Thank you all for your reviews! Sorry for the long wait, but I had a lot to do, many books to read for school, and exams to take it has been a hassle. I shall try not to use so long next time!
Story: The White Lord
Summary: Harry Potter was betrayed by those he considered friends and family, after defeting the Dark Lord, and saved by unexpected allies. Learning the truth about himself and others Harry now calling himself Hadrian goes back in time to change what happened, hopefully for the better. With finished Muggle education and a steady job, Hadrian enters the Wizarding World as an eleven year old (mentally 34 - he was 23 when he went back in time). Here he tries to change the future to something where he could be happy, and the Wizarding World a safer and better place to be.
Pairing: Hadrian (Harry)/Voldemort
Disclaimer: I am not J. and everything that is known as Harry Potter is not mine.
Chapter 9
When Hadrian returned to the Slytherin Common Room from his little chat with Neville, he saw some of the first years standing around the Notice Board chatting excitedly. Calmly walking towards them he saw a Notice placed there calling all first years to a House Meeting with their Head of House that evening.
Hadrian was not exactly sure what they were called for, but he had a feeling of what it would be. Severus was after all more than just a wizard, he was a Go-Between like the rest of his family before him (even though he did not know that Hadrian knew yet). A Go-Between was someone who was trusted by the High Elves, someone who knew the truth about Magic and Voldemort, they also reported to the High Council.
Most believed Severus Snape to be the biased and unfriendly Potion Master. The 'spy' protected by Dumbledore. Few knew that Severus was also a Prince (Because Severus was a true Half-Blood, those who knew his Mother to be a Pureblood and his Father a Muggle, mostly ignored him, because as they saw it he was not good enough for the name of Prince). The Prince Family had in generations been Go-Betweens of the European (mostly British) Wizarding World and the rest of the Magical population on Earth.
British Wizarding World was backwards and had become stagnant since the building of Hogwarts, when they had broken off from the Courts…
Hadrian stopped his thoughts there. This was not the time to think about it, he had some assignments to do before the meeting.
After dinner that evening all the first year Slytherins gathered at the door to Severus Office waiting to be let in for the meeting. Most of them wondering what they were called for, chatting among themselves trying to find out if someone knew what was going on.
The door opened at seven o'clock on the dot and Severus stood there calling them in.
The Office was done in calming brown colors. There were bookcases along the whole of the left wall filled with a assortment of books in different topics like Potions, Defence, History, Herbology, Runes, Arithmancy and the Light and Dark Arts, that Hadrian could observe from where he stood amongst his 'peers'.
Most of the books Hadrian saw he had read sometime during the five years of training he had done to become a Mage. Hadrian also saw that the Books about the Arts where obscured by a spellward, making it non-interesting for those looking at the books. It was a necessity, since those books where illegal in Britain.
Straight across the room there was a desk that obviously was Severus working desk, if the stacks of paper and writing pens where any indicator. At the right wall there were three pictures, one of a beautiful silver haired woman, clothed in white gown with light blue embroideries, sitting in a chair with a book with black cover and golden inscriptions, the second picture was of a white castle like city build into a mountain surrounded by the sea on one side and green fields on the other, in the third picture there was a man clothed in black robes with silver embroidering at the neck, arms and bottom of the robes, he was sitting in a regal looking chair holding a long sword in front of him – the hilt in his hands and the tip on the floor. Underneath the three pictures there was a table with a candlestick made of gold with runes inscribed and a brown lit candle that sent a calming aroma around the room.
In the middle of the room there was made place for a small table with couches surrounding it with enough places for all the first years and a comfy chair for the Head of House, on the table were there cakes and some hot beverage, tea or hot chocolate perhaps.
Severus sat down in the chair and the rest of the first years made their way to the couches. Hadrian walked up to the wall with the pictures and bowed to the White Lady and the Dark Man on each side of the White Castle. The White Lady smiled a small smile at him and nodded in acknowledgement, the Dark Man just nodded.
After that he took the seat that was left between Draco and Blaise Zabini on one of the couches. Turning his attention to Severus, waiting for the reason this meeting had been called.
