average human’s Reviews > Lord of Time > Status Update

in Hadrian's projected path. It hit him right in the face, causing Harry to splutter and return to consciousness. In front of Hadrian and him was Tom, using debris from the completely obliterated bookstore and his own spells to hold off five wizards with Cygnus and Abraxas' aid. There were two others aiding them from down the road, saving as many people as they could. Drawing three of the wizards clearly on Grindelwald's side, attention to prevent massacre.

Dolohov was helping the girls to their feet, spell after spell emerging from his wand almost manically, as he strove to keep everyone safe. Perhaps for the first time Dolohov wasn't afraid for himself...but the others, and that was helping him find his courage. either that or shock had a part to do with it, Harry thought, he was covered in debris and blood, he wasn't sure how much of it was Dolohov's but he couldn't keep watching for long, he needed to get up. He needed to fight.

"What the fuck!" Hadrian he cursed, sitting up, wincing in agony, there was something poking into his back. Using his left arm, he felt around his back. Damn it, oh this was going to be painful, closing his eyes, gritting his teeth, he yanked out whatever was imbedded in his back. One glance at it, he realized it must have been debris he fell on when they exploded the place, it was a broken piece of wood, that was now bloody.

"You alright?" Tom asked, the only one feeling what Hadrian was right now, and it wasn't a small amount of pain either.

"I'll be fine," Hadrian grunted, "Help me up!" grasping a hold of Aiden's arm and propelling himself onto his feet. "Fucking bookstore owner, I'm definitely firing my publishers!" it was the only person who could have done it. Nobody else knew he'd be coming and as good as Grindelwald was…he wasn't bloody omnipotent. "How's everyone? And who's helping?" wand out, hearing one conjuring up fire, he hollered "Bombarda Aguamenti maxima!" and like a fireman's hose the water propelled out, sweeping the five wizards off their feet and down the street. "Lets get this over with."

Dolohov and the girls wanted to laugh at the sight of them being swept of their feet by the water but this definitely wasn't the time or the place.

"I don't see Grindelwald here," Orion said, completely covered in soot from head to toe, but otherwise unharmed from the blasting curse. Others hadn't been so lucky, there were dead bodies strewn all over the store, it made his stomach queasy, or perhaps it was the suddenness of the attack maybe? Relaxing a little in relief now that the wizards were down, temporarily as it may be.

"Oh, he's here alright," Hadrian cast a sonorous on his voice, "Come out then Grindelwald, I know you are here, you are always there watching your people attack, stop being a coward and face me like a man."

"Bloody hell," Walburga grumbled, "Stop goading the psychopath!" sounding very much like her old portrait, so much so that a choked laugh came out of Hadrian.

"Walburga!" Dolohov choked out in reprimand, while even he had to stop himself laughing.

"Is that…it is….bloody hell…it's the Scamander brothers," Alphard blurted out, his neck clicking as he swiftly moved to check the other side when he heard spells being cast in the direction of the other five of Grindelwald's enforcers.

"Ah, shit there's more," Orion warned them, noticing another three wizards Apparating into the area. "Why the hell is the Auror here?" Scamander was an Auror.

"Well, one of them is mine," Hadrian said with feral intensity, eyes on the middle figure. Feeling the Elder wand calling to him properly for the first time.

"You must be the elusive Hadrian Peverell," came the soft voice of Grindelwald.

"Hardly elusive," Hadrian replied wryly, "You have something that belongs to me," gesturing to the wand without a hint of subtly, "How about we do this the wizarding way? Gellert Grindelwald I challenge you to a duel, with Tom Peverell-Slytherin as my second,"

"I do owe you for your disrespect," Grindelwald replied, coming closer eyes flashing in genuine anger. "By the time I'm finished you will be begging for death before I grant it to you." This was the pathetic wizard who had managed to take down Albus?

"I think that's the other way around, you don't get to go around using my coat of arms and make it hated all over the world." Hadrian retorted without a hint of anger or even hurt in his voice. He knew better than to let emotion get the best of him, it caused mistakes and he couldn't make any. What was it with bad guys having to talk about themselves and what they wanted to do? "Can we just skip the talk where you tell me I'm going to die. How I'm going to die and how much I'm going to beg for it? I've already heard it before, it gets boring real fast."
Tom coughed, trying desperately to stop himself laughing at the look on Gellert's face, the indignation was hilarious. Hadrian was very good at riling up everyone around him. Hell, even he'd gotten riled up, in the past and Harry's past (as Voldemort), hoping to keep Gellert's attention fixed upon them, they had a chance of killing him the others did not.

Hadrian gave Tom a wry look, a wicked smirk upon his face. 'This is why I was always able to defeat you' Dark Lord's and their need to hear themselves talking. 'It's a little wonder the duel between Grindelwald and Dumbledore lasted so long…' no doubt there was a lot of talking between them too. "Os confractus," Hadrian immediately cast a spell, refusing to let Grindelwald surprise him.

"Avada Kedavra!"

"Really straight to the killing curse? How unoriginal, are you sure you're from Durmstrang?" Hadrian snapped out, whipping a large chunk of stone towards the killing curse, so it didn't hit anyone more importantly himself. "ulcere sanguis!" immediately returning fire. Sensing Tom casting his own spells, he refused to take his eyes of Grindelwald, Tom was brilliant, he could hold his own he knew that.

Grindelwald growled, and began to shoot spells in Ernest from his wand, using his left hand to make it doubly hard for Hadrian. Not many could use a wand and cast Wandless magic at the same time. Unfortunately, for Grindelwald, he realized belated that Hadrian could do so as well.

"Necare!"

"Bombarda!" using his left hand to use debris to block the spell, which was actually darker than the killing curse, even though it did the same thing. Although this one was darker than most, it caused excruciating pain before death was finally granted. He'd heard of the spell, but had never seen anyone use it before. Even Voldemort had preferred 'Avada Kedavra' over that sort of spell, it showed he had mercy in his body.

"Interficio!"

"Scutum!" Harry shielded himself from the spell, while conjuring arrows from his hands and flinging them with all his might towards Grindelwald, two out of the dozen hit the dark wizard, one in the leg, the other was his left shoulder. It would make casting spells with both his hands extremely difficult. Good.

"Optrunco!"

"Parma!" swiftly using the counter curse to get that particular spell of his back, evidently he was through holding back, they were getting more and more vicious. Hadrian wasn't sure how much longer he could go without using some of his…darker arsenal he had in mind. He couldn't risk doing anything too dark, the duel was going to be replayed probably all over the world by everyone.

"Neco!"

"Combibo! Redire!" the idea coming to him swiftly, a way to keep Grindelwald on his toes absorb the spells then spit them back at him.

Grindelwald was surprised enough that he had to jerk away from the spell, allowing Hadrian a few precious moments to cast another spell, "Dirumpo!" technically a 'light' spell despite the fact it would literally burst someone asunder. Having to stick to light or neutral or boarding dark spells was really irking him.

The connection with the Elder wand was strengthening, "Having trouble using that wand?" Hadrian taunted, green eyes gleaming in amusement, telling a tale of a secret only he knew. "Dejugo!" trying to sever the connection Grindelwald had to his magical core.
Grindelwald alarmed by the spell, summoned his closest follower, and used his body as a shield from the spell, "Crucio!"

The spell hit it's mark.

---------0

The Minister for magic, Spencer-Moon stared down at the contract, breathing out raggedly. An hour it had taken him to make sure the contract was airtight, getting three different peoples opinions as well just to make sure. He’d written to Hadrian Peverell-Slytherin, who was probably at Hogwarts no doubt enjoying the Christmas holidays. He’d set up a meeting with the young Lord, intending on keeping his promise. He would inform Hadrian himself, apologise for any pain it brought him, and pray he wasn’t out of a job within the next few weeks. As Minister for Magic he wasn’t above the law, what he was doing letting Dumbledore free, was acting as though he was above the law letting criminals go free.

He worried that he was setting up precedent to be used in the future by other Ministers. That thought was actually terrifying.

Stiffening his shoulders, he stood up and swiftly excited his office, not taking the time to see anything in front of him. As soon as he was on the move, five Aurors began to shadow him, they knew where he was going and his schedule. Not that this had been his original schedule this morning.

Shivering slightly, unable to believe he was returning to Azkaban, let alone so soon. Hopefully it wouldn’t take too long to have Dumbledore situated, he didn’t want to remain on the island too long. He was depressed enough as it was, without the Dementors adding to it to be frank. He didn’t use a Portkey, it would take too long to set up, so he apparated to the other end of the island.

The Aurors soon followed.

Before long, six people got into a tiny boat, and with a flick of their wand, the boat glided along the water. Even if the water was clashing and waving, the boat didn’t so much as budge and the water didn’t touch them. It was a deeply uncomfortable ten minutes ride, they were grateful when it docked…for all of a few moments.

They failed to see or hear the Ministry clerk waving – fanatically at that - and calling them from the banks at the other side with urgency.

“I’m here to see Albus Dumbledore, prisoner XO123,” Spencer-Moon revealed sternly, and he didn’t need permission, he was the Minister for magic, he could come and go as he pleased.

“Follow me, the prisoners are currently eating, they’ll be finished in five minutes,” the guard explained, as he glided like the dementors through the eerily prison. They didn’t encounter a single Dementor on their way, but that was hardly surprising, the Dementors always left during prisoner feeding times.

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Hadrian was propelled back by the intensity of the spell, surprised by the fact it wasn’t as strong as Tom’s. He guess he had his answer, Tom was actually more powerful than Grindelwald. He guessed that’s where Tom had gotten his ‘darkest wizard since Grindelwald’ from. He was seconds away from crumbling, the pain getting a bit too much to bear when it ceased, as Grindelwald was swept off his feet by a dozen or so broomsticks whizzing by.

‘Tom…we need to end him now, I’m going to focus on the Elder wand it will only give you two minutes to cast a spell, you understand? It needs to hit him and it needs to be something that takes him out. Do not use a dark curse, if you can do it, let me know’ Hadrian murmured through their bond, as his knees buckled as the pain became too much. The blood loss was getting to be too much he could feel how wet the wound on his back was. He could feel darkness creeping up on him, but he fought it dangerously dizzy.

‘Do it’ Tom declared strongly, placing the Imperius curse upon his opponent and “Stupefy!” and he was out for the count, loathing that he was using light spells such a high paced duel, only stopping himself from being killed by Grindelwald’s fanatics. They’d agreed to it, prepared to go through with it, but it was harder than he could have ever imagined.

He didn’t wait to make sure his opponent was down, he turned swiftly in Hadrian’s direction. Concerned and eager to get this over with once and for all. He knew just the spell, and thanks to Hadrian he knew exactly where best to put it.

Grindelwald was going down, now.

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One such witness shuddered in horror at what they were witnessing, they’d never see that particular spell – the Cruciatus Curse – performed before. He’d imagined it much worse, but the immense pain on the face of the foreign wizard was a bit too much for him to stomach. He’d been watching from the beginning, trapped under debris, and he definitely wasn’t brave enough to move or try to. He was seeing a duel between a young teenager – who he was positive was Hadrian Peverell he’d been coming to have his book signed - and the evil Dark Lord Grindelwald and the boy had done so well in holding his own until now. If only he could reach for his wand, give the boy aid, he didn’t want to see someone die in front of him. Even twitching caused immense pain to flare through his body, reminding him that he was useless.

Groaning lowly in his throat, tears blurring his eyes as he fought to remain conscious, ceasing his struggle to try and reach for his wand. His entire right side was pinned down, and his left arm was trapped under his body, there wasn’t a part of him that wasn’t flaring in agony.

He could see from the corner of his eyes, that other fights were currently going on as well. They were just young boys, barely looked adults – in fact he’d be surprised if they were – righting wizards with decades more experience. He had no idea how long it had been going on for, it felt like hours, why was nobody coming? Then he realized…there will be wards up, it wasn’t the first time and probably wouldn’t be the last.

Another groan passed his lips, as his eyes fluttered closed, but he wasn’t too far gone that he didn’t fail to hear the utterance of that dreaded spell.

After that he knew no more.

----------0

“Crucio!”

