1972-1973
Hadrian flooed through to the Leaky Cauldron with Lily in tow. Once they stepped into the pub, the young man made sure the girl was alright – she looked a little flustered but was otherwise fine – then spelled the ashes clear as they waited for Severus and Remus to come through. Less than a minute later, the floo spit Remus out and then Severus. Sayah hissed her displeasure from her place around Severus’s wrist at the mode of transportation as she always did after using the floo. Hadrian bit back his amusement as he watched Severus stroke her scales to soothe her. Seeing that everyone had made it through safely, Hadrian spelled the ashes off the boys and then ushered the pre-teens to Diagon.
When Severus’s letter for second year had come, the boy had asked if they could plan a day so that he and his friends could go shopping together. Hadrian had agreed, remembering the fun he had when he went to Diagon with Hermione, Ron, and the rest of the Weasleys before school started. However, Hadrian had ended up offering to take the three pre-teens himself after a few letters between him and the other two families. Hadrian didn’t mind, and this way Severus and his friends would be able to spend the day together. After everyone agreed, they arranged for Hadrian to apparate to the Evans home to pick of Lily, and Remus to gain access to their floo. Once the two had made it to his and Severus’s home, they had left for Diagon.
“Alright, we are going to save Flourish and Blotts for last since I know all three of you are bookworms from Sev’s letters, and my son could spend hours in the bookstore without the encouragement of two other bibliophiles.”
Severus blushed as his friends giggled at him but agreed. They made their way to Gringotts so that Lily could get her money exchanged, and then proceeded to slowly make their way through the shops. Luckily, none of the three cared for Quidditch, so they didn’t need to face the small crowd trying to buy the latest broom. Since they purchased most of their needed supplies for first year and so they only needed to restock on a few things and get their books, it only took them about an hour and a half to get through all the needed stores and they were finally on their way to Flourish and Blotts.
“Do you think the newest Defense professor is going to stick around this year?” Hadrian heard Remus asked the other two.
“I hope so. I’d hate to have to keep getting a new professor each year if they keep leaving.”
Severus snorted, “If the rumors are true, you are going to have to get used to it Lils.”
Lily and Remus blinked at each other and turned to the dark-haired boy confused, “Rumors?”
“You guys didn’t hear?” Severus asked them in astonishment. When they both shook their head he continued, “The Defense position hasn’t been filled for longer than a year in the past five years. There’s a rumor going that it was cursed when someone who wanted the job didn’t get hired.”
Hadrian blinked, surprised at the accuracy of the rumor. In his time, the rumor was only that there was a curse. Then again, it has been only five years since Tom Riddle was interviewed by Dumbledore. The conversation did remind him that he needed to sneak into Hogwarts soon. The young man snapped out of his thoughts when he heard his son’s name being called.
“Severus!”
He saw Sayah peek her head out from his son’s sleeve, seeming to have woken from the doze she had fallen into, at the same time Severus turned in the direction the voice was coming from. Hadrian looked in the direction his son was looking to see Lord Black and Regulus Black heading their way. As always, Lord Black had a neutral expression on his face, while Regulus was smiling widely at Severus.
Before either boy could say anything more, Hadrian placed a hand on his son’s shoulder and nodded to the other man, “Lord Black. Pleasure seeing you here.”
Lord Black nodded back, “Likewise, Lord Peverell. This is my grandson, Scion Regulus Black. It seems my grandson and your heir know each other.”
“Indeed. Lord Black, Scion Black, this is my son, Heir Severus Peverell, and his friends Lily Evans and Remus Lupin.”
~The little one smells nice. Like the rude boy but much better We should keep him, hatchling.~ Sayah commented. It took Hadrian a moment to realize that “the rude boy” would be Sirius since he is Regulus’s brother. Severus to clenched his teeth momentarily and the young man wouldn’t be surprised if he was trying to keep from laughing at his snake’s strange comments.
The taller man’s eyes flicked to Lily and Remus, who both nodded in greeting, obviously not knowing what to do, before moving to study Severus, lips twitching upwards slightly at the sight of Sayah on his wrist, “Pleasure.”
“It is nice to meet you Lord Peverell. You as well Lupin and Evans,” Regulus smiled at them.
~Oh, and he has good manners. Much better than the rude one. Let’s definitely keep him.~
His son smiled back, ignoring Sayah, “It’s nice to meet you Lord Black. It’s good to see you, Regulus. Are you getting your things for Hogwarts? Where’s your brother?”
“Sirius is grounded so Mother and Father told him that they would be getting what he needed. Grandfather offered to bring me since they would need to get Sirius’s things,” Regulus told him.
Severus nodded, “Lily, Remus. Regulus will be joining us at Hogwarts as a first year this year.”
“It’s nice to meet you,” Remus greeted with a smile. Lily hesitantly smiled, obviously wary.
While the children were getting to know one another, and Severus successfully ignoring Sayah’s comments despite how amusing they were, Lord Black moved to stand next to Hadrian so they could talk quietly without talking over them, “Lord Peverell. I would like to apologize for the way my heir has acted towards yours. I assure you that when I learned of it from what Regulus was told by your heir at Malfoy’s Yule Ball, he has been discouraged from his unbefitting behavior.”
“Thank you, Lord Black. I am glad to hear he was acting of his own accord and not for your esteemed house.”
Lord Black nodded and then calmly asked, “May I ask why you allow your heir to befriend a muggleborn and a half-blood?”
“My son is a blood-adopted half-blood,” Hadrian replied with an eyebrow raised, “It would be a bit hypocritical of me to regulate who he befriends, especially since both children show a preference for the wizarding world and its culture. Lily has even asked Severus and Remus to teach her our ways.”
“And what of the muggleborn’s parents?”
“Nice enough and accepting of their daughter and our culture. They also understand that they do not have much of a place within our world. As they should.”
There was a small pause before Black turned to completely face Hadrian, “Good to hear you are not a muggle-lover like the ridiculous light side. While you are aligned neutrally with darker leanings, as well as friends with Abraxas, I had to be sure.”
“I take it you share Abraxas’s dislike of muggles and tolerate the muggleborn and half-bloods if they accept wizarding culture over muggle culture?”
“Indeed. You sound surprised?”
Hadrian smirked slightly, “I’m sure you’ve heard the light sides rumors about your family… which your daughter-in-law has encouraged.”
Frustrations flickered over the taller man’s face but disappeared quickly, “My family is dark, and proud to be pure, Lord Peverell. Make no mistake about that. But Walburga is a fool and not the first of my family to act as such in her madness.”
