Fixing the Future

Hadrian tapped his finger against his chair in anticipation while Lucius, as Chief Warlock, began the August Wizengamot meeting with old business. After weeks of brainstorming ways to get Dumbledore kicked out of the ICW, he and Lucius realized they had been overthinking it. The solution they came up with was a simple two-part plan. Hadrian had already done the first part a few weeks ago and was now just waiting for the right time to begin the second part.

Fifteen minutes later, the moment he had been waiting for came.

“That concludes the old business. New business?”

The twenty-nine-year-old stood calmly, “If I may?”

Lucius nodded, “Of course, Lord Peverell.”

“Thank you,” he politely replied as the blonde sat down, indicating Hadrian now had the floor, “I would like to call into question Mr. Dumbledore’s position within the ICW.”

Chaos ensued. Much like when he presented evidence of Dumbledore ignoring abuse, many of the light side immediately stood up and cried out in defense of the old man. The grey immediately defended their leader from the light, while the dark demanded they let Hadrian continue. Minister Bagnold banged his gavel to try and restore order to the meeting. Ten minutes later, the room was quiet once more.

“I think I speak for us all when I ask for an explanation, Lord Peverell,” Bagnold frowned at him.

Hadrian nodded once and faced the other members, “Over a year and a half ago, I presented evidence of Dumbledore’s misdoings to this esteemed body. He has since been removed from the Hogwarts Headmastership and then given a trial for his crimes.”

“Lord Peverell, you have no right to–”

“I bring this up,” Hadrian firmly spoke over Dumbledore’s interruption, “because I have wondered why we allow a man who has been tried for crimes against our children to continue to represent our country.”

Silence settled in the room while he and the former Headmaster glared at one another. When he felt his reasoning had sunk in, Hadrian continued without taking his eyes off of the old man, “Punishment aside, Mr. Dumbledore was declared guilty. As holder of the Dumbledore seat, he has every right to continue to be a part of the Wizengamot, despite past actions. The seat within the ICW, however, is only gained through favor of this esteemed body. So, I ask my fellow Wizengamot members, why do we allow a convictedcriminal and Hogwarts’ only ousted Headmaster to represent us?”

“A question the ICW has also been asking.”

Hadrian saw some of the Wizengamot members jump in surprise as they looked over; when Dumbledore turned, he finally pulled his gaze away from the former Headmaster and did the same. In the doorway stood a tall man in American-styled robes.

“Can we help you? This is a closed session,” Bagnold asked the man.

He scrutinized Hadrian curiously before turning to the Minister and saying in his American* accent, “I am a representative of the ICW. I came to ask the very same question that was just presented, but it seems one of your members has beat me to it.”

The raven-haired man looked over to Lucius to see the younger man look over at him with a slight smirk. Hadrian had to conceal his own smirk. It seemed the first part of his and Lucius’s plan – an anonymous letter to the ICW, detailing their concerns – had done even more than they had intended. When they had come up with the idea, they thought the ICW would bring the concern up with Dumbledore in their next meeting. Neither one of them had predicted them to send a representative to the Wizengamot, especially not so soon.

“I see.”

“No, I don’t think you do, Minister. You see, while I volunteered to be the one to come here because I wanted to ask that well-said question, it is not the main reason that the ICW needed to send a representative,” The man** then looked away from Bagnold and turned towards Dumbledore, “Albus Dumbledore, due to your actions that led to magicals remaining in danger as well as your status as a convicted criminal, the ICW has met and decided that your status as Supreme Mugwump and representative of the British magical community has been revoked, so mote it be.”

Dumbledore looked horrified before he winced and rubbed at his chest, not unlike he had when he was stripped of Hogwarts Headmastership. The representative then turned back to Bagnold and the rest of the Wizengamot.

“The ICW formally requests Britain’s Wizengamot to put forth a new representative for the British Ministry.”

Bagnold cleared his throat, obviously taken off guard, “Very well. Any motions for instatement?”

Lucius stood up, “I motion to vote to appoint Lord Peverell for the position.”

Hadrian looked over at the younger man in surprise. The blonde winked at him. He felt his heartbeat pick up speed and blinked in surprise, not understanding his reaction to the other man. Then his brain refocused on the Wizengamot and he put together the reason for Lucius’s wink. Hadrian internally cursed the young Malfoy lord, realizing that this had probably been the man’s plan all along. It hadn’t even crossed his mind to plan for the position.

Lord Longbottom stood, “Seconded.”

“Very well. Those for?”

The twenty-nine-year-old watched as most of the dark and grey raised their lit wands, as well as a surprising amount (still less than half of the faction, though) in the light – including Lords Longbottom and Potter. Hadrian swallowed his shock, not having expected so many people to approve of him as a representative. His mind raced as he considered whether or not he should accept the position. Obviously, the majority approved of him as representative for whatever reason; It would allow him to make a few changes he believed would help end the prejudice he had seen in the future, however, it was yet another responsibility on top of teaching, leading the grey, and parenting Severus.

“Those against?”

As little as a quarter of the Wizengamot (if that) raised lit wands, making it even more obvious that the majority had been in favor of him. Bagnold nodded, “The for’s win. Lord Peverell, do you accept this esteemed body’s appointment for you to become the British representative within the ICW?”

Hadrian looked over at Lucius one more time to see the younger man was looking at him expectantly. Deciding to trust the man he had become increasingly close to in the past few weeks, he nodded slightly, “I accept.”

“So mote it be,” Bagnold recited.

“So mote it be,” was echoed around the room.

“Welcome to the ICW, Lord Peverell. We look forward to seeing you at the next meeting,” the representative spoke up.

Hadrian nodded in acknowledgement, “Thank you.”

With that, the man turned and exited the room. As soon as the doors clicked shut, the Wizengamot was in uproar. Hadrian watched as Bagnold tried to regain control of the room as he let what just happened sink in. When he looked at Lucius once more, the man was smirking triumphantly at him. Hadrian smiled and shook his head in disbelief before returning his attention back to the Wizengamot once they had quieted down.

“So, how long had you been planning that little stunt of yours?”

Lucius smirked and passed over the drink he had just poured for Hadrian, “Now that would be telling. I couldn’t let you have all the fun, now could I?”

