Fixing the Future

As had become familiar to him, Lucius stepped out of the floo and into Hadrian’s quarters in Hogwarts. He knew the man was in class, so he set the food he brought with him on the coffee table and made himself comfortable on the sofa. He knew the professor had felt an alert from the wards as soon as he had stepped in, so he just had to wait for the man to appear when he was done with his class.

Lucius had missed the other man a great deal in the past week since Hogwarts’ winter break had ended; the blonde had gotten used to being able to see Hadrian every day. So, since he knew that the professors were not required to attend lunch in the Great Hall, Lucius had decided to surprise his lover with lunch – takeout, he believed it Hadrian called it – from the Muggle restaurant the older man had dragged him to during the break. Hadrian had insisted that they go somewhere they didn’t have to pretend not to be dating, and then proceeded to convince him to go out into the Muggle world – while Lucius didn’t think he’d ever like Muggles, he was starting to see why Hadrian didn’t mind going into their world every now and then.

Lucius pulled himself out of his thoughts when he heard the door open. He looked over to see Hadrian walking in, looking at him curiously. With a smirk, the blonde stood up and made his way over to the older man and pulled Hadrian into his arms before dipping his head slightly to kiss his lover deeply. The professor immediately responded, wrapping his arms around Lucius’s neck as he kissed back. They stayed like that for a minute until the blonde reluctantly broke the kiss but kept them close enough to share breath.

“I brought lunch,” he quietly hummed, very much enjoying their closeness.

Hadrian smiled at him, “Did you?”

“Mmm, from that Muggle place we went to.”

He smirked in amusement when his lover blinked in surprise before pulling away slightly as if to look at him better. The older man’s eyebrows rose in surprise when he realized Lucius was serious.

“You went into the Muggle world alone?”

Lucius rolled his eyes at the disbelief and dryly replied, “Don’t get used to it.”

Hadrian laughed, “Wouldn’t dream of it.”

The blonde finally removed himself from the older man’s arms, took one of Hadrian’s hands in his own, and pulled the raven over to the couch he had just vacated. Once they were seated, he passed a fork and a container of food over and then retrieved one for himself. Hadrian hummed in delight when he found the same Beef Chow Mein that he had gotten on their date. Lucius opened his own container of Pork Fried Rice and began eating, shoulder brushing with Hadrian’s.

“So, is there a reason to this impromptu date?”

The younger man raised an eyebrow, “Am I not allowed to surprise you just because?”

“Oh, no, you’re welcome to come by and surprise me anytime you want. Just thought I’d ask,” Hadrian replied with his eyes twinkling.

“Good,” Lucius nodded, “Because I miss not being able to see you every day.”

The older man smiled, a soft look in his eyes, “Me too.”

He returned the smile and leaned over to kiss the man sitting next to him, Hadrian easily returning the chaste kiss. As he pulled away, the raven took the opportunity to steal a piece of pork from his container and popped it in his mouth with a smirk. Lucius chuckled and shook his head at his lover’s antics. Hadrian simply smiled and offered him a piece of beef from his own container; he accepted it for the piece offering it was.

“Before I forget, Narcissa asked me to invite you to tea next weekend. She seems to have taken a liking to you.”

He felt Hadrian stiffen slightly and watched as the man’s eyes darken slightly, “Alright.”

The blonde scrutinized his lover, trying to figure out his reaction. He seemed to have liked Narcissa well enough when he introduced them at Yule, even if Hadrian had seemed a bit stiff at first. Then again, he knew the professor had never particularly cared for… schmoozing, he remembered Severus calling it, so he hadn’t expected anything different. So, why was Hadrian reacting like that now? Perhaps he was concerned that Lucius had told her of their relationship since he had introduced her as a good friend of his?

“I haven’t told her that we are dating, but I suspect she knows considering she has never invited anyone to our usual tea,” Lucius added casually, watching the older man carefully. When Hadrian’s eyes darkened further at the last part, the blonde smirked as he realized why the raven was reacting like he was, “Are you jealous?”

In the most snobbish move that Lucius had ever seen from the other man, Hadrian sniffed, stabbing his fork into his food as he admitted, “Perhaps.”

The blonde’s smirk widened, thoroughly enjoying the fact that his lover felt possessive enough to be jealous. He put his fork into his container and brought a hand up to his lover’s face, grasping the man’s chin to gently turn Hadrian’s face so that the man was looking up at him. Lucius quickly leaned in and kissed the him possessively, pushing his tongue past the other man’s lips when he gasped in surprise. As he mapped out the other man’s mouth with his tongue, he felt Hadrian’s free hand moved to grasp his robes. Lucius smirked and pulled back, leaving the professor panting.

“As delectable as you look when you are jealous,” his smirk widened when his lover’s cheeks tinged a light pink, “You have no reason to be. Narcissa is just a very good friend.”

Hadrian blinked, slowly nodding in understanding. He took a bite of his food as he watched as the other man seemed to deliberate with himself before saying, “There was a rumor that the two of you had a marriage contract.”

Lucius raised his eyebrows in surprise. How had that got out? As far as he knew, only he, his parents and Narcissa and her parents – Cygnus and Druella Black – had known when that was true. Unless one of Narcissa’s sisters overheard and gossiped about it; he wouldn’t put it past Bellatrix. Shaking the thoughts off, the blonde refocused onto his lover.

“We did have one at one point. Narcissa and I thought that since we were such good friends, and had been since we were children, having an arranged marriage with each other was better than having miserable marriages with others was preferable. But then some of my perceptions changed when the Dark Lord was defeated, and you caught my attention when you stood up to Dumbledore. By the time you ousted him from Hogwarts, I knew I couldn’t go through with it – I was too entranced by you,” Lucius smiled when he saw Hadrian look at him surprised.

“That was two years ago. You have had feelings for me for that long?”

He nodded, “Lucky for me, my father and Narcissa understood when I asked to back out of the contract. I think they both realized I had taken an interest in someone. Narcissa helped me convince her father, Cygnus Black, to allow it. I believe you were actually at the manor the day I went to meet with him*.”

“I remember that,” Hadrian nodded, “That was the first time I began looking at you differently than I had before. You were polite to me.”

“If I could go smack myself for being rude to you all those time before that, I would,” the blonde replied, a little indignantly.

Hadrian laughed, “I would too.”

Lucius rolled his eyes at the response, causing his lover to laugh again. A comfortable silence fell between them as they continued eating their food, occasionally sharing or stealing a bites from one another. A few minutes later, they finished eating and Lucius vanished the empty containers, without a word.

“I enjoyed this. Thank you,” Hadrian smiled at him, giving him a chaste kiss.

He smiled, happy that his lover had enjoyed his surprise.

The blonde watched the man cast a Tempus before sighing and standing, “I have to go. Let me know when and where you and Narcissa are going to have tea**, and I’ll do my best to try and make it.”

“Alright,” Lucius nodded as he stood, “Take a few points off the Gryffindors for me.”

Hadrian chuckled and shook his head is exasperation, leaning over to chastely kiss him once more before walking out of the door. He sighed, hoping he’d be able to see his lover more often than he had this past week, now that Hogwarts had settled back down after the break. If not, he would just make it a habit to stop by every few days, he thought as he flooed home.