"Good evening." Severus looked over them all, observing them. "You are all Slytherins here, and you stand together, I am sure the Older Years have told you that?"
"Never go somewhere alone, at least not outside of the main areas." Was the repeated mantra that the Older Years had imprinted in them after the first few weeks; and now they repeated it to Severus. "Good, remember it and you will survive without too much trouble with the rest of the student body."
"But this is not why I asked you to come here. I know you have all settled in well enough and learn the rules quickly enough to not be nuisances to the others. No, the reason why you are here is an important piece of History that you need to know. All Slytherins are taught this because it is important, so important that everyone should know it. But as it is, the Ministry and the Headmaster thinks that it's not important enough since it's ancient tradition and they want to be 'modern', to make the Muggleborns feel more welcome. They seem to believe that our oldest traditions are too archaic for the First-Borns, and therefore a reason for them to feel unwelcome."
Everyone's attention was on Severus, all the Purebloods had been told since birth how important traditions were, and Hadrian listened – even though he had already heard this once before – because he wanted to see the expressions on everyone's faces. He knew that none of them had been told this important piece of History because it was believed children were too young to understand before starting School.
"The most important thing you all need to know is that Magic is Balance. For every Dark Wizard and Witch, there is a Light one. For every Dark Being there is a Light Being and this is important because without equality there would be chaos."
Severus looked over them again, looking to see if they were following his reasoning. They all nodded back.
"Now you must not believe that everyone is either Dark or Light. It's just twenty percent of the Wizarding population that can categorize their Magic as either Dark or Light and this is Heredity – ten percent is Light and ten percent is Dark; equal. The rest of the Wizarding population is Neutral in their Magic and it is the same for the Magical Beings. There are some Races like the Vampires and Werewolves that are Dark, and some Races like the Veelas and the Unicorns that are Light, but most of the Magical Beings are Neutral. Trolls, Giants, Centaurs, Acrumantula and other beings that are often classified as 'Dark' is not Dark at all."
Severus took another pause, to take a sip of his tea.
"This distinction between the Dark/Light and Neutral Magicals are important, because from ancient times it was the Dark/Light Magical Beings that were the Aristocrats and Leaders of the Lands. That is why most of you here have parents with Titles like Lord and Lady, and is yourself called Heirs. It is always the First Son and the First Daughter of a Dark or Light Family that have a Magical inclination; if there are two Sons in a Light/Dark Family he would have Neutral Magic, the same with a second Daughter."
Everyone nodded again to show that they were still following.
"The reason why so many are interested in 'Blood Purity' is because if a Wizard or Witch with either Dark or Light Magic Marries and Bond with someone that have Neutral Magic the Magic of their Children also becomes Neutral and that way a whole Family technically losses their status as an Aristocrat. Because so many have married and bonded to Neutrals the last four hundred years, becoming 'Blood Traitors', Magic itself let more and more of them that keep up with the Practice of Pure Blood have either Dark or Light inclinations.
An example of this is the Black Family; all the three Daughters of Cygnus and Druella Black, Andromeda, Bellatrix and Narcissa Black, all of them was Dark inclined. Another example is the Weasley Family, where all seven of the current Children are Light inclined.
Now back to History; the Dark and Light is traditionally divided into two Courts, a Dark Court and a Light Court and each of these two Courts have a Lord or Lady appointed by Magic itself, and they were called the Black Lord/Lady and the White Lord/Lady. The Dark Beings in a way belonged to the Black Lord/Lady – the same with the Light Beings and the White Lord/Lady – they would feel compelled to follow the Lord or Lady of their Magic and the Lord/Lady would be honor bound to look after and protect his/her subjects.
You could say that the Black and White Lords and Ladies where the Magical Worlds Royal and Rulers. Unfortunately about a millennium ago the Black and White Lord/Lady of the Time were assassinated by people in their own Courts, and Magic punished the Magical People with not appointing new Lords or Ladies. But since the people was used to be governed by 'Royals' they created a 'Royal Family' to govern them, the Dardanus Family, but the Family when corrupt quickly and mad with power and the Title of Royals was taken from them around year 700 – this was another of Magic's punishments – and the governing was taken by the Neutrals making revolts and starting their own governing body for each city/village with one of the former Aristocrats as Leader, this continued until the 1400s when every Head Aristocrat of a city/village made the Wizengamot and then the Neutrals created the Ministry in the 1500s. And this is the beginning of the degenerating of the Wizarding World and Traditions."
