Disclaimer: I obviously do not own anything related to Harry Potter or League of Legends. I am simply a humble writer attempting to increase my skills with worlds and characters that I love.

Note: Arcane got renewed for season 2! Yes!

Part Four - Enter Hadrian

The Next Morning

The resounding smacks of the heavy bag were slowly driving Vander insane. Violet was laying into the unfortunate training aid and the act was unintentionally aggravating his hangover. What made it worse was the knowledge that Silco would probably be waking up just fine. For such a thin man he'd always been able to drink his larger ass under the table.

He managed to bear the noise for a few moments more before he directed his charge to stop and begin shadow boxing in front of the wall length mirrors on the other side of the room. His gym wasn't extravagant by any means but it did have the essentials.

Violet was walking into her position when the sound of light clapping came from the door. She spun towards the sound with fists raised while he just turned slowly and tried to hold in his breakfast. Damn that Silco opening the second bottle. And damn himself for agreeing to share it.

The mysterious intruder was leaning casually agains the doorframe. His hair was long, jet black, and held together in a low ponytail. His clothes were, although coated in the inescapable dust of walking down the narrows, well made and in fine repair. He was wearing a black three piece suit with a red shirt and emerald green tie. The clapping hands were covered in dark brown leather gloves and the entire ensemble was brought together by a finely polished ebony walking cane, its curved grip wrapped over his forearm as he continued his applause.

When it became clear no one was going to say anything he stopped clapping, slid his cane into his left hand, and walked inside; A top hat hid his facial features.

"You look a little pale Vander." His voice was like whiskey, sweet at first, and curling into potential danger at the end. "Did my old man keep you up too late?" There was a definite laughing tone at the end that time.

Before the bar keep could respond Violet was shoving her way in front of him. Her fists were down but her normal scowl was certainly out in force.

"Do you have any idea who you're talking to?" She demanded. "Show some damn respect!"

If Vander had any doubts as to who this young man was then they disappeared at his next action. The boy positioned his hand in front of his mouth as if to hide his words, angled toward him, and then whisper/shouted "This girl is feisty, by the gods that's hot."

With a roar Violet launched herself at the interloper. For his part the older bar keeper chose to sit on the edge of his home made boxing ring and watch what happened. This could prove a good way to view the boy's strengths without even lifting a finger of his own.

The girl launched herself into a flying right hook that the boy easily dodged, then in a flash he struck her side with the head of his cane before leaping back for distance. The impact caused Violet to grunt and grip her ribs briefly before jumping back in and trying for an uppercut, which the boy dodged again before jamming his cane into the exact same spot as before. This only seemed to enrage the girl and soon she was going berserk, throwing punches in insane combinations, sacrificing all defense for power and any chance of landing a finishing blow. All the while the new boy kept dodging and smacking one spot with the clearly hardened wood of his cane until finally Violet overextended too far and the boy dropped his cane only to drive his knee into the already bruised ribs.

This time the girl couldn't just shake it off. Too much damage had been done to a single spot and the resulting pain had shattered her normally impressive tolerance. She moaned with agony and fell to the ground in a curled up ball while the new boy straightened his tie and retrieved his cane. Then with a flourish of feet and hands he removed his hat and bowed to the bar keep.

Said barkeep could only stare. When Silco had said he'd know his son when he saw him, he'd thought he'd just be meeting a cocky womanizing teenager, not someone with a gods damn mirrored image of a scar on his eye! Seeing a blood red orb peering out at you without warning was a bit disconcerting to say the least.

Burying his surprise with supreme effort he managed to say, "You're Silco's boy then?"

He smiled in a knowing way before saying, "But of course." He gestured to his face, "Can't you see the resemblance?"

"Now that you mention it yes." Vander pointed to the still downed Violet, "You had a good strategy there. you let her tire herself out while focusing damage in a place that could hurt her. Very good, but I noticed at least five other places during the fight that you could have got a hit in. You were playing with her. I won't have that here nor will I teach it. It's a sure fire way to get yourself killed in a real fight."