Severus was worried. Remus had been acting off since the incident in October four months ago. The Gryffindor had seemed slightly depressed. He caught the boy looking at Black sadly when the idiot wasn’t paying attention, but whenever Black tried to talk to him, Remus was closed off and would leave quickly. While he relished the wounded look on Black’s face (probably more than he should), he was more concerned about Remus’s behavior.

In the past, he always left the other boy to his friendship with the Gryffindors, not particularly caring since Remus had always tried to stop Black and Potter from pranking him, and he had Lily and Regulus to hang out with when Remus was with the idiot Gryffindors. However, with his friend acting so strange, Severus felt the need to do something. That’s not to say he planned on telling his friend to forgive Black for whatever it was the idiot had done since Black probably deserved it, but he wanted to find out why Remus was having such an adverse reaction to his avoiding the idiot.

Perhaps if he finally found out whatever it was that Remus and the so-called Marauders did every month, he’d be able to eavesdrop and figure out what was going on with his friend.

Ever since the incident with James and Sirius in October, Hadrian had taken to keeping a closer eye on when there was supposed to be a full moon. He wasn’t going to be caught off guard by this incident like he was last time. Especially not since this event could potentially kill or infect Severus, now that things had changed. He knew that the incident with Moony was supposed to occur sometime this year, but like with Snape’s worst memory, he wasn’t exactly sure when. As the school year drew closer to its end – it was now March***, meaning there was only four months left of the school year – Hadrian couldn’t help but feel a bit anxious. If the incident he was waiting for didn’t occur this year, he was worried that something worse, something he had no warning for, was going to happen instead.

Since he knew that it was because of Sirius that Snape went to the shrieking shack in his original timeline, Hadrian had also been keeping a close eye on the boy. It was because of this that he noticed the Black heir seemed to be lashing out somewhat. James hadn’t played any serious pranks since October and had begun trying to stay out of Severus’s way. Sirius, however, had taken to pranking more often than usual, and could often be seen trying to convince James to join him, most notably right before Sirius ‘pranked’ Severus. It was obvious that the incident in October had done nothing to change the boy’s attitude, perhaps making it even worse. However, he could think of nothing aside from getting punished for the incident Hadrian was expecting to happen soon, that could possibly force the boy to grow up.

On that thought, the Defense professor cast a Tempus. Seeing that Remus was supposed to go out to the Shrieking Shack for the night in about half an hour, Hadrian decided to see if he would be able to catch Sirius in the act of telling Severus where Remus was. If he didn’t, he would transform and fly out to the shack like he had been taking to doing for the past few full moons. The professor stood up and exited his office and began roaming Hogwarts at a quick pace.

Thirty-five minutes later, just as he was about to leave for the shack, Hadrian passed a slightly confused but smug-looking Sirius Black, and dread filled him. Without pausing to consider, he turned and ran towards the nearest window. When it came into view, the Defense Professor transformed mid-step into his bird form, and swiftly flew out of the castle and towards the Shrieking Shack. Hadrian pushed down the panic at his son being near Moony as he flew faster than he ever had before. When the shack came into view, he took comfort in the surrounding silence – it meant Remus had yet to change into Moony.

That hope immediately left his mind when he heard the scream/howl of Remus beginning to transform. Hadrian pushed himself even faster, aiming for the open window of the room he knew the Whomping Willow’s passage led into.

Just as he reached the window, Moony’s howls of pain ended and the door to the passage opened. Without thinking, Hadrian dove for the werewolf, talons extended. He felt his claws scratch Moony, drawing his attention off of Severus, who was standing in shocked fear in the doorway. Hadrian dodged the werewolf and scratched him again before diving towards his son. The professor changed mid-flight and pushed Severus back through the door and into James, who had just appeared behind his son, slamming the door shut behind him. Moony slammed into the door with a growl only a second later. Hadrian cast a strengthening charm on the door just before the werewolf slammed into it again, letting out a breath of relief when the door held.

Hadrian closed his eyes for a second, taking another breath, before turning to face the two boys who were in the passage with him. James was staring at him with a mix of awe and fear, panting from his run here, but he ignored the boy for now in favor of his son. Severus was staring unseeingly, and his breathing was ragged and uneven.

“Severus focus on me,” he began, carefully placing his hands on his son’s shoulder, gently maneuvering him so that the boy wasn’t facing the door to the Shrieking Shack. Moony’s scratching and growling was still audible, but he hoped looking away from the door would help snap his son out of his shock. Keeping his tone soft, but still loud enough to hear, he continued, “You’re okay. You’re safe. Take deep breathes, okay? Just focus on me.”

After a moment, his son’s breathing evened out slightly and life filtered slightly back into his dark green eyes, “Dad?”

Hadrian’s heart almost broke at the quiet, fearful tone that he hadn’t heard come from Severus since he was a little boy, “Yeah, Sev. I’m right here. We are going to get you back to Hogwarts, okay?”

Severus nodded slowly, letting Hadrian move him so that he was tucked into his side as much as he could be, now that the boy was the same height as him. The professor glanced over to see James looking very uncomfortable as he watched them. Hadrian motioned the boy forward, and the boy silently nodded, beginning to walk with them through the passage, towards the Whomping Willow.

Hadrian watched as the two Gryffindors exited the Headmistress’s office. When the door clicked shut, he sighed and rubbed at his eyes tiredly. After getting his son to the hospital for a calming draught, he had sent him to his rooms. He then demanded an explanation from James (despite already knowing it), then retrieved Sirius from the Gryffindor Common Room to take the two up to Minerva’s office to be punished. He desperately wanted this night to be over. Turning around, he saw Minerva was rubbing her temples tiredly. Hadrian pushed his desire to immediately leave so he could go check on Severus and waited for Minerva to say whatever it was he knew she wanted to say.

“Did we do the right thing? Sirius deserved much worse than what we punished him with, no doubt, but what do I do when the Board asks questions about one of the very few suspensions Hogwarts ever has?”

“You tell them the truth,” Hadrian replied, “You tell them the boy has a very long record with bullying, but despite our best efforts, detentions have not curbed the behavior, resulting in Sirius nearly permanently harming another student, and therefore receiving a suspension.”

Minerva dropped her hands, “And if they ask further questions?”

He shrugged, “Then refer them to me since it was my son who was the victim, resulting in a check over by Poppy, luckily just for shock and not an injury.”

The woman frowned, “Are you sure? The Board can be rather bloodthirsty when looking for answers.”

“It’s fine, Minerva. I have enough experience with them that I will be able to convince them to drop it. I don’t want Remus to be punished for Sirius’s mistakes any more than you do.”

“Alright,” the Headmistress nodded, “Do you think this will be enough to knock some sense into Sirius?”

Hadrian shook his head, “I don’t know. He walked out angry, but James seemed angry enough at his friend that he might be able to knock some sense into him. If not, perhaps Remus will be able to, since it was both his and one of his friend’s lives that Sirius put at stake.”

“How is Severus?”

“You mean other than probably gaining a new fear of werewolves, and a few nightmares?” Hadrian asked her wryly, “He will be okay. He is in my quarters, so I’d like to check on him, however.”

