Samhain
Time flies when you're having fun, eh?
Hadrian supposed that classes five days a week and the mountains of homework to complete on the weekends and in the evenings would cause time to pass by quicker than it ever had at home.
But it was the end of October now, the 31st in fact, and Hadrian really had no idea how time had flown by quite so fast.
He sighed. It hadn't been a bad day- Charms, History of Magic, Magical Theory and Flying Lessons. The classes had passed by easily, and he had even got to watch Weasley set his robes alight with the Incendio they had been practicing in Charms.
Of course, today wouldn't be easy. Hadrian didn't know if it would ever be easy. He loved his family, the Blacks, and he wouldn't change being raised by them for the world, but it was still the anniversary of his biological parents' murder. That was tough. Would they be mad that he didn't get along with his twin? Would they be disappointed that he was a Slytherin? Would they hate that if another war ever came into fruition, Hadrian would be on the very side they fought against?
He shook his head as he shifted up on his bed into a sitting position. It would be dinner in an hour and a half, and Hadrian was to attend the feast with the other Slytherins before returning to the dorms to pay respects to the dead- as should be done on Samhain. Fuck that muggle Halloween bullshit.
Hadrian had excused himself from the common room where his friends were under the guise of making potions notes, which he had already done, so he may as well revise them now. He had the time. Of course, no sooner than he had opened his notebook did the door open.
"Knock knock?" Theo said, with a small smile, "Hope I'm not disturbing your moping."
Hadrian rolled his eyes and gestured for Theo to sit beside him, "I'm not moping, I'm revising."
Theo shifted a bit beside him, "I- I'm not the best with these things, as I'm sure you know, but you're not alone here, y'know? It's okay to admit that today is a bit tough for you, it's tough for me too."
Hadrian closed his notebook and turned to sit facing his best friend, "Can- can I ask why? It's okay if you don't want to talk about it, though..."
"No, no, it's okay. If I'm going to tell anyone, it should be you. You know my parents are dead, yeah? That's why I live with Grandfather, obviously. It was an Order hit job. My parents were suspected Death Eaters, though not confirmed. They were abducted in September 1981 from Horizont Alley. Grandfather had taken me into Pilliwinkle's Playthings, to let me pick a toy out, and they waited outside because something seemed off. Someone cast a smokescreen spell, and when the smoke cleared they were gone. Never to be seen alive again."
Theo stopped, choking up slightly, and Hadrian pulled Theo towards him so they were both lying on his bed, with Hadrian holding Theo.
Theo gave him a half smile before clearing his throat and continuing, "Their bodies were found by one of our house elves on Halloween morning, left just outside the ward line of the manor. It was clear they had been tortured, not only with magic, and we just knew it was the Order. They had tried this before, you see, with the Averys. That had failed."
Hadrian pulled Theo closer, "Thank you for telling me, Theo. We'll avenge them, one day."
"We will. One day soon."
The boys lay there in silence for a short while, soon drifting into sleep.
And if Blaise put his camera to good use when he came into the dorm to get them for the feast, well, Hadrian and Theo didn't need to know that yet.
•••
The feast was not any different than any other Hogwarts meal, really. If you ignored the mountains of sweets. Probably a bad idea to give teenagers and pre-teens access to a seemingly unlimited amount of sugary food on a school night, but Dumbledore was hardly a man of wise decisions. Draco seemed to be allowing his sweet tooth to get the better of him, much to Daphne's absolute dismay in the seat beside him. Last Hadrian had focused into that conversation, Draco was vibrating with excitement listing off every fact he knew about the Nimbus 2000 broom. Daphne's eye was twitching, and Theo was placing bets with Blaise on how long it would take for her to hex him. Hadrian had guessed another three and a half minutes.
Hadrian scanned the head table, out of habit. Professors Snape, Flitwick, Vector, Sinistra, Kettleburn and Babbling didn't look particularly impressed with the Halloween celebrations. Dumbledore, on the other hand, looked like a kid in a candy store, with his garish bright green robes covered in moving images of sweets. Even Professor McGonagall looked particularly put off by that. Professor Quirrell's spot was empty.
Hadrian frowned, and tapped Theo, who was collecting a Galleon off Blaise as his bet was correct- it had taken Daphne a mere two minutes to hit Draco with a stinging hex.