Hadrian took a bite of one of the cookies on the table, thinking that this is what they really should be learning in History of Magic, and not all about Goblin Wars. This was the History of the Magical People and most people had forgotten the fact.
"Today Dark and Light Magic is more like biased labels made by Blood Traitors, First-Borns and Squib-born, if you do anything that is labeled as 'evil' you are Dark and if you do anything 'good' you are Light. This is not true. These labels come from the tendency to call 'evil' self-proclaimed Leaders for Dark Lords/Ladies, and the 'good' self-proclaimed Leaders Light Lords/Ladies. Most of those that have been labeled 'Dark Lords/Ladies' or 'Light Lords/Ladies' are not true Lords/Ladies of Magic. Because Magic do not make difference such as 'good' or 'evil' it is each person themselves that make themselves 'good' or 'evil'. Light Magic means Chaos, there is no structure but the Magic is Wild, Untamed. Dark Magic means Control, there are clear structures and the Magic is - in a way – Tamed, more secure."
Severus looks hard at them, to see if they understand the Lesson.
"How do we know if someone is truly Light or Dark and not just Neutrals?" Daphne Greengrass spoke up from where she sat at the end of one of the couches, with Pansy Parkinson at her right.
"No one knows for sure if they are magical inclined for either Dark or Light Magic before their Majority, which comes sometime between the ages of fifteen to seventeen. Majority is when a person's magical Core settles down. After Majority you just know, there is no way how to explain it, you will understand it in a few years."
Hadrian remembered his own Majority, which was extremely late due to the blocks placed on his Magic making him unable to go through it, but when Severus saved him, and took him to the Elves they took away the blocks. As soon as they were gone his Majority happened. It had been the strangest thing happening to him ever. To feel the all consuming magic everywhere, to truly connect with the Core, it had been euphoric.
Severus voice broke though his musings; "Remember Magic is Balance. There is Dark and there is Light, two complete opposites, Control and Chaos. Dark (Magic) does not equal evil and Light (Magic) does not equal good, there are equal good and evil beings that are Dark and Light inclined, to always balance each other out."
After that the Story Telling was over, but the First years stayed a while longer, eating cookies and drinking tea or hot chocolate. Severus asked each of them if they felt there were any problems with school work, classes or people. Some of them admitted to having problems in one or more of their classes, not understanding some things they went through, and Severus used some time to explain those things.
Those that did not listened to Severus discussed what they had learned, trying to better understand by making examples. Blaise Zabini argued that the 'Unforgiveable Curses' where different types of Magic. The Killing Curse being Neutral, the Imperius Curse being Dark because it Controlled, and the Cruciatus Curse being Light because it was chaos, uncontrollable. Then Theodore Nott argued that the Levitation Charm (which they were learning in class) was Dark because it controlled the movements of objects, while Draco argued against him saying that the Levitation Charm used Air to make the objects move, Elements was Chaos Magic - Draco stated – and therefore since Air was an Element the Charm was Light Magic.
The clock was half past eight when they walked back to the Common Room. While they walked Draco turned to Hadrian; "Why did you bow to those pictures in Professor Snape's Office, Hadrian?" Some of the others nodded and all of them turned slightly to Hadrian, indicating that they were listening for his answer.
"I showed my respect to the people who were the last known people of their kind."
"What do you mean?" Pansy's voice asked from somewhere behind Hadrian.
"That was Salazar Slytherin, our House Founder and his Wife; she was a Daughter of the Line of Le Fay and Merlin. They were the last known Dark Lady and Light Lord chosen by Magic."
"They were the last ones?" Someone muttered, Hadrian did not know who.
"Wait!" Blaise Zabini fully turned to Hadrian from where he was a few feet in front of him. "Did you just say that Salazar Slytherin was the Light Lord and his Wife the Dark Lady? Should it not be opposite? She was clothed in white and he was in black clothes, after all."