Minerva nodded, “Of course. I’ll let you know if I have to send the board your way.”

The Defense Professor nodded and exited the woman’s office, quickly making his way towards his quarters, anxious to see his son so he could ensure the boy was okay, and so he could get the images of Moony starting to lunge towards Severus out of his head.

“Can you believe they actually suspended me? In defense of Sniv–”

James whirled around furiously, cutting off his friend, “Are you fucking serious?”

“Yes, I am Sir–”

“Don’t! This isn’t a game, Padfoot!”, he whisper-yelled angrily. If they hadn’t been standing just outside of McGonagall’s office, James would be shouting at the other boy, “What you did was inexcusable! You almost got somebody killed, Sirius!”

Sirius snorted, “It was just Sn–”

“Stop calling him that! Severus is Remus’s friend! Grow up, Sirius! What you did was not a prank! It was cruel and malicious and if Professor Peverell hadn’t gotten there in time, he would be dead because I didn’t get there in time! You would be a murderer!” He watched the other boy flinch, but continued, trying to get what he was saying to sink in, “Not only that, you could have gotten Remus killed!”

“What? What are you talking about?”

James glared at his friend, even angrier than before when Sirius confirmed that he hadn’t thought about what would happen to Remus. In a dangerous tone, he explained, “If the professor hadn’t been there, Moony would have mauled Peverell. The minute that happened, McGonagall would have been forced to report it to the Ministry, who would have killed Remus like they do to all werewolves who have killed or infected people.”

Finally, horror filled Sirius as he understood what James was saying. It concerned him that the other Animagus had so little regard for Peverell’s life that he didn’t care if the boy was killed, but at least Sirius cared what happened to Remus.

In a quiet, but no less angry tone, James added, “You should be grateful all you were punished with was a suspension because you deserve to be expelled for what you did, Sirius. I guarantee you that the only reason Professor Peverell didn’t push McGonagall for you to be expelled after you very nearly killed his son because if that happened, they would have to explain exactly what happened, exposing Remus and leading him to being killed.”

“James, I’m sorry.”

“I’m not the one you should be apologizing to. After I tell Remus what happened, it’s up to you to earn his forgiveness, but I warn you now, unless you apologize to Peverell, he probably won’t forgive you,” James then turned around and continued to make his way back to the common room. He heard Sirius quietly follow him, but didn’t turn around, not wanting to even look at the other boy he was so angry. How could he send anyone to be mauled by a werewolf, knowing they would inevitably be either killed or turned? That’s not even considering what would happen to Remus, since Sirius obviously didn’t think about him when he did what he did. If Sirius didn’t get his head out of his arse, he was going to do something he was going to seriously regret one day.

After exiting the hospital wing with a calming draught in his system and a Dreamless Sleep potion in his hand, Severus went straight for his dad’s quarters. He sat on the couch, not wanting to go to sleep, even with the calming draught keeping him calm; He couldn’t stop thinking about what happened. The potion kept him from becoming panicked about what happened, but it didn’t keep the fear completely at bay. Severus hadn’t felt so afraid in his life as when he saw a bloody werewolf lunging at him – not even those times when Tobias was drunk enough that Severus vaguely remembers thinking the man was going to kill him. So, he decided to wait for his dad, not wanting to be alone, even knowing the Dreamless Sleep Pomfrey had given him would allow him to sleep peacefully.

Severus had no clue how long he had been waiting, staring sightlessly the potion in his hand and thinking about Remus, when he felt a hand on his should. He jumped in surprise, not having heard his dad come in. When he realized who it was, Severus released a breath and couldn’t stop himself leaning into the man’s touch, relishing in the comfort.

Apparently, that was all the sign Hadrian needed to sit down and pull him into his arms. Severus gripped onto his dad’s robes, burying his face in the man’s robes. He knew if the calming draught wasn’t in his system still, he would probably be shaking. He just wanted the images that wouldn’t leave his mind to be gone. The boy felt his dad rub a soothing hand up and down him back, giving him something to focus on. After a short amount of time just focusing on the hand on his back, the flashes of what happened began to fade away. Severus relaxed even further into his dad.

“I’d like to explain Black’s punishment, so you aren’t surprised tomorrow, if you’re up for it.”

The Ravenclaw shifted a little uneasily, but didn’t pull away as he stated, “He wasn’t expelled.”

“As much as he deserved it, no,” Hadrian told him calmly. Severus swallowed his immediate protests and waited for his dad to continue, “If the Headmistress had expelled Black, she would have had to explain, in depth, to both the Board of Governors and the Ministry why he was being expelled. As you know, the Ministry doesn’t look favorably on creature, but especially not on werewolves. They would have immediately demanded Remus to be killed, even though it wasn’t his fault. The only way we could get around that, but still have Black punished as fairly as we could, was to have him suspended. While the Board will still ask questions, the Ministry won’t, allowing us to be vague enough to explain with out revealing Remus’s part in all of this.”

Severus didn’t respond, considering what the man had said. A part of him – the part that had become very afraid of what he had discovered about his friend – could understand the Ministry’s desire to just kill off creatures that were proven to be dangerous. The other, larger part – the part that knows the smart, kind, and gentle person that Remus is – reminded him that doing so without check was bigoted and wrong. It wasn’t Remus’s fault that Severus was down there. No, the blame was solely on Black’s shoulders for tricking him in his concern for his friend. If the Ministry had their way, Remus would be killed because of something he couldn’t control.

He nodded into his dad’s shoulder and quietly conceded, “Okay.”

His dad was silent as he continued rubbing his back soothingly. Slowly, between Hadrian’s relaxing touch and the warmth of being cuddled into the man, Severus felt his eyes become heavy with sleep. Before he could fully fall asleep, his dad’s soft voice broke through the fog.

“Do you want to sleep in your room here, or with me, Sev?”

The Ravenclaw hesitated. He was no longer a little boy who needed to sleep with his dad after nightmares – he was already sixteen, for Merlin’s sake. However, this was much more than a nightmare and Severus didn’t want to be alone.

Deciding the comfort was worth more than any embarrassment if anybody were to find out, he softly spoke up, “With you.”

“Alright. Come on then.”

Severus reluctantly pulled away from his dad so they could stand and went to his room to change into the pajamas he left in here and take the Dreamless Sleep potion. Once he was done, he quietly made his way to his dad’s room, hesitantly peeking in. When he saw Hadrian was already lying in bed, Severus entered and slipped into the large bed, immediately cuddling up to his dad the same way he remembered doing before he came to Hogwarts after he had a nightmare. The older man easily wrapped his arms around him as he noxed the lights. Severus slowly felt sleep claim him, soaking up the warmth and comfort his dad provided.

Sirius felt miserable. He had tried to apologize to Remus after the boy woke up and James told him what happened, but the werewolf refused to even look at him and glaring and shouting at him. James was barely talking to him either. To make matters worse, he was currently in the Headmistress’s office, waiting for his father to come through the floo so that the man could take him home for his suspension. Sirius was not looking forward to his father’s angry glares or his mother’s screeching. He knew that they didn’t particularly care about him doing anything wrong, more concerned with the image he was bringing to the Black name, especially since he was heir. No doubt his mother was going to lament why he couldn’t be more like Regulus.

