I'm sorry to say nothing is edited. I did not hear back from the person who was going to do it. I am just going to continue on because if I stop for to long two years will pass in a blink of an eye and my story will still be stuck in my head.

Chapter 7

The quick clicking of shoes hitting the wooden floor roused him from his thoughts.

A plain girl in her late teens entered the library wearing a black robe with short sleeves that hung open showing what looked like a school uniform underneath. A grey pin skirt and a button down white shirt. Her hair was up in a tight bun. she was holding a clip board and a feather.

"Mr. Cross I presume " she asked giving a slight curtsy

"Yes you can call me Hadrian and you are Clearwater?" Giving his most charming smile and extendied his hand.

"Yes I am Penny Clearwater " she grimaced at his hand making no indication she planned to shake it.

"Witches do not shake hands Mr Cross and we do not call wizards by their given name until we have a closer relationship and have been given leave to do so. Since I am acting in a position of authority it is appropriate to remain on a last name basis at this time.

The proper response would have been to give me a slight bow or a nod. A slight bow because as your student resident advisor I rank higher than you but since my blood and power status ranking are low a nod would also be excepted. "

Hadrian bowed to show he understood "please forgive me Miss Clearwater for any offense I might have caused."

"You are forgiven Mr. Cross. There is a lot to learn and you are expected to make mistakes in the beginning. You are very lucky having a chance to learn most of this before entering Hogwarts. Most of us muggleborns do not realize we are being offensive until we have already made a number of enemies " she said with a slight frown

"You mentioned blood status and power ranking could you explain them to me." Deciding not to tell her he was pretty sure he was not a muggleborn hoping she would give him more information if she thought they had something in common.

"A muggleborn is someone who is born from two muggles. Some people mostly light wizards who don't believe in the old ways call us first generation witches and wizards and do not seem to hold any prejudice against us.

Then there are wizards like Professor Riddle who call us New wizards because we represent New blood. These people feel we are needed but only sparingly. Since we cannot bring any family magic or abilities into a marriage a strong wizard would only weaken his blood line by introducing new blood. But some of the older purer wizarding families have become magically weak and mentally imbalanced. Studies have shown that introducing just one New wizard to the blood line refreshes that families magic and reverses all signs of inbreeding for at least 5 generations.

The third type of wizard classifies us as Mudbloods. They feel our blood is a taint and will dirty their family. They also feel we somehow stole our magic and cause squibs to be born. A squib is a nonmagical born to two magical parents. Since most of these type of families grow weaker and weaker from inbreeding they have started producing more and more squibs and their hate for us continues to grow."

Before he could ask a hundred questions like what is family magic ? And how do you know if you are a muggleborn? Clearwater continued

"The power levels are ranked from zero to ten . Zero is a muggle completely magicless. A one is a squib since they have a magical core it is just empty. Then magic potential is ranked from 2 up using a ritual that assess the size of the magical spell a person's core can produce.

It is quite tricky and some people do not believe a accurate reading of one's magical potential. Since most basic spells only require no more than a size 3 core some feel a person with a fast refilling magical core is more important than someone who is able to produce say a corporal patronous which needs at least a 6 ranking core if that person then cannot use magic for as long as a day because they have a slow refill time. "

"But I am getting ahead of myself most of this will be explained in your classes and school books. Today I will be helping you get your supplies, showing you around and explaining the rules of the orphanage."

Walking toward a lower shelf in the library Penny began pulling out books and piling them onto Hadrian's hands "etiquette of the well bred wizard" "Magic who is she? " "The book of simple spells" "honoring magic - rituals and celebrations " and "Hogwarts a history "

"These should give you something to start with. You will receive more books when you start classes on September 1st. They start the preHogwarts classes on the same day as Hogwarts. Until then they expect you to read as much as possible.

"Mr. Crouch is in charge of the preHogwarts orphans and will teach you wizard culture and rituals throughout the year. " I will warn you that he is not happy about this position. it's rumored that he was given it as punishment. If you stick to your studies and read the books this should not cause you much of a problem . " she said with a serious expression

Hadrian struggled not to tip over each book must have weighed 10 kg a piece. "Is there a place I can put my books? "

"Oh yes sorry about that. "Borus " she called

Pop a creature wearing nothing but a white pillow case appeared . "Yes misses "

"Borus this is our new orphan Hadrian Cross put a trunk and these books in the boys prehogwarts dorm room. We will be heading down to get his uniforms and supplies meet us down stairs to collect them in 30 minutes. "

"Yes misses " then he snapped his fingers and with a pop both him and the books where gone.

"What was that ?" Hadrian exclaimed

"That was a house elf. They are servants of wizards. They are bound by magic to do what their master orders and in return they use their masters magic to survive. Only a core of 5 and above can own one because of the drain on the wizards magic. But places like Hogwarts and here have enough ambient magic that they only need the smallest amount of their masters magic to maintain the bond this allows both places the ability to have many house elfs"

"So it's like having a slave?" Hadrian quite liked the idea of this.

"No not like a slave your muggle is showing . It is a give and take relationship without wizards house elfs would not exist. They have no free will or the ability to make their own decisions without guidelines. They do not wish for freedom because what you consider free would kill them."

The muggle statement burned but he did appreciate being corrected now instead of later in front of his peers. Clearwater did say she was a low ranking witch and since Hadrian knew he would be high ranking he did not feel the same level of embarrassment that he would have felt in front of Riddle.

They finally left the library and headed towards the back of the house.

"On this floor there is the library, the kitchens, dinning room, and the prehogwarts and Hogwarts class rooms. There are other rooms such as professor Riddle's office but they do not concern you and you will not be able to enter them even if you tried."