“Just Hadrian is fine, Lord Black. It’s been a pleasure to have this discussion with you.”
“Arcturus,” the man smirked at him, “And I couldn’t agree more.”
Their attention was drawn back to the pre-teens when they heard Lily bluntly ask, “Do you plan to act the way your brother has been?”
Hadrian saw Severus and Remus wince at the question, but Arcturus just looked amused and Regulus snorted, “Believe me, I’ll be avoiding Sirius as much as you are.”
Severus snorted and chuckled. Hadrian wondered if he was remembering what he and Regulus got up to at Yule. Going by Regulus’s return smile, the boy obviously thought the same. Lily scrutinized Regulus before nodding and smiling at the younger boy. Remus shook his head in amusement at the girl. It seemed Severus had found a fourth to join his group of friends.
Severus was glad to see Regulus and his friends get along when they bumped into each other in Diagon and then again on the train. He had been happily surprised when the younger boy had joined them in their compartment. It allowed him hope that his friendship with Regulus would survive outside of holiday parties.
When Regulus was sorted into Slytherin, however, he became worried. He knew his friend was happy with his sorting, especially since his family wouldn’t throw a fit over his sorting the way Regulus had said they did when Black was sorted into Gryffindor. Severus was happy that his friend wouldn’t have to deal with that. However, while he didn’t particularly care about the sorting, his two Gryffindor friends were another question. Neither Remus or Lily seemed to care that he was in Ravenclaw, but Severus’s house wasn’t looked at in suspicion or had a rivalry with Gryffindor the way Slytherin did. It made him wonder if his friends would be able to get over it. Especially Remus, seeing as how the boy was friends with the most prejudiced Gryffindor boys towards Slytherins.
Luckily, Severus needn’t have worried. When Regulus nervously asked to join them in the library after classes, Remus and Lily both accepted it with a smile, no sign of any prejudice against his house. He saw the younger boy relax and smile at them just as Severus released a quiet breath of relief.
After that first day of classes, Regulus became a constant companion for them. He joined the three of them whenever he could escape classes and his house, in a similar way Remus joined Severus and Lily when he could escape Black and Potter. It wasn’t perfect, but Severus understood; Regulus had to keep an act up with his house due to the pureblood prejudices, and expectations to follow the new Dark Lord. Severus had never been more glad that he didn’t have to field Slytherin politics the way Regulus had to.
So, Regulus joined their trio when he could, slowly turning them into a quartet as the boy got closer to all of them. Severus had never thought that he’d have so many great friends.
“Arcturus tells me he ran into you in Diagon.”
Hadrian nodded as he took a sip of the tea that Abraxas’s house elf had just served them. As he often did, especially when Severus was at school, he had joined the blonde for tea at Malfoy manor. Hadrian was sitting in a comfortable blue wingback chair in the sitting room, while Abraxas sat on the matching couch.
“He seemed surprised by you.”
“Did he? I was a bit surprised by him as well.”
Abraxas rolled his eyes, “Well if either of you listened to me, neither of you would have been surprised. I told you both that you’d get along rather well.”
“Yes, I suppose you did,” Hadrian chuckled. He then smirked, “You know, you could have saved yourself the hassle if you just told me he shared your views on muggles and non-purebloods.”
The blonde man blinked, “Seriously? That’s all it took?”
Hadrian nodded, causing the blonde to mutter under his breath. The dark-haired man laughed softly and sipped his tea. Abraxas had been trying to get Hadrian and Arcturus to meet outside of the Wizengamot and social functions for the past year, but Hadrian had been avoiding the occurrence due to his knowledge of the Blacks’ prejudice. He hadn’t realized that not all of the Black family were as bad as Walburga. Still insane about blood purity, but not quite as prejudice as his godfather had led him to believe.
“Have you decided on a hobby yet?”
Hadrian raised an eyebrow over his teacup, “What do you think?”
Abraxas rolled his eyes, “I don’t know why it’s so hard for you to decide on one.”
The young man shrugged, “I’ve never really needed one before. I had enough to do without one. I claimed my lordship only a year after achieving my DADA mastery and took in Severus a year after that.”
The blonde paused, and tilted his head, “You know, I always forget you are a good ten years younger than I am. You have much more figured out than I did at 26.”
“Wasn’t Lucius a little younger than Severus is now when you were 26?”
Abraxas snorted, “Yes, he was 8 and I was as prejudiced as my father, which is probably where my son learned it. It wasn’t until my father passed, leaving me the Malfoy lordship, just before Lucius went to Hogwarts did I grow up and finally think for myself, much to Acacia’s relief.”
“Where is your lovely wife, by the way?”
“Shopping with a few other Ladies,” the older man smirked at him in a way that Hadrian couldn’t help but feel a little nervous, “She may also be beginning to… evaluate a few young women to set you up with.”
The dark-haired man choked on his tea, “What?”
He glared at the other man when Abraxas laughed at his reaction.
“My friend, you are officially closer to being 30 than you are to being 20, yet you haven’t bonded. You know how Acacia is. She’s become rather… interested in your love life.”
Hadrian groaned and rubbed his eyes, “She’s not going to find someone I am interested in.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure about that. There are plenty of young women who-”, Abraxas cut himself off and narrowed his eyes at the younger man. Hadrian took another sip of tea, careful not to fidget under the assessing gaze so as not to give himself away. Unfortunately, the blonde seemed to still find what he was looking for, “Ah, I see. I’ll have to let her know she is looking at the wrong gender then.”
Hadrian groaned again and muttered curses under his breath. Abraxas just laughed at him again. The dark-haired man wondered why all the friends he has made in his lifetime seemed to become invested in his love life. Perhaps it was a hazard of friendship? He was thankful when Abraxas decided to switch conversation topics.
Later that afternoon, Acacia returned to the manor and Abraxas informed her of Hadrian’s preferences, causing her eyes to light up in excitement at the prospect of success in her endeavor. Hadrian sighed; it definitely seemed to be a hazard of friendship.
It wasn’t until October did Hadrian have his plan to retrieve the diadem worked out. It was a rather simple plan: go to Hogsmeade, slip into to Hog’s Head, use the tunnel to slip into Hogwarts using his invisibility cloak and into the Room of Requirement, get the diadem and slip back out. The part of the planning that took the longest was figuring out the best time to enact said plan. If he did it too late, he would be unable to slip into Hog’s Head without being noticed, and if he did it too early, he would have a higher chance of getting caught within Hogwarts. After many visits under a glamour to Hog’s Head, however, Hadrian was able to work out a timeframe. He would enter the inn under a glamour just after dinner, when the place was busiest, then on his way out use another glamour so his absence would assumed to be that he left and another patron during the busy time was then leaving.