The Gryffindor broke out of his thoughts when the floo went off. McGonagall stood from her spot behind her desk to greet Orion as he stepped into the office.

“Thank you for coming, Mr. Black.”

Sirius watched as his dad nodded impassively before turning to look at him stonily, “Come, Sirius.”

The Black heir picked up his trunk and dejectedly trudged over to the floo. His father called out their address home, placed a firm hand on his shoulder, and moved them into the green flames. Sirius startled when they stepped out of the fireplace to the sound of the familiar screeching of his mother. The startling thing, however, was that it wasn’t directed at him. His mother was yelling at his Grandmother Melania****. He saw his Grandfather Arcturus standing in support of his Grandmother but was silent. Sirius watched with wide eyes as the argument continued.

“You have no right! I will punish that boy for tarnishing this family’s name, as I should!”

Contrary to his mother, Melania spoke in a dangerously soft tone as she glared, “Considering you have yet been able to curb his behavior, you are not doing so effectively.”

“How dare you! You are not a true Black–”

“Enough! Mind your tongue, Walburga!” Finally, his Grandfather spoke up loudly, “You will respect my wife and her position in this family! She is Lady Black, not you!”

Silence fell over the room when Arcturus stopped shouting. In a deceptively soft tone, he continued, “As I am Lord Black, it is my right to take over my heir’s upbringing. Sirius’s suspension from Hogwarts is all the proof I need that you and my son have not raised him to act in the way his position demands. I have already enacted Family Law, giving me full custody. There is nothing you can do.”

Sirius swallowed in shock, unable to believe what he had just heard as he watched his mother glare furiously at his grandfather, opening her mouth as if to continue. His father, however, spoke up before she could, “Enough, Walburga.”

The Gryffindor watched slightly nervously when his mother turned to glare at his father, before glaring at him. She then turned on her heel and stomped away. Sirius turned away from where she disappeared through to see his grandparents were looking at them impassively.

“Thank you for getting Sirius, Orion,” Melania said in the softer tone she always used with her son.

“Of course, Mother. Father,” his father nodded. He squeezed Sirius’s shoulder slightly making him look up at the man, “You will go with your grandparents, Sirius.”

He nodded, too shocked by what was happening to do anything more, as he watched his father exit the room after Walburga.

The Black heir swallowed nervously when both of his grandparents turned to look at him. His grandmother spoke up tersely, “Come along, Sirius. Your grandfather will gather the things in your room before joining us.”

Sirius nodded, standing next to his grandmother as she called out the address to the Black Villa.

“Sit down,” Melania demanded as soon as they were through. Knowing better than to argue with the woman, Sirius obeyed, setting his trunk down next to him. His grandmother gracefully sat in the couch next to him before continuing, “Your grandfather and I are very disappointed in you, Sirius.”

The sixteen-year-old bit the inside of his cheek harshly to keep himself from saying anything. As much as he hated being tied to a well-known dark family due to their bigotry, he loved his grandparents. While they reprimanded him for his attitude, and expected him to be the composed pure-blood heir that was expected of the Black heir, neither had ever treated him like his mother – screeching at him for being friends with a light wizard, reprimanding him harshly for not agreeing with her bigotry, and comparing him to Regulus (who she saw as perfect). They had always allowed him to have his own opinion on blood purity (even going so far as to prevent his mother from forcing him into marriage contracts)*****, although they still warned him that he was expected to keep their line pure. If he didn’t, his children would not gain his inheritance, giving it instead to Regulus. Knowing they mostly accepted that he wasn’t as dark as the rest of his family, their disappointment hurt much more than his mother’s ever could.

“While the Headmistress of Hogwarts only vaguely explained while you were being punished in her letter to your father, as a friend of your grandfather’s, Lord Peverell sent his own letter to him to explain the full truth of why you were suspended. Not only did you nearly get the son of your grandfather’s friend and another student killed, which would have resulted in you being sentenced to Azkaban, you have brought even more shame on the family name than your previous bullying already has,” Melania told him calmly. Sirius looked up in alarm, realizing that she knew Remus’s werewolf status, and become worried they were going to report it. His grandmother seemed to realize what he was thinking as she scoffed at the look on his face, “You have obviously not been paying attention in the lessons with your grandfather if you believe we are going to report your friend’s creature status. We are pro-creature rights and always have been, Sirius.”

He blushed in shame since he hadn’t really been paying attention in those lessons but nodded in understanding. Melania scrutinized him for a moment but seemed satisfied that he understood as she continued what she was saying.

“Your attitude has gotten out of hand, Sirius. Whether you like it or not, you are heir to the Black family, meaning you are expected to act a certain way. Instead you have continued to act reckless and impulsively, despite the many times we have reprimanded you, bringing shame to our family. As such, you will be punished until I believe that you will not act this way again. Do not make the mistake believing that you will have an easier time here than you would have had with your parents. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Grandmother,” Sirius replied, gulping slightly in apprehension. Everyone knew how strict the woman could be.

He saw the woman nod firmly, “Good. Then go put your things in your room, and when you come back down, your grandfather should be back so we can explain your punishment.”

The Gryffindor nodded and stood up, taking his trunk with him as he made his way to the room he always occupied when he stayed in the Villa. A part of him was relieved that he wouldn’t have to deal with his mother, but most of him just felt depressed; his friends were angry with him, and his grandparents disappointed. He hadn’t thought his ill-planned prank would end up like this. He just thought that Snivellous would have been scared out of snooping around, learning to mind his own business. How did everything go so wrong? Sirius brushed away the voice that sounded suspiciously like James, telling him that this wouldn’t have happened if he left the other boy alone like his friends had warned him.

Severus was extremely glad that the full moon had fallen on a Friday night. It meant that he was able to stay in his dad’s quarters without anyone but Hadrian realizing that he was avoiding Remus. Luckily, outside of giving him a concerned look when he stuck around after they had the house elves send them some breakfast in the rooms, his dad didn’t comment on it further.

While the Ravenclaw didn’t blame Remus for what had happened the night before, it didn’t change the fact that the boy was bloody terrifying when transformed. It made him a little more wary of his Gryffindor friend than he had been before. Even so, Remus was still his friend, and Severus had no plans on letting that change because of something the boy couldn’t control. The reason Severus was taking the opportunity to avoid the werewolf – he couldn’t help but shudder a bit at thinking of Remus as such, as the image of the creature lunging at him flashed through his mind – was so that he while could around what had occurred. He didn’t want to be flinching or shuddering in fear around his friend just because he hadn’t let him mind process the information he had discovered. So, he stayed in his dad’s quarters for the rest of the day, trying to come to terms with what had happened.

Remus was a werewolf. During the full moon, he turned into a terrifying creature. The rest of the time, he was perfectly safe. Therefore, Remus was only terrifying during the full moon.