Instead of answering the boy just leaned down and pulled Violet to her feet. She was still clutching her side with both hands so was unable to stop Hadrian from brushing a few locks of hair out of her face and kissing her cheek. Her face burned crimson and for once it didn't appear that rage was the cause.

"My name is Hadrian." He spoke once more in that whiskey smooth voice, "What might your name be beautiful lady?"

The blush continued as Violet stuttered her answer, "V-V-Violet." She looked at him then, really looked, and managed to stop stuttering, "How did you learn to move like that? Is that something you can teach me?"

The boy just smirked. "Tell you what, let me take you to dinner. I'll tell you all about my training regime then."

Vander was floored. In less than ten minutes this kid had managed to both defeat the most promising student he'd had in years and ask that same student out on a date!"

"Sure, but you're buying." She smirked. Now the aging bar keeper thought he was having a stroke. His little girl had just agreed to a date with the guy that had kicked her ass!

"I wouldn't have it any other way my dear. Perhaps you'd want to work out with me a little first? Burn off some calories before the meal?"

"I'm planning on hitting the bench later this afternoon. That work for you?" She gestured to her favorite place in the gym, the bench press/squat rack combination, and smiled proudly. She'd made it herself after all.

Hadrian's eyes lidded over for a second before he nodded to the girl. "By the gods I love strong women. You're on."

Though Vander really, really, wanted to step in and show this kid what for for daring to hit on his adopted daughter, he stopped himself. The man had long ago decided that it wasn't his place to try and control his girls lives. He'd be there for them, offer support and advice, but he wouldn't straight up forbid them from anything. His own experiences showed how well that would work.

That being said, he wasn't above making his displeasure known in the ring. He tossed a pair of heavy gloves at the boy and gestured to the sparring space.

"Get changed and meet me in there. I know how you stack against Violet so it's time to get a direct feel. Also, Silco told me about that little talent of yours, keep it on lock."

Hadrian nodded and walked back to the door where he retrieved what was clearly a gym bag. He must have dropped it there before making his "grand" entrance.

He walked into the bathroom and five or so minutes later came back out wearing a loose pair of shorts and a black muscle tank top. The loose clothing and skin bearing aptitude of it gave a clear view of all the tattoos covering his body from his shoulders to his hands. Each was colored the purest black as a contrast to his naturally pale skin.

His shoulders featured the snarling faces of wildcats, leading down his arms were twisting and writhing branches of thorns, and the backs of his hands featured a pair of crossed swords and pistols. Whoever had done his inc had been a genius, and based on the amount visible now, it was safe to say the rest of his body was equally covered.

Hadrian looked toward Violet and just managed to catch her licking her lips before she schooled her features. He gave her a knowing smile and jumped into the ring with his fists raised toward Vander. The older man was already in position.

The barkeep rang the bell beside him and started shuffling forward slowly. In contrast Hadrian began bouncing on the balls of his feet and slowly retreating.

Vander was impressed. The boy was taking his time to watch how his opponent moved and develop a strategy. Apparently he didn't need long because he suddenly darted forward with a quick jab that Vander easily blocked. He went to return the blow but the boy was already out of range. This process repeated three more times and the bar keep decided that he'd had enough of a ranged assault, so the next time Hadrian went in for a blow he ducked under the arm, wrapped it up tight to keep him from moving and drove a fist into the kid's gut.

To be fair the boy handled it better than most. He didn't vomit at least. And some part of Vander respected that. But then he remembered that Silco's kid had been hitting on his adopted daughter and decided to get rid of the kiddy gloves and get some small measure of satisfaction.

A dark grin lit on his face and he proceeded to keep driving his opponent's stomach into the ceiling. Again, and again, and again until finally the kid retaliated suddenly with a wild kick to his groin. Vander snarled in annoyance and pain as he released the boy and stumbled back holding his bits as he backed away. He took a couple of deep breaths and let the pain roll through him and fuel his rage until he finally stood up straight, his breath seething through his nose like a bull. Veins started bulging in his face and with a roar he jumped back at his opponent! Only for the bell to ring out.