Having worked out all the details, Hadrian enacted the plan, which worked out smoothly up until he was leaving with the Diadem. It had taken him a bit longer than expected to find the Horcrux due to the size of the Room of Hidden Things, but once he did, he giddily began making his way back to the tunnel that led to Hog’s Head.
What he didn’t expect was to run into Severus. His son had been wandering the halls after curfew when Hadrian saw him, making him narrow his eyes.
~I smell someone closeby~ Hadrian saw Sayah lift her head from her spot on his son’s shoulders, flicking her tongue out.
~How close?~
Before she could respond, Hadrian, distracted as he was, stumbled over a loose stone as he tried to slip past. Unfortunately for the young man, the boy knew about his invisibility cloak so Severus drew his wand in suspicion at the noise, and quickly whispered a revealing spell and an Accio for an invisibility cloak before Hadrian could react. It was rather comical watching Severus gape at him in surprise as he caught the cloak*. If he hadn’t been so worried about a patrolling professor or another student stumbling into them, he probably would have laughed. As it was, Hadrian quickly pulled his son into a hidden alcove and cast a privacy spell before Severus could say anything.
~Hello, nest-mate~
Hadrian’s lips twitched and the little snake and stroked her scales in greeting. She hissed in pleasure. Severus rolled his eyes at Sayah before looking to Hadrian and narrowing his eyes in suspicion, “What are you doing here, Dad?”
“I could ask you the same question, you know. It is past curfew,” Hadrian raised an eyebrow.
“But you can’t get me in trouble with the staff since you’re not supposed to be here, and you know if I was in my room I would be up reading anyways so you aren’t going to punish me. So, what are you doing here?”
The young man was amused at Severus’s rather sneaky way of getting out of trouble. He really needed to remember that Severus was still very Slytherin, despite his sorting, “I, ah…”
Severus raised an eyebrow, “It has something to do with that mission you won’t tell me about, doesn’t it?”
“Yes,” Hadrian sighed. He really was awful at keeping this from his son; this was the third time he knew Hadrian was up to something, despite him being upfront about only one of those times, “What do you want for your silence?”
Severus smirked at his automatic bribery, knowing he had the advantage over his dad. Hadrian rolled his eyes at his son. Sayah hissed in amusement, but the young man couldn’t tell who it was directed at.
“Do you know Occlumency?”
Hadrian frowned, not having realized that his son had found a book that had the topic in it, “Yes.”
“Great. Teach me and I’ll continue to be patient for you to tell me what you are doing.”
The young man pinched the bridge of his nose. Hadrian had learned the skill after the war when he was working for his DADA mastery; he was no natural like Professor Snape had been, but his shields were decent enough to keep people out. They were definitely better than what little he had been able to build in fifth year. He hadn’t intended for Severus to learn Occlumency so soon. There was nothing bad about it, but he had hoped his son would wait for a bit longer so he wouldn’t create the habit of using Occlumency to shut his emotions away like he knew Professor Snape had. Perhaps he could make Severus promise not to use it for that when he taught him instead. Internally nodding to himself, Hadrian sighed, “Fine. I’ll send you a book that tells you more thoroughly what the practice is than wherever you read about it.”
Severus beamed in excitement, and hugged him, “Thank you. I’ll go back to my common room now then. Don’t get caught.”
Hadrian snorted and put the invisibility cloak back on. Sayah hissed a quick goodbye and he watched his son walk away. The young man shook his head in amusement at what had just happened.
He quickly slipped out of the castle and apparated back home after he was clear of Hog’s Head. Once there, Hadrian destroyed the horcrux and banished the remains of the diadem. Four down, one to go.
As he did the year before, Hadrian picked Severus up for the Yule holidays, wished his son’s friends and their parents a happy holiday, and then enjoyed spending time with Severus. On the day of the Yule Ball, they made their way to Malfoy Manor. When Hadrian got close to Lucius to greet the Malfoys upon arriving, the young man immediately was filled with hope; Lucius had been marked.
Ever since Voldemort rose again during his fourth year, Hadrian had been able to feel a strange whisper of something familiar but dark and slightly oppressive when he had been near marked Death Eaters. It hadn’t been until he learned that he had was a horcrux in him, did he realize he was able to feel the familiar magic of Voldemort in the Dark Mark. After he defeated the madman, he no longer was a horcrux and the Dark Mark had disappeared from the Death Eater’s skin, so he had just assumed that the ability to feel the mark had disappeared with the horcrux.
As he greeted the Malfoys, however, he could once again feel that familiar dark and oppressive magic on the youngest Malfoy. It was stronger than he had ever felt it before, making him wonder if it was because Lucius had just gotten it, making the magic more potent. Hadrian resisted the urge to glance at the youngest Malfoy’s arm, knowing it would be covered and so looking for it would be pointless. Doing so, might also reveal himself to Lucius.
However, now that he knew the young blonde was marked, Hadrian was unable to stop the feeling of hope well up inside of him. If Lucius was marked, then perhaps the Diary was in the man’s possession.
Hadrian tried to ignore the hope as he walked into the ballroom, greeted some of the people already in attendance. Severus left in favor of Regulus’s company, even if it meant needing to avoid Sirius again. Time felt as if it dragged on as the young man waited until his arrival became inconspicuous.
When Hadrian finally felt sure that his momentary absence would go unnoticed, he discreetly slipped away from the party and began searching. For the next twenty minutes he quickly searched for the diary, but he knew he needed to return to the party soon.
Disappointment at not finding the horcrux had just began to slowly seep in when he felt it; the whisper of dark magic in his mind, coaxing him to write in the diary. Had he not already been sensitive to Voldemort’s soul after 17 years of being a horcrux, Hadrian doubted he would have even felt it. He stopped where he was standing, and slowly followed the feeling until he was in front of a closed cabinet. The young man opened it but the shelf was empty. Hadrian whispered a revealing charm and, immediately, protection spells became obvious to him. Carefully, he picked his way through dismantling the spells. When the book still wasn’t visible, the young man felt along the back of the cabinet until he found a notch in the wood that allowed him to pry a small panel from the wall, revealing a hidden space the book was standing in. The coaxing magic instantly became stronger. Hadrian was thankful he wasn’t still a horcrux with how strong he felt the diary; it was a wonder how it didn’t hurt him when he was a second year, though he had a theory that horcruxes were more active when their owner still had a body after the awareness he felt towards them when horcrux hunting in his seventh year.
