Work Text:
English - Italian
The morning of November 24th, Harry woke up to hair in his mouth. It was George's. Fred was wrapped up around Harry like a giant koala and the other twin was sprawled on top of the smaller teen, with his nose buried in his neck. It was a nice way to wake up though he knew that Fred (for some reason) would absolutely brag later during breakfast. The twins just love to tease Theo. Their fellow Rain Guardian was just too easy to rile up sometimes. For a few moments, the atmosphere remained peaceful... up until Hadrian saw Today's date and paled.
Oh yeah. Today was the day of the First Task. It was bad enough to find out that the Champions would be facing Dragons but it was even worse when his contact (a dragon tamer that Hadrian had known for a few years now) told him that the dragons were nesting mothers.
What were the organizers thinking!?
Hadrian would like to tell that he was confident that the first task would go over swimmingly but while he knew he had a solid plan, he was also conscious that many things could go wrong. Especially with female dragons who just wanted to protect their eggs.
Harry swallowed the lump in his throat and tried to regulate his breathing. It would do him no good to start hyperventilating now. He used to be an anxious kid but he liked to think he had gotten control over it now. He didn't but it was a nice thought.
Sighing, he turned around as slowly as possible so as to not disturb George and cuddled the twins, determinately going back to sleep.
When they entered the Great Hall, later that morning, Harry saw Hermione look intently at them. It looked like she was about to approach them but stopped herself from doing so when she noticed them walking towards the Slytherins' table. He could feel everyone's gazes on him when he took a seat at the table. They were all whispering excitably about the upcoming task while Hadrian was trying to stale off a panic attack.
It was awful.
“You should eat something, Haddie.”
The young Potter turned his head to face Theo and shook his head.
“I feel like I'm about to throw up.”
Marcus Flint, who was sitting just in front of him, snorted and grabbed the pot of coffee. He poured himself a drink and Hadrian had to blink when the mug was pushed toward him.
“You're gonna need it. It looks like you barely got any sleep last night.”
“Oh, thanks,” the boy muttered, grabbing the hot cup.
The sudden warmth around his cold fingers was nice but it wouldn't do anything to his fast heartbeat. It felt like it was about to beat out of his chest.
“I didn't really sleep.”
Adrian Pucey snickered but there was no humour on his face.
“I bet. Do you even know what you're about to face?”
Hadrian pursed his lips.
“I have an idea.”
He wasn't about to admit that he knew exactly what he was about to face because he was not stupid enough to admit to cheating. Especially not to Slytherins (even if he liked them). It's not like he was the only one. Apparently, both Karkaroff and Maxime had seen the dragons and Mammon told him that they had seen the Herbology teacher snooping around too. So really, he was the last to know, apparently.
Harry sighed, taking a sip of coffee. A grimace appeared on his face and Marcus snickered.
“Not a fan of black coffee?”
“That's not what I call black coffee. Where the fuck is the real coffee now and not this mud?”
To be fair, Harry had a sweet tooth. He loved vanilla coffee, hot chocolate and things like that but... In mornings like that, he needed a cup of (preferably strong) black coffee. He needed that to wake up.
Blaise, who was sitting on Theo's other side, let out a hum and pushed a pot toward him.
Harry blinked and grabbed it, inhaling sharply when he smelled a familiar scent.
“Grazie a Dio!” he whispered with reverence before pouring himself a large cup of coffee.
Then he looked at Blaise
“Is that Caffè Vergnano?”
“That it is,” Blaise confirmed with a smirk. “You look like you need it, Potter.”
Hadrian giggled and took a sip, barely refraining from moaning at the taste.
“Are you sure it's a good idea to have him drink coffee before the Task?” Terence asked.
“I'd rather have a jittery Harry than a half asleep Harry while facing a dr – whatever it is that he'll be faced with,” Fred told the other Slytherins.
The green and Silver students raised a brow at the slip-up but let it go.
Jason Vaisey, a fifth-year who was sitting nearby, cleared his throat rather awkwardly:
“Why does Granger looks like she wants to talk to you?”
Hadrian didn't even glance behind him.
“Probably because she wants to. She tried several times in the past few weeks but she never gathered the courage to do so. She even tried to get Ronald to do it but he's never been good to follow orders.”