All Hadrian could think when the spell was cast was ‘why the hell do Dark wizards prefer this spell’ quite honestly it was entirely too predictable and boring. Not the spell, the spell itself was bloody debilitating. Thankfully due to him being the ‘Master’ of the wand, Hadrian reckoned it wasn’t working to its full capacity. ‘NOW,’ Hadrian closed his eyes, focusing on the Master of Death powers, calling the Elder wand to him. It was his, after all, his to command, and his focus was so narrowminded that he literally summoned the wand to him, ripping it right out of Grindelwald’s hand.

“Diffindo!” Tom slashed, his aim true, the light green spell hit the wizard in the thigh.

In the femora artery more accurately.

Grindelwald crumbled, as the blood began to pour from the open wound. Trying to use wandless magic to cauterise the wound, but his magic wasn’t reacting. Grasping at the wound, trying to stem the flow of blood, as dizziness began to overwhelm him. Panic clawing at him, he hadn’t foreseen his death at the hands of a school kid, he refused to let this be how he died.

Tom made his way towards Hadrian, sensing his looming unconsciousness and struggle to keep doing whatever it is that he was doing. Turning him on his side, wincing at the state of him. The wound was no small thing, it was still steadily oozing blood, debris still coated the wound too. He cursed the fact he hadn’t taken healer classes, otherwise he would be able to help him. He needed to get him to the closest hospital immediately. He didn’t want to take him to a French one though, neither of them spoke much French and he refused to argue with someone who couldn’t understand a word that came out of his mouth. How long would the potion he’d taken before the attack keep him going? Was it the only thing keeping him alive?

“How is he?” Avery asked, panting outrageously.

“You need to take him to hospital,” Newt said, not staring at either wizard, but rather off to the side. “Now.” Feeling his brother demolishing the anti-Apparation and Portkey wards surrounding the small French wizarding town.

“Go, I’ll help everyone else, I’ll use the portkey, get them back to Britain,” Avery urged Tom, worry and fear his most pressing emotion.

Tom nodded his agreement, fishing out the portkey he handed it over, barely glancing at the devastation that had been done to the wizarding street. He honestly didn’t really care, even if he would need to put a mask on and pretend he did. Without another word, cradling Hadrian to him he apparated them away.

At the same moment Aurors apparated onto the scene, wands out tense and alert already wards flared up, as yet more spells went up preventing Apparation and Portkey usage.

“Facile, je m'appelle Theseus Scamander, un Auror britannique. Voici le sorcier noir Gellert Grindelwald. Il a besoin d'une attention et d'une détention immédiates.” Theseus Scamander informed the head Auror, showing his credentials, proving he was who he said he was.

One of the Aurors knelt down before the dark wizard, shaking in fear, he was definitely new. Two fingers pressed against his neck, the shaking stopped, as he blurted out, “He’s dead!”

“Que s'est-il passé ici?” demanded the head Auror, “reste où tu es!”

“Stay where you are,” Scamander urged the teenagers, “Ils sont citoyens britanniques, mineurs, ils auront besoin de leurs parents ou de leurs représentants. Ils ne parlent pas français."

Actually the Black’s did, but they weren’t about to admit that, their French wasn’t the best. They hadn’t learnt any French since they were eleven and started Hogwarts. They weren’t worried about the ramifications of their outing, for they knew their parents would get them back to the UK before they knew it. although, they’d be lucky if they were allowed to go on holiday again before they were forty.

“Dites-leur qu'ils vont au ministère de la Magie, nous allons contacter leurs parents là-bas, un traducteur attendra."

“You’re going to the Ministry of magic, they’ll have your parents alerted and have a translator on hand,” Scamander explained, “Newt will get in touch with the Ministry at home, I’ll stay here with you.” As a senior Auror it was his right and duty to protect British citizens.

Dolohov surprisingly was able to keep up with the conversation, he knew French best out of them all, he had relatives who spoke nothing but French and during Christmas and holidays and parties he wanted to be able to converse with them. Still, he worried, his parents were going to be furious, and his mother...she wasn't well enough to handle this. He hadn't thought this through.

Newt didn’t waste time, he immediately bolted away, only Apparating when he could further down the road, leaving his brother to explain in rapid French as to why he was retreating. Everyone else spread out, as orders were barked out as they searched for survivors, and praying over the dead as they respectfully lay them out in a large row in mourning. Except for Grindelwald and his men, who were discarded in a pile very disrespectfully.

---------0

Ignatius Tuft cursed as the Minister turned his back, the five guards too. Irritation swamped him, casting a spell, waiting impatiently for the boat to return to the other side – to his side – he had to get to Minister Spencer-Moon before they signed the contract. The higher ups were terrified there was something in the contract that would allow Dumbledore to go free despite the fact Grindelwald was in fact now dead. Which he couldn’t believe, and if the rumours were true…it made it even less believable.

Rocking on the balls of his feet, excitement warring with disbelief, as he tried to put his pureblood decorum – which he had been taught since he was a young boy – back into place. Unfortunately, he just couldn’t, it was how he imagined an anxiety attack to be. Breathing evenly, centring himself, if he blabbered at the Minister he might not get far in the Ministry. They didn’t want some young experienced blabber mouth going up the ladder. His mother had gotten him this job, and he wouldn’t let her down.

He might only be eighteen, but he had grown up in a very ambitious household. Both his parents had been determined to better themselves and their status. Finally, finally the boat docked, he jumped in immediately, and cast the spell, grateful he had learned it before today. He didn’t bother sitting down, instead of knelt down, as it zoomed over to the island.

Unlike everyone else, Ignatius didn’t fear the Dementors, in fact, he was fascinated by them. Always had been ever since he read about them and their duties and abilities. They barely affected him, as he stepped foot off the boat.

“I need to see the Minister, immediately,” Ignatius informed the guard imperiously.

“He’s busy,” the guard grunted, barely glancing at the wizard before him.

“It’s imperative that I speak to him, on orders of the entire Wizengamot,” Ignatius stated indignantly.

“Then wait,” the guard replied, still not gracing the wizard with a single look.

“Look I have to tell him Grindelwald is dead! It can’t wait!” now that got a reaction, the guard’s head jerked up, staring at Ignatius in disbelief, as he tried to tell if he was joking or not. “We mustn’t let him sign that paperwork! A prisoner could go free! For no reason!”

“Follow me,” the guard didn’t wait for a reply, he merely turned around and began to run into the prison, through doors and up steps. Both were wheezing and breathing heavily by the time they’d ran up five levels, which thankfully was the last one Ignatius realized, as the guard exited through the door not up another level. “Thank Merlin for that!” he wheezed, his lungs felt as though they were being squeezed for an Apparation on their own.

“Two doors down,” the guard pointed in the direction, leaning against the wall, hands on his knees as he tried to regain his equilibrium.

Ignatius didn’t wait, he jogged the hallway, ignoring the feeling of helplessness the Dementors produced. They were only doing what they had been bred to do after all. He didn’t care how rude it was, he banged open the door, it swung on its hinges and smacked against the wall with a resounding bang causing the Aurors to point their wands at him and both the Minister and Dumbledore to swing around in alarm.

Ignatius walked over, leaning down he whispered, “Grindelwald is dead.” so only the Minister could hear.

“What?” Spencer-Moon shouted, his voice strangled as he stood, eyes wide with disbelief, this had to be a joke surely?

Dumbledore sat up straighter, watching both of them with wary caution, wishing he could hear what was being whispered to the Minister. What was going on? and why was the Minister allowing such interruptions? Better yet, would it have any affect on his deal?

“You’re needed at the Ministry,” he continued, “Minister Renard is waiting for a conference call from you.”

Renard…French Minister…Grindelwald rumoured to be in France…conference call.

“Merlin,” The Minister whispered, stunned to the core, he honestly could have been knocked over with a feather. “You’re serious…this is really happening?”

“Sir?” one of his guards asked cautiously.

“Let’s go,” the Minister retorted, grasping he contract and ripping it up, and setting it on fire. “You will no longer be needed.”

The look on Dumbledore’s face was…extremely exhilarating to say the least.

He looked a cross between stunned and indignant. Failing to realize exactly what had happened.

“What is going on?” Dumbledore asked, moving to stand only to pause when five wands were pointed at him, each of them looking as though they were begging Dumbledore to make a move so they could curse him.

“Grindelwald is dead.”

Dumbledore’s jaw dropped, before he slumped back onto the chair, staring at the Minister in blatant disbelief.



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Well, I'm disappointed in this chapter I'm not sure about all of you, I like my battles a little more...just more really, and this wasn't it. There's only so many spells that can be shot, ways for the duel to go before someone has to win! the movies don't half make it look so much better :) but writing can fall short! So my apologies! I'm sorry I know you were looking forward to this chapter! I think I might re-write it, see if I can't make it better in some way! So, what did you think? Read and Review please!

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“Lord Tom Peverell-Slytherin,” corrected Sally primly, all for the correct usage of titles.

“Yes, Lord Tom Peverell-Slytherin, our apologies,” the Auror was primarily staring at Hadrian, “I hope you are recovering well, Sir,”

“Call me Hadrian,” Hadrian said wryly, eyes gleaming wickedly, “Our names are a mouthful I know,” his lack of defensiveness and general good natured tone had both Auror’s relaxing and smiling a little. They weren’t used to people being so open with them. They were law enforcement, they were usually avoided or regarded with suspicion. Slumping back onto his bed wincing in pain.

“Can Hadrian have another potion yet? He’s in pain.” Tom asked Sally, without looking away from his husband.

One glance at his chart, Sally nodded, “Excuse me I’ll be back in a few minutes,” she couldn’t just summon the potions, everyone had to go down to the dispenser to get them. It was too dangerous just to allow anyone to summon potions, so there were spells to prevent it.

“Thanks,” Hadrian murmured, sighing resignedly, as he tried to get comfortable. “Well, I’m afraid I can’t leave the room for you to ask Tom those questions.” he said teasingly, it would always be a good idea to have the Aurors on your side, avoid suspicion and make it difficult for them to think of them doing anything illegal.

“These are Aurors Antaya and Chausse,” Tom informed Hadrian, watching surprise bloom on their features at the fact he remembered their names after just a single meeting. “They’ve been asking questions about what happened…yesterday now.”

“What time is it?” Hadrian asked, blinking in surprise at hearing that it was now officially the next day.

“It’s currently two forty-five am, Sir, we apologise for the lateness,” Chausse said, genuinely apologetic.

“You look exhausted, sit down and ask your questions, then go get some sleep, your bosses will surely understand,” Hadrian said, observing them. “Plus, you can ask me questions and get that out of the way which means you can get some more rest.”

Tom’s lips twitched at Hadrian bossing the Aurors around, but the truth was, they had deep dark bags under their eyes. It was probably at least twenty-four hours, maybe longer since they’d slept.

“Our colleagues are returning to take over tomorrow morning, we will be fine,” Antaya said, surprised that she was choosing to be so forthcoming. It was either the tiredness or the fact she genuinely liked Hadrian Peverell-Slytherin and she didn’t take to strangers easily at all.

The pair took the seat on the opposite side of Tom, books out ready to record everything.

It would be the last thing they did tonight before they went to the Leaky Cauldron to stay the night. It was the only half decent place, which was putting it lightly really. They’d actually ended up cleaning it themselves and making sure the bedding and everything was done too. They were far from germaphobes but there was only so much they could take without being offended. It was insulting that they were taking anything for the rooms in reality given their condition.

Sally returned with the potions while the Aurors asked Tom to clarify a few points before getting to Hadrian’s tale.

It took everything in Hadrian to keep a straight face when Tom suggested buying a few onions and chopping them in front of him in order to make him realize he was being a little too cavalier towards Grindelwald and his men.

He surprised the Aurors with a few very good suggestions that they vowed to take up to their superior ASAP.

--------0

Two days later

The silent wizard, staring straight ahead was jolted as Aurors grabbed him, holding onto either side of his arms. Shock and defeat his most prominent emotions. Things had been going so well, the Dark Lord had been so close to taking over the world, then in a single hour…was it even that? Everything had just crumbled to dust. He’d watched Gellert for years, watched him taking on the groups of Aurors, civilians and everyone who dared stand against him. The echoes of voices surrounded him on all edges, he wasn’t sure whether they were talking to him or not, even though he’d heard his name mentioned.