Hadrian pulled an expandable pouch that he had made for the diary, in hopes that it would contain the dark magic during the party until he could leave to destroy it. Thankfully, the whispers of the soul piece cut off when he closed the pouch. The young man put the pouch back in his robes and turned to head back to the party, thrilled that he had found the last horcrux. He returned the cabinet to the way he found it, protection spells and all.
When he turned around, Abraxas was leaning against the doorway, watching him with a blank face. Hadrian’s blood ran cold. He’d been caught.
Before the young man could come up with any sort of excuse, Abraxas drawled, “All of those times you came to the manor… it must have been killing you to not search for whatever it is you were looking for.”
“Abraxas, it’s not what you think.”
The blonde raised an eyebrow at him, “You mean you weren’t searching my home in secret?”
Hadrian winced, “Yes, I did do that, but it was for a very good reason. Please, just let me explain.”
“You know…” Abraxas said slowly, “You could have just asked me for access to the manor.”
The dark-haired man blinked in shock as a smile spread across the older man’s face.
“…What?”
Abraxas laughed, “Oh, Merlin, your face.”
Hadrian watched the blonde laugh, confused, brain struggling to catch up. Abraxas wasn’t angry that he had searched Malfoy manor. What just happened?
“Hadrian, relax. I’ve known what was behind that cabinet since my son brought it into my home. One of the benefits of being the master of the wards.”
The younger man frowned, “You know what it is?”
“Indeed. Soul magic is rather… distinctive.”
“Why didn’t you get rid of it then?”
Abraxas raised an eyebrow at him again, “And get my marked son punished just to realize I have no idea how to destroy that atrocity?”
Hadrian nodded once in understanding before scrutinizing the man before him. He had severely underestimated the head of the Malfoy family. The younger man had known about Abraxas’s views on Voldemort, but never thought he would help get rid of the man. “You are allowing me to take it. Why?”
“It is rather curious that you knew to look for it here, isn’t it?” the blonde casually asked instead of answering. Hadrian felt his blood run cold again, but he didn’t make a move. There was no way the man could know. Abraxas continued, “I assume you know how to destroy it, Hadrian, otherwise I doubt you would have been looking for it. I also have a good feeling that this war is going to be over before anyone could have predicted. Good timing, what with Severus and Lucius in such… vulnerable positions.”
The young man swallowed, understanding what his friend was saying. Abraxas was afraid for his son due to his new Death Eater status. He was trusting Hadrian to be able to end Voldemort. The blonde also may or may not suspect him to be from another time due to the incriminating knowledge of where to look for the horcrux and how to destroy it. Hadrian pushed the last thought away; he trusted Abraxas not to reveal him, especially since Hadrian would be getting rid of the madman that would have had the potential to destroy Abraxas’s son.
“I agree. Good timing, indeed,” Hadrian smiled, causing Abraxas’s lips to quirk up and nod slightly, “Shall we return to the party? I am sure your guests are missing us by now.”
“Certainly.”
Hadrian walked side-by-side with Abraxas, back to the ballroom. He was very happily surprised by this turn of events. He had found the last horcrux to destroy and the blonde had turned out to be more than Hadrian ever expected.
“Oh, you should visit some of the castles in Cardiff. Lucius tells me they are beautiful. Though, do be careful of the snakes; they are abundant in the area I’ve heard.”
The dark-haired man smiled at the Malfoy lord as they walked back into the ballroom, “I shall have to make time to visit the area sometime then.”
Just when Hadrian thought his friend wouldn’t be able to surprise him any further, Abraxas informed him of Voldemort’s position, going by what the man overheard his son say. Slytherin Castle in Cardiff. Never had the younger man thought he would receive help for his mission, and here the blonde was, giving him everything he needed to finally be rid of the madman, once and for all.
A few hours later, Hadrian and Severus were back at their home, Severus asleep in his bed. The young man pulled the diary out of his robes and the pouch it was hidden in and set it on the table. The last horcrux. Get rid of this, and the violence of this war would never increase to the horrors the first war was known for in his time. The second war would never happen. Hadrian pulled out the basilisk fang had had used on the other four, and quickly destroyed the diary.
The object screamed as the dark magic was released, half of Voldemort’s soul destroyed. Hadrian glanced up to Severus’s door to make sure the privacy charm held, and his son didn’t wake to the awful sound of a soul dying. The boy didn’t emerge from his room. The young man let out a breath of relief. All five horcruxes in existence were destroyed. The madman was vulnerable to attack, and soon to no longer be in a part of this world.
Elation filled Hadrian as he quickly wrote out a note to Severus, explaining that he had an errand to run, just in case his son woke up before he returned. After a small pause, the young man wrote a second note with the explanation for what he was doing and what Severus needed to do should he not return. Hadrian swallowed roughly and placed a charm, using a small bit of blood magic, on that note so that it would only be sent if he didn’t return. Merlin, he hoped he would return; if only to make sure Severus would be alright.
The young man pushed the morbid thoughts away, determination joining the anticipation to finally be rid of his mission. He would return for Severus. Nodding to himself, Hadrian banished the destroyed diary and made his way out of the cottage.
Hadrian apparated from a hidden alley near Gringotts to the location in Cardiff that the Goblins provided. After leaving his home, the young man had made his way to the bank in order to put a will for himself in place and retrieve the location he wanted.
Luckily, the Goblins were understanding in why he wanted the information after hinting at who was hidden there. It probably helped that, via a nameless (so as to hide his previous name and avoid a future paradox that might occur) inheritance test, he was able to prove himself to be the heir of Slytherin – in his time he had been Lord Slytherin due to conquest, but his time traveling had reverted him to being heir since his conquest was alive.
As for the will, Hadrian kept it simple. Everything would go to Severus, and his son was to go to either the Evans family for the Malfoys. He listed the Evans first, only because he knew his son would strife a bit at pureblood rules, but if they were unable to for whatever reason, Hadrian knew Acacia and Abraxas would happily take his son in.
Now, business in Gringotts concluded and staring at Slytherin Castle from underneath his invisibility cloak, Hadrian took a fortifying breath. Everything, including the original final battle in 1998, had led to this moment. The young man stiffened his resolve and stepped through the wards, knowing Voldemort would immediately know he was here. The man would probably be rather confused and extremely wary since no one else should have been able to enter the wards without his permission, had Hadrian never traveled back. Hadrian would need to be more cautious than ever in case Voldemort decided to curse first and question later. As silently as he could, Hadrian entered the dark castle. Unsurprisingly, it was utterly silent, only a few candles flickering in the hallways to give any sort of light. Hadrian slipped through the castle, searching for his target.
