Chapter 13

Once dinner had ended, Hadrian asked his mother and cousin if they wanted to have their discussion to get to know each other, now or later. They immediately agreed to do it now. The sun was still out and the weather was still nice and warm, so they decided to sit outside. Once they were all seated, he could immediately tell that it was either going to be an awkward discussion or a fun one. He hoped it would be the latter.

His cousin, Susan immediately started. She appeared to be very enthusiastic to start.

"So Hadrian, what your favourite subject? Personally mine is Transfiguration and and Charms." asked Susan.

"Well, I found all the subject's enjoyable in different ways, however if I were to choose my favourite, then it would be DADA and Ancient Runes." responded Hadrian.

"Really?" questioned his mother surprisingly. "Those two are my favourite subjects as well."

Hadrian gave his mother a small smile, which she happily returned. He then asked Susan, "You've left school and the war is over, so what are you planning to do now? What career are you planning on doing?"

"I'm planning to be an auror, like auntie. I've already been accepted through the selection process!" Susan immediately replied.

"Hadrian what are you planning to do? I can imagine that you could go far if you join the ministry and become an auror." asked his mother curiously.

The man in question, chuckled. "I may have the skills to become a great auror, however I have my sights set elsewhere." When they looked at him questioningly, he continued, "You cannot tell any of this to anyone, but I'm planning on starting a company that will help the Magical World have a big jump in evolution."

"That sounds great!" exclaimed Susan. "Whats your companies name? When is it starting? Why have you not told anyone else? What is your company about? What is it going to do?" she asked in rapid fire.

"Susan! Calm down!" said his mother loudly over his cousin. Susan flushed embarrassingly.

"Well Susan, I'll only answer the first two questions." he proposed. Susan rapidly nodded her head, eager to hear him answer to her questions. "Well, it's going to be called 'Black Industries' and it will launch on the day after the upcoming Wizengamot Session. Which is in about three weeks."

"That sounds amazing Hadrian. However, what about all the skills that you have? Won't they all go to waste?" questioned Amelia proudly, however he could hear a bit of worry in her voice.

"Don't worry about that, Mother. I'm planning to enter the upcoming International Dueling Competition." This shocked both of them. Only the best of the best entered that competition.

"Wow! You must be really good if your thinking about competing internationally." Amelia spoke proudly.

"Yes. I'm quite proud with my skills. We should have some friendly one-on-one duels. You know, mother son bonding time." Amelia immediately agreed. She loved to dual, and if she did it with her son, she would be able to get to know him better. Hadrian then looked towards Susan, and said while smiling, "If you want to Susan, I can help you with your dueling. If learned quite a few things through the years. Well that's if you want to?"

"Yes please Harry! My dualing is not that good. It could definitely use some improving!" happily agreed Susan.

The three continued to talk and get to know each other for the next hour or two. Hadrian had learned a lot of things about his mother, Amelia, and his cousin, Susan. Some time later, the discussion finished its natural course and Hadrian proposed a friendly dual against Susan and Amelia. The both witches happily agreed to do. His mother had wanted to see what her son was made of, and surprisingly she lost in only a matter of minutes. She was flabbergasted. She had only lost a handful of times through the years, and in the DMLE she was known as a demon with a wand. But here she was, getting heavily beaten by her own son badly. However, she couldn't but help feel proud at her sons skill.

Susan watched from the side-lines in awe. She couldn't believe how fast Hadrian was moving. His wand and body movements were so fast, that they moved in a blur. Her cousin really was someone special. She couldn't wait to see what he had in store for her. When her time came, Hadrian instead of dualing her, showed her some techniques at getting better in dualing. He fixed her stance and helped improve her accuracy. Amelia was impressed at the tips that Hadrian had given her. He clearly was very observant. After a few hours of spending time with his family, it was time for dinner, and they decided to call it a day.


The past week had gone smoothly. He spend all of his time with all the members of his family. That included, James, Lily, Alexander, Rose, Remus, Peter, Sirius, Amelia and Susan. He and Rose had also done their fare share of pranking. Slowly but surely everything was returning back to normal.

