Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Chapter One

“The beginning is the most important part of the work.”

― Plato, The Republic

“I forgot to mention, sneak attacks on Hadrian are not conducive if there is a fire breathing lady dragon nearby,” Rodolphus let him know well after the fact.

Sirius Black went hopping, skipping and jumping into the nearby pond with a resounding splash, sending Rodolphus doubling over. He dragged his water logged self out as Hadrian let out an ear splitting whistle that sent everyone cringing with their hands to their ears.

“Oh, now you tell me!” Sirius Black grumbled as he shook himself off like a dog and forgot he was now in possession of a brand new wand made of holly and phoenix feather. Funnily enough, the wand was one that Hadrian had tried and almost walked away with. Mr. Ollivander had been delighted to serve Sirius Black with a new and much more fitting wand.

Sirius was a lot like Rodolphus, he didn’t like to be in public right now due to all the attention. His trial and all the truths coming out were still fresh, and some people didn’t know when to leave well enough alone.

Rodolphus merely smiled and brought his shoulders up at Sirius’ grumble. Astra stopped her infernal chase and turned at the whistle. Her wing span could easily take out a building now and her gale speed was phenomenal. She was sleek and beautiful, her scales gleamed the darkest of greens, almost black, with some browns and other tones mixed throughout. She had spikes along the top of her head that looked like an elegant crown. She had some more spikes along her tail that she could flatten when she was in mid-air. Her long neck stretched out when she reached Hadrian.

“Great job, Astra!” He cooed, making the dragon let out a cheerful roar. “You keep them on their toes.” He fearlessly kissed her between her nostrils, paying no mind to how close he was to her sharp teeth. She did nothing more but puff a tiny trail of smoke out at him. She was the most well controlled dragon that anyone had ever seen, unless you decided to pick on Hadrian. She kind of saw things in black and white. All Astra had seen and understood was Sirius attacking Hadrian, not playing.

“I can’t believe he stole a dragon at eleven years old.”

“You meet the ‘puppies’ yet?”

“I have. I think I still have slobber in places that I can’t reach with a sponge.”

Early mornings were some of the most beautiful times of day around Rookwood Estate. Especially so in the middle of summer when the night sky gave way to a shade of baby blue and the sun danced and bounced off the fields of barley in the distance. The old Scottish style Manor glistened handsomely when the sun rose.

Hadrian could smell the barley starting to really ripen thanks to the heat. It wouldn’t be long before late summers and early autumn turned it a smooth brown. Hadrian admitted to missing autumn at the estate. It was his favorite season of all, seeing the leaves change and fall to the ground. Some of the trees would transform into varying rich colors of red, orange, and purple. It was like a flame across the mountainside that the estate was hugged into. Hadrian could walk outside at any time during the fall and taste the ripened barley on his tongue. It had an earthy fresh tang to it. It was close to wheat but richer.

“Hadrian’s friends almost became food when they shot a bludger at him a couple years ago.”

“I did notice she seemed to like the Pitch you have.”

“Good to know that my efforts aren’t wasted during the days that Hadrian and the boys aren’t here. She flies through them every morning, and Augustus can’t help but come out with coffee to observe her.”

Sirius had been traveling back and forth between Rookwood Estate and Malfoy Manor. Narcissa had insisted on overseeing his mental healthcare and was always with him when they went to St. Mungo’s for his sessions. He was also in multiple meetings at Gringotts these days. He always had a lawyer by his side throughout everything.

As with everything new, some awkwardness and adjustments were natural Hadrian was coming to learn. Sirius had a lot of damage, mental and emotional, that could not be repaired by cheeky dragons, laughter, and the truth. Adjustments took time. For so long, Sirius had turned away from his blood and ancestry, and old habits were not easy to lose. He was still trying to reconcile that James was dead and his wife unfeeling and uncaring, having moved on to the one person that cared for nothing but his own interests. He also had to re-learn that Hadrian was Hadrian Rookwood and not Harry Potter. It was this that was the hardest adjustment, but he was making progress.

Hadrian thought maybe Professor Lupin could help Sirius in his transition, but Sirius seemed hesitant on going forward on that front even when Hadrian would prod him to write Professor Lupin. His dad gave permission for the Professor to come to Rookwood Estate, but Sirius had shaken his head over it.

Stubborn Gryffindors. It was all Hadrian could think.

For so long he had taught himself to hate everyone Dark and that mindset would not be easily unraveled. It helped that Narcissa had stepped up, but Sirius was having hard a time reconciling Lucius Malfoy. He blamed Lucius and Bellatrix for giving into Riddle and dragging Narcissa through a mess that she didn’t deserve to be in.

However, Bellatrix was still in Azkaban and so Lucius had become his side-eyed target for the first few weeks until he began to calm down and reorient himself with reality. Hadrian suspected that he was still in the alternate universe of 1980 rather than 1994. His growth was stunted after all, the dementors and Azkaban made sure of that.

However, Sirius was if nothing else a practical person when he wanted to be. If he saw with his own eyes then reconciliation would come more naturally. He spent time with Draco and Hadrian, much preferring them to the others. He had not met any of the other fathers of Hadrian’s friends yet. Well not outside of seeing them during his Wizengamot trial in June. He didn’t really want to.

Augustus Rookwood was not hard for Sirius to come to terms with, but that wasn’t surprising. His dad was a brilliant genius who understood the world better than most people ever would. His father’s balancing temperament on Light and Dark helped Sirius to see that not everyone was an Extremist. Rodolphus could still be a bit forceful in that regard and so could the others. Augustus was a sobering man and he had a good effect on Sirius.

What did surprise Hadrian was how friendly Sirius was with Rodolphus even given the man’s darker nature. He had even been sorry that Rabastan had to die because of his bitch cousin, Bellatrix.

Hadrian learned that before Hogwarts, Sirius had been good friends with Rodolphus and Rabastan. As children all three of them used to cause mayhem at charity balls, pranking and embarrassing their families with all the pleasure they could get. But once school started everything changed, and Rodolphus and Rabastan soon became enemies next to Bellatrix Black.

It was all complicated, Hadrian didn’t know details, but Rodolphus and Sirius seemed to get on well now; at least from what Hadrian had seen. He hoped they weren’t pretending for his sake.

It didn’t take long before the malnourishment Sirius had been dealing with started getting corrected with good meals and even some physical therapy to help with the deteriorating muscles that he’d suffered while entombed. His hair had been cut so that it rested curly and wild on his shoulders. Sometimes it was in a low tail at the nape of his neck. He was still thin, but his face had lost some gauntness. Unlike Augustus who loved his beard most of the time, Sirius had completely shaved all his facial hair. You could see the definition coming back in his face, that smooth elegant handsomeness that Pureblood genetics created in the cheeks and chin.

His eyes, that familiar Black family gray, were starting to shine, but they still had a hollowness that might never leave him. All in all for a man who had been submerged into hell itself, he was as sane as any man could be. He had his days. Sometimes, he would sit in Hadrian’s personal lounge with all the floor to ceiling windows and soft earthy colors. Just staring. Sometimes he’d stare at nothing. He’d go for long periods without moving and even the grandfather clock couldn’t startle him with its chiming. But when Hadrian was close, Sirius would snap awake and his eyes would glitter like a mischievous child. He would break out into a smile that looked natural. He was still seeing a Healer to fix his teeth from the damage, but at least his smile was pretty.

Hadrian used his wand to let out colorful streamers into the air causing Astra to go flying up, wings flattening to her body. She swirled her sleek figure in a perfect copy of the streamers’ movements. Sirius laughed and clapped joyously. Fresh air and warm sunlight was probably Sirius’ best ally in recovery out of everything.

Hadrian’s fourteenth birthday had passed a few days ago, and all his friends except for Cassius and Marcus had come out for it. Unfortunately Cassius and Marcus were in Texas again. They would be coming home in a couple of days though so that they could all attend the Quidditch World Cup together.

His dad was with Lord Lucius Malfoy securing their lodgings on the campgrounds in the forest that they were to be staying at for a couple of days for the Quidditch World Cup. With a high tier sponsorship and good names tossed around, they had also managed to procure prime seats in the top box for the match.

None of their mothers were going to be in attendance. Narcissa, Susanna, and Zenyatta had no interest in Quidditch, nor did Angellica Flint or Rosalie Nott. Tatiana Montegue, Ellyn Higgs, and Marguerite Pucey, despite liking Quidditich, agreed to stay back with the others and support their activity. All of them would be hosting a Ladies Supper with some ambassadors coming in from various parts of Europe. The British Minister’s and Bulgarian Minister’s wives were attending. Ireland’s Minister’s wife had declined as she was a Quidditch fan and wanted to see the game.

Hadrian was so glad that none of them would be a part of that. He had no taste for what was in the end going to be a gossip and rumor party. Lucius Malfoy had asked Narcissa to work on whittling down the Minister’s wife for some things that they had going forward in the Wizengamot. Politics.

Hadrian would be starting his education in politics next year when he was fifteen. Augustus wanted him to prepare early for it. Cassius, Marcus, and Adrian would be joining their fathers in their duties more often once school let out. All of their fathers had decided to wait until the boys finished Hogwarts before requiring them to take on any Heir duties. They had still been studying the current laws and various policies that their fathers knew were being discussed in Wizengamot sessions since last year in order to prepare for when they leave Hogwarts next year. Marcus would rather focus on Ancient Runes, but he was really good at spotting issues in budgets and ledgers. Adrian was looking forward to taking over management of the Pucey Greenhouses, Albert had told him that they would be under his purview upon graduation. Cassius wasn’t sure what he wanted to do yet, but was having better luck understanding and following all of the political maneuvers than Marcus and Adrian were.

Hadrian wasn’t looking forward to all that because he would have to reveal the Potter part of him for it. He wasn’t ready for the world to know that he was formerly a Potter. If he could, he would choose to have nothing to do with it. But securing the Potter seat on the Wizengamot, which had been left vacant since his father died, for the Dark was extremely important. That change along with Sirius officially claiming the Black title that Sirius now held in his hands was extremely important, they could really start to push things through.

Politics, thankfully, were not important currently in Hadrian’s fourteen year old busy life. He had other things to worry about like his friends and the upcoming Quidditch World Cup. He didn’t care about the Ministry, besides who to avoid, and adulting, that didn’t have to do with sex - he liked learning more about that.

Astra went flying off over the trees and Hadrian smiled as he made his way back to the house. His French braid flapped back and forth behind him. Seeing his friends the other day for his birthday reminded him that he was now the second shortest. Draco had grown one inch over him since the start of summer. Hadrian had been taller at the end of the semester but Narcissa had to be feeding that boy something to have him shoot up so quickly in just a few weeks. Theo seemed to have frozen a bit below Hadrian. Both were really lanky and skinny, but Hadrian was more petite overall. Blaise was ridiculous, passing up his year mates to meet Graham in height. Adrian was still Hadrian’s height, so he didn’t feel bad about it at all. Adrian wasn’t so happy about it though. He was going to be the smallest seventh year, but all Pucey lords were on the shorter side. His genetics were working against him. For Hadrian this did mean that he could still get into places that others might not be able to. He’d never worried about height all that much. He was proud of whatever he came to be.

“Wait - is she still-?” Sirius leaned forward, eyes glittering. Something moved along Hadrian’s shoulder blade.

Hadrian grinned and glanced to his shoulder. “Dora?”

A cute fleshy duck looking bill poked out from underneath Hadrian’s tunic followed by a pair of round dark eyes before golden fur showed itself. Hadrian reached over and tickled the top of her head. She let out a ‘chew’ noise.

Dora was his newest pet. A niffler and, unlike Phoebe, Dora went everywhere with him. She liked to hide in his clothes. He’d trained her not to go after every shiny bauble she saw. He gave her her very own den in his room, but she still liked to cuddle with Hadrian. Sometimes she slept in his hair or on his chest at night. It might become a problem when he slept with his friends again, but during summer she officially took the place of his stuffed animals as his sleeping companion. She loved belly rubs and treats that were shaped like gold nuggets. Nifflers were vegetarian creatures and required a healthy diet of vegetables and some fruits. Meat would make a niffler ill because their bodies could not handle it.

She was about the size of his hand, still just a baby. Nifflers grew slowly and she would never be that big. They were small and the females were smaller but chubbier than the males. She would have some real strong nails if Hadrian didn’t keep them trimmed down. His dad also showed him a good spell that prevented the nails from cutting into his skin altogether, but still let her climb him. Nifflers were very dextrous after all. Hadrian would never forget the shriek from Rodolphus on that first night when he lifted his silver spoon, and Dora, just a tiny fuzzy baby, had leaped to him in her excitement. Augustus said he’d never laughed so hard. Hadrian had been planning on showing them as a surprise, but Dora had other ideas. Hadrian had started keeping a little pouch on his belt so that she could climb down inside and take a nap. She knew how to open it and close it back. She was not a dumb creature after all, nifflers were incredibly crafty.

Sirius made a noise. “That is so bloody adorable!” His eyes shined in the summer sun.

“You know, Professors are supposed to send a letter to the parents asking if they can gift a student a creature, not just hand them over,” Rodolphus grumbled as Dora blew her bill-like mouth at him with a vibrating noise that sounded like blowing a raspberry. Hadrian and Sirius snickered and Rodolphus rolled his eyes. “Great, another one with a personality,” he drawled.

“Like that man is a proper professor,” Augustus hummed quietly. “No teaching credentials at all.”

“Oh come on, Dolphy, you know you love her. I saw you snuggle her,” Hadrian accused before turning to his dad. “He might not be a proper professor, but he does know a lot about creatures.”

“Only because she would have crawled up my trouser leg otherwise.” Rodolphus grumbled.

“That’s why you should wear the ones I wear, they are always in fashion and nothing can get into them,” said Hadrian with a smirk. He stuck out his leg to show his shiny black boots riding up to his slim calves. His black skin tight trousers, that left no room for imagination, continued up from the boots over his legs to his subtly meatier thighs, crotch, slim hips, and arse. His arse recently got a lot of praise from his friends and most notably Blaise Zabini. His loose white tunic with red and silver threading settled softly over his trousers.

“Yeah, nothing can get into them,” Rodolphus repeated. “I don’t have the arse that you can rock, precious. Your dad has a nice arse though.”

Hadrian rolled his eyes and Sirius burst out laughing even further as he scooped Hadrian up and spun him around. He liked to do this from time to time when he became overly excited about something or nothing at all. It was like a burst of childlike excitement coming over him from nowhere. “I guess it’s important to have a nice arse in the world, at least Blaise tells me that.”

On the evening of August seventh, the lack of moon made the stars at night bigger and brighter than ever. Hadrian would have loved to have been outside flying Astra, but Sirius had other ideas. A lavish supper was planned and Sirius brought the Malfoy family with him. He didn’t say why to Augustus, but Augustus didn’t mind instructing the house-elves to place extra dinner settings. Hadrian didn’t mind the extra guests either.

During dinner he and Draco entertained themselves by comparing the two World Cup teams and discussing how they thought the game would go. Draco kept insisting that Ireland would have a clean victory by number of goals scored but also by catching the Snitch. Hadrian wasn’t so sure. Ireland had a lot of good players, but their best player retired last year after getting hit one too many times by Bludgers to her arms. The Chaser just couldn’t hold and throw a Quaffle like she used to.

“I haven’t seen anything from either Seekers, and that’ll be important,” said Hadrian. “Marcus however says that Bulgaria has managed to snag one of the youngest Seekers in over a hundred years. So that’s one to watch.”

“But Ireland has a fleet of Firebolts,” Draco considered aloud.

Hadrian smiled. “You know as well as I do that the broom doesn’t always make the team. Remember that Tornados’ bloke that flew on a Shooting Star to make a point?”

Draco laughed. “Yeah, I’ll never forget that. Everyone thought he was mad!”

“Granted, he was playing Keeper, and their position isn’t as important when it comes to broom speed as Chaser and Seeker, but he still managed to blow out the other team by catching every single Quaffle.”

“Might have helped that one of the Chasers had lost their arm the night previous in a practice gone wrong. I’m impressed he bothered to play at all.” He shook his head. “I’m surprised you know all this.”

“Marcus doesn’t let us forget things,” Hadrian grinned at this. “Whether we want to or not.” Just because he didn’t play did not mean he didn't enjoy watching it or listening to Marcus. Most of the time.

As everyone was finishing up dinner and their pudding Sirius stood to make an announcement. “I know that rituals are currently banned and that there is no official ritual room here. However, I would like to perform a ritual tonight that only requires witnesses and the new moon outside. I have asked the Malfoys here tonight to be witness alongside the Rookwoods.”

Hadrian turned to look at his father but saw no recognition in his face. Looking around the table, none of them knew what Sirius was up to.

“The Most Ancient and Noble House of Malfoy would be happy to bear witness, Lord Black.” Lucius nodded his head formally to Sirius.

“The Most Ancient and Noble House of Rookwood would be happy to bear witness as well.” Augustus nodded. This was the first time Hadrian had heard his dad use such proper phrasing. He knew they were one of Britain’s Most Ancient and Noble Houses, as were the Flints and Lestranges, but it was really rare for the title to be used in everyday conversation. He knew that the Potters had only been a Distinguished House by the time James died and that the Notts had fallen from Most Distinguished to Distinguished when Nott Snr lost so much in his investments. At least none of them were like the Weasleys who lost all titles to their name. He didn’t fully understand how titles were given just yet, but he knew that Lord Montague had succeeded in gaining the Distinguished title for their family despite only moving here during his school years. Oberon’s father had made great investments into the Ministry and with Gringotts that saw them rise in the ranks quickly. It wasn’t all about who had the most money, but also the kinds of services performed for their community. Cassius and Draco were much better at keeping track of that than Hadrian. “Shall we begin?”

So clear and beautiful, Hadrian thought as he looked at the night sky. Even better than at Hogwarts. He loved Hogwarts, but it was a school. Rookwood Estate was home. A warm breeze ruffled the robe he wore. In the distance you could just make out the sounds of the sleepy highland cows and some of their newly born calves fussing.

Sirius led them all outside and through the gardens towards the Quidditch Pitch. Hadrian didn’t know where his various pets ended up, but the Pitch was currently empty. Dora was tucked away into one of his pockets. Once they were all out in the open, Sirius directed them all where to stand. He kept fussing at things: checking the sky and position of the stars, asking people to shift a little this way or back up a step, and even asked Narcissa and Lucius to switch places.

Finally he seemed happy with the arrangement. Directly across from Sirius, at the southernmost point of the group, stood Narcissa. Half way between them, at east and west, were Hadrian and Draco. Rodolphus was asked to stand between Draco and Narcissa but two steps back. Lucius and Augustus stood between Hadrian and Sirius, three steps back. It was a peculiar arrangement and not one Hadrian had seen in any of his dad’s books. He didn’t have a lot of knowledge of rituals, since it was a banned practice, but he had read a few of their books on the subject over the years.

“Magic,” Sirius’ voice whispered quietly over them all, “we call to you this new moon night to provide restitution. We call for you to witness and bless this ritual.” Hadrian still didn’t recognize the ritual, but he could feel the stirring of magic in the air. Something was happening. “I, Sirius Orion Black, Lord of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black, do hereby declare with Black blood as witness at the cardinal points. I do hereby declare with Lords of the Most Ancient and Noble Houses of Malfoy and Rookwood as willing witness. I do hereby declare with the Heir of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Lestrange as willing witness and grieved party. I do hereby declare that the marriage and blood contract of daughter of House Black, Bellatrix Lestrange nee Black, to Heir Rodolphus Lestrange is hereby dissolved completely for her murder of the son of House Lestrange, Rabastan Lestrange. Shall no harm or slight befall House Lestrange for the contract breaking. May Magic bless this.”

“May Magic bless this.” They all repeated after him automatically. Hadrian hadn’t really realized he was doing so until his mouth opened. He wondered what would happen if someone wasn’t willing to bear witness but forced to be there. Would Magic not bless the declaration and ritual?

Everyone gasped as the magic reached a crescendo before popping like a bubble. Rodolphus bent over in shock as a glow surrounded him before disappearing with most of the magic called. Hadrian could only guess that that glow had represented his marriage to Bellatrix.

“Heir Lestrange I will need you to bear witness to this next part too, don’t get lost in the revelry just yet.” Sirius hissed out as Rodolphus let out a breathless laugh. A moment later Rodolphus straightened and nodded to Sirius, manic grin slashed across his face. “Magic, we call to you this new moon night to provide renewal. We call for you to witness and bless this ritual. I, Sirius Orion Black, Lord of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black, do hereby declare with Black blood as witness at the cardinal points that daughter of House Black, Bellatrix Black, is fully disowned from this night forth for the grievance of murder and betrayal of Heir James Charlus Potter. Let all Black family magic be stripped from her veins. Let all Black family protection shield her no more. From this night forth she shall be known as Bellatrix Spurius.”

“I, Lucius Malfoy, Lord of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Malfoy, do hereby witness and confirm the removal of Bellatrix Black from House Black to become forever more Bellatrix Spurius.”

“I, Augustus Rookwood, Lord of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Rookwood, do hereby witness and confirm the removal of Bellatrix Black from House Black to become forever more Bellatrix Spurius.”

“I, Rodolphus Lestrange, Heir of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Lestrange, do hereby witness and confirm the removal of Bellatrix Black from House Black to become forever more Bellatrix Spurius.”

“May Magic bless this.” Sirius grinned.

“May Magic bless this.” The rest of them said in sync.

Once more the ambient magic rose around them. Sirius, Narcissa, Draco, and Hadrian found themselves encased in a blue glow that pulsed in time with their heartbeats. On the seventh beat everything flashed black.

“It’s done.” Narcissa said in shock. “You’ve fully disinherited her and freed Rodolphus.” Her dainty frozen features couldn’t hide the flickers of emotion that flashed across her. She took a deep breath as if something had lifted away from her.

“Yes,” Sirius laughed, “I did. That bitch can’t drag things down anymore.”

“Thank you. A thousand thank yous, Sirius.” Rodolphus rushed him and pulled him into a hug.

Hadrian leaned closer to his father, “why were the rituals performed in that order? Couldn’t he have just disinherited her to dissolve the marriage?”

“No, if he had done it that way then he wouldn’t have been able to touch the marriage as she would no longer be a Black but a Lestrange only. Lord Lestrange would have needed to wait for the next new moon to disinherit her, but that would not have stopped them from being married. The marriage needed to break first.” Augustus lectured. “This way Rodolphus is free of her and the way it was worded means that the Lestrange family is not punished for breaking the contract.”

“I’m surprised, Lord Black, that you didn’t go for the Baseborn name.” Lucius hummed as he curled an arm around Narcissa who was processing the loss of her sister. She might not have liked Bellatrix, but she had been family.

“I may not be fully happy with my Dark affiliation, but the Blacks are a Dark family. I’m not sure if Magic would have blessed it if I had declared her Bellatrix Baseborn instead of Bellatrix Spurius.”

“Magic can be finicky about that,” Augustus nodded his head. “You did well following tradition. Come, everyone, let’s go back inside and celebrate Rodolphus’ freedom.”

“Plus, in the end she is our burden to bear,” said Sirius, and the way he made it sound was like he was closing a book with a snap. A finality to it.

“I am impressed, Sirius. You have come far,” said Narcissa.

“Hadrian is alive and you are all thanks to that,” said Sirius, his eyes shining. “Augustus showed me the memories.” He swallowed the obvious lump that Hadrian could see bobbing in his throat. “Not something I’m ever going to forget. Both sides have a lot to answer for, and I think we’ve answered this one clearly to wipe the stain away.”

Narcissa crossed over and gave him a dainty hug. “If you had come to us on your run we would have sheltered you.”

“I will say this once,” said Lucius. “James Potter was a much wiser man than I was in choosing a godfather,” he said with a slight falter in his voice.

“Thank you for that,” said Sirius. “I trust in Hadrian. He’s all that’s left for me. So whatever he says goes, no matter what. I will not make another mistake like that.”

“Not really, Sirius. You should open your eyes,” said Lucius. “We did and what was returned to us was tenfold.”

Hadrian looked between the Malfoys and Sirius, Draco looked bored. Augustus was smiling and Rodolphus was still fighting tears. Every adults’ reactions showed how much worse Bellatrix was than Riddle, at least emotionally.

Dora chose that moment to pop her head up and out of Hadrian’s robe pocket. She gave a soft sound and then jumped toward the sparkling broach on Narcissa’s chest, causing her to start.

“Dora!” Hadrian laughed. He couldn’t help it.

Instead of being upset or shrieking at the surprise, Narcissa cupped the small creature with a dainty hand. “Oh you are sweet, aren’t you?” She stroked her head.

“You couldn’t put her down?” Augustus chuckled.

“I can’t choose where she goes, Dad. You know that. You found her rummaging through your pockets on the floor for some change. Besides, I am still training her not to claim everything that’s shiny. So the more she’s exposed the more I can work on her.” Everyone laughed at this.

It was a good end to the night as Dora rolled over in Narcissa’s palm and she stroked the niffler’s soft belly. Even Lucius gave her a stroke and she in turn began to rub against his chunky shiny Lord ring.

Chapter Text

Chapter Two

“The unexamined life is not worth living.”

― Socrates

Not even five in the morning and Hadrian was willingly out of bed during the summer. Dora was rolling around excitedly beneath the silk gold sheets of Hadrian’s large four poster bed. Phoebe and Hedwig had returned from their nightly excursions and the only reason that they were quietly cohabiting his room together was that they were too tired to do anything else. Their beaks and heads were tucked beneath their beautiful feathery wings.

He’d showered and was now drying off thoroughly as he went through his massive wardrobe of clothing. He tossed things here, there, and everywhere. Lately, Hadrian had been trying a few different styles. He wanted to branch out and do something unique. It wasn’t easy to do ‘unique’ as a boy and he liked boy clothes. Hadrian could be fiercely independent and ignore stereotypes when he wanted to but he had no interest in trying skirts or dresses.

Deciding on an outfit he reached for his brush and ran it through his thick raven black hair until it tumbled perfectly and shiny down his back. He then separated some hair and took a silk true blue band to wrap around his forehead and beneath most of his hair so that his hair covered all but the front of the band. He then took a slice of his hair and began to carefully braid it so that it stayed a soft, small braid. He added a bead in the same shade. Three more braids with beads were created, two of them on each side of his face.

He then reached for the true blue tunic he’d chosen. Hadrian didn’t look as good in light blues like Draco or Theo. Their natural blond made it typical for a lighter shade to go well with them and their complexions. The tunic he had chosen had delicate black pearl buttons and the blue fabric had an almost sheer quality to it. It showed the definition he had been gaining as he grew without flashing any skin. If this were Blaise’s it would be sheer enough to see the dark teen’s nipples, but Hadrian wasn’t that forward in his dress. His tunic may be sheer, but not that sheer. Felt like water on his skin as he tied the silver strings at his wrists. A bit of silver lace spilled over the top of his hand.

Next was the dark gray lambskin skintight trousers that had silver stitching up the side to his hipbone in a spiral pattern. He finished with a black leather belt that drew in the tunic enough to stop it from spilling down past his arse. He also made sure Dora’s little black pouch rested just behind his hip for maximum comfort.

He adjusted his gold rose medallion over his chest. The locket was always with him since Cassius gifted it to him his first year at Hogwarts. Some of his throat, collar bone, and chest was on display. The tunic was open at the collar and the pearl buttons free of each other the first three down, flashing smooth pale flesh. No matter how much time he spent outside he just didn’t tan. Not like Cassius did.

His black leather boots were made from one piece of smooth leather and formed to his calves. They gave him an inch or two extra in height. Hopefully Marcus and the others won’t have to bend down so far for a kiss on the cheek. He decided that it was finally time to break out the eyeliner Blaise had taught him to use, feeling cheeky, and thought that it fit the ensemble. He lined his eyes so that they glowed like a cat, bright emeralds sparkling.

Most Dark alignments tended to have jewel colored eyes or a deep liquid quality to them; like Marcus’ dark sapphires, Blaise’ amethysts, and Graham’s molasses. Lights tended to have a paler quality, almost pastel even when brown. Neutrals were more often than not really boring in Hadrian’s opinion.

As it was late August, Hadrian saw no reason to have a cloak or robes. Still he would pack one in case it became chilly overnight at the stadium grounds. He grabbed his leather monogrammed bag that he’d gotten last year in France. Blaise had the twin to it while Draco had gone for a mixture of both. Boy could not stand being left out of fashion, not that Hadrian intentionally would. He settled the small bag onto his back. It stored extra clothes, some cloaks, important bath products for emergencies, his map of Hogwarts, and his invisibility cloak. It had also been charmed, no one but a Rookwood could open the bag.

He crossed over to his bed and held out his hand for Dora who brilled from her bill and raced into his hand. She scurried up his arm to his shoulder. She made a giggle-like sound as she nuzzled at his beads and tapped at them with her beak. She drew back and nibbled her little paws.

“Come on, let’s get you fed. Dad and Dolphy should be waking up now.” She settled on him and he could feel her magic and gentle weight that helped her stay affixed to his shoulder. Creatures were amazing in ways that not everyone understood even today with all the research done on them.

He poked his head into the open door of the master suite to see Rodolphus groaning. “Who wants to get up at bloody o’ clock?”

“You’re lucky my knees didn’t wake you,” Hadrian teased, swaying into the room and not caring that both of them were completely naked.

Rodolphus looked at him flatly. His long hair was tussled. “He would do that wouldn’t he?”

“Nevermind he no longer has knobby knees,” his dad was looking him up and down. “I’m trying to figure out where your boots end and your legs start… looks like you’ve grown.” He shook his head at this as he grabbed his clean clothes that were laid out. Unable to resist, Augustus was drawn back and stared at Hadrian’s eyes that glowed from the black around them.

“You like?” Hadrian cheered with a spin around, and Dora chirped from his shoulder as if to encourage them.

“Morning people. Bloody morning people,” Rodolphus grumbled, throwing himself back onto the bed with one arm over his eyes. “Couldn’t we just send house-elves to secure our site and arrive later?” Hadrian and Augustus ignored his grumbling as he had been asking that since their time was confirmed two days ago.

“I’m trying to figure out if I do like it or not, the Wizengamot is still out on that,” said Augustus to Hadrian. Both continued to ignore Rodolphus.

“I’ll go alert the kitchens while you boys carry on and get dressed,” Hadrian mock-teased like an adult causing Rodolphus to start laughing as Augustus gave a throaty rumble.

Rodolphus was still yawning by the time he made his way downstairs. His brown hair was pulled low to the base of his neck. He wore fine robes of dark green and black. Augustus had trimmed his beard so that it was now a delicate shadow showing the definition in his chiseled face and chin. Hadrian frowned when he saw his dad in his official Unspeakable robes.

“Why are you wearing your Ministry robes?” he asked, trying not to pout at the idea of his dad going off to work today of all days. He sipped at his coffee delicately. Dora was by his arm eating off her own plate. She currently had some fresh vegetables she was nibbling on, causing the top of her bill to wobble as she used her two little paws to hold the food. Narcissa would cringe. Sweet or not, she’d hate to see a creature on the table. Good thing Hadrian was at home where Augustus would enable her by hand feeding her sometimes if she were still hungry.

“All of the Ministry employees who had a hand in setting things up are required to dress appropriately in case the average fool needs a question answered or help is needed. I am still at work even when I’m watching the game,” said Augustus. “It’s the first time for many who will be going out into the ‘Muggle’ world.” He rolled his eyes at this. “Lucius, Morpheus, and the others may be in Wizengamot robes, even if they aren’t required despite them being sponsors. Unfortunately since I am an Unspeakable with my name as a sponsor I do.”

“Are there going to be Muggles there?”

“Unfortunately it is likely there will be some attending with their magical relatives,” said Augustus. “At first it was argued that we all wear Muggle appropriate clothes, but enough of us stood up against that. If they are coming to our event they can deal with our fashion.”

“Thank Merlin. It’s enough to have to deal with one or two, but having to dress like one?” Rodolphus shook his head. “I’d boycott just on principle.”

“I believe that was one of the veiled threats made, not to mention a lot of sponsorship was at risk of being pulled,” Augustus smirked. “Most Halfbloods and hardly any Muggleborns could even hope to match that kind of gold.” He looked happy with himself. “The Gold level Sponsors of the match include Butterbeer, Pumpkin Juice, Ogden’s Firewhisky, Gringotts, Nimbus, and ourselves. I know for certain that Ogden’s, Gringotts, Nimbus, and ourselves were very against Muggle concessions.”

As we should be, Hadrian thought.

“Augustus,” said Rodolphus softly. “Are you forgetting something?”

Augustus looked at him for a moment and then cursed. “I did!” He fished into his robes and pulled out a small velvet box. “It’s a couple years early, but as we are going to be around every alignment, including a lot of Lights and maybe even spies, I do believe now is the time to give this to you.”

Hadrian reached for the black box. Dora stopped eating out of curiosity. He cracked it open to see a thin gold band with a slightly wider center. It had a line of tiny diamonds along the band of the ring. On the ring face was the Rookwood Coat of Arms made of amethyst, onyx, and gold. The shine had Dora squealing and reaching for it. Augustus gently lifted her with one large hand causing her to twee at him in protest.

“The Rookwood Heir ring,” said Hadrian. “I thought I didn’t get this until I’m at least sixteen.”

“It’s the usual age that you are given your rings, but as we are venturing out as all one, I figure a small statement is worth the early break in tradition.” Sometimes, they didn’t even get their rings until they left Hogwarts and finished their education. Cassius had only just gotten his Warrington Heir ring and Marcus was given his but he never wore it unless he had to. “This way should a foreign noble cross your path without us they will treat you in the appropriate manner.”

Hadrian affixed it on his left ring finger because he was currently wed to his own family. Once he’d taken a spouse or had a contract the ring would switch to his right hand and a new band would take its place. When he claimed the Potter family Lordship he’d wear that ring on the right middle finger. Hadrian cheered, “I’m proud to wear it.”

Dora managed to wriggle out of Augustus’ hand, not that he was trying hard to hold on. She rushed Hadrian’s fingers and began to rub it and sniff at it with a twitter of excitement. Augustus chuckled and stroked the fuzzy creature. “I see she approves.”

“Oh, doesn’t she?” Hadrian said, kissing Dora on her bill. “Eat your breakfast.” He tapped her affectionately and picked up some carrots so that she could take it with her paws. She kept staring at his ring while she chewed on the vegetable. “How are we getting there?”

“A port-key will drop us off about a half a mile from the campgrounds,” said Augustus. “We will have to walk a ways to keep awareness from the Muggles who run the bloody place low. We tried to get full use of it without the Muggles, but the Light and Muggleborns won that one,” he said dryly.

“Sometimes you have to pick and choose your battles,” said Rodolphus.

“You know I’ve never minded a good walk, Dad. I’m all for that,” said Hadrian cheerfully. “It’s this one you have to be careful of,” he pointed toward Rodolphus who scoffed as Augustus chuckled heartily.

“He’s not wrong, Roddy,” said Augustus affectionately.

“So what?” Rodolphus pouted. “Not everyone is a sparkling morning person! Give me a break, it’s not even daylight.”

“It is so, there’s a soft blue in the sky and I can hear the birds chirping.”

“Birds need to take a long nap,” Rodolphus drawled with a playful sulk. Hadrian rose and slid over to Rodolphus who raised his head. “You are way too gorgeous, you’re making Augustus uncomfortable.”

“That’s not true,” said Augustus, rubbing his shadow and observing them with a glint in his eyes. “I’m admiring too. A little sad but a good sadness. My boy is growing up and is becoming quite enchanting.”

“Still not too big, you can sit in my lap,” said Rodolphus as Hadrian did and kissed the man on the edge of the mouth before stealing a ripe grape and letting the juices burst through his mouth. “I’m so glad I am finally bloody free of that bitch.”

“Not the type of talk to be had in the morning,” chided Augustus, but he smiled in agreement as he finished his own breakfast and coffee. “But we can all agree on that.”

As they all got up from the table Dora disappeared for a few minutes. Hadrian taught her to use a box in his room for the loo. Upon her return she hopped into her pouch on Hadrian’s hip. He took some treats with him along with some fresh vegetables and fruit for later, and tucked them away in his bag.

Augustus picked up the silver rod that they always used to portkey to the train in September. Using his magical signature he changed and manhandled the metal into a three point rod. It was one of those strange things that he had learned in the Department of Mysteries, how to manipulate certain matters and things that no one else got the opportunity to even look at. He never said what the silver rod was made of and probably never would. He changed it to have three points so that they could all grasp it and land perfectly with each other.

Commoners had to take port-keys from set destinations that tended to have more wizarding families for transport than would be comfortable. Those portkeys had to be preapproved for the transport and were set for a specific time instead of magical signature. His dad had told him that most often the items were standard Muggle things like dirty old boots and a sock. Gross! His dad, as an Unspeakable, already had clearance to arrive at the site the morning of the match. Some port-keys were apparently set to arrive as early as the week before.

“Five… four… three… two….” and they were off, speeding into a whirl of light.

When Hadrian landed he twirled with flourish, letting go of the portkey, to keep standing. They’d gone quite far from their home in Scotland and his eyes took in the grounds around them as Rodolphus reoriented himself. He’d stumbled a bit, but Augustus hadn’t even moved from his position, he was so good at magical means of travel. His emerald eyes took in the hilly terrain of Dartmoor, England. There were not as many trees where they landed but he knew there would be somewhere in the distance. The stadium had been built near trees to help mask the construction from Muggles. A gorgeous clear sky with not a cloud in his sight spread above them. There was a light mist across the moor and dipping dells.