Along the way, he was confronted by Nagini, who smelled him not unlike Sayah had when Hadrian had infiltrated Hogwarts. She attacked as soon as she figured out his general location. The young man jumped out of the way before wordlessly firing a few spells in her direction. Surprisingly, one of the spells hit her, instantly killing her. A part of Hadrian was astonished – it hadn’t been that easy to take the snake out the first time, and he had expected it to be much more difficult. Internally shrugging, Hadrian wasn’t going to think too hard about it if it meant he was going to be able to take the Dark Lord down that much quicker.
Hadrian continued on his way, barely paying attention to his surroundings as he searched for his target. It wasn’t until he made it to what seemed to be the main sitting room of the castle did he find the madman. Voldemort was sitting calmly in a chair next to the fireplace, facing the door. He had a tumbler of alcohol in one hand, and his wand in the other. Had Hadrian not already known the dramatics and fear of death the man possessed, it would seem like he was unconcerned to his late night, unexpected visitor.
“I know you’re there. I can feel your magic.”
The young man narrowed his eyes slightly the rather sane behavior but removed his cloak. Voldemort – because Hadrian was sure that he was no longer Tom Riddle, with the crimson eyes and obviously deteriorating looks – scrutinized him with a tilt of his head.
“Lord Peverell, I believe. This is a surprise. I had been told that you were not a light wizard as your name suggests.”
Hadrian raised an eyebrow, “I’m not.”
“And yet you have come here to kill me,” the older man scoffed, “You can only be a light wizard if that is your goal, as none of the dark would even think to challenge me.”
The dark-haired man couldn’t stop a snort, “Why? Because you’ve proclaimed yourself to be a Dark Lord? To supposedly want to uphold the traditional pureblood ideals, even though all you’ve done is attack muggles, muggleborn, half-bloods, and those you have declared to be blood-traitors? No, I think, if you looked hard enough, you would find plenty of dark purebloods who are less than willing to join you.”
Voldemort narrowed his eyes, “Impossible. I am the Dark Lord. There is none who would stand a chance challenging me,” the man sneered, “Especially not you.”
Hadrian jumped out of the way of the other man’s crucio; there was the madness beginning to show itself. Unreasonable ego, unfound logic, and wild curse-throwing, even if said curse-throwing was not yet quick and random as it would be when the madman had lost all of his sanity. The young man focused on the man in front of him as he quickly dodged another crucio. He quickly sent a few spells back and threw up a shield when Voldemort finally got more creative than the nerve curse: Voldemort sent a bright green killing curse his way. Hadrian rolled out of the way and sent his own right back as he ran to duck behind a chair.
Silenced reigned. The young man narrowed his eyes in suspicion; he highly doubted his AK had hit the only person he’d ever throw it at. Voldemort must be trying to draw him out. Hadrian sent up a shield spell and dove to the side before turning to the spot the madman had last been. On the floor was the limp body of Voldemort. Hadrian kept his guard up and sent a petrificus totallus at the body. Slowly, he walked over to where the madman lay and saw the crimson eyes were no longer the bright, blood-red they had been; they were now a dull maroon as they vacantly stared up at ceiling. Hadrian cast a diagnostic, to confirm what he was seeing: the Dark Lord Voldemort was dead.
Finally, Hadrian allowed himself to relax. Voldemort was gone with no chance of coming back. Taken out in less than a minute by a killing curse he hadn’t been able to dodge. Hadrian frowned. How rather anti-climactic. Don’t get him wrong, he was happy it was over, but he had expected this fight to be much more difficult. Yet somehow, it was even easier than the first time Hadrian had killed the madman. Hadrian shook his head at himself – the Dark Lord was dead, and here he was, disappointed in the ease in which he had fulfilled his mission.
The statement finally hit him. His mission was over. The Dark Lord was dead. Hadrian smiled to himself in the empty Castle. No more Voldemort. Never again was he going to have to deal with the madman. He didn’t realize he had begun to laugh in relief and elation until he heard the sound echo in the room. Hadrian quieted himself and quickly began making his way back out of the castle, smile of relief still on his face. With his mission complete, there was only one person he felt the desire to celebrate with. The twelve-year-old was in bed and had no idea what had been happening, but that wasn’t going to stop Hadrian from checking on his son. His son who would never join the Death Eaters and be marked. His son who would never become a spy for the light. The grin on the young man’s face stretched wider. His mission was complete!
Upon finally making outside of the castle, Hadrian apparated home. When the cottage came into view, the young man quickly but quietly walked in and directly to Severus’s room. At the closed door, Hadrian calmed his excited breathing down before peaking inside. As expected, Severus was tucked under his blankets, only the deep breaths leaving the boy making it clear that he was asleep. Hadrian slipped into the room and gently sat down on the edge of the bed. He brushed a few strands of long, silky black hair from Severus’s face before lightly carding his hand through the boy’s hair. Severus shifted slightly, pressing into Hadrian’s hand before burrowing further into his pillow. Hadrian smiled and leaned forward, placing a soft kiss on his son’s temple. The young man then carefully rose from his spot and quietly left the room, shutting the door behind him once more. Feeling much calmer, though no less ecstatic or relieved that everything surrounding Voldemort was officially over, now that he had seen his son, Hadrian walked to the sitting room.
Hadrian poured himself a rare glass fire whiskey to celebrate his accomplishment and sat down on the couch. For the first time since he had been introduced to the wizarding world at eleven, he had absolutely no idea what to do with himself. For the seven years he attended Hogwarts, his goal had been to survive and get rid of Voldemort. The year after that had been try to fix the wizarding world, but when it became clear that nothing was going to change, he decided to travel back and defeat the madman before the destruction could get so bad. Then for the next seven years, almost eight with 1973 only a few days away, Hadrian worked toward destroying Voldemort once more. When he had traveled back, the young man had never stopped to think about what he would do if he succeeded. He was 26 years old and for the first time in his life, was free to do absolutely anything he wanted. No Dursleys, Voldemort, or expectant public (now that he was no longer the-boy-who-lived or the-conqueror-of-Voldemort) to tell him what to do.
The thought made him smile as he took another sip of his drink, until another flittered into his mind: he may not have anybody influencing him, but Dumbledore was in the same position to influence this time-line’s Harry (who may or may not come to exist with the changes to the timeline) if he decided to. Hadrian frowned slightly. He didn’t believe the Headmaster would make any students into weapons the way he had with Hadrian without good cause, but there was no way of knowing if Dumbledore would let his greater good outlook cloud his judgement. Afterall, there is no big fanfare event to the destruction of Voldemort this time around.