He'd apparated with him thinking it was just another day, getting rid of another threat. Although, why Gellert had been so angry he didn’t truly comprehend. It was just a school boy, he wasn’t a threat to anyone let alone Gellert so why had he gone after him? Because of one stupid little bloody article? Hell of a thing to die for just when they were so close to their goals. Someone was talking to him again but he barely heard a word, he was too deep in his own thoughts.

“Gustav Huber do you understand what we have just said?” the Auror said, his French accent grating on Gustav’s nerves. He was officially being arrested and kept in prison until his trial and then once it was done he’d be transferred right back. There was no doubt that he was guilty, they had more evidence than they’d ever need to use in a trial.

“He’s not going to answer, let’s just go!” another Auror grumbled, annoyance thrumming through him. He’d had to stand through their silence over a dozen times. The Aurors were working in full force to bring in all of Gellert’s followers, at least the ones they knew were guilty. They were working simultaneously with every force in order to bring them all in.

“Do you understand?” the Auror – Auror Bernard – stated a bit louder before repeating himself in German which yielded no results, he was being deliberately obtuse. He had returned to France while two of his fellow Aurors had remained in Britain to tie up loose ends within the Ministry of magic. They had only returned home to speak to their boss and grab a change of clothes before leaving again. They’d be going back and forth for a while still, until the cases were all wrapped up, which could take years, but the worst was over with. The war itself was over with.

When they apparated him to his ‘prison’ it got a genuine and very real reaction from the dark wizard. As Grindelwald’s ‘second in command’ so to speak, he had remained impassive no matter what they said or did. It was almost as if he was just waiting to be rescued.

Fear and indignation splashed across his face, when it penetrated exactly where he was. Even in the dark the place was lit up like a beacon, plus the words spread across the place kind of gave it away.

‘For the greater good’

Struggling futilely, his wand was already taken from him, and his non-verbal magic dimmed with the cuffs upon his person. “NO!” he snarled sounding like a rabid dog unable to believe they would bring him here. “Don’t you dare!” he knew how impenetrable the prison was, he’d helped design it. If he ended up in there, he would be stuck forever, unable to escape. Pale and clammy, Gustav was frog marched towards the prison without pause or sympathy. Others of Grindelwald’s arrested supporters were inside.

It had taken five ward breakers to tear down those wards – not easily found – but they’d succeeded. It had taken nearly a day of constant work before they’d managed to tear them down. Then the Auror enforcement head of office had used dozens of wizards to put up the best wards they were capable of. Actually using some of the wards that they had torn down, finding them ingenious really. This idea was all thanks to one quite ingenious underage (only a technicality) yet emancipated wizard. They’d been worried about space for a time, but with this idea, well, there was no worries anymore.

Gustav had been brought to Nurmengard.

“How dare you touch this place with your filthy hands and magic!” Gustav hissed ferally, jerking angrily in their hold, screaming in anger when it produced absolutely no results. He could feel the Dark Lord’s magic was no longer present, instead filthy light magic had replaced it. It made his skin crawl being so close to such an accumulation of light magic.

He didn’t stop screaming and cursing until dawn peeked over the horizon, and by then his throat was inflamed preventing any more screaming on his part.

It was a new day, making it three days since he’d lost his freedom, three whole days.

---------0

Newton Scamander walked slowly with the guard beside him, almost walking sideways, refusing to meet anyone’s eyes as he trudged through Azkaban prison. His leg had been injured in the ensuing battle, Queenie and Tina had taken Jacob away to safety, but weren’t able to get back in to fight themselves, as the wards had been put up. The entire thing had been over by the time they managed to find a way to get to them on foot.

It took longer with his leg bandaged up, but he managed to keep up with the guard and get to the visiting centre.

Where Albus Dumbledore sat, shoulders hunched and hands bound so he couldn’t hurt anyone or himself.

“Newt!” Albus said, giving him a small smile, blue eyes missing their usual twinkle but nonetheless there was genuine happiness to see his former student.

“Sir,” Newt said, giving a nod as he slowly made his way over.

“Are you alright?” Albus asked, noticing the awkward gait and obvious bandages.

------0



Anyone else see Jude Law when reading these scenes? Well, surprisingly I do! :O LOL considering I've not even seen the second movie properly YET! not fully anyway, I've seen bits and pieces but never sat down to watch it, I've just not had the time really! And when I watch it I want to watch it fully :D I know everything that happens for most part annnddd I won't say any more in case someone hasn't seen it yet 😉 no worries on the spoiler front I like Jude Law but can't stand Dumbledore such a dilemma just like when Richard Harris played the part :D to perfection might I add 😊 never took to Gambon so it was easier to hate the character! And on to other points I think I've gotten everyone's reactions possible and everyone's suggestion so the next chapter I think I'll have Christmas day and Hadrian/Tom and Fenrir family time! What do you think? Would you like to see how Fenrir is with his guardians? or perhaps you'd like to see Newt/Dumbledore's conversation too? Read and Review please!

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“Keep an eye on her…what?” Aiden spluttered, she wasn’t even married yet and he was sounding like he knew something. Which gave him pause, narrowing his eyes shrewdly, he did know a lot of information. Was he some sort of clairvoyant? “Have you seen something that might make you think Crouch will hurt her?” protectiveness roused.

“Just do as I suggest, Aiden,” Hadrian informed him. Giving him a grim nod, not saying anything further. Especially not in public setting, not that he had any plans to divulge everything anyway. No, his past and his appearance here would always remain between him and Tom.

Avery sat after Tom, Hadrian and Fenrir did, slightly perplexed by what he had just been told. Hadrian was never against speaking up when he wanted to, so whatever he knew…well, he didn’t even know what he was thinking. He mustn’t want to state where or when he got this information. He did know however, that he would be keeping an eye on the wizard. She probably wasn’t in any type of imminent danger, otherwise Hadrian would definitely have said. He wasn’t the type of person to leave someone in danger.

“Ah, Mr and Mr Peverell-Slytherin! Men of the hour! Glad you could finally make it!” Spencer-Moon beamed at them, “I just wish to thank you both for what you did for us…”

“Thank you, Minister, it was nothing really,” Tom said bashfully, playing his part beautifully, if he didn’t say so himself. Shaking the proffered hand with a charming grin.

Unfortunately, when Spencer-Moon went to shake Hadrian’s hand, he received only a blank look from the wizard, “You would have let Dumbledore get away with what he did to me…” just managing to sound successfully hurt instead of wrathful, which he very much felt. Stupid bloody Minister’s thinking they could do whatever they liked without consequences.

The Minister openly cringed at the reminder, how foolish of him was it to think for a moment nobody would find out due to the fact it had never been enacted. It came close, too close for comfort, but the contact had not been signed. Dumbledore was not free, and would remain in Azkaban for a further two years. “Yes, yes I would have done.” He sighed resignedly, “I had a choice to make, a very difficult choice, and not everyone was happy about it, but being a Minister isn’t about making easy choices…difficult ones…take more courage, but I will take the blame and shoulder it.” pausing a few times to find the correct words to use, but nonetheless remaining honest. He never wanted to be one of those ministers who lied constantly, not about the reason for running for Minister or even about choices he made during his term.

Hadrian was impressed despite himself, ‘He actually means that’ Tom’s voice commented in his mind, which meant Tom had been able to glean something from the Minister’s thoughts. Someone in high power actually knowing nothing about the mind arts? He wasn’t sure how he felt about that, it was dangerous, but unfortunately, Occlumency and Legillimency was a difficult and ancient craft that only the noble’s seem to know and practice. Well, except from the few who learned through necessity and caution (Severus) and Dumbledore, he didn’t come from noble stock, but his need to protect his secrets probably heralded his learning. ‘Don’t hold a grudge against him, it will look extremely childish,’ Tom added mentally, meanwhile looking around the room which was an impressive sight. It made the Great Hall during the Yule Ball pale into insignificance truly.

Dozens upon dozens of round tables with crisp white sheets over them. Roses and thorns bundled together in a small vase at the centre of the table with beautiful wrought crystal glasses and of course, a gold coloured placemat, charmed to bring the food up when it was time. There were dozens of waiters serving an abundance of drinks.

They were unfortunately, avoiding their table, which didn’t impress Tom at all. He waved his hand in an imperious ‘come here’ gesture, when one actually passed near enough. “Whiskey please,” Tom declared.

The waiter looked around nervously, “I’m afraid Sir, you need to be of legal drinking age to…” assuming the wizard was underage, just like everyone else at the table.

“Hadrian and I are seventeen-years-old,” Tom informed him, which was true enough, Hadrian turned Seventeen in September and he did on New Year, just yesterday, today was the first of January, the holidays had flown in. Hadrian had spent a great deal of that time recovering and recuperating, as had he, between Hadrian being injured and the magical exhaustion they’d both suffered from.

After hearing that the waiter begun falling over himself to serve them their asked for alcohol. Pouring more than a generous amount into a tumbler which he gave to Tom with a flourish.

Before the waiter could give Hadrian anything, “No, I’ll have two butterbeers and a shot of firewhisky please,” he’d need something to get through the night.

The Minister was still standing there, waiting for any sort of answer or acknowledgement. It wasn’t the first time the need for drink had side-lined a conversation, and it wouldn’t be the last.

“Very well, I forgive you, but know that I will never forget,” Hadrian explained seriously, “You made a difficult choice I understand that, but it was me whom Dumbledore…” Hadrian dramatically shuddered, without finishing, not quite sure how to phrase it anyway.

A burst of amusement shot through Tom as he ‘soothed’ Hadrian, by rubbing his back giving him the comfort he so clearly needed. Amusement was clearly being supressed by everyone around the table. The thought of Hadrian being afraid of Dumbledore of all people was comical. No, Hadrian wasn’t afraid of him, if anything Hadrian loathed Dumbledore with an intensity that even surpassed Toms. Which hello, shouldn’t have been possible but nonetheless was.

“I understand,” the Minister said sombrely, dipping his head in respect. “I shall leave you to enjoy the festivities, please, enjoy,” the Minister said, his shoulders not quite so hunched anymore, a little more relaxed at the clear forgiveness from the boy he had so nearly wronged.

Hadrian drinking caused a burst of chatter from the table, surprised to see that Hadrian was actually drinking. He’d never in their memory actually drank anything more than butterbeer. None of them actually considered butterbeer an actual drink, you’d need to drink more than your body weight to actually feel even a smidgen of giddiness. They watched in bemusement as he put the shot into the flagon of butterbeer and took a gulp of it wiping his mouth in satisfaction. The other butterbeer went to Fenrir who delighted in the foamy drink.

The group all began to catch up, revealing everything they’d heard to Tom and Hadrian. Or just bemoaning their fate with their parents not letting them out of their sights since they returned to Britain.

“Hadrian, Tom, I’d like to introduce you to my fiancé, Imogen Dawlish, soon to be Malfoy,” Abraxas said standing before Hadrian and Tom with a proud look on his face.

Tom and Hadrian automatically stood, both kissing Imogen on the hand in greeting. “It’s lovely to meet you, Imogen, we’ve heard nothing but good things about you.” The other wizards had stood as well, the witches remaining seated as tradition dictated.

Hadrian observed her, trying to place her at all in any of his memories, even in passing. He was unsurprised that he couldn’t, Abraxas and Imogen weren’t alive in his time. She was a thin and dainty woman, with blonde hair, not as blonde as Abraxas of course, but still blonde. He was surprised to find that in her, he saw little bits of Draco. Draco was never actually as tall as his father or grandfather, hell, even Narcissa who was a tall woman and able to stand right next to Lucius without being towered over. Draco did take after all his immediate relatives on the Malfoy side it seemed.

A loud clearing of a throat, and a “Hadrian?” brought him out of his musing, Abraxas, who was shooting wary glances at Tom as if expecting him to get furious that Hadrian was spending an inordinate amount of time staring at his fiancé forgot to get angry on his own behalf. The others however, were more than used to Hadrian spacing out from time to time, having spent a lot more time with him.

