hadrian said a little coldly.
"Anyway, I wanted to wish you a happy Christmas." Sirius grinned at him, and Hadrian reluctantly offered him a smile.
"Happy Christmas… Father." Sirius lit up like a kid in a candy store, and Hadrain cleared his throat awkwardly. "Is that all?"
"Actually, I wondered if we could spend some time together." Sirius seemed to falter, which clued Hadrian in on the fact that Sirius was mostly running on false bravado. "Y'know, the way we planned last time before we were… derailed."
"Sure, derailed. Good word choice." Hadrian muttered.
"Look, about Grimmauld Place–"
"Please stop talking about Grimmauld Place." Hadrian interrupted, narrowing his eyes. "I haven't exactly forgiven you for the way you treated our ancestral home. And Kreacher."
"No, seriously, let me explain." Sirius scowled, and Hadrian scowled right back. He did hold his tongue, though, and Sirius continued after a rough sigh. "Alright. Listen, I grew up in that horrid place. Before you say anything about how it's not Kreacher's fault or the house's fault, can you please try to understand where I'm coming from?"
"Fine." Hadrian kept his tone neutral, but it made Sirius exhale roughly anyway. "Continue, then."
"My family supported Voldemort." Hadrian blinked a little at the use of the evil wizard's name, but he listened attentively still. "My mother basically groomed my little brother into a perfect little Death Eater, and I left when I was sixteen to be with James. He sort of, well, he sort of rescued me from them. Anyway, I grew up in Grimmauld Place and I ran away from it when I felt like my family might actually kill me for rebelling against them. Believe me, they punished me more than enough for just being Sorted Gryffindor that I genuinely felt like they could kill me."
"I'm sorry." Hadrian said carefully, watching as Sirius shook his head.
"The point is that Grimmauld Place is the source of all my unpleasant memories, and it scraped my past off the bottom of my shoe and was shoved right back in my face." Sirius crossed his arms defensively and glared at the wall.
"If you hate it so much, why did you go there at all?" Hadrian asked slowly, "Is that where you went as soon as you were done doing whatever it is you did at Hogwarts?"
"Dumbledore found me after I spent most of your fourth year hopping around the Muggle World making due and trying to live as best I could." Sirius sighed, uncrossing his arms to run a hand through his smooth dark hair much in the way Hadrian did when he was stressed. "Dumbledore found me and told me about you being my son, which sort of brought me out of the stupor I'd worked myself into after losing Wormtail. That's when he–"
"Wait wait, Wormtail?" Hadrian, who should not know who that was because Sirius did not know about the visions he'd been getting, barely kept his voice from sounding horribly strangled.
"He was my friend. Mine and James' and all of us. His name's not really Wormtail, that's just what he called him. His name's Peter Pettigrew, and he–" Sirius balled his hands into fists and Hadrian almost recoiled from the unadulterated hatred on his father's face. "He betrayed us to Voldemort. I went to Azkaban because after he betrayed us I went to avenge Lily and James but the bastard exploded the whole street, cut off his finger, and then turned into a rat and escaped."
"You were at Hogwarts chasing a rat." Hadrian remembered suddenly. "That's why you were there. The rat."
"Yeah, how'd you know?" Sirius frowned.
"Ronald Weasley, at first." Hadrian couldn't help rolling his eyes, "But mainly Hermione. She's a much more reliable source, in my opinion."
"Ah, the Weasley boy was the one who had Wormtail." Sirius sighed, "Poor chap, I think I broke his leg."
"You did." Hadrian confirmed, cracking a smile. It promptly fell when he realized Sirius hadn't caught Wormtail. Not that it was Sirius' fault, but if he had caught Wormtail… Voldemort wouldn't have been resurrected.
"Anyway, that's Wormtail." Sirius shook his head, "Back to the Grimmauld Place thing, Dumbledore found me and said he had a place for me to stay and that he'd help me get back on my feet. That's when he brought me to Grimmauld and said the best way to spite the damn place, and my family, was letting him use it as a base for our organization to fight Voldemort who my family staunchly supported."
"So Dumbledore manipulated you into it." Hadrian sighed, "He tried to do the same for me, said that by kicking him out I was actively supporting You-Know-Who."
"That sounds like something he'd say." Sirius sighed as well, "I plan on going to Gringotts in the next few days, like you suggested, to be checked for compulsions and things. Dumbledore's going back to Hogwarts so I'll have a chance to slip away."
"That reminds me, how the hell are you slipping away now?" Hadrian frowned.
"Dumbledore lets me go if I'm visiting you." Sirius admitted, looking away sheepishly. "He asks about you sometimes, and he expects me to spill the beans about you whenever I see you. Don't worry! I don't tell him anything."
"You couldn't if you wanted to." Hadrian raised an eyebrow. "Unbreakable Vow and all?"