Hadrian couldn’t stop his frown from deepening. Perhaps… Perhaps it would be better for the Headmaster to no longer be the headmaster – between his General mindset, his (even if unconscious) bigotry towards “dark” wizards, and tendency to send abused children back to their homes, nothing good could come out of Dumbledore being in charge of a school outside of wartimes. If he was able to oust the older man from his position at Hogwarts, perhaps the classes and magical holidays that had been removed would be able to come back; he had heard Abraxas complain over Dumbledore leading the light to get rid of them in the past two years.
The young man nodded to himself as his determination to this new goal grew. He would oust Dumbledore so that he could get the classes and holidays returned to Hogwarts, hopefully before Severus graduated in five years.
“Dad? What are you still doing up?”
Hadrian looked up to see his son sleepily rubbing his eyes as he entered the sitting room. The young man’s lips quirked in the adorable picture Severus made, even as he wondered what had woken the boy.
“Don’t worry about it, Sev. I was just heading to bed,” Hadrian drained the last of his drink and banished it to the kitchen sink. He then stood up and began ushering his son out of the room, “Come on. It’s late and we will talk in the morning.”
Severus nodded and leaned into Hadrian, allowing the man to lead him back to bed.
The next morning, Severus and Hadrian made and ate breakfast together as they normally did, and Sayah left them to go hunting in the garden. It wasn’t until they were entering in the sitting room reading did Severus remember waking up in the middle of the night to find Hadrian still awake. His dad had been drinking from a glass with an odd determined frown on his face. Severus had been too tired to question it when his dad had suggested they both go to bed, but now his curiosity had returned in full force.
“Hey, Dad?” Hadrian looked up from his book, so Severus continued, “Why were you awake so late last night?”
His dad blinked at him, startled. He then marked the page in his book and set it on the coffee table, so Severus decided to do the same, “You remember the mission that I couldn’t tell you about?”
“A little hard to forget,” the boy rolled his eyes. Honestly, he caught his dad so many different times for whatever it was he was doing.
Hadrian huffed out a small laugh, “Yes, well. I completed it last night. That’s why I was awake. I had intended to tell you about it now, actually, but I got distracted by my knew project.”
“Will you be able to tell me what this new project is or is this one a secret too?”
The young man hesitated slightly, “I can… but I’d prefer to keep some specifics out of it for now.”
Severus narrowed his eyes but let it go for now. He’d address this new project after his dad finally told him what he has been doing for the last few years, “So what was this mission you finished?”
“I assume you’ve heard of the Dark Lord Voldemort and the war he began?”
Severus nodded after a small pause, surprised his dad was using the man’s name. People had begun to call him ‘You-Know-Who’ after a Geis on the name was revealed. If his dad was saying the name and nothing was happening, the Geis must be broken. His dad continued talking.
“Well, I found out he had been meddling with very terrible soul magic. I won’t go further into what he was doing other than saying that this specific type of soul magic is an abomination because it damages your soul. It is a type of magic that should never have been made, let alone used”, Hadrian paused to take a breath, making Severus frown. It had to be really bad if his dad was reacting like this. The young man continued, “Because of this magic and the damage the man was beginning to do to our world, I had been working on removing him to keep the war from escalating. In order to do so, I had to destroy the soul magic, which is what you caught me doing all of those times. Last night, I destroyed the last piece and stopped Voldemort from continuing his reign.”
“You mean you killed him.”
“Yes.”
The boy frowned, “Why kill him though? If you destroyed the soul magic, why did you need to kill him?”
“You must understand, Severus. I didn’t enjoy doing so, but it was necessary. The damage Voldemort had done to his soul was driving him insane. There is no known way to fix the damage, and had he been left alive, hundreds, if not thousands, of people would have been killed in his madness. If I saw another way to end this war, I would have.”
Severus saw the pain in Hadrian’s eyes. It made him wonder what his dad had lived through to have put that look on his face. Whatever it was, it must have been awful in order to convince the young man, who Severus knew to be extremely kind and compassionate, to actually kill a man. Up until then, Severus would have thought his dad didn’t have it in him to kill anyone. That thought made him pause in his determination to get more information from his dad about the new project. If Hadrian was convinced that keeping the information from him was the best way to go, he would respect that for now.
“So, the war is over then?”
Hadrian nodded his head, “There may still be a few acting in his name, but with Voldemort gone, I expect they will be subdued or go into hiding rather quickly.”
The boy nodded and bit his lip before quickly saying, “If I don’t ask about your new project, will you promise to tell me after you’ve helped me master Occlumency?”
Severus watched as his dad rubbed at his nose with his eyes closed and a sigh escaping him.
“Alright, fine. I really do wonder how you didn’t get into Slytherin sometimes,” the boy smirked at his dad, who rolled his eyes and drawled, “I’m assuming you’d like your first lesson today then?”
“Yes!”
Hadrian laughed at his excited answer, causing Severus to blush, “Alright then. Let’s move to the library so that we can have a few books to help teach you on hand.”
Severus got up quickly and led the way to the library. He ignored his dad’s chuckle, too excited to learn Occlumency to care. He was even more determined to learn the skill since it would let him in on his dad’s newest mission. Perhaps he’d even be able to help him.
As they had the last few years, Hadrian and Severus spent their Christmas just the two of them, then joined the Malfoys for dinner on Boxing Day. Hadrian noticed that Lucius looked rather subdued, not even bothering to shoot him with his usual disdainful looks. When he silently questioned Abraxas over it, the man subtlety tapped his forearm and Hadrian instantly understood. The Death Eater’s were already aware of Voldemort’s demise, even if the news had yet to hit the papers. Obviously, Lucius was disappointed since whatever he expected from the madman wouldn’t be fulfilled.
A few day after that, Hadrian spent New Year’s with just his son like he usually did, and the next day, he had just left Severus to begin packing for his return to Hogwarts while he attended the first Wizengamot session of the year. In the past, Hadrian had despised that the session took place directly after the holiday because it happened on one of the precious few days left that Severus was for Yule Break.
This year, Hadrian couldn’t help but be rather keen to attend the session. Afterall, he would begin his discrediting campaign this session. The news of Voldemort’s death had hit the papers two days before New Year’s (courtesy of one of the more insane Death Eaters spouting that his master would return, leading to the scarring of the Dark Mark being revealed), giving Hadrian the all-clear to discredit Dumbledore without needing to worry about the backlash of doing so while the war was still going.