For the rest of the day, Severus stayed in Hadrian’s quarters, keeping those thoughts circling his brain – especially when he suddenly had flashes of the lunging werewolf when something startled him – hoping to ingrain it in him. At the end of the day, he went to sleep in his room in his dad’s quarters, knowing he would be awoken by a nightmare, and probably end up slipping into the man’s room to cuddle him in the middle of the night.

Thankfully, when the predicted nightmare occurred, Hadrian accepted him into his embrace without comment, probably having expected it to occur as much as Severus had been.

The next morning, however, the Ravenclaw decided to face the music. He knew that either Potter or McGonagall (whoever got there first, really) had likely told Remus what occurred first thing the morning after it happened. The boy had probably blamed himself as much as he blamed Black, and then worried that Severus’s absence meant he either was injured in some way, completely traumatized, or avoiding him in fear. While two of those were sort of true – Severus did feel fairly traumatized and he had avoided Remus, but he was working through his fear (largely with the help of his Occlumency shields) and he had only avoided his friend so that he could just process. So, know that he had done that, he left his dad’s quarters to find Remus and reassure the boy that they were still friends.

Seeing as it was now Sunday morning, Severus figured the most like place for the Gryffindor to be, would be their spot in the library with Lily. As he made his way over there, he idly wondered if Remus told the girl his secret, or if he had told her an edited version of what happened. Hopefully he told her, because he really didn’t feel like sidestepping the truth. Lucius would have been appalled with such an un-Slytherin thought, Severus snorted to himself amused.

The boy shook the thought away as he entered the library. As he predicted, Remus and Lily were in the back corner at their usual corner. As he approached, he noticed that the werewolf – Severus suppressed the shudder, determined to get the automatic reaction to stop – was hunched in on himself in what appeared to be self-loathing going by the look on his face. Lily, was leaning across the table, whispering to him in concern. Seeing as how he couldn’t hear a single sound, Severus figured they had already put their silencing charms up. Remus must have seen him approaching from the corner of his eye, because suddenly the boy had looked up in concern, and then resigned wariness when he saw that Severus was okay.

“Severus!” Lily drew his attention away from the rather defeated-looking Gryffindor, “Thank Merlin you are alright. What happened? Where have you been? You’ve had us so worried.”

“I was in my dad’s quarters so that I could come to terms with what happened,” Severus spoke up, keeping his eyes on the other boy as he sat down next to the red head. Remus only swallowed nervously in response.

“What happened? Sirius has been suspended, and Remus and James won’t tell me anything beyond Sirius did something stupid and put you and Remus in danger because of it.”

Severus considered the Gryffindor sitting across from him, before turning to Lily, “Can you give us a minute?”

The girl frowned and looked ready to protest, but whatever she saw in his facial expression stopped her. Instead she nodded before standing up and going over to the bookshelves. The Ravenclaw turned back to the werewolf to see he was looking a little paler.

Softly, he spoke up, “I don’t blame you for what happened, Remus, and I am not going to discard our friendship because you can’t control it.”

Remus frowned at him, “You aren’t afraid of me? Of what you saw?”

“Oh, I am bloody terrified of what I saw,” he admitted, “But I know that that part of you only comes out during the full moon so I am not afraid of you, the boy sitting across from me right now.”

Severus watched as his friend’s frown deepened, clearly not understanding, “But how can you differentiate it like that? That part of me… the wolf, is always there. It doesn’t go away just because I look like myself.”

“But it’s not currently in control,” Severus pointed out, “You are, and I know you are perfectly safe to be around when the moon isn’t full. If you weren’t, you would have already attacked me sometime in the past five years that we have been friends.”

The Gryffindor shook his head in disbelief, “I don’t know how you can just accept me after seeing the worst part of me.”

The Ravenclaw snorted, “Believe me, I didn’t. It took me the entire day yesterday to come to terms with what happened. I still have a healthy fear of your… wolf, and will probably never go near you on the night of a full moon ever again.”

“Fair enough,” Remus smiled a small wry smile.

“Now, are you going to tell Lily? You know she’s not the type to let this sort of thing go and she isn’t prejudice.”

The Gryffindor swallowed nervously, “I… I don’t know.”

Severus narrowed his eyes and considered. Realizing that there was only one way to prove that she wasn’t prejudice, he looked over at the red head and motioned her over. Hopefully his dad wouldn’t be too upset with what he was about to do.

“Wait, what are you doing?”

The Ravenclaw ignored him for the moment, waiting for Lily to sit down.

“Are you guys going to tell me what is going on, now?” the girl asked them slightly indignantly, obviously not liking being kept out of the loop.

“In a moment. First, I have something I need to admit to you both. I probably should have done told you sooner, but I promised my dad I wouldn’t tell anyone because people tend to get a little fearful when they find out about it.”

Remus looked at him in confusion while Lily looked concerned, “Alright, whatever it is, you can trust us, Sev.”

Severus nodded to her, shoving down the nerves that had begun to creep up, and admitted, “I am a Parselmouth.”

Both Gryffindors stared at him wide-eyed in shock. Lily was the first to snap out of it, blinking before smiling.

“That’s so cool! So, you know everything Sayah has been hissing this whole time? Where is she by the way?”

“Yes, she makes quite the amusing comments when she feels like it. She’s in my room in Ravenclaw tower. I haven’t been up there to retrieve her since after classes Friday, but she’s fine on her own,” Severus nodded. He then deliberately asked, “So you’re not afraid of me, even though Parselmouths have been labelled as dark, and dangerous?”

Lily shook her head with a small frown, “No, of course not! You didn’t choose to be a Parselmouth. Sure you could be dangerous, but as long as your careful and control it as much as you can, then there’s nothing wrong with being one.”

Severus had to withhold a grin at the perfectly worded response, making his purpose for doing this much easier. He turned to Remus expectantly, looking at him pointedly. The boy cleared his throat slightly and nodded.

“I agree with Lily. I should know better than anyone else,” he said wryly. When the red head looked at him confused, he quietly told her, “I am a werewolf. Sirius got suspended because he tricked Severus into following a tunnel that leads to where I make my change during the full moon, and nearly got him killed. Luckily, Professor Peverell got there in time to distract my wolf and get Severus out of there.”

The girl stared in disbelief before her gazed darkened. She angrily hissed, “That idiot! He deserves much worse than a bloody suspension! He nearly got someone killed!”

Severus nodded in agreement but corrected her, “Two someone’s actually. If I had gotten killed, McGonagall would have had to report it and Remus would have been executed by the ministry.”

Lily’s gaze darkened further as she growled under her breath. He listened amused as she began to mutter all the ways that she planned to make sure he regretted his actions. The Ravenclaw looked over to Remus and saw the boy looked much more relaxed at the fact that Lily hadn’t even blinked an eye at his being a dark creature. He could relate somewhat to what he was feeling – Severus felt rather relieved to have told them about being a Parselmouth, which would allow him to speak freely with Sayah in front of them – though not nearly to the extent that Remus mush be feeling. At least this much good came out of the situation, he thought to himself, as he joined Lily’s planning how to get back at Black.

“Master Ragnok.”

“Lord Peverell,” the Goblin nodded in respect, “Shall I lead you to Ironclaw?”

Hadrian smirked slightly at the familiar greeting, “Not today. It seems I have business with Account Manager Sharptooth, if he is available.”