That and the boy was giving him the cold shoulder (much to Hadrian's relief) ever since his name came out of the Goblet. It didn't matter that he was proven innocent, Ronald saw this as Harry getting more glory for himself. As if getting entered into a deathly tournament was a dream come true. Dumbass.
Still, Hadrian had an inkling as to why Granger wanted to talk to him. Mammon told him that he had heard Hagrid talk to his classmate about the upcoming task and the dragons. Apparently, the Gamekeeper was under the impression that Granger would tell him all about the dragons and... well... While Granger probably wanted to tell him about all of this, her own pride and shame stopped her from coming to him. She had chosen to suck it up to Ronald and leave his side and... Okay, Harry didn't really like Hermione but that was mostly because she was always going behind his back to tattle to the Headmaster. Sure, she thought she was doing it “for his own good” but it was freaking annoying. And then, she had the audacity to look offended when he pulled away and refused to tell her things!?
Hadrian exchanged a look with his boys. Fred, George and Theo were coming along nicely with their training. Mammon was relentless but they managed. Sure, progress was slow but they were trying their best. Still, Mammon would not allow them to slack off, not when they were Hadrian's guardians and were meant to have his back.
Something was suddenly dropped on his head and Hadrian blinked slowly while Theo tensed. A smile appeared on the Gryffindor's face and he turned his head to greet the newcomer:
“Luna. Good morning.”
“Good morning, my Sky,” she greeted him back before turning to the other guardians. “Rain, Storm, Lightning. Hello.”
While the other Slytherins were frankly confused by the weird greeting (and why did she call the Weasley twins and Nott that?), Hadrian just smiled and Blaise actually choked on his croissant.
Theo rolled his eyes at his friend's theatrics and slapped his back in a gentle motion.
“Please don't die on me,” he muttered.
When Blaise got his cough under control, he shot Theodore a dark look:
“What the hell, Theo? Couldn't you tell me? Why did I have to find out like this?”
“Find out what?” Adrian jumped into the conversation, giving them all a confused look. “Why do I feel like I'm missing half of the conversation?”
“Because you are,” Marcus grunted, staring at Harry with a look that Terence would almost call 'soft'. “We all are.”
Hadrian ignored all of this because he was busy asking Luna what she had dropped on his head earlier. The girl just chuckled and skipped away after wishing him good luck.
Hadrian tilted his head to the side and touched his head, gently grabbing the thing. When he pulled it down, he couldn't help but smile.
It was a flower crown – a flower crown made of Gladiolus, Nemophilia, pink Chrysanthemums as well as sunflowers and Gerbera Daisies(1).
It was so nice. Harry whipped his head toward the Ravenclaw table and gave Luna a blinding smile. She smiled and waved back at him, giggling when she saw some students turn away from her Sky with mutters of “Too bright,” coming from them.
Oh, she knew he would do just fine for his task.
When McGonagall told Hadrian to follow her, his Guardians (minus Luna) trailed after him despite the deputy headmistress' sharp look. Like hell, they would leave their Sky with someone so devoted to the headmaster! Hadrian may not think that the old man would try anything so soon but it wouldn't do for them to lower their guard. Mammon and Hadrian's dads seemed to agree with them considering how they always made sure to keep their friend far away from Dumbledore – something that even the most oblivious students must have noticed by now.
They were leaving the castle when a commotion made them turn away from the path leading to the Quidditch Pitch and turn toward the domain's entrance. A crowd of dignitaries had just arrived. It looked like the Bulgarian Minister and his advisors had been invited. Good for them. Other people were porkeying just at the border but Hadrian had to turn away to follow his Head of House.
“Mr Nott, Messrs Weasleys, only the Champions are allowed in the tent. Mr Potter? Good luck. You will need it.”
With that, she turned on her heels and walked away.
“Nice,” Harry muttered sarcastically.
“Woah, what a great Head of House,” Theo whispered with an eye roll.
“You don't know -”
“The half of it,” the twins told him in turn.
Still, they had to leave and let their friend enter the tent so that's exactly what they did. Not before hugging him half to death and wishing him good luck.
Theo grabbed his hand and yanked him into a hug.
“You're gonna do great, Haddie.”
Harry smiled and kissed his friend's cheek.
“Thank you, Theo.”
He didn't notice the blush taking place on the other boy's face but the twins certainly did and they spent the walk to the Quidditch Pitch teasing the hell out of him.