Hadrian dropped his gloves, gasping for breath, and Vander stumbled a few steps to try and halt his furious charge. He only just made it before looking back. Violet was standing beside the bell with a stop watch in her hand. The hands marked five minutes.

Huh. Vander thought. The new kid lasted an entire round with me. I must be getting old.

"Well," He sat heavily on a bench and tried to take some pressure off his aching testicles. "You got speed kid. There's no doubt about that. But you definitely need to work on your combinations and getting out of locks. Someone gets a solid hold on you and you are screwed."

Hadrian nodded from his position leaning heavily on the ropes. He was taking deep, hissing, breaths and clearly trying not to look like he was hurting in front of the lady. Oh to be young again.

"One thing you don't need to work on is your kick." He groaned as he cupped his groin. "You connect with that again and any normal person is going down."

"Just so you know the groin kick is not my go to move." Hadrian smiled. "But you're right. You had me locked up there and with how hard you were hitting me I couldn't think. I went with the first move I could think of that would cause the most damage."

"Good choice. But don't make a habit of it with me. I won't forgive it next time."

"Understood. So do we have a basis to start my training?"

"I think we do. Now go run five miles and when you get back we'll do some weight work."

He turned to Violet, "You grab your gloves and we'll do a round before you head out with powder and your gang."

Before he left to carry out his new mentor's orders he turned to the girl lacing up her gloves. "Pick you up at eight for dinner Vi?"

"Vi?" She sounded both questioning and amused by the new nickname.

"It sounds cute doesn't it?"

"If you say so." Now she was definitely trying to hide her smirk. She normally hated it when guys tried flirting with her, but something was different here. This boy was really doing it for her. Everything about him from his casual swagger, to his style of clothing, to his gods damn amazing tattoos just seemed to be screaming at her to pin him to a wall and shove her tongue down his throat.

"I do." He hummed for a moment before walking up to her and kissing her cheek lightly. Giving her plenty of time to push him away. "I'll see you this afternoon for weights and then tonight?"

"It's a plan." She spoke in a slightly higher than normal voice before turning away abruptly and charging at Vander. She suddenly found herself with some new energy to burn.

Later That Night

"What about this one?" Powder held up yet another overly colorful top that Violet politely turned down. If she were honest the older girl wanted to throw it on the ground and stomp on the bright yellow piece of cloth for having the audacity to exist in her clothing chest, but she refused to do that with Powder looking so hopefully up at her. Oh if only her sister had a regular color palate.

"This is so exciting!" Powder nearly squealed her excitement. "I can't even remember the last time you went on a date!" A look of confusion seemed to pass over he face for a moment. "I thought you liked girls though?"

Violet sighed. Talking about her sexual preferences was not exactly something she wanted to do with her younger sister. "I like girls and boys Powder, but so far there hasn't been a boy that's caught my eye." She leaned down and ruffled her little sister's hair, "You'll understand when you're older."

The blue haired girl pouted. "How much older? I want to get dressed up and go on dates like you now!"

"I'm not getting dressed up." The older girl gestured to her functional red tank top, black leather jacket and jeans, and brown combat boots. "Zaun isn't a clean and prissy place like Piltover Powder. Functional is the new sexy here."

The younger girl scrunched up her brows. "I don't think I understand."

Violet laughed at the put upon look on her sister's face. "You don't need to little sister. And you shouldn't for a few more years at least. Don't be so quick to grow up."

Powder scowled up at her sister. "Why not? I want to be like you and Vander!"

The older girl thought about the amount of fights she'd gotten into, the times she'd woken up hungover, and just how angry she always was, "No you don't Powder. Vander is one thing, but please, please, don't be like me."

"Why not? Your awesome!"

Violet smiled wryly, "Thanks for that little sister. Just trust me, be like Vander. Be strong, and wise, and care for others. Be a light in this world for others and you'll be happy."

She sighed, "Well enough doom and gloom. Time to go upstairs. That boy better not keep me waiting.

She needn't have worried. The girls walked up the stairs to the bar and found him sitting there talking to Vander with another man next to him. He was thin and had almost a mirrored scar and ruined eye to the young man she was there to see.