As Hadrian entered the room in the dungeon of the ministry that was used for these sessions, he scanned the room in order to determine who was already in attendance. He was only five minutes early, meaning Dumbledore, Minister Bagnold**, and Department of Magical Law Enforcement Head Bartemus Crouch Senior*** had not yet arrived. The three were usually the last to arrive to Wizengamot sessions. As he looked around, Hadrian nodded with a slight smirk to Abraxas and Arcturus in greeting. He hadn’t yet told either man of his plans, so he was sure they were going to be shocked by his actions. Abraxas probably less so because he had told the man about telling off Dumbledore for the lack of action against bullies, but he knew neither would be expecting him to go this extreme, especially with his neutral party alignment. When both men narrowed their eyes at him, he winked slightly and took his seat in the neutral party section. He saw Arcturus murmur something to Abraxas, who shook his head with a barely perceptible frown. Yes, they would definitely be enjoying the show he internally smiled.
Finally, Dumbledore arrived with his usual twinkle and grandfatherly smile. The man scanned the room not unlike Hadrian had, and he had to resist raising an eyebrow when Dumbledore’s gaze lingered on him for a second. It wasn’t long enough for most to notice, but Hadrian had noticed. The action had been occurring since he confronted Dumbledore, so it wasn’t particularly out of the usual for the man. As always, it did make him wonder what the Headmaster thought of him.
Hadrian shook himself out of his thoughts as Bagnold and Crouch entered the room together. Both took their seats and Bagnold banged the gavel, signaling the start of the session.****
Severus furiously trudged back to the Ravenclaw dormitory. He had just been cornered by Potter and Black exactly like he used to be before his dad confronted Dumbledore for him the previous year. Like they had during his first year, the two menaces insulted him, made him drop his bag, causing his books and homework to go tumbling everywhere, before letting loose one of their “pranks”. This time he and his stuff were covered with red slime, which destroyed all his homework. Luckily, his books were charmed with a mess-resistant charm his dad had shown him, so they weren’t destroyed. If he were even more lucky, he’d be able to salvage his work enough that he would be able to read what he had written so he could just re-write it rather than completely redo his work.
Grumbling under his breath, he entered the common room. His housemates looked up when they saw him enter and gaped at his slime-covered appearance. He ignored them and quickly made his way up to his room so that he could begin to salvage what he could. Seeing Sayah curled up on his pillow he hissed a quick hello and made his way to his desk.
Sayah lifted her head and, after taking in his appearance hissed angrily, ~Those vermin! How dare those two attack you again!~
Severus snorted at her newest insult – ‘vermon’ seemed aptly fitting to him – but otherwise ignored her rant about all the ways she was going to make them regret targeting him. It was best to let her get out before reminding her all the reasons she couldn’t attack them.
Once he was sure he had removed the slime and dried the parchment, Severus turned to his fuming snake, ~Sayah, I appreciate it, but you know you cannot do any of those things. If you do they will not let you stay with me.~
~It does not mean I have to like it.~
He smirked, internally agreeing with her and quickly made his way to the bathroom. He got out of the shower, thankfully slime-free, twenty minutes later and, after putting a fresh set of clothes on, carefully laid onto his bed so as not to disturb Sayah. He threw an arm over his eyes. Sayah hissed comfortingly and slithered so she was curled up on his chest. Severus absently stroked the little snake’s scales. He was not looking forward to dealing with the bullying all over again. And the worst part was that Severus couldn’t go to Hadrian again. Not with his campaign against Dumbledore being the reason Potter and Black were attacking him again.
Since he had boarded the train, Severus had to bear the stares and whispers about his dad discrediting Dumbledore. It had made the news right after the Wizengamot session just before he left home, but he hadn’t thought too hard about it until he got on the train. Almost immediately after leaving the platform, however, Potter and Black converged and had been harassing him ever since. Each time Hadrian did something to discredit the Headmaster and it made it into the Prophet, Potter and Black became even more determined to make his life a living hell.
At first, he had thought that they would still get in trouble, but it didn’t take him long to realize that wasn’t going to be the case. The professors still tried to punish the bullies and did so successfully for the first month of the new term. Then the February Wizengamot session occurred, and Hadrian was even more blatant in his discrediting Dumbledore, both in and outside of the Wizengamot. When the paper that detailed the February session came out, the Headmaster had look frustrated, but otherwise didn’t react. Or at least he didn’t seem to until the old man interfered with Potter and Black’s punishments. He didn’t make it look like that, of course, but it was obvious to Severus. When the professors went to punish the bullies, Dumbledore lessened the punishments every time: he would replace some of the points they lost and cut the amount of detentions they were originally given. When the professors stopped trying to fight it with a resigned look in their eyes, Severus realized that the Gryffindor favoritism was returning because none of the professors were willing to truly go up against the Headmaster. It made the boy furious.
After he first realized that the professors weren’t going to do anything to help him, Severus had begun to write a letter to his dad. However, not even two sentences in, he realized that telling Hadrian probably wouldn’t do any good since his dad had confronted the Headmaster the first time around. Now that he was discrediting the man, Severus didn’t think that whatever Hadrian had said to Dumbledore would end the bullying this time. Also, if he did tell Hadrian, he knew his dad would blame himself for the bullying continuing. Severus didn’t want him to do that because he knew it was all Dumbledore’s fault. So, the boy decided not to tell his dad.
For the next few months, as the pranks continued, he began to get more and more frustrated. It made him want to demand his dad tell him why discrediting Dumbledore was so important, despite knowing his Occlumency shields were not yet up to par, especially since the lessons had to stop until summer. After hearing how Hadrian’s previous mission had been to literally kill a Dark Lord and end a war, Severus knew the man was doing this for a good reason. But not knowing why he was now a target of Potter and Black’s awful pranks was beginning to wear on him. Hopefully, this mission of his dad’s wasn’t going to take as long as destroying the soul magic had taken. If it did, he didn’t think he would be able to stop himself from using a few of the darker curses he had found in the restricted section, and he knew his dad would not be happy if he did so, justified or not.
~The helpful one is coming.~
Severus blinked, broken out of his rather delightful fantasies of using a few curses on Potter and Black. A knock on the door to the room he shared with one of the boys in his year confirmed Sayah’s warning. He lifted his arm from his eyes to look at the door and saw Jason McLaird peek his head in. Severus raised an eyebrow at the prefect looking in before he gave permission, who just looked back at him innocently.