Hadrian sashayed ahead as a brill came from his pouch. The curious niffler poked her head out and hung loosely over the pouch lip as she gazed at her surroundings. He ran a finger along her head, and enjoyed the smell of fresh summer air, the land, and the few spindly trees that looked dead or near it. Hadrian seemed to be moving to a beat in his head as he took in the sights and wondered if there were any mossy caves that could use an explorer. He and Sirius had a great time in the one he’d been working on for years. Nothing much was in it except spiders, but Hadrian had found some scrolls talking about the old war against Ranrok. He had dutifully made sure to preserve them and give them to his father for preservation of their history. Any artifacts or information about their past was extremely important. Sirius had great fun testing out his new wand on the spiders. Hadrian had joined him and had learned a couple of spells that were used by Aurors in the field. Mostly area of effect spells that could help against multiple enemies, like spiders. If there was one spider you could bet that there was a crowd of them somewhere.

“How did he learn to walk like that?” Hadrian thought he heard Rodolphus whisper.

“I can’t begin to wonder when it is that the young start teaching themselves to walk a certain way, Roddy. I’d be very tired after ruminating that thought.”

Hadrian looked over his shoulder at the two men. “My walk? At least it’s not a swagger like Blaise!”

“No, it’s worse,” said Rodolphus, grinning shamelessly. “It says: ‘I dare you’.”

Hadrian just stared at him. “I walk like this because it’s most optimal on all terrains. You move like water so you don’t slip or fall. The back and hip movement is key so that if you fall you don’t break either.”

“Right…” Rodolphus shook his head and Augustus chuckled.

“Sounds practical.”

“Naturally!” Hadrian threw his hands up. “So, am I going the right way? Oh, is that a cave!”

“Oh no you don’t!” Both called out to him.

Hadrian flashed them a smile. “For another time I suppose.”

“The Malfoy, Pucey, and Montague families arrived yesterday night to make sure there wasn’t a mixup in our chosen section. You never know with how exhausted some of the wizards working overnight are,” said Augustus.

“Is Luna coming?” Hadrian asked.

Augustus shook his head. “No, I’m sorry. We tried to get Xeno to join us. We insisted that it was all fine, but he refused. He won’t let her come either.”

“Theo will be disappointed. They always sit together during games at school,” said Hadrian. “Not fair to her.”

“I agree, precious, but there’s nothing we can do. He’s head of the family and very cautious after Pandora’s death.”

Soon, they were coming up over a large hill, the crest of morning had risen higher into the sky. All Hadrian saw was a bed of mist, white and thick enough to get lost in. He could smell the fresh earth and the dampness from last night’s summer rain without having been here himself. Hadrian went down first, Augustus and Rodolphus a bit behind. He could feel Dora curiously glancing about, looking for anything that glittered in the mist.

Hadrian nearly got a fright when a man approached him. His face settled into a blank disdain instantly when he saw the man. Is he a wizard or something else? Hadrian didn’t know. He looked weird. He was wearing a weird canary yellow thing that had only a hole for his head and no sleeves. It was made more wild with the fact that he could see some of the man’s lower stomach in a way that told Hadrian he forgot to take care of himself in his older years. He even wore a skirt like the girls did at Hogwarts. It fell above his knees, showing hairy lower legs off. Hadrian could just imagine Narcissa’s expression or Draco’s at seeing it. The skirt was green, black, and red tartan. He wore the weirdest looking shoes that looked like the tatami sandals he had seen in Japan but different. A thin piece of some odd material was on the bottom with a triangular strap going from between his big toe and second toe to over his foot, showing his toes which were overgrown and oddly discolored.

Huh? What in the bloody hell?

He looked exhausted with a hooked nose and graying hair at the temples. “Looks like another inappropriately dressed Pureblood,” the man grunted at Hadrian. “Don’t you lot know what you’re supposed to wear when Muggles are near?”

“Excuse you?” Hadrian’s voice dipped slightly with the smallest bit of derision.

“This isn’t France where wizards can get away with everything and anything behind barriers to keep Muggles out,” said the man waspishly, waving around a scroll that was way too long to be waving around like he was. “Must be mindful of Muggles!”

“That is enough, Basil,” said the shadow coming up over Hadrian. “You have no reason to be speaking to my son that way. I assure you, that he is more appropriately dressed than you are. Kilts are not in fashion in the Muggle world unless you are Scottish, which I know you aren’t, and neither are whatever that is…”

“You mean my poncho? I quite like it. Found it in some Muggle store called Thrift Shoppe.” ‘Basil’ muttered without looking at who was speaking. Instead he played with the monstrosity, revealing even more skin.

“Ponchos aren’t things you wear unless it’s raining like kneazles and crups, and even then you would wear a t-shirt or something underneath it so you aren’t exposing your skin. Not to mention, only teenage girls wear ‘flip-flops’ as is the slang, or sandals and thongs as they are more appropriately called. I think some adult Muggles might have adopted the fashion, but not many because unless you are young and take care of them, toes are not attractive.” The fact that his dad was knowledgeable in Muggle fashion was a new one, but then he shouldn’t be surprised.

‘Basil’ flinched and his eyes looked right up above Hadrian into the shadowy eyes of his father. “Lord Rookwood,” he said suddenly. He averted his gaze. He cleared his throat. “Ahem, right.” Rodolphus was the last to arrive, having walked slower than them, and Basil frowned when he saw him. Not only because Rodolphus was in full robes, but because he was Rodolphus Lestrange.

“I believe our party is already here.”

“Right…” He looked uncomfortable to say the least, and Hadrian thought he heard Dora snicker or make some sort of sound like it. Basil blinked when he looked down at Hadrian only for Dora to pop away from him. “Erm, field eight that way!” He pointed nervously to the left. “You should meet-”

“A Muggle named Parker, yes, thank you, Mr. Basil.” He guided Hadrian firmly away from the idiot.

Hadrian looked back as he was led forward to see the grumpy idiot whispering to a man in a tweedy looking suit with a giant watch. He seemed to be complaining about Augustus’ assessment.

“Not wrong, Basil… sorry.” He thought he heard.

“I’m almost embarrassed you knew all of that, but then you know everything. I suppose that comes with the territory,” said Rodolphus.

“Unspeakables sometimes must be apprised of everything coming and going in the Muggle world. It would not do to be taken off guard by a disaster that might affect us all,” he said. “Plus, I will give points where credit is due, the American’s NASA is quite inventive. The GCHQ is one we watch closely as well here in the UK. Some of the sharpest Muggle minds work there, do you know how many times we’ve been called out to mass obliviate them because they found something they should not have? It’s too much for Obliviators, and they don’t know the exact knowledge to remove because they don’t understand it. I’ve had to waltz through GCHQ and other similar organizations like I belonged there. You start seeing some of the things they do, and you will start learning more about them too,” he said flatly. “Better to be forewarned than not.”

“Doesn’t MACUSA have their own Unspeakables?” Hadrian asked. “Why are you going and watching an American organization?”

“Yes, they do, but Unspeakables are technically an international organization and they all work together and crossover one another,” he explained. “Also since they are few and far between, due to the high skill requirements for joining, MACUSA Unspeakables are coworkers to us. America has about twenty of them staffed, not much considering how much land mass MACUSA has to cover and its large population.”

“The Continent has what, four or five?” Rodolphus asked.

“Correct. Currently it is five and there’s three of us in the UK.”

An old shack made of stone came into view, the moor was still full of mist. Hadrian was starting to wonder if this was naturally occurring or if this was magically caused. He felt something interesting amongst the mist nearby.

A man was standing at the shack with a clipboard in his hand. He seemed dressed averagely. He barely looked up. “Name?” His voice was flat. His face slack. He wore tan trousers and a jumper. Far more appropriate than that Basil-idiot.

“Rookwood,” said Augustus.

“Section 8-1 through 8-5.” He then handed Rookwood a map. All the while never looking at them. He said no more and sat on a stool next to the old shack.

“Lucius did a good job on that one,” said Rodolphus smirking.

“What the Light and the Muggleborns don’t realize is that one single spell can save the brain of a Muggle from collapse over repeated Obliviation. They do not realize they are doing Muggles more harm than good by forcing its repeated use. Just best to stop it before it escalates.” Hadrian could read between the lines. Whatever Lucius did was probably illegal, but at the same time better for the Muggle to never know they were there.

From one blink to the next the mist across the moor folded back as they started to enter the campsite area proper. They passed through a tingle of magic which must have been the boundary wards. His eyes wanted to take in everything and it was hard to.

Along the soft dewy fields were long rows of tents. Most looked plain and Hadrian had to admit he could not imagine the Malfoys or even Zabinis sleeping inside of one of these. Even if they were wizarding tents that were expanded inside.

“These look more like a Muggle style tent,” Augustus let him know. “But we will be heading into our section. We’ve carved out enough spots for everyone to have enough room to breathe and simply be.”

“You can call it the Pureblood section.” Rodolphus smirked at Hadrian as they continued moving through the moors. Soon more appropriate tents came into view. They were a range of fancy colors, Hadrian noted that many leaned more toward the darker shades. Some had weather vanes, full small gardens on the outside with a bit of fencing, sundials, and even one with a fountain out front. A couple were so tall that they looked odd next to the smaller ones.

Hadrian twitched when he passed by a fountain that had a mer spilling out water from its mouth. “What is it about fountains and making you have to pee?”

Rodolphus chuckled. “You should have not had that second mug of coffee with breakfast.” He wasn’t wrong. Dora was twee’ing excitedly, but she did not move herself from his pouch.

Hadrian’s stomach recoiled when he found himself walking between a set of tents that were brimming with so much Light magic they practically shined. He could feel it, stronger than ever. He looked at Rodolphus and Augustus quickly and noticed their expressions had darkened as they continued to walk straight ahead between the rows.

Hadrian had often recoiled at strong threads of Light magic in Hogwarts, but the fact that the magic was sickening to him was kind of new, especially so fast. He wondered if something had changed? “Yuck.” It was like something nasty had backed up into his mouth almost causing him to choke. Like cotton or something. “They are packed in here.”

“Are they after something?”

“Who knows. We are closer to Bulgaria than we are to Ireland, we surmised that most of the Light and Muggleborns would be cheering for Ireland,” said Augustus. “1-6 is Ireland territory, 7-12 is Bulgarian. Draco may be an Ireland fan, but it’s more comfortable. So have your translation spells at hand. Just be aware that this is set up in a ring, so even if our section is in the ‘Bulgarian’ half of the ring it may be faster to pass through other sections to get somewhere.”

“You’ll also find that most Bulgarian fans are Dark or Neutral affiliations. Not sure if there’s a correlation, but I’m sure Marcus would be able to tell you if there is.”

“I’ll choose to cheer on whoever will make Marcus grimace. That way he has to spend twenty to thirty minutes explaining why I should change my position,” said Hadrian with a shrug, causing Rodolphus to chuckle at him. Augustus smiled. “It’s cute when he explains things.” He was really excited to see Marcus and Cassius. He’d missed them on his birthday with them being in Texas.

Soon they were past those horrid tents and crossing a blank bit of land. He wondered if more tents would be coming to fill that space or if it was a natural barrier between sections. Before them appeared a medium size wrought iron gate attached to a fence that wrapped around an entire area. Rodolphus tapped the gate and it shuddered open for them without a squeak. A tallish serpent statue with eyes glowed green at them as they passed. Hadrian figured that it was a detector and would go off if Light magic stepped into the territory.

Hadrian took a breath when he stepped into the cool enveloping Dark magic that kissed down his skin as if washing away the sensation of Light. He gave his shoulders a shake, as if shaking off any Light magic that tried to cling to him. He hadn’t noticed all of the Light magic at first, but when they started clumping together or the tents were heavily warded he noticed. It was nice to be back in familiar and friendly magic.

They approached a row of six good sized black tents that were set up, but they were not Muggle tents like seen in the previous area nor were they over the top extravagant. That was probably so that there was more room to be outside, expansion charms were great but there was a limit based on the material being stretched. Directly in the middle between the two rows a garden had been set up for everyone with a medium to largish marble firepit in the middle. Tasteful outdoor seating ringed around it.

Small grassy knolls sat between the tents with enough space for chairs and other things for conversations. An outdoor eating area had also been set up. A picnic table made of rich mahogany that would seat everyone in their party plus extras should they need it. Enough space all over for some separation should one wish it.

Hadrian saw the usual suspects; Lucius Malfoy and Oberon Montague were sitting around the marble firepit. Nott Snr was not there and sadly Wallace Higgs would also not be attending. Hadrian wondered where the boys were. He knew that Blaise and Theo would be with Draco since Ladies Zabini and Nott were staying with the Malfoys.

Sirius was on his feet and scooping Hadrian into his arms upon their arrival. Dora twee’d in protest, flying back into her pouch angrily. He did not notice as he spun Hadrian around.

“Sirius… I need to breathe,” Hadrian laughed, patting the jovial man who sat him down and looked at him. For once, it looked like all the haunts and shadows of Azkaban had vanished and he was a handsome man.

Sirius laughed. His hair was silky and smooth, the premature gray seemed to have been washed out of it and his teeth looked better. No longer were they chipped or broken, but healthier and nearly white again.

“Well, aren’t you a sight for sore eyes,” said Oberon, smiling at him. Oberon Montague was a fascinating man. He had all the looks that made him good looking, but it seemed to fall short. He was, however, kind and striking. His wife was absolutely beautiful, but she was with Narcissa and the other ladies. He had dark hair, the same texture as his son, Graham. His skin was dark mocha and his eyes glittered like tiger’s eyes. The brown and gold coloring really stood out against his dark skin. He made a good contrast next to the tall, pale and poised Lucius Malfoy. “Absolutely gorgeous, Hadrian.”

Hadrian went to greet them both. Oberon wrapped his arm around him as he kissed the Lord on the cheek, Dark magic sparked between them and Oberon’s eyes brightened. A hand brushed affectionately up and down his back. “I think you are going to make Blaise rather jealous.”

“Not my intention,” Hadrian laughed as he moved to Lucius next. His cheek was cupped and he was truly smiled at. Lucius kissed him on the cheek instead of the other way around. A bit of a richer darkness passed between them. Hadrian knew it was because their bond was closer.

“Enchanting.”

“Not according to a weird Light freak,” Hadrian said, smiling.

“Pay them no matter, they are of no consequence,” said Lucius, tracing Hadrian’s braid. Just as Dora popped up with a twitter. Lucius smirked and then flipped her a galleon. She caught it with her paws and began to rub against it. She slinked back into her pouch to play with her new toy. “The boys have gone off, bored by our political ramblings.”

“As much as I adore you all, I would be too,” said Hadrian. “Give us a few more years.”

Everyone laughed and Sirius wrinkled his nose. “Give me another hundred,” he sulked. “I already told them that I’ll just be chaos unless I truly do not agree with something.”

“That should make things interesting,” Oberon laughed.

Hadrian finished with a hug to Lucius and was about to go off to hunt down his friends when Rodolphus stopped him. “Before you go off to find everyone, precious, it’s best to put your things away,” he suggested.

“Right! Let me give you the quick tour.” Sirius grinned, wrapping an arm around Hadrian’s shoulders. “All of the tents are slightly different. Here in the first tent on the left will be where Lord Malfoy, myself, and you both will be.” He waved to the tent in question. “The middle one on the left has rooms for Heir Higgs, Heir Nott and Malfoy - they’re sharing a room - Mr. Zabini and yourself, Hadrian.” Hadrian nodded to show he was listening. “The far one on the left is the kitchen and indoor dining area. A few Montague elves will be with us to provide meals. Opposite of it, there on the right, is the tent hosting Lord Flint, Lord Warrington, Lord Montague, and Lord Pucey. The middle right tent will have Heir Flint, Heir Warrington, Heir Montague, and Heir Pucey. Finally this first tent here on the right is a large indoor area with various seating options. Useful if the weather turns bad or you need to get out of the sun. Each of the sleeping tents have four bedrooms with ensuites so no need to fight the others for the bathroom. There’s a small entry space when you first go in and then a corridor with four doors. Each door has a name on it. Best go find your room.” Sirius might not yet know that Hadrian tended to migrate from room to room depending on the moment and his own whims. It was nice that they wanted him to have his own space though.

“Cheers, Sirius.” Hadrian gave the man another hug before dashing towards the middle left tent. He’d find his room and put his bag down before finding his friends.

He entered the tent through the front flap and smoothly transitioned from walking on grass to a gray carpet. The inside of the tent had light mahogany wood paneled walls. The entry space Sirius mentioned had a few arm chairs for anyone waiting to sit in. Offset from the entry was the corridor mentioned. A part of him twitched at the corridor not being centered on the entry, but he understood that from a security standpoint it did afford a few more seconds of protection. Not that they were expecting to be attacked, but safety was important.

The wood paneling and carpet continued into the corridor. Two doors were on either side and equally spaced down the walls. The first on the right was Terry’s and the first on the left was Blaise’s. Beyond Terry’s was the room for Draco and Theo, leaving the far left one his.

Pushing open the door, he was greeted by a full sized four poster bed in the middle of the back wall directly across from the door. The mahogany wood continued to panel the room but the carpet changed to a navy blue. He saw that the sheet, pillow, and duvet on the bed were in silver. In one corner on the same wall as the doorway he stood in stood a full length mirror, angled to face the bed, and in the opposite was a small dresser. The right wall, which would be the back of the tent, had a door leading to what could only be his ensuite bathroom.

Hadrian set his bag down and pulled out his clothes for the next few days. Those were placed into the dresser. He took his bathroom things and put them away as well. He checked the full length mirror to make sure Sirius hadn’t ruffled him too much and then looked down when he heard Dora’s noises in the pouch. She’ll be entertained for a while now. He headed out of the tent to see Augustus and Rodolphus had taken their places with Sirius beside Lucius and Oberon.

“Here, precious, take the map in case you get lost,” said Augustus, holding out the piece of parchment. “I’ve charmed it to show a trail back to our location from wherever you are.” Hadrian took it and kissed his father’s shadowed scruff.

“Hopefully, Draco and Theo have managed to control Blaise from trying to shag everyone rotten.” All of them laughed at this.

“Have mercy on our sons, precious, they are only a couple of boys,” Lucius chuckled.

“Theo’s not to be underestimated,” Hadrian warned with ease. “You should have seen the damage he did to the Weasley boy and how he never backed down.”

“It is a pity that his own father seems to do exactly that,” said Oberon.

“Agreed, Cissa has had words with Lady Nott to make her come to her senses.” Hadrian knew that Lucius meant the whole contract to the Bulstrodes.

“I believe Callum mentioned Lady Susanna had a go at her too. With Lady Zenyatta in the mix… there’s no way to decline that one unless you wish for hell to break loose,” Oberon laughed.

Hadrian made his way out of their lovely Dark soaked section and found himself in more neutral territories the moment he passed the gates. It was like the gates had held everything in. On one hand it meant they were able to do magic more freely and speak without worry, on the other it was a shame that they had to hide.

He hummed a tune in his head as he made his way curiously through the campsite. A huge bloom of trees fanned out on his right going back, back, back as far as he could see. Some of them were tightly knit together that made it hard to see too much light.

Hadrian lost count of the witches and wizards moving about. He saw Americans, they had a banner that glittered red, white, and blue with the American flag and its fleet of spangled white stars. Not too far away was a group of Ugandans wearing a lot of earthy colors and chatting with some others from Africa. He caught sight of a portly man wearing a flower house gown? Hadrian wanted to say. Something a woman would wear at night. Hadrian knew that much. He heard a couple of obvious Muggleborns giggling when they saw him poking at a fire and talking about having a healthy breeze in his nether regions. The smell of caustic smoke from the variety of firepits emitted interesting smells like sausage and chicken, but also more unpleasant smells like someone had burned a whole pig and it was still smoldering.

He was surprised when he found himself walking right into former Gryffindor Captain Oliver Wood who blinked when he saw him. He whistled. “Damn.” Wood was a handsome bloke. He was tall, muscular, and with a baby face that could rival Terry. He had sandy hair and blue eyes.

“Rookwood…”

“Nice to see you again, Wood, when you don’t look like you’re angry and about to kill someone,” Hadrian chirped playfully. “Congratulations on graduating from Hogwarts.”

Wood smiled for the first time in Hadrian’s direction and it lit his eyes up. He was cute. His face was much more relaxed than Hadrian had ever seen him. He chuckled at Hadrian’s statement. “Where’s your boys at, Rookwood? You’re never without them,” he said, looking around over Hadrian’s head.

“I’m looking for them,” he said. “How’s life outside of Hogwarts?”

“I was tapped for Puddlemere United,” he told Hadrian with a grin.

“Congratulations!” Hadrian meant it.

“Yeah, well, I guess they saw something after the disastrous Seekers I had to manage,” said Wood. “I could not have had a worse go at Seekers.” He shook his head as the horrifying memories plagued him.

Hadrian couldn't blame him. Wood really had the worst luck. “I agree with that and I don’t play,” he said. “So, you are rooting for Ireland?” He could tell by the green of his t-shirt that showed off his impressive arms and the Leprechaun hat he wore. It didn’t stop him from being good looking. He was also standing in an area that was nearly bathed green. He realized he was going too far to the Light, literally. He should go the other way when he left here. He doubted Blaise, Theo, and Draco came this way.

“Yup, but I am interested in the new Seeker for Bulgaria.”

“So is Marcus, but like I told my dad when he asked, I’ll root for anyone that he’s not rooting for just so he’ll argue with me. He’s funny when he argues.”

Wood burst out laughing at this. “I think this is the most you and I have ever spoken, Rookwood.”

“I think so, and you’re smiling and laughing, it looks good on you,” said Hadrian, winking at him.

Wood’s cheeks bloomed a bit. “What can I say? Quidditch,” he waved his hand around. “How do you escape the intensity?”

“I haven’t figured that out yet. If you do, send me an owl.” Just as he said this, Dora poked her head out with a twee causing Wood to chuckle behind a hand. “Oh, that’s Dora.”

“Mhmm, Hufflepuff, huh?” He shook his head. “I can see why,” he murmured to himself more than to Hadrian. “If you need help looking for your boys come by here! This is my tent. I’ll help out.” All of the tents were a deep sparkling shade of shamrock green.

Hadrian laughed. “I will, thanks, Wood.”

“Oliver, we’re not opponents anymore.”

Hadrian nodded. “Hadrian then! Congratulations again.” He wiggled his fingers and made his way along the paths that had been naturally made by hundreds of feet before him. That was an interesting meeting. Nice to have Oliver Wood actually smiling at him. It was easy to see now why the girls used to talk about him so much.

He changed directions promptly.

Before leaving Ireland territory, he caught sight of sandy hair and freckles. It was Finnegan and he was about a head taller and as lanky as Terry. He shot up fast, Hadrian thought. But he still had more meat on his bones.

Finnegan met his eyes and gave him a nod of acknowledgment. It was small, but it was there. Hadrian nodded back at him. You didn’t have to be friends or even allies to acknowledge someone you knew after all. He was with an older woman who looked quite a bit like him.

“Hadrian!” He turned to see Cedric sitting at a campsite with a jovial looking man who had the same blue eyes as him. He had a reddish cheerful face and a scruffy brown beard and short hair. Both were sitting by a golden yellow tent with a badger on the side.

“Hey, Cedric!” Hadrian stopped with a smile.

The kind teen was on his feet, smiling as he beckoned Hadrian over, and so he obliged when he saw no reason to decline. Cedric had only gotten cuter. He was slim and swimmer framed, his blond hair played in his eyes sometimes, and those eyes were always kind. Not a single hint of meanness in his bones.

Light or not, Hadrian couldn’t help but appreciate him for simply being a decent person. It had to take a lot to make him this way. He had respect for Amos Diggory without knowing him.

“Dad, this is Hadrian Rookwood, I told you about him. He’s really the reason why we got the House Cup this year.”

Hadrian waved his hand. “I think it’s just Professor Lupin’s fondness for me. He liked my article.”

“I know, he read it out to every single year,” said Cedric, chuckling at him. “Hadrian, this is my father, Amos Diggory.”

Hadrian held out his hand as Lord Diggory stood up and shook it. “Hello, Lord Diggory. It’s nice to meet the father of the kindest boy I’ve ever met.”

He and Cedric both blushed, you could see the resemblance quite clearly. “Hah, I can see the charm from the Rookwoods shining clearly, Heir Rookwood.”

“Hahaha, I wouldn’t want to get confused with my dad.”

“Is he here? I suspect he’s working.”

“He’s here, and he is in his official capacity, but not working if that makes sense?”

“Always on the clock those Unspeakables, you never know what they get up to,” he told his son.

“It’s the same with Hadrian,” said Cedric, his smile was big and bright. “You never know what he’s going to do each year. He’s the one I told you about.”

How did he wind up in a conversation with Cedric’s dad? Amos Diggory was looking at him now. “Interesting. Well, I am not all that surprised, Augustus Rookwood is a fine wizard and probably the smartest man I know. I’d say he was leagues above Headmaster Dumbledore.” Cedric’s eyes widened at this. “He’s got a balanced nature about him. Always approachable unlike some of the Unspeakables.”

“I think Mr. Bode is simply too old and tired, Lord Diggory,” said Hadrian with a smile.

“You’re probably right,” said Amos Diggory, scratching at his head. “It’s like he came with the founding of the Ministry of Magic. At least you’d think so,” he chortled. “Well, are you hungry? You’re free to pull up a seat. I have some eggs on now. A bit of help with magic since Mrs. Diggory is not here and we cannot cook,” he mock-whispered.

Hadrian grinned. “I would agree to that, but I am on a hunt for my friends. You haven’t seen Mr. Frisky Zabini have you?”

Cedric laughed at this and his father blinked at the question. “I have not. I’m sure I’d have noticed. He is always noticeable, like you.”

“Hm, at least I leave imagination, Cedric. He does not.”

More laughter and Cedric nudged his father. “Hadrian’s best friend is part of the Zabini family.”

“Ah…” said Amos as if that explained it. “Gorgeous family.”

Hadrian smiled at that. “At the least, I love them for all they are, no matter what.”

Amos wagged his finger. “Mhmm, mhmm, that is a ‘Puff for sure.”

“He is,” said Cedric. “Although, our house can get salty sometimes when he runs along with the Slytherins and confuses teachers.”

Hadrian brought his shoulders up. “I’m proud to be a Hufflepuff, but also proud of my Slytherins, Ravenclaws, and Gryffindors. Most of the Slytherins I’ve grown up with, and that’s not going to change.”

“Right, you are friends with the twins now,” Cedric laughed. “That is not shocking.” He then cocked his head. “I still don’t understand what happened last year with Chang and Montague, it was kind of sad.”

Hadrian brought his shoulders up. “I can’t control them, Cedric. For better or worse, they are who they are. Plus, Chang lied and she lied in front of many Pureblood Heirs, who took her at her word. What respect they tried to give her, she did not show it back - at all.” He knew he was putting Chang in a bad light, but he did not care. He could manipulate circumstances if he wanted to.

“Ouch,” said Cedric in shock.

Amos shook his head. “Does no good to lie about things like that. It always comes out in the end.”

“I agree, I’m proud of my blood and don’t hold it against anyone who is not Pureblood. But, she was bullying my friend Luna the whole time and didn’t bother to provide an apology.”

“I did not know Chang was a bully,” said Cedric in surprise. He was frowning slightly now. His eyes became sad at that. Hadrian wondered if he had a crush on her. “That is disheartening.” Hadrian soon said his good-byes, shaking Lord Diggory’s hand and making his way back down the right path.

Where were his boys?

Speaking of boys, he passed by a gaggle of teenage boys surrounding a bright blonde haired girl who looked vaguely familiar. She seemed to glow against the backdrop of the campsite. Something about her made him shudder as he passed by, and that weird cotton sensation stung at his tongue.

She is something Light, Hadrian realized. A stronger than normal kind of light. Ick. He wondered what the difference between her and Cedric happened to be? Maybe creature blood?

“I just got the latest Firebolt!”

“I was headhunted by Peru, I suppose they need a new Chaser after the flattening they were given by Ireland!”

“I’m a dueling champion!”

“My father is rich…”

Hadrian’s brow wrinkled, that boy didn’t look old enough to do anything with Peru let alone be headhunted. Wait, is this heterosexual flirting? Yuck! Sounded like a bunch of tripe, Hadrian thought, shaking his head and moving along. Tall tales, Hadrian thought. “She’s got to be part veela, no way she is full or even half,” he muttered to himself.

He had no idea why as he passed by a few boys would stand up and try and speak to him. A few waved and he unconsciously waved back trying to be kind. He shrugged inwardly at this. “People are odd, Dora, I don’t even know these wavers.”

“Twee.” Is all he heard from his pouch.

That was when he arrived at an area that had a long winding line of young witches and wizards. Most of them were carrying pails of water and he realized it was a pump for freshwater. At least, he hoped it was fresh. He couldn’t be sure of that. He recognized several students from Hogwarts, Susan Bones was with Hannah Abbott and both waved at Hadrian who waved back.

“-I wish Neville’s Gran’ would have been more agreeable to letting him come with us,” he heard the familiar whine of Ronald Weasley.

“She does seem overbearing doesn’t she?”

“She makes my mum look soft, Hermione,” Ronald said, and he saw the ginger boy shaking his head. “He’s never going to get confidence with that old lady on his back all the time.”

“I know,” said Granger. Her hair was as wild and curly as ever, and she’d managed to shove it back into a ponytail so that it wasn’t always in her eyes. Both of them wore Muggle clothes. His were more faded and too big on him.

Hadrian passed them by without even looking at them and pretended not to hear. “Is that Rookwood?” Granger’s voice carried slightly. He was about to head toward a more scarlet and gold area of the campgrounds beyond the watering pump.

“Look at him and his stupid fancy clothes,” Ronald sneered scathingly. “He thinks he’s better than all of us. I don’t know why Fred and George like him. Look at how he walks! Like he knows everyone is looking at him.”

“A lot are looking, though I don’t understand why - he’s a boy so why is another boy looking at him? Look at that man he has to be about forty! Why is he staring at Rookwood like that? Creepy!”

“Purebloods, Hermione. It’s common, they like that weird stuff,” Ronald sneered. “But we’re not like that. I assure you.”

“It shouldn’t be…”

“There you are!” Hadrian spun around at the familiar voice that had continued to change up and down in tempo from child to more young adult.

Blaise Zabini was moving ahead of the two blondes. His lower back length braids shushed and the beads smacked together as he walked. Blaise was an astonishingly good looking teen. He was tall enough that his white trousers with rolled cuffs easily showed off the length of his legs that were strong and sleek. Hadrian couldn’t have clothes directly on his hip bones like Blaise or he’d look way too small. Blaise was wearing a skintight deep purple vest that magically shifted to a variety of purples depending on the light. It was sleeveless, showing his amazing arms, and buttoned with little black buttons that looked like sharp stars. You could see the impressive indent of his chest. His skin was that perfect deep shiny shade of dark like chocolate or black coffee. His white and purple beads were Egyptian ones that Hadrian had gotten him. He saw many girls and boys looking at Blaise as he came closer and swooped around Hadrian. He lifted Hadrian from the ground.

He had to be about five eight or so. His voice was trying to catch up to his looks. Hadrian didn’t bother to pull back when Blaise kissed him full on the lips. Hadrian even let Blaise slip his tongue into his mouth for a quick lick, enjoying that cool Dark magic that always flowed between them deliciously. “Precious,” he grinned as he let go of Hadrian when Theo and Draco finally came around.

Both were wearing full on robes, Draco preferred the high end cut of trousers and button downs made of silk and sometimes fur, but not in this heat. He was wearing a light blue mixed in with some gray and whites. His once gelled platinum hair was now free of all substances and looked all the better for it. Theo’s blonde hair had darkened slightly. He’d trimmed it only enough to stay out of his blue eyes. He was skinny and an inch or two shorter than Hadrian. You could see the bone definition in his shoulders rather than muscle. But he wore the dark navy and silver well, tailoring him right. Both Draco and Theo seemed to have limbs that were getting too long in places. Theo’s face was more narrow.

“We have been looking everywhere for you,” said Blaise.

Draco sniffed when he noticed the Gryffindor duo who were glaring at them. “We went back to our site, but they said you had gone. Lord Rookwood gave us a map.”

“I was looking for you guys,” said Hadrian. “I did not want to start hearing about politics of all things.”

Theo smirked. “Neither do I. I’m disappointed though that Luna couldn’t come.”

“Yeah, Dad said that her father wouldn’t let her.”

“Doesn’t seem fair! Every Pureblood is here, plus some riff-raff.” Draco shot a look toward the glowering Ronald.

“Pay attention to me, not him!” Hadrian teased, pulling Draco in for air kisses and did the same with Theo.

“Good Merlin, you look gorgeous! You even did your eyes,” said Blaise, excitedly as he lifted one of Hadrian’s braids and fingered it.

“I figure now was the time to wear it. How did you find me?”

“We heard men talking,” Blaise cackled, making Hadrian stare at him.

“What?” He looked to Theo for clarification. Sometimes, Blaise did not make a lick of sense.

“Someone was talking about you, describing you a bit too energetically,” said Theo flatly.

“More like making comments about your arse and how nice your trousers look,” Blaise offered.

Hadrian rolled his eyes at this. “They don’t even know me.”

Blaise sighed and shook his head. “Haven’t we been through this? You don’t have to know someone to find them a nice piece of meat.” Hadrian wasn’t sure he appreciated being a ‘nice piece of meat’ and made a face before he could stamp it down. “Fine. Hot, there! Better?”

“Yes,” said Hadrian. “I didn’t come here for some stranger’s entertainment.”

“I agree,” said Draco. “It was wholly inappropriate.”

“I’m inappropriate!” Blaise declared.

“You’re our friend,” Theo reminded. “And we know you, so that’s also different.”

“Sometimes, details are not important.”

“Besides, if we went any further down we would be heading in the wrong direction of anyone we would want to talk to,” said Draco, derisively.

“I made that mistake the first time,” said Hadrian. “Although, seeing Oliver Wood when he’s not glaring at us isn’t a bad thing. He’s quite handsome when he smiles.”

Draco rolled his eyes and Blaise hummed with a sly smile. “Wood did have a fine arse body, you can’t deny that. Fuck… I’d have let him fuck me if Marcus had let me.”

Hadrian snickered. “Where’s Graham? Isn’t he with you?”

“He went back to wait in case we couldn’t find you,” said Draco. “Come on, let’s go see if the others have arrived yet!”

Hadrian looked over his shoulder at the scarlet and gold. He’d wanted to keep venturing, but Draco seized his arm and Blaise took his other side as Theo led the way back to their temporary sanctuary.

Draco and Blaise updated him on the gossip and rumors that they’d been listening to since they arrived yesterday evening. Apparently, some Salem teenagers got into a nasty fight with a group of Ilvermorny students.

“I had no idea they were such fierce rivals,” said Blaise.

“There was hair pulling involved,” Theo added on. “I wouldn’t have wanted to be in the middle of that.”

Hadrian could feel the restless excitement in the air as they passed by the cheerful cacophonous noises of every kind of witch and wizard. From the most reserved, to the most Muggle influenced, which made Draco sneer visibly, to the staunchest Pureblood. Light, Dark, Neutral and everything else seemed to all come out together and mix and mingle.

Well, sort of, if he looked closely at the campgrounds he could see a clear divide between the Lights and Darks with most Neutrals speckled between them.

It was shaping up to be quite a show. Hadrian couldn’t wait because he knew that the fun had only begun.

Chapter Text

Chapter Three

“It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for what you are not.”

― Andre Gide, Autumn Leaves

As they rounded the corner toward the fenced in area that Hadrian mentally dubbed, ‘Pureblood Section’ of the campgrounds, Hadrian could see the smoke and smell the charring from hundreds of campfires rising up to meet the natural mist of the moor. It caused a hazy effect mixed in with every kind of magic that touched him. Theo tapped his wand to the iron gates like Rodolphus had done and they swung open to their carved out section.

His fingers tingled as Dark magic once more kissed at his skin. He heard a light series of chuckles as the high risen dark tents came into view. All the men were lounging around the lit marble firepit, but no smoke burned or coiled above it. Hadrian didn’t know why the others didn’t think of this. Who wanted smoke in their faces? Who wanted all that hot ash? All to protect the sensibilities of Muggles? Really? He could see Lucius’ back directly in front of them. He was sitting at an angle with a glass of wine in one hand, leg crossed over in the typical fashion. Oberon was on his left. Sirius was to Oberon’s left, Rodolphus beside him, Augustus and then there were ones Hadrian hadn’t greeted yet. Morpheus’ strong hulking frame took up an entire bench. He was reclined back, his dark eyes so much like his son’s seemed to glitter. He was looking in Sirius’ direction. He was not the only one. His shoulders were impressive to say the least. Marcus was a big boy, but he had some of his mother’s smaller structure. Small, Hadrian thought with a tiny snort. Small on Marcus meant bigger than everyone else, but not Morpheus’ size.

Morpheus’ size could not be mistaken for fat or laziness though. He did not have a protruding belly or a face that resembled a full moon in roundness. No, he was well sculpted like his Viking forefathers before him. The Flint’s also had Black ancestry in them from a few generations back. The Black’s were famously slim, like Sirius and Narcissa, which helped to balance Marcus’ genetics. Morpheus wore well tailored soft autumn brown robes, the edging was done in a deep silken hunter green. He had a brocade waistcoat with black shiny buttons. Beneath the coat was a crisp linen that stood out against the rest of him, highlighting its cleanliness and tailoring. He was also Head of one of the oldest Most Ancient and Noble families in the United Kingdom. He could probably trace his lineage easier than even the Blacks.

Beside Morpheus was Callum Warrington. He had dark hair that was mixed with natural ash blond highlights. He often bemoaned that they were grays he had gained from stress, but Hadrian refused to accept that because it looked good on him. Not many looked good with gray in their hair after all. He had a long square face with dark eyes. If you weren’t looking at him closely you wouldn’t notice that he was blind in one eye. He had a small scar above and below his eye and often wore a colored lens over it to hide the white, similar in shape to Lucius, maybe a bit wider.

