Ch 9 pt 2

…..

"Mother, tell me these are lies. Exaggerations. This-this picture is Severus helping you after an order member attacked you. Mother!" Hadrian banged against Harry's closed doors. They weren't warded closed but he'd never invade his mother's personal rooms without invitation.

"Mother, open the bloody door!" He didn't mean to, but this time when he banged with both hands his magic, usually under his control, thrust the doors wide with a powerful gust of air and cleared a perimeter of about twenty feet into the suite. Furniture were all pushed to the walls. Sparking glass shattered from the chandeliers above rained down in front of him. Harry opened his bedroom door and looked on at the chaos in dismay. Hadrian hadn't lost control like this since he'd been a teen. He'd worked so hard to keep this under control. Harry hurried to Hadrian and reached to his face.

"Hadrian, I need you look at me, okay, look at me. It's okay, I'm here now, you're okay," Harry chanting, trying to make them both believe it. Hadrian looked down at his mother with terrified eyes. But not for himself, for Harry.

"Mother," he croaked, before stumbling forward and shoving his face into Harry's neck. "Please tell me it's not true, please…" Hadrian sobbed out, clenching his mother's body tighter, near to cutting off his air flow. But Harry didn't mind. He ran his hands through Hadrian's hair, as pitch black as Tom's with the same wildness of all Potters. Magic still cracked around the room dangerously.

Salazar stood behind them, unable to enter the room with all the force Hadrian was exerting. Hadrian couldn't handle his other siblings right now here with him. When he became like this, he only let Harry near him, the only person who could soothe him at times like this. He faintly heard running footsteps, then Lily and Alfred skidding to a stop as Salazar held out an arm to stop them from hurting themselves.

Hadrian tried, he really did as he forced himself to lower the shield he'd put up a around Harry and him. They weren't in danger; his brothers and sister would never hurt Harry. They were family. Harry had drilled it into their head countless times family didn't hurt family when the twins cursed Salazar or Cerise with a spell or when Cerise physically attacked Rom and Reggie or when Salazar sent him a stinging curse. Family didn't hurt family. But what the article said, what the picture insinuated, what his own father's angry disappearance told him was different. His mother's own silence was condemning.

His father, a man he looked up to had done something terrible and his mother had stayed. And Hadrian blamed himself, he blamed his siblings. For what other reason did Harry have not to leave his abuser. The haunted look in Harry's eyes, the urgency with which he'd fled the breakfast room to his suite said it all. It filled in all the terrible suspicions Hadrian had, it told him more than what those words and that single picture screamed to anyone with half a brain.

His question was rhetorical. He already had his answer and Harry had given it to him by his silence.

"…Hadrian, you're safe, we're safe. I love you…. you are loved.. and safe…Hadrian, come back to me…"

Slowly, so very slowly Hadrian relaxed. He didn't let go of Harry, instead he slowly lowered the shield. Salazar took a tentative step into the room before deeming it safe and let go of Lily and Alfred. The fiery girl ran to Hadrian and Harry, flung herself at them and hugging them both.

"Oh Hadrian." Lily nuzzled into his arm but he took no notice of her.

Harry struggled to look over Hadrian's shoulder. He could practically feel the guilt wafting off his mother's chilled skin.

"Salazar, Alfred, where are the twins and Cerise?"

"I called Daphne to keep them company." After a bit of hesitation, Salazar added "As soon as father left, he dispatched the deaths eaters to destroy all the papers entering the palace." Hadrian was glad she his older brother didn't mention a shield had gone up over the grounds and burned all birds carrying the newspaper. Hundreds of dead owls lay in a perfect ring surround Slytherin palace. Salazar directed some death eaters to clean up the mess before Hadrian stormed after Harry.

"And James? Where is he now?"

"With Teddy. The werewolf took him out into the grounds, a dozen death eaters have been dispatched to follow them."

Harry smiled wanly and wiggled out a hand, before beckoning Salazar forward. Hadrian pulled back a bit to make it easier for Harry. His mother cupped Salazar's jaw in a lingering caress in thanks before looking over them both. His gaze flickered to Lily and Alfred before he pulled his arms back and curled them over his stomach.

"I never wanted you to see that. It was a dark time for me" Harry finally whispered.

"Father did that to you." Hadrian started.

Harry tipped his head in the barest of nods.