For his part, Hadrian was sitting on a bean bag, waiting for his turn. When Fleur had taken a miniature dragon from the bag Bagman was holding, his theories were proven partially correct. Neither Fleur nor Viktor looked surprised or shocked at the sight of the creatures. Diggory on the other hand... Diggory looked white as a ghost and like he was regretting all of his life decisions. Which told Harry that while Sprout had been spotted in the Forbidden Forest, the professor must have not ventured far enough to stumble upon the Dragons and dragon tamers. So Diggory didn't know.
Shit.
Harry himself looked quite pale-faced when he pulled his own mini dragon from the bag so he was pretty sure he may have accidentally convinced the others that he had no idea as well which was... well... as much as he hated thinking about it, it was probably for the best. While cheating was expected, it wouldn't do to admit to it. He wouldn't be punished for it, he reckoned, but it wouldn't do good anyway.
Still... Diggory.
Hadrian felt a bit bad but... he couldn't have known! Sprout had been spotted near the dragon's camp. How come she never heard them? The silencing spells only worked on people if they were outside of the forest, not if they were down there. She should have heard them and if she did, Hadrian knew that she wouldn't have hesitated to tell her Hufflepuff (not the others though, she was only loyal to her House apparently).
Perhaps Diggory knew? Maybe he was just a theatre kid? Who knew? Hadrian certainly didn't know Diggory. Before the tournament, he only ever heard his name once and that was because of that stupid game where Dementors attacked the players and Harry passed out, falling fifty meters down.
So! He didn't know Diggory! He barely even talked to him, like, once! Maybe the guy was just a good actor! Or maybe the reality of what he was about to face just hit him in the face despite having known for a while! Or maybe... maybe he really didn't know anything about all of this.
Nobody talked after the organizers' departure. Skeeter tried to sneak in but she left when nothing interesting caught her eye and soon enough, Hadrian was alone in the room, Diggory having left, looking like he was about to be hanged (or burned at the stake).
He was left all alone with his anxiety. Which... which wasn't good.
He was ripping small pieces of skin from his left thumb when a gloved hand grabbed him and made him look up.
“Don't do that, darling. It'll hurt later.”
Mammon and his dads were standing in the tent. Of course, they were. Of course, they wouldn't just leave him alone (thank god) when he was about to face the anger of a mother dragon (and a Horntail at that, one of the most dangerous dragons in the world and definitely the most dangerous one present here that day).
Feeling small and helpless, the boy raised his arms and made grabby motions toward Skull. The stuntman chuckled and crouched down, yanking him into a warm hug.
“You're going to do great, Bambino,” his Papino told him while his papa was rubbing his back.
Harry gave a shaky smile to his fathers and to his friend.
Mammon took his hand in theirs when Skull released him.
“Calm down, Little One. It will be alright.”
“Also, we managed to get one of our own as a Judge.”
Harry blinked at his Papino. Reborn was smirking.
“Heh?”
“Well, it wouldn't have been fair otherwise. Each school has a judge so obviously, there should be a judge representing the Academy,”
“You will love it, Ragazzo,” his papa said. “Nobody could accuse him of favouritism because it's just not his kind.”
Uh... who did they choose exactly? Harry was floored.
Skull wrapped an arm around his son's shoulders and kissed his forehead.
“Don't worry too much about it, baby. It's gonna be alright.”
His smile was less shaky now. He felt a bit more confident, and a tiny bit less stressed.
“Thanks, guys.”
His family left soon after, to let him time to get ready but Mammon reappeared 15 minutes later.
“Your dads didn't want you to worry but I think it's best that you find out from us rather than that idiot of Baggy (“Bagman,” Harry corrected them softly) – Bagman. Diggory got seriously hurt. He managed to get the egg but he turned his back on the dragon and lowered his guard because he was too focused on the egg. He won't die,” the Mist Arcobaleno told him when they saw the teen open his mouth, worry on his face. “He won't die but he's got some serious burns on his back.”
Seeing Hadrian pale, the Varia member cupped his face with their hands and looked him in the eyes:
“What I meant to say is: don't do the same mistake. Don't lower your guard and you'll do just fine Haddie.”
Harry sniffled and wrapped his arms around Mammon's neck, burying his nose in his friend's chest.
“Thank you, Mon-Mon. I won't.”
“Good. I'd say to not worry about the points and just do your best but I also put a lot of money on you so... ya know?”
