Chapter Three
It turned out that Mist did know a few places where he'd be able to get the things he needed. The nymph was rather surprised at why he needed the supplies but Mist seemed pleased that someone from Europe had 'more brains than the average ape'. While it was rather cruel to call most of the people from Europe stupid, Hadrian was rather pleased at the compliment and smile at the Tattoo artist before thanking him and leaving.
While Hadrian was aware that his textbooks would be supplied by the school, he also knew that he had grown accustomed to being able to write in the margins and textbook as he wished and knew that he wouldn't be able to break the habit in time for the new school year so he'd bought his own versions the day before.
There was a Muggle and Magical Stationary store near the middle of the Lane that Hadrian would be able to pick up some of his more mixed supplies. Binders (it took him a while to locate what a 'binder' was as he'd never seen one before), sheet paper, journals, an unlimited sketchpad, pencils, fountain pens, pencil sharpeners, paints, and colored pencils all made their way into his shopping bag as he wandered around the store. In a burst of inspiration, he grabbed some glue, scissors, paint brushes, and a few other knickknacks that might come in handy before checking out. The cost was fairly cheap, only 59 galleons in all.
He still had a few supplies from his time at Hogwarts that he had packed into his trunk and crossed off his list so he didn't need too much else.
He found smelting gloves, ritual knives, and carving knives (for wood, not food. There was a difference, he discovered) in a specialties store. He also found protective robes there and bought a set, just in case something ever happened to one of them. The robes came with a pair of protective goggles each so that was two things crossed off his list.
"That leaves only the Advanced Potions kit," he muttered and smiled as he carried his purchases back to his apartment. The supply list had recommended purchasing that out of Europe so he'd have to wait until he got to the school to pick it up.
"Well, Hedwig, it looks like we're all set for the new school year," he smiled softly at the white owl. Hedwig hooted softly in agreement before going back to her perch to take a nap.
Hadrian spent the rest of the summer living rather happily in his new apartment. He'd struck up a rather nice friendship with Mist and the nymph had happily helped him prepare for his new school. This was how Hadrian received a headache inducing crash course in any and all subjects that he should have (but hadn't) taken at Hogwarts. It was because of this that Hadrian now had a rudimentary knowledge in Ancient Runes and Arthimancy that he hadn't had before. Once the nymph was sure he had those down, Mist moved on to improving his poor potions skills and correcting all the damage that Snape had done over his years of schooling.
It was one day, a week before he was heading off to Magia, that Hadrian's routine was broken. Mist was over visiting after having ordered an Advanced Potions kit from a place he 'trusted' overseas. Hadrian had been familiarizing himself with the potions ingredients included in the kit (quite a bit of them too, probably enough to last a few months) when a bright orange flame appeared in front of Mist's face and caused the startled nymph to fall back in surprise, toppling the dining room chair he was sitting in over.
"Fawkes?" Hadrian asked as the phoenix appeared from within the familiar fire. Hedwig hooted a welcome to the visitor from her perch.
Fawkes trilled in response to Hadrian's question before turning his attention to Hedwig and greeting her with a dip of his head.
"That's a phoenix!" Mist finally recovered from his spot of the floor. "A fire phoenix by the looks of him," the nymph breathed in wonder. "Beautiful."
Fawkes preened at the attention he was receiving and Hadrian laughed. "Yeah, he sure is. What are you doing here Fawkes?" He asked as he stood to retrieve some treats to give the visiting phoenix.
Fawkes' answer was to fly over to Hedwig's perch and settle down next to her. Hedwig didn't seem bothered by this and returned to her nap without as much as a disgruntled hoot. It seemed Harry hadn't been the only one that Fawkes had managed to gain favor with and the teen chuckled at them both. "You've decided to stay then?" He had wondered what the phoenix was going to do now that Dumbledore was dead and he was a bit touched that Fawkes had decided to stay with him after he was finished grieving.
Fawkes trilled an agreement before settling down for his own nap and since Hedwig had accepted the phoenix's presence, Hadrian didn't have a problem with the other staying for as long as he wanted. Just because he was displeased at the moment with Dumbledore didn't mean he had to take out his anger on the phoenix.