"The head table," he whispered, with a tilt of his head, "Quirrell's the only teacher missing. Think it could mean something?"
"Definitely something up with him," Theo whispered back, "Maybe he's just so rigorously devoted to the Old Ways that he couldn’t even bare to attend this feast?"
"I don't know, I asked Sirius in one of our mirror calls and he said Quirrell is several years younger than him, and was a fourth year Ravenclaw when the Dark Lord fell. He believes Quirrell was a strictly light wizard who taught muggle studies until this year. When I mentioned the stutter, he said that's definitely new. He told me it's best not to look into it myself."
"His magic doesn't feel fully light? It feels like there's something suppressed. Hold on, actually..." Theo frowned now, "Fourth year in 1981... that would make him twenty four now? Salazar, he doesn't look it."
Hadrian paused in thought, "Isn't premature aging a sign of possession? Your life force is siphoned off to support the possessor, which can age you. Right?"
Theo looked at Hadrian with wide eyes, "Merlin. You're right."
"Well, I guess that's that mystery solved. Time to mind our own business."
"Unless the opportunity arises for blackmail," Theo added.
"If he's actually being possessed, I don't fancy finding out who by, Theo."
Theo opened his mouth to protest, but was cut off when the doors to the Great Hall flew open. Quirrell was making a dramatic appearance it seems.
He staggered a few steps into the hall, seemingly in shock.
"Troll in the dungeons!" he called, "Just thought you ought to know!"
And with that, he fell to the ground, unconscious.
Chaos broke out in the hall, people panicking about the danger and how this could possibly have happened. Hadrian and Theo narrowed their eyes at the form of their professor on the floor before looking back at each other.
There's no way their Defence professor should be in any way incapable of defeating a singular troll. Especially when trolls were his specialty. This was definitely a coverup.
Professor McGonagall fired a series of loud cracking sounds into the air with the tip of her wand, calling for order.
"Thank you, Minerva," Dumbledore said, "Prefects, accompany all students back to your common rooms. Everyone keep your wands in hand."
"Move in formation," Professor McGonagall added, with what may have been a glare to Dumbledore, "Those of you who are adequate in duelling and shield charms, surround those who aren't. Younger years in the middle, older years in the front and back."
"Yes yes, wise suggestion Minerva. Now, off you all go. Minerva, Severus, Filius, with me. Someone please accompany Quirinus to Poppy in the hospital wing, and the rest of the staff split into groups to search."
"If I may, Headmaster," Severus cut in, his tone icy, "The Slytherin common room is in the dungeons. With the troll."
"As is the Hufflepuff common room!" Professor Sprout added, furious.
"I'm sure we will have located the troll before the students enter the dungeons," Dumbledore said, with that awful twinkling look in his eyes.
"I am not risking the lives of my students!" Severus all but snarled, "Slytherins, stay put in the Great Hall. I shall fetch you when the troll has been dealt with."
"Hufflepuffs, remain here also," Professor Sprout called.
"Very well. Minerva, Filius, are all your students accounted for?" Dumbledore asked.
"I believe so-" Professor McGonagall began.
"No, Professor!" A voice from the Gryffindor table called. A Weasley, one of the older ones. Percy, perhaps?"
"Who is missing? Where are they?" Professor McGonagall said, quite pale.
"Hermione Granger, Professor. First year. Apparently she was upset about something," Weasley said, with a gesture towards his brother and Charlus, "And decided to spend the feast in the first floor girl's bathrooms."
"Ten points from Gryffindor each, Mr Potter, Mr Weasley," Professor McGonagall snapped.
"Thank you for informing us, Mr Weasley," Dumbledore said lightly, but his eyes had lost their trademark twinkle and he was looking at Charlus with barely concealed disappointment, "We shall search for Miss Granger first. Gryffindor and Ravenclaw prefects, lead your housemates back to your dorms."
"I shall ward the door after we leave," Severus said quietly to the Slytherin table, "No one goes in or out until I lift the wards myself. In the very unlikely event of a troll making it's way here anyway, I permit any spell that does not fall into the Dark category. Go for the eyes, and then the head."
There was a chorus of 'yes professor.' Seemingly satisfied, Severus nodded before turning and leaving the room.
