AN: WARNING : torture ahead.
2. Dealing with cowards
A silence fell over the room and after a few minutes of furiously thinking about how he had gotten in this strange situation Tom turned towards the dog. He wondered how in Merlin's name a dog was going to explain things to him. Had the boy left the snake he would have understood but a dog?
He had barely finished the thought when the dog turned into a man. It took him a while to recognize the man but the wicked insane glint in his eyes informed Tom that this was a Black. He assumed it could only be Sirius Black as the eldest male Black. After all, he had killed the younger male. Though, how the man was out of Azkaban and at Hadrian's side was unknown. Last Tom had known was that the man had been framed by Wormtail and dragged to Azkaban.
"So, shall we start this?" Sirius said. "I'm sure you have many questions and it will take a while before Hadrian is done cursing some idiot."
"Cursing?" Tom repeated in a question. Sirius nodded and picked up a remaining piece of the letter.
"Yes, it seems that your arrival, which didn't went unnoticed, has stirred up some chaos. Hadrian will deal with it." Sirius said.
"But cursing?"
"Yes, I'd advise you to stay clear of them. Especially his crucio and ice-pick curse are very painful." Sirius said with a grimace.
"But the boy is only fourteen."
"Fifteen since last week and he has Lucius cowering at his feet. You have been away for fourteen years. You have a lot to catch up on." Sirius said and summoned a bottle of fire-whiskey. "As Hadrian locked us in we have time to catch you up."
"And why are you willing to do that?"
"Hadrian ordered me to do so. He has plans and I do not wish to be on the receiving end of his wand because I messed with his plans."
Tom wondered if the man was serious. From what he remembered Sirius Black was a bit of a prankster. Now, however the man looked totally serious about his fear to be cursed by the boy. It had Tom intrigued. Anyone who could install such a fear in a family friend was an asset to his campaign. Perhaps killing the boy wouldn't be in his favour. Yes, there was the prophecy to take into account but still if he could have the wizarding world's saviour on his side he would be taking control much sooner than expected.
There was only one little thing, the boy seemed to be the one doing the controlling.
S.S.S.S.S.S.S.S.S.S.S
Hadrian Potter stepped out of the fireplace and waved his hand to remove any sooth that had stuck on his clothes and in his hair. He looked up to see a nervous looking Lucius Malfoy stop in front of him.
"Hadrian, I contacted you as soon as I heard."
"Yes, thank you." Hadrian said and wrapped his cloak around his shoulders. "Did you assemble everybody?"
"Immediately." Lucius said.
"Good." Hadrian said with a smirk and pulled up his hood. "Let's go. I only have an hour. I was entertaining."
With a shiver that ran down his spine at the idea of Hadrian entertaining somebody, Lucius held open the door of his office and lead Hadrian to the smaller of his two dining rooms. Just outside the room he and Hadrian could hear the chatter of those summoned. As soon as the door opened the room fell silent.
Hadrian walked in and looked around. He gave a short nod to Cygnus and Draco before stepping up onto the raised platform.
"I'm displeased." Hadrian stated calmly. A shudder ran through the group of people. "I was entertaining an important guest and probable ally. Yet, I was called away in the middle of that meeting because I have to deal with a bunch of cowards."
"But Lord Slytherin, rumours say that the Dark Lord has returned." Somebody spoke up. Hadrian recognized the voice of Lord Smith, the father of Zacharias Smith.
"Even if the so-called dark lord has returned than that is no reason to go running with our tails between our legs like a bunch of kicked puppies!" Hadrian yelled. "I thought I was working with adults here. Not five-year-olds scared of the boogieman!"
Hadrian sighed and took a calming breath. It would do him no good to kill each and everyone of these cowards. Annoyingly he needed them to get the work done.
"Where did these rumours come from?" He asked.
"The Dark Lord was seen entering a muggle ship in France. Then earlier today Parkinson's daughter saw him stepping ashore close to the castle. She was taking a walk at the beach close to their summer house." Lucius informed him.
Hadrian groaned and rubbed his wand. That nosy bint of course went running to her coward father. Lord Parkinson would have informed everybody immediately. The man was a worst gossip than his wife and the daughter together.
"Who went to Dumbledore?" Hadrian asked calmly. He waited a minute but when nobody answered him, he pointing his wand to the closest figure to the side and threw a crucio. The wizard fell to the ground screaming for a minute before Hadrian lifted the curse. "I'll ask it one more time, who went to Dumbledore? And don't let me wait another minute or I will hurt every man, woman and child in this room."
Hadrian counted in his head. When he almost reached the minute he pointed his wand to Halley Flint, the younger sister of Marcus Flint.
"No, my lord!" Lord Flint said and pushed his daughter away. "It was Emanuel Brown. Everybody got scared when the Dark Mark stung, Parkinson had already send word of what his daughter had seen. Most of us were having a lunch meeting in the bar and were unsure of what to do. Emanuel panicked when we told him. Then, Parkinson arrived in quite a state to confirm it, he had checked his daughter's memory."
Hadrian nodded and turned the cowering figure in the corner of the room. His smile was anything but friendly.