He took a sip of his own drink as the older chuckled and shook his head at him. The blonde drank in the sight of Hadrian’s amusement. After Bagnold regained control of the Wizengamot, the meeting continued with the usual business for the next few hours. As soon as the meeting finished, he headed to Malfoy manor to meet Hadrian as they had agreed to ahead of time. He had to wait only a few minutes for the other man to join him, and they immediately began drinking in celebration of ousting Dumbledore from yet another position. Lucius had lost count of the number of drinks they had consumed in their celebration and was admittedly rather tipsy. Going by the way Hadrian was sprawled out in his spot on the couch next to him (having lost his picture of perfect decorum a few drinks ago), the older man was feeling the same.

“Do you realize how much extra work you provided for me? Leading the grey on top of the normal Wizengamot stuff, teaching, raising Sev, and now representative in the ICW. I don’t know how Dumbledore held so many leading positions.”

“By neglecting a few duties as Headmaster if the complaints you said McGonagall has had are true,” Lucius snorted. Before he could stop himself, he added, “Besides, if you need help, that’s what I’m here for.”

The blonde blinked as he realized what he said. While not necessarily an admission of anything, it was much more forward and obvious than he had meant to be. Perhaps he’d had enough to drink.

Hadrian broke him out of his thoughts then, “Yeah?”

Lucius refocused on the raven-haired man and saw that the man had his head fall on the back of the couch, head tilted lazily towards him. As always, the other man’s smile made his heart skip a beat. He nodded, unable to think of another way to respond as he did his best not to react further to the man’s surprisingly seductive position.

Hadrian smiled wider, “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

The blonde was unable to do more than watch the older man in surprise as Hadrian looked away and lifted his head up so he could take another sip of his drink. He blinked and copied the action, taking a sip of his own drink as he wondered if perhaps the raven felt the same way he did; unless he was overthinking the statement due to the alcohol, of course. He broke out of his thoughts as Hadrian shifted away from him slightly to scrutinize him.

Lucius frowned, “What?”

“I think this is the least put together I’ve ever seen you.”

He looked down at himself and saw the other man was right. His outer robes had been removed as soon as he got back to the manor, leaving him in a now-disheveled white button up with his sleeves clumsily rolled up. The most telling, however, was how he was just as sprawled out as Hadrian was. Lucius couldn’t remember the last time he had allowed himself to be this relaxed and less than put together around someone.

“Don’t get me wrong, I like it. I am just surprised.”

The younger man looked up to see Hadrian was still looking at him. If he didn’t know better, he would say the other man was ogling him.

“I could say the same,” The twenty-one-year-old barely resisted the urge to ogle the older man as soon as the words left his mouth. He had definitely had enough to drink.

Hadrian hummed with a small smile and downed the remaining part of his drink, “I believe that is a sign that I should be heading home.”

Lucius ignored the slight pang of disappointment and nodded. He stood up so he could see Hadrian out. After a slight struggle to do so (feeling the drinks even more now that he was moving), the blonde turned to Hadrian just as the other man did the same. Whatever he had been planning to say left his mind as he realized how close they were – kissing distance his mind supplied. Hadrian blinked as if he was just as surprised, before looking up into his eyes. Lucius swallowed as he lost himself in those brilliant emerald green eyes. His gaze glanced down to the slightly shorter man’s lips, when they parted slightly.

Lucius hadn’t realized he was leaning forward until his lips were suddenly on Hadrian’s. He was about to pull back and apologize when the other man pressed back, deepening the kiss. He felt arms wrap around his neck and he couldn’t resist wrapping his own around the older man’s waist. Unable to help himself, he licked Hadrian’s lips, asking for entrance, which was easily provided. He flicked his tongue along the roof of Hadrian’s mouth, causing the other man to groan. Thrilled at such a response, Lucius pressed himself against Hadrian, walking the man backwards until his back hit a wall. Hadrian immediately wrapped his legs around Lucius’s waist, pressing their groins together. The blonde separated their lips with a groan, moving his lips down the other man’s jaw to his neck.

“Lucius,” Hadrian moaned, bucking his hips, “Please.”

He growled at the movement and possessively captured those lips with his once more. He quickly and slightly clumsily pulled his wand out of his pocket to cast a featherlight charm before moving them off the wall and towards his bedroom, not letting Hadrian down from his position.

Hadrian woke up warmer than usual. With a frown he opened his eyes slowly, squinting at the brightness. Not recognizing the room, he looked down to see why he was so warm and was surprised to see an arm was wrapped around his waist. Slightly apprehensively, he turned to see who’s arm it was. Memories of the night before rushed back to him when he saw Lucius was the one spooning him. He swallowed, not exactly sure how to feel about the situation he found himself in. Well that wasn’t exactly true – he really liked Lucius, and definitely had liked what happened last night. He also realized that some of the more confusing reactions he had to the man made a bit more sense now (Hermione would have smacked him over the head and told him he was almost as oblivious as Ron). However, up until then, he and Lucius had just been friends – he wasn’t sure exactly how he felt about the other man, let alone how Lucius felt about him. So, where did that leave them? Was this just a drunken mistake or was this something good? Would they become more? Or would this just stay a one-night stand between friends? (Would he be able to handle that if was just a one-night stand?)

Shaking the thoughts off for now, Hadrian wandlessly murmured Tempus, careful not to wake Lucius up. His eyes widened as he saw how late in the morning it already was. He only had an hour and a half to go home and get ready to take him and his son to Hogwarts. Feeling slightly bad for having to do this, Hadrian carefully extracted himself from Lucius’s hold and quickly began putting yesterday’s clothes back on. That was going to be a pain to explain to Severus.

He had just put his trousers back on when he heard movement coming from the bed. Looking over, he saw the young blonde was sitting up, looking at him with a tired frown. He swallowed and quickly averted his eyes from the bare torso in front of him.

“Uh, morning,” Hadrian said a little awkwardly as he picked up his shirt and slipped it on his shoulders.

“Good morning,” the other man replied a little unsure.

Still feeling awkward, Hadrian quickly said, “I'm sorry, I don’t mean to run out on you, but Severus and I need to be at Hogwarts soon.”

Lucius nodded, frown clearing slightly, “Alright.”

The older man quickly buttoned up his shirt, very aware of the blonde’s eyes still on him. He slipped on his socks and shoes as he tried to figure out what to say. Unfortunately, when he stood up, he still hadn’t thought of anything.

“I know you will be pretty busy at Hogwarts, but can we talk soon?”

Hadrian finally looked up at Lucius again surprised to see the other man looking a little nervous. Then again, he could understand the feeling considering all the unknowns surrounding them right now. He shook the thought away and nodded, “Is the first weekend of September alright?”