Ragnok raised an eyebrow before nodding and leaving his desk, “Follow me, please.”

The Defense Professor silently followed the teller out of the lobby of Gringotts. After a short walk, they stopped at Sharptooth’s office, only entering after the Account Manager called them in. Like Ironclaw’s office, there were weapons hung on the walls, and bookshelves filled with books, though it appeared that this goblin had more books than weapons compared to the other Account Manager. Behind the large desk in the center of the, sat an unfamiliar light-haired goblin. Ragnok said something quickly in Gobbledegook, causing the Account Manager to nod in a clear dismissal to the teller.

“It was a pleasure as always, my friend. May your gold flow,” Hadrian told him before he could leave.

The teller nodded with a familiar small smirk on his face, “And may your enemies tremble at your feet. Until next time, Hadrian.”

The wizard turned back to the unfamiliar goblin as Ragnok exited.

“It is a pleasure to meet you, Lord Peverell,” Sharptooth began respectfully, “But I am curious as to why you have asked to meet with me over your Account Manager.”

Without a word, Hadrian pulled out the letter he had received from Abraxas after his friend had passed on and passed it over to the goblin. The Account Manager’s eyes widened slightly upon reading it, before the neutral mask fell back into place; obviously Sharptooth had been told about the letter, but not who would be in possession of it. The goblin cast what Hadrian thought was a validity test before nodding at the results. The goblin pressed something on his desk, causing another goblin to enter the office. Sharptooth said something in Gobbledegook, and the other goblin nodded. The Account Manager turned back to Hadrian.

“Arnuk will take you down to the vault the late Lord Malfoy left for you,” he said as he passed the letter back to him.

The wizard took the letter and put it back in a pocket of his robes and nodded, “Thank you, Account Manager Sharptooth. May your gold flow.”

“And may your enemies tremble at your feet.”

As soon as the goblin had finished the formal farewell, Hadrian turned towards Arnuk, and followed the Goblin out of the office. As they made their way to the carts and down to the vault, he couldn’t help but wonder what Abraxas had left for him. If he was being honest, he had completely forgotten about his friend’s instructions to come to Gringotts with the letter until Lucius had mentioned his father allowing him out of his contract with Narcissa when his lover had brought lunch in January. However, between teaching and worrying about Sirius tricking his son into finding Moony, this was the first time he had been able to get to Gringotts since remembering (he figured the fact that he and Lucius were dating was more than enough to satisfy whatever conditions Abraxas placed on the vault). Since Lucius did not know about the mysterious vault and Hadrian didn’t know what was in said vault, he decided to find out what was inside alone.

Hadrian snapped out his thoughts when the cart stopped at the aforementioned vault, following the cart driver to its doors.

“Place your hand on the door. The vault will scan you magic and determine if you are to enter,” Argnuk told him respectfully.

The professor nodded and did as he was told. He felt the magic of the vault wash over him before retreating quickly. The doors to the vault creaked open slowly, allowing him inside. Hadrian tilted his head curiously when he saw a lone table with only a small box and two letters sitting on top. After walking closer, he saw that one letter was addressed to him and the other to Lucius, both written in Abraxas flowing handwriting. Hadrian ran a hand over his name reverently for a second, before swallowing the longing he felt – he missed his friend. Shaking the thoughts off, he turned opened up the letter. Inside were two pieces of parchment. On the first, there was a simple message:

Open the box.

Hadrian smiled at his friend’s antics but put the parchment down and picked up the box to do as directed. He gasped upon opening the lid. Inside were two matching silver rings, designed as two snakes entwined together******. One snake had small bright green emeralds for eyes while the other had grey diamonds, both colors matching his and Lucius’s eyes. On the top of the head of the snake with the green eyes was dark blue sapphire that matched the blue within the Peverell family crest, while the snake with the grey eyes had a dark green emerald that matched the Malfoy family crest. Hadrian swallowed as he realized the significance of the rings – Abraxas had got them bonding rings. Knowing there was going to be answers to the many questions that began floating in his head within the second piece of parchment, Hadrian picked up letter without setting the rings down.

Hadrian,

As I am sure you have guessed, the rings in the box are a set of bonding rings. They have been in my family the Malfoys moved to Great Britain from France but have not been used since commissioned for two of my ancestors. When I fell ill, I commissioned the Goblins to change the stones to better match you and my son, and then put them in the vault that I left for you, knowing I would not live long enough to give them to you or Lucius personally.

After you defeated the Dark Lord, I saw my son’s perceptions fall apart, and then finally change for the better. It did not escape me that soon after that, when you began your campaign against Dumbledore, Lucius became enamored you. For the next year, I watched him fall further and further for your charms without you realizing, until he was lost to his feelings and asked me to help him out of a marriage contract. Unable to deny him and sentence my son to a life of unhappiness, I agreed but despaired that he would have his heart broken through no fault of your own. But then, much to my surprise, you began to show a glimmer of interest after Lucius worked up the courage to politely begin a conversation with you. It gave me hope that both my son and my closest friend would be able to find happiness with each other.

It has been seven months since then and although nothing has progressed further between the two of you, as I lay in my bed, knowing I do not have much time left in this world, that hope has not been diminished. It is with that hope that I write this letter, intending to seal it within a vault that will not open unless you begin to develop similar feelings that my son has for you.

If you are reading this letter, everything I hoped for has occurred. I wish you and Lucius all the happiness in the world, and gift the rings I had altered for you as a symbol of my support of the growing love between you. Please give the letter addressed to my son on the day that you reveal the rings to him, with the instructions that he is not to open it until the day that you two bond as I am confident you will.

I gladly welcome you into the family, my friend,

Abraxas

Hadrian lowered the letter to gaze at the rings again. Abraxas had seen and approved of the feelings between him and Lucius before it had even crossed his mind. Not only that, he was confident enough in their falling in love and bonding, that he had this beautiful pair of rings altered for them. Hadrian swallowed thickly, at how much hope Abraxas had for them. It lifted a burden off his shoulders that he hadn’t realized he was holding, knowing that his closest friend approved of his relationship with the man’s son. Rereading the last paragraph in the letter, elation filled his heart; Abraxas had been right that love was growing between him and Lucius – every day he fell deeper in love with his lover, and he knew that the day he was irrevocably in love with the man was not far off. While they were not yet ready to bond, Hadrian was excited for the day that he would show the rings to Lucius and give the blonde the other letter, allowing the younger man to feel the happiness that he was feeling with the knowledge that Abraxas approved of their relationship.

Severus was sitting in his dad’s quarters, enjoying the piece and quiet as he worked on his homework. With the end of the year getting closer, the people in his year were frantically trying to make sure they knew everything they needed to know for their upcoming OWLs. Even Remus and Lily were a bit frantic, making Regulus very amused and Severus extremely exasperated. Honestly, they were acting like they hadn’t been paying attention all year despite the fact that they had some of the top grades of their year. He didn’t understand it – at least the seventh years had a little more decorum while they did the same in preparation for their NEWTs. Severus was studying for his OWLs as well, but he didn’t feel the need to run around like a chicken with their head cut off. So, he had left the rather crowded library, done dealing with people for the day, and decided to take advantage of his dad’s blissfully quiet quarters.