Albert Pucey was the shorter and stockier one of his dad’s friends, matching his son, Adrian, well. He had untidy auburn hair that he had to keep back in a small knot on the back of his head, otherwise it was at risk of going all over his eyes. He could cut it, but unless his wife forced the subject he wouldn’t bother.

“Looks like you found each other,” said Augustus as Sirius lit up when they arrived. “All the others have gone to put some things away. You can find them that way.” He said pointing to the tent in question.

Hadrian happily went to greet everyone. Morpheus’ face broke out into a jovial smile. He kissed Sirius, Dolphy, and his dad on the cheek as he passed and then let Morpheus’ strong arm go around his waist and pull him closer. Just like Marcus, the gentle giant knew his own strength. “You never cease to surprise me, Hadrian. Gorgeous as always.” he rumbled good-naturedly.

“Thank you, Lord Flint,” Hadrian beamed and kissed him on his smooth solid cheek.

“Morpheus, you know that,” he said, patting Hadrian gently on the small of his back. “Find anything interesting along the campsites?”

“Not really,” said Hadrian. “I didn’t get to the good parts before they stole me away.” He waved at his friends behind him.

Dora let out a brill and leaped from Hadrian’s pouch to the silver chain that Morpheus’ pocket watch was attached to. Morpheus smirked when the little creature boldly landed on his chest. He, like Lucius, handed the small fuzzy creature a coin and stroked her once. “I’m afraid to pet you, you’re so little.”

“I’m amazed at how much you’ve managed to train her already,” said Callum, leaning forward. Hadrian kissed Morpheus once more on the cheek and then moved to Callum who smiled and stroked his face. Dora leaped from Morpheus’ gigantic shoulder to Hadrian’s back and climbed up to his shoulder.

“He’s the same boy who trained a dragon,” Morpheus chuckled heartily.

“It is amusing how no one tends to ask us for permission,” said Rodolphus.

Augustus chortled. “After the dragon and the cerberus did you expect differently? You are also forgetting it began with the diricawl chick, and do you need me to retell the black bear story?”

“Ooh, I don’t know this one!” said Sirius eagerly, and Augustus happily regaled Sirius with the story as soft chuckles ringed around the fire.

Hadrian threw a playful look at his Father. “It’s not that hard to train nifflers. So long as you keep shiny things around to distract them from other shiny things,” Hadrian laughed, kissing Callum’s smooth handsome jaw.

“Cassius will be pleased to see you.” Hadrian couldn’t help but warm inside at hearing this.

“As will Marcus.” Both of them laughed as if they were hiding a joke from him. “It’s too bad Wallace couldn’t make it. He could use some relaxation after claiming the title of Chief Warlock.”

“Terry’s here though right?” he asked hopefully.

“He is, we picked him up this morning.”

He finally made his way around to hug and kiss Lord Pucey.

“I’m last, am I?” Lord Pucey chuckled. He smelled like the rich soil and earth of his family’s greenhouses.

“I don’t think so, Albert,” Callum chuckled. “Our sons have yet to see him, and if he doesn’t make an appearance soon I know two boys who will be hunting him down.”

Hadrian grinned. “Maybe I should hide and then pop up when they least suspect?”

“I’d pay to see that,” Morpehus chortled.

“He’s done that before,” said Rodolphus. “Do not tempt him. He will run and hide, make us panic, and then he will jump out and shout ‘gotcha’ or some such nonsense. Augustus found it funny.”

“After a few times too many, I learned his game and I simply played it by his rules. You fell for it every single time.”

“I haven’t done that in a long time!” Hadrian sniffed at them.

“What are you talking about?” Blaise scoffed. “You did that a couple months ago when you went off diving into a ruddy tree! I didn’t think my hair would ever recover.”

“That was hilarious,” Sirius chuckled. “To see all the poised Pureblood children falling in a heap on the dustiest section of floor in a room full of cobwebs. More funny after the shock of having a reunion wore off. Almost feels like that was a dream.”

“He’s always been too smart for his own good,” Draco tattled.

“I suspect this year will be less impactful. At least for you lot. You’ll be quite busy,” said Augustus, and that had all eyes on him from the four boys. He held up his hands. “Nope. I’ve been told not to talk about it, and so I will hold to that.”

“Rude and unfair, Dad! You shouldn’t have brought it up then.”

“Two can play at your game, son,” he grinned. “Your generation wasn’t the one to invent it after all.” His dad teasingly swatted his backside when Hadrian went over for a final hug.

“Let me guess,” said Callum, a sly smirk on his face. “Blaise is responsible for the kohl.”

“You bet I am,” said Blaise, shamelessly. “His eyes are one of his best ‘assets’.” He chuckled childishly. Rodolphus made a noise as the first to catch the joke and was laughing before everyone else joined in.

“You look awfully proud of yourself,” Theo muttered.

“As I should be.”

“Come on. ‘Asset’, really Blaise?” Hadrian drawled, snatching Blaise’s wrist. “Let’s go greet the rest and see how tan Cass and Marcus have become.”

He could hear the Quidditch talk from the entry, excited voices, and the sound of doors shutting repeatedly.

Hadrian didn’t bother with knocking, just entering the tent, and grinned when slim mocha arms swooped around him. He was lifted off his feet and spun. Hadrian locked his arms at Graham’s neck. Graham had the best of both of his parents. All the good looks of his father with the rich exoticness of his mother. He had a nice face with a good set of cheek bones and he wore smart thin square frames in front of his molasses eyes. He had wild curly hair, a sleeker texture that tended to flop and do as it liked. It was trimmed at the sides, but the top was a riot. He was tall and had quite a few muscles hidden beneath his clothes. He didn’t have a typical Beater build like Adrian’s stocky frame, but could still slam a bludger as hard as the twins. Hadrian cupped his cheeks and kissed him in greeting.

“How unfair, I give him his first blowjob and you get all the rewards!”

“Unfair? At least you got something, Terry. All I’ve gotten is smirks and tales,” Blaise sulked.

Hadrian was let back down and he kissed Graham on the chin as his heels touched the floor. “Gorgeous, precious. Love the eyes…”

“I like his back, you can almost see his skin through this tunic.” Terry’s fingers danced up the silken nearly sheer blue tunic and he turned as slim arms worked around him, drawing him into a much more defined chest. Terry was like the world’s cutest puppy dog. Hadrian kissed him. He was a tall five foot ten and his frame had finally gathered enough meat to stop looking like the stringiest of string beans. His shoulders were no longer sharp points either. He was smaller framed than Graham, but not as small as Theo and Draco. His arms and legs finally stopped growing so that the rest of him could catch up. His voice had stopped breaking by Hadrian’s birthday. Graham’s was still having some dips and changes, but not as prominent as Blaise. Draco still sounded young along with Theo.

“Is it my turn yet? I’ve not gotten a turn at all, but then I kind of like breathing.” Adrian spoke up, one hand pushing back auburn bangs. He was the same height as Hadrian, but his frame was stocky with good muscles. Not as defined as Marcus or the others. His face was more circular in shape and he had a speckle of freckles along his nose. His eyes were a yummy chocolate brown and it always looked like he knew a secret you didn’t. He wrapped around Hadrian and kissed him chastly. It was nice being the same height as someone older than him. Adrian had turned seventeen in April.

“I can help you there, Adrian,” Blaise teased.

“Sure. You’re finally in a comfortable age bracket,” said Adrian, squeezing Hadrian who kissed him on the cheek.

Blaise rolled his eyes. “You and ages. Age of consent is thirteen, you know. We could have been having fun all of last year.”

“And I’ll bet you smashed right through that consent.”

“Didn’t even make it,” said Blaise, waving a hand.

“It’s called common decency, Zabini, but you wouldn’t know anything about that would you?” Marcus’ low natural baritone made Hadrian feel like he was running his palm over the surface of rocks with smooth bumps and ridges. His voice had finished changing over a year ago. He’d started puberty way before the others at the age of ten and a half.

Marcus’ muscular physique was on show with his chosen outfit and Hadrian had to work a bit too hard to keep a neutral face. He was showing skin in a way that Hadrian was not used to seeing on the boy. He wore an open silk blue button down that had shine in the light and there was a white sleeveless cotton shirt beneath it with a deep U showing the ridges and muscles on display below the collarbone. His skin had taken on a rich tan and he was wearing a pair of trousers that Hadrian had never seen before. They were fitted and a dark blue shade with stitching along the sides. It was a strange fabric and the coloring reminded him of some of the Indigo dyed garments he saw in Japan. Marcus’ thick muscled thighs fit the trousers too well, and from the knee down was wide enough to cover his dragonhide boots. Hadrian tried not to be distracted by the three silver buttons at the crotch holding the trousers together. It seemed a bit immodest. He was wearing a Heir ring around his neck on a silver chain.

Normally, that would be seen as insulting, but Hadrian noted that it was a ring from his mother’s side for the Selwyn family. The only other Selwyns left were Extremists locked away in Azkaban. His Flint ring was on his left ring finger. It was chunkier than Hadrian’s, less extravagant, and almost entirely black.

Hadrian ran to him and got swept up in a hug. “Hey, baby.”

Blaise was rolling his eyes. “If you’re all about decency, you’re not fuckin’ right!” he scoffed. “Just like if it’s clean, it’s being done wrong.”

“Stop being gross!” Draco grumbled.

“It’s not gross, it’s all natural.”

Theo sighed. “So we’ve heard.”

“Virgins,” Blaise snarked with a cackle.

Theo and Draco rolled their eyes.

“Ignore him, baby. How are you doing?”

He was doing quite fine with arms wrapped around him. He could be swallowed in Marcus’ muscles and die happily. He withheld a shiver as Marcus’ huge hand delicately danced down his back. He could clearly feel Marcus’ fingers with how thin his own tunic happened to be.

“Good.” It was about all Hadrian dared to say. He was feeling a bit winded and breathless. Hadrian touched his strong striking face and he leaned up as Marcus dipped enough so that he could kiss him in greeting. Unlike the other boys who he had greeted with a kiss on the mouth, he couldn’t bring himself to do so yet with Marcus even if Marcus had last year. Instead he kissed him on the very edge of the man’s lips, because really, Marcus was no longer a boy. He was a man if Hadrian had ever seen one.

“What the hell are you up to now?” Theo couldn’t help but ask him.

“6’4.”

“No shit?” Blaise whistled.

“Father is 6’7 and his father was similar. I’m short for a Flint,” said Marcus, shrugging. Everyone snorted at the ridiculousness of that statement.

Hadrian was half hoisted in Marcus’ arm, tucked into Marcus’ side with his own forearm across Marcus’ thick broad shoulders to keep steady and be as close to level with the older teen as he could. Marcus seemed to have no problem holding him up by his hip with one steady hand. Hadrian hadn’t realized that his finger started tracing the perfectly rigid collarbone.

“What are you wearing?” Hadrian asked, looking down at the trousers.

“Indigo Jeans, a style from the Americas.”

“I think they have them in Japan too,” Blaise recognized. “I’m surprised your mother would let you get away with them.”

“They are not Muggle made, not even fucking close,” said Cassius, coming out of the bedroom behind them.

“I like them. You can do shit in them. Not everyone wants to look like a fancy pants.”

“Oi!” Draco grumbled.

“They’re even stronger than robes and much easier on muscled frames, especially for Marcus,” said Cassius as he came around to Hadrian’s side so that he could be seen. “I admit to being the influence behind it. You need a good pair of jeans in the Texas desert, they hold charms three times as long as silk, cotton, linen, and even wool. Also, they are self-cleaning to a point. You don’t have to always shove them in the laundry.”

Hadrian finally got his first look at Cassius and his heart was set a flutter, thumping and bouncing in his chest. It was threatening to come up his throat. He was surprised that Marcus couldn’t feel it with how he was being held.

Cassius was about five nine or ten, give or take. He too had ‘completed’ about as much as he was going to at seventeen and a half. His blond hair had soft highlights and honey blond lowlights throughout it. The ends brushed at his chiseled jaw, showing all the definition of his father, but also having some softness of his lovely mother, Susanna. His voice had a mixture of southern American and British dialect. It would switch depending on what he was saying or doing at the time.

He had a well maintained athletic frame. Less prominent muscles than Marcus, but you could see the work he had put in from Quidditch and wrestling longhorn cows every summer. His eyes were like looking into sunny blue skies. He wore a similar style outfit as Marcus, but he had an airy summer linen short sleeved robe on his shoulders. His boots were more ‘work’ type boots in thick brown leather and looked like it would hurt if you tried to kick it. His ‘Indigo Jeans’ looked more relaxed in places on him, except for the hips, crotch, and thighs. Suddenly Hadrian wanted to know what his arse looked like, but the blond always wore linen open robes so you couldn’t see it. Hadrian really wanted to see it. His skin was not simply tan or darker like Marcus, but bronze like some Egyptian God. Cassius’ Heir ring sat on his hand. It too was simple, but not as dark in metal as Marcus’ happened to be. Hadrian noted his perfect fingers, they looked like fingers that belonged on an artist or a piano player.

Why were these men different from the rest of them? Hadrian didn’t understand. He slid out of Marcus’ embrace with ease before he realized what he was doing. Cassius enveloped him with both arms as if trying to make him disappear from the world. Cassius’ mouth dropped to the top of Hadrian’s head.

“Sweetheart.”

“Cass…” Hadrian was smiling and he couldn't stop. His cheeks hurt. His breath kept stopping at some points when he looked between Marcus and Cassius. Cassius still smelled like the American whiskey he liked to drink. Marcus always smelled like a woodsy oak that might have been bleached by the sun. He always found both smells pleasant and that made him start to wonder what he smelled like to the others. No one had ever mentioned a stink before so he could only assume no one found his own scent displeasing.

Blaise coughed. “Boring.”

He didn’t see Marcus shooting a dark look over his head or Cassius rolling his eyes. “You need to learn some manners, Blaise,” Cassius said as Hadrian turned back to face the room. Cassius’ arms stayed around him, locking across the front of Hadrian beneath his chin.

“I like my manners, and many others like them too,” Blaise grinned. “Hadrian has spent so much time greeting everyone that we’ve been stuck here for twenty minutes. I want to get out of this tent and look at the world. I need to figure out who is fuckable and who is not. We’re only here for a few days. So many international wizards to meet!”

“One track mind you are,” Terry shook his head.

“Cassius and Marcus haven’t seen Hadrian since Hogwarts,” Graham pointed out.

“We are sorry we missed your birthday,” said Cassius, his chin brushing at Hadrian’s temple.

“It’s okay,” said Hadrian, and really it was. He had missed them, but seeing them again right here and now made the wait worth it.

“Maybe next year?” Marcus said, lifting one of Hadrian’s beaded braids. His thick thumb brushed across the strands that twined together.

Cassius nodded. “Yeah, I’ve already talked to Mom about it and my grandparents would be delighted to have more boys running around.” Hadrian knew that the Callahans did not like being called Lords, Ladies, or Sir and Ma’ams. Cassius had once told him that his grandmother was Gramma and his grandfather was Grampa. They would ignore you if you used formal titles or acted like you had a stick up your arse.

“Any hot cousins for those of us who swing both ways?” Graham asked.

“You will have to judge that for yourself. I’m not Bulstrode,” Cassius quipped.

“Fair enough.” Graham shrugged.

“He didn’t say you were fucking them, but surely you can tell if someone is hot or not.” Blaise shook his head as Cassius. “I’m not ever planning to fuck my mother but even I know she’s drop dead gorgeous.”

“I am not the right person to ask about it either,” said Marcus, shaking his head. “No female is ever good looking,” he grunted. “His Gramma is impressive though. Mother would hate her.” He grinned at this like he was proud of that fact.

Cassius rolled his eyes, “I haven’t paid attention. When you come for a visit you can do as you like. Well, with permission. ”

“Even if they looked like Bulstrode, I’d say that alone was fucking hot,” said Graham. Adrian and Terry nodded in full agreement.

“If they look anything like you, Warrington, they’re bound to be lookers.” Blaise smirked.

“Cheers, mate.” Cassius huffed a laugh. “We can always count on you to let us know if someone doesn’t look good.”

“Let’s do as Blaise said and get out of this tent,” said Adrian.

Everyone agreed, even Dora who snuck her way out of some hidey-hole she’d gone in when the boys assaulted him with their hugs and kisses. She let out a twee and jumped on Cassius, who cupped a hand to her back to keep her from falling.

“Looks like Dora is present.” He tickled her beneath her fleshy bill and she cooed and nuzzled at his ring.

“She’s been gifted coins and all kinds of things from your fathers,” said Hadrian. “But I think it's about time for proper food for her.”

Come to find out, it was time for food for everyone. The suggestion started a signal for everyone’s stomachs. Good thing the Montague house-elves were on it and platters had been laid out on silver out by the fire.

“Looks like everyone is accounted for,” said Morpheus, smirking.

“How long did you have to spend on trying to explain to Lucius that your Indigo Jeans were not Muggle influenced?” Hadrian couldn’t help but tease as Lucius’ smirk matched Morpheus’.

“A bit too long,” Cassius said. “You live in Texas for enough time, you will understand why jeans became a fashion statement and practicality.”

“I did not let my lip curl,” said Lucius. “Plus, I remember those lovely scarves that Cissa stole from Draco that you got him from Japan. She still wears one with every other outfit. A similar shade of Indigo to the right eye.”

“I do have one I kept,” said Draco, “but she really loved the one with the silver Japanese cranes and gold ginko leaves on it.”

Hadrian smiled. “I should have picked her up a few too.”

Callum nodded. “I embraced the jeans too, but I’m only bold enough to wear them in the Americas. Teenagers can start a style, we can only adopt it about twenty years after the fact.” All the men laughed at this.

“Who said they can’t come here?” said Hadrian. “Blaise would look hot in a pair. Maybe some white ones.”

Blaise hummed at this. “You know that’s not a bad idea.”

“White is your color,” said Draco.

“Funny that,” Blaise chuckled.

“Any color is Blaise and Graham’s color,” Hadrian added. “They have the perfect complexion for anything.”

None of the men minded Dora sitting at Hadrian’s forearm to eat from a small plate. Cassius sat on one side of him and Marcus on the other. Chatter rang out as they ate and it was a relaxed and jovial atmosphere; as it usually was when the ladies and Nott Snr weren’t present. Hadrian loved Theo, but his father was so uptight that it was hard to be anything but masked with him around, otherwise you risked sneering too much. He was glad to see that Theo had not taken on his unpleasantness.

As they were finishing up lunch, Morpheus warned them all to expect people to drop by and say hello. It was the first time any of the boys had attended a World Cup final match so they weren’t really sure what to expect. They had been to a few of the World Cup matches before, but never a final. The atmosphere was very different.

The first to stop by turned out to be Morpheus’ cousin, Kara Larsson nee Flint. Kara had married a Swedish Pureblood and worked at the Swedish Dragon Reservation near Arjeplog. She looked exactly as a Flint would. She was a tall woman, about an inch or two beneath Marcus. Her face had an angular striking look, but Hadrian didn’t find her unpleasant. She had smooth olive skin and dark blue eyes. Her hair was sleek and it fell in a wave down her back in a way that helped bring some femininity to her strong structure. She was also quite busty, something Graham and Terry noticed from the way her black silk blouse with pinched shoulders hugged her attractively. Her pencil skirt went to her knees and framed her body right to show her curves. It looked like it was made of black dragonhide leather. Cooling charms had to be worked through that, Hadrian just knew it. Her only color in the outfit was that of a blue silk scarf around her throat and silver leaf clasps that tied the shoulders together.

“Kara, lovely to see you, cousin. You didn’t mention that you would be attending the games.” Morpheus stood to greet her followed by Marcus.

“It was very last minute. Axel surprised me with the tickets this morning.” Axel Larsson was her husband. “He planned this whole trip, including talking to my bosses to ensure my time off at the Reserve. It’s his anniversary gift to me this year. Axel is back at our tent dealing with an emergency floo call from the apothecary he runs.”

“Well, it’s nice to see you. Be sure to stop by the house before you both go back to Sweden. Angelica would love to see you again.”

“Of course! She must tell me all the gossip about British society for me to take back with me. I’m guessing she’s with Lady Malfoy and the others?” Kara looked around seeing only men around the fire.

“Indeed. Our wives are hosting a party tonight during the game and so are making last minute changes.” Lucius nodded from his seat. “The Bulgarian Minister’s wife has said she will be in attendance along with Mrs Fudge.”

“How delightful. That means I’ll be able to get Bulgarian gossip too. The dragons could care less, but there is sadly very little to talk about with co-workers at times. When you spend nearly ten to twelve hours a day with the same people you need new topics to speak about.”

“I’m sure they’ll be happy to provide you with all the gossip you’ll want.” Callum chuckled.

“Enjoy your evening gentlemen, boys. I need to continue making my rounds to say hello to people. Hopefully we’ll have a good match.” Kara kissed Morpheus’ cheek in farewell before she left their tent area.

Hadrian wondered if everyone who would stop by would be family, or if any of their friends would show up. He was curious about who was in the other campsites around them, but was enjoying catching up with everyone here too much. It was nice to meet someone in Flint’s family that had the same hearty energy as Morpheus rather than Lady Flint.

“She was impressive,” Terry breathed out.

“I think I could get lost in her chest,” Graham smirked and then he grimaced when a large hand came up and sent his face forward nearly faceplanting. “Ow… Marcus, my glasses!”

Marcus glared at him icily. “Respect, Graham. That is my married cousin. I expect that of Zabini, but not you.”

“S-sorry. I don’t get to see them that big. Not at Hogwarts,” he shuddered with a rub to the back of his head. “It was a compliment.”

“Keep that to yourself or out of my line of hearing.”

“R-right, sorry.” Hadrian couldn’t help but giggle and he took Graham’s glasses and refixed them on his face. “Thank you, kitten. I think I almost died there.”

“I liked her skirt. Mother would love to have that cut,” said Blaise. “Also, Graham - if you’re such a chest man, why haven’t you ever said anything about my mother?”

“Oh, we’ve all thought it, Blaise. Don’t worry.” Terry laughed with Graham. “But Lady Zabini being gorgeous and large is something we’ve known since we were children. It’s different.”

Thirty minutes after Kara Larsson stopped by an acquaintance of Lord Pucey’s did. The man apparently owned the business Albert used to sell things from the Pucey Greenhouses to apothecaries across Europe. The man didn’t stay long, just popping in long enough to greet and pass along a parchment updating Albert and Adrian on the most recent sales made on their behalf.

Next to appear was a blonde man wearing the most lurid set of robes that Hadrian had ever seen. Blaise hissed and buried his eyes into Adrian’s shoulder. “Make it go away, Adrian,” he whined. “It hurts, Adrian. Hurts to look… my eyes!” Hadrian wondered if he was being real or exaggerating. Probably both.

“I wish I could,” soothed Adrian.

The ‘it’ in question was a set of hideous horizontal yellow and black striped robes. The wizard wore a shamrock hat that glowed and glittered, clashing with his round jovial face. His nose looked as if he’d forgotten to fix it after it got smashed in. He was dumpy looking and his middle was distended making him look like he was about to give birth. He was not a Dark wizard so that was not possible.

“I am so glad that I can get my nose fixed every time it’s broken without fail,” Cassius breathed into Hadrian’s ear.

“The twins do like to try and mess with your face, Cass,” Hadrian giggled softly.

“I can’t imagine why.”

Of all things, the man skipped into their section. Hadrian remembered that Draco had been lectured not to skip after he turned eight years old. Augustus at the time had thought it was excessively young for that, but Hadrian appreciated the lesson looking at this man now. He looked like he was unphased by the darkness of the magic or their presence entirely. Most people would skirt around the edges at the least. But not this fellow. “Good afternoon, wonderful sponsors and family!” Hadrian was surprised by how quickly every adult’s noble mask dropped down. Taking cues from their fathers, all of them did the same. Gone was the open laughter and joyful tones. Instead all of them looked proper and reserved. Hadrian couldn’t quite squash his curiosity, but he was relatively blank.

“Merlin,” Callum muttered as the man drew closer. “It’s Ludovic Bagman. What does he want?”

Ooh, Hadrian wondered if Cassius could hiss like that. It was kind of sexy. Hadrian shook that thought from his head.

“Good afternoon, Bagman.” Augustus said loud enough for the man to hear.

“Good afternoon. Good afternoon! I hope you all arrived safely and found your spot alright. The first arrivals had a devil of a time with the Muggles. You remember, Rookwood, a bunch of us had to hurry over to fix things.” The man laughed.

“Yes, it’s a shame that the Department of Magical Games and Sports wasn’t more prepared with you at the Head.” Morpheus mused dryly.

“Too true, Lord Flint. Too true! I shall have to speak to those in my Department so they can do better this fall.” Bagman winked at the adults. “Can’t have any messes during future tournaments. Anyways, as I’m sure many of you know, I used to be a Beater for Wimbourne Wasps, the English National Quidditch Team. The team hasn’t done so well since I left, did you see the walloping they had this World Cup? Well, as fellow Quidditch enthusiasts, I wanted to see if any of you would be interested in getting in on a little wager that’s been started.”

“Wager, Bagman?” Lucius purred. “If I recall correctly, betting during international games was banned by Gringotts after an incident in ‘85 where a Ministry official refused to pay out when they lost to someone from Russia. Nearly led to an international battle with Gringotts stuck in the middle.”

“Hahaha, great memory, Lord Malfoy,” Bagman’s smile stiffened and his eyes darted around the fire. “but I can assure you that that incident is widely exaggerated. A Bagman always makes their payments. There was just a translation issue. But, we’re all Englishmen here! Besides it’s not my wager. I’m simply facilitating it. Yes, facilitating it.”

“While taking a large cut, I’m sure.” Callum stated.

“But of course, Lord Warrington! A middleman must always be paid.”

“If that’s all you’re here for, Bagman, I suggest you take your leave.” Rodolphus ground out. “We’d like to get back to our conversation and you’ve taken enough of our time.”

“Ah, well… that’s a shame. If any of you change your mind, come see me. No one better to wager with than Ludo Bagman!” He chuckled before turning to face Augustus. “Rookwood, the Minister has asked to see all Ministry Officers on duty during the games.”

“Thank you for the message. I’ll be at the Minister’s tent shortly, Bagman.” Augustus nodded, clearly indicating it was time for the man to leave.

“Right. Jolly good. Have a good evening, gentlemen, and enjoy the match!” Bagman quickly left their campsite.

“Boys, never agree to an investment with a Bagman,” lectured Lucius, his voice clipped. He looked at Theo. “It never ends well.”

“Is he who lost Father’s investments?”

“Yes, but it was also his own bad choices. Sometimes, you have to use the Light to your advantage. If you see something worth taking, Light or Muggle you seize it. You don’t flick it away to give it to the other side. Just because you don’t like something doesn’t mean it isn’t useful.”

“Like flobberworms,” said Callum. “Useful in Potions, no one likes them.”

“Or cockroach clusters. No one likes them, but they’re making millions every year,” Hadrian quipped.

“Precisely.”

Not long later Hadrian was waiting on his friends who had gone to use the restroom. He’d already gone and decided to wait for them at the gates. It was a central and easily recognizable location that let him people watch. He leaned against the gates as Dora ran excitedly back and forth from one side of his shoulder the other. She stopped once to examine the lit serpent statue and coo over the glowing eyes.

“No, no, that’s to protect us,” he told her, distracting her with one of the coins that Lucius or Morpheus had given her. She cooed at him again and then rubbed up against his cheek.

“Well, if it isn’t the little honey badger.”

“We could feel the sweetness from our camp of moonbeams and sunshine!”

Hadrian turned and his smile spread as he opened the gate instantly for them. Dora shot down into his pouch. She was getting used to Hadrian being affectionately assaulted by others enough to not get herself knocked off. She had bitten Terry and Graham both when they did that on his birthday. He was soon in arms being lifted and surrounded by gingery hair and freckles. “You’re so faded…” Hadrian reached up on his toes and kissed Fred on the lips, causing their magic to flow. It wasn’t much, but his eyes began to shine again and become richer. Some of his hair also darkened and he did the same with George, getting the same results.

“Ah, feels good around here,” said Fred, looking around. “Quite a setup!”

“A step up indeed!” George chuckled.

“You’re free to hang around, I’m sure Marcus could use someone to argue Quidditch with,” said Hadrian. “Gets his blood flowing.”

“You charm us.”

“It works.”

“Honey badger always charms us…”

“You're worth charming.”

“There he goes again.”

“Oh hey, you’re Arthur’s twins!” Hadrian’s smile faded and he turned to see Ludo Bagman beaming genially from behind the fence. The twins side-eyed him.

“How can we help you, good sir?”

“Dad is in Field 1 should you wish to see him.”

Ludo opened his mouth to speak, but Hadrian seized the boys. “No, Mr. Bagman, they are not betting anything with you. Now be off with you before I call my dad on you for soliciting children.” He wondered if Ludo had been hanging around in hopes of snapping up one of the rich Pureblood kids.

“Oh come now-”

Hadrian didn’t wait for him to finish speaking and led the twins further into the Dark area.

“What was that?”

“Betting? We could do with a good bet.”

“Not with that man,” said Hadrian. “He’s a con artist. I shouldn’t be telling you this, but he lost the Notts a significant amount of money. So much so that they lost titles. He’ll steal your money as quickly as you put the bet down. You want to bet, bet with us or Marcus or something. But do not entertain that man, and always double check your investment sources.”

Both boys grinned and swooped around him. “It’s good to have the honey badger back.”

“So full of intelligence and creative spunk.”

“Sexy arse too. Come on now, don’t bother trying to hide that behind flowers and perfume.”

“I wasn’t hiding anything.” George curved right up against Hadrian’s back with his whole body making Hadrian giggle as his body hummed in excitement. He couldn’t help but to rock back into George’s body. “I am proud of getting to the point.”

“Points are important.”

“Directness, better.”

It was Hadrian’s gaggle of laughter that drew not only the group of fathers, but also the boys. Cassius and Marcus grumbled when they saw them and they didn’t go out exploring as planned.

Chapter Text

Chapter Four

“I feel the need to endanger myself every so often.”

― Tim Daly

Near dusk their group made their way along a well worn path following other witches and wizards heading toward the stadium. The path through the forest was lit by orange glowing lanterns. Augustus was talking with the others at the back of their line about how long it took to layer the entire stadium with Muggle repelling charms. “Over five hundred officials came out for it, including a dozen or more Curse Breakers who were needed to fix some of the mess ups that the lower tier of Ministry Officials had done when trying to weave the enchantments.”

“It is embarrassing, Augustus, to know that full grown men do not know how to layer without bungling it up,” It was rare to hear the disgust in Albert Pucey’s voice. He was like Adrian, who tended to take things as they came and didn’t sweat the small things.

“Hogwarts education at its finest,” Sirius laughed ruefully.

“Not for long,” said Lucius Malfoy. “We’ve got a foothold now and we’re not about to give it up.”

“You need to catch up with the Ministry officials, Augustus, we can take it from here,” Callum assured.

Augustus grunted. “They can wait until I at least get to the stadium and then take my leave. The incompetence is staggering sometimes, Callum. It’s also tiring.”

“Perhaps we will soon have a breath of new talent, if all goes well.”

“If all goes well, but you know how the Light can be.”

“The moonbeams shine out of their self-righteous arses?” Sirius asked in disgust.

An infectious excitement rippled through everybody as they got closer. Marcus and the boys had agreed to a bet with the twins before they left the campsite. Marcus said that Bulgaria would win. Draco flat out insisted that Ireland were going to get it this year after flattening Peru. Cass went with Marcus on his bet. Blaise asked which had the better looking men and then threw a few galleons toward Bulgaria. Terry and Graham were split between Ireland and Bulgaria. Adrian opted out. He’d used his allowance to get himself a Nimbus 2001 for the upcoming year. Theo was not that foolish.

“Boring,” Fred exclaimed. “Is that all you can think about winning and losing? How about this one for size. I’ll bet you - all of you - what we have that Ireland wins, but Krum gets the Snitch!”

Marcus looked at him in disbelief. “Bullshit.”

“No bullshit.” George had a stack of gold in a familiar pouch that Hadrian had given them in his first year when he had them cause mayhem. “One hundred galleons.”

“We know statistics too, Flint.”

“No one has caught the Snitch and still lost in over a hundred years,” Cassius pointed out. “It’s a fool’s bet.”

“We’re the fools,” said Fred and George.

“Take their bet. It’s a good one,” said Callum, coming around having shamelessly eavesdropped.

“I like it!” said Sirius, cheerfully. “I’ll throw in an extra hundred on top for the winner just for that creative incentive alone.”

Hadrian suggested that his dad be the money holder when they tried to suggest him. He didn’t want to jingle around or excite Dora too much. Everyone agreed with this as Lucius actually made notes of everyone’s bet and handed out slips of parchment. Sadly, the twins couldn’t stay with them long otherwise their father would have a fit if he knew they were consorting with the likes of the Malfoys.

Hadrian could barely make out the high shimmering gold walls between the tightly knit trees that hugged around the curve of the stadium. All of them made their way up a slope. He could hear a woman behind him start to pant and grumble about how the Ministry should have thought of leveling the terrain out or some other mutterings about the steep incline.

Hadrian noted that none of the men he was with were out of shape nor had issues, not even the massive Morpheus Flint or Sirius. Sirius had been doing a lot of therapy with some of the best Healers that were brought in from France at the behest of Narcissa. She did not trust that some of the British Healers wouldn’t be in the Headmaster’s pocket and try something duplicitous.

A few people had noticed Sirius amongst the group of them. However, if Sirius had learned one thing it was how to hide amongst the Purebloods. Augustus and Lucius were on either side of him and made a good barrier against anyone who might approach or call out to him.

It was about a forty minute walk from their campsite to the stadium. After they made their way through really tall trees closely clustered together they came upon a clearing to see a massive round, golden walled stadium. There was a shimmer in the air and Hadrian felt like he was breathing magic in. It made the small pale hairs on his arms rise as Dora let out a chirrup from her place in his pouch.

“Now, now don’t go flying out to hug the walls,” Hadrian gently told her underneath the roar of excitement and chatter. She didn’t, she wouldn’t want to be trampled on after all. She was a baby, not stupid.

Hadrian thought that the stadium was so large that ten old style Cathedrals to Magic could fit inside of the stadium itself. He heard someone talking about how it seated one hundred thousand witches and wizards. All the stairs into the stadium were carpeted in purple. Most of the seats they passed looked hard and rough, but the further up they climbed the better and better the seats became.

A Ministry official was standing in front of a red roped area in front of them. “Prime seats!” She called out when they made their way further up the stairs. “Top Box, Prime Seats! Must have Prime seat tickets!”

The men moved in front of them to present their group’s tickets. Augustus turned to Hadrian and cupped his cheek. “I’ll be back soon, son.” He dipped down and kissed Hadrian on the cheek.

Hadrian snuggled his cheek to his father’s scruffiness. “Okay, Dad. Try not to miss too much, please.”

“I’ll do my best. Have fun.”

“We’ll hold your spot,” said Sirius.

“You better or you’re the one sitting on Roddy’s lap,” said Augustus, causing Rodolphus to snicker.

“Why not on you?” Blaise asked, seemingly innocent. Hadrian knew it was far from innocent.

“Unfortunately, I am on the clock even when sitting down.” He gently touched Blaise’s shoulder as he made his way back down the stairs, gliding around those moving up them.

“He’s also too tall, we’d be yelled at for sure for obstructing someone’s vision,” Rodolphus let him know.

“Straight upwards, as far as you can go, Gentleman!” that same witch called out to all of them.

They went up the sweeping stairs as high as they could go until the golden walls stood over them with a grand glow. They reached a box that had three rows of gold gilded purple chairs with golden arms. It was situated at the very top of the stadium, perfectly equidistant between the golden goal posts of both teams.

Hadrian saw the family of gingers standing before the bottom row of seats first. Balding Arthur Weasley and snooty-wand-in-arse Percy Weasley stood talking with a gorgeous man with long auburn hair pinned to the nape of his neck. He had a dragon fang in his ear and wore dragon leather that had Blaise’s eyes roving over him. He had a white cotton button down with a black vest over his slim frame. Beautiful, Hadrian thought silently.

Next to him were the twins, Fred and then George, in whispered discussion. Both winked at him when they saw their group enter. Hadrian next noted another ginger man standing with the twins who was also shockingly handsome. He was like an older, more mature Adrian. He had a muscled frame and was shorter than the twins by an inch or so. His hair was tidy and well cut. He had a good tan on his muscled arms that showed some burns here and there. He was freckled enough that he looked even more tan. His eyes were a liquid blue.

Beside the stranger was Granger. Her untamed hair was pinned back and out of the way. Hadrian caught the red hue on her cheek whenever the man spoke to her and she had to look at him. Then Ronald was at the end playing with his gold omnioculars and holding onto an Ireland shamrock that glittered green against the golden walls. He saw a creature sitting in the seat beside Ronald, and noticed Granger’s unhappy expression as she kept glancing worriedly over at it.

It was not unusual for house-elves to reserve seats as needed, he did feel bad for her though. It was obvious she was terrified of heights. Hadrian would not do that to his house-elves. He and Granger rarely ever agreed with things, but on this they could. Two seats were left open beside the elf.