The blonde immediately nodded, relaxing now that they had agreed to talk. Hadrian swallowed, once again trying to ignore the other man’s bare skin, “Okay. See you then.”

“Wait.”

Hadrian paused from where he had turned towards the door to look at Lucius again. The blonde had leaned forward, looking slightly anxious.

“I just… Before you go, I want you to know that I don’t regret it.”

The older man blinked a bit in shock. He definitely hadn’t expected that. It put his doubts about this being considered a drunken mistake to rest, but still left him with so many questions about what it did mean. He refocused on the man in front of him; he had never seen the blonde looking so nervous, or heard him sound so unsure, as if he was afraid that he was going to get reprimanded for what he said.

Not wanting Lucius to think the worst, Hadrian broke the small silence that had fallen between them with a smile, “I don’t either.”

Lucius responded with his own small smile.

“I’ll see you soon,” Hadrian said, ignoring the warm feeling in his chest at the other man’s smile.

“See you soon,” Lucius echoed as he turned and left, making his way to the floo.

Hadrian let a breath he hadn’t realized he had been holding as soon as he was out of the room. As much as the unsure situation made him a bit nervous at what last night meant for them, at least the time until they talked would give him some time to think about what he wanted. He ignored the small voice that told him he already knew.

“You know they are going to ask you why you are late, right?”

Hadrian frowned at Severus as they quickly walked up the steps to Hogwarts, “Yes.”

“And you are going to have to tell them it's because you drank too much last night,” the boy smirked at him.

He rolled his eyes at his son and handed over his shrunken trunk, “Just go to my quarters, would you.”

Severus laughed and took the trunk before doing as told. Hadrian quickly made his way to the staff room, trying to keep his mind off the full reason (the part that Severus didn’t know about) why he was late. When he entered the room, all of the professors looked up at him in interest, obviously curious as to why he was late when he never had been before. He ignored the looks and made his way to his seat. As soon as he was sitting, he saw Minerva was looking at him with a raised eyebrow. He swallowed and pulled out and unshrunk a small container of shortbread cookies with a preservation charm on them out of his robes. He had been saving them in case he ever needed to bribe her, and he had figured this would be a good time to do so.

“Sorry, I’m late,” he told her sheepishly, sliding the container across the table.

She narrowed her eyes at him, but thankfully accepted the cookies and began the meeting. Hadrian relaxed and focused on the meeting. For the next two hours, he did his best to pay attention to what was being said instead of thinking about Lucius. He wasn’t entirely successful.

He did snap out of his thoughts, however, when the main staff meeting finished, leaving Minerva and the other Heads of Houses behind for their own meeting. Surprisingly, Poppy asked if she could stay, and the other professors agreed. Hadrian was wondering why the deviation when, as soon as the door clicked closed, leaving just the six of them in the room, they all turned to Hadrian.

He blinked, not having expected the attention, “Yes?”

“Did your being late have anything to do with what was in the paper this morning?” Minerva asked him as she finally opened his bribe.

Hadrian frowned, “What was in the paper?”

“You haven’t read it yet?” Slughorn asked him curiously.

“No, I haven’t had the chance.”

“It said Dumbledore was kicked out of the ICW and that you are the new British representative,” Poppy replied, looking at him curiously.

“Ah, I see.”

Filius spoke up, obviously excited to hear answers, “So it’s true? Did you have anything to do with it?”

The Defense professor frowned, “Why do you think I had something to do with it?”

“Your dislike of Dumbledore is not exactly a secret, dear,” Pomona spoke up, amused.

Hadrian smirked at that and admitted, “I may have… encouraged the ICW to question why a convicted criminal was a representative. I hadn’t expected them to actually remove Dumbledore, let alone show up the Wizengamot to do so, which is why I brought it up in the Wizengamot meeting. Me questioning it seemed to have been what led me to unexpectedly receiving the position.”

The Heads of Houses and Poppy stared at him in shocked amusement.

“And does it have anything to do with the reason you were late?” Minera asked again as she took a bite of one of her cookies, humming in contentment.

Hadrian was unable to stop himself from blushing as he remembered the previous night, “Ah, yes. I may have overdone my celebrations at succeeding a bit.”

Poppy and Minerva narrowed their eyes at him, but it was Poppy who spoke, “Celebrate with anyone?”

The man felt his face grow warmer, his blush no doubt getting darker. Poppy and Minerva glanced at each other before turning back to demand, “Who?”

Not for the first time, Hadrian wondered what it was about his female friends taking an interest in his love life. Abraxas and Ron had never tried to set him up with someone the way Hermione and Acacia have, nor have they demanded to know who he celebrated with. Glancing at Filius, Hadrian saw the man was curious, but didn’t intend to ask questions the way Poppy and Minerva were. He sighed, knowing the two well enough by now to know that they weren’t going to let it go.

“Lucius Malfoy.”

He watched, amused, as Slughorn gaped at him in shock, Filius and Pomona raised their eyebrows in surprise, and Poppy and Minerva blinked, before grinning, apparently approving.

Pomona was the first to regain her bearings, “Well, I wish you two all the happiness.”

“Thank you,” Hadrian replied a bit awkwardly, especially since he didn’t know if sleeping together would actually turn into more.

“Does Severus know?” Minerva asked, smile still in place.

Hadrian shook his head, “No, and I would ask that none of you allude to it until I do tell him.”

“Of course,” Poppy replied, also still smiling happily. The others all agreed quickly.

“Now, can we please stop talking about my love life?”

Filius laughed, “Yes, I think that is fair. What is first on the agenda, Minerva?”

The Headmistress nodded, and began their meeting, though the smile never left her face. Or Poppy’s for that matter. Hadrian wondered what he should be expecting from the two of them in the future.

Severus had been nervous for weeks. He arrived at Hogwarts with his dad and did his usual exploring while the man was in staff meetings and preparing for the school year, allowing him to find quite a few of Hogwarts’ secrets. However, the entire time, his mind kept going back to the fact that he was finally going to tell Lily and Remus about his past. He knew he wasn’t going to go as in detail as he did with Regulus, but that didn’t make him any less nervous.

On the day the other students were to join him at Hogwarts, in his fear, he opted not to board the train in order to get to the school with his friends like he had the year before. So, he waited anxiously at Hogwarts; it wasn’t until the train arrived at Hogwarts that he saw his friends. He waved to them as they sat at their own house table for the feast, for the first time thankful that he wasn’t in the same house as the two Gryffindors so they couldn’t pester him about the reason he didn’t want to go to Cokeworth.

