Monday, September 2, 1991

Hadrian had decided not to unpack the previous evening, and instead just enlarged his trunk and spent the night in his flat. Having sat on the single bed in his dorm, he thought he might just stay in his trunk the whole time. That bed had been very uncomfortable. Of course, he could also be a bit spoiled having stayed with the Malfoys, and gotten his trunk furniture from them, but he thought it a small thing to be a little spoiled after the disaster of his earlier childhood. Dobby had prepared him a steaming cup of hot chocolate with a dragon made out of marshmallow that he carefully lit on fire so Hadrian cold have a fire-breathing dragon, and he had changed into his silk pajamas and fell asleep almost before his head hit his very soft, fluffy pillows.

As he dressed in the morning, he noticed that all his uniforms had blue and metallic bronze trim on the sleeves and bottom hem. The lining had been made blue and the Ravenclaw insignia had appeared on the right breast. Hadrian was also happy to see the special overcloak Narcissa had insisted he and Draco needed also had the lining turn blue. He noticed that his messenger bag was nearly the exact same shade and thought he might embroider the Ravenclaw Eagle on the flap, along with some bronze trimming. He wondered if Draco would like him to do the same with his bag, but with a snake instead.

Hadrian grabbed his bag which Dobby had prepared with all the standard course books. They would receive their schedules this morning and he wanted to be prepared. School things in hand, he stepped over to the habitat he had created for Zils in his living room. It had actual small trees for him to climb or lounge on, rocks, green grass, a small sun, and a narrow babbling stream that was fed by a small waterfall on the wall. It fell into a small pool and then trickled down and off the edge of the table where it was gathered and returned to the top of the waterfall. He had based the set up on multi-level cat trees and the lowest level sat about a foot off the floor and climbed to the top of the taller of the two trees, which was just over Lucius' height, around six and a half feet tall.

Zils had very much appreciated this consideration, especially the lack of walls or fencing which would have prevented him from moving around the flat. He had promised to stay in the habitat while they were travelling due to the presence of numerous safety, stability, and cushioning charms, but he had become used to not being cooped up after his short time with Hadrian. He was growing quickly as well and Hadrian already had a shed skin to give to Severus after his first potions class.

Hadrian scratched the snake's head, and hissed §Would you like to go to breakfast and today's classes with me?§

Zils had a rather large bulge in his midsection and shook his head. §Dobby provided me with a rabbit last night after you slept. I will remain here to digest it. Perhaps another day.§

§Okay. Enjoy your nap, Zils!§

Zils hissed a sleepy non-reply as Hadrian grabbed his messenger bag and headed up the stairs and into his dorm room. Hadrian exited his room and made his way to the common room. He joined Terry Boot, Kevin Entwhistle, Su Li, and Padma Patil as they waited for the rest of their year mates and the prefects to head down to breakfast. The prefect Robert was the last one down, earning him a slight glare from Penelope, but they all headed down to breakfast quickly enough.

Taking a seat at the Ravenclaw table, he ate his breakfast while he waited for Professor Flitwick to bring the class schedules.

He smiled at Hermione and Neville when they came in together and sat at the Gryffindor table, and locked eyes with Draco when he sauntered in for breakfast at Slytherin. He couldn't go talk to any of them however, because the heads of houses were stepping down from the head table to pass out class schedules. Since first and second year had only core classes, their schedules were handled out first, then the third through fifth and seventh years, followed by sixth, since they had to have their OWL grades checked to be approved for their chosen NEWT courses. Hadrian knew that because of the war there were so few students that though they used to separate by house or pairing two houses together, now there were so few students all four houses had all classes together. He hoped he could sit with all his friends sometimes as he looked over his course schedule.