"I mean about little things, like how you treat your elves as family or that you tend the gardens yourself or that you obviously study very seriously outside of school." Sirius gestured to the desk, which had school textbooks littering the surface.
"I see." Hadrian narrowed his eyes, but not out of suspicion. Rather, he was surprised Sirius was paying that much attention to him. He shouldn't've been surprised, Sirius obviously cared about him, but for some reason Hadrian hadn't expected Sirius to be the observant type.
"I swear that wasn't a threat," Sirius scrambled to say, visibly unnerved by Hadrian's expression. "I was just–"
"That's not it." Hadrian said quietly, looking at Sirius steadily. "It's just that I understand a little of what my mother and James saw in you, that's all."
"Oh." Sirius seemed frozen, swallowing thickly as metaphorical gears turned in his head. "Alright."
"Anyway, fine, I guess you can stay awhile." Hadrian sighed, looking away as Sirius's expression lit up like a lighthouse.
"Thank you." Sirius said quickly, but then he hesitated. When he said nothing, Hadrian raised an eyebrow expectantly. "It's just that I didn't expect you to say yes." Sirius blurted it out like a confession, and it made Hadrian huff in amusement.
"I can see that." Hadrian grinned a little, "So, what is it you want to do? I'm not leaving the Manor with you, I hope you know."
"... Can I see your favorite places here?" Sirius sounded hesitant, but also hopeful. "I want to see what you see about this place. I've never lived here or really been here aside from getting kicked out, so…"
"Sure." Hadrian smiled, "Well, to start us off, this study here is one of my favorite places."
"Why?" Sirius asked as he looked around. The room was small, a desk and a chair with a bookshelf behind it, a storage chest and a filing cabinet, and a small window with a flower pot on the sill.
"It's mine." Hadrian said honestly, "This Manor is huge, but this space is entirely mine. My bedroom is empty, aside from a dresser where I keep my clothes and special possessions. This study is where I keep my other things. Basically everything Harry Potter related is in here too, including all my legal documents that would expose me if anyone saw them."
"Ah." Sirius said, smiling. "So it's a place where you can be yourself."
"I'm always myself." Hadrian shook his head, "I'm not Harry Potter, and it's not like I act differently in here. It's more… I allow myself to see who I used to be without fearing someone else might see it too."
"That actually makes a lot of sense." Sirius said thoughtfully, and then he turned to Hadrian with an enthusiastic grin. "What else?"
Touring the Manor with Sirius was a lot different than the tour he'd done with Theo. Sirius was a wildcard that pointed at completely normal things and asked obscure questions that Hadrian couldn't think up if he tried. After a while, Hadrian realized it was Sirius joking around and entertaining both of them while they walked the long corridors and looked at spacious empty rooms. It was exhaustingly endearing, in a way.
"What about this one?" Sirius pulled yet another book from one of the shelves in his library. "Wicked Wonders of the Deep Ocean?"
"I've read that too." Hadrian grinned, amused by the expression Sirius made.
"Have you read the whole bloody library?"
"Pretty much." Hadrian shrugged, "No much else to do in the summertime besides tend my garden."
"It must be a peaceful life." Sirius said wistfully, putting the book back where he'd gotten it from.
"It was." Hadrian confirmed lightly. 'Before you, before Voldemort, before the Triwizard Tournament' went unsaid.
"Reckon I'm disturbing the peace?" Sirius grinned at him. Hadrian snorted slightly at the teasing tone.
"Most definitely."
"Ah, my bad. Apologies." He said it in the most unapologetic voice that it made Hadrian laugh.
"Master Hadrian, will Sirius Black be joining you for dinner?" Dissy popped out of nowhere, making Sirius jump in surprise.
"No, actually." Hadrian decided, ignoring the way his father seemed to slump. "Thank you for asking, I hadn't noticed the time."
"Dinner be ready in fifteen minutes." Dissy said sternly.
"I'll remember that." Hadrian assured her, smiling as she nodded firmly and then popped away.
"I can't stay?" Sirius asked as he watched Hadrian stand from the chair he'd plopped down on when Sirius had first started his game of 'have you read this?' with an oddly sad expression on his face.
"No, I need to eat dinner and then make sure I have everything for the trip back to Beauxbaton." Hadrian smiled, "But I appreciate the visit."
"Of course, anything for my kid." Sirius grinned, and Hadrian ignored the pang in his chest at the parental words as he led Sirius back to the entryway.
"Next time, send an owl." Hadrian said pointedly, handing Sirius some Floo powder.
"Sure." Sirius replied sheepishly. He called for his destination, and then he disappeared into the green flames. As the fire died again, going back to its usual gentle orange, Hadrian sighed.
Who knew having family was so exhausting?