Hadrian saw the eldest Weasley’s face twist in disgust when he caught sight of Lucius Malfoy, who was the first to enter from their group and greet the Minister of Magic. The other adults followed to play politics while Sirius stayed with them. With Minister Fudge were the Ministers for Bulgaria and Ireland, as well as the Irish Minister’s wife. She was such a fan of Quidditch that she had reluctantly turned down the invitation to Narcissa’s party tonight so that she could watch the match. On the other side of the Ministers and their fathers, two gentlemen were in earnest discussion. Both were wearing robes with the respective team names across the back. Hadrian assumed these were the owners of the two teams based on who his dad told him to expect in the box. Looking around, only Bagman, as the Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sport, was missing.

“It looks like we’re all in the second row,” Cassius stated as he looked over their tickets. “Marcus’ dad and Sirius are book-ending us.”

“I imagine Marcus’ father needs the leg room,” Hadrian quipped.

“Does it matter how we sit in our row?” Blaise asked, eyeing up the two unknown Weasleys in the bottom row.

“Not particularly…”

“Great - hey Adrian! Switch seats with me.” Blaise called out after looking at his seat number.

“Sure,” Adrian laughed, switching tickets with Blaise.

“Come on, you lot.” Sirius grinned. “Get to your seats. You’ll be able to see the game just fine from anywhere.”

Hadrian laughed as Blaise shooed him down to their row after Cassius. Morpheus had already moved into the row and entered into a discussion with the Ireland team owner and the Irish Minister’s wife. Marcus followed after him in discussion with Adrian about the players on the Bulgarian team who were known for their defense strategies. Cassius was behind them and Hadrian couldn’t help but enjoy the view walking behind Cassius afforded him. He could feel Blaise at his back urging him to move faster.

“Come on, Hadrian. New hot men to flirt with!” Blaise hissed at him.

Hadrian glanced behind Blaise to see he was being followed into the row by Draco, Theo, Terry and then Graham. Sirius was in the final seat in front of Rodolphus and where his dad would sit when not working.

Hadrian’s seat ended up being behind George who craned his neck back boldly. “Hey, little honey badger.”

“Hey to you too.” Fred and George drew the attention of the muscled man to their right who turned, a boyish smile on his face that was cross between Fred and George and Cedric if that was possible. His eyes sparkled.

“Friends of yours?” he asked.

“Little honey badger is special,” said George quietly.

“Extra special.”

Hadrian chuckled and held out his hand. “Hadrian Rookwood.”

He shifted and took Hadrian’s hand. It was warm, calloused, and a thread of Dark magic tingled at his palm. Both of them recognized it, but the man did well hiding it as a sly smile crossed his face. “Charlie Weasley. So you’re the one that they’ve talked about. Badger? A Hufflepuff.”

“Yes.”

That was when Blaise practically ended up in Hadrian’s lap with a grin. “I’m his super hot best friend, Blaise Zabini. At your service!” His braids ended up in Hadrian’s face.

Charlie chuckled. “It is nice to meet you, Blaise.”

“Charmed. Real charmed.”

Granger was rolling her eyes and scowling while Ronald was grimacing as he looked over at them.

“It’s nice to see you two branch out from only Gryffindors, there’s more out there in life than lions after all.” Charlie said to the twins.

“Lions, tigers, and bears - oh my,” Blaise quipped, making him chuckle.

“Exactly.”

“I heard you’re a Dragon Tamer?” Hadrian said, cocking his head to see around Blaise. He wrapped his arms around the taller teen and shifted the beads to be over Blaise’s left shoulder.

“I am. I work at the reserve in Romania,” said Charlie. “Are you interested in Creatures?”

“Is he interested?” Blaise snorted. “He’s obsessed!”

“My kind of boy then,” said Charlie, and Hadrian couldn't help but feel a bit shy or blushy at the way he said it.

A soft huff came from beside him and Hadrian blinked to see Cassius staring straight ahead at the pitch and not at him.

“He prefers creatures to boys half the time,” Blaise snickered. He finally shifted off of Hadrian’s lap to sit in his own seat behind Charlie, leaning forward to be closer to the man. Hadrian was kind of startled by Blaise’s teasing. He was used to it, but this seemed almost mean. Like it was a dig at him or something.

Charlie smiled graciously. “There’s nothing wrong with a bit of both.”

“Exactly, thank you, Charlie,” said Hadrian. “Fred and George are great friends of mine.”

“Oh, you jest, little honey badger,” Fred made a mock purring sound, causing Hadrian to snicker.

“Please, keep going!”

Charlie kept up the conversation with them with the twins jumping in where they found an opportunity. That’s when the older stranger caught onto the conversation. He shifted to look at them and was introduced.

“Bill Weasley.” He held out his hand for Hadrian when Fred and George cheerfully introduced him.

“Hadrian Rookwood.”

“Ah, you’re that Hadrian,” said Bill. “I feel like I know you after Fred and George talked so much about you.” Blaise leaned over Hadrian to engage with Bill, seizing his opportunity.

“You’re trying to embarrass us,” said Fred flatly.

“Yes, please keep going. We haven’t been embarrassed since we were five.”

“Curious to see what it really feels like again.”

“Your friend’s excitable isn’t he?” Charlie asked quietly and Cassius let out a snort at this. Blaise was showing a great deal of interest in whatever Bill was saying about his job in Egypt. Hadrian couldn’t tell if it was genuine interest or just another method Blaise used to flirt.

“He loves meeting new people,” said Hadrian diplomatically.

“That’s not what the Muggle world calls it.” Hadrian heard Granger mutter.

Cassius actually shot Granger a look of disgust causing her to flinch and turn away, bright red. Charlie hadn’t heard that rudeness thankfully and neither did Blaise. If he had, Hadrian was sure Blaise would have had colorful words for her in return.

Hadrian settled back when Cassius handed him his pair of ominoculars only for a head to pop out of the shirt she had climbed her way into. “Twee!”

Cassius smirked. “Should have known.” She began to roll and run over him to end up in Cassius’ lap.

Charlie caught sight of her and his eyes glittered. “A niffler.”

Hadrian smiled. “Her name’s Dora. Hagrid, the Care of Magical Creatures professor, gave her to me at the end of last year.”

“Oh, Kettleburn retired? I thought he’d be there forever. She’s well trained, I’m surprised she’s not going wild with all of the gold here,” said Charlie in awe.

“I have been training her. She still has her moments, but at least they happen closer to me so I can snag her when needed,” said Hadrian.

Bill, who had been talking with Blaise, caught sight of Charlie’s interest and the little gold creature pouncing on the ominoculars and licking them. “Well, if that isn’t a pleasant sight.” He didn’t see Blaise’s eyes flash in annoyance. Hadrian pulled her gently from the ominoculars on Cassius’ lap to show her off.

“She’s tiny,” said Charlie. “Still just a baby.”

“I know they stay babies for a full year before they really grow into their bodies.”

Charlie nodded at him and Bill pulled something from his pocket. It was a small rigid coin. Dora saw it and her eyes began to shine. “Twee!” She flung herself from Hadrian onto the back of the chair and she snatched it with her baby paws. Even Percy was looking back at it with intrigue.

“What is that?” Blaise asked, trying to get the attention back. Dora was the attention seeker through and through as she rubbed it and let Bill pet her. Some of the men caught sight of the whole thing. Even the Irish Minister’s wife was cooing softly at her.

“An Egyptian gold stater. They were minted in Egypt around 360 BC. We found a bunch of them in one of our recent tomb excavations. Gringotts and Pharaoh Atem weren’t interested in them so let the Curse Breakers keep them.”

“What do you mean ‘Pharaoh’? Egypt is a democracy, it hasn’t had a Pharaoh since Rome conquered it.” Hermione stated, crossing her arms.

“That may be true in Muggle history, Miss Granger, but Magical Egypt is still ruled by Pharaohs. Gringotts is hired by the Pharaohs to reclaim magical items in Muggle tombs as well as to do archaeological digs on ancient magical Egyptian sites. There’s over 5,000 years of history to be studied there after all.”

“If that’s true then that should be in a museum!” Granger said, watching Dora with the coin. “Things like that belong in a museum, not given as a trinket to a creature who won’t understand its historical educational value.”

“Relax, Hermione.” Ronald rolled his eyes. “One old coin is like any other. If Bill wants to waste his money giving it to a bunch of Slytherins, let him.”

“Stop being rude, Ron,” Charlie chastised and Bill shook his head. Ronald opened his mouth to say something but one uniformed look from the twins shut him right up. He scowled and dropped his eyes.

Dora came running back to Hadrian across the gilded chairs and she hopped down onto his knee before going back to settle with Cassius for a while. Hadrian finally took his ominoculars as the creature laid on her back against the blond with her belly exposed as she played and rolled over her new coin, licking at it and sniffing as she made small noises.

“So, whose house-elf do you think that is?” Hadrian couldn’t help but wonder to Cassius.

“Hm? I don’t know. Wait - I see a symbol on its towel...” Cassius carefully stood, one hand under Dora, and leaned over a few chairs to get a look at it. Draco looked up from his conversation with Theo and Terry in confusion. “Crouch…”

“Crouch? You mean, that Crouch?” Hadrian lowered his voice to barely a whisper. Same one who incarcerated Sirius.

Cassius settled back and angled closer to Hadrian. “Exactly that Crouch. One of the Lightest bastards outside of the Headmaster.”

“How is he able to still have any position or money to pay for a seat here? Wasn’t he basically bankrupt in paying Sirius reparations?”

Cassius shrugged. “Father says that everything is always slow at the Ministry. I doubt action will be taken until well after this year is over from the rumors I’ve been hearing.”

“Yeah, about that, I caught what Bagman said. Do you know what’s going on?”

“Not at all, our parents are being tight lipped about it.”

“I have a question,” Hadrian looked at the redheads in front of him, they were talking jovially with each other. Charlie kept casually glancing back at Hadrian, his smile would widen every time their eyes met. Even if brief. Blaise was still in conversation with Bill. Hadrian had no idea what he was talking about.

“How is it that two Light parents have Dark children? Four are Dark. Do you feel the coin Bill gave Dora?”

“I do,” said Cassius and paused as he considered it. “Prewett,” he said after a moment. “Prewett were Dark a few generations ago and some of the Black blood I imagine. I guess the Weasleys are considered such blood traitors that no one ever blinks or considers it.” Cassius was great at remembering family lines.

“Kinda not nice for the ones who are Dark. They are Pureblood.”

“I agree,” said Cassius. “As much as our parents have learned, they haven't learned everything.” Hadrian agreed with that. “But then we are not living in a war torn time like they were.”

That was also true. As great as all their fathers were, they still had a lot of deep-seated prejudice. Not that they didn’t themselves, but they weren’t always so quick to throw stones at people. Cassius and Marcus in particular. Hadrian didn’t think he’d ever heard Cassius say the word Mudblood. All of them had used it at some point, even himself. But not Cassius.

Cassius smiled at him and it was a handsome smile. Hadrian could have fallen into it. Fingers wrapped around his chin gently and turned it. “Stop looking at me and look at the sign over there. I believe the game is preparing to start…” He let go of Hadrian and touched his beads before settling into his seat. He was still angled toward Hadrian.

A hundred thousand witches and wizards were packed into the stadium, which rose in levels around the long oval field. Everything was suffused with a mysterious golden light. No wonder Dora was giggling. She was in her element. Her own fur was sparkling right alongside it. Hadrian saw that the field looked as smooth as velvet from their high positions. At either end of the field stood three goal hoops, fifty feet high. Opposite of the Top Box, almost at Hadrian’s eye level, was a gigantic blackboard. Gold writing kept dashing across it as though an invisible giant’s hand was scrawling upon the board and then wiping it off again.

Hadrian saw advertisements from Silver and Gold tier sponsors flash across the board. From the Bluebottle Family Broom to Butterbeer and Ogden’s Finest Whisky. He smirked when he saw the Noble House Sponsor names creep across next. Most Ancient and Noble Houses came first with Malfoy at the top, Rookwood, Flint, Lestrange, and Black. They were followed by Most Distinguished Higgs and Warrington and finally Distinguished Houses of Montague and Pucey. All of them had put money forward for the event. Zenyatta had offered but Augustus said he’d cover Blaise’s seat when Lucius said he’d cover Theo’s. Gladrags Wizardwear was next to scrawl across the board.

Hadrian knew that mascots would be coming out before the game started. Hadrian couldn’t wait to see them and wondered if there were any Creatures that would be brought out. Sometimes teams brought National Creatures from their region to show off.

Dora was soon climbing back up to Hadrian’s shoulder to settle with her Egyptian gold coin. Hadrian thought he heard someone behind him speaking in Bulgarian. Hadrian’s father had added a mass translation spell to everyone as they climbed the stairs so that they could understand other foreign languages.

“What a gorgeous young man. I wonder if his family is open to foreign offers.” Hadrian thought it was the Bulgarian Minister who spoke because Cornelius Fudge made a noise.

“Sorry, what was that?” He hadn’t used a spell to help him at all. Did he not know about them? Surely they had to be standard use for a Ministry Official.

“Did you see his eyes?” asked the Irish Minister’s wife. “So beautiful.” She spoke English with a rich Irish accent. “And that precious creature - so well tamed!”

Cassius chuckled quietly. “You always make a splash, sweetheart,” he murmured.

“I don’t try to.”

“Just who you are.” Hadrian marveled at Cassius when his finger traced his cheek. “Nothing to be embarrassed about. Most people in this box are Dark or Neutral, they are drawn closer to us and you.”

Just before Hadrian could reply to Cassius, Ludo Bagman was charging through the box. Blaise hissed as he finally sat up in his seat properly.

“Gross!” said Blaise. “He hasn’t even changed into anything more appropriate. So ghastly.”

“Everyone ready?” he asked, his round face gleaming like an excited overgrown child. “Ministers, ready to go?”

“Ready when you are, Ludo,” said Fudge comfortably.

Ludo whipped out his wand, directed it at his own throat and said: “Sonorus!” He spoke over the roar of sound that was now filling the packed out stadium. His voice echoed over them, booming into every corner of the stands. “Ladies and Gentleman… welcome! Welcome to the final of the four hundred and twenty-second Quidditch World Cup!” Spectators screamed and clapped, thousands of flags waved, adding their discordant national anthems to the racket. The huge blackboard opposite them was now wiping clean of its last sponsor announcement from Bertie Botts.

Now, it was showing BULGARIA: 0, IRELAND: 0.

“Now, without further ado, allow me to introduce… the Bulgarian National Team Mascots!” Hadrian leaned forward eagerly, but then Bagman shouted. “Veela!” He sagged back in disappointment that Bulgaria would have such a Light creature as their mascot.

Hadrian spied the eldest Weasley leaning forward in his seat and taking his glasses off to polish them. Percy and Ron had followed suit in their excitement.

Cassius sneered. “Really? Of all the creatures? Who cares.”

“I’m disappointed,” said Hadrian, looking over at him, pitifully.

“Me too, sweetheart.” He leaned and dropped a kiss on Hadrian’s forehead.

“Light veela.” Hadrian heard Blaise sneer in Italian. He looked over at his friend, that was the most disgust he had ever heard from Blaise. It was a bit shocking. “Fucking pieces of shit.”

Over a hundred veela were now gliding out onto the field and Hadrian twitched as the strong Light magic that seemed to try and cut through the Darkness of the top box. Blaise hissed angrily like a great dark cat. His eyes had changed into narrow points. He looked pissed. What for?

For most people, veela were just beautiful women. Some say they were the most beautiful women that they’d ever seen. Except they weren’t human. Veela were humanoid creatures that could pass as human until they turned on their charm.

Their skin shined bright under the stadium lights. Far too bright for Hadrian’s liking and their white gold hair fanned out behind them without wind as they floated in the air. Sharp music began to play across the stadium and they were soon dancing.

Hadrian noted the only ones who were unaffected in their box were of Dark alignment, though Theo and Draco were eyeing them more than Hadrian expected. Graham and Terry too, he saw when he leaned over to check. Anyone who was interested in women even a little bit was affected.

“At least Bill has taste,” Blaise drawled toward Hadrian.

Bill didn’t look phased, unlike his brothers and Father, who he had to reach over and yank back by their robes. It was kind of embarrassing. Ronald looked like he was about to leap from the top box if Granger hadn’t scowled and whacked him in the head with her velvet program book.

Fred and George mentioned how something was getting kind of smelly and tasted like cotton in their mouths. Charlie handed them both a flask. Hadrian had a feeling it was not pumpkin juice as they both took sharp drinks from it.

“Look at the Minister,” Cassius whispered with his face close to Dora’s, hovering above Hadrian’s shoulder. She nuzzled him and Hadrian shifted to glance back to see Fudge’s mouth flapped open. Fudge licked his lips and pulled at his collar. The Bulgarian Minister was chuckling. Fudge’s reaction was definitely not lost on him. His eyes twinkled, secure in the knowledge that he had the political upper hand. When he caught Hadrian’s eye he winked at him.

Hadrian smiled back and turned to settle back in his seat.

The veela danced faster and faster across the Pitch, swaying and sashaying to the beat of the music. Lots of wizards and some witches were falling under their spell. There had to have been barriers up to keep anyone from jumping out and falling to their deaths. At least, Hadrian hoped so. That would be a major scandal for the British Ministry if there weren’t. Then it was over. Ronald was being whacked on by a furious Granger, and the eldest Weasley was shaking his head and rubbing at his eyes.

“I don’t like that,” He thought he heard Theo say to Draco beneath the cheering and boos of the crowd that didn’t want them to leave. “I don’t like things that steal my attention against my will.”

“Stop that, Ronald!” Hermione chided snagging his green shamrock before he could destroy it. “Get a hold of yourself.”

“Huh?”

“Idiots,” Cassius shook his head and Hadrian agreed.

“Light veela should be drowned at birth,” Blaise muttered in Italian, crossing his arms over his chest.

All the veela lined up on the edge of the field, and even from here Hadrian could catch the smug expression on their faces with the boos and anger of the male crowd. Blaise looked like he was going to come out of his skin and claw their eyes out or something.

“And now!” roared Ludo Bagman’s voice. “Kindly put your wands in the air… for the Irish National Team Mascots!”

Dora was the first one to let out a squeal in the top box. She jumped in the air, her baby paws coming back down on his shoulder.

A giant green-and-gold like a comet came streaking into the stadium. It did one circuit, then split into two smaller comets, each hurtling toward the goal posts on either end of the Pitch. A rainbow arched suddenly across the field, connecting the two balls of light. The crowd oohed and awed, in all the right places. Dora was twittering and racing around in a circle going from Cassius back to Hadrian as if she did not know where to go.

The balls of light reunited and merged to form a great shimmering shamrock, which rose up into the sky and began to soar over the stands. Something like golden rain began to fall from it.

“Excellent!” Ronald yelled. “Free gold!”

Dora was right there with him as the leprechaun gold rained down and she began to lose her little mind. She raced the length of Cassius, Hadrian, Blaise and back again. Even going over Draco and Theo’s seats.

Charlie actively looked back to watch her more than the leprechauns that had appeared. Fred and George were laughing as they flung the gold to her, causing her to squee with excitement. Even Bill flipped a few in the air for her to catch. As she ran back across his seat he noted the Bulgarian Minister even tossed her a coin.

“She’s going to be exhausted after this,” Cassius laughed as they watched her.

“At least she’ll sleep well,” Hadrian offered. He ran a finger down her fur and he could feel her excited heart beat. He hoped it didn’t explode in her excitement.

“She’ll start crying when it all vanishes,” Cassius murmured.

“Maybe you can wake up with her then.”

Cassius only grinned at that. Soon the onslaught of green and endless amounts of gold began to slow. The bearded little men that had been dancing on the soaring shamrock moved to the opposite side of the Pitch from the female veela.

Ludo resumed his position. “And now, ladies and gentleman, kindly welcome - the Bulgarian National Quidditch Team! I give you - Dimitrov!” Hadrian’s eyes found the scarlet-clad figure on a broomstick, moving so fast it was a blur. He shot out onto the field from the entrance far below. Wild applause from the Bulgarian supporters greeted him. Hadrian was following suit. He had to support Marcus and Cassius’ chosen team after all. “Ivanova!” A second scarlet robed player zoomed out. “Zograf! Levski! Vulchanov! Volkov! Aaannnnnnnnd KRUM!”

For a moment, Hadrian didn’t see him among the flying professionals. When he did, he lurched forward, surprising Dora who had been rolling on his lap in a little pile of gold. “Bloody hell…!”

It was Viktor from France! He brought his ominoculars up and spun the dial. Sure enough, Viktor was the Krum that was flying on that Firebolt. His strong facial features and hawk-like eyes seemed to look at everything but the stands of cheering people. From this view he looked like a bird of prey preparing to swoop down. He was exactly as Hadrian remembered him, except more with clothing.

“Huh,” he settled back.

“Like what you see there?” Blaise asked him. “He’s okay. I’d do him.”

Hadrian licked his lips and considered telling him about the beach and being the eleven that he ran into. But something stopped him. “He’s striking,” Hadrian chose to say.

“Striking, huh? I wonder what his dick looks like.” He grinned.

Hadrian rolled his eyes. He’d never seen it, but he had felt it. Certainly felt big in his memory.

Ludo took their attention again. “And now, please greet - the Irish National Quidditch Team!” he yelled. “Presenting - Connolly! Ryan! Troy! Mullet! Moran! Quigley! Aaaannnnnnd Lynch!” Seven green blurs swept onto the field.

Hadrian spun the dial on the side of the ominoculars and slowed the players down enough to read the word ‘Firebolt’ on each of their brooms and see their names, embroidered in silver, upon their backs. Lynch reminded Hadrian of a more mature Terry. If he was anything like Terry as a Seeker there might be a chance that Fred and George could win the bet. However, looks were, after all, remarkably deceiving at times.

“And here, all the way from Egypt, our referee, acclaimed Chairwizard of the International Association of Quidditch, Hassan Mostafa!” A small and skinny wizard, completely bald but with a mustache that could rival his dad’s on one of his worst days of not tidying, appeared wearing robes of pure gold to match the stadium. He strode out onto the field. A silver whistle was protruding from under his facial hair. He was carrying a large wooden crate of Quidditch balls with one hand, his broomstick held in his other.

Mostafa mounted his broomstick and kicked the crate open - four balls burst into the air: the scarlet Quaffle, the two black Bludgers, and the miniscule winged golden Snitch. With a sharp blast on the whistle, Mostafa shot into the air after the balls. “THEY’RE OFF!” Screamed Bagman.

It was so fast, Hadrian had no time to look anywhere but at the field. Not left or right or at anyone specific unless he wanted to lose sight of everything going on.

“It’s Mullet! Troy! Moran! Dimitrov! Back to Mullet! Troy! Levski! Moran!”

Hadrian’s heart swooped at the same speed of the players. He could hear Marcus roaring in the background. Cassius was right beside him leaned forward in his seat. Part of his mind was listening to Bagman’s commentary and missing the way that the twin’s friend Jordan did it.

The professionals were moving at an incredible speed that made Hogwarts Quidditch games seem childish and slow. Even the other games he’d seen that were professional level were not this fast. He was sure of that, but then maybe he hadn’t been paying great attention until now. He’d never cared as much until now. He cared because they cared so much. It was easy to get caught up in their energy.

This was exciting.

“Oh come on!” He could hear Cassius cry out.

“That Beater has a good swing!” Adrian cheered. He could hear Graham agree over in his seat near Sirius. Sirius was the loudest of them all, cheering for both teams equally. Hadrian suspected he was just happy to be free and living again. Probably having the best time of his life right now.

Bagman only had time to say their names with as fast as things were moving and changing. Hadrian spun the dial to slow the game down for a minute as he saw lettering flash across the lens. The noise of the crowd pounded against his eardrums.

He heard Cassius shout that they were using a formation called Hawkshead, whatever that meant. He watched as the three Irish Chasers zoomed closely together, Troy was in the center, slightly ahead of Mullet and Moran, bearing down upon the Bulgarians.

“Ah shit! You’ve been ployed!” Hadrian had to pause to look at Cassius who was grinning. “Porksoff Ploy. We do that one a lot. It’s fuckin’ fun.”

He thought he saw what Cassius meant as Troy played as though to dart upward with the Quaffle, drawing away the Bulgarian Chaser, Ivanova, and dropped the Quaffle to Moran. Terry and Cassius had done something similar last year against the Gryffindors.

One of the Bulgarian Beaters, Volkov, swung hard at the passing Bludger with his club, knocking it into Moran’s path; Moran ducked to avoid it and dropped the Quaffle. Levski soaring beneath, caught it. Unfortunately Bulgaria didn’t keep it for long.

“Ten zero to Ireland!”

Hadrian watched as laps were made and the leprechauns cheered. They had risen into the air again and formed a great, glittering shamrock. Across the field, the veela were watching them sulkily.

“Ireland is really good,” said Cassius. He had his fingers to his mouth, tapping it, as he kept his eyes on them. He had no ominoculars and Hadrian didn’t know how the older teen was able to keep up with everything happening.

Soon, the match became faster and more brutal. Volkov and Vulcanov, the Bulgarian Beaters, were whacking the Bludgers as fiercely as possible at the Irish Chasers. He could hear Adrian cheer them on. They were starting to prevent the Irish from using some of their best moves. Twice they were forced to scatter, and then finally Ivanova managed to break through their ranks and dodge the Keeper, Ryan, scoring Bulgaria’s first goal.

“Fingers in your ears!” The eldest Weasley called to Percy and down to Ronald.

Blaise snarled and Hadrian jolted, having almost forgotten he was there. The veela started to dance in celebration, but it lasted only a few seconds when Bulgaria took possession of the Quaffle again.

Hadrian was now searching the skies for Viktor and saw him excruciatingly high up. So much so that Hadrian’s neck was kind of strained. Lynch had followed him up, “Cass…” Cassius looked at him and Hadrian pointed, and even Cassius had to stretch.

“Well shit…”

Bagman hadn’t caught on yet and then he did. “Dimitrov! Levski! Dimitrov! Ivanova - oh I say!” he roared. That was when the stadium seemed to catch up.

“Shittttt!” Cassius was on his feet and so was Hadrian. Good thing Dora clung onto his shirt with a squeak of protest. He hadn’t noticed her or the gold coins that spilled to the floor.

Viktor and Lynch were plummeting through the center of the Chasers, so fast that it looked as though they had just jumped from the Astronomy Tower from Hogwarts. No, further up than that. Hadrian’s heart burst as he followed the descent amongst the roaring crowds. He squinted to try and see where the snitch was.

“Both are crashing!” Cassius and several others called out.

“Lynch is!” Hadrian hollered over them. Hadrian was right because at the very last second, Viktor pulled out of the dive and spiraled off in a smooth stroking gesture that had Hadrian giggling a bit.

Lynch, however, hit the ground with a dull thud that could be heard throughout the stadium. A huge groan rose from the Irish fans’ seats.

“Wronski Feint,” Cassius was gasping in awe as he fell back to his seat. He reached up and grabbed the barely hanging Dora.

Hadrian sat back down. “Wronski Feint?”

“It’s time-out!” yelled Bagman’s voice. “As trained mediwizards hurry onto the field to examine Aiden Lynch!”

That was when he heard Lucius’ voice beneath the crowd leaning toward his son. “You ever try that and I’ll burn your broom,” Hadrian barely heard him hiss.

Hadrian let out a wild giggle at that and Draco’s cheeks burned. His eyes were sparkling and he looked like he was shaking with excitement.

“Shit that was fuckin’ cool,” said Cassius, his voice a bit rough and twangy in his excitement. “The Wronski Feint is the most dangerous Seeker Diversion you can perform. Nearly everyone screws it up. Even the most talented players,” he told Hadrian. “I’m fuckin’ impressed and I think the Gryffs might be onto something.” He wouldn’t say that lightly.

Soon enough, Mostafa blew his whistle again. Lynch was back in the game and the Chasers moved into action with a skill unrivaled by anything Hadrian had seen so far.

The Bulgarians were starting to get pissed and foul thanks to ‘excessive elbowing’ otherwise known as Cobbing. Fred and George grinned at each other, showing their teeth. Yeah, he knew they liked to do that too.

Soon enough, the veela had managed to enchant Mostafa through their wild dances, pissing everyone off, especially Ireland. A fight ensued between the leprechauns and veela. But that was nothing to the dirty fouls being committed left and right with no referee.

“What are they doing?!” Cassius cried out. “You could have had that, why did you have to foul!” He growled out. “Not the time!”

It was obvious even to the Bulgarians that the Ireland Chasers were too damn good. The Irish mascots pulled down their green trousers and flashed the veela their little arses making Hadrian giggle. That made the veela angry. They all began to transform right before their eyes into great big bird-like beasts of prey with elongated faces and beaks in fury and anger at the lewd leprechauns. They had long scaly wings that were bursting from their shoulders. He could hear the Weasley patriarch lecturing Percy about going for looks and looks alone. He couldn’t reach Ronald to tell him that.

Besides him, Blaise’s hands clenched into fists and he started angrily muttering so quickly in Italian that Hadrian couldn’t hope to keep up. Hadrian shuddered as the Light power actually did cut into the Darkness in the top box. Mostafa was knocked upside the head by something. He seemed to snap out of their enchantment and embarrassedly chased the veela off the field, barring them from continuing their dances much to the leprechauns’ delight.

During all of this the Bulgarian Team were getting their hits and licks where they could. Hadrian turned his attention back to the shit-show in the skies.

Back and forth, back and forth. Names were called, fouls were made. Ireland was bursting through the stadium as Bludgers were smashed and faces split open.

“Such a violent game, I don’t like this,” Granger could be heard beneath the low sympathetic ooh’s of the crowd. “How can you boys be enjoying this? Even the Irish Minister’s wife?”

Then the Irish Beater Quigley swung heavily at a passing Bludger, hitting it as hard as possible toward Viktor. He could not duck quickly enough and Hadrian flinched in sympathy when it hit him full in the face.

A deafening groan ransacked the crowd. Viktor’s nose was definitely broken, based on the image being shown on the large screen across from their box, and there was blood everywhere. Hassan Mostafa had become too distracted by the veela leaving to blow his whistle. One of the veela had thrown a handful of fire and set his broom tail alight.

Hadrian frowned at this, folding his arms over his chest. If Lynch was patched up, Viktor deserved to be, and these crazy firebreathing bitches were taking that away from him! “Come on! Time-out!” He shouted before he could stop himself. He leaned forward against George’s chair. “Do your commentator job correctly, Bagman!”

“I don’t think anyone’s listening, sweetheart.” Cassius leaned down to him.

Hadrian growled at him, making the blond stare at him in surprise. “That’s not fair to him! If Lynch gets patched up he should too! Stupid bitches! Come on! Call for a time-out! Fix him before continuing!”

“You sound passionate all of a sudden,” Cassius noted. “Hadrian?”

Hadrian turned away at that with a harrumph. “Just not fair,” he muttered.

Shockingly, Ronald felt the same and was trying to scream it at Bagman. The man couldn’t hear anything because he was focused on both matches.

Hadrian then snapped his eyes at the Irish Seeker. “Look!” He shouted with a point to the air. The Irish Seeker had suddenly gone into a dive and Hadrian was almost sure he’d seen the snitch. “He’s seen it. It’s not a ploy. He’s seen it. Where is it? Where is it?” But Hadrian couldn’t see it. He was way too far away. “Come on! Viktor, notice!” He hissed quietly, still leaning on George’s chair. He was gripping it tightly. Suddenly there he went. “Yes!” Hadrian jumped with a cheer. Viktor was shooting across the stadium like a star. Hadrian ignored the Irish supporters and the great wave of green, screaming their own Seeker on.

Hadrian was impressed that he could see where he was going with flecks of blood flying through the air behind him. He was drawing level with Lynch now as the pair of them hurtled toward the ground.

“They’re going to crash!” George burst out in front of him.

“Lynch is!” Hadrian shouted for the second time. He rushed forward, grabbing at George’s shoulder to lean forward over the chair, pushing George down over his lap. Charlie grinned at him and brought his hand out to steady him so he didn’t fall. “Look!”

He was right, Lynch hit the ground with tremendous force and was immediately stampeded by a horde of angry veela who had snuck back on to the Pitch.

Hadrian brought the ominoculars to his eyes just in time to see Viktor’s hand reaching out and snatching the snitch. “He’s got it!”

“What?” Cassius had been eyeing Lynch on the ground being pummeled by the Bulgarian mascots. “Where? Shit, he does… fuck!”

Hadrian shouted in glee, twirling where he stood. “Way to go Viktor!” As he spun he noted the Bulgarian Minister’s bemused look cast his way. He didn’t care what the man thought of his excitement. He was just happy that his friend… acquaintance… summer romance… whatever caught the Snitch.

Viktor in his red robes still had blood coming from his nose, but it didn’t matter. He was rising into the air with a gentle sway. His fist held high and a glint of gold clasped in it. Hadrian swooned with excitement. The scoreboard was flashing: BULGARIA: 160, IRELAND: 170 above the crowd that hadn’t realized what had happened.

He was more excited that Viktor caught the Snitch, even if he lost because really that was a personal win. Ending it on his own terms, that has to be humiliating for Lynch, Hadrian thought with a big smile. He could feel the heat fill his cheeks and Cassius eyeing him incredulously. Blaise seemed to have sunk somewhere deep in his own mind because he was still and simply staring in anger at the mascots on the field.

Soon, the rest of the crowd began to notice that Ireland had won. A rumble from the Ireland supporters grew louder and louder until they erupted into screams of delight.

“IRELAND WINS!” Bagman shouted, who like the Irish, seemed to be taken aback by the sudden end of the match.

People were screaming and it was deafening. When Hadrian brought his hands up to cover his ears from all the noise, he realized he’d been leaning heavily against George. He drew back and straightened his tunic. His heart was racing. Cassius was staring at him questionably.

“I got into the spirit…” He said to the look.

“So much so you forgot Dora, she’s in your pouch asleep by the way,” he let Hadrian know.

“Oops…” Hadrian did feel guilty about that.

“Why the bloody hell did he do that for?” Draco bellowed out before he could stop. “They could have gotten a better score if he waited.”

“He knew he’d never catch up, Draco. He ended it on his own terms,” said Hadrian. “He was hurt and never got medical. If he didn’t get it then, the adrenaline would have worn off and he’d have likely passed out. Stupid people,” he muttered to himself.

“Stupid Light veela, you mean, precious.” Blaise corrected him. “I wish they were banned.”

Viktor landed on the Pitch as a swarm of mediwizards finally noticed all of his blood and blasted a path through the battling leprechauns and veela to get to him. He looked a terrible mess, Hadrian thought, distractedly.

Hadrian brought his ominoculars to his eyes. Viktor looked surly, like Marcus when he woke in the morning or when he didn’t make a block that he should have. He was quite striking wasn’t he? Definitely still an eleven. Hadrian thought to himself, focusing the dial to zoom in. He ignored the leprechauns that were zooming all over the field excitedly.

His team members were around him, shaking their heads dejectedly. A short way away, the Irish players were dancing gleefully in a shower of gold descending from their mascots. Flags were waving all over the stadium as the Irish national anthem blared from all sides. The veela were shrinking back into their usual, Light images. All the spirit had gone out of them at their defeat.

“Vell, ve fought bravely,” said a gloomy voice behind Hadrian. Hadrian turned to look at the speaker. The voice spoke in thick, broken English with a Bulgarian accent.

“You can speak English?!” Fudge said, sounding outraged. Hadrian snorted into his hand and the Bulgarian Minister winked at him again slyly. “And you’ve been letting me mime everything all day!”

“Vell, it vos very funny,” he said, shrugging.

Yeah it was, considering all Fudge needed was a translation spell. They had all learned how to cast one when they went to their first international charity ball or supper.

“As the Irish team performs a lap of honor, flanked by their mascots, the Quidditch World Cup itself is brought into the Top Box!” Bagman roared.

Hadrian’s eyes blinked and he was so glad that Dora was fast asleep. “Oh don’t let Dora hear that.” A bright light bathed over the top box so that each and every one of the Top Box members could be seen. He saw two panting wizards carrying a vast golden cup into the box . Dora would love that and he’d never get her back if she saw that. The wizards handed the cup to Cornelius Fudge, who was still looking disgruntled that he’d been signing and gesturing all day. Fudge waved his hand and the wizards hastily cast some spells, removing the chairs from the box. It made everyone stand and move. Granger and Ronald almost fell to the floor when their chairs were removed because they hadn’t been paying attention. Fudge moved up to be closer to Bagman while the Weasleys and Granger shuffled to the side.

“Let’s have a really loud hand for the gallant losers-Bulgaria!”

Hadrian saw them, making their way up the carpeted staircase. Most of them were despondent but everyone clapped and applauded them. Part of him wondered if they were made to climb all of the steps from the bottom or if they were able to fly up part of the way. He hadn’t been watching the field to see them leave it. Hadrian frowned when he counted only six players. Where was Viktor?

They got close enough that Hadrian could smell their sweat and the blood mixing from their match. Four of the six players were Dark aligned and the other two felt like Neutrals to him. Ronald had about fallen out of the box when there was a swoop behind him. They all turned in shock as someone landed on the edge of the box by the Weasleys.

Hadrian’s eyes widened when Viktor casually dropped down from the edge and turned. They came face to face for the first time in over a year. Viktor’s face was still bloodied, you could see the break at the bend of his nose from the match. His dark eyes glittered as they stared at him.

“Hi.”

Viktor held out his hand to Hadrian who met his hand with his own. He smiled when Viktor dropped the Snitch that he caught into Hadrian’s hand. “I owe you, Hadrian.” he spoke thick and low, but the spell held. He smiled and then turned to meet the other players.

Hadrian’s heart fluttered when he felt stares all around him, Cassius was really staring and Blaise had his mouth slightly open. Before they could ask there was a rustle at the stairs.

“What did I miss?” It was his dad, and as he said that Viktor’s name was announced by Bagman. The entire stadium blew up.

Good timing.