"So, you feel that I'm not powerful enough?" Hadrian asked. "Have I not proven already that I am powerful enough to deal with Tom Riddle? Have I not proven to you that my political powers should be enough to rule the world? Have I not proven my skill enough to ensure to you that Dumbledore will be in cinders when I'm through with him?"
"Ye…Yes, my lord."
"Than why run to Dumbledore?"
"I panicked." Emanuel Brown said. "You haven't announced your presence yet. You play in the shadows and we have no idea of your plans. Dumbledore was the best option."
"What exactly did you tell him?" Hadrian hissed.
"That I heard from a reliable source that the dark mark has been active again. I never told him anything about you or that Parkinson confirmed it, my lord."
"How is your occlumency?" Hadrian asked but instead of waiting for an answer he broke his way into the mind of Emanuel Brown and tore it to pieces. He found the memory of the conversation with Dumbledore and was pleased to see that he was still uncompromised. He also found a few other memories that were of interest for him.
When he was done browsing through the memories he released Emanuel and shot a curse to the man. After half a minute he released the curse and Emanuel was on the floor bleeding heavily.
"Narcissa, be a doll and heal him for me." Hadrian said and returned to the platform. "Draco, Marcus."
The two boys stepped forward and kneeled in front him.
"I need to push forward the plans I was creating for Slytherin house. With Dumbledore aware of the return of Tom Riddle I will be watched like a hawk. I doubt he will leave me alone for the summer. The old man is afraid that I will turn to Riddle with no light family controlling me." Hadrian sighed. "Draco, contact Hermione and have her research the possibility of protection to mind-control spells and I want her to start searching for a rune set up for warding Slytherin House better."
"Yes, my lord."
"Then I want you to set in motion the plans with Snape and the lower years."
"Of course."
"Marcus, I want you to work on the upper years. I want them under my control before Halloween. By Halloween I will have the full control of Slytherin House. I won't yet use the Gryffindor title to claim the castle. It is too soon if Dumbledore finds out." Hadrian stated. "I also want you to see if you can get the devil twins on our side."
"Yes, my lord."
"Cygnus, I want to see you tomorrow at my castle. We need to discus politics. You too Lucius."
Both man nodded.
"Now, Emanuel, you will go inform your daughter that from now on she is mine."
"What? No!"
"Silence. It's either that or she will grow up with out a father." Hadrian snapped. "After you informed your family about this new arrangement and told your daughter to present herself to me on Friday, you will travel to Berlin and ensure that the business deal closes before the end of the month. If you fail at either… well you know the consequences of failure."
"Lastly, now that you are all here anyway. Lord Flint I want you, Lucius, Draco and Theo to go on an outing. I have a list with targets." Hadrian said and summoned a sheet of parchment with names and addresses out of nowhere. "They need to be gone before the end of the summer. They are all annoying Muggleborns and old Order members, I want them gone before Dumbledore gets too careful. Just make sure that it can't be traced to you."
Hadrian got up and walked out. Lucius and Draco followed him on his heals. Once in the office Hadrian lowered his hood and removed his cloak.
"I can't stay long but I need to know what happened at the ministry." Hadrian said and sat down.
"I was in a meeting with Fudge about the legislations on werewolves and vampires you want to put through when Dumbledore barged in." Lucius said. "He told Fudge that he was sure that the Dark Lord had returned. He informed Fudge that it was best to make a few changes in the wizengamot and in the auror office. He talked about removing the dementors from Azkaban and funding all sorts of envoys. Dumbledore even suggested cancelling the Tri-wizard tournament."
"Really?" Hadrian said. "If he wants to cancel it after the fiasco last year, it means that he is worried. Both other schools were not pleased to postpone last year but they will never ever try again if it is cancelled this year. I assume that Severus Snape has informed the headmaster about the dark mark."
"Yes, I thought so as well." Lucius said. "From what I saw on Flint's arm I assume the same. The dark lord has returned to his full power."
"Aren't you glad I removed that dark spot from your skin." Hadrian said way too sweetly. "If Flint proves his worth this summer I will do the same for him. Though I will mark him as mine. On the winter solstice I will also mark Draco, Theo and Marcus."
"What about me?" Lucius asked.
"Your presence in the ministry is too valuable to risk people knowing that you are mine. Perhaps once we control the ministry I will mark you." Hadrian said. "How did Fudge respond?"
"Shocked, stubborn and totally under my thumb." Lucius said.
"After Dumbledore left he asked me about it and I told him that I suspect Dumbledore trying to rally people behind him to take control of the wizarding world. I also fed him some information about Harry Potter."
"What did you say?"
"Fudge was afraid Dumbledore would use Harry Potter to gain more support but I told him that was unlikely as Potter was a Slytherin."
"I'm not a fan of Fudge. He is too easily swayed either way and only loyal to his position but it would be nice to have him on our side for now. We need to be careful with him, he is easily pushed into Dumbledore's hands if he thinks you are using him but I want to use Fudge for now."
"I'll try but I need to know more of your future plans."
"I will inform you tomorrow." Hadrian said. "Too much depends on the meeting I was in when I received your notice."
Hadrian got up and walked towards the floo. "I'll see you tomorrow. Draco I'll see you on Friday."
With that Hadrian disappeared in the green flames.