“What?” Hadrian asked, shaking off his lingering procrastinations. “Did somebody say something?” looking around the table curiously. Idly noticing that everyone had sat down, and did so himself.

“I was wondering where you got your idea…for your book?” Imogen repeated, her tone soft and quiet, as if she wasn’t used to speaking to people. she was sitting at the next side of Hadrian, and Abraxas on her other side.

“Oh, well, I did it for my Magical theory class, put a lot of effort and time into it,” Hadrian half-lied, half told the truth since he had done it for his magical theory class. “I realised it would make a good book, I wanted everyone to know what I’d figured out so I published my results. I definitely didn’t expect the book to become so popular.” So even without good investments, the basilisk parts – which continued to bring in an obscene amount of money each year – he would have been more than comfortable with the interest he garnered from that one book itself.

“Why not?” Imogen asked surprised, “It’s not only theoretically sound but it’s actually proving to be the truth.”

“It’s been my experience that most pureblood’s don’t do well with their belief’s being…proven wrong. I expected them to blacklist the book and continue on as they were, sure in their belief that keeping their lines ‘pure’ would result in strong magical offspring.”

“What do you think this will mean for any squibs born in this generation?” Imogen then asked, truly fascinated. Ignoring all conversation that was going on around her, as she focused on Hadrian and his views.

“I believe that they will have more hope of being accepted,” Hadrian mused thoughtfully, surprised by Imogen’s questions. “If they are accepted into the magical community instead of discarded like yesterday’s trash…” Hadrian railed off.

Imogen nodded enthusiastically, “Then there will be less Muggle-borns coming into the magical world.”

“There is really no such thing as a Muggle-born, two Muggles cannot give birth to a magical child. It’s impossible. The magic has to be in the line already for a magical child to be born of what people see as ‘Muggles’ but the magic is just…dormant until a child is born with a magical core.”

“So, only one has to come from a magical line or do they both have to? It’s one thing that wasn’t really clarified in the book,” Imogen asked enthusiastically, “Oh, yes please,” she added to a waiter who was gesturing for any of them if they’d like some wine.

Abraxas just continued to listen to them talking, barely refraining from dropping his jaw incredulously. He wasn’t sure he had seen Imogen talk so often or so much to anyone in the time he’d known her. Not even to him, and he couldn’t help but actually feel jealous of the budding friendship.

“That’s only because I couldn’t quite discount it being possible, it would need thoroughly testing for decades to know definitively.” Hadrian explained passionately, “Plus, I don’t know every single name of wizarding families, and with names changing with females being born…it’s very difficult.”

“It would be fascinating to see if we could come up with some sort of ritual that would allow us to know anyone magical on the magical tree, active magic I mean,” Imogen agreed enthused.

“That would require blood magic,” Hadrian pointed out wryly, “Regretfully, it was banned, one of Dumbledore’s ideas I believe.” Hypocrisy at its finest, he had done blood magic with Grindelwald a blood pact never to fight each other. He reckoned that was what Newt was charged with. To get Grindelwald’s blood, but he would never be sure.

“I wonder if we could get it changed again?” Imogen pondered as she took a drink of her wine.

“It’s possible, but the goblins rules are different, if a ritual is created…the goblins can do it, for a fee of course.” Hadrian said wryly, causing Imogen to laugh in sheer delight ‘for a fee of course’ was one of the goblin nations favourite sayings. Everyone knew that, well, everyone who had spent more than one meeting at Gringotts.

Tugging at his sleeve had Hadrian immediately turning around, “What’s up, cub?” using the nickname he’d given Fenrir.

“I need to go to the toilet,” Fenrir whispered into Hadrian’s ear, he had drank the entire flagon of Butterbeer so it was hardly surprising.

“Right, of course,” Hadrian murmured quietly, craning his neck around, looking for any visible signs of a toilet.

“Everything okay?” Avery and Imogen questioned almost in sync.

“Yeah, Fenrir needs the toilet, excuse us,” Hadrian explained, standing up and making his way out of the room, Avery excusing himself and following him, much to both Tom and Hadrian’s amusement.

“Go enjoy the party, nothing is going to happen, this is the Ministry,” Hadrian tried to shoo Avery away, and failed spectacularly.

------0

“You must be Hadrian Peverell-Slytherin,” Drawled a voice as Hadrian, Fenrir and Aiden re-entered the room after using the facilities. The music wasn’t loud enough to prevent conversation, but they were closer to it being at the door.

“I don’t know about must be, but yes, I am,” Hadrian replied, arching a brow at the wizard speaking to him. He was vaguely familiar, but Hadrian couldn’t pinpoint exactly why.

“Lord Rosier, Evan Rosier’s father,” Aiden whispered, informing Hadrian of to whom he was speaking.

“Your…book…was illuminating to say the least,” Rosier informed him, staring at him.

“Which one? I believe I have four published,” Hadrian queried, completely ignoring the derisive tone of his. He honestly didn’t care what anyone thought of him or the books, if it helped the majority of the magical world, brilliant.

“Magic and it’s descendants,” Rosier said, lips curled back in disgust.

“Ah, I see, and you have a problem with it I presume?” Hadrian asked, “Despite the fact there is enough proof going around for even the most reluctant to know that I’m quite correct?”

Avery stiffened, wand sliding into his hand as he observed Rosier with caution. Adult wizard or not, he would protect Hadrian with his life, as he had sworn to do well over a year ago. Rosier did notice the actions, and made a considerable effort to relax his posture, having not realized he must have taken on quite a argumentized and aggressive stance. He refused to apologise although he did dip his head in respect and also silent apology. “And what are the chances of these abnormalities being present in any children born of…”

“You’re Druella’s father, aren’t you?” Hadrian asked, eyes narrowing, speculatively. “Cygnus’ betrothed?” despite the fact Cygnus was older than Druella. “How many generations?”

“Barely two,” Rosier informed him, his voice a little cold and brittle.

“I don’t see why that would alarm you, most wizards don’t seem to give a shit about their daughters, except for the money they could get for them.” Hadrian retorted, “The only ones this far are the Half-blood’s and some of the purebloods,” he couldn’t lamp the Black’s in with the others, since they were genuinely cared for.

Rosier’s eyes became glacial, “My daughter is worried that any child she has will be…problematic to say the least.” Not able to use the word that should be used, not in conjuncture to a would be grandchild.

Hadrian paused, lips pursed, Druella and Cygnus would go on to have three daughters. Andromeda, Bellatrix and Narcissa, two out of the three were perfectly normal and he honestly had no idea if Bellatrix had been at one point normal, or if she had always been a bit…insane. Azkaban could have caused it for all he knew, she might have just been like Sirius before it all happened. Lacking impulse control, but that wasn’t exactly a terrible thing. It only had the potential to be. If he said anything…those three girls could be wiped out of existence. His hatred of Bellatrix didn’t wipe out the good mother Narcissa was…or Andromeda. He had no idea if Sirius and Regulus would be born for Merlin’s sake.

Leaning forward into Rosier’s personal space, he leaned in and quietly spoke, “Hmm, she’ll have three very powerful daughters,” Hadrian commented mysteriously, before walking away from Rosier, refusing to discuss it more, although he did stifle the need to laugh at the perplexed look on his face.

“What exactly did you just say to him?” Avery whispered as they reached their table, looking back to find the wizard still standing there with an openly baffled look upon his face.

“Indeed, I would like to know as well,” Tom replied, as he absently removed a colouring book and crayons and putting them across Fenrir’s place setting, so that he would have something to do and not be completely bored out of his skull. Fenrir beamed at Tom in delight and eagerly moved to sit down and begin colouring with his crayons. He had seen what looked like a brewing confrontation, but Avery’s not-so-subtle move had made Rosier rethink his actions. He had heard everything, a simple charm had allowed him to hear nearly everything. Hadrian’s whisper to the wizard had not been picked up by the eavesdropping charm.

“Just told him what he needed to hear,” Hadrian explained with a shrug at both Tom and Aiden. Adding through the bond they shared, ‘I told him his daughter would go on to have three magically powerful offspring’ knowing if he didn’t tell Tom he would keep asking.

‘That was not smart,’ Tom uttered glaring at Hadrian heatedly, for his idiotic actions.

‘Come on, Tom, it’s not as if they’ll ever get the real reason I know, they’ll just think I’m clairvoyant or something, a seer or some shit’ Hadrian said wryly, his amusement shooting down the bond along with his words. ‘They’d have their selves admitted to St. Mungo’s if it even crossed their minds what really happened’. Who in their right mind would think ‘Master Of Death’ not even Dumbledore would think it and he was obscenely obsessed with the Deathly Hallows.

Tom relaxed and conceded the truth in that statement, he also knew why he was going to such lengths as well to ensure things didn’t change too much. At least yet. He did not want to be responsible for the ‘death’ of those he knew, failing to realize not being born wasn’t the same as being killed. Plus, he couldn’t deny that they were powerful, the witches, quite so, especially Bellatrix who he had seen in the pensive memories more than any other. Plus, Regulus and Sirius, Sirius who had been Harry’s godfather and despite not knowing him long, had become very attached to the wizard. Understandably, due to his diabolical upbringing, Tom reckoned he’d attach himself to the first wizard who offered him a way out of the orphanage. Not true attachment of course, but using him to get what he wanted, as he always did. Except for Harry and his friends, who he was genuinely coming to care for much to his consternation. Then there was Fenrir, that little boy was burrowing into his cold heart, he was amusing to say the least. That and having someone to shape, to raise as his own, to mould…knowing how loyal he could be…it was heady to say the least.

“What were we talking about again?” Hadrian asked Imogen, ready to begin talking once more, “Something about goblins…”

“Goblins doing a ritual?” Imogen offered, a wry grin on her face remembering what had happened.

“Oh, yes, that,” and with that Hadrian and Imogen began talking at length about everything they could think. Fast becoming friends, talking and laughing as if they had known each other for years, occasionally making sure Fenrir was fine and happy.

“Hadrian? It’s time for the meal,” Tom explained, turning to face his husband, his own voice a little tired due to the talking he’d been doing with everyone passing their table, all wanting to shake hands with the wizard who had defeated Grindelwald. Tom of course very shyly accepted their praise, insisting it was a joint effort from everyone involved. Hadrian remained deep in conversation with Imogen and he didn’t disturb him, he knew Hadrian had no desire to talk to strangers, and quite frankly he was rather enjoying the attention on himself. ‘And do stop monopolising Abraxas’ betrothed, I think he’s about to turn a very unattractive shade of red’

Hadrian was very surprised by that statement, his head snapped up, glancing at Abraxas immediately and noticed the tell-tale signs of looming anger despite the attempts at impassivity. A frown immediately marred his forehead, what the hell? Abraxas knew he was married, knew he was happy, they all did, he and Tom hadn’t married out of convenience or arrangement for Merlin’s sake. So, why the hell was he angry?

‘How long has he been like this?’ Hadrian asked mentally, shaking his head in confusion.

‘Pretty much the entire hour and a half you and Ms. Dawlish have been conversing,’ Tom replied with dry wit. Slightly surprised that Hadrian hadn’t realized, he really must have been enjoying the conversation with the witch to have become a little lax in observing his surroundings.

“Fenrir do you need to go to the toilet before we eat?” Hadrian asked, inwardly pondering what to do with Abraxas.

Fenrir shook his head, no, he didn’t need to go to the toilet.

“Very well, I’ll be back in a bit,” Hadrian said, giving Abraxas a look and nodding his head to the blonde, demanding that he follow without saying a damn thing or without too many people noticing, especially Imogen who was too busy smiling and speaking quietly with Fenrir with an adoring look on her face.

“I shall accompany you, please, excuse me,” Abraxas said to his intended, as he stood, his manners as always impeccable despite his mood.

There was one other who was watching closely and noticed the interaction. Newt Scamander, who was at the party. He stood as well, and silently made his way towards the toilets along with Abraxas and Hadrian, not straying too close to them in order to avoid arousing suspicion.

“Alright, Abraxas, what is going on?” Hadrian asked, as soon as they stepped into the bathroom, after checking to make sure nobody was there, which was thankfully the case.