Monday: 8 am - Wix Studies, 9 am - History of Magic, 12 pm - Lunch, 1 pm - DADA

Tuesday: 9 am - Charms, 10 am - Transfiguration, 11 am - Transfiguration, 12 pm - Lunch, 1 pm - Herbology, 2 pm - Potions

Wednesday: 8 am - Wix Studies, 9 am - History of Magic, 12 pm - Lunch, 1 pm - DADA, 2 pm - DADA, 11 pm - Astronomy

Thursday: 11 am - Transfiguration, 12 pm - Lunch, 1 pm - Herbology, 2 pm - Herbology, 3 pm - Charms, 4 pm - Charms

Friday: 10 am - Potions, 11 am - Potions, 12 pm - Lunch, 2 pm - Flying

The library is open from 7am-12 pm and 1pm-9:00pm Monday through Friday, and from 9am-12 pm and 1 pm-8pm on Saturday and Sunday.

Breakfast is served from 6:30-8:30 am, lunch from 12-1pm, and dinner from 6-8 pm every day.

Curfew for all students is from 10pm-6am every day. All students must be in their dormitory or common rooms during this time.

Well, he had class first thing, and it looked like he'd have Wix Studies with Hermione. All the other people he knew were wix raised, so they'd all be in Muggle Studies. But everything else would be together...except, it appeared, flying would be Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. He wondered when Slytherin and Gryffindor would have their flying class, but he supposed it didn't really matter, and he'd find out from Hermione in Wix Studies.

A new prefect made their way down the table to the first years at 7:30.

"Good morning, I am Gao Li, 6th year prefect. Sarah Fawcett and I will be taking you to class today and tomorrow. Since your first class tomorrow isn't until 9:00 am, we will leave from here at 8:30 when breakfast ends."

Sarah continued, "Wednesday, Robert and Penelope will guide you, Thursday, your 7th year prefects Amanda Cresswell and Clark Warren will escort you. Friday will be a mix of the 6th and 7th year prefects as some have more classes than others. Gather your things and we'll be off."

Sarah and Gao were good guides, explaining the route, trick steps on the stairs, when the stairs would move, and various statues, portraits, and other landmarks they could use to help them remember the path. The two prefects dropped them off in front of the Muggle Studies Room and pointed out the Wixen studies room right next door before heading off to their own classes.

Hadrian was immensely bored in the class having been tutored extensively during his time with the Malfoys, but it was required that he take either Wixen or Muggle Studies, and since he was thought to have been raised in the muggle world, it only made sense for him to take Wixen Studies. Hopefully other wixen raised would see his scores and believe he was putting in the effort to assimilate to the wix culture. But he couldn't wait until he could drop the class in his third year. Severus had also told him that if he wanted to take the tests at the ministry early, he could do so. He planned on taking both Wix and Muggle Studies OWLs after second year, and NEWTs in either his fourth or fifth year. He just wanted the extra time in his schedule for his own personal studies.

After Wix Studies, the classes joined together and were led by the group of all four houses 6th year prefects to History of Magic, the only class at Hogwarts taught by a ghost. Hadrian had come prepared for this with his History text and a couple of supplementary texts because he, Draco, and their friends had been warned about the abysmal quality of the class. Hadrian intended to self study during the class period. He managed to get a seat next to Draco with Hermione on his other side. Theo, Blaise and Neville were at the table directly behind them. The ghost, Professor Binns, had soon put the majority of the class to sleep with his monotonous droning. Hadrian and his friends were managing to stay awake by way of the fact that they were not listening at all, but were reading and taking notes on the various texts they all had. Even Hermione was not paying attention, but rather had started voraciously reading when Hadrian passed her a book he had already completed.

When the bell rang for the end of the class, Hadrian and his group asked Gao if he could direct them to the Library as they wanted to complete their homework in a timely manner. Gao looked at them approvingly, praising them for their desire to stay on top of their schoolwork, a good habit to be in for when they have more classes in third year, he said. He told Penelope where he was headed and a few other students joined them. He warned them of the Library rules against food, talking, and defacing the books. He also let them know that Madame Pince, the Librarian, was a strict woman who would kick them out of the library if their behavior was in any way detrimental to the peace of the room. He also let them know that Professors Babbling, Sinestra, and Vector would sometimes be assisting there as they had so few classes.