Now it was friday. Hadrian stood in front of the mirror, styling his hair. He was wearing smart midnight blue robes with a pair of dragon hide shoes. His hair was combed backwards, stylishly. His face was clean shaven and he wore an expensive watch on his wrist. In those robes, Hadrian looked every bit of a Black, that he was. However he couldn't help but feel extremely nervous. The last time he was at Greengrass Manor, was during the summer a few days before he and Daphne broke up. That was also the last time he had met the rest of the Greengrass family except for Cyrus, who he had met a few days previously.

Pushing a thoughts aside, he left his bedroom and calmly walked down the stairs of Potter Manor. Moments later, he was in the entrance hall, where all the males were currently waiting for all the females to join them. The males too, were wearing smart robes, however all their colours varied. Eventually, the females that resided in the manor, calm down the steps elegantly. All of them were looking good.

When he noticed Rose however, he jaw dropped. He was about to say something, however he was beaten to it by his adoptive father, James, "I'm going to make sure all boys stay ten meters from you." All the males nodded simultaneously in agreement.

"We should put an announcement on the Daily Prophet, that no one should touch our sister." suggested Alexander.

"You shall do no such thing. My daughter is a beautiful and responsible woman! She can take care of herself!" glared Lily.

"Imagine the Daily Prophet front page with words written boldly on the front, 'Man-Who-Conquered and Voldemorts Right-Hand Man, threaten to harm anyone who lays a hand on their sister.' " said Hadrian with a smirk on his face.

"That a brilliant idea!" excitedly announced James. "I'll write a letter to the Daily Prophet the moment we get back. It should be on the morning paper tomorrow."

"Don't you even think about it!" threaten Lily and Rose at the same time. James, Alexander and Hadrian, immediately gulped. Hadrian may have be a brave person, however he would never want to go against a pair of angry witches, especially the two in front of him.

Seeming pleased that the they were not going to say anything else on the matter, Lily grabbed the floo pot and handed everyone a handful of floo powder. Moments later, one by one, the current residents of Potter Manor were flooing over to the Greengrass's for dinner.


The the residents of Greengrass Manor, waited patiently for their guests to come. The family were all smartly dressed, at having a small talk whilst standing in the entrance hall, near the fireplace.

Cyrus's and Roxanne's face remained impassive. Daphne on the other hand, was very agitated. She tried reinforcing her Occlumency shields to hide her emotions, however she couldn't. She was worried that something bad was going to happen, and that her chances of getting back with Hadrian were slim. But, she kept telling herself that everything would be fine. Her younger two siblings, Astoria and Damien, were excited to meet them.

Moments later, their floo burst into light. Out of the green flames, one by one came out the Potters, who were then followed by Peter and Remus, and then the Bones and ended with the two Blacks.

The Greengrass greeted everyone warmly. However when their eyes laid on Hadrian, they were all shocked, except for Cyrus when they took in his appearance. They may have seen the memory of his trial however, nothing had prepared them for actually seeing him in real life.

Roxanne eyes were slightly bulged. He was no longer the young man that she remember, instead he was tall and handsome. Daphne's throat was dry. She wanted to forget all about Pureblood customs, and hug him with all her might. Astoria and Damien had their jaws dropped in shock.

As Hadrian was the last to enter the manor, he was the last to greet them.

"Lord Greengrass," greeted Hadrian whilst shaking his hand with his.

"Lord Black," replied back Cyrus.

"Please Sir, call me Hadrian," put forward Hadrian with a small smile.

"Only if you call me Cyrus," replied back Cyrus with a similar smile.

He then turned to Lady Greengrass, and greeted her with kiss on the knuckles. He then greeted Damien next because he was the heir, both had blank expressions on their faces, however during their handshake, they chuckled.

After greeting Astoria, he went to greet Daphne, he was mesmerized with her beauty. She was wearing a simple but elegant deep red dress. Her hair, was done up in a bun and she was wearing a simple diamond necklace that Hadrian immediately recognized. It was a gift that he had got her for her seventeenth birthday.