When he saw Regulus however, the younger boy seemed to see his nerves. The Slytherin mouthed ‘relax’ before taking a visible deep breath and then winked at him. For whatever reason, this calmed Severus down more than everything else had in the past two weeks (including talking to his dad). With that (and a few stolen glances towards the other boy as he tried to figure out why Regulus had been the one to be able to make him feel better so easily), Severus was able to relax enough to enjoy the welcoming feast with his Ravenclaw friends.

As soon as he woke up the next morning, however, the nerves immediately returned. He went down to breakfast at his usual time but was barely able to eat anything. Trying to read didn’t settle him either since he was unable to concentrate on the pages in front of him. Annoyed by his nervous fidgeting, Sayah eventually harshly slapped her tail against his hand until he put it under the table, allowing her to slither between his fingers since Severus never allowed her to do anything out in the open in the Great Hall; her movements settled him enough that he was no longer fidgeting when Flitwick gave him and the rest of his house their timetables, which luckily distracted him even further – at least until Lily charmed a paper airplane to him as she usually did when she and Remus wanted to meet up with him. Without looking up at the two, Severus gathered his things and left the Great Hall, waiting for the two in the hallway to compare schedules.

Moments later, Lily and Remus joined him with smiles on their faces. Severus pasted a smile on his face in greeting.

“Hey, Sev! We missed you on the train,” Lily hugged him.

“Sorry, I just didn’t feel like boarding since I was already here.”

Remus nodded in understanding, “Yeah, I bet arriving at Hogwarts felt a bit redundant last year, too.”

Severus just nodded in response, “So what are your schedules like?”

The two Gryffindors immediately passed their schedules to him while he passed his own to them.

“Oh, hey! We all have this morning free since its Tuesday! We can make this one of our study times once classes really get started!”

Severus nodded at the girl in agreement, as he swallowed nervously, realizing sharing was going occur a lot sooner than expected.

He looked up to see Remus was also nodding, “Alright. Why don’t we go to our spot in the library then?”

“Sounds good to me. We can easily put up our usual silencing charms to make it more private.”

The Ravenclaw glanced at the redhead when he heard her response. He reluctantly nodded at the girl’s meaningful look. The three of them then quickly and silently made their way to the library, just as the Great Hall began emptying. Trying not to start fidgeting again, Severus stroked Sayah’s scales from her position wrapped around his wrist. He ignored her grumbling about his pointless nervousness. A few minutes later, they arrived at the library and immediately moved to their usual spot in the far corner. He quickly set up the usual silencing spells before, after a second of contemplation, adding the Muffliato spell that he had created this summer. He then sat down and faced his curious but slightly concerned friends.

Like a typical Gryffindor, Lily spoke up when Severus didn’t, “So what was it that you couldn’t tell us when we were in Diagon?”

Remus looked at her disapprovingly (probably having lectured her previously about just demanding information that Severus was obviously nervous about) before the other boy looked at him expectantly with his usual kind smile.

“Neither of you can repeat this to anyone,” the boy said immediately, not willing to explain until they understood that.

The two immediately nodded as Remus spoke up, “Of course. You can trust us.”

He nodded in response, even as he felt his throat tighten. Remembering what Regulus had done at the Welcoming Feast to calm him down, Severus took a deep breath and began stroking Sayah’s scales again, “You both know that my dad blood adopted me when I was eight.”

The two immediately nodded.

“What you don’t know is that he found me and took me in when I was six,” Severus paused to take a breath and saw that they were frowning slightly, “Lily, you already know this, but my dad found me in Cokeworth.”

He watched Remus blink in surprise while Lily’s frown deepened for whatever reason. Suspecting she was beginning to put a few conclusions together, Severus looked down to where he was stroking Sayah and continued before either could interrupt.

“The reason that my dad took me in is because my father – my biological father – used to h-h–”, Severus swallowed, struggling to get the word out. He hadn’t had this problem with Regulus so wasn’t exactly sure why it was so hard to just say it. Maybe because the younger boy had asked direct questions, making it easier? The Ravenclaw shook the thought away and took a deep breath, determined to get the explanation over with, “He used to h-hit me.”

The fifteen-year-old heard his friends gasp softly and squeezed his eyes shut as he admitted, “I lied before when I said my parents sent me away to Hadrian because he could better take care of me – Hadrian found me with bruises and offered me a home in order to get away from my biological father. I haven’t been back to Cokeworth since.”

The silence after the admission felt suffocating. He heard Sayah hissing at him but wasn’t able to hear what she was saying in his fear. Severus kept his eyes squeezed shut, unable to look up to see his friends’ faces. After a minute, he jumped slightly when he felt gentle fingers touch his arm. They retreated when he jumped, before quickly returning to his arm with the same gentleness. He opened his eyes in fearful curiosity when nothing else occured to look at the two Gryffindors. Lily had her arm outstretched on the table in order to reach Severus with concerned understanding on her face, while Remus had his hands fidgeting on the table, obviously not knowing what to do with them, but was sporting the same look as the redhead. The Ravenclaw released a breath of relief at the lack of, not only anger or derision, but also pity. Pity was the very last thing he wanted to see on their faces.

“I’m sorry for snapping at you when we were in Diagon. If I had known–”

Severus shook his head, “It’s okay. You wouldn’t have done it if you had.”

Lily nodded in agreement and continued, “I understand why you don’t want to come to Cokeworth, and I won’t push you to come. But just so you know, the offer to come over is always open, and, if you decide you want to confront your fath–”

“Tobias,” Severus interrupted her, “I don’t like calling him a title he doesn’t deserve.”

The girl nodded and continued, “Alright, Tobias then. I won’t push you and the offer to come to my house is always open, but if you ever decide you want to confront him, just know that I will be here for you the entire time. I will do whatever you need for support in a heartbeat.”

The Ravenclaw swallowed the lump in his throat at his friend’s words.

“I will too,” Remus said in agreement, “You ever need anything, just say the word.”

Severus nodded, warmth filling his chest, and he whispered, “Thank you.”

Lily and Remus both nodded at him with a smile, but didn’t say anything further for a moment, obviously allowing him to regain his composure. Severus took a deep breath and did exactly that, not feeling comfortable with a display of emotion – even if only slight – in such a public place. He relaxed some as he tightened his Occlumency barriers some in order to put his emotions back into check.