Chapter Text

Chapter Five

“I'm selfish, impatient and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I am out of control and at times hard to handle. But if you can't handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don't deserve me at my best.”

― Marilyn Monroe

It was too noisy for anyone to start in on questions, and for that Hadrian was very appreciative. He took a breath and dropped down into a seat to wait as people from the bottom began to file out of the stadium. After the teams left the box, Fudge ordered the chairs to be brought back. This game would be one they would be talking about in droves for years to come, most of them said. Augustus, who had only just returned, secretly slipped the twins the sack of gold that they had won from their bet with the others when the eldest Weasley was not looking. Both boys grinned and thanked him, readily.

He was aware of the stares being sent his way and tried to ignore them. The hum from behind him that came from the Bulgarian Minister didn’t help. Nor did the random chuckle.

“You want to explain yourself?” Cassius dropped down.

“I don’t think I do,” said Hadrian.

“Hadrian, how did he know your name?” Blaise asked, finally coming back down from wherever he went earlier.

“I gave it to him?”

Blaise only stared and Cassius looked confused.

“What’s this?” Augustus asked. “I must have missed something. Look at those expressions.”

Ronald was slack jawed. “Why did he get the Snitch?! What’s so special about him? We’re the ones who won the Ministry lottery for the tickets!” Everyone ignored him but Granger who seemed to be arguing with him about why something so insignificant was so important.

Hadrian opened his hand. “Viktor gave me the Snitch,” he said, showing the limp golden ball with broken wings to his dad.

“What is all this about ‘Viktor’? That’s an awfully familiar way to speak about Krum,” Blaise pointed out. “None of us know him.”

Hadrian shrugged at him. He didn't want to tell Blaise here with everyone around him. He’d do it later. “Later Blaise,” he hissed quietly. Normally, Blaise had more tact than that.

Blaise then frowned at him. “Whatever.” He turned away then, surprising Hadrian.

Why was he in such a horrible mood? Surely, the veela hadn’t been that bad. Hadrian didn’t like them, but Blaise’s reaction seemed a bit excessive.

There were so many people and so much noise that none of them could speak to each other freely as people finally began to migrate out of the Top Box. The Bulgarian Minister approached Hadrian and smiled. “I loved your enthusiasm-?” Hadrian heard the question.

“Hadrian Rookwood, Minister, Heir Rookwood.”

“Heir Rookwood, it is nice to meet you.” He covered Hadrian’s hands warmly. “I should have recognized your ring, Heir Rookwood.”

“I’m sure you see so many a day, Minister, you cannot be faulted for not recognizing a few.”

He beamed at this. “We did not win but I still feel victorious!”

“He won. Just not the way you expected,” said Hadrian.

“Indeed! I like your attitude!” He cheered and then he greeted Augustus. “You have a fine son, Lord Rookwood. I would love to speak to you at lengths soon.”

“I would be honored, Minister,” said Augustus richly. “You can get details from Lord Malfoy on how to reach me and our party.” He gestured to the tall poised Pureblood. The Minister nodded and moved forward to speak with Lucius.

Arthur Weasley couldn’t help but visibly glare when Lucius loudly invited the Minister to their tents for drinks that night in flawless Bulgarian. The man didn’t have to understand the language to understand what was happening. Instead of accepting the invite, the Minister counter offered for them to come to him for drinks and some good old fashioned talk that wasn't gibberish. He shot a glance at Fudge who was still staring, mouth slightly agape because he couldn't understand a word of it. Lucius happily accepted.

Soon, they were moving along the lantern lit trails back to their gated section of the campgrounds. The star speckled sky could hardly be seen with the vibrancy of shamrock green fireworks exploding up over their heads. Drums in the distance beat like a heart; thumping, thumping, louder, louder. A thrum on the edge of the drums was followed by cheering of hundreds of fans and shouts of glee. All of them but Lord Montague had agreed to go for drinks. Oberon was admittedly exhausted. He’d been up the night before layering their campsite with enchantments as Lucius went to take care of the Muggles that oversaw their section. So he begged off early for a good sleep. Augustus asked them all not to leave the camp alone and if they did leave to explore to go together. He kissed Hadrian on the forehead before joining the rest of the men. Sirius had also been invited and was eager to be out amongst them.

A bonfire was lit in the marble pit in the center of their tents and drinks were passed around. All of them had been given permission to have a drink or two by their parents so long as it was in moderation. A crack of orange and red flame burst up high trying to reach the green glowing skies. A mild breeze swept through the moor and played against the heat of the fire.

“What a fuckin’ game,” Marcus said for the thousandth time. He settled back heavily, muscles bulging as he draped his forearms over his knees. “I can’t believe the twins called it. I don’t even give a shit that Bulgaria lost because that was fucking great!”

Hadrian could feel eyes on him as Marcus replayed the game for everyone in his excitement. Theo was tucked in one of his books and Draco was lounging across one of the seats staring into the fire. He was alternatively looking at the fire and the booming fireworks that took various shapes of Irish creatures and motifs. Hadrian looked over the fire to see bright blue eyes observing him as he bobbed in time to the beat of the drums they could all hear.

Blaise was the first to speak to Hadrian directly. He’d seemed oddly silent after the game and had been one of the first to start drinking. Hadrian had no idea why. “So, want to tell us what that was back there?”

Hadrian glanced at him to see the boy’s usually happy face was unreadable. “Hm?”

“Krum, why did he give you the Snitch?” Blaise asked. “Why did you call him Viktor, and why did he seem to know you?”

“What do you mean by that?” Marcus asked. No doubt he’d been too overwhelmed to notice what had happened.

“Viktor,” Blaise mocked. “Called Hadrian, Hadrian.” Everyone was looking at him now as he brought up the Snitch and rolled it between his fingers.

“You did seem awfully passionate, sweetheart,” said Cassius. “Especially when he was hurt.”

“You know I’m a fair person, Cass,” said Hadrian. “I don’t care about fouls, but there should be fairness in how plays and things are called. Since the game was paused for one to get medical care they should have done the same for both.”

Cassius didn't even blink at him. Blaise was knocking back drinks left and right. A bit much there? Hadrian and the others didn’t say anything to discourage him. Blaise was old enough to pay for the price in the morning like Hadrian did over Yule in their second year.

Hadrian had every plan on telling Blaise about Viktor later. However being put on the spot like this, with such a strange accusatory tone and stare from both Blaise and Cassius, made Hadrian feel defiant. “I don’t know.” He shrugged in response to the stares.

“Isn’t it obvious? He liked Hadrian, obviously,” Terry pointed out.

“I can’t blame him,” said Graham. “Probably the first pretty thing he saw after getting that bloody nose.”

Hadrian rolled his eyes. “I’m not a thing, Graham,” he chided gently.

“We know, kitten,” said Graham, and he became sheepish. “Sorry!”

Hadrian appreciated that, but Blaise scoffed. “Honestly, Hadrian. I don’t think it’s all that fair.”

“What?” Hadrian was confused.

“Blaise, I think you’ve had enough to drink,” Cassius said patiently looking at the fourteen year old.

“Oh no, Cassius, you aren’t telling me I’ve had enough,” said Blaise. “What I just went through back there,” he sneered, “I need all the liquor I can get right now.” He hissed at the older teen.

“What’s wrong, Blaise?” Hadrian asked, in concern.

“As if you don’t know.”

Hadrian frowned softly at the contempt he heard in Blaise’s voice. He could feel Draco dropping his eyes to Blaise and Hadrian. Even Theo paused in his reading. “I really don’t know. Why are you suddenly upset with me?”

“Suddenly?” Blaise asked. “It’s not sudden!” He looked away, purple eyes glinting against the fire that reached up into the air. “It’s always like this. You’re being kind of childish don’t you think, precious?” He said in a snarky sounding way that made ‘precious’ sound insulting.

“Blaise…” Adrian breathed, but he went ignored.

“Don’t you find it frustrating? All of you!” Blaise laughed.

“You are out of your mind, Zabini,” Marcus growled. “Hadrian’s not done anything.”

“That’s the fuckin’ point! He hasn’t done anything!” Blaise growled out. “He’s acting like he’s not a Pureblood with the way he holds out on everyone!” Hadrian swallowed as Blaise’s words stung through his heart. Everyone stared at him in shock.

“He’s fourteen, Blaise,” Cassius gasped at him.

“So? I was younger than him! Why does he just mess around? Like with Graham, why hasn’t he fucked him?!”

Graham opened his mouth and shut it. “Blaise…”

“You’re telling me you wouldn’t have fucked him if he wanted you too?”

“Hell yeah, I would have,” said Graham, in an instant. “But Hadrian’s younger than me. He sets the rules for that. It’s on his terms. I’m not going to rush him into something he doesn’t offer.”

“His terms, which are no terms at all. He gets all the guys and he doesn't bite! He doesn’t take the opportunities so easily there for him to grab!”

“Everyone advances differently, Blaise,” said Cassius, patiently. “You cannot expect everyone to be on your same level or anyone else’s.”

Blaise snorted. “Oh please, Mr. I’m-So-Perfect. Like you care, you like him as a fuckin’ virgin!”

Cassius’ eyes hardened into ice. “That is none of your damn bloody business, Zabini,” he said coolly but with a bite in his voice.

“What the hell is this really about?” Marcus growled.

“Just isn’t fair. He has so many chances, and it frustrates me and pisses me off when he doesn’t even blink or notice them! We know he isn’t stupid so what is it?!” Blaise exploded. “-And why do you keep quiet like it’s a dirty little secret? Like a Halfblood would do!”

“Blaise!” Everyone cried out at him.

“I don’t hear him denying anything.”

“Because you’re rambling!” Adrian leaned forward. “You’re not giving him a chance to process anything you’re saying. You are drunk, Blaise. You are going to regret this tomorrow.” He tried to be gentle about it, but Blaise wasn’t having it.

“Fuck tomorrow, Adrian.”

Hadrian was trying extremely hard not to show a crumbling face in front of anyone. His heart was breaking in half with Blaise’s words, the way they sliced and diced at his heart. It’d been his biggest fear ever since he told them about his past. That they’d be angry with him and where he came from. He was originally a Halfblood. It was all out now and Blaise was just staring at him, heated glares glittering in amethyst eyes.

“I don’t keep quiet because it’s a dirty secret, Blaise.” Hadrian defended simply. “No one has ever been a ‘dirty secret’,” Hadrian’s voice gained an indignant growl as he said this. “All of them are precious to me, Blaise.”

Blaise glared at him when he said this.

“So precious to me that it’s none of anyone else’s business. I love Graham. I adore the twins. I love Terry. I trust them.”

“Yeah, you do, don’t you?” Blaise shook his head and he looked tired now as something flashed over his face like pain. “You trust them a lot.”

Hadrian didn’t know what had him so riled up. “I don’t react to strangers because I don’t like strangers. Why would I give a damn about them?”

“Yet you reacted to Krum. You called him Viktor!”

Hadrian leaned forward, cradling his chin in his hands as he looked at Blaise. “You know me better than anyone here just about…”

“Bullshit,” Blaise spat.

“You know I would have told you. I said I would ‘later’ when you asked in the Top Box, I wasn’t going to share my private life in front of strangers or the Weasleys. Now? With the way you’re talking to me and being so accusatory? It’s only going to make me defiant and refuse to answer you. You know that, Blaise. No one ‘makes’ me do anything. Just like you. We do not let anyone make us do something. We do it because we want to. But now you’re making me want to be silent just to be spiteful!”

Blaise looked away from him. “Tch, you didn’t even notice.”

“I noticed, Blaise. Whatever happened in that Top Box - I don’t know. Don’t understand, because you haven’t told me,” said Hadrian.

“It’s not like he kept Graham a secret,” said Cassius, patiently trying to work out what both Blaise and Hadrian were trying to say. “He gave him a blow job in History of Magic for Merlin’s sake. For most people, Blaise, even Dark Purebloods, sex is intimate and private. You’ve been told this. I know our fathers and your mother have talked to you about it.”

“I’m just going at my own pace, Blaise,” said Hadrian. “I have no other pace to go. I’m not you. I’m not anyone else but me. I do what I feel is right for me because I’m not you.”

“Yeah, you’re not me…” Blaise was rocking forward slightly, his braids flooding around his face. “But, why?” he asked in a sad frustration.

“I don’t know what you’re asking of me, Blaise. Why are you so mad at me? What is this about?”

“You - always holding back! You don’t-” He shook his head. “Doesn’t matter,” he scowled, getting angry again.

Hadrian didn’t understand and was getting tired of going in circles. “I think I’m going to go for a walk.” He stood from his seat.

“You shouldn’t go alone, baby,” Marcus insisted. “That was one of the rules.”

“I’ll be fine, Marcus. I’ll stay in the Dark section. I think I need some space,” said Hadrian, looking down at the bowed head of Blaise. He was trying hard not to cry, but he needed to go somewhere. Be anywhere but there. “Maybe when Blaise is sober we can talk again.”

Graham and Terry snagged each hand. “We love you too, kitten,” said Graham, kissing the back of his hand.

“One hundred percent,” said Terry. “Besides, I’m proud that I had the pleasure of giving him his first blow job.” He grinned at this.

Hadrian snickered and patted both their cheeks. “And I’ve learned a lot since then.”

“Hell yeah, he has,” Graham shivered. “I still have dreams of History of Magic. That was the best class.”

Hadrian made his way out of their campsite and he heard them continue talking. “He doesn’t trust me…”

“That isn’t it, Blaise. You are drunk. You may be advanced, sexually, but you are still fourteen, almost fifteen.”

“Like that matters. I’m more experienced than you.”

“Careful with your words, Blaise. You can’t hurt me with them, but you can still damage yourself…”

Hadrian didn’t understand that. He trusted Blaise a lot. So, he had no idea what was going on with Blaise and why the older teen was breaking his heart.

He let out a deep sigh and glanced around as he left Field 8. He started walking away from the gate that led towards the bright greenery and the thumping of the drums coming from the Light and Neutral sections. The party atmosphere didn’t feel so much fun anymore. He looked left and right at all the campfires he could see through some trees. There was a hill to his right but he turned left to continue through the sparse trees. Some wizards and witches were laughing and talking with a bottle of butterbeer or firewhisky in their hands at the tree line when he passed. He was glad that none of them called out to him in their revelry.

He drifted through the trees and suddenly could hear some people snoring. Hadn’t anyone heard of Silencing Charms? Hadrian wondered. A Ministry Official passed him by, no doubt on patrol. He crossed his arms over his chest as he continued to observe everyone he could see. Hadrian felt so very alone that it cracked something inside of him. Like an egg cracking and then the yolk falling to the ground. He loved Blaise, but maybe Blaise no longer loved him at all after he found out about the Potters and his brief past. He’d feared this above everything else that one of them would come to hate him.

He couldn’t stop the burning tear that fell from his eye as he passed a few Neutral camps. A couple of giggling teenage girls were standing around a water station chatting with a couple teenage boys who were trying hard to play it cool. He glanced around and recognized the area from yesterday afternoon. He had crossed from the Dark back into the Neutral and Light section at some point without realizing it. He didn’t remember passing through a gate but he must have done so.

Glancing back at the foreign teens at the water station, Hadrian realized that he did not understand heterosexual relationships, and probably never would. He continued walking past the water pump. Further along the path he found another gate and turned to go through it. His body shivered at the feel of returning to the Dark section. As he wandered through a field he ignored the friendly fires and conversations happening. With a sniff he wiped at a tear when he felt the world change around him. Well it didn’t really change. Just the colors being burst into the sky changed from the green of the celebrating Irish fans.

Scarlet and gold glitter seemed to dance in the air. Posters of Viktor were plastered across various tents more often the further he walked. The designs and heights of each were as varied as the magicals outside them. Viktor was shown to be chasing after a Snitch on his Firebolt.

“Twee?” Dora came poking out with Viktor’s snitch in her baby palms. She made noises in excitement when she saw all the glitter. He reached a hand around and held it to her. She crawled onto it and then danced up his arm with a dexterity that was unrivaled. She nuzzled at the Snitch while looking at all the glittering gold. She let out a soft brill against the Snitch.

“Hadrian?”

Hadrian’s spine shivered at the familiar voice and he turned to his right, arms still crossed to see Viktor standing there outside a grouping of tents. He was out of his Quidditch robes and now wearing a silk scarlet and gold sleeping robe, and familiar gray pants on his hips. Hadrian didn’t think he had much else on. His striking face was highlighted by the glittery scenery, his hair looked almost blood red instead of the dark black-brown Hadrian knew it was. It was nice to see his nose back in its proper place. “Hi, I was admiring the scenery,” he said. Viktor smirked when he saw the niffler holding the Snitch. “I needed a walk. Get some space from my friends.”

Viktor tilted his head, dark eyes observing him. “You’ve been crying…” he pointed out.

Hadrian cleared his throat and wiped at his eye again trying to be careful of the liner. “Just a misunderstanding with my best friend. He’s a bit drunk.”

“A lot of people are a bit drunk. I don’t have much taste for it to be honest.” He crossed over and Hadrian was suddenly more aware of him. Dora went quiet on his shoulder.

“I’m surprised you haven’t been barreled over by fans.”

Viktor scowled at this. “I love the game and rush, but I hate the fanfare. I liked that you did not know my name last year.”

“Well, I knew your name, but not much else,” said Hadrian. “I mean, if I hadn’t known your name I wouldn’t have gotten on a broom with you.”

He grinned at this. “You know what I mean.” He then looked around and then back at Hadrian. “I liked seeing you today. You cheered for me?”

“Of course I did,” said Hadrian. “I was really cheerful. I’ve only ever been that cheerful for Slytherin House.”

He grinned at this. “I didn’t think I’d see you again.”

“Same, small world. But I should have known. Looks like someone stole your Snitch from me.”

“I think it went to a good cause,” said Viktor. “You know, why don’t you come back with me to the camp? A few of the players are awake and drinking themselves into a stupor. Perhaps you can cheer them up.”

Hadrian couldn’t help but smile, the swoon inside of him was growing. “I’d love to!” He could do with a distraction.

Viktor’s hand gently touched the small of his back as he was guided toward the area where the players were staying. He saw the bonfire before he saw the tall scarlet tents. All seven ringed behind other tents. “A few of them are not happy with me.”

“You did what you had to do,” said Hadrian as Dora disappeared back into her pouch with her Snitch.

“I feel I did.”

He was introduced to four of the male players, the two Beaters, Keeper, and one Chaser. All of them were quite despondent. Apparently the others had disappeared into their tents already. Hadrian sat around the fire talking to them. None of them went to Hogwarts. They’d gone to other schools, mostly Durmstrang with two players graduating from Beauxbatons. The team Captain and Chaser, Dimitrov, was absolutely hot in Hadrian’s opinion. He was well built in the chest area, but lean everywhere else. He had a strong set of cheekbones and his eyes were a liquid green. Not as bright or jewel toned as Hadrian’s but still eye-catching.

“I have heard much about your school,” said Dimitrov, staring at him. “Unfortunately not a lot of good things.”

“Sadly, a lot of it is true,” said Hadrian. “We have an arse for a Headmaster currently. I’m hoping that changes before I graduate.”

All seemed kind of surly in the Marcus sort of way, but he managed to get them smiling when Hadrian explained how passionate Marcus happened to be about the game. All of the men that were present gave him a signed autograph on a spare Quaffle and even a Bulgarian Jersey with the Keeper’s name on the back. Hadrian would give these to Marcus for his birthday as Viktor signed the Quaffle last for him.

Soon though, the players were tired and wanted to end the night. Viktor and Hadrian stayed seated together by the fire as one by one the others left. Dora was rolling around on Harian’s lap playing with some coins given to her by the team. Viktor had been staring at Hadrian for a while without saying a word when finally broke the silence. “You want to come with me?” His voice dropped low and Hadrian saw a shadow of desire in his eyes.

“Where too?” Hadrian asked. A trill of excitement danced up his skin.

“Bed,” he answered, causing the heat to rise in the pit of Hadrian’s stomach. A simple question with a simple answer.

His mouth moved as he slid into Viktor’s personal space. “Yes.”

Viktor kissed him and Hadrian reacted by bringing his hands up to caress the man’s cheeks. His arm wrapped around Hadrian’s waist, pulling him closer. He sank into Viktor’s mouth so willingly, opening to the slickness when it pressed passed his lips. At the touch of Viktor’s tongue to his, a thick thread of magic passed between them. Mixing like when they kissed in France. His spine quivered when Viktor gently guided him up and towards one of the tents.

Viktor smirked and Hadrian could see the desire shining in his dark eyes. “I’m glad I ran into you tonight.”

“Me too,” said Hadrian.

Unlike the set up in the space he was sharing with his friends, Viktor’s tent was all one large room with scarlet carpet and golden walls that seemed to shimmer. He had a large Queen four poster bed fitted with bedding in the Bulgarian colors. All silk and satin. He had a seating area not far from the bed and a door behind a screen that likely led to the bathroom.

Hadrian reached into his pockets and he pulled out some gold coins and tossed them to the floor as they entered causing Dora to come flying out of her pouch. She even let go of the Snitch to roll around in the pile. Hadrian turned back to Viktor in time to catch the older teen smirk. He drew Hadrian right up against him. His breath caught in his throat at the look in Viktor’s eyes.

“Just so you know, I’m a virgin.” Hadrian warned the other, having a feeling he knew exactly where they were headed.

“I’ll go easy on you.”

“I didn’t say that,” said Hadrian, moving in and kissing him with a bite. “Just letting you know. If you hear me scream, don’t stop.”

Viktor’s fingers slipped beneath his thick black hair and their bodies pressed together until Hadrian could feel the muscles beneath the thin robe that he wore. Hadrian let his hands touch and dance along the fine wiry muscles with pleasure. He mapped the Seeker’s chest before pulling the golden ties and letting the robe fall open. He let himself touch; wiry, fleshy taut muscle as their mouths crushed together in magic and want. Their lower halves pressed together in a smooth rock as Viktor’s hands grabbed his arse. Hadrian traced his fingers down along the edge of Viktor’s hipbone and felt Viktor breathing deeply against him. As they kissed, Hadrian could feel their erections grow harder.

Hadrian dropped his mouth, curved around Viktor’s neck and sucked at the pulse greedily. He slid further down, sucking at his nipples and down his front until he was on his knees, pulling Viktor from the gray loose fabric. Hadrian’s tongue flicked along the cock while he watched Viktor’s face. The Seeker’s eyes glittered dark and heady. Hadrian swallowed him, taking him down with ease until his nose pressed to the mass of curls. He sucked hard causing Viktor to groan, his fingers dug into Hadrian’s hair, winding strands around his fingers.

“Ah…!”

Hadrian devoured him to the hilt. After Graham, a normal cock was easy to enjoy. He brought Viktor to the edge quickly, teeth gritting and sharp hisses falling from his tongue. Right when the pulse began to beat hard in the back of his throat, Hadrian pulled away and came back to stand.

Viktor wrapped around him as Hadrian began to pull off his own tunic. It fell to join the teen’s robe to the scarlet carpet. Viktor guided him over to the bed, Hadrian sat at the edge and pulled his boots off with practiced ease. While Viktor kissed him his cock bobbed and thrummed against Hadrian’s leg. Hadrian reached down and stroked him as Viktor reached to help him out of his skintight trousers and underpants all in one go. Viktor’s fingers dipped down to fist at Hadrian’s arse until he had both hands down there, pushing their bodies together.

Hadrian noted he was extremely tidy compared to Viktor’s wild and untamed hairs. Their cocks came together, rubbing as Viktor’s finger teased between his cheeks. Hadrian sucked on Viktor’s tongue as they kissed. His own cock began to grow even harder with the pleasurable friction between the two of them. Hadrian let out a soft moan, his fingers reaching out to hold onto Viktor’s head when the older came down to bite along his neck, shoulders, and down his chest.

Hadrian could feel the tingle of a spell to moisten and cleanse his body with every fist full of his arse that was massaged beneath Viktor’s long fingers. Viktor reached around and stroked Hadrian, bringing him to full thickness as his neck was bitten. His black hair was pulled to one side as Viktor kissed down him and then effortlessly turned him with a gentle scoot up the bed. He was on all fours in the middle of the bed as Viktor slid between his open legs from behind.

Hadrian wasn’t entirely sure what he was expecting. He thought sex already, but then Viktor ducked down and kissed down his spine to his arse. The Bulgarian grabbed a handful of and Hadrian’s eyes rolled when his tongue slid down to taste him.

“Ahh…!” Hadrian arched his back, his mouth open in shock as the pleasure burned and twisted into his stomach. “Oh…!” Viktor ate at him like he was trying to swallow all of him. Soaking him through with aggression.

“You taste delicious, Hadrian… gorgeous!”

Hadrian shivered and leaned further forward while looking back over his shoulder. “Well this is new.”

Viktor’s grin was part sexy and a bit sadistic as he hopped onto the bed fully this time. “I hope I don’t hurt you.” His fingers glided down and inserted slowly into Hadrian’s entrance.

A puff of air left him at the slide of Viktor’s finger. He went to the knuckle before pulling back and slowly inserting a second. It was an awkward feeling. Hadrian did his best to keep still and let him do as he wished. Something stirred inside of him, deep down below his stomach as Viktor moved the fingers in and out. It was not painful but was a new sensation for him. Next thing he knew Viktor hit something that caused Hadrian’s eyes to roll. Viktor pressed against it again with hooked fingers and massaged the spot.

“Ahhh!” Hadrian pushed back against Viktor’s fingers on instinct. “What is that?”

“You have it. I do not know the English word, but you have it,” Viktor leaned in and added a third finger while biting down on his neck. Hadrian screamed out at the roll of pleasure that teased and assaulted him so wonderfully. He was now eager and ready for Viktor.

“Ahhh! Fuck…!” Hadrian shuddered violently. “Are you going to fuck me now?”

“I should put another one in… you are quite small.”

“I don’t care?” Hadrian tried. “That feels so good. Just do it. If it hurts I’ll take it.”

Viktor coughed a rough chuckle. Hadrian reached back and pulled him by the arm to bring him closer. Viktor grinned and pulled his fingers out so he could wrap around Hadrian and kiss him better, leaning forward until his chest was to Hadrian’s arched back. “You are impatient.”

“I’m horny…” Hadrian hissed out. “Your fingers felt good, but now I want to feel the real thing.”

“You are absolutely beautiful, you know that?”

“You get to fuck me, you don’t have to keep complimenting me, Viktor…”

“It’s not a compliment. It’s the truth.”

He moved forward, crowning Hadrian’s hips and arse with his thighs. He pressed the tip of his uncut cock to Hadrian’s worked entrance. His eyes rolled as Viktor moved slowly to slip in the tip. A shock vibrated down his stomach and up his spine. He was silent and could only hear his breaths and heartbeat as Viktor slid further into him. Viktor had a hold of his waist with one arm, keeping him pinned as he worked himself inside of Hadrian. Flashes of pain with snatches of nerves being teased played beneath the surface of the shock.

“Well?”

“I said, don’t stop. So don’t stop!” Hadrian screamed when Viktor pushed forward hard. “Ahhh!” He raised up, eyes to the ceiling as Viktor filled him completely. It felt like he reached all the way to Hadrian’s stomach, though that was impossible. “Oh…”

“Happy?”

Hadrian ignored the tears that sprang into his eyes from the sudden pain. “Yes…” he shuddered. “I’m very happy. My friends treat me like glass, I don’t need you to do that while we have sex.”

“Okay,” said Viktor. “You feel good, I could stay just like this.”

“Please don’t. Move or something.”

Viktor laughed, making Hadrian’s face twist at the way he felt inside when the older teen laughed. Hadrian’s throat made an odd breathy sound as Viktor began to slowly slide out until only his tip was still in him.

He twitched at the sudden emptiness, the tease of the nerves, and then Viktor moved back in again. Not too fast, but not slow. The older teen moved in a smooth glide that caressed his erratic nerves. He shivered beneath Viktor. “Oh…!” He naturally relaxed as the spine tingling thrusts spurred him. “Oh- much better, that’s nice!”

Viktor fucked into him sending his eyes back into his head as he bowed down to the bed. He was offering himself to Viktor as shivers ran their course and never stopped. He was stretched, filled, and pulled wide until his moans came out without any thought. “Hah…! Huh…!”

His cock pulsed below him as if it had a life of its own and he screamed out as he reached back to grab Viktor’s forearm, digging his nails in as an orgasm hit him. A lust so powerful that it rushed the blood through his veins and met up with his brain before the signals expanded through him. Hard. So hard. Harder than the first time he’d ever cum before. Viktor picked up his pace, sending the younger convulsing as he was pinned flat to the bed by one hand. He slammed into Hadrian. Harder and harder. He couldn’t catch his breath before the next thrum of pleasure and spread of desire was upon him, and it didn’t stop. His cock just kept pulsing, leaking out across the satin sheets. He could do nothing but take the thrusts as Viktor’s groans grew louder than him, pinging off the charmed tent walls.

Another orgasm rocked through him and he was convulsing again, his body twisting at the climax but his captor kept him in place. Viktor shifted slightly until his full back was covered by the sweaty perfect chest. Hadrian ran his hand up to the back of Viktor’s neck and he gripped it tight as the man groaned and breathed into his ear, slamming and fucking him like a dog.

“Guh…!”

On top of the orgasms and riding along the wave of pleasure was the smooth coolness of Viktor’s magic. Dark and delicious, sweet and seductive on his tongue. It danced through him with every slam from the older teen. Hadrian could feel the magic mixing from them both through their sweat like it was another entity trying to enrapture him. It coated and sank into their skin. When Viktor thrust one final time, he held his hips against Hadrian’s arse as he climaxed hotly into the thrumming ebb and flow of the teased nerves that kept contracting.

Hadrian’s cock was now weak and sensitive to touch, even the sheets made Hadrian twitch as Viktor rolled them so that he was on the bottom and Hadrian on top of him. Only then did he relax his muscles. Viktor’s arm was gently wrapped around his neck to keep him close, heat of their bodies burned like a blazing furnace between them, the sweat trickled down their faces in a rushing bid to cool them.

Hadrian was left dazed and confused for a moment. His head buzzed and the lights seemed very saturated all of a sudden. It was like his entire equilibrium was off balance. He shivered as a chill rose through him, cutting through the gelling sweat and the heated breath against his neck.

“Are you alright?” Viktor asked, using a hand to pull his sticky hair out of the way so that his face and neck was exposed.

Hadrian nodded slowly and lazily. “Uh huh… brain - not functioning the way it should. I didn’t know I could have more than one orgasm.”

Viktor chuckled against his neck. “You are very responsive.”

“Well, it was my first time. I didn’t know what to expect exactly. I mean, I knew the mechanics, but not all the details.”

“You suck well,” Viktor told him.

“You would too if you had the History of Magic that I had to take.”

“What?” Viktor asked in surprise. “Is the translation spell working?”

He giggled. “Yah, History of Magic. Boring ghost for a teacher and an annoying naggy girl dating a friend,” he murmured. “My friend, Graham. I snuck under the desk and blew him once during class.”

Viktor laughed. “You really-? I can’t imagine that. We’d be expelled at Durmstrang.”

“Nah, Hogwarts? Expel you? Nope!” said Hadrian. “Besides, they’d have to notice what’s going on to do that. Plus I’m sneaky. I can sneak in anywhere.”

“You sound like you can. You live an interesting life.”

“Oh yeah… interesting.” Hadrian relaxed, feeling a bit sleepy as he laid there with Viktor around him. “It’s been quite a few years. First year I stole a baby dragon and a three headed dog.”

“Wha-?”

Hadrian laughed. “Yah, stupid Light Lord Headmaster… trying to kill them. So I stole them and stole more from him. Just so he couldn’t have it anymore. Second year, a crazy shit show. Last year wasn’t so bad.”

“I have heard tales of Hogwarts but nothing like that… I’m not sure I can picture this…”

“Twee?” Dora climbed up the bed and began to snuffle around. She slowly made her way toward Hadrian.

“Where did she come from?”

“My Care of Magical Creatures teacher gave her to me. I was his best student,” said Hadrian. “I love creatures.” He held out his tired hand and Dora snuggled into his palm. It was clear she was tired too, done playing in the gold.

She left his hand and snuggled up against his heated body. Viktor reached down and stroked her fur with a finger. Hadrian stifled a yawn. His butt was wide open and had slick stuff coming out of it. It was a strange feeling, but he was too relaxed to move. Viktor lay against him, dragging a pillow under them. Hadrian shifted so that they were comfortable.

He closed his eyes for a second to rest.

Chapter Text

Chapter Six

“Dare to love yourself

as if you were a rainbow

with gold at both ends.”

― Author-Poet Aberjhani, Journey through the Power of the Rainbow: Quotations from a Life Made Out of Poetry

Hadrian awoke submerged in gold and scarlet silken satin sheets. He was lying on a bed, completely nude and was being spooned by a strong wiry muscled frame. Hot breaths ghosted against his neck and a wrist was draped along the dip of his waist next to his hip. He blinked the sleep away as he wondered what woke him from such a cozy slumber.

It took him about twenty seconds too long to try and remember where he was, what he was doing, and who he was doing it with. His hair was pulled to one side, some of it sticking like a glue to his skin that had a thin gel dried over it. He still had his beads and braid, but his headband had been taken off and a little ball of golden fur was curled in it making soft sleeping shuu sounds.

Something had awoken him. There was a tingle at his fingertips and toes. He removed the sheet from over him when a thick Bulgarian accent spilled out next to his ear. He looked back at the striking Viktor Krum. He unconsciously waved his hand murmuring the translation spell. “-late still. Go back to sleep.”

But Hadrian was sitting up instead. “Do you feel that?”

“Just you.”

“No… cotton in the mouth, a scent that’s too sweet… Light Magic.”

“I feel Dark Magic. You.” Viktor’s arm tightened around his hips. He did feel the Dark, but that was not what was feeling so invasive.

“No, something is-”

Before Viktor could coax him to lay back down there was a reverberating slam and the thunking sound of feet. The tall muscled Dimitrov came bursting into the tent, his curls flopping across his forehead.

“-we have invaders, the Lights are attacking the Neutrals and some of the Darks!” His voice came out sharp like a knife. He was not at all surprised by Hadrian being naked in Viktor’s bed.

Hadrian wasn’t at all phased by Dimitrov coming in on them either. “Lights?” Hadrian gasped out. “What the bloody hell are they up to?”

“Is it in the camp?” Viktor asked. He was now rising up and throwing his sheets the rest of the way off the bed.

“No, but I can hear the screams! They are near.” He cocked his head like a deer listening. A blast jolted them into full awareness.

“My friends!” Hadrian yelped, causing Dora to let out a noise as she startled awake. He scrambled off the bed and stumbled, his legs having turned into jelly overnight. Dimitrov grabbed him in reflex, muscles worked around his naked body.

“Whoa there, gorgeous. He’s a catch, Viktor,” Dimitrov smirked, light green eyes trailing down Hadrian’s body. Viktor rolled his eyes at this. He drew Hadrian to him, and he felt the man’s chest pressing into his bare back.

Hadrian patted Dimitrov on his broad shoulder. “I have to get to my family and friends. If they are attacking, I have to be with them. Morgana, how long have I been gone? I bet they’re worried about me.” Then his face twisted and an invisible slicing wind hit his chest as he remembered the fight that drove him into leaving the campsite and ending up in Viktor’s bed. Just thinking of Blaise winded him. He didn’t regret where he ended up, but he wished it had been during a better situation.

“What?” Dimitrov asked, subconsciously pulling Hadrian closer as if to protect him. “You should not have such expressive eyes if you are going to look like that. I am jealous, Viktor, that you got to have fun with such a beautiful creature. I think you are the only one who got lucky last night. All of us drank ourselves into a stupor and were sleeping until the Light interrupted.”

Viktor smirked. “He’s a human, not a creature. You remember his name is Hadrian, don’t you?”

“Gorgeous,” Dimitrov rumbled as he sniffed at Hadrian’s hair, one hand pressed flat against his mid-back. “Pure and Dark… The best combination.”

Hadrian shivered and couldn’t help but enjoy the attention Dimitrov was giving him, and it helped to quell the ache of his heart. “Everything is fine. It’s just… I fought with a friend last night, we don’t fight,” he told the man. “It bothered me. He was being really odd and got very drunk after the game. Something about the veela mascots caused him a lot of stress. I’d never heard him be so violent before.” Dimitrov arched a bushy dark brow at this, silently urging him to continue. “I left the camp to wander and think. That’s when I bumped into Viktor and you know the rest. But I have to get to them, they will raise Death literally if they cannot find me. I’m not kidding about that. My dad is an Unspeakable, I’m sure he knows how to.”

“You must walk first. Do not tell me, this was your first time?” Dimitrov laughed. “Viktor did a virgin.”

“Shut up, Vasily!” Viktor growled out.

“Hey, had to lose it sometime.” Hadrian giggled and pushed himself out of Dimotrov’s arms. “Might as well do it now since Viktor asked so nicely.” He stood there with a hand on his hip, surveying the room looking for his clothes. Thankfully they were all close to the bed. Hadrian turned to the bed and gathered Dora into his arms. She was sleepy but waking up more. “Hold her. I have to dress.” He held her out to the Chaser but Dimitrov wouldn’t stop staring at his arse.

“He has a fine ass.”

“Vasily! Be respectful.”

“He doesn’t care, obviously.” He said as Hadrian pushed Dora into his arms, gently tickling the top of the sleepy niffler. Hadrian was soon pulling on his underpants, having to extract them from his trousers. “Smallest underpants I’ve ever seen,” said Dimitrov.

“I like them,” said Viktor.

Hadrian smirked. “Goes well with my chosen style. I am an explorer at heart, I need movement and agility.”