“Excuse me?” Abraxas asked in confusion.

“You do realize I’m married and bonded with Tom? Who I love?” Hadrian pointed out, washing his hands idly before turning to face the blonde. He did notice that the door hadn’t closed properly, and knew Newt had been following him, Tom had informed him of that fact. Subtle he was not.

Abraxas remained stone-faced and silent.

“Talk to me,” Hadrian said in a soft and soothing voice, “What’s the matter?”

“She’s spoken to you more tonight than I’ve managed to get out of her for the past year!” Abraxas cried out exasperated, unable to keep silent, as he was once again reminded that despite Hadrian being one half of the leader…he wasn’t Tom and he did give out good advice, at least according to Orion.

“Ah, I see,” Hadrian murmured, rubbing his forehead in exasperation, “And have you actually asked her why?” having a funny feeling he knew why exactly she hadn’t spoken much with Abraxas.

“It’s clear me she doesn’t want to talk to me,” Abraxas grumbled, rather upset.

“Do you often actually give her a chance to talk or do you shove your own ideals and belief’s down her throat the seconds she opens her mouth about something?” Hadrian asked genuinely curious about the dynamics between them.

“I’m lucky if I can get her to open her mouth during our luncheons! I’ve even asked her about her favourite subjects but it’s like getting blood from a runestone!” Abraxas puffed out indignantly, he was trying for Merlin’s sake.

“How is her relationship with her parents?” Hadrian then asked, trying to get a clear picture.

“How do you mean?” Abraxas asked bewildered.

“Does she talk about them?” Hadrian asked, “What have your observations been? Has Dawlish ever expressed any concern about his daughter? Asked you to take care of her?”

“Of course I’ll take care of her!” Abraxas puffed up indignantly.

“You’re not listening to a damn word I’m saying,” Hadrian retorted angrily, “Either listen and let us figure it out or just go back out there.” Getting rather annoyed by Abraxas’ attitude.

Abraxas calmed, breathing out, “She mentioned once that she couldn’t wait until we were married and that she could have her own home. Asking just once if she would be able to decorate it.”

“What was your answer?” Hadrian asked.

“I said, ‘Of course, but all ideas go through me first for confirmation’,” Abraxas replied, not able to look Hadrian in the eye.

“So basically told her she had no say in any part of her life, the house she wants to make for the both of you. She evidently doesn’t have the strength to stand up for herself, so she’s been raised as a typical submissive witch to go to a husband with no other value than continuing on your line. A doll to do as you please…a woman saying she basically couldn’t wait to get away from her parents…it’s not normal, how is her relationship with her parents? Has Dawlish’s own wife even spoken up in your presence?” a lot could be said about a relationship a witch and wizard were in when they were in private.

Abraxas flinched at the disgust in Hadrian’s voice.

“She doesn’t, neither have, it was…well it was only myself, my father and Heir Dawlish that spoke,” Abraxas conceded, not seeing anything remotely bad about it.

“Ever heard the saying, seen but not heard?” Hadrian asked wryly.

“Yes,” Abraxas replied, “My father often muttered that while I was a young boy,” and a bit too boisterous.

“That’s how she’s been raised I think, you are going to have to open up, tell her what you want from a wife, give her a freedom she’s never had before…she’s probably been taught all her life that her husband’s will comes first, she’s buried her own personality, her own wishes and desires deep down inside in order to live with what she’s expected to be.” Hadrian answered bluntly, “You want a wife? You want someone to talk to? Someone to be an equal to you in this marriage? Then bloody explain that, she can’t read your mind, you can’t pick and choose which part of an equal marriage you want, it will confuse the fuck out of her! She’s a wonderful woman, very smart, she could keep up with you Abraxas, and she isn’t any lesser to you because she’s a woman, if she wasn’t you’d damn well be the last of the Malfoy line. She’s going to be the mother of your children, that deserves respect and a hell of a lot of consideration.”

Abraxas looked shocked by the way Hadrian was speaking, he’d known out of everyone Hadrian would give it to him straight. Unfortunately, he hadn’t even thought of half the things Hadrian had just laid on him.

“Today she must have been absolutely petrified of embarrassing you, of showing you up. She wants to like your friends, to like you, to be at least moderately happy in her life. I was the most approachable out of all of you, and that is why she wanted to speak to me, that and probably genuine curiosity over the book. The fact I didn’t snub her, talk down to her or act as if it was a chore to speak to her probably eased her enough that she could talk to someone! She’s a long way from all her friends, she grew up in France, she’s been pulled yet again away from all she knew at her parents behest. Let her find her footing, friends, just…try and see it from her point of view Abraxas, or speak to Lucretia, Dorea, Walburga, at least they’ve been raised strong, and determined to have a say in their lives and not taking shit from any man. It seems Imogen…hasn’t had that opportunity. Listen to what she says and Merlin, try and keep her parents out of it if she gives any indication that she doesn’t want them in her life overly much.”

The door opened interrupted their conversation, and Hadrian noticed Newt sliding away from the corner of his eye. Abraxas straightened completely, masks already in place when the wizard stepped in, going straight to the toilet stall.

“Just think on it,” Hadrian commented, throwing the towel in the waste basket before ambling out. “Now let’s go, before we’re late for the meal.” Which wouldn’t happen of course, at least not for another hour or so.

They both made their way back to the ball, and it was much easier to get to their seats this time. Everyone was seated, there was no dancing, no people trying to talk to everyone as they all heartily and with great happiness sat down to their meals. Hadrian and Abraxas slid into their seats, noticing that everyone already had their food, and Tom had ordered for him. Abraxas plate was quickly filled with a few spoken words by Abraxas who was still slightly thoughtful and not paying one hundred percent attention to his surroundings.

Hadrian smiled at Tom in silent thanks, digging into his soup, which was the perfect eating temperature. Plucking two rolls from the centre and handing one to Fenrir and one for himself.

“Enjoying yourself?” Hadrian asked, focusing entirely on Tom as he absently ate the admittedly delicious soup, potato and leak, creamy and very nice, the House-elves they used had outdone themselves.

“It has been fruitful so far,” Tom agreed, he’d spent a lot of time observing people and getting to know them, and there were a few he knew would back him if and when he went into politics. “There are quite a lot of Wizengamot members here,”

“Not surprising really, they do have the money and status to get to this thing,” Hadrian conceded, “Myrtle’s going to be absolutely furious with me when I get back to Hogwarts.” Which was only a few days away, the fortnight holiday was nearly over with…and so much had happened.

“Haven’t you written to her?” Aiden asked, slightly surprised, out of everyone not in the group…Myrtle he’d say was Hadrian’s ‘good friend’ maybe even ‘best friend’ it was the sort of friendship that lasted no matter how often they talked or didn’t as the case may be.

“Yeah, I let her know I was alive, after the attack and all that,” Hadrian told Avery, “Haven’t had a chance to actually sit down and write properly though. I did tell her I’d reveal everything when I got back to school after Yule holidays.” He wasn’t surprised Myrtle didn’t have the connections to get invited to this though.

“She’s still going to totally bombarda you over…” Avery went on to say, only to be interrupted, “Mr. Peverell-Slytherin, Sirs! A picture for the Daily Prophet! Smile!” and what felt like a dozens of flashes went off on Hadrian’s face, a feral sort of sneer graced his face momentarily. “I would appreciate it if you actually asked our permission before taking our pictures.”

Not that the reporter and his goon cared, thinking they already had what they wanted.

“Won’t he be disappointed when nothing develops?” Hadrian said with a smug look on his face.

“What do you mean? How could you stop it?” Cygnus asked, his face rosy with drink and merriment. The rest of the Black’s all turned to Hadrian curious as well, as far as they knew, there was no such spell that would stop photo’s from developing.

“A spell,” Hadrian shrugged, it attached itself to the lens and prevented any of the pictures from being taken. Any that were developed – well from now anyway – would be blurry images that were no use to him or anyone.

“Where do you come up with all this? Like seriously?” Lucretia asked in exasperation, “How many spells have you created? How many potions? And you’ve only been here what a few years? You’re a hell of a spell crafter.” How he would choose a career she did not know.

“Potions, spells and books?” Imogen said, “What career do you see for yourself after you’re finished with your schooling?”

“There’s a lot I want to do,” Hadrian confessed, grateful to see that Abraxas wasn’t annoyed with the fact they were conversing. “I think I’ll be continuing all three…but primarily publishing for now..”

“We have our own publishing company,” Avery stated smugly, “With Hadrian’s book constantly at number one it will flourish,” he’d sank a lot of money into it too, not his parents money, his. Using his trust vault to do so, he was already seeing money coming back.

“You say that like it isn’t already?” Hadrian said wryly, he knew the interest the company was getting better than most. He kept a good eye on all his investments at least once a day to ensure there was no funny business and the Goblins did as well. He’d had others trying to invest in it as well, but Hadrian had no need for others interest or investing in it. “Plus, I have a feeling that another book will wipe me off the number one spot,” he said mysteriously, a small smile playing across his face when he thought of Newts book.

“Oh? You’ve been reading manuscripts too?” Dorea asked, curiosity getting the better of her.

“Oh, yes, I had a lot of resting to do,” Hadrian admitted, he had employees who dealt with the day to day running of Avery & Peverell-Slytherin publishing, and so far they were doing a wonderful job. “It’s already accepted, it’s just undergoing editing then it will be published sometime at the end of January beginning of February depending on how long it takes to get agreements on the editing, pictures the front and things like that.”

“It’s difficult to believe you have your own companies, your own employees and you’re both still at Hogwarts.” Imogen admitted, “And a child to take care of,” Fenrir was just adorable.

“We’re emancipated, we aren’t children,” Hadrian commented, shrugging his shoulders dismissively. He didn’t want anyone treating him like one either.

“What are you going to do with Fenrir’s education and wellbeing while you’re both at Hogwarts?” Imogen asked, “If you’re looking for someone to take care of him…I would be more than happy to offer my services!” before realizing she may have spoken out of turn, a quick glance at Abraxas showed her apprehension.

“You don’t need the money…” Abraxas started before pausing, Hadrian’s words ringing in his ears, “But if its something you want to do, I will support you,” it would only be for a short while anyway, because he and Imogen planned on starting their own family.

Imogen startled at that, “Really? You mean that?” ‘and you’re not just saying it in front of your friends’ definitely went heard.

Abraxas placed his hands in hers, “Of course,” he really liked the way her entire face brightened up, and just because he had agreed to let her do something. She was happy, and Abraxas felt a sense of accomplishment. It bolstered his spirits. Maybe he would be able to have conversations with her like she’d had with Hadrian earlier. He blatantly ignored the smirking Hadrian was doing, and more so the smirk spreading across Tom’s face. Honestly, it was like those two could converse mentally all the time. They didn’t even need to talk to each other.

“What do you think Fenrir? Would you like to see Imogen sometimes?” Hadrian asked thoughtfully.

Fenrir just shrugged indifferently, he didn’t care either way. He missed Tom and Hadrian when they were away, but he didn’t mind being on his own. Imogen was nice, she’d paid attention to him, and helped him colour in.

“We’ll discuss it another time?” Hadrian informed Imogen, before they headed back to Hogwarts. Tom had already sifted through tutors for Fenrir, but if they could get someone they actually knew it would be best. Plus, a women might make feel Fenrir more at ease.

“Indeed, tonight is for you,” Imogen said properly, giving him a rare genuine smile.

“Don’t remind me,” Hadrian sighed in exasperation, choosing a main meal for both Fenrir and himself from the menu of what they had on offer. Getting a rib steak meal for Fenrir and himself, the second it appeared it looked mouth-wateringly good. Tom, Hadrian noticed had chosen the same.

“You don’t want to be here? Are you mad?” Abraxas asked, gaping, “You’re…” he couldn’t explain even if he tried.

Hadrian just smirked wryly, “I’m just not into all this schmoozing, this isn’t for us, it’s for the Ministry to show case they have our support…that we are allied, to get more money and inevitable more support themselves.” The Ministry didn’t do anything out of the goodness of their hearts, Hadrian had learned that very early on. With his piece said, he begun to eat his meal with relish.