Hadrian turned to his fellow first years, who seemed understandably panicked. They seemed to be looking to him. He was somewhat pleased with that, despite the current situation. It seems that he had been deemed the first year leader.
Hadrian hadn't paid too much attention to Slytherin house politics thus far, but year leaders were to be declared by the 1st of November- voted for via slips of parchment into a charmed box to tally totals. He supposed he should expect his name to be picked tomorrow morning before breakfast. That was certainly a benefit- being able to have a say in the runnings of the house. Anyway, Hadrian mentally shook himself, back to the issue at hand.
"Everyone okay?" he asked.
"You don't look too surprised by this," Millicent asked curiously.
Hadrian looked for the telltale shimmer of a silencing ward around the Slytherin table. When he noticed it, only then did he speak.
"Theo and I have sensed something off with Professor Quirrell since our first lesson, this troll situation is weird."
"You've noticed too?" asked Corvus from further up the table, "I thought mother and father had just made me paranoid."
"Theo can sense magic better than most of us, he really confirmed my suspicions," Hadrian said gesturing towards his friend.
Theo cleared his throat, "Quirrell's magic feels light, but only on a surface level. Beneath that there is something undeniably darker. I haven't been close enough to tell if the darker feeling is his own suppressed magic, or that of another."
"You think it might be possession?" asked Marcus Flint, the fifth year Prefect.
"Quirrell is only twenty four, did you know that?" Hadrian asked, "He certainly doesn't look it. Possession can cause premature aging as the life force of the host is siphoned off to sustain the possessor."
There was a chorus of murmurs across the table, largely in agreement.
"Is no one going to question why a first year can recognise possession?" asked a rather bewildered third year that Hadrian knew the twins were friends with. Adrian Pucey, his mind supplied.
"He'll be the Lord of the Ancient and Most Noble House of Black one day, Adrian," Corvus said, with a smirk, "We prepare ourselves for anything. Even I was taught that, and I'm a Lestrange."
Pucey ducked his head down, embarrassed. Hadrian wasn't sure why, it was a pretty good question.
"Back to the original point," Lucian Bole, a fourth year, said, "Who in the name of Merlin is possessing our Defence teacher?"
"That," Hadrian drawled, "Is not something I wish to find out."
"Plausible deniability," Theo added, "Act as normal, don't make eye contact, pretend you suspect nothing. The Defence position’s cursed, remember? We’ll find out at the end of the year.”
Hadrian nodded at Theo, grinning.
"What about the troll?" Flint asked.
Gemma Farley, the other fifth year prefect rolled her eyes, "Presumably a distraction of some sort."
"Could it be something to do with the third floor corridor?" Alexander asked. The majority of the table turned to look at him intently. He blushed, looking down at the table before continuing, "Dumbledore's words from the welcoming feast- out of bounds for everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death."
"Alexander, you genius!" Blaise exclaimed.
"Wonder what Dumbledore's hiding up there?" Draco mused.
"Nothing we wish to find out," Corvus said, with a pointed warning look to Draco.
"There's a cerberus," Fred said, casually.
"Guarding a trap door," George added.
Corvus looked moments away from slamming his head off the table or committing mass murder. Everyone else stared at the Weasley twins in disbelief.
"Right," said Duncan Selwyn, Slytherin Head Boy, clasping his hands together and clearing his throat, "That's that mystery solved. No one is going near the third floor corridor or looking any further into this shady business, or I'll alert Professor Snape and he will make that Cerberus look like a teddy bear."
"Fair," Hadrian muttered with a shrug.
The Slytherins descended into normal chatter after that, some still discussing the troll and Professor Quirrell, but mostly just gossip and school work. After about a further twenty minutes, Severus and Professor Sprout returned, both looking quite frazzled. Someone dropped the silencing ward around the Slytherin table.
"Is it safe now, Professors?" Selwyn asked.
"Yes, the troll has been killed," Professor Sprout said, grimly.
"Killed?" A Hufflepuff asked, "Not subdued and moved?"
"The troll-" Severus began.
"Severus," Professor Sprout cut in.
"Pomona, it is really best they hear from us. Minerva will be telling the Gryffindors, regardless of what Albus thinks is best, and I'd rather my students hear it from me than listen to some over-dramatised hero-worshipping story from a Gryffindor."