"Miss Greengrass, you look as beautiful as ever." he spoke before kissing her cheek. Daphne felt her face heat up, and she knew she was blushing if the amused expression on everyone's faces meant anything.

"Lord Black, I see your as charming as ever." stated Daphne with a smirk. The smile he gave back almost made her heart stop. However before she could say anything her father started escorting them into the dinning room.

Lord and Lady Greengrass sat on the end of the tables, while everyone else sat on the other side. Hadrian found himself sitting next Alexander, who was on his left and Damien on his right. Dinner immediately begin, and chatters broke out. The older men immediately began talking about Politics while the older females began talking about who knows what. Hadrian then started talking with Damien asking him about any recent pranks that he may have pulled. Alexander too was added into the conversation. Rose, Susan, Astoria and Daphne were talking between themselves about fashion and what not. However they may not have realized but everyone saw the discrete glances that Hadrian and Daphne were giving each other.

Once dinner was over, the guest then found themselves in the living room with the Greengrass's. Once everyone was seated, Cyrus stood up, cleared his throat and looked at Hadrian. Once he had everyone's attention, he said, "Lord Black, I would like to say that on the behalf on the Most Ancient and Noble House of Greengrass, we have forgiven you for the past, for the hurt that you put down on my family and especially on my eldest."

Hadrian then immediately stood up, "Thank you Lord Greengrass. I promise to never hurt your daughter or anyone else for that matter again. Whilst I never did it intentionally, I did hurt you all. I am sorry for what I put your family through. Once again, thank you for forgiving me." They then both then shook hands and sat back down. Hadrian internally breathed a sigh of relieve. He didn't know what to expect when Cyrus had stood up and looked at him in the eye. The Greengrass's were pleased with his apology, and they all had warm smiles on their faces.

After a while, Daphne got up and said, "Hadrian, will you care to join me for a late night stroll around the gardens?" The room immediately quieted. All eyes turned to Hadrian. He quickly got up and replied back, "I will love to, Daphne?" All the adults shared knowing looks with each other.

Hadrian handed his arm to Daphne, who immediately took it and then escorted him outside. It was peaceful. Hadrian and Daphne walked quietly for a few minutes, both not trusting themselves to speak first, in fear of messing up. Hadrian then decided to summon up his inner Gryffindor and said, "Daphne, I'm sorry. I'm sorry about anything."

"For what?" asked a bewildered Daphne.

"For hurting you. I know you left before I could give you an explanation, however I should have replied back all those times you wrote to me in a letter through the years."

"Well it's not your fault. I'm just as much up for blame for you. I might even be more."

"How did you figure that out? I pretty sure you did nothing wrong." said Hadrian in confusion.

"Well if I had let you explain yourself, then who knows what could have happened. That one decision ruined everything between us. My one stupid decision has changed everything. You would have still loved me, like I still love you." ended Daphne tearfully.

His eyes bulged at what Daphne had just said. She still loved him after all these years, and she didn't think that he loved her back.

"I can't believe that stupid decision of mine. How stupid could I get." started Daphne tearfully.

"Daphne."

"Please forgive me Hadrian. It was a stupid mistake on my part." she continued to plead with tears starting to roll down her cheeks.

"Daphne."

"Please Hadrian. Let us start again. Maybe you could start feeling love for me again." cried Daphne.

"Daphne!"

Daphne immediately stopped rambling. She looked down at her feet. Nobody would recognize Daphne at this moment. She was looking and acting nothing like her well-known Ice Queen character, she was a far cry from it. Hadrian softly put his hand under her chin and lifted her head up so that he could look at her in the eye. Daphne became lost in his grey stormy eyes, while Hadrian became lost in her sapphire ones.

He softly pushed away her tears with his thumb and said, "Who said I didn't love you anymore."

Seconds later, their faces slowly began to close in.

AN - Hope you liked this chapter. Next Update will be in a few days. Please leave a review and follow if you want to see more. Thank You!