It only took a moment for Hadrian to see her and the moment he did his eyes lit up with approval and desire. Violet preened with the knowledge that she was having that effect on him. A good tank top/jacket combination is never a bad idea after all.

"Ah Violet, this is my pop, Silco." She nodded to the man and stared at his ruined eye. In hindsight it was different from her date's after all. Hadrian's was a the color of fresh blood but it seemed to glow with active light and energy, whereas Silco's just looked dead and dark.

"What's with the matching eyes? A club initiation or something?" She asked lightly.

"Why don't you ask Vander about it sometime little girl?" Silco suggested with a wave of his hand. "Now off you go. Young people like yourselves shouldn't be stuck hanging in bars with old men."

"Speak for yourself Silco." Vander interrupted, "I happen to be in the prime of my life."

"Uh huh."

"Right…." Hadrian's voice trailed off with barely concealed sarcasm. He took his date's hand and moved toward the door. "Well we'll be going now. Try not to drink too much pop. Making your hangover remedy is a pain."

Vander's eyebrow twitched as he stared at the man sitting across from him. Said man had a far too innocent expression on his face.

"You've had a hangover cure all this time and never shared it! No wonder you hold your liquor so well!"

The two men chuckled good-naturedly as the bar keep poured a glass of juice for his youngest adopted child. Their conversation carried on to some other topic that the little girl didn't care about or understand. As she started tinkering with her latest grenade on the bar one thought dominated her mind. It got so distracting for her that she just needed to put voice to it.

In a whisper she said, "I finally understand. That boy was so cute!"

Piltover - That Night

The stars were shining and happy voices were cheering out for the year's Prosperity Day celebration. It was a day to recognize the thinkers and inventors that worked to make Piltover a better place.

There was one exception to the happy atmosphere however. One person that was not celebrating with the rest. One that was mourning the six year anniversary of the loss of his heart. The loss of his brother.

Hammer blows blocked out all sound on an anvil for hours straight before billows of a forge filled the large room with smoke to block out the light. After all, Jayce didn't want to see or think today. He didn't want to remember or acknowledge anything except the hammer in his hand and the steel the forge and billows around him were forming into random objects. If his hands were busy then he could just block out everything else.

At least that was the plan until his door slammed open and his professor, Heimerdinger, barged in. He took one look at his formerly absent student and lobbed a nearby wrench at him. Luckily it hit the anvil instead of his head, but the noise did have the unfortunate effect of startling him into stopping his hammer swings. Immediately the memories and pain came swarming in as he glared at his tiny mentor.

Said Yordle was momentarily shocked by the look of rage and pain directed his way. "Jayce…" He started and stopped. The reaction was making him forget himself. "Jayce we're missing you at the celebration. The entire class is there as are the sponsored students. All of their inventions are being presented and that means yours are too." He looked around at the tools, chalkboards full of equations, and finally Jayce's shirtless form covered in sweat and grime from the forge. "Your mother said this was where… I'd… find… you."

As more and more signs of stress came through his originally planned rant the professor trailed off and simply approached the poor boy before him.

"What's wrong Jayce?" He asked as he finally reached the wayward student. "Why are you hiding up here today of all days?"

Jayce huffed and hung his hammer on a nearby wall hook. "It's because it's today that I'm up here. This isn't a day of celebration for me. All I have is pain, and I don't want to feel it. So if you please, just leave." He grabbed the yoke of the billows and pulled it twice to increase the heat before retrieving his hammer and returning to his crimson heated ingot.

Before he could start back up with the hammering again Heimerdinger spoke up. "Whatever could you mean Jayce? What could be so bad that you would want to lock yourself up in here when you could be showing off your inventions to prospective investors?"

"You wouldn't understand." Jayce swung his hammer onto the ingot hard enough to make the metal sing.

"Then help me to!" The professor yelled to be heard over the hammering. "Tell me what happened. I want to help."

Jayce sighed in resignation. The small teacher wasn't going away apparently. "I had a brother."