"Color of clothing has no meaning for what Lord or Lady they are."
"How do you know? No, how did you knew who they were before we got that lesson from our Head, and how do you know who is what Lord/Lady, you did not even speak to them!" The suspicion was tick in Millicent Bulstrode's voice.
"Wasn't Slytherin chased from this castle because he was a 'Dark Lord'?" Gregory Goyle asked.
"Salazar Slytherin was the Light Lord chosen by Magic, but he did some things that his coworkers and some of his students saw as evil and was therefore called a 'Dark Lord', but was not the Dark Lord. There is a difference there." The chill and raspy voice of Slytherins House Ghost, the Bloody Baron made shivers go down most of the first year's backs.
"Why are you all out here? It's soon curfew and you all need to hurry up."
"Yes, of course, Baron. Thank you." Draco said when no one did anything. His voice unfroze those that had been surprised by his arrival. Only Hadrian had not frozen, but looked at the Ghost and become locked in the Baron's gaze telling him to stay. Draco started to get the rest of them to move quickly towards the Common Room, but soon discovered Hadrian still standing there.
"Hadrian, let's go."
"Just continue back. I will catch up to you."
Draco looked searching at him, before nodding and follow after the rest walking away.
Hadrian stood where he was waiting for the ghost to talk to him.
"You are not who you say you are, young Lord. There is something different about you, we all feel it. Hogwarts feel it." The Bloody Baron spoke quietly when the sound of the others footsteps became fainter and fainter. "But because of your status as Heir and Lord of this Castle we are not able to speak of it to anyone."
"I am who I am. I mean no harm to this Castle or its students."
"That is not quite truthfully, is it now? You wish ill will on some of the persons here: some for right reasons; some for crimes that have not yet happened. We wish to know what you are going to do young Lord."
Baron did not have to tell Hadrian that the 'us' he spoke of where the ghosts of the School and perhaps the House Elves.
"I am going to ask questions with deep rooted prejudices and get people here to think about what they are actually doing, make them question the beliefs that they have been told since birth. The beliefs that they do not truly understand and when they tell them to others they are distorted and reversed. I am scouting and teaching people that I want as part of my Court when the time comes, preparing them for the truth of our history. The truth that most of them have forgotten because of the misinformed Leaders that could not truly see."
The ghost just looked at him, weighing him. A moment later he spoke in the same raspy, cold voice: "Just remember the Rules. You are not truly a Lord yet, and even if you were, you would still be bound by the Rules of Magic."
"Of course, Baron. I remember and I follow."
At the entrance to the Common Room after leaving the ghost in the hallway Hadrian meet Flora. She had been on a trip around the castle for a few days now and Hadrian was happy to see her back, she had been with him since he was four years old after all.
"There you are, I have been looking for you!"
"You have, have you?"
"Yes, I have found many interesting things, and heard a lot of interesting conversations." She looked quite pleased with herself.
Hadrian bowed down to pick her up and settled her around his neck. She hid herself inside his cloths so that no one could see her. Together they went into the common room and then to Hadrian's room.
They did not even stop to answer Draco when he called after Hadrian, wanting to know what Hadrian talked with the Bloody Baron about.
Inside Hadrian's room Hadrian sat Flora down on his bed and then settled himself. "Now what have you found Flora?"
"I have found a lot of hidden rooms and tunnels/hallways in the castle. A man turning into a rat. A Great Dog in the Forbidden Corridor you showed me. And another man talking with a ghost that is different than the other ghosts, the man and the ghost was one."
"And what kind of conversations did you hear."
"Well the man with the ghost was talking about getting into that corridor we are not allowed, and creating a distraction, but that would take some time yet. There were also conversations about you. A red haired boy and a brown haired girl was talking about how to get your attention and become your friend, since they had been told it was important that they did. The red head also said he did not want to play friend with another boy he called Neville."
"You do a great job, Flora. Did anyone see you?"
"No, I kept myself out of sight like you told me to."
"Good." Hadrian picked Flora up again and put her in the tank, then he let loose three mice for her to enjoy.