"The kitchen is ran by the house elfs if you want a snack just knock on the door and tell them what you want. They are allowed to tell you no. You are not their master so any ill treatment of them will be immediately told to either Mr. Crouch or Professor Riddle and you will be punished."

""Breakfast starts at 7am and ends at 8 lunch at 12pm and dinner at 5:30pm . You should be on time dressed accordingly and always use proper etiquette throughout the meal. This includes no yelling, talking loudly, or chewing with your mouth open, using the correct silverware , maintaining proper dinner conversations and most of all thanking magic before and after your meal this will be shown to you today at lunch."

We will be heading down stairs where all the supplies are kept including your toiletries and the rest of your school supplies like parchment and quills. Down stairs also has the laundry area where the house elfs clean all the clothes and the fitting room this is where you will be measured and given your uniform. On the other side of the basement is the potion labs you will be learning some potions in the next year but are forbidden to enter the labs without the direct permission of a teacher. If caught doing so the punishment will be harsh because you will not be just putting yourself in danger but everyone in the orphanage as well. "

They finally came to a stop in a room with rolls and rolls of fabric. In the middle there was a raised step and beside it was another house elf with a white pillow case.

"Mimpy this Hadrian Cross he is here for his starter pack. He will be starting prehogwarts in September. Hadrian I will go and collect the rest of your supplies while you get measured. "

Then she left leaving Hadrian in silence for the first time since she entered the library.

"Undress and step on the stool sirs" the little elf said in a matter of fact voice

"Undress? " Hadrian asked

"Yes sirs everything but your underwear sirs " the elf repeated waiting patiently for Hadrian to comply.

No mater how mature Hadrian considered himself he could not stop the blush that spread across his cheeks as he removed his clothing and stood in front of the elf.

The elf clicked her fingers and a measuring tape began to fly all around him wrapping itself around everything it could such as his waiste, thighs and weirdly his ears.

In no time at all the the elf clicked her fingers again and the measuring tape disappeared and a piece of paper popped into Mimpy's hands.

"One minute sirs " and she ran off into a door that looked to small for anyone other than a house elf .

Not even a minute later a couple piles of clothing appeared in front of him .

Hadrian began to dress as quickly as he could not wanting to get caught in his underwear by the older girl. The uniform included plain grey slacks with a long sleeve button down white shirt. Nothing spectacular but to him they were great and way more than he ever had before. They were brand new and fit him to a tee. The robe was black like Penny's but unlike hers it had long sleeves. He was wondering how hot it was going to be since it was still summer but as soon as he was dressed he was shocked to discover that it was cooler than it was when he was standing in just his underwear. "I love magic" he whispered while staring in the mirror at his reflection.

He looked completely different than he did just that morning. Nobody who saw him now would guess he was a poor orphan. His green eyes seemed to shine brighter than ever before . His high cheek bones and sharp features would make anyone think he was a pureblood. The only thing taking away from his pristine appearance was his unruly pitch black hair and the lighting bolt scar on his forehead.

Pop "Borus will send these to your trunk young sirs " a click of his fingers and the pile of new clothing disappeared.

"The misses said to meet her in the dinning room for lunch when sirs is all done" Borus said before he popped out of the room.

Hadrian looked at himself in the mirror once again and after looking around to make sure he was alone he allowed himself to smile. Life was looking a lot better for Hadrian Cross.

There was a low buzz coming from behind the wooden door he was standing in front of. The necklace was giving a small hum of what he now assumed was magic.

Entering the room quietly gave him a minute to look around before he was noticed. The room was huge even bigger than one would expect possible in such a house. Maybe if it was the only room on this floor but it shared the floor with many other big rooms.

There were 15 large round tables that sat at least 10 people. In the very front of the room there was a dais with a long table and 8 chairs it was decorated much more eloquently than any other tables in the hall.

This was probably where Riddle and that Crouch guy sat Hadrian thought.

Everyone for the most part was dressed similar . The differences being some wearing short or long sleeves and all the females seemed to be in skirts.

Mostly they seemed to be sitting in their age groups with the exception of a few very young children sitting with random older teenagers and 3 or 4 adults here and there that were taking their meals with students instead of eating at the head table.

Penny was sitting with five other teenager girls who were all staring star eyed at a man who seemed to be telling a animatedly story. He was easily talking much louder than anyone else in the hall.

He continued scanning the room looking for other students who where around his age when a loud barking laugh once again drew his eyes back to the boisterous man.

The quick turn caught the man's attention and Hadrian end up staring directly into the his grey eyes. A look of recognition or surprise maybe even confusion flashed through the mans eyes . Hadrian couldn't be sure because of the distance but it was quickly gone and replaced with a obvious look of mischief.

"Ahhh my dear miss Clearwater it looks like your charge has come to join us." He spoke loud enough that the whole hall stopped eating and as one turned to look where the man was pointing.

If Hadrian was any other 10 year old boy he would have turned bright red in embarrassment but he wasn't any other boy he would not let some uncuff man make him look weak in front of his peers.

keeping his shoulders back head raised high and a polite smile on his face he walked nonchalantly towards Clearwater and the man.

" oh Hadrian I'm sorry I did not see you there" Penny said quickly standing up preparing to come around the table towards him.

A little surprised by her flustered appearance and whatever happened to "we do not say a wizards given name Mr. Cross . " With a smerk he replied " No problem at all Penny I just now arrived. " stressing the name Penny to make sure that she knew he did not say it on accident.

The response could not have been better her face instantly turned tomato red.

"No need to get up my dear " the man gave her a wink " there is a empty chair right here" he patted the chair and looked at Hadrian .

Sitting in the offered chair Hadrian noticed there was a menu sitting on top of a empty plate.