The thirteen-year-old rolled his eyes and sat up after scooping Sayah up in his hand, “What, McLaird?”
“Touchy, touchy. After all of that supervising I did for you so you could brew potions last year.”
The dark-haired boy rolled his eyes again. He then pasted a smile on his face and replied in a sickly-sweet voice, “Can I help you, Jason?”
“Oh, ew. Stick with the snark. It fits you better,” the sixth year said with his nose scrunched up. Sayah hissed her agreement with the older boy. Severus only smirked at the blonde in response. Jason opened the door wider and leaned on the entryway, “Anyways, I heard you came in covered in slime, so I thought I’d check on you. You alright?”
“I am fine. My homework not so much.”
Jason frowned, “Will you be able to recover any of it?”
“It is legible enough that I’ll be able to re-write it.”
“Did you report what happened?”
Severus gave him a dead-pan look.
Jason sighed, “Look, Severus, I know there’s not going to be very much justice in reporting it due to Dumbledore, but if you tell Flitwick, he’ll at least be able to keep bringing attention to the problem. He told the prefects that he and McGonagall have been trying to get the Headmaster to stop favoring Gryffindor again.”
The second year frowned. He didn’t think any of the professors were doing anything to stop the idiots. Then again, it made sense if they were trying to appear united in front of the students.
~If the helpful one says you should, then you should listen to him,~ Sayah then lazily slithered to wrap around his wrist.
“You really think it will help to tell Flitwick?”
“Well, at the very least it can’t hurt,” Jason shrugged.
Severus nodded. He then stood from his bed and gathered up his ruined homework together. Once he had everything together, he turned to see the prefect was smiling at him. The dark-haired boy rolled his eyes and motioned to leave the room. Jason left the room and, unsurprisingly, accompanied him out of the common room and to Flitwick’s office. Severus really hoped the older boy’s suggestion helped because the pranks were getting old really quickly.
Hadrian was standing with Arcturus Black as they waited for the train to pull into the platform. He had been surprised to see the taller man here, but apparently, he and Orion were concerned that Sirius and Walburga would made a scene for due to whatever it is that Sirius had done now. So, Arcturus had offered to pick his grandsons up, knowing Sirius knew better than to make a scene in front of him. Hadrian had to bite his lip to keep from laughing at the clear exasperation on Arcturus’s face when he explained.
After he had bumped into the older man in Diagon, he had become friendly with the man during teas they had with Abraxas. When the January Wizengamot session had concluded, Arcturus and Abraxas accompanied him to the apparition point – after he had an interesting confrontation with Dumbledore, where the Headmaster slyly tried to learn his endgame – and demanded to meet with him so that he could explain his new Anti-Dumbledore campaign. He agreed, dropped Severus off at the platform to return to Hogwarts a few days later, and then met with the two. Ever since then, he had become, even closer to Arcturus, who, along with Abraxas, wholeheartedly supported his goal to oust Dumbledore.
“You know, Sirius is probably going to loathe the fact that you’ve become friendly with the parent of one of his targets for pranks,” Hadrian casually mentioned as the train appeared.
Arcturus smirked, “Not more than he already despises how Severus and Regulus are friends.”
The younger man chuckled but didn’t otherwise reply as he began to look for Severus among the masses who were exiting the train. After a minute, he spotted his son talking with his friends. Severus had a blank look on his face, but Hadrian could tell the boy was angry by the way he was clenching his jaw. He looked at Lily, Remus and Regulus to see they all looked just as furious – Regulus’s anger was just as well hidden as Severus’s, but Lily and Remus wore their heart on their sleeve. He frowned and looked towards where the Gryffindors were staring. James and Sirius wore cocky grins on their faces, ignoring their housemates. Hadrian heard Arcturus sigh and looked over at the man.
“It seems it was too much to hope for Sirius not to have done anything on the train. I apologize in advance for whatever he’s done to make Severus, Regulus, and their friends angry at my heir.”
Hadrian waved off the apology and looked back at the children. Less than a minute later, Severus saw him. The boy nudged Regulus and nodded towards him and Arcturus before making his goodbyes to Lily and Remus, who both seemed to have found their parents. His son and the Black scion made their way over.
When the two boys were close, Hadrian smiled quickly hugged Severus as Regulus greeted his grandfather. He frowned in concern when his son melted into the hug and then seemed to struggle to pull himself away. Usually while they were in public, Severus pulled away quickly in embarrassment. Whatever had happened on the train, or even possibly before that, was clearly bothering his son. He raised an eyebrow at the boy, who just shook his head. Not there then. Hadrian nodded and looked up just in time to see Sirius join them.
The boy glared at Severus and then him. Hadrian raised an eyebrow at Sirius, who sniffed and turned away, “Grandfather.”
“Sirius. It his good to see you. Come, your mother and father are expecting you and your brother.”
The Black heir crossed his arms petulantly but obeyed. Arcturus turned back to look at him, “Tea is at yours next week, yes?”
“Indeed.”
The older man nodded and began walking away.
“Don’t forget to write, Sev. I’ll figure out a way to convince Mother and Father to let me visit. Just send a time and day.”
“Alright,” Severus nodded, and Regulus quickly left to catch up to his family. As soon as the three were gone, his son sighed and leaned into him slightly.
Hadrian frowned, worried about what was bothering his son so much. He silently led them to the floo so they could go home, and he could better comfort the boy there. Once they were through and clean, Severus looked at him in determination.
“Teach me Occlumency so you can tell me why you are attacking Dumbledore’s image.”
The young man’s eyebrows shot up. He had not been expecting that. Had Severus been having a hard time because of his actions? Hadrian frowned at the thought, “I already promised you I will. You were doing well enough during Yule break that you should have good shields before you return for your third year. What’s going on, Sev?”
Severus sighed, whatever fight in him leaving, “Nothing. Everybody at school keeps looking at me like I’m going to start mouthing off at Dumbledore and Potter and Black keep trying to get a rise out of me. Remus, Lily, and Regulus usually help me get rid of the idiots, but it’s getting annoying.”
“You’ll tell me if anything they do gets out of hand?”
The boy nodded causing Hadrian to relax slightly. While he didn’t like that his son was being affected by his campaign, he trusted Severus to tell him if something serious happened.
“Alright, why don’t we have a short lesson today then? Go unpack and we can start.”
Severus nodded again and rushed off to his room. Hadrian watched him go, wishing that his son didn’t have to feel the backlash to his actions. Luckily, he didn’t think Dumbledore would let the bullying get as bad as it had been during Severus’s first year with his threat to go to the board, and Severus knew he could come to him.