“So, what was that last spell you used when you were putting up the silencing charms?” Remus asked him.

Severus blinked in surprise, having forgotten he had used that particular spell at all.

“Oh, yeah, I was wondering the same. I’ve never heard of it before,” Lily pitched in, looking at him for an answer expectantly.

The Ravenclaw smirked slightly, relaxing at the change in subject, “You wouldn’t know it, since it’s not in any book.”

The two frowned at him in confusion, not understanding what he was hinting at. With a larger smirk, he told them, “I invented it.”

The two gaped at him for a second before quickly beginning to bombard him with questions, causing him to smirk even wider. Yes, he was very comfortable with this topic. As he began to explain his spell and how he made it, Severus easily relaxed into just being with his friends, not realizing he had become more comfortable with them than ever, strengthening the their friendship.

Lucius emerged from the floo and into Hadrian’s quarters in Hogwarts with no small amount of trepidation. He didn’t blame Hadrian for having their much-needed conversation pushed back considering the man’s workload as a teacher preparing for the new school year. That being said, for the past two and a half weeks, the twenty-one-year-old has felt like he has been on pins and needles. He told Hadrian that he didn’t regret their night together – which was true – however, the reason he didn’t regret it was because he was very swiftly falling in love with the older man. If Hadrian decided that their one night together would stay as just a one night, Lucius wasn’t sure if he would be able to handle it; he would, of course, accept Hadrian’s decision since he just wanted the other man to be happy, but the other, more selfish part of him didn’t want things to end there. He didn’t want to see Hadrian with anyone else.

But Hadrian had said that he didn’t regret their night either – drunken and unplanned as it was. That gave him hope that perhaps the raven-haired man could feel the same way if he didn’t already. Perhaps Hadrian had been hesitant to say anything about any feelings he might have due to their past interactions the same as Lucius was. Or maybe the man had made a similar plan as him in wooing slowly so as not to disrupt their still-fairly-new friendship. Or even possibly he was just unsure if Lucius reciprocated his feelings.

Yet, at the same time, doubts continued to plague him. What if the night was just drunken sex to the older man? What if he thought it was only their elation of ousting Dumbledore from the ICW that led them to their… celebrating? Or what if Hadrian simply considered it to be an accident, something that shouldn’t have happened, pure and simple?

Between his hopes and his doubts, Lucius had spent the past fortnight wishing they could have had their talk sooner so that, either way, the conflicted feeling would be settled. Hadrian didn’t know how lucky he was that he had something to keep his mind busy during that time.

Lucius shook the thoughts away as he saw the man in question exit what he presumed to be the man’s bedroom, in order to greet him where he had emerged in the sitting room.

Hadrian smiled tremulously at him, “Lucius.”

“Hadrian,” The blonde nervously returned the smile.

“Would you like some tea?”

“Yes, please.”

The older man nodded and stiffly walked to the kitchen and quickly began putting the tea pot together. After Hadrian finished doing so, he made his way back into the sitting room. Lucius easily occupied the chair that the professor gestured to before the other man sat in the chair next to him. As soon as they sat down, cups of tea in their respective grasps, an awkward silence fell over them. Obviously neither one of them knew what to do. Lucius would have been amused at the sight of the two of them if he wasn’t feeling so unsure.

He shook his head at them, “This is ridiculous.”

“I know,” Hadrian sighed next to him, setting his cup of tea down, “Why don’t we make this simple?”

“Okay,” Lucius apprehensively replied with a frown, not exactly understanding what the other man meant by that. Did he mean not to make a fuss over what happened?

If the older man noticed his uneasiness, then he didn’t show it, “What do you expect to happen between us, Lucius?”

The younger man’s eyebrows rose quickly in surprise, not having expected the straightforward question, “Expect? Nothing. What I want, however, is another story all together.”

Hadrian’s lips twitched in response, but whether in amusement or irritation at his non-answer, he couldn’t tell, “Fine then, what do you want to happen?”

Lucius swallowed down his nerves, knowing this was probably going to be his only chance he got, “I want this to be more than just a one-night stand.”

“As in you want more sex, or you want… more?”

“I want you to be mine.”

He saw the raven suck in a quick breath. Obviously, the other man hadn’t expected such a declaration. Lucius smirked slightly and decided to continue, wanting to know how else he would be able to get Hadrian to react.

“I want to be able to kiss and touch you and be kissed and touched by you. I want to be able to do what we did that night whenever we feel like it, how ever we feel like it,” The blonde’s smirk widened when Hadrian’s eyes dilated in lust as he swallowed roughly at his words. As much as he enjoyed the reaction, however, he let his smirk and tone soften as he continued even further, “I want to take you on dates, hold your hand, do all of the disgustingly sappy things people do when they are falling in love with each other. I want to make you smile and laugh, be there for you when you cry. I want you to be mine, just as much as I want to be yours.”

Hadrian stared at him with disbelief written all over his face. Lucius patiently waited for a response, but as the silence stretched on, the nerves he had felt earlier began to return. Just as he was about to apologize, thinking the silence was a rejection, Hadrian blinked as if coming back to himself.

“Why?” The older man asked with a small frown, “Why would you want all of that with me?”

Surprised at the insecurity he could hear in Hadrian’s voice, Lucius decided to be completely honest and simply said, “Because I have been developing feelings for you for a while.”

“Really?” Hadrian softly asked, almost as if to himself. Lucius nodded anyways. After another moment of silence – though this one was much smaller – the man admitted, “I have been too.”

The blonde couldn’t stop his smile, even if he wanted to. He leaned forward and slowly, giving the older man the chance to pull away if he chose to, reached out to touch Hadrian’s hand, which were sitting in the man’s lap. When the raven didn’t pull away, he gently took one of the hands in his, and softly stroked his thumb over Hadrian’s knuckles.

“So, Lord Peverell, would you care to go on a date with me?”

“I would like that,” Hadrian smiled at him.

Lucius smiled wider in happiness. Unable to resist, he leaned forward until their lips were only inches apart and paused, giving the other man another chance to pull away. He startled slightly when Hadrian quickly closed the gap between them, kissing him demandingly. Not to be out done, Lucius kissed back, battling with the other man for dominance.

Eventually, the unfortunate need to breath broke them apart, both panting slightly. Still leaning in each other’s space, he belatedly realized that he had brought his free hand – the other still entwined with Hadrian’s fingers – up to cup the back of the older man’s neck, thumb on Hadrian’s cheek, while the raven had fisted his own free hand into his robes, as though to stop him from pulling away (as if Lucius had any plans of doing so).