“You could be a Seeker I bet,” said Dimotrov, not taking his eyes of Hadrian who began to wriggle into his trousers as they formed to his skin. Not a single line could be seen. It was like he was wearing nothing underneath. “Slip in places others cannot. I like it.”

“That’s how we met. He caught my Snitch while I was practicing in Marseille last summer,” he told Dimitrov.

Hadrian looped his belt around his waist and moved closer to Dimitrov. “Stick her in my pouch, please.”

“Real fuckin-adorable!” Dimitrov ground out as he slipped the little creature into Hadrian’s pouch. She rolled a bit and Hadrian tucked some coins in there so she could snuggle with them. A loud bang caused everyone to jerk and turn. Screams wrenched through the tent causing Dimitrov to stiffen. “What is wrong with this place?”

“The UK has always been contentious,” said Hadrian. “Light and Dark have been warring with each other on these shores for centuries. Ever since Lord Merlin and Lady Morgana. Even more so in the last few years than they have since 1981 and Riddle was defeated. It’s been a cold war.”

“Riddle?” Viktor asked him.

“Voldemort.”

“Ah…” Dimitrov nodded, everyone knew the name.

“Riddle was full of wrong magic, toxic. It ate at the Darks causing them to lose their reputation, power, and everything around them. But, they were saved by Magic. Now they are trying to fight back and regain what they’ve lost. In doing so, they have got the wrath of the Light upon them. The Light here is not of the average. We’ve had two crazy Lords during this century, one is dead and one is not.”

“It never is,” Dimitrov sneered. “Grindelwald was just as bad, worse for us, particularly those who attend Durmstrang. Cast a shadow causing us to lose a lot of power and reputation.”

Viktor nodded grimly at this as he hurried to pull on trousers and a robe. “We are not ignorant of our history.”

“Headmaster Dumbledore is about like Voldemort. An Extremist who hurt a lot of people on both sides and his own side. He sent his own people to the dementors when he was through with them and to cover his tracks.” Both had instant looks of disgust on their faces. “So it’s a nasty fight and it’s still raging, as you can see. It’s even bled into Hogwarts. Usually, it’s fought out in Politics and the Wizengamot.”

“But there are children there,” said Viktor. “Young ones.”

“I know,” said Hadrian. “I’ve seen it first hand.” Both stared at him. “Shit show of second year. Two children died and a Light pedophile almost got away with well - you can imagine. He targeted a dear friend of mine. No one hurts my friends.”

Dimitrov and Viktor’s looks of disgust were even more apparent. Hadrian moved quicker, scrambling into his shirt and not bothering with the wrinkles. He shoved into his boots and snatched up his wand holster, and attached it to his arm.

“Anyway, me and my friends kind of end up in the middle of rubbish, so I have to be at their side. It sounds like someone took a chance to mess around here at the World Cup. I have to find my family and friends. I just know the Light are attacking my family.”

A scream wrenched the air. “Clara!” Both went running with their wands out. Hadrian was right behind them.

Blasts of bright golden light shot around them like fireworks, from tent to tent. A few went up into white flames while others were knocked away by an invisible wind. They came across a fleet of white robed figures passing through the glittering scarlet and gold lights making them look red and all the more violent for it.

“End to all Darks! Neutrals join us so that you are not wasted! Come to the righteous side and you shall live a full moral life! Not like these wretches! Arresto Momentum!” The spell was aimed at Ivanova who had been sent to her knees.

“Crucio!” Dimitrov’s tongue rolled with the torture curse and it slammed into the white robed figure causing him to start screaming as hundreds of thousands of hot white needles stabbed at him, sending his screams into the night.

“Expelliarmus!” Viktor disarmed a second white robe who tried to reach his fallen friend. Hadrian ducked, rolled, and slashed his way through the third without pausing. He saw it was a woman when she arched backwards and threw her magic back at him. He blocked and turned as another spell tried to hit the fallen Ivanova.

“Evil! Evil! Darks are evil, and the only path is the Light!” A trail of Light began to expand quickly through the seductive cool darkness. Whatever these magicals were doing, it was spreading the feel of their magic quickly and eating at the natural dark.

His mouth was suddenly full of cotton and that overly sickly sweet scent hit his nose, making him gag as Viktor recoiled with a sneer. Both Dimitrov and Viktor could hardly fight its power. Both were forced back as two more bright lights joined the first. It was like a hundred Patronus’ with no corporeal shape. The golden white hue raged harshly, burning like a comet at their eyes.

Taking a sharp breath, Hadrian slashed his wand, mimicking the way Smith had done in the Chamber. “Sectumsempra!” It was the first time he ever used that spell. He aimed it at the one who started it.

A slice rushed through the air like a tornado, blood spilled out across the white robes followed by the earsplitting screams from the man. Hadrian turned and point blank fired another, sending the second to her knees with her cries, drenching her robes with crimson.

Hadrian advanced with a snarl on the third, his magic bubbled to the surface and began to ooze out around the camp. He could hear Viktor, Dimitrov, and Ivanova releasing deep breaths when darkness spilled out from every part of him. He didn't know how he was doing this, but he allowed it to expand, imagining it in his mind causing the residual Light to begin fading.

They found they could move again. Just before he could reach the mess of crimson and white mess the third cracked in front of him, dropped a port-key making them all vanish in an instant.

“You, you are the evil one!” A female’s voice called out and Hadrian turned to see a small petite woman shrouded in white as well. “You’re the Dark … twisted disturbing attention seeker! I know you!” Who was this?

“Crucio!” Viktor snapped, sending the woman screaming as she fell back and twisted in agony.

“No! You will not win! I will not let you, the Light Lord Albus Dumbledore will rule the night and cleanse it of its corruption!”

Hadrian advanced on her when Viktor pulled up on the spell, but she vanished with a loud crack. “Stupid Light.” He threw some magic around the area to help ease up on the light. A few sounds in the distance caught his attention as he threw some darkness into a set of trees making everyone breathe. Dimitrov was looking him over. His eyes wide and wild.

“Go to your friends and family, we have the rest of this,” Viktor assured him. “I’ll send your gifts to you by owl. Should you accept?” His eyes sparkled at Hadrian.

Dimitrov and Ivanova crossed over, wands out, looking around them. “You got rid of the Light.”

“I did.” Hadrian smiled sweetly as if he’d never been shooting curses or getting Dark at all. “Just send them before September 10th, please. I don’t want to let Marcus down.” He kissed Viktor on the cheek. “Thank you for tonight.” Turning on his heel, Hadrian ran into the crowds of terrified Neutrals, throwing his magic out and sending a wave of darkness causing two of the Lights to sweep away like a wind. He didn’t remember the path he followed tonight that led him to Viktor, but he did remember how to get back using the path he and his friends had during the afternoon. It would take him through many of the Neutral and Light camping sections, but it was his best bet.

“Lucky fucker,” was the last thing he heard Dimitrov say.

Hadrian couldn’t use spells that were too Dark in public, and he shouldn’t really be using magic being underage, so he dived and weaved around the panicking and shrieking crowd. He used shield spells whenever he saw a white robe advancing on someone trying to get away.

Whenever he passed through an area that had been inundated by Light magic, he released some of his magic causing the Dark to come out to consume it. Wandless wasn’t so easily detected, then again neither was underage in a crowd like this. It couldn’t consume all of it, but he got a good chunk, making the overall space more Neutral again. He weaved between the tents so that he was not in obvious view. He was turning toward their fenced section just as dawn started to break over the moor and was at the edge of Field 8 when he heard a cry.

“I didn’t mean too! I swear I didn’t mean too- Merlin! What is wrong with me?! He’s out there! Please, Lord Montague, you have to let me go find him.”

“His father said to stay here and guard everyone. Adrian, Cassius, and Marcus are out there looking. I couldn’t hold them back if I tried, but you can’t go, Blaise. You’re not strong enough yet,” said Lord Oberon Montague. He saw the man’s back from where he was at the edge of the gates.

“But, I was horrible, Lord Montague! I was mean tonight. I drank too much and - the Light veela - those damn things!” Blaise sounded hysterical.

“Ssh, you can explain it when he returns, Blaise. For now, you must calm down and simply wait. Trust him and trust the family.”

“Listen to him, Hadrian has never let us down. He’ll be fine. You know this!” Draco’s voice arched slightly. “You can grovel when he gets back. He’s stronger than the three of us combined, Blaise. You better be groveling when you do see him again. He’s your best friend! You said some shitty things to him.”

“I know that… I - I have never been around that many Light veela… and then - I just - I lost it.”

“Your mother did warn us about them,” said Oberon soothingly. “But you can’t lose your head. Just wait and be patient.” Hadrian saw Oberon holding Blaise in his arms. Draco and Theo were behind them trying to calm him down.

Just before he could announce his own arrival there was a crack in the sky, like that of an explosion, that vibrated the ground. The whole world was suddenly bathed in green. He found himself staring up at a mark he recognized in the pale early dawn sky. It was a skull with a snake protruding through its mouth and eyes to form a figure eight below the skull.

“Bloody Hell, it can’t be!” Oberon’s voice drained of any strength.

People screamed behind him and dozens of people began to scatter and stumble to get away from the illuminating burn in the sky. Somewhere in the distance a plume of smoke seemed to release in the air causing his nose to burn and his mouth to fill with ash. Hadrian hurried closer through the gates of their safe space so as to avoid being trampled on.

“Hadrian!” Draco and Theo noticed him first.

Blaise ripped away from Oberon and grabbed Hadrian before he could stop properly. He groaned when Blaise’s dark arms tightened around him and he was drawn into the teen’s chest. “I’m so sorry, precious. I didn’t mean… I didn’t mean to be… I’m sorry!” He couldn’t help but go stiff and rigid when Blaise squeezed him tight.

Hadrian bit down on his emotions, his heart burned and began to thud until it entered his ear canal. He had to work hard to keep his breathing under control, all the while taking in Blaise’s cool cologne scent. A bit of flowers, some masculinity, and purple of all things. He always thought of purple when he smelled Blaise.

Hadrian tried to find his voice. “It doesn’t matter,” he managed to get out.

Blaise pulled back and cupped his cheeks. “Right, where have you been?”

“I’m fine. I was helping some foreign Darks fend off some Light,” said Hadrian, honestly. “I was asleep when the magic woke us,” he confessed.

“Where?” Draco asked.

“Twins?” Theo theorized smartly.

Hadrian thought. “No. I’m sure they are the safest of all of us right now. Nevermind over half of the Weasleys are Dark.”

“The best half,” Blaise offered, trying to get his swing back.

Hadrian had a hard time smiling at him, his heart still hurt whenever he looked into Blaise’s eyes. But, for now he kept it under wraps. Oberon was still staring at the mark in the sky like he was frozen. “He’s not alive. He can’t be.”

Hadrian approached the stunned Oberon. “Lord Montague?” He gently reached out and took the man’s hand. “Oberon?”

His eyes lanced down fervently to stare at him. “Hadrian… precious!” He pulled Hadrian into his chest. He was clung to tightly, and he could even feel the shuddering through the man’s torso and body.

Hadrian smiled. “I’m fine and you are fine. I fell asleep elsewhere and woke to this. You might want to send one of your house-elves to let Dad know.” He released some of his Dark magic across Oberon’s exposed skin starting at his hand and wrist.

Instantly, Oberon relaxed into him, still clinging, and he buried his nose into the top of Hadrian’s hair. Draco and Theo were staring at the man wide-eyed. Even Blaise was cocking his head, surprised by the move. He took a big deep breath. “Precious…”

“Yes, I’m here.”

“You’re here. He’s not,” he murmured, puffing against Hadrian’s hair.

“Yes.” He wasn’t entirely sure who the ‘he’ was but he was going to go out on a limb that maybe that symbol was a Voldemort symbol. A symbol of their past and own mistakes. “I’m here, and I’m not going anywhere.”

Oberon pulled back and caressed his cheeks, staring down into his eyes. “You are a precious, precious creature!” Hadrian was kissed on the forehead. Oberon’s breathing began to level out and the fervent panic that had been building in those maple syrup eyes began to dissolve. “Phineas!” He called out.

A dark skinned house-elf appeared. He wore the Montague House coat of arms across his sparkling white sheet that was clasped by red rubies that glistened even in the shadows of the early dawn. The Montague coat of arms was a flame between two castle turrets on a gray shield. There was a left facing helmet on top of the shield and it was framed by green, white, and red ruffles. It was quite elegant, Hadrian always thought.

“Yes, Lord Montague, how may Phineas serve you?” He bowed gracefully. He was unflinching over the chaos going on around him, completely devoted and trusting of his Master because Oberon was a patient man. He was good to his house-elves.

“Alert Lord Augustus Rookwood of Heir Hadrian’s return.”

“I shall do so.”

“Thank you, Phineas.”

He was gone with a small pop and the world seemed to go silent. Hadrian was stroking the Lord affectionately. Finally, Oberon unwound from him. “Let’s sit and wait, shall we? We are safe behind the wards of our camp.”

Blaise still had that crumpled look on his face and Hadrian didn’t like seeing it. It was hard to know what to say to this boy that he loved with all his heart, and at the same time, Blaise hurt him. He didn’t know how to handle the situation and felt a bit awkward. Blaise was at his side, head bowed, and braids glinting in the firelight. There were still tears streaming down his face that he kept trying to bat away with the back of his hand. All of them sat beside the crackling fire to wait for the others to arrive. It seemed there was nothing to do, but sit in silence as the sun continued to rise. No one seemed to know what to say. Oberon was quiet and still, petting his own hand where Hadrian had touched him with his magic. It was like he was comforting himself, one leg crossed over his other knee as he sat.

A twinging stretch across his lower back as he squirmed to get some comfort reminded him of his earlier activity, and sitting like this caused him a bit of discomfort. He shifted again to try and find a better position, but had to hold in the yelp from the sting of pain from between his sensitive cheeks. It radiated up his back and spine. All his adrenaline was gone now and his body was starting to complain of the unusual sting. It was only now, as he sat in the loud silence, that it sunk in what had occurred earlier. Hadrian was no longer a virgin.

All the fathers began to return one at a time. Each of them stopped before Hadrian, cupped his cheeks and kissed his forehead. Most of them took his hand, and like with Oberon, he naturally let his magic breathe across them. He did not know precisely what he was doing or why, but he did know that it relaxed each of them the way it had with Oberon.

Sirius arrived before his dad and he was scooped into the biggest bear hug ever. “I am fine. I fell asleep in another camp with some friends and came straight here when I woke to the sounds of the fighting,” he soothed, hugging the man who was in near tears.

“Sit down, Sirius,” requested Lucius. “You’re making me more exhausted than I already am.”

Sirius pulled back and cupped Hadrian’s cheeks. “Okay?”

“Did you not hear me? I’m going to ask Cissa to have the Healers look at your ears. You might have busted a drum or something at the match.”

Lucius chuckled roughly as Morpheus heavily sank down. “I need a drink.”

“I think we’ve had enough drinks, Morpheus. I’m starting to get a headache and someone has had twice as much as us…”

Hadrian looked over to see Blaise rocking back and forth. He was looking shiny like he was sweating and not in the fun way. A nauseated expression fell across his handsome face. “I don’t feel so good. I think I need-” He was on his feet and running to the tent, beads clinking behind him. Draco and Theo looked after him, trying to decide if they should go after him or not.

“Ah, youth discovering the consequences of their mistakes,” Lucius smiled, but it didn’t have its usual crisp elegance.

Hadrian giggled, but it had no heart in it. “Can you let Dad know I’m here? I need to go - talk - to Blaise.”

“Go, precious,” said Lucius.

Hadrian kissed each one of them on the cheek. Callum was the last one and the man rubbed his back gently. “Boys aren’t back yet. I’ll give it another twenty and go hunt them down. I’m sure they’ll barge in to see you upon their return so I hope you two have worked things out by then.”

Hadrian stepped into the tent and headed for Blaise’s room and bathroom. He entered to hear Blaise heaving over the toilet. He hurried over to the bathroom door. His best friend didn’t even have time to close the door behind him it seemed. Hadrian stepped in to see that Blaise’s braids were spread across the floor. He swept over and carefully gathered Blaise’s braids into his hands and pulled them back so they didn’t get in the way. He wrinkled his nose at the vomit smell and rubbed the boy’s back like Cassius had done his. A strong scent of whiskey mixed with something fermented and fruity. Not pleasant at all.

“Sorry… I’m sorry!” Blaise choked through a series of heaves that shook his shoulder and chest cavity harshly.

“Ssh… Ssh,” Hadrian soothed with a rub to the center of the boy’s back. “We can talk after you finish making out with the toilet.”

Blaise let out a strangled laugh and burst of pain. “My head…” he moaned as he pulled back and gripped the base of his head. His eyes watering and his nose all scrunched. Hadrian could only imagine the dull thud having lit up like a lightning strike.

“Yeah, it’s fun. Least I stole a first from you.” Blaise made a noise at this. “Well and here you lectured me. But I won’t do the same.”

“Precious…”

“Don’t call me that,” Hadrian denied, trying to fight his own emotions as he helped Blaise. He swallowed his own tears and let go of Blaise’s beads.

Blaise pulled back and squeezed his eyes. “I didn’t - mean that. Please… forgive me…”

“I can’t forgive when I don’t know what I’ve done to make you mad at me in the first place, Blaise,” said Hadrian, his tone cool and careful.

Blaise took several shuddering breaths. “Merlin, I’ve fucked up… didn’t I?”

All the sick vanished when Blaise moved back. Their tent toilets had a spell to permanently banish things when a body moved away. The boy sank back from the toilet. Hadrian rose and ran some cold water in the sink.

Blaise huddled on the floor, knees to his chest. Hadrian helped wipe the sweat from his face and then the sick that splashed onto his chin. “Light veela…” he made a noise. “I’d been warned about them, but never been so near to them or that many… it made me… I thought Mother was exaggerating.”

“Exaggerating?”

“I’m half Dark veela, Hadrian. Light veela are natural enemies of ours. It is something that we feel deep down in our blood, bone, and flesh,” Blaise got out in a violent shudder. “I wanted to rip, tear, and destroy them. Completely. I have never been so angry and so full of rage - and something else. Light veela, who charm people and cause infidelity, are accepted by most magical populations globally while Dark veela, who consume sexual energy, are shunned. There are only a few locations where Dark veela can be in the open instead of hiding who they, we, are.”

“What?” Hadrian asked, trying to roll over what he’d heard. Dark veela? He hadn’t known that there were different variants of veela. If Blaise, as a half Dark veela, could consume sexual energy it would explain why the boy was so drawn to the activity, even as a first year at Hogwarts.

“Jealousy. I mean, I’ve felt a bit of it sometimes, but not like this. A white hot jealousy that-”

“Eats your stomach straight into your heart.”

Blaise raised his head. “Yeah…”

Hadrian settled down onto the floor too. His legs swooped behind him. “I felt that, two years ago.”

“What?”

“When you gave Marcus and Cass that charm from Japan. I was so jealous.”

“You’re silly,” Blaise scowled. “Least make sense if you’re going to be jealous of me,” he muttered with a sniff.

“It made sense to me, from what little I knew. Blaise, what did I do to you?” he asked.

He shook his head. “Nothing. Just sad… you play with others, but never me.”

Hadrian bowed his head. “I love you, Blaise. I love you to death. So much.”

“But…” Blaise looked up at him, his eyes were puffy and swollen. The whites of his eyes were clearly bloodshot.

“But, I don’t want you to stop loving me.”

Blaise gave him an incredulous look. “Are you kidding me?”

“No,” said Hadrian. “You get bored and you throw everyone away. I’d love to be with you, Blaise. Experiment and stuff, but then I wouldn’t matter to you anymore and you’d be bored of me.”

“Hadrian…!” Blaise leaned forward, knees dropping. “No. Of course not!”

“I don’t know that. It’s all I’ve seen out of you.” Blaise took a deep shuddering breath and cupped his mouth with his hand. “Blaise - I’m a guy. I don’t want to copy or mimic you. I need to learn on my own. In my own way. If I were with you, it would be something like when I am with Graham, even if it seems fun and games. It means something to me. I don’t want to mean less to you. It would tear my heart out.”

“I’m sorry!” Blaise’s tears ran fast and hard. They streamed hotly down his face as he pressed into Hadrian who wrapped his arms tight around him. Hadrian hugged him tight as he cried himself out. He shushed him and rocked. “Please forgive me… I just - I got jealous today. I feel like they’ve made me jealous.”

“Of what?”

“You!” Blaise moaned. “Everyone loves you. Just like I do, and you garner attention everywhere you go. I’m so sorry. Please… forgive me?” He couldn’t seem to stop repeating himself. It hurt to hear. Blaise was such a proud person. He and Hadrian were about as proud as young boys could come by.

“I don’t mean to. I’ll always forgive you,” he said sadly. Even if it hurts to do so. “Even if you don’t want me as your tainted friend.”

Blaise made a noise like he’d been gutted and raised his head. “What!?”

“You don’t want to be friends with me.”

“No!” Blaise shook his head. “I was just so angry at those damned Light veela. I wanted to hurt something, and I took it out on you. Please, Hadrian. Please, precious. Please don’t take my words like… I wasn’t… I would never say you were tainted. You are far from that.”

“You hit my worst fear, Blaise,” Hadrian confessed. “Telling you all the truth was so terrifying. Telling you all that before Dad’s ritual I was a Light Halfblood, Neutral Halfblood at best. I was worried it would change how you all saw me. You used that against me, Blaise.” Hot angry tears pricked at his eyes, but so did the pain making them burn until he felt like he was drowning on land.

“Hadrian…” Blaise bit down harshly on his lips as he tried to fight off another sob. “If you can’t trust me with the truth, then you shouldn’t trust me with your beautiful body. I didn’t realize… I-”

“You’ve apologized enough,” interrupted Hadrian, wiping Blaise’s tears. He didn’t care about his own. “There’s no reason to keep doing it.”

“I wouldn’t even care what you were Hadrian because it is you. Marcus is right. It doesn’t matter. It never has. I wasn’t calling you a Halfblood, never!” said Blaise, gaining strength. “Never ever. That never crossed my mind.”

“You sure about that?”

“I was jealous, Hadrian. Jealous that you were experimenting and I didn’t notice. Jealous that I wasn’t a part of it. Jealous of how natural you are at getting attention without even trying! I get so swept up in the carnal… that I can’t really see anything but sex in front of me. I don’t know how Cassius and Marcus can do it.”

“Do what?” Hadrian asked.

“Be completely and utterly abstinent,” said Blaise. “I don’t understand how they can do that. I’ve never met anyone who could do that.”

“Cass and Marcus aren’t virgins.”

“Probably not, but ever since you started at Hogwarts, they never looked at another,” said Blaise. “They’ve never desired anyone else. It’s always been you. I’m envious of that… they will do anything for you.”

Hadrian looked down. “They are different,” he confessed. “I don’t know why. I don’t like seeking approval from anyone, not even Dad, but they always leave me pausing and questioning what I’m doing. I want to be prepared for them though because I don’t want to go in stupid. I know they are waiting for me. I can feel it.”

“How do you resist?” asked Blaise. “I don’t know how anyone can.”

“You could, Blaise. If you want to, you can resist or not if you don’t. Everyone is different. To me, you’re perfect the way you are.” Hadrian tucked his hair back a bit and traced his cheek. “I just want to make sure that I’m not stumbling around looking like a fool.”

“I doubt you could do that. You look cute when you stumble,” said Blaise. “Do you really love me the way I am?”

“I do,” said Hadrian. “I love that you’ve brought me a confidence that I wouldn’t have had otherwise. It’s true, I started sleeping naked because of Dad and Dolphy, but they do that in private. You taught me to not be ashamed of my body or anyone else’s.”

Blaise smiled at this. “I did?”

Hadrian nodded. “Yes. You are the one who gave me confidence to let myself go and take a chance with the twins. Just do it and not always overthink. I told you before, I have to like someone to want them sexually.”

“Like?” Blaise tilted his head. “What about Krum?”

Hadrian folded his lips and looked away. “He was the eleven in France.” Blaise’s eyes rounded in shock. “He gave me a ride on his broom after I caught his Snitch on the beach. We made out in the air and we both got off from it.”

“On a broom?!” Blaise gasped. “In the air? On his Firebolt? Merlin! I’ve never done that!” His glassy eyes became round and almost puppy dog like. He snapped his knees together that were on the floor and he leaned forward, braids flopping around him. He examined Hadrian’s face who side-eyed him.

Hadrian nodded. “Yes, so it was quite a shock when I saw him again. It was a brief moment, but I liked him. He had good energy. Like if he went to Hogwarts, he’d probably be part of our group, you know?” He said and Blaise was nodding at him. “Our magic felt compatible together and he has a rock solid body underneath those robes.”

“Really? He looks thin.”

“No, he has hard wiry muscles. Also…” Hadrian smiled slyly, making Blaise tilt his head. “I had sex with him tonight,”

Blaise’s face made Hadrian giggle quietly. “No!” He shouted.

“Yes.”

“No way!”

“Yes.”

“Hadrian!” Blaise sounded more excited about it than he did.

Hadrian brought his shoulders up. “I ended up in the Bulgarian team section tonight. I met some players, and Viktor asked me if I wanted to go to bed with him. I said yes.”

“You’re not a virgin anymore!” Blaise was grinning, showing his teeth.

“You need to brush your teeth.” Hadrian said, changing the subject and getting up.

“Oi! No! Wait! Teeth can wait. You had sex!” He was coming after Hadrian now.

Hadrian handed him his toothbrush. Unlike non-magical toothbrushes and paste, these toothbrushes did everything for you. All of them came with a flavor of toothpaste and provided flossing and rinsing. “Brush your teeth. A bestest friend does not let his hot bestest friend go out with vomit on his breath.”

Blaise grabbed him in a hug and squeezed him tight. “Was it good?”

“I can see why you like sex, that’s all I’ll say for now.”

Blaise turned on the taps to brush his teeth with a pleased hum. Hadrian raked his fingers through his hair. It was a bit tangled, but he looked alright. His eyeliner was kind of smeared and so he took a washcloth to try and fix it.

“Hadrian?” Blaise asked, staring at the sink. He looked quiet and bothered all of a sudden.

“Hm?”

“I didn’t push you to do that did I?” asked Blaise, worriedly. “You didn’t do it because of what I said? Before you were ready yourself?”

Hadrian paused on the edge of his eye where the smear was the worst. “A tiny bit maybe, but not really. You know me, I live in the moment. If I want something, I do it. If not, I don’t.” He scrubbed, trying not to blister his skin red. Luckily, it was removed with ease. Maybe he should see about getting a liner that was charmed to stay put and not run.

“You sure? Cause - I - that wasn't really me talking. It was something worse. Mother told me I had to be careful with my temper. It’s why I rarely get mad at anyone or anything. She says that it’s an unfortunate consequence, and probably the only thing we have in common with those sordid Light bitches.”

“You’ll have to tell me more, I don’t know much about Dark veela. You and I both rarely get angry. I’m sure it surprised everyone when you did.”

“Well for starters, Dark veela can be male and female.”

Hadrian snorted and nudged him. “And here I thought you were all woman, Blaise. How wrong was I on that? Dad would be disappointed if I couldn’t even get anatomy right.”

Blaise burst out laughing and it sounded nice to hear. His heart felt better. He didn’t like his friends crying or being upset. He loved them all. He supposed that was the Hufflepuff inside of him.

Chapter Text

Chapter Seven

“A friend is someone who knows all about you and still loves you.”

― Elbert Hubbard

Blaise did not go back outside. He was exhausted and his head was pounding. So, Hadrian helped him strip and put him to bed with a tuck of the sheets around him.

“Tell me everything?”

“You know I will. Sleep now, Blaise,” Hadrian kissed him on his burning forehead as Blaise’s eyes fluttered closed. He then headed back out to the campsite, the snap and pop of the fire and its flames burned high into the sky. By now the illuminating emerald green tattoo had dispersed leaving only pollution from the variety of other campfires in the vicinity. No smell since that had been warded against. He saw that the Montague house-elves had laid out trays of light breakfast foods, mostly croissants and fresh fruit.

“It wasn’t him?” Albert asked, not for the second time.

“No. It was not his signature. I have kept his signature on file throughout all of its changes. As you know, even if you change a signature or temporarily wipe it there is always a stain left behind of the original. He would not have had time to go through the steps to erase all of it. No, something else was going on and it involves Crouch.”

“Crouch, that bastard,” Sirius’ sneer was impressive enough that it could rival Lucius on a good day. “Always something with that ruddy self-righteous arse.”

Everyone had returned and they ringed the marble firepit with his father sitting at what Hadrian would call the twelve o’ clock position. Sirius and Rodolphus were on either side of him. His eyes glinted with the firelight and he was stroking his beard. They were all lightly picking at the food offered. After a night of drinking, everyone needed some food.

“Hadrian!” Cassius and Marcus jumped to their feet the moment they noticed him, and everyone’s eyes caught him and he could feel himself being examined from the inside out. It was enough to make a boy blush.

“I’m fine. I assure you!” He let them both sweep him off his feet, and he sighed as he felt them against his skin. A kiss was pressed to his forehead by both, Marcus’ heat radiated in through his thin tunic and Cassius veered around to get a good look into his eyes.

“Son?” Hadrian kissed Cassius and Marcus on the chins, Marcus sat him down and he went for his father who had his arm out for him. He curled into his dad’s lap as Cassius and Marcus reluctantly went back to their seats.

Hadrian cleared his throat. “Blaise is asleep with a cracking good headache. Sorry I worried anyone, that was not what I meant to do. I met some friends, and we were up talking and stuff. I fell asleep at their camp and I awoke feeling like something was wrong. The stench of the Light where it shouldn’t have been. I’m glad I was there, someone came through their camp with trails of Light and the guys couldn’t handle it. I was able to help stop it. As soon as I did, I came back here.”

Augustus cupped his cheeks. “I know you can take care of yourself. I made sure of that, but it did not help my heart when we returned to camp from the Bulgarian Minister’s party and heard you had left. It felt like only moments later the Light acted out and no one knew where you were.” He kissed Hadrian on the cheek making the prickliness of his beard rub against the tender skin. Hadrian stroked his dad and nuzzled into him.

“If I can outrun an acromantula and fight my way away from one, the Light are nothing in comparison,” he nosed his dad who chuckled and nodded. He settled further into his dad’s arms allowing the man’s arms to swallow him up like he used to when he was a child. Hadrian also needed a new position however because his butt was feeling sore by the minute.

“Many of the Light that have been taken into custody were heavily drunk. A lot of others got away. The Aurors are still trying to get everything calmed.” Augustus reported. “Thankfully I’m not required to take part in the arrests as an Unspeakable. I was able to go searching for you and come back when word arrived that you were safely back in camp.”

A few of the men chuckled, and Hadrian caught Cassius and Marcus’ eyes from across the firepit. If Hadrian and his dad were sitting at twelve o’clock they were at six o’ clock with their fathers. Draco, Theo, Graham, Terry, and Adrian were on either side of them with their own fathers scattered between the teens. Not super surprising after an attack from drunk Light magicals. All of the lords would have wanted to ensure their heirs were safe and continue to protect them.

Hadrian was the only one being snuggled, sometimes he thought it was sad that the other’s fathers had never given his friends such affection. Hadrian knew that it was simply the noble Pureblood way of keeping your emotions in check and not the lack of love. Sometimes that even meant to families. He could never remember any of them hugging them except Callum. But even that was rare and few and far between. Sirius kept reaching over and touching Hadrian’s knee, like he was double checking that he was there. Rodolphus would run his fingers through his hair. It was no wonder Blaise, Theo, and Draco had puzzled over Oberon’s reaction when Hadrian showed up.

“So what happened? I know that it was the Dark Mark that appeared in the sky, who shot it?”

“We do not know,” said Augustus against his ear. “No one would let me search the grounds, Crouch pulled what little power he had left to stop me. Diggory was not pleased with him or his house-elf.”

“House-elf?” Hadrian shifted at this to look at his father. “You mean the one in the Top Box? I’d say it was the other way around! That poor thing was terrified. She never moved and Crouch never showed up.”

“Top Box?” asked Augustus. “I got there at the end, but there were too many bodies to see everyone. Especially a house-elf.”

“Yes, there was a house-elf there by herself next to Ronald Weasley.” Augustus’ eyes flashed. “Why, what does that mean?” He asked, noticing his father’s expression.

“A house-elf was caught with the child’s wand. I was startled when Diggory tried to accuse the child of casting it.”

“No Light wizard or witch could possibly hope to cast such a spell.” Callum shook his head.

“Diggory is an insane Light fanatic,” Lucius sneered.

“I would not have called him a fanatic,” denied Albert. “He was never a fanatic. I think he simply panicked like all of us.”

“I had to remind him of that, and the fact that only a few dozen may have known the words of that particular spell. I also clearly reminded Crouch that he knew the words, maybe even said them at home when speaking of his work, and maybe she repeated them. He did not like the accusation at all, not that I really made one. It is natural that he would know them, he was Head of the DMLE and Aurors back then. He’d have known all the relevant information. When I asked the Weasley child what that mark was - he hadn’t any idea.”

“Not that Ronald is any good at magic to begin with,” Hadrian snorted.

“Well, it had the intended effect of stopping everyone in their tracks,” said Morpheus heavily.

“Not the spell I would have chosen. Not a good representation,” said Callum grimly. “We’ve come so far and attacking like that is only seen as a negative upon us.”

“Martha Jones picked up the scoop already. Skeeter tried to weasel into it, but the Daily Prophet’s head editor sent her home. He didn’t need multiple writers covering the same story.” Albert chuckled. “Some young Auror tried to accuse us of having started the attack. Luckily we had solid alibis with many eye witnesses in the form of the Bulgarian Minister and his entourage, and several other diplomats.”

“Great man, that Minister. He made some good arguments on why we should invest money in Bulgarian companies.” Rodolphus laughed. “The country is very friendly to Dark magicals.”

“Are you sure everyone is accounted for in Azkaban?” Sirius asked them. “All the Extremists I mean. Are they accounted for?”

“You are the only one who has broken out of Azkaban,” Rodolphus pointed out.

“That you know of,” Hadrian quipped and that had all the men looking at him. “What about Crouch’s son? Seems interesting that Crouch’s house-elf was found beneath the mark and with the wand that cast it.”

Augustus shook his head. “Good theory, Hadrian, but…”

“I remember Crouch Jr. He arrived at Azkaban, already screaming mad. Aurors had trouble getting him into his cell,” Sirius said. “He’s dead now, I saw him being carried out myself. They carried him away from his cell to be buried on Azkaban Hill. Just a hole with a cloth cover, not really a grave.”

“He was already mad before Azkaban, he was a hair trigger away from Bellatrix,” said Rodolphus, heavily. “Crouch Snr abused him severely when he was a child. Always beating and whipping him for every little instance of imperfection. I imagine those memories came back to him. Even Dark can’t handle dementors if they have a past like that.”

Sirius frowned at this and shook his head. “Even my dear mother wasn’t that bad. She mostly ignored my existence.”

“And she didn’t properly disinherit you,” Lucius pointed out.

“Father wouldn’t let her,” said Sirius. “Father’s worst fear was dying without an Heir. He wouldn’t have dared even if I was stinking of the Light.”

“Which you almost were,” Oberon pointed out.

“Blame Voldemort,” Sirius shrugged.

“I also blame your mother. She was no one’s favorite person.” Lucius replied.

“You have to be a good example for your children otherwise it is your own fault when you lose them,” said Oberon patiently.

“You’ve become quite a popular face by the way,” said Lucius, changing the subject and holding something out toward Hadrian.

“Huh?”

“Look at it.” Hadrian reached for it and found that it was Witch Weekly, this morning’s edition. “The Bulgarian Minister passed it to me as we left him this morning. He had an early copy since they needed his approval for it to be run.”

On the front cover of Witch Weekly was Hadrian’s smiling face with Viktor’s back to the photographer, hand over hand. “A Golden Opportunity.” It was a full color photo, so you could see his emerald eyes clearly on display, the beads in his thick black hair and the braid. He was staring at Viktor with a knowledgeable look in his eye that the papers were desperate to gossip about.

Hadrian rolled his eyes as he read the gossip and speculation. “That is stupid.” He handed it back. He didn’t want to see anymore.

“He did give you the Snitch,” Draco pointed out.

“So? I’m sure he could have given it to anyone. I happened to be there.”

Cassius was looking at him thoroughly. “You called him Viktor earlier.”

Hadrian inwardly cringed. “Yes, so?”

“You worried about him when he was injured.”

“He should have received medical attention, so of course I was.” He was trying not to stiffen. “I think I’m going to bed. I’m exhausted and I think Blaise needs someone to cuddle with.”

Augustus chuckled and kissed his cheek. “You go and cuddle your friend, don’t be too hard on him. He’s still a child even if his body is not.”

“It seems he really disagreed with veela mascots,” said Terry with a whistle. “I thought I’d have to hold him back.”

Hadrian kissed his dad as he got up. He then stopped by Rodolphus and Sirius before stepping away.

“We’ll go too,” said Draco.

“Get as much sleep as you can,” Lucius called out to them. “We will leave at about noon tomorrow. No sense in rushing off today with no sleep and chaos at the designated portkey area. It’s likely that the Sponsors’ Event will be canceled with all of this,” he looked up and everyone followed suit.

Harian could see the gray dawn skies trying to turn blue. He checked his watch, six in the morning. Yeah, he was tired. Terry, Draco, and Theo followed him into the tent. The other teens ducked into theirs across from them.

“What a night,” Theo let out a heavy sigh.

“Stupid Lights, I hate them. I hate them as much as I hate dementors,” Draco hissed. “All that work that our fathers are trying to do, and they just come along and mess it up.”