That made Hadrian laugh. It wouldn't be Mammon if the Arcobaleno didn't storm the betting pool to make their own bet.
“I'll try my best!” he replied, a cheeky grin on his boyish face.
Just then, the silencing charm surrounding the tent dropped and Harry heard Bagman's amplified voice call him:
“Representing the Accademia Della Fiamma, Harry Potter!”
There was a bit of scuffle behind the mic (or whatever spell was used) and then, a throat being cleared:
“Sorry... Hadrian Potter!”
When Hadrian entered the field, he didn't really have the time to mumble at the state of the (former) Quidditch Pitch. He was a bit too busy looking at the giant creature chained in the centre of the field. And the crowd. Oh god, there were so many people!
Bagman's magically amplified voice called his attention and his jaw almost dropped when he recognized Fon sitting at the Judges' booth. Oh.
Oh!
“Is that... Is that a flower crown?”
Harry glared at the judging booth. What? Did he have something against flower crowns? Flower crowns were awesome!
As if the wizard could see or sense his glare, he backtracked very quickly:
“Not that – not that there is anything wrong with flower crowns!” he squeaked.
From his seat among the V.I.P guests, Flavio Nicoletti, the Italian Minister, let out a chuckle.
“I forgot that your kid was going to participate,” one of his friends and Councilman muttered under his breath.
Flavio slapped his chest.
“He's not my kid.”
“But you're intrigued.”
“That I am. I'm very curious to see what he will do.”
Will he use his flames? Will he limit himself to Magic? No one of those choices would be bad as long as he didn't get hurt by limiting himself to only one thing.
It hadn't been funny to see the kids get hurt – mainly the last because it looked serious, but Wixen and their entertainment... it certainly wasn't Flavio's cup of tea but it was also an opportunity to reach out to other communities. Not necessarily Britain since Wizarding Britain had been and still was the laughingstock of the other magical communities. Still, it was an opportunity and Flavio had to admit that he was intrigued by the youngest Champion.
Seeing him enter the pitch wearing some kind of resistant jumpsuit and a flower crown was... endearing? Yes. Yes, it was.
Goddammit, he was charmed.
Hadrian had entered the pitch with a vague idea.
He wanted to spread a message: magic wasn't everything. So he wouldn't rely just on his magic to survive this death trap that people called a 'friendly tournament'. It would be a statement to the Flames users that Hadrian Potter wasn't a fool whose strings were attached to his bearded Puppeteer.
That's exactly what he was going to do.
The first thing he did upon entering the field was getting the fuck out of the dragon's vision and line of fire. He jumped behind a big rock, feeling the heat of the roaring fire behind him.
This was terrible!
He wasn't going to die though – Mammon would find a way to bring him back to life just to kill him again.
So he tightened his hold on his wand (he didn't say he wouldn't use magic, just that he wouldn't just rely on it) and pointed it to the sky:
“Accio weapon box.”
“It looks like Mr Potter used a spell though I couldn't hear what.”
Bagman's amplified voice seemed to annoy the dragon and the creature breathed fire toward the stands. Screams echoed but the spectators must have gotten used to it by now and knew that the wards wouldn't let the fire pass through and hurt them.
Hadrian tilted his head to the side when he heard a whipping sound and he raised his head to see a small object fly above Karkaroff's head and straight toward him. With a shaky breath, the young wizard climbed on top of the big rock and caught the box before jumping on the ground and rolling behind another rock, barely avoiding a barrage of flames.
Oh god, he was going to die!
But at least he had his weapon box now.
“Oh, so he used the Accio spell. Nicely done. It's a fifth-year-level charm, right? (2) I wonder what he summoned.”
Hadrian closed his eyes, his hand closing on the box. When he opened them, his green eyes were glowing, fiery embers circling around his irises.
“Serpent piumato di Cieli version Carcassa!”
If they wanted entertainment... Hadrian would give them entertainment. He wouldn't do it for them though. He would do it for Mammon because his Mist friend deserved the money for putting up with the British wixen for him.
Light burst from his box and exclamations of surprise reverberated all around him in the stands.
It wasn't the first time Harry was watching Alessio burst from his case. When he first managed to open his weapon box and meet his companion, he had no idea what the creature was. It took him hours, days of research to find out: his companion was a Quetzalcoatl, a feathered serpent. A descendant of the god, Quetzalcoatl, himself. It was a legend of course but wixen named those feathered serpents after the god of the Winds and revered them as such. Nowadays Quetzalcoatls were not common and tended to hide away from civilization. It was probably quite a shock to see one here. Or what looked like one anyway.