Hadrian closed his eyes and leaned his forehead against Lucius’s and hummed, “I could definitely do with more of that.”

Lucius chuckled, closing his own eyes in contentment, agreeing wholeheartedly.

For the next few weeks, Hadrian felt like he was riding a high. After the fortnight of just thinking about what he wanted to come after that night, he had realized that, putting his doubts about what the blonde would think aside, he wanted to give whatever it was between them a go. Ever since Lucius stopped looking at him with disdain, he had been very curious about the young Malfoy. He had wondered how different the young man would be, now that Voldemort was out of the picture and no longer influencing the man’s life. After Abraxas had passed, he had slowly begun to get closer to the new lord, and, without realizing it, began looking at him as more than a friend. In his obliviousness, he hadn’t realized that certain… reactions were because he was attracted to the Lucius Malfoy he was getting to know (a part of him wondered if he hadn’t been privy to the man’s true personality during his original timeline, but he quickly discarded the thought since there was no use in wondering about it now). With his own feelings sorted, all that had been left was to find out what Lucius wanted.

The talk with the younger man had gone even better than he expected. The self-conscious part of him – the part that whispered all of the things the Dursleys used to call him – had unfortunately allowed the doubts to creep in up until Lucius admitted that he had feelings for him. After their very enjoyable, small make out session, they agreed – on his request – to keep things between them quiet for a bit, including keeping it from Severus for the time being. While he tried not to show it, Hadrian saw that Lucius was a bit reluctant, so he explained that he didn’t want to deal with the opinion of the masses quite yet; He also explained that, since the blonde and his son had been becoming friends of a sort over the summer, and Lucius was the first serious relationship since he had taken in Severus, he wanted to wait to tell the boy until they were more sure of their relationship (the blonde was a little less reluctant after this explanation, admitting that he liked Severus and didn’t want to lose their slow friendship, much to Hadrian’s delight). Talking about how they were going to make this work considering the older man’s busy schedule, led them to having a repeat of their small make out session before Lucius eventually had to leave.

So, between their rather enjoyable parting, and the letters they had been owling to each other, Hadrian had felt like he was riding a high. The only thing that could have made him feel even happier, would be if he and Lucius had been able to have their first date. Unfortunately, as Head of Gryffindor, the beginning of the year was one of Hadrian’s busiest times between scheduling check ups and meetings with the Gryffindors, comforting homesick first years, getting his classes going, and putting his curse-breaking club together for the new year. So, they had been sticking with letters for now, though, Hadrian was rather hoping they would be able to plan their date now that it was a month into the new school year.

Hadrian paused at the thought, wondering why he felt like there was something he was forgetting that he needed to do this month. He frowned when he mentally went through everything that needed his attention and nothing came to mind. Perhaps it was because he had always felt a sense of foreboding during the month of October when he was attending Hogwarts? It hadn’t even occurred to him last year, though around this same time last year he had been putting together his proposal for treaties with the different races of creatures (which are still in the works), and he had come across James and Sirius bullying Severus for the first time.

The young professor completely stopped at that thought. It was his son’s fifth year. Professor Snape’s worst memory occurred sometime during the beginning of this year. But surely things had changed enough that James wouldn’t do the prank, not with his parents breathing down his neck according to what he’s heard, right? But even if James and Sirius do the same humiliating prank, Severus wouldn’t call one of his best friends a mudblood since he wasn’t around so many pureblood supremists now that he wasn’t in Slytherin… right? Hadrian swallowed in dread, not really believing himself, and looked out the window he had stopped by. He didn’t have a clear view of the tree by the lake that he knew the confrontation occurred through this window so he had no idea if his son was sitting by the tree, let alone if the situation he was dreading was occurring at that very moment. After a second of deliberation with himself, Hadrian decided to make his way down to the area, just in case. If he was walking as fast as he could without running, then nobody needed to know why.

A few moments later, he had made his way outside where he could see the tree. His heart dropped when he saw Severus standing with his wand out, surrounded by a large group of people. Not caring about appearances, he ran towards the scene. As he approached, he saw the awful moment when his son was disarmed and hung up in the air by his ankle. He saw a flash of red hair pushing herself through the crowd just as he arrived.

“Let’s take off his trousers!”

“Leave him alone!”

“Enough!” he shouted the same time Lily had begun defending her friend, wordlessly disarming the bullies and then quickly but carefully levitating Severus to the floor. The small group of about ten students, not including Lily and Severus, fell silent as he did so.

Once Severus was safely on the ground, Lily ran over to the Ravenclaw. Discarding the thought, Hadrian turned to the group with fury in his eyes. The students, who he noticed were a mix of every house but Slytherin (which was unsurprising seeing as they avoided most Gryffindors, but especially James and Sirius), looked at him in fear. While Pettigrew was looking at him in as much fear as the rest of the students, Sirius looked at him defiantly, and James looked a mix of fear, shame, and a small amount of defiance.

Deceptively soft, Hadrian spoke up, “Each and every one of you should be ashamed of yourselves. Not only did you all encourage a group of bullies, not a single one of you outside of Ms. Evans stood up for your fellow student. Not even the ones who are in the same house as him. One month’s detention for each and every one of you. Potter, Black, Pettigrew, you will follow me to the Headmistress’s office. The rest of you, leave.”

When the group quickly left, leaving the three bullies where they stood, Hadrian turned towards Severus and Lily.

“Fifty points, Ms. Evans, for standing up for a friend when no one else would,” when Lily nodded at him, he turned to his son, “Are you alright, Mr. Peverell?”

Severus nodded, “Yes sir.”

“Very well. The two of you may go.”

They nodded and made their way towards Hogwarts, Severus scooping his wand up off the floor and gathering his things as they went. Once they were gone, Hadrian glared at the three students still standing there, before silently leading the way up to the school. As they went, he carefully pushed his fury at the boys behind his shields, knowing his anger was not going to be helpful here. He had caught the boys bullying many different times in the past year, even after he spoke to James’s parents, though he did notice that he caught James less often than Sirius after that, making him wonder why the boy would pull this stunt. When they were caught, he had seen shame lurking in the boy’s eyes. It gave him some hope that whatever his parents had said had begun hit home, and that being taken to Minerva’s office by him for the second time, especially now that his parents knew what he has been doing, would end James’s bullying completely. Sirius, however, looked as defiant as ever. He wondered if Sirius running away from his parents to stay with the Potters would be what finally hit home, or if even that wouldn’t make the boy see what he was doing was wrong. Hadrian shook the thoughts away as they reentered Hogwarts, quickly leading the three boys up to the Headmistress’s office. Once at the Gargoyle, he gave the password and motioned the boys onto the steps in front of him. He reached around them and knocked on the door, motioning them to enter when Minerva called them in. Hadrian had to stifle a smirk of amusement when he saw resignation in the older woman’s eyes as she realized who had come though her door, even as her face remained impassive. He placed the three’s wands on her desk, making her sigh.