Heimerdinger was confused. "Had?"

Jayce nodded. Now that he was finally talking about it, tears were beginning to build up in his eyes, mixing with the soot. "My little brother Hadrian. He was… the best thing in my life. From the moment he arrived I knew I wanted nothing more than to make him happy. I became an inventor in the first place because whenever I made something with my hands he smiled up at me. He was everything to me… and I got him killed."

Heimerdinger gasped in shock and surprise. "What? How could that be? What happened?"

Jayce dropped his hammer and gestured out the window to the partygoers raising their revelry in the streets. "Remember the Prosperity Day Six years ago?"

The Yordle sighed in sadness. He had been a city leader and council member for over three centuries and that day was still the one event he considered his greatest failure. Tensions had been building for years up to that point. Piltover was prospering, and as hard as the professor tried, none of the other council members would share that prosperity with their neighboring citizens in Zaun. Instead of sending any aid to improve the lives of Zaunites they instead chose to focus on increasing their own industries and improving their own infrastructure and facilities. Heimerdinger hated that several of his own universities buildings had been renovated with the money in question.

In hindsight it should have been obvious that the citizens of Zaun would rebel. Piltover had long claimed them as citizens under their authority but had never once provided for them. Only demanded their obedience. Several factions of the underground had finally had enough and stormed the central bridge to the land of plenty. The professor didn't think they wanted a war. They just wanted a fair piece of the pie and a city of their own. Hundreds of Zaunites and enforcers on both sides of the divide had died that day.

"I remember it." The professor sighed and moved to stand beside his erstwhile student. "What happened?"

"I was in the market with my brother and a friend. We heard shouting from the bridge but couldn't see anything with the all the smoke. I thought it must be another protest from the Zaunites and I wanted to see it for myself. So like an idiot I ran into that mess… dragging my brother with me."

Heimerdinger's long brows drooped over his eyes with sadness. "Oh."

"Yeah." Jayce took another shuddering breath before continuing, "Hadrian never questioned me growing up. As far as he was concerned his big brother could do no wrong, so of course when I went into a dangerous situation he joined me without a second thought. And then everything went to hell. There was gunfire, shouting, people dying. I couldn't see so I just ran and then… then…" the boy couldn't stop the tears anymore and just let them fall. "Then Hadrian fell over the edge."

The professor raised a fur covered hand over his mouth in horror.

"I had a hand on him at first, but I wasn't strong enough to pull him up." He gestured to himself and the anvil, "I've fixed that problem now but it's too little too late. An enforcer saw me, saw my fancy clothes, and decided he had to get the poor defenseless citizen off the bridge. He grabbed me and my brother slipped out of my grip."

Jayce looked down at his professor, his watery orbs meeting the luminescence of his teacher. "The last thing my brother ever saw was me dropping him. He saw me fail him."

"Oh Jayce, my poor boy." Heimerdinger took the boy's hand in his own smaller one. "I am so… so sorry."

"Now you know the whole story. I couldn't even bear to tell my mother that much. She just assumed a Zaunite made his way past the barricades into the market entrance and threw Hadrian off the bridge. I never had the courage to correct her. I'd already lost my brother, I couldn't bear to lose her too."

"Wherever he ended up, you can't believe he blames you child." The professor tried.

"Why wouldn't he blame me? After all, I blame myself."

"Regardless, you're not alone with this secret anymore child. I'm here with you and I won't let you be alone right now. So how about you crank that forge a couple more times and let's see if we can make something nice for your brother."

Heimerdinger smiled up at his student and though he didn't smile back, the Yordle could practically feel the gratitude radiating off of him.

"I've been working on a project for him for the last few years but it isn't ready yet." With a sigh he grabbed a pair of tongs and placed the ingot into the fire. "But he always had a fascination with walking canes." A low chuckle escaped him despite his situation. "Hadrian used to say they looked classy. I wanted to make a cane handle but I'm terrible with design etching."

Heimerdinger rolled up his sleeves and grabbed a chisel off the tool wall. "Then it's a good thing I'm excellent at it. By the end of the night we'll have a cane head your brother would have been proud of."