"Correct me if I'm mistaken but isn't that the recently deceased Albus Dumbledore's phoenix?" Mist broke the silence after a moment. "I did think you looked familiar at first but you said your name was Hadrian Black…"
Oops. "For all intense and purposes, I'm Hadrian Black but I'm also Harry Potter. Since being the latter is a bit dangerous at the moment, I've been going by the former," Hadrian shrugged as he fought down the feeling of unease the rose in his stomach. It was a bit disgruntling to know that his ruse was up so quickly however Mist seemed to be trustworthy enough.
"Well, it's not like I'm one to judge," Mist shrugged easily, his blue hair framing his face rather well. "Mist is just as much an alias as Hadrian Black."
"Really?" Harry asked head cocked to the side in curiosity. It had never occurred to him that Mist might be just a nickname or alias that the nymph had chosen for himself. In fact, he'd never even asked the man his last name. What kind of friend was Hadrian turning out to be that he'd forgotten to ask his newest friend his real name, last name, or even about his family?
Come to think about it, he'd never really asked anyone about their families besides Ron when they first met on the Hogwarts express. And now it was only because the Weasley's were like family to him. If he took a moment to think about it, he didn't even know what Hermione's parents' names were or anything about them besides the fact that they were dentists and seemingly liked to travel. He didn't know anything about either of his so called best friends' lives outside of or even before Hogwarts.
That wouldn't be a mistake the he would repeat again. "So if Mist isn't your real name does that mean that it's just a nickname or are you hiding from something too?" he asked casually.
"If you're good, maybe one day I'll answer those questions," the nymph teased before moving to gather his things together. "As it is, I doubt that you would completely understand the answer. I'll leave Magia to straighten you out before I tell you. That place as a way of…widening your horizons and opening your eyes that you've yet to experience."
Hadrian nodded in thought before giving the other a small smile. "Then I'll have to keep you to that promise. See you in a few months, then?"
Mist was going to be busy the next few weeks and by the time the nymph would have any free time at all, Hadrian would already be on his third week of school at Magia. It would be a few months, until their first school break, until he saw his new friend again.
"Good luck, Hadrian," Mist gave him a fond smile as he left the small apartment, presumably to return to his store for the rest of the day (his lunch break was about over, anyways).
Hadrian watched the nymph go and was bombarded with a feeling of loneliness. While he'd never had many friends to begin with, Hadrian had become so used to having someone, anyone, around that to be alone in the apartment with only Fawkes and Hedwig did nothing to help the loneliness dissipate.
Fawkes trilled softly, seemingly in attempt to comfort him, and Hadrian gave the phoenix a small smile in return. Standing, he began clearing up the table around him. "Well, we've only a week before heading off to Magia. I guess it would be remiss of me not to begin preparing, don't you think?"
Hedwig gave him an agreeing hoot before shaking off the lingering lethargic feelings of her nap. It seemed his owl was prepared to go somewhere and Hadrian frowned at her in thought.
Hedwig gave him an annoyed hoot before motioning to his writing supplies. Understanding dawned on him as he remembered the support of Remus and Moody when the rest of the Order had been unable to do anything but parrot a dead man. "Yeah," Hadrian whispered as an image of a grieving werewolf made itself clear in his mind. "I should write to them before we go, shouldn't I?"
Hedwig hooted, pleased with her Master's understanding, before coming to sit on the chair of his shoulder while he wrote.
Remus Lupin was borderline insane with grief as he sat defeated in the sitting room of Number Twelve Grimmauld Place.
"Buck up, Lupin. The boy's fine!" Moody barked as he hobbled into the room. "Potter isn't one to go down so easily, no matter what those two bit pansy's think!"
Remus let out a forced chuckle but they both knew the chances of something untoward having happened to Harry were high. The ex-auror sighed as he made his way to occupy a chair not far from the couch Remus was occupying. "He'll be fine," the gruff man attempted to comfort him. "Potter has survived worse than this. He's a strong lad, you'll see."
The screech of an owl startled both men as a familiar snowy white owl flew into the room (and just how had she managed to get past the wards, let alone the closed windows?) and landed not far from Remus' head.