“But it will give you support as well,” Abraxas pointed out, “Both of you, it will allow you to go far,” and both of them would, of that he had no doubt, it’s why he was following them so ardently.

Tom smirked, “It definitely will,” he commented, and that was why he was here, making connections and planning ahead. He couldn’t wait until he was out of Hogwarts and doing this full time, it was going to be so much fun having everyone eating out of the palm of his hand.

“What’s your new book about, anyway, Hadrian?” Dorea asked, turning her attention back to the table after conversing with Charles for the past ten minutes, who was at the table next to them.

“Actually, it’s about the Celtic celebrations and rituals, and our traditions, to give those Muggle raised a chance to better understand the magical world.” Hadrian informed them, “I used a lot of information from books from the Peverell vault, these books are so rare that Muggle raised students don’t have a chance to read or understand out traditions. If we have any hope of bringing them back…then they must be educated.”

“You should speak to Professor Adage about that,” Alphard spoke, wiping his mouth with his napkin, “Perhaps even Professor Binn’s, that way it would be compulsory to learn,” that would ensure they all learned about it.

“It would be, but I don’t have any say in the curriculum at Hogwarts,” Hadrian said amused.

“No, but a suggestion goes a long way,” Orion conceded, “Sparks an idea, they might like the idea.”

“Dippet would allow it, I can’t see him saying no,” Cygnus agreed, he seemed to have a soft spot for both Tom and Hadrian. “I had no idea you were even writing about something like that, I would have liked to have offered my own input.”

“No, it’s a neutral view, I tried not to put my own personal feelings anywhere near it,” Hadrian shook his head, “Plain enough that they will understand our ways without any influence. They get to decide whether they would like to perform the rituals and we might be able to bring them back mainstream.”

“It would be amazing,” Dolohov agreed wholeheartedly, vividly remembering his passionate speech on the train. “Did you go about explaining why it faded from the mainstream?”

“Yes,” Hadrian nodded, but the fact remained the Muggles kept a better record of their history than the magical world. Slightly surprised by Dolohov’s warm-ish nature. Normally, Dolohov could barely stand him in all honesty. Was it the drink? The win? The popularity? The camaraderie? Or perhaps a combination of all these things. Or was it his turn to pull an Carrow and an Avery, it had taken those two aforementioned wizards, a very, very long time to get on with him. Hadrian wasn’t sure if it was jealousy, spite or just genuine dislike, but Carrow and Avery had not liked him, admittedly Carrow’s dislike didn’t extend to trying to kill him like Aiden had tried to do. Dolohov since integrating into the group had…set Hadrian on edge. He put up with it, knowing he wasn’t going to always like all of them.

“When you plan to publish this one?” Walburga asked, wiping her mouth and placing her used cutlery on the plate in a specific pattern.

Hadrian finished swallowing his own food before he spoke, “At least a month, perhaps less, everything is all set, they just need to be published.”

“I don’t suppose you’ll give us a signed early copy?” Walburga asked, a hopeful look on her face.

Hadrian scoffed a little, rolling his eyes, “That doesn’t work on me,” he informed her, pointing his knife along with his hand at her, which was rude. Especially not considering he’d seen her a shrieking old nasty hag of a woman. “I’ve made it so that ten are sent to the authors, more than that they have to ask, so I will probably get that ten as well. I might send out one or two, might,” he wasn’t going to promise them something and then not go through with it.

Glancing and nodding when he noticed that Fenrir needed the toilet yet again, and was asking Tom to take him. “Whiskey?” he mouthed to Tom, who nodded in turn, Hadrian was quick to order two butterbeers, a shot of firewhisky and a normal glass of whiskey for Tom with ice. He spelled the glasses so that if anything – or anyone – went anywhere near them he’d know.

“Did you dress him?” Lucretia asked, watching Tom and Fenrir leave the room, rubbing her temples, the music was beginning to give her a little headache. That and the drinking she’d been doing, just because they wouldn’t serve her…didn’t mean that they didn’t find alternative ways to have a drink.

“I bought it, yes,” Hadrian said wryly, eyeing her with amusement, “Thinking of having one?”

“No,” Lucretia declared stiffly, to the surprise of everyone except Hadrian, Dorea and Walburga the boys looked aghast.

“You can have a career and be a mother, Luc, being a mother isn’t…a weakness, isn’t pathetic because it’s ‘expected of you’ unless…you think that of me and Tom?” Hadrian asked, green eye gleaming with power and ferocity.

Lucretia startled at the nickname, nobody outside of her immediate family (which was a large family) ever gave her a nickname before. It was also very rarely used, they’d been raised ‘proper’ which meant manners had been drummed into them from a very, very young age. Lucretia said nothing to Hadrian, merely frowned as she ordered herself her dessert.

“It’s right after dessert they begin giving out the medals isn’t it not?” Hadrian asked, stifling a yawn, moving closer when he was asked kindly for a photo, by Marion, the woman and her partner, who had previously came to Peverell manor for an interview in the past. The three smiled for the picture, spoke for a bit before she moved on to take pictures of everyone.

“They said at least fifteen-twenty minutes after dessert,” Tom corrected Hadrian as he sipped his whiskey, ignoring the jealous looks coming off his ‘friends’, who were still very much underage and couldn’t be seen just outright drinking, no they had to be sneaky. Mostly getting older siblings to help them through bribery or blackmail.

“Think they’re going to be able to walk in a straight line to go up on stage?” Hadrian waved his hand towards them, and they paled drastically, they hadn’t thought of that, if they showed up their parents…they would never hear the end of it.

“Crap,” croaked Alphard, shuddering at the mere thought of his parents turning their ire upon him after being proud of him just moments before.

“Here, sober up, at least for a little bit, and for Merlin’s sake, eat something, a mint, your breath smells of alcohol.” Hadrian chortled, handing each of them a sober-up draught. It was very similar to the Pepper-Up draught, just with a little something extra, a kick, that a Pepper-Up didn’t have. He handed one to Tom as well, even through he’d only had three fire whiskey’s in total, it was more than they’d normally drink. There was a time and a place to get you’re used to alcohol but it wasn’t today.

“Pot, Kettle, Black,” Dolohov uttered, shaking his head.

After consuming the draught they ate their dessert as they became a lot more alert. Tom drifted two tables down, speaking to a few others Hadrian wasn’t familiar with. Fenrir remained by his side during that time, with a set of Rune domino’s to play with, and Hadrian did play with him while keeping up and adding his own thoughts into the conversations.

That was until a ‘Sonorous’ had everyone turning to the stage, it was time. Hadrian drowned out the majority of the speech, which rehashed everything that had happened. How they were horrifically ‘ambushed’ and if it hadn’t been for Hadrian’s quick reflexes they would have all perished in the explosion. Turning Grindelwald’s death into a love story of the ages. How Tom had reacted to save the ‘love of his life’ quite honestly, Tom and Hadrian had to refrain from gagging at the way they said it. Fortunately, they kept a straight face, for that was how they wanted the world to see them. It wasn’t far from the truth though, they would kill for each other.

“Without more ado, I’d like to welcome to the stage…” the Minister begun, accepting one of the medals from his undersecretary. “Aiden Avery,” beginning the process of awarding them the Order of Merlin medal first class to those who had ended Grindelwald’s reign at near personal cost.



-------0

It took me two days to read through my own story just to make sure I've not mentioned Abraxas' intended's name LMAO! >.< TWO WHOLE DAYS!! the shock lol but I shan't need to do it again, I've made sure to document absolutely EVERYTHING that might need to be saved :) I will be doing that with The Contract as well, I've not put anywhere near enough info into the document/summary I have of the story...too eager to update that I forget to write down anything and everything lol!

So do you want to see them getting their medals in the next chapter or will it be back to Hogwarts for them in the next one? It's already over 10K words so I wanted to get it posted 😊 I also want to introduce Aiden Avery's sister (Barty Crouch's mother) into the story soon too! What do you think those who have little titbits of the future by Hadrian will think? Hmm, I think Molly Weasley will be born in about four years…or so but once this arc is over with the next will be during the birth of the next generation! Will they make Hadrian the godfather of many of their offspring? Will Tom become Minister of magic and Head of the wizengamot in his time? Will Hadrian become a teacher or will he merely continue to write books for now? Mpreg, yes or no last chance cus if I do have them going forward in time it would be during this arc that it happened I reckon! R&R PLEASE!

Do you think it should be second class to the other Slytherins and only first class to Tom and Hadrian? Hmmm...

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Fenrir tugged at Hadrian’s robes yet again, as he put the empty butterbeer flagon back on the table. “I need to pee!” he whispered squirming in his seat.

Hadrian laughed quietly, shaking his head, “Alright, come on then,” he said, hopefully he wasn’t about to be called upon.

“I can take him?” Imogen offered, somewhat unsurely, not sure of the protocol she hadn’t been around children often, well, more accurately someone that wasn’t a baby. Did she take him to the girls toilets or did she take him into the boys?

“It’s fine,” Hadrian said, giving her a reassuring smile, thankful for the offer, but he did want to stretch his legs and if he heard any more speeches he was going to die of boredom. Although, admittedly, some of them had been very tastefully done.

Giving Tom and everyone else a nod, he eased Fenrir out of his seat and put the boy – who was gaining a serious amount of weight lately – on his hip and guided them both out of the grand hall, ignoring the looks he was getting from people – until they realized who he was – for leaving the hall during the speeches.

When they were leaving the toilets they bumped into the Dolohov’s or rather Hadrian swept forward and prevented Lady Dolohov from falling to the floor. Her face a mask of intolerable pain, but her mouth remained firmly shut despite the fact she surely wanted to cry out in agony. “Are you okay, ma’am?” Hadrian asked, allowing her husband to ease her up, into standing position again.

“I’m fine, my apologies,” Temperance said, “Just a little tumble,” trying to wave it off with an air of grace.

“No, you’re in pain,” Hadrian said, glancing at Dolohov as if suspecting he was the cause of it. “Do you require a pain relief? I have brought some with me?”

“They no longer work,” Lord Dolohov insisted, a dark look of anger on his face.

“What caused the pain?” Hadrian asked, his voice quiet and soothing, a probing look on his face.

“The blasted Aurors is what happened,” face red in anger, it was their fault, he didn’t care about the compensation she’d received. He calmed slightly when he felt his wife’s hand on his back and rubbing soothingly.

“It was an unfortunate accident, I was lucky not to be paralysed, I was hit with a severing charm by the Aurors in the back. Just wrong place wrong time scenario, returning from our honeymoon.” She explained to Hadrian, not sure why she was, but everyone already knew this, it wasn’t a secret.

“Nerve damage?” Hadrian asked in understanding, a thoughtful look on his face.

Surprise flickered through Temperance Dolohov’s face, “Why, yes,” she murmured, surprised that the boy understood.

“And none of the potions work?” Hadrian then queried.

“No,” Lord Dolohov insisted grouchily, “Now if you’ll excuse me, do enjoy the rest of your evening.” He wanted to get his wife in bed and as comfortable as he could make her.

“Wait,” Hadrian said quickly, his hand disappearing into his cloak pocket, and pulling out a bag, which he then unfurled to reveal an assortment of potions and salves that he’d made, which definitely weren’t all from this time. “This will help her, massage it onto her back four times a day, until the tub is finished.”

“What is it?” Dolohov asked suspiciously, not in a ‘you’ll kill my wife’ kind of way but leery of accepting something he didn’t know.

“A salve that will sink into her skin and kill the pain, it has phoenix tears in it, very potent and it should help in fact the pain should lessen considerably…even permanently.” Hadrian informed him seriously, not at all offended, before he went on to explain what other ingredients were in the salve just in case Lady Dolohov was allergic to anything. The list wasn’t all that long, but he rushed it nonetheless, Fenrir was beginning to get impatient.

Dolohov relaxed and a hopeful gleam entered his eye before it was covered up. “How much?” he grunted out, assuming he was doing it for the money.

Hadrian just shook his head, “Good luck, I hope you feel better soon,” was all he said with kindness towards Temperance before he added a quick, “Goodbye!” and he once again lifted Fenrir up.