The group split as the wixen raised sat at tables together and the muggle raised sat at others to work on their first homework assignment. It wasn't a terribly long assignment, only six inches on their family history, which didn't require any additional reference books, so when they finished the groups separated. Hadrian and his friends grabbed a table in the back, separated from all the others and split up to get additional references for the essay assigned in History. They worked diligently and the bell for lunch was just ringing as they finished. The group made their way back to the great hall, following some older years and separated to their house tables. They wanted to sit together, but thought they should maybe wait a week or two before making too many waves.

They ate quickly and when their 6th year prefects were finished, all the first years were ready to go. Sarah gathered the Ravenclaws and began leading them to Defence against the Dark Arts, letting them know that they would likely have a different teacher every year, but this year should be fine seeing as the teacher had previously been the Muggle Studies teacher.

Hadrian's eyes began to water as they got closer to the classroom. He tried to breathe deeply, but it only made the stinging worse.

"Oh, yes," Gao said when they were by the door, "Quirrell had a run-in with some vampires in Albania over the summer. He thinks they're after him so he's keeping garlic everywhere. Of course that's a muggle superstition and won't actually protect you from vampires, but you should be good otherwise."

"Good luck," Sarah said cheerily as they left.

The class was rubbish. Hadrian thought it was another class he'd have to self-study for. He couldn't believe the man trying to use muggle superstitions to ward off a magical race. If that was how he dealt with dark creatures, he didn't hold out much hope for his teaching for defending against real Dark Arts. But even the classification of Defense Against the Dark Arts confused him. During all his study with Draco prior to coming to Hogwarts, he had been taught that Dark Arts was simply a general classification for magics related to the Olde Magick, like elemental, wandless, or ritual magics. He knew they were typically more difficult to control, but he had seen spells people could use as weapons in his first year text books. He didn't know why they'd need to know how to defend specifically against the Dark Arts, and not just overall defense, but he supposed he might find out later. It was something he could ask Severus or Lucius and Narcissa.

When they were picked up from DADA Hadrian politely asked Sarah if other house members were allowed in their dorms. She said it was fine, so long as they explained the house rules and kept to their dorm so as not to disturb others. She did warn him that cross-house visiting in dorms was only allowed in first and second year, and after that only those of the same secondary gender could visit a dorm room, otherwise they needed to use the common room, or find somewhere else to meet. Hadrian nodded and grabbed Draco, almost dragging him up to Ravenclaw tower and into his dorm room.

"This room isn't terrible," Draco said, "but Slytherin is better. Larger."

"I'm sure it is, brother," Hadrian said, rolling his eyes. "But I don't intend to live here, I'm going to stay in my trunk."

"Wise," Draco gave his approval after a critical glance around the dormitory.

Hadrian rolled his eyes again, unlocked his trunk and led the blonde boy into his flat. Draco hadn't been down since Hadrian left, so he took his time wandering through. He exclaimed over the habitat for Zils, which he hadn't seen in person because Hadrian built it during the month between his letter and school starting, and offered the snake scratches. Zils hissed in pleasure and returned to his digestive nap.

"Would they want us to write about the sorting and classes, or should we just mirror call?" Hadrian asked Draco.

"Write," Draco said imperiously. "It will look odd if I don't write, and I'll include your letter with mine. Once we've been seen together a bit more, and you with Neville and Hermione, it won't be so odd for you to send Hedwig with letters, but for now, we should probably be cautions."

"You're right," Hadrian hugged his brother. "I'm so glad we're together again. It was so uncomfortable, and quite frankly boring, without you."

"I know," Draco said seriously. "I nearly had an anxiety attack one day. Mother had to calm me down, but it was hard without you."

Hadrian hugged Draco again and pulled him into the library cum office so they could write their letters home.

Father and Mother,

You will be pleased to hear that I have been sorted into Slytherin. Due to your previous positions as King and Queen of Slytherin, I was accepted into the court. Duels will be on Friday for final placement. I will do the Malfoy name proud.

Hadrian was sorted into Ravenclaw, as I'm sure you will see in his letter. Though I will miss him in Slytherin, it is for the best. We will still see each other in classes, and have already decided to do homework together whenever possible.