Somewhere Outside The Walls Of Piltover

"So did you get a look at the place?" A voice spoke into the darkness.

A cold basement was the location of this meeting. The two people present wore hoods, though one was easily marked by a large beard.

"Yes I did. It wasn't easy though. there were a lot of people out tonight for some reason." The other speaker responded.

The bearded one waved a hand. "That doesn't matter. Was there magic in the hammer maker's home?"

The other figure sighed and lowered his hood, revealing long greasy hair. "Yes and no. I could feel it there but I didn't have enough time to find it before some creature in a uniform showed up. I needed to retreat. But the magic felt strange Albus. This world isn't what we expected."

The other figure lowered his hood to reveal eyes that managed to twinkle even in the present dimness of the basement.

"It's true this world isn't what we expected. "Sadly he glanced to the pouch hanging at his side were the broken pieces of his wand were contained. Every member of the group that had accompanied him to this world had one. Something about the energy transfer of the portal that brought them here had ruptured their magical foci.

Breaking his gaze from the misery of the lost Elder Wand Albus Dumbledore looked back to his most trusted spy. "Can you get back in there to look again?"

Severus Snape shook his head in the negative. I'm a spy Albus, not a thief. It was a miracle that I got in in the first place. If I go again I will get caught. Either by the family or the city guard. Also, might I remind you that we have no idea how the magic works in this world so memory charms aren't going to get us out of trouble here."

Dumbledore frowned. He'd noticed that too. After his wand had shattered in two he'd tried to access some manner of the wandless magic he knew to help his people create a base camp but nothing had worked. That wasn't to say there was no magic at all. He could still feel something at the edges of his senses, but it was different. More alive somehow.

"Then we'll just have to find someone to search the place for us. Search out that lower city again. Zaun. From what I've seen it looks like the right kind of place to find someone willing to pass on job information to the right enterprising individual."

"That could take time." Severus said, "We've only been here a week! I don't know the lay of the land. It's actually a miracle we even speak the same language."

"I know dear boy, take your time and be safe. We need to do this carefully after all. No use upsetting anyone important before we finish our task."

Severus glared at the headmaster. "About that sir, surely you can agree that everything has right gone tits up here. Can I assume that once we get our hands on whatever magic is in that home we'll be focusing on getting everyone back to our own dimension? You know, where things make any modicum of sense?"

In spite of his potion master's serious tone Albus laughed. "Of course not Severus. Even if we get it we won't know how to use it right away. There must be time for study, and once we understand how it works we will first use it to find young Mister Potter."

Snape ground his teeth at the mention of that name. "McGonagall has raised a concern on the validity of this being his location. Are you sure he's even really here?"

"But of course dear boy. We linked the goblet of fire into the veil of death and used Harry's father's blood as a catalyst. I can attest that the calculations were correct so the potter heir must be somewhere in this dimension. We just need to get access to this world's magic and use it to find him."

Severus sighed. Many of the people in their group had begun questioning this course of action but the headmaster was clearly single minded and desperate. He had been since 1991 when Harry Potter didn't approach the old hat to get sorted with the others for first year. He had immediately gone to the boy's relatives but they claimed to have never even seen him. He must have been taken off the doorstep shortly after the headmaster and his deputy had left. Albus had spent every year since devising plan after plan to try and track him down. Until the breakthrough with the Veil of Death none had worked.

The potions master wasn't aware of all his boss's plans, but he was aware that he believed the boy was the key to the salvation of wizard kind and that the prophecy was still in play, so he did what was necessary and got in line.

"I will try to get the lay of the land with Zaun, but might I suggest trying to insert one of the older students with that Academy in Piltover? Perhaps Ms. Granger? I've heard they study everything there so perhaps there will be information on magic?"

Albus nodded. "An excellent suggestion Severus. We will bring it up with her when we get back. Now come, let us return."

The two returned their hoods to cover their features and left the basement. Their plans would take time but eventually the Chosen One would be in their grasp and ready to fulfill his destiny.