A few hours later, Severus looked up from the books and parchment he had strewed around him at the sound of the door opening, to see his dad entering the room. Hadrian raised an eyebrow at the organized chaos around him but didn’t surprised to see him. The man stepped around Severus’s things, and sat down in the chair with a tired sigh.

“Everything okay?” he asked.

His dad nodded, “Yeah, just the usual frantic tendency of fifth year Gryffindors. It seems nearly everyone of them needed me to confirm that they were getting the grades they needed for their hoped-for jobs, despite the career meetings I had with them at the beginning of the year.”

Severus snorted, “You should see how they are in the library.”

“I’m assuming that’s why you came down here?”

The Ravenclaw nodded, “It’s quiet, and even Lily and Remus were freaking out. It was getting on my nerves.”

Hadrian laughed, “I can’t wait to see how you handle you NEWTs compared to everyone else.”

Severus smiled, turning back to the book he had in his lap as he made notes on a separate piece of parchment. He continued his studying while his dad seemed content just to sit there with his eyes closed for a moment. The boy didn’t blame him – it was undoubtedly taxing, being the Head of Gryffindor.

“I just realized that I haven’t asked you what you want to do after Hogwarts recently. What did you decide on when you sat down for your career meeting with Professor Flitwick?”

Still focused on what he was writing, Severus absently responded, “I didn’t so much decide anything, as just tell Flitwick what I’ve wanted to do since you let me read nearly every single potions book in our library when I was six.”

“Oh? And what is that?”

“I want to own and run a potions shop,” he looked up and told his dad, wondering how he was going to respond. He knew his dad would always support him, but it was a risk like starting any business is. When his dad didn’t show any hint of surprise, Severus scrutinized him. He looked more like he was told exactly what he was expecting. But how was that possible, when Severus hadn’t shared his dream with anyone until now? “Why don’t you look surprised?”

Hadrian smiled and cryptically replied, “I had a feeling.”

Severus narrowed his eyes at his dad. He really wanted to know how his dad sometimes just knew things. First the Horcruxes, then Dumbledore, now his potions shop dream? Hadrian had to have a way to get this information and one day, when Severus thought he would get an answer, he was going to ask his dad.

“What did Professor Flitwick say when you told him?”

The Ravenclaw shook off his thoughts and smirked slightly, “He told me that I was more ambitious than some Slytherins, but with how good I am at potions, he thinks I will pull it off. He still made me come up with a backup plan just in case though.”

His dad chuckled at his exasperation, “Well, I have full confidence in your abilities.”

Severus beamed at his dad, enjoying the man’s praise. He turned back to his homework; his chest warmed with the fact that Hadrian had so much faith in him. Silence fell between them once more, but Severus enjoyed it and the knowledge that his dad was proud of him.

When Sirius returned to Hogwarts at the end of his suspension, he wasn’t sure what to expect. While at his grandparents, he hadn’t been allowed to owl his friends because his grandmother thought it would be distracting, but even if he had, he wasn’t sure if they would even have responded. When he had left, Remus and James were both extremely angry with him, and Peter was just following their lead as usual. But it had been two and a half months (he was returning just in time to take his OWLs), so surely their anger had diminished by now? He truly did regret what he had done after Melania had metaphorically beat it into his brain what could have happened – as much as he disliked Sniv–Peverell, he didn’t want the other boy dead, nor did he want Remus executed, and him sent to Azkaban. He had just wanted Sn–Peverell to stop snooping around; just because Peverell had convinced Remus to be his friend, didn’t mean he had the right to poke his long nose in Remus’s business. Sirius shook the thoughts away, knowing they would do him no good. His friends wouldn’t care for excuses.

Sirius was halfway to the Gryffindor Common room from where he had entered through the floo in McGonagall’s office, when he saw a sight he didn’t expect. Peverell was walking through the hallway, passing the way to the common room, in the general direction of the library, and James was walking towards Gryffindor tower from the library’s direction; the odd thing, however, was that James had nodded cordially – almost politely – at the Ravenclaw, and Peverell nodded back!

Did he land in some parallel dimension or something? How in the world had the interaction between the two change so much is such little time?

The Black heir broke out of his thoughts and swiftly walked over to his best friend when he realized that while he was standing their gaping, James had continued on to the common room.

“Prongs!” he called out before the boy could get too far away.

The other Gryffindor stopped and turned, smiling slightly when he saw him (he felt a pang when it wasn’t the usual wide grin that the boy usually greeted him with), “Hey, Padfoot. It’s good to see you back.”

“Yeah, good to be back,” Sirius responded dismissively to the pleasantries, moving on to what he really wanted to talk about, “Did I just hallucinate, or did I see you Peverell act almost… friendly?”

He felt wary when James stiffened slightly, but thankfully, the Potter heir didn’t become defensive saying slowly, “I wouldn’t call it friendly, but yes. Peverell and I have come to an understanding.”

“But why? How?”

“Because he is Remus’s friend, as I have repeated to you multiple times,” James told him irritatedly, “As for the how, I apologized for being an arse since I don’t want to keep pulling Remus between his friends.”

“You apologized?” Sirius ask neutrally, mind whirling.

“Yes. And if you want Remus to forgive you for what you did, you might want to try it.”

James began to turn away to continue to the tower, but Sirius stopped him, “Wait, James, you said you did it for Remus, but there has to be another reason.”

The other boy stopped and sighed but admitted, “I didn’t need another reason to do it, but I did have other motivations. I realized that everything we did to Peverell wasn’t going to get Lily’s attention like I hoped it would. I am hoping that fixing my error will. Now can we please go to the common room?”

Sirius nodded numbly as he considered what his friend said. He knew he needed to apologize to Peverell for nearly killing him, but apologizing him for everything? Surely everything they did wasn’t that bad. Peverell retaliated, for Merlin’s sake! But even as he thought that, their pranks filled his mind, and Sirius began to realize that there were quite a few that weren’t so harmless. He would need to think more about everything before he apologized – Sirius grimaced slightly, not liking admitting that he was wrong – to the Ravenclaw.

Hadrian was walking tiredly back to his quarters. Exams had finished and the train was leaving with the students tomorrow, meaning all that was left was to correct the a few more tests that weren’t OWLs or NEWTs (those would be corrected by the official examiners from the ministry), and tidy up his classroom, office, and lesson plans for the next year (which needed to be given to Minerva), and he would be able to go home with his son. He sighed, wishing he could just go home and sleep. As always, the end of the year was exhausting, but this year had been even worse because he had been working almost non-stop with Lucius on an idea for Creature Equality that he wanted to present to the Wizengamot next month. His lover had suggested they push it off a month so that he didn’t exhaust himself, but Hadrian wanted to make more progress for equality before the goblins became impatient and began breathing down his neck for him to work on his half of the bargain for them to destroy the Horcruxes they had found in the bank a few years ago. So, they had worked, and now Hadrian wanted nothing more than to go home and curl up in bed, preferably with Lucius. Hadrian sighed again, knowing it would be at least another week before he’d be able to do that.