"You looked like you were in your teens. You told us the Father took you from the Orders control when you were still at Hogwarts. You said you had Salazar when you were a teen. Did father hurt you all that time? Does he hate you for fighting for the Order? You were a child, you didn't know how treacherous the Order was!" Hadrian snarled, pacing away from them. Lily held out her harm to hold him back but he shrugged her off.

"Hadrian, no…its complicated. There was a misunderstanding-,"

Hadrian took out his crumbled newspaper, the single one Salazar hadn't taken and being and shoved the image in Harry face. "This is a misunderstanding? A misunderstanding is when Salazar hexes me when thinks I haven't turned in my report when he's just misplaced it. That's a misunderstanding. This…this is abuse. This is torture, god, mother, what did father do to you?" Desperate Hadrian surged forward and took Harry's shoulders in his hands and shook. When Harry cried out in surprise, Hadrian took a quick step back with his eyes wide.

This was the first time he'd touch Harry with a rough hand. He knew his mother was a powerful wizard, his name inspired awe in witches and wizards all over the world. But Hadrian always touched him with a delicate hand, because to him Harry was his mother, not this powerful wizard everyone seemed to know. To him, Harry was gentle and loving and he would be treated accordingly.

He was horrified that he could hurt Harry.

It was the blood running through is veins, his father's blood. The blood of a monster.

Sorrowful green eyes met his and Hadrian lost it. His mother would never tell him. He lunged forward and did something unforgivable. He tried to look into Harry's mind, looking for things his mother would never tell him. But before he even had the chance to see one memory, Salazar punched him in the face and sent him sprawling to the carpeted floor.

"Hadrian!" Harry screamed, followed by the screams of Lily and Alfred. He fell over Hadrian in a fanatic heap of worry, his hands running over his face and gingerly touching at his abused jaw. It was already beginning to swell from the punch.

"God, I'm sorry. I'm just like him, aren't I?" Hadrian asked miserably. But no matter how much he may be hating himself, he still took comfort in Harry's soothing hands like the greedy boy he was. He remembered as a child how jealous he'd be when a young Salazar took away Harry's attention. He'd act out, force a shield between Salazar and Harry until Salazar walked away with stiff shoulders and Harry murmured and shushed him. Like he was doing so now. He was the one apologizing, as if Hadrian hadn't been the one to mentally attack him. Saying it wasn't his fault.

But it was his fault.

Hadrian inhaled his mother's scent one last time before gazing into the emerald green orbs. "I'm sorry, I'll hope you forgive me." With that Hadrian apparated out of the palace to a small clearing. He made a slash on his wrist and when the blood welled generously, he cast the familiar spell to track his father down. The ministry. It was fortunate he came to a clearing where the palace thestrals were grazing in the grass, still dewy and wet from the morning mist. When he'd made his first kill at thirteen, his mother had brushed the tears off his cheeks and brought him to them. Harry had shown him the wonderful beasts and he'd forgotten all about the terrible thing he'd accidentally done.

He approached one at random. They didn't shy away from him, they knew him. This herd had been transferred from the Riddle manor to here for the week. The beast allowed him to mount it. Great black wings unfurled and they were off, headed to the ministry. It was all a blur. They cut through the sky at a neck breaking speed and before he knew it the thestral landed on top of the ministry building.

He ignored all the people, that tried to stop him as he emerged into the building. He went straight for the ground level and before he knew it, stark white doors stood between him and his father. He shoved them open none too gently and shot a curse blindly into the room.

He purposefully missed, hit the wall right above Tom's shoulder but it got him his father's attention. Umbridge was nowhere to be seen but Hadrian was more concerned about his father.

"You missed."

"Consider it a warning shot. Tell me what you did to mother."

Tom tilted his head to the side and looked him up and down. He felt like a specimen being examined and found lacking. Hadrian bristled.

"Ask him yourself."

"I did. He defended you."

Tom chuckled without mirth. "Always the self-sacrificing type, your mother. He never understood his own value, so quick to put other above him."

"It seems neither did you if you could do this to him!" Hadrian flung his own copy of the paper at Tom. Before the crumpled ball could fall to the floor, Tom levitated it to himself and smoothed out it out. He looked dispassionately at the picture before setting fire to it.

"I have done much worse to him."