We had three classes today. Muggle Studies, History of Magic, and Defense Against the Dark Arts. I'm so glad Hadrian and I had a tutor because History is just as bad as you said. Defense should have been alright as Quirrell was the Muggle Studies professor previously, but he apparently had a run-in with some vampires in Albania and is now convinced they are after him. He has taken to wearing garlic in a turban of all things, and has garlic and crosses all over his classroom. That's useless of course, muggle superstitions, but it concerns me about the quality of instruction we will receive if he thinks dealing with dark creatures can be handled with muggle inanity. I believe Hadrian may have some questions regarding the class, but I will leave that to him.

I will work hard to continue the high level of performance associated with the family. I love you both.

Blessed Be,

Your Loving Dragon

Dear Lucius and Cissa,

I'm sure Draco will have mentioned that I was sorted into Ravenclaw. I appreciate all your discussions with me about my house as I feel very comfortable here and I hope it will keep me out of the headmaster's scrutiny at least a little bit.

We have single rooms which are ours for the entirety of our schooling. I don't know if it was like that when you attended, but it's nice to know that my space is mine as long as I'm here. I likely won't be staying in the room itself, as I fear I've become spoiled to the size and comfort of my bed from the manor and the apartment in my trunk.

Draco sorted into Slytherin and we are sad to be apart, but we have most of our classes together. Based on the schedule the only classes we have apart are Muggle and Wix Studies and Flying. I am glad for the tutoring as it seems some of these lessons will be substandard quality. I already have some questions regarding Defense, but I will reserve them until we can meet. Thank you for all that you have done for me in allowing me to grow and progress at a much faster rate than I think Hogwarts will allow for.

I am thankful Severus is here if either Draco or myself need him. He warned me in our last floo call that he would have to treat me at least somewhat poorly in class, but he was certain I would be sneaky enough to alert him if I needed assistance. Or even to make my way to his office or quarters unnoticed if required.

I miss you both.

Blessed Be,

Hadrian

Once they completed their letters, Draco folded them and put them away. They spent a bit longer doing the DADA homework, as useless as it was, and decided they would try to find a prefect to lead them to the owlery to send Draco's letters and so Hadrian could visit Hedwig. There were no prefects around the Ravenclaw common room, so Draco let Hadrian lead them to the Great Hall so Draco could take him to Slytherin.

In the Slytherin common room, Hadrian loved the window into the lake and enjoyed seeing some of the life present in it. He even thought he saw a giant tentacle. Draco took him to his room and Hadrian saw that it was in fact very nice. The rooms were larger and Draco had clearly unpacked. It looked like he had brought sheets and bed curtains from the manor, or sent Tansy to get them. His bathroom was larger and had both a bath and a shower. The bed was as comfortable as the ones in the manor which Hadrian pouted about. Draco laughed at him and they set up to play hangman while they waited for a prefect.

Draco thought he had heard that the 5th and 7th years should be out of class by 4, so at 4:15, they made their way to the common room and Draco spotted his 5th year prefect, Gemma Farley, and asked if she would take them to the owlery. She agreed and pointed out the most direct path for them. Once they had seen their familiars, and Draco had sent Nox off with the letters, they returned to the entrance hall and went outside while it was still nice. They returned for dinner and made their way to their dorms to prepare for the next day.

Tuesday, September 3, 1991

Tuesday proved to be a longer day. The had four classes, Charms, double Transfiguration, Herbology and Potions. Professor Flitwick had fallen off his stand of books when he called Hadrian's name. Hadrian had gotten out of his chair to assist the small professor up and politely requested to be called Hadrian rather than Harry. Flitwick was very willing to call him by his actual name, and began the class shortly after.

Ron Weasley and another Gryffindor, Roger Malone, were late to Transfiguration. The class had been sitting quietly, waiting for Professor McGonagall, having been warned of the stern lady's strict demeanor. A cat was sitting on the desk, swishing its tail when the two boys burst into the room. Ron had made a rather rude remark about how McGonagall would have looked if they were late when the cat jumped off the desk and transformed into the Professor herself. She took points after listening to their ridiculous excuses while the rest of the class just shook their heads, knowing they were all to have been led there by their prefects. She then lectured for an hour on the theory of transfiguration and their first spell before passing out matches and instructing them to turn the match into a needle.