“Headmistress, I found these three once again bullying Mr. Peverell. I saw a group of students surrounding Peverell by the lake and decided to investigate. As I was making my way there, I saw them disarm him and then use a spell to lift him in the air by his ankle. I am unsure who exactly cast which spells. However, unlike previous times, just as I arrived, I heard Mr. Potter threaten what could be considered sexual assault.”

“What?” Sirius squawked indignantly. Next to him, James had gone deathly pale as Sirius loudly continued to defend his friend, “No he didn’t! None of us would want to do anything like that to that disgusting–”

“What then, would you consider removing someone’s trousers without their permission?” Hadrian angrily cut the boy off, glaring at him.

Sirius opened his mouth to retort, but McGonagall cut him off, “Enough. Not another word from you, Mr. Black. Mr. Potter, do you care to explain yourself?”

Quietly, still looking very pale, James admitted, “It was just supposed to humiliate him. I wasn’t going to do anything after that.”

“Regardless, as Professor Peverell has said, it would have been sexual assault. He and Mr. Peverell could potentially charge you with attempted sexual assault, and he could very well petition to have you suspended, if not expelled,” Minerva told him, making James pale even further, looking ready to pass out. She then turned to Sirius and Pettigrew, “He could also charge the two of you with accessory to attempted sexual assault, petitioning for the two of you to also be removed.”

Pettigrew whimpered and had begun to tremble, while Sirius glared at the floor angrily, shaking his head, obviously not fully believing her.

“Not for the first time, you three have taken it too far, but this is by far the worst. Lucky for you, I don’t believe Professor Peverell will take this outside of the school because he was in time to stop it from happening, nor do I believe Mr. Peverell will do so, simply because he trusts his father and myself to punish you,” Minerva continued, “While I am very tempted to suspend all of you, I will take into consideration the fact that you had no plans to take the assault any further. Therefore, Misters Pettigrew and Black, you will have three months of detention and fifty points removed, each. Mr. Potter, for being the one to suggest removing Mr. Peverell’s trousers, you will have four months detention, and sixty points removed. However, one more instance like this, and I will not hesitate to suspend you. Do you understand?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Hadrian watched as relief filled James. Sirius, however, opened his mouth to protest, but James elbowed him, causing him to just scowl instead. Pettigrew just whimpered again from beside them, obviously not used to having such harsh punishments since he was usually just on the sidelines.

Minerva nodded, “Very well. You are all dismissed.”

All three quickly retrieved their wands from where Hadrian had placed them on the Headmistress’s desk and quickly left the room. The professor curiously watched as, unlike Sirius, who angrily stomped out of the room, or Pettigrew who fearfully scurried away, James walked away more calmly, shoulders slumped in what he thought to be a mix of relief and shame. He would have felt sorry for how downtrodden the boy seemed if it wasn’t for everything he had done to Severus. Perhaps James would truly learn from this.

“Is Severus alright?”

Hadrian turned back to Minerva to see her looking at him with concern, he sat in one of the chairs in front of her desk heavily, “Yes, thankfully. I had to punish seven other students with two weeks detention for egging the three on, but Lily Evans had shown up and stood up for him just as I got there, so at least he wasn’t alone.”

The Headmistress sighed, “Mr. Filch are going to have a busy next two weeks for the detentions you and the others won’t be able to supervise. When Potter began toning down his pranks after winter break last year, I had hoped that meant the pranks were finally going to stop.”

“Not with Black showing absolutely no compunction,” the Defense Professor snorted. He thought back to the way James left the office and said, “But I have a feeling James won’t be an issue any longer.”

Minerva frowned at him, “Why do you say that?”

“Did you see the way he walked out of here? There was so much relief and shame that I don’t think he will have the taste for it. Not after realizing he could be suspended, expelled, or worse, tried in front of the Wizengamot.”

The woman hummed in agreement as she realized what he meant, “I hope you are right.”

Hadrian nodded, feeling the same way. Only time would tell, however. With a quick look at the time he stood up, “I better go. The Gryffindors are expecting me in the common room.”

“I’ll see you at dinner,” she agreed.

The man nodded and walked out of the room, still thinking about whether James would continue as he had been.

“You did what?!”

Sirius blinked in surprise, ending his complaints of the overly harsh punishment McGonagall had given him and James, not having expected that reaction. He had never heard Remus yell before. Before he could do anything, Remus stood up and began putting his things in his bag. He frowned.

“Where are you going?”

The werewolf growled, “To check on Severus.”

“What? Why?” Sirius squawked indignantly, “He’s fine. We are the ones who got punished!”

Remus glared at him, “Rightfully so! You’re lucky you didn’t get worse! And in case you forgot, Severus is my friend! Of course, I’m going to go check on him after you assaulted him!”

Sirius gaped at the boy, unable to believe what he was hearing, “But Remus–”

“No! There is nothing you can say to defend yourselves! I have had enough of you treating him like this!” Remus closed his eyes and took a deep breath when he opened them, Sirius could see the anger was still there, but the other boy spoke calmly, “Severus is my friend, Sirius. Stop treating him like he is the dirt on the bottom of your shoe before you force me to choose between the two of you. If you keep acting like this, I will choose him over you because he has done nothing to deserve this.”

The Black heir gaped as he watched Remus walk away, only briefly glancing at James, who was sitting staring out the window, not looking at either of them. Why was the werewolf acting like that? He couldn’t possibly care about Snivellous that much that he would choose him over them! He had done just as much to him and James as they had done to him!

With a scowl, Sirius turned to his best friend, “Can you believe him, Prongs? Snivellous has done just as much to us as we have to him! How can he choose someone who would probably have him killed if he knew what he was over us?”

“Enough, Sirius,” James interrupted him, still not looking at him.

“But James–”

The other boy finally looked at him, “No, Remus is right. Peverell has only ever retaliated against us. I wouldn’t blame Remus if he chose him over us.”