It was about fifteen minutes later, when he returned, Hadrian realized that Mulciber and Rosier had already given their speeches and gotten their Order of Merlin’s. That Dorea was missing from the table, and one glance showed that she was shaking hands with the Minister, ready to give her speech.

Getting Fenrir comfortable and settled once again, very proud of him and his patience. He had been so well behaved tonight that Hadrian couldn’t help it, he was so overwhelmingly proud of him. Merlin, thank goodness they had found him when they did, otherwise it might have already been too late for him. lightly adjusting his hair, Hadrian absently kissed him on the head, before leaning back ready to listen, tonight hadn’t been so bad actually, he’d been fearing it would be much worse.

Arching a brow, Tom wondered why Hadrian had been so long, but Hadrian just shook his head, he’d explain later.

Tuning in to listen to the speech.

“It’s my greatest pleasure in accepting this award, thanks to everyone who worked hard to end the threat that was Grindelwald and his followers. I’d like to say it was luck that we survived, but it wasn’t, it was the work of everyone, my friends, my family and more importantly Newton and Theseus Scamander who’s timely intervention allowed us to get our bearings in order to fight. Thank you to the tutors my parents hired that allowed me to be able to fight alongside my cousin and brothers as equals, it was thanks to them that I was able to fight alongside them and be as ferocious as any wizard. A special thank you to Charles Potter who also encouraged me to continue with these lessons during the summer holidays.” She added standing tall and proud, ignoring the whispers that had begun at her words.

“Woah,” Hadrian said, eyes widening at the words, he hadn’t expected that at all. She was finally coming out as dating Charles Potter. He shot a quick glance at the Black reactions, seeing them all baffled was better than angry he guessed.

“What the hell was that all about?”

“How the hell does she know Potter?”

“I think it’s about high time we spoke to him don’t you?” Orion said with deceptive mildness, eyes boring into Charles Potter who was unaware of the protective fury radiating from Orion.

“If you want to risk her wrath, go right ahead,” Hadrian said sniggering with a wicked grin on his face, “She’ll make sure you can’t have kids,”

Orion paled at the threat, crossing his legs, “Maybe…another time,” he muttered, “I’m sure father will deal with it.” hiding behind his dad.

“I can’t believe I’m defending him,” Hadrian said in amusement, Charles Potter was very, very light orientated. Did not believe in the use of dark magic, and had very prejudice and narrowminded views that he was definitely going to pass down to James Potter. He wondered why Dorea endured it, allowed her son to besmirch the house she came from and all she represented. She was a Slytherin and proud of that fact, she was a Black and her core was easier suited for Dark magic. It was just the way of the world. Then again they struggle for years to have James if he recalled correctly, he honestly didn’t know, so much conflicting information he couldn’t begin to wade out the truth to rumours even about his own family.

‘Worried?’ Tom arched a brow, speaking through the bond they shared. What would happen if Dorea and Charles did not get together? History would be changed, Hadrian’s history specifically, but as MOD and someone completely different he wasn’t Harry James Potter anymore. He was Hadrian Peverell, and surely nothing could happen even if things were changing enough that he wasn’t born in this timeline. Hadrian had changed it the moment he appeared in Diagon Alley that day, altered the future all he knew disappeared with it.

‘I always worry about things like that’ Hadrian revealed honestly, he felt responsible, but he was learning to let go a little, be less worried.

‘I know’ Tom answered, watching Walburga accept her medal next, the normally blank faced witch was beaming in sheer delight. She should be delighted, the list of witches who had won this award was low, Lucretia, Walburga and Dorea were probably what…fourteen, fifteen and sixteenth on the list. Something he had to admit he was surprised by, given some of the things witches had done for the magical world, including inventing Floo Networking, for which that had won the witch an award, he couldn’t quite remember her name.

“When I received the letter inviting me to this celebration, a celebration to award me an Order of Merlin I was very surprised, in fact I almost fainted,” Walburga admitted, causing a light-hearted laugh to go around, “Neither my cousin or aunt ever expected to be the recipient of such an outstanding award, to have our contributions noticed. A lovely surprised to be sure, and one I will always remember. I never woke up and expected or even dreamed of such an award being gifted, neither before or after the fight, you’ll never know how much this means to me, so on behalf of myself and my friends and family, from the bottom of my heart, thank you.”

Harry was amongst the first to stand and applaud, once again, as he often did with every interaction with Walburga, wonder how she turned from how she was to the damn portrait left to hang in Grimmauld Place. He genuinely liked her, and couldn’t see how Sirius could think she was nothing but an ‘old hag’ and constantly worried that something could happen to her in future. Something that changed her, but oftentimes he came back to grief, grief did a number on anyone. Losing her husband, her son and her other son, the Black heir who should have been Lord Black…fleeing as if the grim was on his tail as soon as he could.

“I’d like to call to the stage the next recipient for the Order of Merlin first class…Lucretia Black,” the Minister called out, grateful that they were still Black’s otherwise he would have been a little lost on their names, they were all betrothed if he recalled correctly, and would soon be married and joining other families.

“Are you returning home after you receive your medal?” Aiden asked, his gaze on Hadrian. He knew very well that Hadrian would look for the quickest escape route as soon as possible.

“Probably,” Hadrian said, “It’s getting late and well past this wee man’s bed time,” his hand carding through Fenrir’s brown hair.

“Right, just because it’s his bed time,” Aiden teased him, a rueful grin on his face, Hadrian loathed being in the public eye.

“Of course,” Hadrian said blinking his green eyes innocently, “Who’d want to miss all this?”

Everyone at the table snorted, the shocking thing was Hadrian actually sounded like he meant it. When they all actually knew he’d rather already be at home, although to be fair, they were all looking forward to hearing his speech, no doubt he’d leave them all stunned. If they thought Alphard had a way with words or Orion…nobody came close to Hadrian. He could make you feel like shit without actually being nasty about it and bolster your spirits like nothing else. It depended on which way he went, and how he was feeling this particular day.

“She’s up,” Alphard said, quieting the entire table, as they all turned to stare at the resplendent vision Lucretia Black made all dressed up for the night. Her betrothed was staring at her starry eyed, clearly aware of how lucky he was to have her in his life.

Ignatius Prewett was so gone on his wife-to-be that was clear to see. The Prewett’s Hadrian realized, had money and connections. What had happened to those connections and money? Then again Ignatius wasn’t the firstborn, he didn’t gain control of the estate, so whatever happened couldn’t be courtesy of him. Ignatius was going to be the Uncle of Molly Weasley and the three other kids they had, Bilius, Gideon and Fabian. His eyes widened when he recognized a young woman at the table, well young-ish certainly a lot younger when he saw her last. Muriel, Molly’s great aunt. Bloody hell was that a smile she had on her face? A big difference to the scowling sour thing she was in future.

“Good evening everyone, I hope you’ve all enjoyed tonight, for it’s not just for one but all. I think it’s safe to say I never envisioned myself standing here with such a prestigious medal being presented to me. I have never felt such an intense passion at receiving any awards or accolades for that matter. however, let me tell you it is not just my sole effort that has brought me here tonight. A great thank you to my tutor Samuel Flint and Tara Wentworth for their dedication in making me be the best I can be. They and Hadrian Peverell-Slytherin saw a talent in me that even I couldn’t see in myself.” Lucretia explained, “Not just them but my family too, everyone needs families and mentors and I’m very fortunate to have mine guiding me at such a young age. Let this be a guide to every witch looking to change the world, its not over unless you want it to be, and a true example of this is me, standing right here, in front of you. Thank you very much!”

“That was quite demure for her,” Orion acknowledged, as he stood, yet again, cheering for her, they’d expected more power to witches speech than what just happened. “Mom has been spending a lot of time talking to her though,” the near loss had frightened their mother something fierce. Melania Black was a force to be reckoned with when she was worked up.

“And Arcturus,” Walburga pointed out, as she drank from her spiked butterbeer, now that speeches were out the way, they could enjoy themselves a little more. Cygnus had gotten the shot of whiskey for her.

“Yeah,” Orion agreed, with his betrothed, who sidled close together while they stood and applauded until Lucretia re-joined them again, Cygnus slyly giving her the whiskey imbued butterbeer with a wink when she returned.

Lucretia grinned and gleefully accepted it, before they all sat down again.

“Four Galleons Tom’s called first,” Alphard suggested, a sly smirk on his face, that was very reminiscent of Sirius Black.

“Nope, definitely me,” Hadrian disagreed, “The Ministry will see his contribution as the best, so yeah, definitely last and they’ll probably add more to the speech.”

Everyone automatically looked to the Minister, waiting to see which one would be the winner of the bet.

“The next recipient of the Order of Merlin first class…Hadrian Peverell-Slytherin,” the Minister called out, taking the medal from its box, when the assistant opened it for him.

“Damn it,” Alphard groused, almost pouting, almost, it was a near thing.

“I’ll be back for it,” Hadrian said smugly, running his hand through Fenrir’s hair before he stood up, making his own way to the podium. Nothing in his body language suggested he was unhappy or annoyed by this display, but Tom could feel how Hadrian felt. He hated the spot light so enormously that usually Tom found it hilarious. He believed it was just past experience that made him that way. That in time he’d get used to it, but he was beginning to think that wasn’t true either.

The Minister however, broadcasted a little bit of discomfort, probably due to the reminder of the conversation they had at the beginning of the evening. He was far from a stupid wizard, he knew that the Peverell-Slytherin’s had the ability to make his life a living hell should they have the desire to do so. They not only had the money but the political backing of the entire pureblood population. Everyone was going out their way to try and speak to the Peverell-Slytherins this evening, their table had been overwhelmed with people clamouring.

“Good evening, everyone,” Hadrian said, facing the crowd, nothing revealing his general dictate. “Thank you all for coming tonight. The support we have received from you all has been awe-inspiring. It’s times like these that we must band together, whether we are human or the creatures you so deride and pretend to better than. It only causes strife, tension and inevitably wars. Let what happened a week ago be words of warning to anyone wishing to pick up where Grindelwald took off, we will not stand for it. There will always be someone strong enough to stand up against such reckless hate. Always someone strong enough to do what must be done. As a poet so accurate said, to be human is to err; to forgive, divine. We must forgive those who seek to destroy what we’ve built, we are all only human, that is not to say we forget, learn from past mistakes and make a bright, bright future. A future for all of us, this current generation and the next and the next after that let the past go, let prejudice and old belief’s go. Thank you.”

With that Hadrian stepped down, giving a nod to the crowd before making his way to his seat. Kissing Fenrir on the forehead and giving Tom’s shoulder a squeeze as he claimed his seat. The applause was still going strong, ironically, Hadrian didn’t believe they would take what he said to heart. They’d try though, he’d give them that.

“Last but no means least, I’d like to call up Tom Peverell-Slytherin, who’s dedication and aid has ended this war before it reached our shores, and prevented countless deaths,” Spencer-moon declared, “And we owe him more than we can repay, Tom Peverell-Slytherin everyone!”

Hadrian grinned at Alphard, “Told you,” he said smugly, he might be in a different time but they were all the same. The Ministry was trying to gain their favour in order to bolster the public image of them.

Alphard grumbled, but grudgingly handed over the gold coins, it was no skin of his nose really, he had more money. He was a Black he just didn’t like being proven wrong. They should all know better than that by now, not to bet when it came to Hadrian. He had a canny ability to be right, constantly.

Harry turned his attention back to Tom, watching him walk towards the platform, tall and proud his commanding presence out in full force. Tom had been writing his speech since they received word that they’d be getting this party in order to prepare. Although, he had no idea what Tom intended to say. Tom had been working on it while he read through the dozens of manuscripts he’d had sent to himself and sleeping while he recuperated. One of them had been Scamander’s, and despite having read it before, Hadrian had re-read it and enjoyed it just the same. Suggesting a name change and giving him more than he knew any other publishing company would give to a newcomer, only because he knew how just popular it would be, it would send his company higher up the food chain, he knew the amount of money that book would continue to bring in. Worth whatever he had to pay.