“Oh my, is that – is that Quadz... Quetz... -”
“A Quetzalcoatl,” a voice interrupted him.
They could probably tell it wasn't a normal Quetzalcoatl. The creature was coated in bright orange flames.
Fred stared at the giant snake... dragon... Being standing on the field, near Harry. It was not as big as the dragon, he thought with worry. But it was easily as big as four... maybe five, six Harrys (if he was generous) piled up. And it was distracting the dragon. So, while Alessio was flying around, showing off to the public and being a general nuisance to the nesting mother dragon, Harry tightened his hold on his wand and started to mutter incantations under his breath. Technically, he could have just used his fire to fly (and he would if he felt like he was about to die) but Harry knew very well that flying without a broom was very not common in the British Isles and while he wanted to show that he wasn't some helpless brat, he also didn't want to add to his title as the Boy-Who-Lived. His weapon box was more than enough to show the right people that he wasn't someone to mess with (and that he firmly belonged to the Underground).
Bits of rocks detached from the ground and were rearranged to form some kind of flat platform. Harry climbed up a rock and jumped on the nearest floating stone slab, all the while gesturing to the other stoned platforms, making them float near him.
“Now, that's an interesting spell,” Bagman said as Alessio was making circles around the Horntail. “I don't think this spell is taught at Hogwarts, am I wrong?”
Harry forced himself to tune him out. He couldn't let himself be distracted by anyone. Gaining momentum, he jumped onto another stone slab, instinctively extending his arms to keep his balance.
Using his wand to make the floating stones move along, he smiled when he heard the dragon roar with annoyance. Alessio would be fine. He couldn't be killed, he didn't need to worry about him.
Instead, he jumped from stone to stone, quickly approaching the unsuspecting dragon. He was only a few feet away from the head of the dragon when the creature turned around and noticed him.
“Shit,” he quietly swore in the silence.
He whistled to call Alessio and the Quetzalcoatl came flying toward him. The dragon roared and took a deep breath but Hadrian was ready. He jumped onto Alessio when the feathered serpent came flying at him. Flames grazed him but he got away uninjured while Bagman was almost screaming himself hoarse. He kinda reminded him of Lee Jordan. Or maybe Lee Jordan reminded him of him. Heh.
Harry wrapped his arms around Alessio's thick neck (well, what he considers his neck anyway). The green serpent let out a hiss as he flew around the dragon. The Horntail snapped its jaw at them and Hadrian saw how frail the chains looked. Sure, they were magical chains but he could tell that it wouldn't take much before they broke. He needed to make it fast.
Lowering his head to avoid the wind, the boy muffled a snicker as he heard his companion call the Horntail a “winged nuisance”.
“Alright, we need to go closer.”
“Closer?” Alessio hissed back.
Hadn't it been a shock when his parents discovered Hadrian hissing back his weapon box a few years back? Still, Hadrian had been shocked when he found out – in his second year- that Parseltongue was considered a Dark ability in Wizarding Britain.
Hadrian continued to hiss instructions to his companion while the Quetzalcoatl expertly dodged enormous wings, fangs and even a spiky tail.
Flavio straightened in his seat when the dragon used its tail to violently destroy one of the nearest stoned platforms. Thankfully the boy was not standing on those anymore but he and his Weapon Animal were close to it. Still, the Serpent's wings protected the teen and the Italian Minister bit back a relieved sigh. Thanks to the omnioculars, Flavio and his councilmen had a better view than most. They could see the teen whispering things to the Quetzalcoatl - and what a magnificent creature! It was a large serpent, almost as large as Basilisk with a narrow head adorned by fiery red feathers. It had colourless eyes which may be the reason why he heard some Wixen ask if the creature was blind. But they weren't milky white, just colourless. Its body long and sharp was a beautiful green and its belly was a soft yellow. Gold adorned its tail that ended in red and blue feathers. It was quite the specimen. Flavio had only ever seen a Quetzalcoatl in pictures but he could recognise it instantly even without the announcer stuttering it out loud.
A scream from the audience (as well as numerous gasps of shock from all around him) brought him back to Earth and he reported his attention, just in time to see the boy fall down. Or, more like... jump down? Because considering the wild grin on his face, it couldn't have been anything but intentional.