Hadrian was the first to transfigure his needle, earning ten points for Ravenclaw. Draco was next, earning five points for Slytherin. Hermione was third and received two points for Gryffindor. Each of the three then turned to assist their housemates, with each subsequent student to manage the transfiguration given one point. Neville was unable to complete the transfiguration, along with Ron and Roger from Gryffindor, and few others as well, and they were given homework to practice the transfiguration to be performed in the next lesson. Those who had managed it were given no homework, for which the procrastinating first years were thankful, and those who were prepared and had no homework were somewhat sad to have nothing to do.

After lunch they headed out to the greenhouses for Herbology where Neville really did shine. He clearly had the touch with the plants they were repotting, and wound up earning twenty points for his house by the end of the lesson for answering questions. Hadrian was glad to see the spark of pride in Neville, having seen his poor performance in Transfiguration. He had a theory on it, but needed to talk to Draco before he could confirm it. After Herbology they sprinted back to the castle dungeons to Potions.

Professor Prince had in fact treated Hadrian a bit poorly, but he was able to answer the questions and took the measly one point for each correct answer in stride. It helped that he saw Severus wink as he passed his table during the lecture. He was looking forward to brewing in their next class and hoped he would be paired with Draco.

Their group once again returned to the library to complete their homework, and after dinner stayed in the great hall to play exploding snap for a while. When it started to get late, they all returned to their dorms.

Friday, September 6, 1991

The remainder of the week passed similarly for all the firsties. Eat, go to class led by the prefects, do homework in the library or procrastinate depending on the student, eat, return to the dorms to sleep. They had done a bit more magic in the practicals for DADA and Charms, and Hadrian and Draco were leading their year with Hermione keeping close in third. They were doing their best to help Neville who was struggling mightily, even though Draco had said his aura was far stronger than his wandwork would lead one to believe. They had discussed possibilities for what might be hindering Neville, but so far, hadn't come up with anything.

The end of the week had come with Flying lessons for Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw at 2:00 pm and Gryffindor and Slytherin at 3:00 pm. Hadrian was extremely skilled and Madame Hooch had praised him, setting up a quidditch training ring course for him. He performed it flawlessly even with the poor quality school broom, and was windswept and quite pleased when he touched down at the end of the lesson. Draco's lesson had apparently gone a bit worse, what with Neville breaking his wrist and being taken to the hospital wing and Draco getting into an altercation with Ron over Neville's Remembrall. Draco had managed to get it away from the obnoxious boy, and had returned it immediately after class, but he hadn't been able to fly much since their entire class had been grounded while Madame Hooch dealt with Neville.

Hagrid had invited Hadrian to tea after his flying lesson, so he went, but it was the most awkward visit with extremely stilted conversation. He had taken Hermione and Draco with him, and Hagrid had seemed a bit put out that Hadrian had not arrived alone. But he rather happily introduced them to his enormous Neapolitan Mastiff, Fang, which had Draco disgusted due to the amount of slobber. Then the man was offering them tea and cakes as they sat around his rough hewn table. Hermione had reached for a cake, but when it clinked against her plate, the boys abstained.

While they were having tea, Hermione noticed the headline on the paper, which had been sitting on the table since they sat down, about something stolen from Gringotts, and Hagrid took the opportunity to mention that it occurred the same day he had taken Hadrian to Diagon Alley. Hadrian didn't really want to think about why Hagrid was pointing that out, but knew it had to be something related to Dumbledore, and so forced himself to pay attention. He noted everything he could so he could repeat it to Severus and resolved to have Draco set up a meeting with the man for the two of them as soon as possible.

Finally disengaging themselves, all three having managed not to consume the horrible looking tea cakes Hagrid had offered but downing two cups of tea, they made a stop by the hospital wing to check on Neville, and then split up to return to their dorms. Hadrian whispered his request to Draco as they separated and received a slight nod when they parted at the steps.

Chapter 19 Notes

§Parseltongue§

Letters

Yes, I have a spreadsheet showing when all years have classes as well as that same schedule by teacher so I know it works. It is based on the schedule by Levicorpus on amoebadreams . net (remove the spaces) which I altered to fit my needs.