Tom had his masks up in full force, playing the humbled but charming teenager that he used most frequently at Hogwarts. Accepting the Order of Merlin graciously, and seriously, even from here, unable to hear what Tom and Spencer-moon was saying, the Minister had that starry eyed look on his face that was constantly associated with anyone Tom talks to for any length of time and with purpose.

“Thank you all so much for coming to help celebrate our accomplishments this evening. A few years ago, I could never have imagined that I’d be standing here before you the recipient of such a prestigious award. This will always be a cherished memory, however, the marriage to my husband definitely is my most defining moment, although this will remain close to my heart.” Tom said, sounding awed and humbled, an award-winning smile gracing his features. Possessively reminding everyone that Hadrian was his, and very much taken.

The women in the crowed ‘awwed’ over the words as if he had said something adorable and cute. Quite a few of the wizards all seemed deeply amused, guessing accurately the real reason behind the words. Especially his friends and Hadrian himself just barely, barely refrained from snorting.

“It was as it’s been stated, a group effort, and I wish to thank each of them for their actions that day, that proudly enabled us to end the Dark Lord Grindelwald’s reign of terror. I’d also like to thank my professors at Hogwarts for the passion they show for their subjects, especially Professor Merrythought, our DADA teacher who’s passionate speech from our first class heralded my own love of Defence against the Dark Arts. And a special thanks to my Head of House, Horace Slughorn for his dedication in making sure each of us were more than performing adequately at our subjects and believing in us.”

Hadrian looked around, lips twitching, Tom had them all eating out of the palm of his hands. Making his speech not about him, Merlin it had to be killing him, there was no doubt he wanted to discuss his own accomplishments but knew he couldn’t if he wanted to come across in a certain way. Image was everything to Tom, at least his public image anyway.

“Also I’d like to thank my husband, who I would not be standing here today without,” Tom said, dark eyes gleaming, a world of secrets behind those eyes, secrets that only Hadrian and Tom shared.

Hadrian pursed his lips barely able to refrain from guffawing, now that was probably the closest thing to the truth Tom had said this evening.

“Thank you,” Tom added, to the crowd and the group cheered and the others begun to applaud, Tom shook the Ministers hand before making his way back to the group. Horace Slughorn applauded the loudest, proudly boasting that ‘Tom’ was his favourite student, and the smartest that had walked the halls in a few generations. They could hear him from here without any difficulty.

Tom just seemed amused by the words, as he claimed his seat, interlocking his fingers with Hadrian. ‘I did mean that’ he said mentally to Hadrian, he wouldn’t be here without him, and he owed him everything.

‘You don’t need to thank me, Tom, you were capable of all this on your own. You are so smart, so dedicated, and so very powerful. Just a little impatient, the Horcruxes added to the madness…I’m glad I was able to save you from your impulsiveness. This though…this you were always capable of. You were made for this, everyone else who follows you can see the greatness in you,’ Hadrian said with pride and love shining through his green eyes, pressing a kiss to Tom’s hand. ‘Now you can give me the speech you probably wanted later tonight, how about it?’ knowing without a doubt Tom will have written two, one he wanted to say the other he knew he would.

Tom gazed at Hadrian, still surprised by how well he knew him sometimes. ‘As long as we’re naked’ Tom suddenly declared causing Hadrian to choke on the butterbeer he was just taking a sip off.

Hadrian narrowed his eyes, ‘I’ll get you back for that’ knowing he’d done it on purpose, their bond made any real attempts useless to say the least.

‘I’d like to see you try’ Tom said smugly, tonight had went splendidly, and it wasn’t over yet. There were still a few people who he hadn’t spoken to tonight.

With the speeches over, Dorea was gestured over by her Head of house, her brother. No doubt there would be ramifications over her words about Charles Potter. Dorea didn’t wilt over the gesture, just straightened her spine and made her way over to her brother after excusing herself from the table.

“Will she be alright?” Imogen asked, watching the witch leave worry prevalent.

“She’ll be just fine,” Hadrian insisted, watching her closely, she was very worried, and it showed just what her own life with her parents had been like without any discussions. “Thank you for coming this evening, it was great to finally meet you, don’t be afraid of making friends.”

“It was wonderful!” Imogen burst out, a big smile on her face, “So much fun! I’m glad I got to meet everyone.” And that it went smoothly, she’d been terrified of messing up. Abraxas had been different tonight, more talkative and he’d even let her offer to babysit Fenrir! She’d offered without thought and he’d agreed! She hoped he hadn’t just said that because of his friends, but Abraxas had never once refrained from giving his opinion when he felt it was merited in public or privacy, not that they had met in private overly much, they always had a chaperone. Which was usually her father, which did put a dampener on the evening. Since this was a very public outing no chaperone had been required.

“We should meet up tomorrow for lunch? Perhaps my parents can chaperone this time?” Abraxas joined the conversation, watching his betrothed closely when he suggested his own parents, Hadrian’s words ringing in his ears.

Hadrian turned to face Fenrir who was rubbing his eyes sleepily, trying to stop himself listening in on the conversation between Imogen and Abraxas. Wishing that he knew more about the Malfoy family. All he knew was that Abraxas died of Dragon Pox before or just after Draco Malfoy was born. There had been no mention of Imogen, did she die giving birth to Lucius? The thought was terrifying to say the least. Regardless of his running thoughts, he still heard the quiet conversation the betrothed pair were having.

Imogen’s big smile reduced somewhat, but it was no less genuine, perhaps even a bit fond. “I’d love that,” she said, her eyes light up in a way Abraxas hadn’t seen before. It took Abraxas breath away.

“You’re so beautiful,” Abraxas said, it’s the thing that had drawn him to her, she barely spoke, so it wasn’t as if her personality could have drawn him. He was beginning to think there was a reason for that quietness now. “Thank you for coming tonight, it’s the most fun I’ve had in a long time.” Doing what he did, learning to be Lord of the estate, it was hardly surprising that a celebratory evening had been so much fun. Plus, the awkwardness that usually followed them during dates was gone.

“Thank you for inviting me, it was so much fun getting to meet your friends,” Imogen said softly, “I just hope I didn’t get a little too much for Hadrian…I really do love his books.” She might have been a little too fan girly with him.

Abraxas snorted, “Don’t you worry about that, Hadrian doesn’t have trouble telling people to leave him alone if they get too annoying.”

“Hadrian?” Imogen asked incredulously, glancing at him in doubt, he didn’t look like he’d hurt a fly let alone someone else.

Abraxas laughed in delight, “Oh yes, never ask him a question you don’t want to know the answer to. For he gives it to you regardless to whether it hurts or not. He doesn’t like to lie…and most certainly loathes being lied to.” at least this was the idea he had gotten.

“Oh,” Imogen said, mouth open making an ‘O’ gesture in surprise.

“We celebrate Imbolc, it’s a month away…but I’d very much like it if you would attend with me?” Abraxas asked.

“You mean sneak away?” Imogen said shocked.

“For an evening, yes,” Abraxas, “Nothing improper I assure you,” reassuring her.

Surprisingly, doing something so forbidden didn’t terrify her, but excited her, “Yes!” she replied before Abraxas could say anything else. “I’d love to see them all again and celebrate Imbolc with you all.” She had never celebrated any pagan holidays, nor the non-magical ones either. Yule was always just a quiet time at her home, while everyone else celebrated, her friends knew better than to send gifts, her father set them alight in righteous fury. She usually gave her friends a few small trinkets to open before the holidays, not that she could anymore, she was no longer in school.

“Bring a few of your friends, from France if they have the time, I’ll send you two invites…would that be enough?” Hadrian re-joined the conversation, not even slightly embarrassed at having heard them.

Imogen just stared at Hadrian as if she couldn’t comprehend his suggestion.

“No?” Hadrian said, seemingly amused by her state, glancing briefly at Tom who stood, giving him a smile and a nod. Knowing he desired to make connections, as long as he wasn’t brought along for the ride then he didn’t mind at all.

“I…yes, please,” Imogen said a little dazed, she hadn’t seen any of her friends in so long.

“Okay, it will probably be a few days, I haven’t bought any invites yet,” Hadrian explained, feeling feral amusement through the bond to Tom, well that hadn’t taken long at all. “I don’t normally, we usually just use word of mouth but I suppose we should make it a bit more professional this year if we’re inviting people.” people outside of their social circle, he definitely would have to invite Myrtle, she’d be pissed if he didn’t, not that he’d consider not inviting her. She’d come in the past and fitted in quite well with everyone and could hold her own. He’d done that, he’d given Myrtle the courage and conviction to stand up for herself.

“I know a start-up business that’s absolutely perfect for the job?” Imogen suggested, “Their prices are acceptable, much less than other professional jobs and perfectly done.”

“Been looking at them for your wedding invites?” Hadrian asked, as always paying attention to what people said.

Imogen glanced at Abraxas and flushing, “My parents did my betrothal announcements…I would have liked to have used them. She just needs someone to take a interest and well…a Malfoy order would have been a perfect first start and opened doors for her.” The witch and her husband had begun a start up company, and she liked them.

“Get me some of their samples,” Abraxas suggested, “But no promises,” he couldn’t risk social ridicule if they were substandard, not even for his soon-to-be wife.

“Do they have a shop? Start-up funding?” Hadrian asked, always on the prowl for new things to invest in. He didn’t need the money, hell, he didn’t think he’d ever need the money with all the companies he’d invested in, both Muggle and Magical in nature, he probably had the most money out of all clients in Gringotts. Not to brag about it, but he’d made sure they had money for everything they wish to do in future and were already currently doing.

“They want to get one in Diagon Alley they said, they’ve got their eye on a print shop, it used to belong to a newspaper that’s long since went out of business?” Imogen said, more of a question than a statement.

“Magical news global,” Abraxas imputed, it was the only other newspaper that had gone bust and had a shop in Diagon Alley, “The printing presses and everything are still there, it’s quite frankly a perfect set up.”

“That’s it! Yes, they’re enquiring about it,” Imogen said.

“It’s difficult, most start-up businesses don’t make it past their first year,” Orion commented, “Leaving most in debt,” mostly because its people with not a lot of money or connections trying to do something different.

“Yes, they commented on that,” Imogen said with a sad smile, “They’ve passed their first year but still don’t have premises.”

“Who are they anyway?” Lucretia asked, wondering if she knew them.

“Oh, Judy and Edmund Macmillan,” Imogen explained.

“Any relation to your mother?” Hadrian asked, knowing that Melania was a Macmillan.

“Very distant relations, cousins I think twice removed,” Orion said, indifferently, “They don’t move in our social circle,” other than Melania’s brother, his uncle, and of course, cousins who were babies right now, they didn’t associate with any other Macmillan. Not that they were from the main Macmillan tree, it was a bastard one if he recalled correctly, and it affected its descendants whether it was right or not. Plus, there were no other Macmillan’s other than the main branch and the bastard one.

Hadrian nodded, wondering what age they were, he was imagining an older woman and man, but there was no guaranteeing that’s what they were. He knew it took a long time, more than just a year to start up a business, and it could flourish regardless of your last name. Look at the Weasley twins, they’d worked hard, while at school…and probably would have taken another few years to get their own premises if he hadn’t given him his Triwizard winnings. From what he had heard even while on the run, they were close to running Zonko’s out of business. It was a chain of stores and Weasley’s had one, and yet they were close to bringing such an empire down, it was impressive to say the least.

Even if they had betrayed him, everyone had betrayed him and…no, he wasn’t going to think on them. They didn’t even exist, and when they did…well, he wasn’t alone anymore.

He had a family of his own.

A family he could never imagined even on his best of days, and even if they became who they had been in future, he wouldn’t care, he’d still love them wholly and fiercely. For his loyalty was not one sided, not like those he had the shame of calling his friends in his past.



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A/N – Remind me never to want to write speeches! Especially that many! My goodness I think I stared at my laptops cursor for over an hour just trying to think of what Tom should say, and what he would want to really say. In the end this is what came to me, I hope you enjoy the chapter anyways, sooo, still not sure whether to have a significant time jump or whether to have smaller ones throughout the chapters like significant things like weddings, parties, official things, political going-ons and important things Hadrian and Tom get done both the things they do in public and things they do out of public view 😉 R&R please