So stuck in his thoughts, the Defense Professor almost missed the fact that two students were standing in an adjacent hallway. While this wasn’t atypical, the fact that it was Lily and James standing rather close together was. Usually Lily was standing arms-length away as she berated the boy for whatever prank he pulled on Severus – though that hadn’t in quite a while, now that James had stopped pranking.

Hadrian carefully moved so that he could see into the hallway without being seen, extremely curious about what was going on between the two. He watched as James said something that caused the red head to smile, before pulling something out of his robe pocket and handing it over. Lily opened it up, and whatever was inside made her smile wider. Hadrian’s eyebrows lifted in surprise when she leaned forward on her toes a bit, and placed a chaste kiss on James’s lips before quickly pulling away and walking away towards Severus, who Hadrian now noticed was waiting further down the hallway with an amused smirk on his face. His son said something that made Lily smack him lightly on the arm, making Severus smirk wider. Looking back at the Gryffindor boy, he was amused to see James was grinning dopily as he watched her walking away.

The professor turned to continue his way to his rooms, as he thought about what he saw. He had been extremely disappointed seeing the entirety of James’s attitude (and not just glimpses from Snape’s memories) when first seeing the boy that had become his father in his original timeline. However, over the past year, he had been rather proud to see the boy was growing up. The Potter heir was becoming the good man that Hadrian remembered people describing to him when they talked about his father. This then led to James finally being able to woo Lily. Hadrian was inordinately pleased to realize that his messing with time hadn’t changed his parents getting together; it was a comforting thought.

Remembering seeing Severus at the end of the hall, looking not at all bothered by Lily’s developing relationship with James (who Severus had apparently come to an understanding with, surprisingly), made him wonder a few things, however. Did Severus not hate James the way Snape had? Did his son love Lily as much (enough to betray a Dark Lord and spy on him) as Snape had? But most of all, he wondered if, perhaps, had he interpreted Snape’s love for Lily wrong? Had his bitter potions professor loved his mother like a sister the way Severus seemed to?

Hadrian felt oddly wrong-footed by these questions circling his brain that he knew he wouldn’t get answers to. But knowing he wasn’t going to be able to get answers, didn’t make the professor any less curious. He couldn’t help but wonder if things seemed different because his perspective changed, or if he truly changed things so drastically that things that had seemed irrevocable when he had first time traveled (like Snape’s love for Lily), ended up not being so unchangeable. Hadrian sighed, trying to leave the questions behind. After all, his life was in this time – the only thing that was in his original timeline now, were memories.

The twenty-nine-year-old shook the thoughts away, refocusing on what he had been doing before. He was going to get as much done as he could so he could go home, where Lucius would hopefully join him.

Lucius was grinning as he stepped through the floo, emerging in the sitting room of Peverell Cottage. Hadrian was smirking at him as he spelled the ashes of the two of them.

“You were brilliant!” he excitedly told the older man, not caring if he seemed like a kid in a candy story at that moment, “Did you see the look on Dumbledore’s face when he realized that he was literally the only one not convinced by your proposal? It was absolutely priceless. I am going to save that memory to watch for years.”

Hadrian smirked wider and corrected, “Our proposal. Just because I presented it, doesn’t mean it wasn’t any less yours too.”

The blonde waved the comment off, knowing that this step towards Creature Equality wouldn’t have been near as accepted if he had proposed it. Hadrian had everybody hanging on his every word – including him, and he helped create the proposal. Just remembering it, Lucius feel extremely proud and rather aroused. Smiling wider, Lucius moved closer to the raven, gently gripping the man’s chin in his hand to keep Hadrian facing him.

“You were brilliant,” Lucius softly repeated, before he pressed their lips together, kissing him deeply.

He felt his arousal growing when Hadrian moaned into his mouth, kissing back just as eagerly. The blonde placed his free hand on the small of his lover’s back, pulling them even closer together. Hadrian slipped a hand in his robes, rubbing at his chest through the white button up he had on in response.

Before he could do anything further the clearing of a throat broke them apart in surprise. Looking in the direction they had heard the voice, they saw Severus was standing in the doorway with an eyebrow raised imperiously. Glancing at his lover, Lucius saw the man was blushing furiously. No doubt, this is not how he wanted to tell his son that they were dating.

“It’s about time I can stop pretending that I didn’t know, but seriously? Did you think making out in front of the Floo was subtle?”

Lucius felt heat rising in his cheeks in embarrassment. It was his fault that they were in that position; he had just been so elated by their success and aroused at seeing his lover command the respect of the entire Wizengamot, that he had practically jumped his lover without thinking about who might be in the house.

“You knew?” Hadrian asked, breaking him out of his thoughts.

The blonde frowned, and repeated what Severus had said in his head. When the words registered, he looked at the sixteen-year-old in surprise. How had he found out? They had been really careful up until a minute ago.

Severus rolled his eyes, “Of course I did. You began acting oddly at the beginning of the school year, smiling at the oddest times, and then when we were at the Yule Ball, you were making doe eyes at each other. It wasn’t hard to put together.”

Lucius wrinkled his nose slightly. He did not make doe eyes at his lover. He remained completely composed like any Malfoy worth their salt would be able to. Glancing over, he saw Hadrian had a similar look on his face.

“Don’t even try to deny it. It was maddening to have to pretend I knew nothing with you looking at each other like that. I’m actually surprised nobody else noticed.”

Ignoring the slight to their subtlety skills, Lucius asked, “Why didn’t you tell us you knew?”

Severus shrugged slightly, “I figured you would tell me when you were ready. I didn’t expect to catch you making out in the middle of the sitting room, however.”

The twenty-two-year-old felt his cheeks warm again slightly in embarrassment, even as he had to smother a smile at the way the boy wrinkled his nose in disgust. Hadrian didn’t even try to hide his chuckled.

“Sorry about that, Sev. Our excitement from what happened at the Wizengamot got ahead of us.”

“Hold that thought, I want to know what happened, but before I do,” Severus turned to Lucius with a stern and, if he was being honest, slightly frightening look on his face. Merlin help any kids the boy used that face on, “You hurt him, and I will hex you until nobody could tell who you are before poisoning you with so many potions that not even the best healer would have any clue how to help you.”

Lucius swallowed, wondering where the young man learned how to be so terrifying, as he nodded solemnly and saying in an even but very genuinely truthful, “I promise I have no intentions to do so.”

Severus glared him from a moment longer but nodded in acceptance. After he did, they both turned to look at Hadrian, who was laughing silently in amusement, “I love you to, Sev, but I am pretty sure I am supposed to be the one threatening your partners.”

The Ravenclaw shrugged unapologetically before demanding, “What happened in the Wizengamot.”

“Would you like to see it? You will enjoy it much more if you do,” Lucius replied with a smirk.

Severus quickly agreed, and they moved their way towards the cottage’s library, where Hadrian’s pensieve was. As they did so, his lover twined his fingers with Lucius’s, looking at him with a small smile. While this had definitely not the way he had picture them telling Severus, the happiness that was practically radiating from Hadrian made it worth it. Hopefully, his lover would consent to them no longer hiding their relationship so he could show the world exactly who had claimed this wonderful man for himself.