Sirius stared at his friend in confusion. What the hell was happening to his friends? “How can you say that?”

“Didn’t you listen to anything McGonagall said? We could have been charged with sexual assault, Sirius! We went too far!” James hissed furiously before the fight seemed to leave him. The Potter heir shook his head, “Besides that, we have been terrible friends. Remus has told us from the beginning that he was friends with Peverell. That should have been enough for us to leave him alone. Instead, we have been attacking one of Remus’s friends, for what? Because we don’t like him?”

James shook his head again and stood up before he could utter a response, “No, I’m done, Padfoot. I’m not pranking Peverell ever again, and I won’t help you to either.”

Sirius watched in disbelief as James picked up his wand and his bag and walked out of the room. He had no idea what had gotten into his friends. Remus had always been a little touchy when it came to Snivellous but he always just berated them and moved on. He never yelled at them before. And James had always agreed with him when it came to Snivellous! Sure, James had been a bit less active in pranking at the end of last year, but Sirius thought James was just upset about his parents berating him in some letters. He figured the other boy would explain things to them over the summer and everything would be back to normal. When it wasn’t, he had suggested some pranks, which led to the prank today. Instead, Remus was furious, and James was just… different. He didn’t like it at all.

The Animagus shook his head with a scowl. It was all Snivellous’s fault. If that git hadn’t said whatever lies that convinced Remus to be friends with him, none of this would be happening. He would do whatever it took to convince Moony and Prongs that he was right. Nodding to himself, resolved, he grabbed a few things he would need to prank a few people and left the room.

Severus was suspicious. His dad has been acting weirdly ever since the school year began. He had seemed… happier than usual, smiling at the oddest times when he thought no one was looking. He just couldn’t understand it.

Then Potter, Black, and Pettigrew found him studying down by the lake, waiting for Lily to join him (Remus was in class) and they did their worst prank yet. He had been so humiliated, especially when Potter said he was going to remove his trousers. He had felt so vulnerable that when Lily spoke up in his defense, Severus nearly snapped at her. Luckily his dad’s voice stopped him before he could. So, thankful that he hadn’t done something he would’ve regretted, that he didn’t feel angry right away. But Lily, Regulus (once he found out what happened), and Remus (who was angrier than they’d ever seen him after Black apparently complained about being punished for what happened, the idiot) were more than angry enough for him until his own anger spiked.

The same could not be said for his dad, however. The man was furious from the start and seemed determined not to let it go. Usually after Black and Potter were punished, the man would go back to treating everybody fairly. For some reason, this incident seemed to have pushed him past his breaking point. If what he heard Black complaining about was true, his dad had taken up a large portion of their detentions so that he could set them to do miserable tasks.

Surprisingly enough, Potter seemed to have grown a brain and decided to keep his head down. The boy wasn’t even pranking – Black was the one pranking and taking the brunt of his dad’s vindictiveness.

Luckily (at least for those two) after about a week and a half of his dad’s anger, the odd behavior returned. Hadrian allowed Filch to take a majority of the detentions. He was instead, once again, smiling at the oddest times (McGonagall and Pomfrey seemed to have noticed if their amused looks were anything to go by, though he seemed to be the only student who noticed). While he didn’t understand it, Severus hopped that whatever it was that was making his dad so happy continued. It was nice seeing the man look like that.

When winter break began, the random smiles stopped but Hadrian looked no less happy. Surprisingly enough, Lucius visited nearly every day like he had during the summer, but Severus just figured that the two were working on a project for the Wizengamot. Though he did notice that Lucius was acting a bit odd as well – the man was smiling a lot more than usual. Not seeing a reason for these weird changes, he just shrugged it away and enjoyed the time with his dad, as well as the conversations he had with Lucius, who he was beginning to think of as a friend.

It wasn’t until the Yule ball that Severus finally figured out what was going on. Like he usually did, he looked for Regulus as soon as they got there. However, since Regulus hadn’t arrived yet, Severus stood in his usual hiding spot and just people watched. He had been doing this for about ten minutes, when his eyes landed on his dad. Hadrian was inconspicuously leaning against a wall, not unlike Severus himself was, obviously taking a break from schmoozing the lords and ladies in the room. What caught Severus’s attention, however, was the fact that his dad was glaring daggers at someone. He had never seen the man lose his composure at one of these parties before, so he was extremely curious to what could cause the reaction.

Severus followed his dad’s gaze until he saw Lucius was talking to a blonde woman***. The two seemed friendly enough, and Lucius had a genuine smile on his face (not the charming fake smile Severus has seen him use on most lords and ladies), making him think that they were friends. The Ravenclaw frowned, not understanding why his dad would be glaring. He was about to turn away when he saw her place a hand on Lucius’s arm. He looked back at his dad and saw the man was now glaring harder.

Comprehension dawned on Severus suddenly. His dad was happier, Lucius smiling more. The older man smiling at odd times (as if he was thinking about somebody) going away when Lucius began coming around more. And now his dad was glaring at a woman who was not only able to get the blonde to smile genuinely but was also touching the man.

Hadrian and Lucius liked each other, perhaps even dating. If they were, it would explain why his dad suddenly became so much happier. But if they were, why didn’t Hadrian tell him? Severus frowned at the thought, still not taking his eyes off his dad. Did the man not trust him? He shook the thought away, not wanting to doubt his dad.

All of a sudden Hadrian’s glare was replaced by his impassive mask. Looking over, Severus saw Lucius was walking towards his dad with the blonde woman in tow. The Ravenclaw almost snorted when he saw the Malfoy lord was staring at his dad with hearts in his eyes – the man definitely had feelings for his dad.

“Severus?”

The boy jumped and looked over to see Regulus looking at him in amusement. Severus blinked; had he really been that in grossed with his dad and possible boyfriend that he hadn’t noticed Regulus approaching? He shook his head, berating himself.

“What are you looking at that has you so distracted?”

Severus looked back at his dad to see him with a fake smile on his face as shook the blonde woman’s hand. When he looked over at Lucius, however, his smile and eyes visibly softened. The boy smirked, doubts about his dad’s feelings completely wiped away. If Lucius could make his dad look like that, Severus could wait for his dad to tell him about his new relationship.

Taking his eyes off his dad, the boy looked back at his friend, “Nothing. How has your break been so far?”

Regulus smirked at him and began telling him about the prank he pulled on his brother when their parents weren’t home.