“I don’t think we lost much, Draco,” said Hadrian soothingly as he rubbed Draco’s arm. “It’s good that our fathers have honest alibis with one of the most important wizards at the Quidditch Cup. No one is going to want to start a war by accusing a foreign Minister of lying.”

They quietly entered their tent and split into their rooms. Terry said good night first before Draco and Theo disappeared into their shared room. Hadrian thought about offering his bed to one of them since he’d be sleeping with Blaise, but their door closed before he could say anything. It wasn’t worth knocking on the door to say.

Hadrian entered Blaise’s room to find that he was fast asleep curled in his bed. He stripped down to nothing instantly and Dora jumped from her pouch to curl up in a small pile of trinkets on the floor. Blaise let out a sleepy moan and snuggled closer to him as he slid into Blaise’s bed. Hadrian drew the sheets around them and turned to stare at Blaise.

“Sorry…” Blaise’s fingers sleepily came up to touch Hadrian’s cheek. Hadrian said nothing as he snuggled closer and fell asleep.

oOo

Quidditch World Cup Ends At Light’s Wand Point!

By, Martha Jones

In the early morning hours after the Quidditch World Cup ended, when many attendees were still celebrating Ireland’s victory and others had gone to bed, the camp site areas came under attack. British national Light aligned witches and wizards started marching through the different sections of the camp area, flinging spells all around.

Eye-witnesses I was able to speak to mentioned they heard yelling from Light magicals wearing all white robes calling for Neutrals to join them in punishing Dark aligned magicals ‘so that they are not wasted’. Dark tents were set ablaze and some magicals were attacked directly.

Members of the Bulgarian Quidditch team revealed that they had been asleep when the Light wizards pushed into their circle of tents and started to attack them. Seeker and Heir Viktor Krum, the youngest professional Seeker in history and about to enter his final year at Durmstrang Institute, who had caught the Snitch and ended the match, was woken from his sleep by his teammate, Captain and Chaser Vasily Dimitrov, a Dark wizard who had graduated from Durmstrang Institute five years ago. Both exited Krum’s tent in time to see teammate, Chaser Clara Ivanova, a Neutral witch who had graduated from Durmstrang Institute four years ago, hit by a spell. While being attacked the three clearly heard the Light calling for ‘the end of the Dark!’ and ‘Darks are evil, the only path is the Light.’ They admitted to Aurors that they fought back, protecting themselves, and the fight only ended when the Light wizards apparated away.

What had been an evening of celebration and connecting with international magicals, turned into a battle like that which had last been seen when the British Dark Lord Voldemort was at the height of his campaign.

Bulgarian Minister, Dragan Oblansk, has called for the ICW to take over the investigation considering foreign nationals were attacked by British Light magicals. Minister Oblansk had been hosting a party for the Gold level sponsors of the Quidditch final match. The British Minister of Magic and the British Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports (DMGS) were not in attendance, but the Irish Minister and his wife were.

Minister Cornelias Fudge has not provided any comment on how an attack was possible after the Head of the DMGS, Ludo Bagman, assured foreign Ministries that the site of the final match would be under heavy protection wards. A Ministry official who wishes to remain anonymous did inform us at the Daily Prophet that Master Warders and Curse Breakers were brought in to do the wards on the Quidditch Stadium but they were not hired to do the spells around the camp sites. Those were done by members of the DMGS only.

The Daily Prophet will be following this case closely and keep our readers informed. We certainly hope that Minister Fudge does his best to see that all involved in the early morning attacks are held accountable. If he does not, British magicals may find themselves before an ICW court to answer for the crimes instead. After all, magicals from all around the world were in attendance and attacked. Our country will not be the only one tracking the developments of this case.

For days, the Prophet was running the story following the World Quidditch Cup. Hadrian was now back home. Sirius had decided to join them this time because he wanted to spend the last of the waning August days with Hadrian.

However, one morning Hadrian saw his own face in the Prophet attached to an article written by Rita Skeeter, headlined “Bulging Bulgarian Romance”. Seems Skeeter wasn’t happy to have been passed over on writing about the Light attack and decided to try cashing in on the Witch Weekly’s successfully run article instead. It made Augustus’ blood boil. She hadn’t even tried to be honest and impartial like the Witch Weekly article had. She went straight into speculation about secret romances between the fourteen year old British magical and the recently turned eighteen year old Bulgarian magical, suggested there was a marriage contract and other weird malarky. Augustus had run to the Daily Prophet offices within the Ministry infuriated when he caught hold of it. Just the fact that Hadrian was in the Daily Prophet, a serious newspaper, without his or Hadrian’s own permission set him on fire. Augustus had returned in a foul mood indeed.

“What happened?” asked Sirius, leaning forward. He and Hadrian were playing a game in Hadrian’s sun lounge. Dora was making happy noises and rolling around across the carpet in and out of the sun’s rays.

Breakfast ended recently and Rodolphus was hanging on the back of Sirius’ chair watching their game. The great thing about this game was that more than two people could play if they wanted to. Rodolphus had come in too late to be a third opponent. It was a chess-like game but with Quidditch rules and even little miniature balls. Marcus and Cassius sent it to him from Texas for his birthday. Sirius loved the game. It was played on a marble carved board that looked like a Quidditch Pitch but with squares like chess. Hadrian’s Beater had just taken out Sirius’ Chaser, the Seekers were still moving themselves trying to get in position when Augustus returned. It was called Quess.

“You’re tense,” said Rodolphus, straightening up and giving Augustus a kiss in greeting. “Can’t be good.”

“Surely they listened to you. Fudge likes you,” Sirius added on.

“He does,” said Augustus darkly. “It’s the Light. They and the bloody Prophet claimed that since Hadrian reached the age of consent and was wearing his Heir ring at the game, early or not, they have full authority to treat him as an adult and write about him like he’s a fucking adult! Cornelius’ hands are tied even when I pointed out he was only a Fourth Year. The best we can do is hope that Lord Krum doesn’t take offense nor anyone who might have been interested in sending in marriage contract offers. If we try to get an article written by someone else, even Jones, that disputes the information it will look like we are trying to hide some scandal that Skeeter nearly uncovered. Unless the Prophet forces Skeeter to write a retraction, we are stuck.” He sat heavily and Rodolphus sat on the arm of the chair, arm around the back of Augustus.

“It’s not that bad, Augustus. It could be far worse if she’d been let loose on the Light article,” Rodolphus said placatingly.

“Not the point!” he ground out through his teeth. “The point is, he’s still a child and has no business having his personal life being spread across a Prophet that is nothing more than propaganda for the Light half the time.”

“We struck gold with Jones, it’s fine. Anyone who really matters knows that Skeeter is full of shit,” Rodolphus soothed. “Besides, Hadrian is of age to start receiving proposals for marriage contracts. You know many Pureblood families have started discussions for things like this years before.”

“I know,” Augustus sighed. “Don’t worry, Hadrian. I haven’t started any discussions yet. I want you to make your own choice of partner before a contract gets created.”

Hadrian chose not to comment even if he was cringing inside. Ulgh, that sounded annoying, but it wasn’t enough to get mad about it. He wasn’t particularly fussed about having a marriage contract but he wasn’t keen to start to receive offers either. Unlike his friends’ parents, he knew without a doubt that Augustus would want him to have a full say so on the issue.

“Jones has her own bone to pick with the Light since some Muggleborns cast off their surnames and took ‘Jones’ as their own to confuse the population. It was said to have been the Headmaster’s suggestion,” said Augustus. “So now that name ended up tarnished and no longer of Pureblood standing. The Jones’ were nixed from the Sacred List for that single reason.”

“The Notts should never have been entrusted with the list,” said Rodolphus. “We all know that, Augustus. It’s not even a full list.”

“I never realized how deep all of this was going,” Sirius shook his head. “Between both the Light and the Dark.”

“No, you and a lot of others didn’t,” Rodolphus combed his fingers through Augustus’ heavy curls. “Riddle muddied a lot of it, the Headmaster right alongside him. He cast such confusion on everyone, even his own people.”

“Not all Dark is created equal and not all Light are created equal either,” said Augustus.

“That’s like the Diggorys,” said Hadrian. “Cedric is a truly good Light wizard and there’s nothing else about him. He’s simply good, and he doesn’t look at you and see alignments like we do. Never double questions who they are or what they are. He’s simply good. His father didn’t seem like one either. To be honest, he was pretty even when I met him, but Cedric has no ulterior motives. You can’t hate him for being Light and Light alone.”

“Even I agree with that, I’ve no doubt Diggory panicked when he saw the Dark Mark,” said Rodolphus. “He’s hardly the worst in the Wizengamot, that falls on Doge and Merryweather.”

“Argh, I never liked Doge, even when I was inundated with the Light,” Sirius shook his head as Hadrian’s Keeper managed to knock the Quaffle piece away sending it to the opposite side of the Quess board. No one was really paying attention to the game anymore. “He would have you think that Dumbledore shits stars and pisses moonbeams.” Hadrian giggled at this. “Always acted weird around the ladies too, especially if they were young. I remember one time, he went on a two hour rant about how short my cousin ‘Dromeda’s skirt happened to be. She was barely eighteen at the time.” He looked at Hadrian. “Andromeda is my cousin and the ex-sister of Bellatrix.”

“Ah.”

Augustus smirked at this and pointed at Hadrian. “And that is the balance we all need, the Diggories and Abbotts are the pinnacles of balance with the Light. All the alignments and affinities. We need that kind of balance or we get another mass war on our hands with more casualties to our children and damage to magic itself.”

“Speaking of the Headmaster being an idiot,” said Hadrian. “Where’s our letters? It’s the 26th.”

“Lucius and the rest of the Board are having a time with the Headmaster and the replacement for the Defense position. He gave the Headmaster a warning that if he could not find someone by midnight tomorrow then they would.”

“Why is he giving any him chances?” Sirius scowled.

“He has no choice,” said Augustus. “The Headmaster seized his opportunity during the hub-bub of the World Quidditch Cup and the Light’s attack. As you know, Fudge loves his power and so he is trying badly to play both sides. We mostly have him in our corner because our rewards tend to show him in a better favor, but he knows that the Headmaster also has favor in some circles.”

“Either way it’s a political shit show,” Rodolphus surmised as Augustus waved his hand in agreement.

“Seems like it’s shaping up to be an entertaining year,” said Hadrian. “And it hasn’t started yet.”

He caught the three men exchanging looks with one another. “That reminds me,” said Augustus. “You are going to need some dress robes this year.”

Hadrian blinked at that. “Dress robes? Am I going to another Deathday Party?” he asked curiously. “I’m not against that, it beats ‘Halloween’ anyday.”

Augustus chuckled. “No, but there is an event that will see you wanting to look your absolute best.”

“The ‘best would be Marseille’ as Cissa would say.” He already owned many dress robes from the various events he had attended growing up. “I’ll try some on tonight, and if they don’t fit I’ll send them to Gladrags for some alterations.” He had no idea what to expect, but he could take a variety of options.

On the first of September, Hadrian rose to the giggling of a fuzz ball who had decided to nestle in his hair. Her gold fur was wrapped in his thick black strands. He turned, wincing at the tangle as he reached up to tickle her belly and then nuzzled her with his nose as her fleshy bill brushed at his forehead. One would never expect that the bill she had could eventually become hard as diamond. Nifflers were often used as diggers on treasure sites because of this fact, but for now she was still only a baby.

“Are you ready for school, Dora?”

She cooed at him without having any idea what he was saying. He smiled and untangled his hair from her. The Niffler turned over onto all fours and then scampered down off the bed. Hadrian had everything ready and prepared to go the night before. He’d packed away at least eight dress robes, and figured he could get Blaise’s opinion after he tried them on. Most of them fit, a couple he would have to send off for alterations.

It took some doing to brush out the tangles that Dora caused in the night but soon his hair was shining smooth. Lifting a dark crimson cloth band, he weaved it through his hair with most of the cloth across his forehead. He braided two strands, and then locked it in with silver heavy clasps that were longer than his typical beads by about an inch or two.

For the ride to school he decided to wear dark red trousers and a silk black and silver threaded tunic with a bit of sheer on his arms. He affixed his belt with Dora’s pouch and then darkened his eyes with a bit of black liner. The effect that it’d given him at the Quidditch World Cup had been fun. Blaise would likely have silver or gold liner depending on what he was wearing. Hadrian couldn’t get away with those colors like he could. He finished his outfit off with black ankle boots that had a silver buckle on the side. They were like velvet to the touch and gave him a bit of height which might make Adrian sulk.

He grabbed his leather bag. Dora, after cleaning herself off, started at his leg and began the swift climb to his shoulder to settle. “Breakfast?”

She tweed at him in response.

Rodolphus and Sirius let out a series of whistles when he entered. Sirius was sitting in his chosen spot at the table across from where Hadrian always sat. He smiled, but then it wilted when he didn’t see Augustus. “Where’s Dad?” he asked, sliding into his seat.

“Your dad was called to an emergency.”

“Again?” Hadrian asked, reaching for the bowl of fruits and vegetables that Sirius had arranged for Dora. The little niffler tweed in excitement and lifted one of the little green peas to eat with her paws.

“Former Auror Alastor ‘Mad-Eye’ Moody was supposedly attacked in his home,” Rodolphus told him and handed him the Prophet. The news was already in the Prophet so it must have happened before things went to print this morning.

“Mad-Eye is every bit of his name. You’ll never find a more paranoid wanker, but he was good at his job. So good that he developed a paranoia against everyone and anyone,” Sirius finished. “He was retired when I was an Auror, but he still came in to work.”

“If it’s paranoia then why is Dad handling it and not Aurors?” Hadrian asked. “Sounds minor.” He was reading the Prophet, scanning its contents about the esteemed Auror. Just the picture alone was enough to show why he was called ‘Mad’. He didn’t need to read the article.

“He’s a big name and a big name requires big handling.” Sirius shrugged. “They must have thought having an Unspeakable on premise would be useful.”

“Is he the new Defense teacher?” Hadrian put the clues together smoothly. “Says here, the Headmaster had been talking to him last night.”

“Yes and he is soaked in the Light,” said Rodolphus, dryly. “So keep weary of him.”

“But,” Sirius added, raising his tea cup. “Mad Eye Moody is not a gentle wizard. He will not stand for the Headmaster trying to play him like he does Snivellus and all the others. He will teach you something. Mostly Light spells but some Neutral spells too. He will do his job. He knows his stuff and he knows Defense is Defense and not simply Dark Arts.”

“It is the only reason why Lucius and the Governors signed off on it,” said Rodolphus. “Not to mention they had little choice with how long Dumbledore gave them the run around. He won’t be like Lupin, but you should get some good lessons.”

“He doesn’t like the Dark and he won’t use those kinds of spells, but you can bet he knows many other spells that can be used. He knows things that even your dad might have to pause and think about. He’s seen it all. He was around when Grindelwald had his say about the world.” Sirius added. “There were some rumors during my Auror training that Mad Eye even fought against Grindelwald’s forces on the Continent a few times as a young man.”

“Sounds entertaining,” said Hadrian. “Still though, a pity about Lupin. Everyone liked him, the Patil twins had a petition signed with over two hundred signatures to keep him on as a Professor. That’s a majority of the students. Most didn’t give a fuck about him being a werewolf.”

Sirius smiled at this, but the smile had a tinge of sadness. “I don’t think you’ll have to worry about Remus, Hadrian. Least to say he cried when he heard about the petition and saw all those signatures of the students who had his back.”

“Next year, whether you like it or not, I’m inviting him to Rookwood Estate.” Sirius made a surprised noise and Rodolphus chuckled. But Hadrian wasn’t done. He leveled the spluttering man with a stare and it made Sirius snap his mouth shut. “If you do not shape up and seduce him, or whatever you adults do when you mate and fuck like bunnies, I just might make a game with Blaise to see who can do it first with him instead.”

Rodolphus spat out his morning coffee across the table, all manners and Pureblood etiquette lost completely. Sirius choked on the bacon that had been hanging from his mouth. Hadrian did not smile or smirk. He simply stared at Sirius in challenge.

“My Merlin, you have the stare of a thousand stars…” Sirius took a breath. “You would, wouldn’t you? You’d probably be successful too… Merlin… you got me there. I’ll - send him an owl.”

Hadrian leaned over and patted Sirius gently on the forehead. “Good boy, Padfoot,” he cooed, causing Rodolphus to burst out laughing.

“Your dad is going to be so upset he missed this!”

Before Hadrian could ask who was taking him to the train with Augustus busy, the shushing sound of someone arriving via floo could be heard. He brightened up when his dad came strolling through the door to the dining room. Hadrian could see their house-elves were already fast at work vanishing all the soot before it could touch the floor.

“Good morning, precious.” Augustus bent down and kissed Hadrian on the forehead before kissing Rodolphus, and nodding to Sirius and taking his place at the table. “What did I miss? Why is the table wet?”

“Your son’s fault,” said Rodolphus, grinning.

“Oh?”

Sirius shook his head. “He’s threatened to seduce Remus if I don’t get there first.”

Augustus blinked at this and looked at his son who shrugged. “What else am I supposed to do when all he does is mope around about it? Sheesh, you’d think he was the ‘Puff and I was the Gryffindor! Blaise and I had a nasty fight and we made up within hours. Granted he was heaving over a toilet and had no defenses, but we still made up.”

Sirius hung his head briefly. “Maybe I have been too much of a wimp.”

“Don’t let Narcissa hear you saying ‘sheesh’, her nose will twitch in disgust,” Augustus smiled as he served himself some breakfast.

“And your ears will burn with her complaints,” Hadrian beamed at him. No one really needed to ask about Moody. It was said, done, and over with.

Rodolphus recounted to Augustus exactly what Hadrian had said as Sirius blushed like a school boy. Augustus started to chuckle deeply. “You said that?”

Hadrian shrugged. “Something had to be said. I adore Professor Lupin, he was a great professor. It wouldn’t be a hardship to seduce him and if I get Blaise in on it, well - sorry he’s not going to stand a chance.”

Rodolphus was laughing loudly, drawing Dora’s curiosity as she crossed over the table and then rolled around his hand trying to take his Heir ring. Augustus shook his head. “I will pretend I didn't hear that, but it was a good tactic. I do believe you might have gotten through to the stubbornness that Gryffindors love so much.”

“I’ve had double trouble since my first year, what did you expect? Me to be an amateur, Dad? Nah…!” He leaned over and kissed his dad’s scruffy face. “I’m glad you’re here to take me to the train again.”

“Me too, precious.” He caressed Hadrian’s cheek. “I’d like to tell you not to get too wild this year, but that is not going to matter is it?”

“What do you mean?” Hadrian asked sweetly.

“Nothing. Oh, boy. I’ve had enough proposals to sift through after one night. I have a feeling I might end up with a stack. More to throw in the fire.”

Proposals? Sirius grinned at him as Augustus shook his head. “Proposals?”

“Not important. Don’t you worry about it.”

Okay, Hadrian let it go with a shrug. He had more important things to think about, like his upcoming school year.

Chapter Text

Chapter Eight

“I was gratified to be able to answer promptly, and I did. I said I didn’t know.”

― Mark Twain

He met his friends in their usual expanded compartment, Marcus had taken his trunk for him. He’d been waiting dutifully on the platform for Hadrian and his dad to arrive.

Blaise let out a whistle when he entered the compartment to see all his friends. “Changing sides, precious?”

For the briefest second, Hadrian felt uncomfortable with his nickname coming from Blaise’s mouth, but he shrugged. “Who knows? Maybe I’ll show my Hufflepuff side and support all other Houses this year,” he drawled as he dropped down in the empty spot beside Cassius who was sitting at the window. Marcus stowed everything above their heads and Dora came bursting out of his pocket. She climbed up Cassius’ chest as the seventh year clasped a hand to her.

He loved making everyone in the train compartment gasp with his statement as Luna brought down her Quibbler to show only her glittering blue eyes. “You wouldn’t!” All of them cried out as Hadrian crossed his leg over his knee.

“Baby, you would do that to me?” Marcus grunted coming down to sit beside him. “My final year? You’d support those Gryffs over us?”

“Who knows, after seeing Wood actually smiling at me I could be convinced to show them some love.” He grinned slyly, sending Marcus’ mouth snapping shut and Cass to lean all the way forward and stare at him in horror from his window seat.

Blaise burst out laughing. “Can I join? He’s not on the Gryffindor team anymore!”

Marcus scowled at this. “What the fuck?!”

“That’s not funny, sweetheart,” Cassius stared at him, wide-eyed.

Adrian, Terry, and Graham started laughing hard enough that they were nearly doubled over. Draco wrinkled his nose. “You’d do Gryffs? Really, Hadrian? Or is this like what Graham did last year?”

“I’d like to see that fall out, it’d be educational,” Theo quipped.

“Hmm…” Luna completed as Hadrian giggled as he leaned forward.

“Look at your faces. You’re so easy to rile up.”

The double sulking! Hadrian had never seen Marcus and Cassius sulk so hard as both sets of shoulders relaxed. His spilled giggles climbed harder, and feeling even more mischievous, Hadrian reclined back still smiling. “It’s like Sirius this morning, I let him know, Blaise, in not so many words that if he didn’t step up, get back in touch with Professor Lupin and invite him to Rookwood Estate, you and I are going to fuck his brains out.”

Cassius and Marcus froze like they’d been cursed, their eyes grew somehow wider as Blaise bounced in his seat, grinning and making his braids bounce. “I’m game! So game. I want to try that full wolf!”

“Oh, who knows? Maybe I’ll suck him and you can ride him.”

Marcus and Cassius took sharp breaths and they looked at him with fear in their eyes before looking away sharply. Terry’s face went blood red, Draco followed as Theo brought his book back to his face. Everyone else was in various states of laughter. Hadrian and Blaise began to plot the best way to seduce the man as the train began to lurch off the platform toward its destination in the north.

Blaise was sitting by the door with his long legs draped over Adrian. Draco was beside the auburn haired seventh year. Luna and Theo were at the end of their bench at the window. Terry and Graham were on Hadrian’s side with the taller by the door.

“I’m learning that you have to kick stubborn Gryffs in the arse to get anything done,” said Hadrian, waving his hand. Cassius and Marcus had gone utterly silent, and both older boys seemed to be brooding. He couldn’t help but wonder why.

“More likely than not they will ruin all your plans,” said Theo, not taking his book down.

“Precisely! Just about every plan I have planned out gets ripped to pieces when they come around.”

“Knowing them they’ll take that as a compliment,” said Terry.

Dora made her rounds to each person in the compartment, receiving something gold and shiny from each person. She collected the items carefully with her paws before she settled across Luna’s lap. The blonde witch stroked her lovingly while she played in the golden and silver trinkets.

Talk soon returned to the Quidditch World Cup as the train shuddered and vibrated beneath their feet. Blaise started them off by talking about the looks of all the players.

“Bulgaria’s Chaser, Dimitrov, is not bad,” said Hadrian idly in agreement.

“I still can’t believe the Gryffindor twins called it.” Marcus said, shifting the topic. “For a moment I thought the teams had tied, which hasn’t happened in a record breaking three hundred years or so. I was ten points off in my calculations, I admit I was not watching the scoreboard that closely.”

“There was no time to look at the scoreboard,” said Cassius, leaning around Hadrian. “No matter how easy it was to see from our seats.”

“Krum’s flying was some of the best I’ve ever seen,” added Graham. “I wonder how much of that is innate talent versus something he spent hours practicing.” Hadrian noticed Blaise slowly smile and gave him a warning look.

Everyone agreed, even those who had been rooting for Ireland could not say a single bad thing about Viktor’s flying skills. It was a hard point to argue against. He became the youngest professional Seeker in history for a reason.

“I bet you’d be a good expert on that, Hadrian,” Blaise chirped, causing boys to roll their eyes.

“Shut up, Blaise,” said Hadrian. His voice may have been sweet but his eyes held a warning.

“Sure, sure.”

“What’s he talking about?” Terry asked. “I know you’re a good flier, but you don’t play.”

“He’s talking about the Snitch that I was given.” He ignored Blaise’s ‘ooh you got smooth there in the save’ and had to work at not rolling his eyes.

“You read the article in the Daily Prophet?” asked Draco.

“My dad was furious, so yes,” said Hadrian.

“You’re only fourteen, they should have been reamed for that,” said Cassius, coolly.

“They used the Heir ring and age of consent for their defense when Dad tried to get a retraction,” said Hadrian.

“Bullshit,” Marcus grunted.

“My father said that Skeeter is nothing but a Neutral pandering to Light and going after whatever story will get her name out there. It doesn’t even have to be remotely true,” said Draco.

Adrian nodded. “All she saw was an Heir and an International Quidditch Star, she saw a potential paycheck.”

“I don’t really care what Skeeter has to say,” said Hadrian with a shrug of his shoulders. “If you give it thought and weight then it starts meaning something. I know Dad is slightly worried that it may impact my future marriage contract prospects, but I’m not concerned. So don’t even bother. She’s just trying to be relevant. You’re just giving her what she wants by thinking about it.”

“Now you sound like your father,” Blaise teased.

“He’s not often wrong.” No one could dispute that.

“I’ve already talked to gramma and mom, they are all for us going to Texas next year,” said Cassius, changing the subject. “Gramma is excited to finally host all of my friends.”

“How hot is it going to be?” Draco asked dubiously.

“You are a wizard and you know your charms. No one will care if you’re ‘underage’. Any wand usage is easily masked,” he said in return. “But yes, it can get excruciating if you’ve never been in that climate. It’s rather dry compared to most places you’ve been.”

“It took me a good month to assimilate, I think at one point I might have had a mini-heat stroke,” Marcus confessed and Draco looked horrified.

“You don’t have the muscle and mass that Marcus has, you would be fine, Draco,” said Theo. “So long as you remember to drink water. Not even magic can quench dehydration.”

“That reminds me, you ready for Quidditch this year?” Hadrian asked Marcus. “It’s your final year as Captain.”

“Hell yeah, I am. I’ve no doubt that Spinnet is going to take Wood’s place. I doubt she’s as passionate as Wood, but she’s a good player.”

“If the Gryffs have the same sorry issues finding a new Keeper that they did when they were hunting a Seeker, they are so fuckin’ screwed,” said Cassius.

“Speaking of, we need a new Chaser. Moore graduated in spring.”

“Count me out!” Blaise held up his hands. “If you can’t get anyone good enough I might be convinced to step in and help out, but I’d rather not.”

“I’m hoping it won’t come to that. I don’t need you to fuck the Slytherin Team into oblivion,” Marcus grumbled making Blaise grin at him. “No, fucking with my team!”

“Oh, come on, you’d let Hadrian do it, why not me?”

“Beside the point, Zabini! Hadrian doesn’t fuck someone stupid. I’ve seen your conquests when you’re through with them.”

“You don’t know that for sure, Marcus,” said Blaise. “How do you know he won’t fuck someone stupid too? It could happen.”

“Hey, leave me out of this!” Hadrian held up his hands.

“He ain’t going to fuck someone at random and then drop them like he was yesterday’s news,” Cassius shot at Blaise.

“I only drop the ones who sucked, and not in a good way!” Blaise argued. “I stayed a while with some. Not my fault they took it hard when I stopped seeing them. I never agreed to monogamy with any of them.”

“No distractions! You can fuck with Ravenclaws if ya want, but leave the Gryffs alone. I want at least one team up to snuff this year to give us a challenge.”

Blaise pouted. “You’re so mean, Marcus! All a boy wants is to have some fun.”

“You can get your kicks from anywhere else, leave the teams alone!”

Blaise sighed. “You need more in your life, Marcus, than Quidditch.”

“I don’t need a life lesson from you of all people, Zabini,” he rumbled in return.

So far, it was a relatively smooth ride through the countryside, the bright green meadows passed in a flash. Cassius and Graham went on to the Prefect’s meeting leaving everyone falling into various conversations. No dementors interrupted their passage this time or any other unusual happenings.

“I could fuck Davies stupid for you,” Blaise then teased and Marcus paused at that.

“Sure… I’ll give ya that one.”

Blaise cheered and wiggled in his seat with excitement. Adrian rolled his eyes. “You have to get something out of it, don’t you?”

“Of course, what do you take me for? A self-sacrificing Gryffindor?”

“Yet you want to fuck them. Both of you,” Draco pointed out.

“I was kidding,” Hadrian replied. “There are only two in Gryffindor that have my attention. Blaise can have the rest.” he waved off. “Besides, the look on your faces was brilliant.”

“It really was,” Terry agreed.

Hadrian shifted in his seat and Marcus wrapped a muscled arm around him as he leaned against the man. He uncrossed his legs and tucked them to the side in Cassius’ empty spot as he made himself comfortable. Marcus closed his arm around Hadrian making him feel warm enough that it set his heart fluttering. Lips brushed against his forehead and Hadrian snuggled further into man’s welcoming muscles. He raised his eyes to Marcus who was looking at him, his strong striking face blank.

“Watcha thinking about?” Hadrian mouthed softly so that their conversation was private. Everyone was respectful enough not to join, they weren’t Muggleborns afterall.

“Nothing.”

“I don’t believe that.”

Marcus smirked. “Course not.” He flicked Hadrian’s braid. “You're not really interested in Wood are you?” he then asked, almost hesitantly.

Hadrian shook his head. “Not in the slightest.” He leaned up and kissed Marcus on the cheek. “I only have room for one very strong Slytherin Captain.”

Marcus’ eyes sparked. “Good to hear.” Hadrian tucked his head beneath Marcus’ chin and he was squeezed tighter. He ignored Blaise’s watchfully curious gaze.

Hadrian had nearly fallen asleep when Cass and Graham returned from the Prefect’s meeting. He moved his feet back to the floor as Cassius resumed his position and then lifted Hadrian’s legs.

“Just don’t kick me with those boots,” Cassius requested, sliding under Hadrian further to find a comfortable medium. Hadrian shifted carefully so that he was facing Cassius and not their friends. His knees bent and rested against the teen’s chest. Marcus’ arm stayed over him against the seat.

“Better?”

“Yes,” said Cassius, comfortably.

“I’m surprised you’re not Head Boy,” Hadrian then said.

Cassius smirked. “I turned it down.”

“You can do that?”

Cassius nodded. “Yeah, after I nearly bombed my exams doing all those bloody patrols and wearing myself out, I decided that I didn’t want to do it. As Head Boy everything would be on my shoulders, and I want to spend this last year relaxed and taking care of some things I should have done last year. I’m tired of responsibility. I can still do Prefect stuff, but Head Boy is a step too much.”

“You deserve to have a relaxing final year.”

Hadrian was surprised when the twins did not show up throughout their train ride. At about a half hour before they were scheduled to stop at Hogsmeade, he decided to go and get his robes on. Blaise swatted him on the arse as he passed, making him smile as he closed their compartment and made his way through the aisles. A few doors were open and students were chatting merrily. He even passed the Gryffindor Trio with their door ajar.

“I couldn’t believe the blowout!” Ronald’s voice trailed through the compartment and out into the aisles.

“I can’t believe your brothers would be so horrible to your Mum! Are they really gone?”

Hadrian frowned and paused by the compartment at this.

“You bet they are, they packed up that night and poof, they were gone. I heard Bill talking to Charlie about how he helped set the twins up in a flat in the Muggle world. I don’t know how they came across that much gold.”

“Well, the ratio is quite lopsided of Muggle currency to a gold galleon. So it is cheaper to rent a flat in the Muggle world than it is, say, in Diagon Alley,” said Granger. Her tone had become even more patronizing than it had been last year. He would have been impressed if he didn’t have to put up with her patronizing attitude during Herbology, Care, and Runes. “I don’t think it’s fair that the Goblins can set whatever exchange price they want,” she sniffed.

“It’s the Dark Purebloods, Hermione, all the way,” said Longbottom comfortingly. “They always side with Gringotts when the Ministry tries to add limitations to how they run the bank.”

Idiot Lights! Hadrian wanted to shout at them. As if anyone could make a goblin do anything they did not want to do. True, the Dark Purebloods held more friendly connections with the goblins because they tended to have more money and invested in Gringotts led ventures. But the goblins, they didn’t obey anyone if they didn’t want to. Hadrian didn’t know much about the Muggle world, but he knew the exchange rate was constantly fluctuating depending on the state of the economy all across the world, not just the UK or the Continent. If things were looking bad for the Muggles, the rates went up because their money was not worth much. But if things were good they would be mellow for a while.

He’d heard Marcus talking about it once. He was not a big fan of numbers, but even he knew that the goblins were no one’s servants. If the gold dried up tomorrow, the goblins would be gone. Cassius had told him that the American exchange had fallen incredibly after the Muggles’ currency stopped being backed by gold and precious metals.

“Mum will knock sense into them, I mean it’s not like they can take care of themselves!” Ronald sneered. “Still though, I’d like to know how they got gold to do that.”

“Maybe they stole it?”

“I wouldn’t put it past them,” Longbottom readily agreed.

“Come on now, the twins are a lot of things, but not thieves,” Ronald defended.

“You don’t know that. They do seem to be rather friendly with the Slytherin Purebloods,” Granger scowled. “You saw how they interacted with them at the Cup.”

“But stealing wouldn’t be fun for them,” Ronald pointed out and Hadrian was mildly impressed that Ronald would say that. “It would be way too easy. The twins like a challenge and stealing doesn’t give them a challenge because they’re good enough not to get caught.”

“Shamelessly eavesdropping on our brother?” Fred’s voice whispered into Hadrian’s ear causing him to smile and look up.

“We approve!”

“You moved out?” Hadrian whispered.

“It was a shit show.”

“Fun shit show, but a shit show.”

Both boys pulled him away from his eavesdropping into a compartment three doors down. “What happened if you don’t mind me asking?”

“We’ve been planning on leaving since Ginny,” Fred admitted, no smiles this time.

George nodded emphatically. “We’ve always known that the Light were barmy, but when Ginny died things got worse. Mum became more erratic when before she was more relaxed about Dark things. And Dad… Dad has really lost it. He’s never been angry, that was always mum. But now he’s always angry and snapping.”

“Makes sense, Cass told me that the Prewetts were originally a Dark family and you have a lot of Black in you as well.”

Both nodded, “Nothing they like to talk about though. According to Mum the Prewetts are Light and anything that says otherwise is lying.”

“Nothing got better. We attempted to stay for the family, but it became impossible to move without being questioned or having our rooms searched high and low,” said George. “Not just us. Everyone. Mum took to snooping around so much that it would impress a niffler. I’d be impressed…”

“If it hadn’t pissed us off. Even Dad got mad with her one night when she questioned why he had stayed at the Ministry late. He told her to cut it out before she lost more kids. She ignored him because the Headmaster started coming around for tea and encouraging her. This summer he came around after the incident at the Quidditch Cup and made concerned remarks about us. She went mad and whatever they discussed with the Headmaster, dad changed. In a blink. It was like nothing we’d ever seen. Both started targeting us, not the Headmaster. Charlie and Bill tried to calm them down, but they were - I’d never seen them like that.”

“So, we gathered our things and we left that night.”

“We’d already been searching for some properties, Lee Jordan has been a great help with that. His aunt owns a few flats that she rents out and we got a smashing deal. Right near Diagon Alley too.”

“I’m glad you won the bet then,” said Hadrian.

“So are we. We had planned to put all that money into funding our inventions for our joke shop that we plan to open after we graduate. We were hoping to spend the next couple of years testing and inventing things and then testing them.”

“For free.”

Hadrian grinned at this. “Well, you can always show me some of your inventions. I might make an investment. Who knows?”

Both boys grinned at him. “You’d do that?”

“But we might fail.”

“We might not be that smart.”

Hadrian snorted. “I’ll be the judge of that. Who knows? Oh, that means next year when I get back from America, you can easily visit me at Rookwood Estate. Seems to me you won’t need anyone’s permission to visit Dark friends then.” He stepped forward, “and I can teach you how to breathe again.”

Fred smiled at him. “We like breathing.” He kissed Hadrian. It always seemed that it was Fred and George in that order. Not that Hadrian minded because kissing one without the other just didn’t feel right at all.

“He always wears such delicate clothing. I’m afraid to rip them off,” George said from behind him. “I have to be careful.”

Hadrian turned and kissed George right then. “Fifteen minutes isn’t much, boys, and I’ve grown since the last time.”

“Oh?”

“You’ll have to wait and see for now. I have to go be a good boy.” Hadrian made sure to pass enough Dark magic to them so their eyes were deeper and their hair went from ginger to auburn. He kissed both of them one last time and left the compartment just as Lee Jordan opened the door. The teen had grown quite tall since Hadrian had last seen him and was about Blaise’s height now. He had a head full of thick dreadlocks rather than something like Blaise’s perfectly long beaded braids. His hair was also shorter than last year, stopping at his shoulders. Jordan was handsome too, Hadrian noted.

“Oh, it’s you. The pretty one.”

“Hello Jordan.” Hadrian smiled and made his way to the bathrooms. Hadrian debated on if he should give the sixth year Match Commentator a heads up that Blaise may come after him. He ultimately decided that Jordan could take care of himself.

Hadrian changed out his trousers for black ones, but he kept the same cut and style skin tight. He learned that as long as he wore a black and white ensemble, he could mix things up and no one would dock points for being out of uniform. So he wore black skin tight trousers and then changed his tunic for a white silk tunic with some lace that spilled around his wrists. Then added a black silk vest with silver pearl buttons going down the center. Felt a bit boring, but it was good enough for Hogwarts. He changed his headband with a tap of his wand cycling until he got to a deep shade of gold that matched the new robes that they’d been sent this year. First dress robes, and now these? Hadrian was impressed by the designs but didn’t know why it was changed.