"Hedwig?!" Remus shot up and spun around to face the owl. Hedwig gave him a greeting hoot before sticking her leg out, offering the letter tied to it. Remus quickly reached out and untied the letter before ripping open the envelope and beginning to read aloud.
"Dear Remus and probably Moody,"
"Perceptive lad," Moody praised. Remus shot him a look that clearly meant: be quiet or die. The Ex-Auror wisely shut up. Remus began reading once again.
"I am so sorry for not writing sooner! I just, well I refused to stay at Privet Drive any longer and I couldn't believe that everyone was going to force me back there! We all know the wards were going to break on my seventeenth birthday and that Voldemort was going to attack the place when they did, so what was the point of going back there just to be attacked in a few months?!
It didn't even occur to me to tell you my plan. Which Hedwig pointed out in her unique way, was a mistake."
Remus paused and gave the pleased owl a considering look which was mirrored by Moody. "Well I'll be damned," Moody mumbled, his magical eye spinning wildly. "The owl's his familiar!"
Hedwig gave a proud hoot as Remus gave Moody a startled look. Familiars were rare and bonding with one without meaning to was even rarer. Perhaps Harry's long summers at his relatives with only Hedwig as company played a large factor but either way, it was an impressive discovery. Familiars were attached to the very magic of their Masters and because of that, their overall intelligence increased. Remus doubted that Harry even realized that Hedwig was his familiar and decided to include that tidbit of information into his return letter.
"So here it is: There is no way in hell I'm going back to Hogwarts this year. I love the school but every year something has tried to kill me, be it a basilisk, arcomanutula, Voldemort, Dementors, or the freaking British Ministry. Really, I'm surprised that it took me this long to call it quits.
Now this doesn't mean I'm not going to school, because I am, just not Hogwarts. I looked up some schools in the Surrey Magical Library (did you know about that place? Because I sure the heck didn't!) and found out that Hogwarts is attempting to pass as a Primary and Secondary school and is one of the worst schools in the world."
"What, really?" Remus interrupted himself in surprise. Moody snorted at his surprise.
"Of course it is! Did you think that the only subjects a wizard should know where just what was on the Hogwarts curriculum?! Bah! There're hundreds of different branches of magic that Hogwarts doesn't even mention!" Remus gave the Alastor (he had to stop calling the man by his last name) a considering look before going back to reading the letter.
"I've currently enrolled into Magia Academy in Canada. The Headmistress agreed to allow me to go by an alias. I won't tell it to you in this letter incase its intercepted but I solemnly swear that much mischief has been managed.
I promise to keep in contact and I'm sorry that it took so long for me to write.
Harry
Remus grinned at the letter as he read the words that Harry had easily inserted into the letter. "You are one clever menace," the werewolf said fondly as he brought his wand to the paper after setting it down on the table. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," he intoned happily.
The letter morphed in front of their eyes until it had turned completely into a box. Alastor let out an appreciative whistle. Remus opened the box to reveal a second letter, a mirror, and an international letter carrier. Hedwig glared at the latter and hooted unhappily. Remus opened the second letter and began reading.
"I knew you'd figure it out and I'll have to thank the twins for the map. Anyways, I'll be able to keep in contact with you using the mirror and more sensitive information can be sent through the mail carrier. Any mail addressed to 'Harry Potter' will go automatically to my own mail carrier but I wouldn't suggest it.
You're probably wondering why I mentioned going to Magia and using an alias: that's because even if the letter was intercepted, they'd never have been able to find me. I've changed my appearance completely and I've even used some product developed out of Britain to hide my scar. Without the scar and glasses, I'm virtually invisible in the Wizarding World. They'll probably think that I wrote that to mislead them and I'll be able to hide in plain sight easily.
Did you know that Sirius made me his heir apparent? I doubt anyone else does, either.
Sincerely,
Hadrian Lupus Black"
Remus blinked before smiling a little. Alastor let loose a barking laugh as the letter finished.
"Somehow," Mad-Eye began (Alastor just wasn't working for Remus in association to the retired Auror) grinning nastily. "I think that boy should have been a Slytherin."
And though the thought of Harry being a Slytherin would have had Sirius rolling in his grave, Remus couldn't help but privately agree.