He could hear (what he recognized as) Skull screaming in both joy and fright.
Oh, dear.
Hadrian glanced at the crowd as Alessio flew lower to the dragon.
“I might actually just manage to give my dads a heart attack.”
And then he jumped down on top of the dragon's back and let himself glide down toward the nest, using the creature as a slide. He laughed when he heard the screams echoing all around the stadium.
'Although,' he thought as he caught himself on the back of the dragon, 'Dad will be so fucking proud of me'. After all, Skull was a stuntman at heart.
While the dragon was entertained by Alessio, Hadrian turned himself invisible using a simple spell that would turn him invisible to magical creatures but not humans (though it would be hard to see him anyway). It was a tricky spell he learned from Mammon. The ex-Arcobaleno had found it in an old Scandinavian book. It was hard to translate but one of their contacts had been very helpful with that.
The moment Hadrian grabbed the golden egg, an alarm was sent to the judges. The spell had been added to each golden egg as a safety measure so that the organizers would know when to send the Dragon tamers to retrieve and calm the dragon mother.
“Hadrian Potter has successfully retrieved the Golden Egg. He may not have been the fastest, but he is uninjured!” Bagman exclaimed, his amplified voice echoing all around the stadium.
Harry smiled and slowly made his way away from the nest and the mother dragon.
When the dragon tamers appeared – Charlie Weasley among them- Hadrian took a few more steps and deactivated the spell that kept him invisible from the dragon. It didn't change anything anyway; she was too busy with her handlers.
Adrenaline no longer coursing in his veins, he almost stumbled on his way back, only waving at the crowd in a daze before leaving. Breathless, he made his way toward the medical tent. He was brought out of his daze when his eyes fell on Cedric. The boy was unconscious and a thick paste was covering his back. Madam Pomfrey was hovering near him but she looked up when she heard his steps.
“Mr Potter!”
But then she noticed that he didn't look injured and sighed in relief. Still, she had to ask, just to be sure:
“Are you uninjured?”
“Yes, Ma'am.”
“Good. I don't what they thought they were doing when they planned this task,” she said, focusing her attention back onto Cedric. “Last year dementors, this year dragons, what are they going to bring into this school next?”
“A Cerberus?” Harry suggested playfully.
Poppy opened her mouth to say ask where this ludicrous idea came from when she stopped dead. Her eyes widened and had she had any less decorum, she would have groaned in despair.
“Merlin, no. Not you.”
That would explain some things regarding Mr Potter's first year. While Hadrian was certainly more mature and gentle than his biological father, he was still just as curious as James Potter had been when he was his age.
“Take a seat, Mr Potter,” she said instead.
Harry obeyed and sat down with the other two Champions. It wasn't long before he was called to receive his scores though and he smiled awkwardly at Delacour and Krum before hurrying outside.
“To Mr Potter, the judges accorded...”
Harry didn't want to be interested in his scores but he was.
Madam Maxime showed her score first: a 9. Then came Dumbledore with a 9 too (the old man didn't look too happy it seemed he didn't know Hadrian knew such spells and he had no idea where the Quetzalcoatl (that had long since regained its place in its box) had come from). Crouch and Bagman gave him both a 10 while it was a 9 for Fon, showing his fairness. Hadrian knew that the point deduction was for his recklessness. He didn't want Hadrian's dads to blame him for “encouraging his recklessness”. As if they didn't do that themselves.
Finally, it was Karkaroff's turn and the man surprised Hadrian by attributing him a 7. Nice.
Sure, he heard some boo at the last score but Hadrian was pretty sure it was the best score he had given to anyone not named Viktor Krum.
At the end of the day, he was in first place with 54 points out of 60. Krum was second with 50 points. Delacour and Diggory were strangely enough tied to third place. Both had the same amount of points reduced (surprisingly) but for different reasons: Delacour for how long it took her to complete the task while Diggory was because he had been seriously injured.
Hadrian grimaced at the reminder but Mammon chose that moment to appear and smacked him on the back of the head, scolding him for feeling guilty.
“How did you even know?” he asked, rubbing his head.
Mammon gave him a look.
“You made that face that tells me you feel guilty.”
“Hadrian!”