Hadrian snarled and sent a cutting hex, which Tom easily dodged. His aim was skewed due to his anger, his magic struggling to be contained in his mortal body. His hands trembled from the power of it and for once Hadrian did not to wish to leash it. He wanted his magic free, free to lash out at Tom.

Tom hit back with his own curses, a few hitting Hadrian but it only caused minimal damage. It incensed him that the hexes were only meant to slow him down, as if Tom didn't think him worthy of a real fight. By now, if anyone else had attacked, Tom would have had them begging for their lives. A small, rational part of him reasoned that he was his son, that Tom wouldn't want to hurt him. But another, more sinister part goaded Hadrian. This man had also put those bruises and cuts on Harry.

The man Hadrian knew was his father, distant but still his father. It was hard reconciling the man he'd looked up to, a father he loved to the man who caused Harry so much injury. He needed Tom to attack him, to show Hadrian that he was right to think that his father was the villain of this story. That would make it easier for Hadrian to play the hero and vanquish the villain. But those were the thought of a boy; real life rarely stayed in strict shades of black and white. And in this story no one was the hero or villain.

Hadrian concocted a poisonous cloud but Tom defended himself with summoned form of a snake. The transparent creature had wings that blew gusts of air and blew his cloud back at him. Hadrian threw up a shield around himself and set fire to the cloud, which reached the spelled creature and burned through the body. Tom used the smoke as a cloak as he apparated inside the room to different locations before appearing behind Hadrian and hit him with a spell.

Hadrian screamed in pain as he fell to his knees, the burn curse shooting over his every nerve.

Standing over his fallen son, Tom bared his teeth and hissed. "I value him above all else, even you children; so do not say I do not know his value."

"But not more than yourself. Tell me, why did you do it? Because he killed a few of your deaths eaters when he was in the Order? Because he opposed you? Tell me!" Hadrian hissed through gritted teeth. It was his father that taught him to never let his enemies see him on his knees lest they come under the impression he could be brought to his knees in the first place. It set a dangerous precedent. But it was his mother that taught him those who faced their weakness were unbeatable, because they knew where to defend themselves. Knowing their weakness, knowing what they could loose, made them all the more determined. And Harry had proved to him determination beat out sheer power every day. He was living proof of that.

"Because he is mine." Tom turned from him, utterly dismissing him as he headed for the exit. Hadrian shot a spell at the doors and the seams of the doors melted into the walls until they were in a completely secluded room.

"No! No, he is not yours. He is not property!" Hadrian shot to his feet and let out a burst of energy that pushed Tom against the walls. The explosion loosened some of the white tile, a piece flying in the air and striking Tom in his forehead. A large gash split into his eyebrow.

"His collar says otherwise." Tom said as he reached up and fingered the dripping blood. He brought his fingers in front of him and scrutinized the fluid, rubbing it in between his fingers. He glared up at his son and sent a cutting hex that caught Hadrian unaware. Large slashes appeared on his chest and thighs. Hadrian staggered back, but his magic was pulsing throughout his entire body. He felt nothing, only a burning hatred and a need to expel all of it.

"Then I will destroy it, after I finish with you."

Tom hit him with another curse that Hadrian was quick to deflect. "Learn your place boy. I am the dark lord, and you a mere child playing dress up. You understand nothing. You are too soft. Harry coddled you."

"Don't dare speak his name, you don't deserve him. You bastard!" Hadrian dropped his wand. While wands helped normal wizards focus their magic and congeal the erratic energy to the wand to form a spell, a wand for him was a restricting collar. His magic, much denser in essence than the average wizards would explode out of him at all angles. It was as if he wielded a hundred wands. His own specially commissioned wand damped his power and allowed him to focus a trickle of it safely.

He was unaware of the complete destruction of the room, the rubble raining down on him in a cloud of dust. It wasn't focused, not without his wand; he had never been able to focus his magic. However powerful he was, he had no aim. But he didn't need it. They were secluded in a heavily warded room and Tom had nowhere else to escape. He would suffer for making his mother hurt.

"Hadrian…Hadrian…Hadrian…" the call of his name got progressively louder. Hadrian opened his eyes-when had he closed them? -and saw Harry in front of him, crouching over Tom's fallen and unconscious body. And for the first time in his life he saw fear in his mother's eyes. Fear of him- Hadrian. He'd been trying to protect Harry, but not like this. He had wanted his father to hurt, not die.