Professor Sprout sighed, "Very well."
"As I was saying," Severus said, addressing both Houses, "The troll found Miss Granger in the first floor bathrooms. Mr Potter and Mr Weasley tried to rectify their wrongdoings by sneaking away from Gryffindor tower to take on the troll but were unsuccessful. Both boys have sustained broken bones and concussions and are in the hospital wing but will leave within the next few days. Miss Granger is lucky to be alive, and is being transported to the Creature-Induced Injuries ward at St Mungos as we speak. It will likely take several months before she is able to return to school, if at all. The troll was killed rather than merely subdued due to the nature of Miss Granger's injuries."
There were several shocked gasps, mostly from the Hufflepuffs.
"What happened to Granger? How bad is it?" came another voice from the Hufflepuff table.
"Mountain trolls are incredibly violent creatures that often carry clubs. Blunt force trauma seems to be what they do best. They also have a penchant for human flesh. Work it out yourself, Mr Dobbin," Severus said.
Professor Sprout sighed at the noises of horror, "Whilst he may not have said it the kindest, Professor Snape is correct. Miss Granger has sustained very serious injuries. Keep her in your thoughts. Now, back to the common rooms we go. Morning classes are cancelled tomorrow, afternoon classes are not. The first floor girls toilets are out of bounds until the day after tomorrow."
Hadrian was shocked, really. He hadn't quite expected it to be that bad.
"You alright?" Draco asked, falling into step beside Hadrian and Theo as they headed back to the common room with the rest of their House.
"Just a bit grim, isn't it? She may be an annoying mudblood, but I don't think anyone our age should be mauled by a troll."
"I can't believe Professor Snape told us the beast tried to eat her. Alive," Alexander said with a shiver, looking over his shoulder from where he walked between Blaise and Daphne, "I doubt McGonagall's telling the Gryffindors that."
"I can't believe my idiot brother is the reason Granger wasn't even at the feast!" Hadrian exclaimed.
"I heard about that earlier," Pansy chimed in, "Weasley made her cry after Flying earlier, called her an insufferable know it all and said it was no wonder she had no friends in any house. Potter said he had a point. She ran off to the first floor bathrooms, according to Parvati, and wouldn't come out."
Hadrian sighed.
"You think Dumbledore will let his golden boy get away with bullying if it resulted in near death?" Draco asked.
"Obviously," Theo said.
Hadrian sighed harder.
•••
Father,
I write to you on Samhain night with well wishes, as I know this day will never be easy for you. I myself was struggling too, thinking of all the 'What Ifs' earlier on until I spoke with Theo. It helped a lot.
Unfortunately, I do not only write to wish you well. This letter is warded, obviously. I know I could have mirror called, but I wish for you to inform the family, as something tells me Dumbledore is unlikely to inform all the parents.
Remember how I discussed with you my observation that something is off with Professor Quirrell? Well, he was very late to the feast. When he arrived, he announced the presence of a troll in the dungeons, and passed out. The troll has severely injured a mudblood student, one Hermione Granger, as well as mildly injured Charlus and the youngest Weasley son. From what I hear, those two upset Granger to the point she locked herself in the bathroom to cry, missing the feast and the warning about the troll. Attempting to right their wrongs, they broke off from the rest of Gryffindor house to try to take the troll on themselves, and failed.
We were warned at the beginning of the school year that the third floor corridor on the right hand side is out of bounds to those who do not wish to meet a painful end. Thanks to the observations of Fred and George Weasley, we are aware that a Cerberus is being held in there, guarding a trap door. Slytherin House is in agreement that Professor Quirrell is being possessed (The Nott's are particularly tuned in to sensing magic- Quirrell's has a distinctly dark layer suppressed under the light, according to Theo) and that the troll was a distraction so he could attempt to retrieve whatever Dumbledore has hidden. Obviously, none of us are going to look into this, but you should be made aware. It makes me question, if students can work this out- why can't Dumbledore?
Perhaps the Prophet would be interested to hear about the incident regarding the troll? I don't believe Dumbledore's name has been trailed through the mud quite enough in recent months.
Much love to everyone,
Hadrian