Harry didn't have time to turn around before he was assaulted by his friends. Theo reached him first. Then the twins appeared and wrapped them both in a tight hug. Luna somehow managed to slip into the hug as well. A flash temporarily blinded him and when he opened his eyes again, Hadrian gave Bozo a flat look.
The photographer looked sheepish:
“I have Mister Reborn's authorisation,” he said as if that explained everything.
It kinda did.
Harry snickered and shook his head. Whatever. He was just glad the task was over with.
“Merlin, Haddie, you scared me to death,” Theo mumbled in his ear.
Hadrian felt his cheeks heat up.
“Sorry,” he whispered, hugging his friend back. “I didn't think about how it would look to you guys.”
Well, he did think about how his dads were going to react (he was pretty sure he heard his dad scream a “HELL YEAH!” when he had jumped from Alessio's back) but he hadn't taken into account.
“It's okay,”
“Bloody Hell, Harry, that -”
“was awesome”, the twins said in turn.
“It was. I took pictures for my dad,” Luna added cheerfully. “And I'm sure he will particularly love the picture I got of Alessio.”
How Luna knew how he named Alessio was beyond him but then again, he thought, Luna always knew things she shouldn't.
“Harry, mate!”
A groan escaped him and he buried his face into Theo's chest.
“Please, no,” he moaned quietly.
He could feel Fred and George chuckling.
Instead of hissing and snarling at the newcomers like he wanted to (he may not be able to take his animagus form yet – and wouldn't for a while either- but he certainly got a few traits from it), he disentangled himself from his friends, his Guardians and stood, his back straight and his head held high. Not too high, he didn't think of himself above anyone but he wasn't scared to tell people off. He wouldn't be scared.
Still, a lump formed in his throat when he caught sight of Ron and Hermione. They had been his first friends in the Wizarding World. Then again, they had also been the first friends to abandon him. Betrayal at its finest and maybe Hadrian was being dramatic but it did feel like a betrayal and it hurt. Especially since, unlike Hermione, Ron didn't just kept his distance from him (despite the Oath!), no. He took every chance he got to tell Hadrian how he felt about him being an attention-seeker. Ron knew he didn't put his name in the fire but did he care? No.
And now that he came out alive of the first task, Ron was coming back?
“Whoever put your name must have thought you'd die.”
No apology. That was it. That was Ron.
The twins snarled and it was only thanks to Theo's quick reflexes that they didn't jump their younger brother. Around them, the crowd of (mostly) students halted. Most continued on their way out but a few dozen stopped in their tracks to follow the confrontation, like the eager gossips they were.
Hadrian would have loved to drag answers out of Ron's and Hermione's mouths (why did they leave? But he already knew and had known for a while that they weren't Harry's. They were the Headmaster's. Even if they ever developed their flames (which he didn't wish for them, of course, because it would they'd be in a life-or-death situation) he would have never trusted them to become his. They would have never bonded even if Hadrian hadn't bonded with his parents and with his friends.
“What do you want?” he asked.
He refrained from crossing his arms defensively over his chest.
Hermione visibly recoiled at the sharpness of his tone. Good.
Ron just looked confused.
“Are you coming? They're going to start the feast.”
Behind him, Theo muttered some not-so-nice things about Ron but Hadrian only stared at the other Gryffindor.
“Yeah. Theo invited us to eat at his table.”
He didn't but Hadrian knew that the other Slytherins (most of them anyway) wouldn't mind.
Ron's face took an interesting shade of red. He looked angry.
“Again!? Harry! You really need to stop hanging around those slimy snakes!”
Around him, the few Slytherins present hissed in annoyance.
Hadrian glanced at Hermione. While his former friend looked disapproving of Ron's words, she didn't seem to disapprove of the general message.
Of course not.
He shook his head and took a few steps forward. Enough to look slightly threatening but not enough end within reach of those two.
“You spent a month insulting me every time we crossed paths despite knowing full well that I took an Oath and now... You come back and act as if nothing happened?”
He pressed his lips in a thin line before continuing:
“If you think things are going back to the way they were before, you're wrong. And for the last time, snakes are not slimy!” he told Ron before turning on his heels and walking toward the castle.
The crowd parted to let him pass and he heard his guardians follow after him.
He was proud of how he handled himself. He didn't even curse. Nice (Yes, he was praising himself, shut up).
Alright, now he just needed to find his dads.
Hopefully, his dad would be more focused on the fact that Hadrian could be a showman too instead of the fright he caused them.
It would be fine.