It’d been mouthwatering when he saw Cassius trying on his new Slytherin cloak. The Hufflepuff robes really were nice. Maybe his second favorite of the new style. The new Hufflepuff robes were more muted than his previous ones. Instead of brown and gold the base color was black with dark gray leaves patterned over it. The robe front didn’t close all the way and instead was connected by a black strap under the wide collar. Either side of the strap had a gold medallion acting as the clasp to keep it closed. On the upper and middle back of the robe, Hufflepuff’s honey badger icon was stitched in gold. At various points of the icon, gold lines extended and curled before ending in a gold leaf. The lines extended down the back and arms as well as around the sides to the front of the robe. At the bottom back of the robe was a small gold acorn set above some gold leaves. There was a gold border that started at the clasp in the front, went straight down and along the bottom hem. It showed that the body of the robe was one full piece of fabric instead of panels like the previous set. The hem of the robe and the wide collar were black as well. Hadrian was slightly worried about staying warm on windy days since the robes wouldn’t close all the way, but the fabric was heavy enough that with proper temperature charms it’d be fine.

He liked the way it swayed and rippled around him when he moved. It felt lighter even though the fabric was heavy. Acromantula silk, Hadrian’s mind supplied instantly. He could not imagine how much these all cost. The Board of Governors had fronted the bill to provide them for all third years and above. It likely had to do with whatever thing their fathers had hinted at but refused to say all summer.

He had seen mannequins with all House robes when they were gathering their supplies this year and his top favorite had to be the Slytherin robes. Among his friends, Cassius wore it the best in Hadrian’s opinion. It simply fit him and his frame well. Blaise wore it the second best but green wasn’t as friendly of a color to Blaise as other colors. Probably the one color he tended to avoid unless it was a shocking bright shade. Theo had told him that these robes had been created in the 1890s and were a staple up until Dumbledore became a teacher and managed to dissuade the usage of them. He believed them to be too ‘high and mighty’, and argued that they would intimidate the Muggleborns coming into the school. Back then the robes had to be earned through exceptional work and effort so only the best students wore them. Dippet had been a pushover, it’s said, and had agreed to the discontinued use of them easily.

After he finished changing Hadrian made his way back to the compartment to see everyone had done the same thing as him. Everyone was wearing their Slytherin robes besides the two Ravenclaws. The Slytherin robes were of the same cut as the Hufflepuff robes but instead of a leaf motif as the background it was concentric diamonds. The snake icon sat in the middle of the back and was done in a pale green, rearing up as if preparing to strike off to the right side. Waving down the base of the robe from the dark gray collar with black swirls, behind the snake icon, were forest green lines bordered in silver. The front of the robes were clasped closed by a silver chain connected not by medallions but by thin silver snakes. It had a black collar, unlike on the Hufflepuff robes, it popped up and framed the students’ neck. It wasn’t tight to the neck but also couldn’t be used to hide anything.

Blaise let out a whistle when Hadrian strode in. “I’ll trade you? I like mine, but green just doesn’t fit me. Not like it does on everyone else!”

“I would trade you. Yours are my favorite, I do like mine second, admittedly.”

“I hope you like ours third,” said Luna with a smile.

Theo and Luna’s Ravenclaw robes looked very regal. They were a navy blue backing with the Ravenclaw eagle done in gold on the upper back, wings spread as if in flight. The tail feathers of the eagle extended down the robe in a royal blue while the gold wings of the eagle wrapped around to the front. Like the Hufflepuff collar, the Ravenclaw one was just along the shoulders, but was highly detailed in gold above the navy blue. Gold braided cords and filigree drew the eye to it. The front clasps were stylized gold eagles and the bottom hem design was gold feathers going from the bottom back towards the front. Two gold braids hung down the shoulders, sweeping from the front corner of the collar to the back corners.

“I honestly can’t decide, the Gryffindor ones are nice too. I like them all,” he decided. “I’m so glad they’ve been brought back.”

“Merlin, could you imagine if our robes were just basic black? I’m glad father and the others were willing to front the costs for these decorated robes. So much nicer.” Draco lightly tugged the hem on one sleeve.

Jordan had been wearing the new Gryffindor robes when Hadrian passed him while leaving the twins’ compartment. They were bright. The gold rearing lion along the upper and middle back was bright against the Gryffindor red base. Even the black pattern on the red didn’t do much to dull the intensity of the colors. Like with the Hufflepuff honey badger, gold lines extended from the lion to curl at the bottom, down the arms, and around to the front. Both the arms and bottom hem of the robes were black with gold circular swirls. Beneath the cream fur at the neck, the wide collar of the robes was also black with gold bordering. The robes clasped closed with a black band and two gold squares. The fur looked rather stiff, but that may have been just because the robes were new or from how tightly packed the fur was.

“They all are made from Acromantula silk,” said Draco, touching the fabric of Hadrian’s to double check that his were the same. “No surprise, my father would insist on the best.”

“Don’t forget some of our fathers are on the board too,” Terry pointed out.

Draco sniffed. “So? My father is the leading authority in the UK when it comes to fashion. He would have been the one who pushed for them.”

Blaise arched a brow and leaned around Adrian. “Only because my mother is not on the Board.”

“Your mother would have us all running around naked,” Theo chimed in causing everyone to snicker as Blaise shrugged.

“Who said that was a bad thing?” Blaise asked.

“You want to see Bulstrode, Crabbe, or Goyle naked every day for the rest of our sorry Hogwarts lives?” Terry asked in disgust. Blaise lost his smile. It seems he hadn’t really thought of that as disgust settled over his handsome face.

“Ew, hell no!” Theo exclaimed before anyone else could jump on that. “Imagine having to wake up with them flapping about? Or sharing a seat with one that’d gotten sweaty.” Everyone shuddered.

“Or forgot to wash themselves after the bathroom,” Graham piped in. More shudders rippled through the compartment. “Let’s not even get started on the other side of the messes. Like constant walking hardons. No thanks.”

“Would make quickies faster though.” Blaise said, smile coming back slightly. “No clothes means fast access.”

“Disgusting!” Draco cried out.

“Theo, you promised not to give me nightmares,” Luna chided.

“I’m sorry,” He truly seemed sorry about it too.

“It is okay because it was a logical conclusion to come to on what would happen.” She patted his arm, and Hadrian snorted at them.

So cute.

“Just imagine, Theo, that could have been your future,” Marcus grinned viciously, causing Theo to gag as everyone laughed more. “A pity you have to miss it.”

Theo squawked in disbelief. “Marcus, what did I do to you?” He practically pouted. It was impressive because Theo never pouted about anything. “I thought I was safe from you picking on me.”

Marcus grinned at him. “You were wide open, Theo. Close the door next time.”

“I’ll remember that.”

“I can’t help but wonder what we are dressing for?” Graham asked the golden question. As everyone speculated about the dress robes and change of new robes, Cassius wrapped an arm around Hadrian.

“He stands out,” Marcus pointed out to Cassius. They had shifted after changing so they were sitting shoulder to shoulder. Hadrian marveled for a moment at how handsome they both looked side by side from his window seat. His eyes flicked from one to the other. Even just looking at them made Hadrian feel like he was on air.

“He’ll always stand out, Marcus,” Hadrian let Cassius pull him onto his lap. His hair was swapped to one side as Cassius squeezed him around the waist. “It’s who he is.”

It was so dark now, that nothing could be seen outside the window of the speeding train as they began to naturally slow down. Cassius played with the loose front of his robes. Soft conversation flowed as a warning from the driver let them know that they were heading into a storm around the school like last year. Draco was hurrying to tuck his chocolates away. Cassius snatched some ice mice for himself as Dora snuggled up into Hadrian’s inner robe pocket. She seemed to like it there as he dropped some coins in to keep her busy. He’d fed her before going to change so she would be getting sleepy soon.

Completely waterproof, Hadrian thought when they finally departed the train. The thick heavy rain seemed to slide right off the robes they all wore. Despite being partially opened in the front, there seemed to be an advanced charm keeping them dry. Hadrian was amazed at how much more sophisticated all of the students looked in these new House robes. The previous robes had been very bright and colorful, even at night, but seemed almost childlike in comparison to the new ones. The gold and silver accents on the robes glittered in the flickering torch lights and rain.

Their group hurried to grab carriages with the rain falling. When Hadrian and Luna paused to greet the thestrals hooked up to one they claimed, Blaise pulled them away. “This is not the time to be admiring Dark creatures. It’s raining and I don’t care if these robes are waterproof. I’m not showing up to dinner soaking wet.”

Draco helped Luna into the carriage to settle next to Theo. Blaise pulled Hadrian to sit down across from the three. As soon as they were all sitting, the carriage lurched forward. Five or six to a carriage was about as comfortable as you could get. Any more and space for legs became a commodity. Sadly it meant that not everyone in their friend group could be in the same carriage up to the school.

Surprisingly, the carriages all stopped under a covered awning. Hadrian was surprised to step out of the carriage under the cover. It was handy for allowing the students to enter the school without being rained on but why only have it here instead of in Hogsmeade too? Why was it there in the first place? It obviously wasn’t a permanent part of the school, the awning was attached to poles in the ground. Something temporary and easily removed. There weren’t any adults nearby to ask so Hadrian resolved to wait until he could write a letter to Lucius or his dad for an answer.

Chatter filled the halls as the students made their way towards the Great Hall. Hadrian could overhear snippets of conversations. Lots of comments about the Quidditch World Cup, more specifically, comments about the attack that happened after Ireland won. One younger Hufflepuff was telling her friend that her Neutral cousins had been there and was attacked by a Light wizard for not joining them in attacking Dark wizards. Hadrian felt sorry for the ‘Puff but a crowd of Gryffindors passed between them before Hadrian could hear more.

“- considering negotiating a marriage proposal with a family from Canada who were in attendance-”

“-spent a lovely time in Denmark visiting mum’s family-”

“-said there was something big being planned-”

“-and he swooped down, dropping the letter into the bowl of milk. Had to-”

“-what I said! Kneazles are not-”

“-wasn’t Krum the hottest-”

“-did you see her hair?! Where-”

“-like Diggory. He smiles all the time and-”

“-boys with boys is a common thing. My father would have nothing to do with me if I was caught with-”

“Hadrian, aren’t you going to sit?” Hadrian snapped his head around and realized he was standing at the Slytherin table with all of his friends seated already. He had gotten so caught up listening to the conversations happening around him that he blanked on actually entering the Great Hall.

“Sorry, got lost in my head for a moment.” He said, taking the seat on Blaise’s left. Hadrian stood out impeccably in his new Hufflepuff robes against the rippling of forest green and serpents. He ignored the glare sent his way from Ernie Macmillan. He wondered why the bloke seemed so focused on him these last few years? What did it matter if he, one lone Hufflepuff, decided not to sit with them? And instead sit with his friends? Susan Bones didn’t act like that, and as far as he knew the other Hufflepuffs didn’t seem to care. So what was going on with Macmillan? He couldn’t begin to sort it out.

“I take it you didn’t hear a word I said then,” Draco huffed.

“Sorry, Draco.” Hadrian said with a smile, shaking his head softly. “It pays sometimes to listen to the conversations around us.”

Draco rolled his eyes at this and Blaise smirked. “Gryffindors don’t look bad, your twins’ friend Jordan has matured nicely, hasn’t he?”

Hadrian snorted. “I guess, but I am not protecting you from Marcus.”

“He’s not on the team.”

Hadrian simply shrugged as Blaise pouted. He kind of was a mascot of all the teams. It would seem kinda dirty if Blaise went over Marcus’ head and against his wishes. Jordan might just count as the Match Commentator. “Just don’t mess him up, Blaise. We like him as a commentator.”

“If he can put up with those infernal twins, he can deal with me.”

“The ‘infernal twins’, as you call them, do not routinely fuck him.” He caught out of the corner of his eyes Cassius’ face turning a bit red. He wondered why. Cass was sitting right across from Hadrian.

“They are missing out.” Blaise then smirked. “You know, you’re now on the table,” he pointed out and why was Cassius suddenly choking? “Are you going to fuck them this year?”

“What?!” Cassius spluttered out as Marcus coughed.

All their friends whipped their heads around to look at them and Blaise winced. “Sorry, Hadrian. I-”

“You did that on purpose,” Hadrian accused. Not that he was ashamed, but he didn’t want to come out like that.

“I swear I did not. I forgot where we were. I just got excited,” said Blaise honestly. “I’m really sorry, precious.” Hadrian’s eyes merely flickered as he scratched the side of his cheek awkwardly at the stares.

“What?” Draco asked, leaning around. “What’s going on? What do you mean Hadrian’s now on the table?” Before Hadrian was forced to answer or choose silence the doors suddenly opened wide. He avoided Cassius’ long stare as the new students came slogging in soaking wet from their heads to their toes. Hagrid was leading them and just as drenched. Hadrian wondered if the man ever washed the coat he was wearing. Between the heavy rain and the warmer hall, the soaked coat was starting to make the hall fill with the smell of wet stables. It was a smell to expect if you were around creatures, but in the castle during the welcome feast? It was unpleasant. He could only hope that the smell dissipated by the time the food was served.

Hadrian couldn’t help but notice and giggle at the little blonde haired boy, who looked no older than ten, swallowed in Hagrid’s cloak. He had big wide blue eyes and was so excited. It seemed he didn’t mind the smell coming from Hadrid’s coat surrounding him. Muggleborn for sure, but damn he was adorable. Hadrian could pinch his cheeks. “What a cute child,” he couldn’t help but say.

“Hey, is that Professor Lupin? I thought Dumbledore fired him, why is he still here?” Blaise pointed out suddenly and everyone turned to the head table to see that Lupin was indeed sitting at the table.

“I thought Moody was tapped for the job of Defense Professor?” said Hadrian.

“Who?” Draco asked.

“Alastor Moody, ex-Auror. My dad had to go and help sort out an issue at his house this morning, and the papers said that the Headmaster had been over the night before.”

“Is he any good?” Adrian asked from Blaise’s side.

“Sirius said he’s good, so I’m optimistic, but with him being so connected to the Headmaster I don’t rightly know.” Lupin saw them looking at him and he waved in their direction. Hadrian waved back as McGonagall lifted the stool and hat and began the usual speech to the incoming students.

“There’s an extra open seat,” Draco said.

If Moody was teaching then what was Lupin doing? He was confused now. He scanned the table to see the tiny Professor Flitwick, the Charms teacher and Ravenclaw’s Head of House, was sitting on a large pile of cushions beside Professor Sprout, Herbology teacher and Hadrian’s Head of House. As always she was wearing her hat askew over her flyaway gray hair. Next was Professor Sinistra, the Astronomy teacher.

Snape, the hateful traitorous bastard, was still the Head of Slytherin and taught Potions. Hadrian was observing him and noted that he looked more angry than ever. He was actively glaring at the Slytherin table; usually a pastime he reserved for the other Houses. He wasn’t making eye contact with anyone in particular. Hadrian then remembered his daughter was in the House and now a second year. He glanced down the table, searching for her. Finally he spotted the red hair and dark eyes. She wasn’t looking at him but talking to a girl beside her and facing his direction. Hadrian wondered if Snape was glaring at them or something else. It could also be Hadrian’s wild imagination trying to read something in Snape’s unusual behavior.

Professor McGonagall’s seat had been moved to where it would have been opposite of Snape. It was now next to the Headmaster. She was still overseeing all of the Headmaster’s actions as far as he knew. Hadrian still couldn't believe that the man still had his position after everything that had happened. If he’d been anyone else, Hadrian thought,, he’d probably be in Azkaban or excommunicated entirely from the magical world.

Professor Dumbledore, the benevolent Headmaster. His sweeping silver hair and beard shined in the candlelight. His deep green robes were embroidered with many gold stars and silver moons. He seemed to be distracted by the ceiling and looking up at it as if he were lost in thought.

Hadrian barely listened to the hat’s new song. A ring of applause followed the last of the hat’s words as Professor McGonagall spoke clearly and the clapping died. “Now when I call your names you will come up and place the sorting hat upon your head and be sorted into your new Houses.

“Ackerly, Stewart!”

Ravenclaw House’s first student was welcomed as the boy’s robes changed to the kind that Hadrian had worn in previous years.

A Baddock, Malcolm was next and he went straight to Slytherin. Hadrian applauded with the rest of them.

Branston, Eleanor became the first Hufflepuff. Hadrian forgot to clap at first, doing so when the girl was almost sitting and Macmillan seemed to notice it. The blonde Light Pureblood glared even more harshly at him. Bloke needed to get a life, Hadrian thought.

He was also well aware of the stares he was still getting from Cassius and Marcus, and it made him feel awkward. Blaise had gone quiet on his right. He was either truly sorry or he thought it was amusing. Hadrian hoped for the first, but could never tell sometimes.

He learned that the child that was so cute was Colin Creevey’s little brother, Dennis. The little blond boy went to Gryffindor and nearly tripped over his robes as he tried to get to Gryffindor’s table amidst loud swooning cheers. Probably the best place for him otherwise Slytherin or Ravenclaw would eat him for breakfast. He heard the boy shout to his brother that he’d fallen into the lake and the squid fished him out.

As the names continued to whittle down, first years ran here, there, and everywhere. Pritchard, Graham was called for Slytherin. Two more Ravenclaws and the final name was Whitby, who went to Hufflepuff, ending the sorting.

Professor Dumbledore said no more than, “Tuck in,” before the food was overflowing on the tables.

Hadrian had hoped to hear more about Professor Lupin before the piping hot food flowed across all the golden platters. He also wondered about the empty seat, was that professor not joining them for the meal?

“Finally, I am bloody starved,” Draco hissed.

Hadrian helped himself to some roast as chatter filled the hall. It was kind of amusing how everyone in the Great Hall looked elegant and sophisticated in their robes, nevermind the manners that some were showing. He noticed Blaise wasn’t eating and looked despondent. “What’s wrong?” Hadrian asked him.

“I fucked up again,” he said as Cassius and Marcus looked up at this. “I’m never going to get your trust back at this rate.”

His heart fluttered and he touched Blaise’s braids. He lightly tugged on one, causing amethyst eyes to glance at him. “You’re fine, Blaise. I’m not upset.”

“You’re annoyed.”

“A bit, but not horribly,” said Hadrian. “It is what it is. It’s not like I was keeping it a dirty secret.” Blaise winced at this. “You’re fine. I’m not upset.”

Blaise started to slowly bring the grilled chicken over. “You promise? You’re not just saying that?”

“Mhmm, I promise.”

Blaise’s shoulders lightened considerably. “I was just excited, thinking we could have fun this year before you are off the table.”

“What does that mean?”

Blaise looked ahead of him, but then snorted. “Nothing, precious.”

Hadrian frowned at him and then went to his food. He was tired of being told nothing. “And that, Blaise, is what annoys me the most. I am tired of the word ‘nothing’. It’s getting old and the more I hear it the more I have this urge never to open my mouth.”

“Are you fighting again?” Draco asked, nervously.

“No, of course not, Draco,” Hadrian soothed. He passed the boy the rolls that he liked so much.

Draco’s shoulders relaxed. “Good.”

“You two fighting is like having parents fight. It’s weird.” Terry shuddered.

“Did you just compare us to your parents?” Blaise asked, nose scrunching in confusion.

“It’s just you guys never fight and so - seeing it is really uncomfortable,” Graham confessed to them. He was beside Cassius across from them.

“He’s the woman.” Hadrian jabbed his thumb causing Blaise to squawk.

“I am so not!”

“You are the gossip, of course you’re the woman!” Hadrian laughed, causing everyone at the table to snicker. “I keep my mouth shut and you just open it.”

Blaise pouted. “But I don’t want to be a woman,” he whined. It seemed to be his only available argument.

“Well I’m not going to be. You can go back to the doghouse.” He harrumphed as Blaise gave a mock gasp.

“You’d do that to me?”

“Yep! Go on! Padfoot needs a buddy.”

“Ooh, does that mean I can fuck him?”

“No!” Hadrian squawked. “He’s my godfather!”

Blaise pouted at that. “But I can fuck the lovely Professor right?”

“Sure, but you’re sharing him.”

Cassius and Marcus really choked this time.

“You’re serious?” Cassius asked wide-eyed.

“Maybe,” said Hadrian. “I don’t back down when I set a challenge. So if Sirius doesn’t shape up. Yeah. I probably will.”

Marcus opened his mouth. “Really? He’s kinda skinny,” he considered, glancing up at the head table.

“Not as a wolf he wasn’t,” Blaise grinned.

Cassius and Marcus’ face flooded with a lot of color right then causing Adrian to snicker into his potatoes to try and hide his laughter. “I believe you would, but I don’t believe he would.” Cassius pointed at Hadrian.

“How would you know what I would or would not do?” Hadrian teased, causing Cassius to snap his mouth shut. “I will say that is more Blaise’s territory, but I’m always up for new challenges and I don’t give up when something gets hard.” He rolled the word hard across his tongue.

The boys choked again and Blaise cackled.

Draco nearly face planted into his plate if it hadn’t been for the years of lessons in etiquette. “You went from fighting to talking about fucking. You are all mad!” He groaned.

“We were joking, Draco,” Hadrian assured. “At everyone’s expense. I am not mad at Blaise, I love him to pieces even if he annoys me. I expect him to spill stuff, he is a gossip and forgets where he is sometimes when he’s excited. Just don’t say nothing again and everything is fine.”

Blaise beamed at him. “Promise! No more Nothings!” And then he shrugged. “Yeah, I suppose I would be the woman. I was raised by one and you are raised by a man. So if the shoe fits. I’m not in that much denial.” He laughed out loud.

“You make no bloody sense sometimes!” Draco huffed with a sulk.

“You are also high maintenance as hell,” Cassius decided to join in on the joke and Blaise snorted.

“You try taking care of all this!” he said, waving a hand slowly down his body and back up his head. “It’s a big job.”

“No thank you,” said Cassius.

Graham arched a brow. “So, are you going to spill the rest of the gossip or leave us questioning? Or leave a couple of people hanging on what Blaise said?”

Everyone’s eyes fluttered down to him. “I didn’t say anything!” Blaise held up his hands. “Not your conversation.”

“Oh no, you’ve let it spill now. We have to talk about it.”

“Not in the Great Hall we don’t,” said Blaise. “I fucked up and I accept that. I’m not doing it again. Nope! I’m going to eat. Pass me the carrots.” Graham passed him the honeyed carrots.

“What are you talking about?” Hadrian asked as he neatly cut his meat up.

“Wait, it wasn’t you?” Cassius turned right then.

Graham blinked. “Me what? I just heard, ‘on the table’ and wondered why you two were choking on air.”

“Yeah, what was that about?” asked Draco.

“Figure it out for yourself,” said Hadrian, and that was the last he said, causing Graham to blink.

“Terry?” Cassius then asked, the boy was beside Draco.

“What?” Terry asked, having been a bit too far away.

“It wasn’t you?”

“Me what?” Terry asked. “If you’re going to accuse me of something please tell me what it is.”

He’d have rather dropped it, but Hadrian knew that it was unfair to Terry and Graham both. “I did not fuck Terry. You can leave Terry alone and I did not fuck Graham,” said Hadrian fed up with the conversation happening at the table in the Great Hall. If he didn’t stop it now the guys would keep asking questions. “He’s not anyone here. Okay? Drop it!”

Blaise started laughing and hopping in his seat as his beads bounced at the sudden silence. “Haha, I love how direct you can be, precious. Really, look at their faces! I can’t pull that off if I tried…” he purred. Terry, Graham, Adrian, and Draco stopped eating at this.

“You can’t leave us hanging like that, precious!” Graham gasped. “Especially these two jokers!” He jabbed at Marcus and Cassius.

“I said drop it.”

“Who?” Draco asked.

“Nope! Not telling.” He turned to remind Blaise who held up his hand.

“I swear on my own gorgeous beautiful eyes that I will not say a word.” His face had to be aching from how big of a grin he was sporting. Hadrian knew he was taking the piss out of all the boys, and enjoying it.

“Good.”

“So, it’s not you?” Cassius seemed a bit passionate about it.

“Unfortunately no. I messed up with precious and must earn his trust back,” said Blaise honestly.

“What is it about the words ‘drop it’ that none of you seem to understand?” Hadrian huffed. “Someone pass me the buttered corn please? I want to give Dora a few pieces.”

“Dora’s asleep, sweetheart.” Cassius pointed out as Adrian passed the corn.

“And I was trying to change the subject, Cass.” Hadrian took the plate and served some to himself. He did take a few small pieces and slip them into his inner robe pocket for Dora. Sure enough she had been sleeping, but at his movement she woke enough to accept the corn before going back to sleep. “If you want, you can find him on your own and ask him.”

Marcus made a noise. “You wouldn’t be mad?” He broached carefully.

“Nope.”

“Then why won’t you tell us?” Cassius asked.

“I don’t want to.” It was as simple as that.

Plus, he kind of liked seeing all the boys getting wound up about it. Adrian seemed to catch on because he whispered to Blaise. “I can’t wait to see how this ends.”

“Not boring, that’s all I know.”

“If you want to refine your techniques, I’m always available, precious,” said Graham with a wink.

“Oi, I was first!” Terry piped in.

He let the boys talk, mostly about doing him. Cassius and Marcus kept their mouths shut. Blaise egged it on with some help from Adrian.

Draco muttered. “Just last year it was all so innocent…”

As dinner was finally wrapping up the Headmaster stood again. Slowly the chatter in the Hall faded to silence until all that could be heard was the wind and pounding rain outside. “So!” Dumbledore said with a smile. “Now that everyone is fed and watered, I must ask for your attention once more. There are a few important notices this year. Mr. Filch has asked me to tell you that the list of objects forbidden inside the castle has been extended to include: Screaming Yo-yos, Fanged Frisbees, and Ever-Bashing Boomerangs. As always, the full list of four hundred and thirty-seven items that are forbidden can be found and viewed in Mr. Filch’s office.”

As if anyone cares about that, Hadrian thought.

“That Squib is still employed here? When is he going to be replaced?” Graham asked. “Wasn’t that one of the things on the agenda for the Board of Governors to cover?”

“I don’t know. Maybe they just couldn’t find a replacement.” Terry shrugged.

“Who would want to slave away in a castle this size?” Hadrian asked under his breath. “House-elves don’t deserve that.”

Dumbledore continued on with announcements, “another reminder, for some of our more adventurous students, all of the forest on the grounds around the school is out-of-bounds to students. Visits to the nearby village, Hogsmeade, are a privilege for any student third year and up who have provided their Head of House with a permission form signed by a parent or guardian. After much discussion with the Board of Governors on the frequency of Hogsmeade visits, we have come to an agreement that the schedule will be worked so that visits are three times a month rather than once a month or every weekend unless something dictates or changes that schedule.”

“Guess last year was just a way to get a majority of students away from the dementors. Shame, getting away every weekend was nice.” Blaise mused.

“Better than once a month,” Hadrian offered. The freedom had been nice. He was also sure the shopkeepers had liked the extra flow of gold too.

“It is also my unfortunate duty to inform all of you that the Inter-House Quidditch Cup will not take place this year.” Dumbledore had to wave students into silence as sounds of outrage came from all corners of the Hall. Particularly from the Quidditch teams.

“What the fuck?” Marcus went ramrod straight in his seat so fast that Hadrian could hear the pop of his spine, his heavy brows slashed angrily above his eyes. Every Quidditch player at the table shifted to give their undivided attention. Individual Quidditch games being canceled was one thing, but the whole year?

“Is the man insane?” Cassius hissed.

“Yes.” Hadrian and a lot of others said, including those that just sat near them and heard him.

“This is due to an event that will be starting in October, continuing throughout the school year, and taking up much of the teachers’ time and energy. However, I’m sure that everyone will enjoy it immensely! I have the great pleasure of announcing that this year at Hogwarts we have the honor of hosting a very exciting event over the coming months. This event has not been held for over a century! All of you will be able to see this great tradition brought back to life. The Triwizard Tournament will be taking place at Hogwarts this year.”

“Did he just say-?” But Draco never got to finish.

Before Dumbledore could speak further about the tournament the Great Hall doors banged open in a deafening rumble. In the doorway stood a man leaning upon a long staff. Water dripped off of his black traveling cloak, leaving a growing puddle below him the longer he stood there. The stranger lowered his hood, shaking out a long mane of dark gray fuzzy hair, before making his way up the central aisle to the teachers’ table. A dull clunk echoed through the Hall on his every other step with the silence. He reached the end of the table and turned to go around it to the empty chair.

It was hard not to follow the other students and watch this man’s every move. Hadrian thought his photograph in the Daily Prophet had not shown exactly the depth of his face and character. The man’s face was heavily scared and looked to be carved from wood by someone who was piss poor at carving. There was even a large chunk of his nose missing. Hadrian was surprised to see that the man had two different eyes. One was small, dark, and beady. The other was large, round like a coin, and a vivid, electric blue that could be seen from where they sat across the hall. The larger eye couldn’t seem to keep still. It was moving ceaselessly, without blinking. Rolling up, down, from side to side, and even rolled to look at the back of the man’s head.

“Ah, just in time. Would students please welcome your new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, Alastor Moody.” Dumbledore smiled brightly in the silence of the Hall. His smile wilted ever so slightly at the silence and then he said. “Also, the Board of Governors have decided that last year would be the last History of Magic class for Professor Binns, who has now gone into permanent retirement-” Eruptions rippled at the sudden news of this. Hadrian was shocked. “Your new History of Magic Professor from here on out is the returning Professor Remus Lupin.”

Students burst into another round of loud applause and cheers that seemed to stun the Headmaster. Fred and George stood up to whistle at him. Hadrian grinned as he spotted the blush on Professor Lupin’s face as he bowed his head at the greeting. Even the Slytherins were clapping more heartily than they normally would have for anyone.

“Yes, yes, I am sure you are all excited to - have Professor Lupin back.” He seemed puzzled at the response as if he hadn’t had a petition shoved under his nose last year at all.

“Look at Snape,” Blaise nudged him.

He looked like he had shoved a small prickly cactus down his throat. Good thing looks could not kill unless you were a full grown cockatrice or a basilisk. It took some time to calm the students down from their cheerful explosions. “Now, I think it’s time-”

“What about the tournament?” Fred shot up to ask.

“Aren’t you going to say more about it?” George followed. “You need to give us a reason why we can’t bash bludgers at pretty faces anymore.”

“I think that was as dig at you, Cass,” Hadrian mock-whispered as Cassius scowled, making Marcus chuckle quietly with Blaise giggling against Hadrian’s hair.

“Not funny, sweetheart.”

“I thought it was.” Hadrian chirped sweetly making Cassius sigh at him.

“You are so screwed, Cassius,” Blaise hissed.

“Shut up, Zabini,” His voice twanged with what sounded like defeat. Hadrian couldn’t be sure.

“-What Professor Dumbledore has forgotten to tell you all when he announced the Triwizard Tournament,” Professor McGonagall started, standing from her seat as Dumbledore stepped back. Hadrian saw the unhappiness form across his face at the interruptions. “The tournament was first established around seven hundred years ago as a friendly competition between the three largest European schools of wizardry: Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang. A champion is selected to represent each school and all three competed in three magical tasks. The schools took turns in hosting the tournament once every five years, and it was generally agreed to be an excellent way of establishing ties between young witches and wizards of different nationalities. Until, that is, the death toll mounted so high that the tournament was discontinued.”

Hundreds of whispers began to glide across the hall. “If only History had been taught properly they would have known that,” Draco sniffed. Hadrian agreed. Maybe now with Professor Lupin that could change. Hadrian couldn’t help but wonder how the Board of Governors swung that. He was happy for it though. Professor Lupin deserved it.

“-There have been several unsuccessful attempts over the centuries to reinstate the tournament. Until now. The British Ministry of Magic’s Departments of International Magical Cooperation and Magical Games and Sports have decided it is time for another attempt.”

After the attacks at the Quidditch World Cup and failure of having protection wards around the campsite, Hadrian was surprised that the Ministry continued with this. Unless this was Bagman trying to save face by having something new and exciting for the press to focus on. He remembered his dad telling him that they would have too much to do to get into trouble this coming year. Hadrian could only hope so.

“The Board of Governors have, reluctantly, agreed and we have been working hard over the summer with the Ministry Departments to ensure that this time NO champion will find himself or herself in any mortal danger. The Heads of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, along with a few of their professors, will be arriving with their short-listed contenders in October. The selection of the three champions will take place on the last night of October.”

Hadrian appreciated McGonagall not calling the night Halloween. It would have been better if she called it Samhain, its proper title, but by saying ‘last night in October’ it would surely appease all sides. She really was better at being diplomatic than Dumbledore.

“An impartial judge will decide which students will compete from each school. The winner of the tournament will win glory for themselves and their school, as well as a thousand galleons in personal prize money. Before you all get too excited, the participating schools and the Ministry of Magic have agreed to impose an age restriction on contestants this year. Only students who are seventeen years or older will be allowed to put their names forward for consideration. I know this will be a disappointment to many, but it is a measure we all agreed was necessary given that the tournament tasks are difficult and dangerous, no matter what precautions we take. The Headmaster has agreed to take responsibility in ensuring that no underage student tries to hoodwink the impartial judge in making them the Hogwarts champion.”

Everything had sounded fine until she said that Dumbledore was in charge of keeping not-of-age students from applying to be champion. He wondered if Adrian, Cassius, or Marcus would throw their names into the ring for consideration. None of them needed the prize money, but it could be an interesting chance to test their skills against foreign educated magicals. Hadrian was just looking forward to the chance to speak to more foreigners about their countries’ magical creatures.

“Hey, do you think Krum is going to come with Durmstrang? Or will the Bulgarian Quidditch Team matches and practices keep him in Bulgaria?” Draco asked. “I wonder if he’d be willing to give me any tips as a fellow Seeker.”

“Don’t…” Hadrian shot a look at Blaise when the teen opened his mouth. Blaise gave a pout in response. “If he does come, you can ask him. I’m sure he’d be happy to talk to you about playing Seeker.”

“As delegations from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will be arriving in October and remaining with us for the greater part of this year some of their professors will be in our halls and able to take or give points and pass out detentions, just as Hogwarts Professors. Students in the delegations will be continuing their education with their professors and not with you in your classes. However, please note that Beauxbatons has requested space within the castle to sleep at night. Professor Sprout has graciously offered the spare Hufflepuff rooms for them while they are here. Durmstrang will be staying outside of the castle in their own rooms. I know that you will all extend every courtesy to our foreign guests while they are with us, and will give your whole-hearted support to the Hogwarts champion when he or she is selected.”

The hall seemed to be bursting at the seams to start chatting. You could feel the pressure building.

“I know you are all excited, but please do not take this choice lightly. If you are to enter your name you could be faced with trials that you are not equipped to handle. It is a test of all of you, not simply your wand. As such, I am keeping the rules from last year. You may use magic in the corridors, but please do not send each other to the Hospital Wing or I may rethink that bend in the rules. Use it wisely or it may one day be removed from you. Now, off to your common rooms. Prefects! You know your job.” She sat down at this and the Headmaster followed and turned to Alastor Moody to speak to him.

“Well that is an interesting change to Quidditch,” said Adrian, as the fifth year Prefects began to call out to the first years.

“Interesting is one word for it,” said Cassius. “Might be an interesting challenge.”

“You going to put your name in?” Blaise asked.

“I don’t know.”

“How do you feel about it, Marcus?” Hadrian asked.

“I don’t know,” Marcus copied Cassius. “Kinda sucks, but this is- I am surprised our fathers would okay this, especially after all that has happened,” he changed his words mid-sentence.

“I imagine it’s been in setup for a while,” said Graham, logically. “It wouldn’t be sprung on us like this if it hadn’t been.”

Cedric as usual slipped Hadrian a parchment with the barrel tune on their way out of the Great Hall. Blaise formed himself to Hadrian’s back as they walked, looking over his shoulder. Hadrian wasn’t concerned about Blaise knowing the tune so he opened the parchment. ‘Pumpkin Juice’ was the tune.

“I’m surprised our fathers didn’t tell us something this big.” Draco shook his head. “Unbelievable.”

“My dad said that they were asked to keep quiet about it,” said Hadrian. “But, I agree with you Draco. I am surprised they didn’t give us a heads up, rules or no rules,” he whispered the last bit. “Let’s just hope that Bagman isn’t heading this whole thing up.”

“I don’t want to see that man again and his terrifying disaster of fashion!” Blaise exclaimed.

It was funny to him how the first years, every time, always seemed stunned when they noticed that Hadrian was a Hufflepuff who was following them to the Slytherin rooms. Most never said anything, but he caught them staring at the badger on his back.

“I guess we have an answer to our change in robes and the dress robes,” said Terry as the new fifth year Prefect said the password and the serpent began to rise through the wall to reveal their entrance.

All the students filed up the spiral stairs, passing by the sparkling fountain. First years were looking left and right at the space. Even some second years seemed to have forgotten what the common room looked like completely based on the way they were staring.

Hadrian could hear Daphne talking to Lili Moon about how lovely Beauxbatons happened to be, and how her parents had considered it at one point. Seems Daphne had a cousin who had attended the school and she had gotten to visit once before Hogwarts. Parkinson and Bulstrode were whispering about the boys from both schools. Crabbe and Goyle hovered blankly around them like the brute guards they were.

Blaise let go of Hadrian and flopped down causing his braids to fly up. All had naturally migrated to their usual section with the fireplace. Snape came in and left as swift as he ever did. A few students murmured about why he didn’t notice a Hufflepuff among them. No one bothered to clue the first years in, they would learn soon enough.

“So, Marcus, I have a question. No Quidditch… does that mean the boys are on the table again? I’d really like to get to know Jordan better.” Who cared about the Triwizard Tournament when Blaise thought of more important things. Like fucking Gryffindors. “Hadrian thought I should ask since he’s a mascot for all houses and counted in your orders.”

Marcus facepalmed and Hadrian didn’t blame him.