"Hadrian." Harry spoke sharply. He pointed his wand at him and Hadrian watched the burst of white flow from his mother's wand in slow motion. The white formed a stag that canted over to him and shot forward into his chest, dissolving into a translucent smoke and enveloping him in the slightly warm pulsing of magic. It had Harry's unique magical signature all over it. The patronus obliterated of the dark hate and anger consuming him. Hadrian's oppressive magic slowly abated from the room.

It wasn't quiet anymore. The low buzzing of death eaters shouting, the crumbling of concrete, the harsh panting of Harry, and there, just under all the noise, quiet and hidden was Tom's low breathing. Alive, he was alive. Hadrian looked around him at the destruction. He was a bloody mess, as if he'd bathed in the stuff. It was his own blood, his skin and bone body a measly cage for his magic. His fallen father looked worse.

Harry flung his arms across Tom's chest and with one last look at Hadrian, apparated away. Unable to face what he'd wrought, Hadrian pushed through the destroyed room to face the group of concerned death eaters standing warily. He looked at each of their faces, and though they all looked different they had the same look of fear stamped on their faces. He pushed past them and ran. He ran until he tasted fresh air, the crisp touch of rain on his skin. He ran until his lungs screamed for air, and then ran even farther and harder until he collapsed. His legs felt like jelly and his body was beaten down. He looked around and found himself in a park, thankfully abandoned.

He couldn't go home, not now. He couldn't face the consternation sure to be present in Harry's eyes. He couldn't face his siblings, or Severus or Rabastan or Rudolphus…

Hadrian closed his eyes and apparated to the one place he knew he could forget himself for a few hours.

Standing bloodied and dirtied, he knocked on a bright red door of a brick stone house. The streets were abandoned, the lights glowing and warding off the night.

It opened to the grumpy face of one Theo Nott. Rumpled from sleep, his eyes blinked rapidly to focus on the sight before him.

"What in merlin's name happened to you?" Theo reached forward but stopped himself just in time. He pulled back and the look of concern was replaced with an annoyed glare.

"Let me in beautiful. I'm hurt and I did something stupid." Hadrian was suddenly bone tired. He slumped against the frame of the door.

Theo huffed. "I most certainly will not, Mr. Riddle. You can go to St. Mungo's or better yet, call on your personal healer. Goodnight." He went to close the door but Hadrian slapped his large hand over the door and pushed back, pushing Theo with it. Without waiting for an invitation, he entered.

"Mr. Riddle this is highly inappropriate!"

Hadrian ignored Theo's screech and stumbled to the living room. He took off his bloody shirt and pants until he was down to his boxers and collapsed on the comfy sofa. Numerous fluffy pillows broke his fall. Hadrian ignored Theo's affronted gasp. It's not like the man hadn't seen him in less. He liked Theo's place. It was chic and modern, but with small homey touches. He'd expected that being a Slytherin and a pureblood lord, Theo would prefer the oppressive opulence found in abundance at Slytherin palace but the older man surprised him with his simpler tastes.

"Seriously, I've been inside of you, and you still insist on calling me Mr. Riddle. Is that a secret kink of yours?" Hadrian closed his eyes tiredly. God, he just wanted to sleep for a thousand years.

"That was a one night stand and you took advantage of my drunken state, Mr. Riddle!" Theo said through gritted teeth. He stomped over to Hadrian and yanked the pillow from underneath his head.

Opening one eye, Hadrian peered up at Theo. "It was one drink."

"With a ridiculously high alcohol content!"

"It was hard pumpkin cider."

"I have a low tolerance."

Hadrian grinned and pulled Theo right down on top of him. He ignored the man's shouts, although he did take a sharp elbow to his solar plexus before he had his arms wrapped tight around those bony joints.

"Shhhh…. let me just hold you…please…" he whispered.

Theo bit his lip and quietened down. "Hadrian, what did you… Why did you come to my door all bloody?"

"Because you're the only one I can go to forget, at least for a while."

Theo huffed and tried to struggle away from him. "Well, it's nice to know what I'm good for. A pint of ale does the same thing."

"Hmmm, but it's not as cuddly as you." Hadrian was sure Theo was going to cut him to ribbons for that remark. So, he cupped a hand over Theo's mouth, muffling his insults and sighed in content. This reprieve wouldn't last. He'd have to face his mother, his father. So he let Theo's muffled complains lull him to sleep, dreading the time he'd wake again.