After the Flamels returned to France, the Malfoys began to focus on what they might be able to do to keep Hadrian safer during the upcoming year. Following along blindly with Dumbledore's plans was not how they wished to proceed. Lucius had a discussion about just that topic with the goblins, and they landed on a possible solution. Dumbledore was convinced that the Dark Lord would be making attempts to regain a body, and Hadrian had faced him once again, perhaps they could use his fixation and one of his artifacts to guide the supposed confrontation for the year.
Plans made and thoroughly discussed, they decided to shop for school things on the 19th. Gilderoy Lockhart was meant to be holding a book signing, so there would be a large gathering of the wizarding population. Hopefully it would be enough to implement their plan.
Their tutor, Mr. Morgan had been brought into more detailed information regarding the actual events of the school year, due to his secrecy contract. He had been favorably impressed with the boys' marks to begin with, knowing they were well beyond their year group in magical theory, but had been shocked and angered by the details of the headmaster's treatment of Hadrian. Understanding the events that occurred made his impression of Hadrian's knowledge and skills increase, and he had seen increased maturity from Draco as well.
Due to Hadrian's accelerated pace of learning prior to Hogwarts, he was now studying the same things as Draco. He had learned the entirety of the Potter family, as well as the Malfoy Family, and both boys had started on Black and Prince since they were both part of House Black, and intimately acquainted with Severus Prince. They were both up to speed on the previous 15 generations of all Ranked Families' notable members, and knew all the members of the previous 7 generations. Mr. Morgan had been impressed by their quick progression and continued proof of retention.
They had participated in several formal and informal teas with Mrs. Malfoy and other ladies of her acquaintance, many of whom also had children present. Their extensive knowledge of languages, bolstered by Hadrian's quick mastery, served them well and they were near to becoming the two most eligible boys of their peer group.
Wednesday, August 19, 1992Hermione met them at the Leaky Caldron again. Neville wasn't able to join them, but they would be seeing each other soon. Unfortunately, it turned out they had severely underestimated the crowds associated with Lockhart's book signing. Getting all their supplies would be a nightmare. To try and keep things on schedule Lucius and Narcissa went for potions ingredients while Hadrian, Draco, and Hermione got their new robes. The adult Malfoys reappeared as the children were finishing up, and they all made their way to Scribbulus for fresh quills, ink, and parchment. They also made a stop at the Magical Menagerie for owl treats, and Hermione had decided on a pet with the approval of her parents. After that they had to hurry as the signing was beginning soon and they were hoping the insanity of the event would help hide their planned actions.
When they arrived at the Flourish and Blotts the place was a mad-house. People were everywhere, spilling out the door, waiting up the stairs, and people actually trying to shop were finding it a test of patience and sanity. The kids had stopped by the school books and each grabbed the new required spellbooks when they ran into, quite literally, the Weasleys. Ron had been shoved directly into Draco, and a little girl with the same fiery red hair, who could only be the youngest Weasley, and only daughter, had tripped over Ron's feet when he impacted with the floor. Her cauldron and accompanying books went flying all over the floor in front of the small group.
Hadrian took his chance to assist the girl with getting her books collected, and slipped a black diary, indistinguishable from the one currently held in his Merlin vault at Gringotts, but minus the soul shard, amongst her things. The book was charmed to write back to her by drawing on her magic to determine appropriate responses. It had also been drenched in contact compulsion potions to write in the diary and keep it hidden from everyone else. The pull on her magic wouldn't be much, but by the end of the year, she would likely collapse at least once. They hoped to use the collapse to make Dumbledore think Voldemort was making another move to regain a body. They had based the compulsions on what Hadrian had been able to identify from the true diary, but had been careful to ensure they would do no actual harm to the girl.
Sighing in relief as the blushing, stuttering girl was finally led away by her parents, the children located Lucius and Narcissa and made their way to the front to pay. It was a rather long line, and they waited for quite some time. During their wait, Hadrian was noticed by Gilderoy Lockhart and pulled out of line for photographs. Hadrian was not dealing with the large crowd very well, and the overbearing presence of the author was not helping him remain calm.
Lucius noticed this and was quick to step in, haughtily informing the blond writer that Hadrian was merely completing his school shopping and did not appreciate being manhandled by strangers. Gilderoy used the opening to announce that he would be teaching Defense at Hogwarts for the year, and all three students groaned at the thought. They hadn't yet read his books, so they didn't know how correct their fears would turn out to be.
Finally released from the insanity which was Flourish and Blotts, the party made their way to Fortescue's for ice cream before returning to the Leaky Cauldron. Hadrian made plans with Hermione to visit a few days before school started and be taken to the train station by her parents. While the wizarding world had become slightly more accustomed to Hadrian being friends with Draco courtesy of the large number of students writing home about the growing friendship, they weren't quite ready to let anybody think he had been staying with them, even if for only part of the summer.
Friday, August 28, 1992The Malfoys accompanied Hadrian to the Leaky Cauldron where they would be meeting with Hermione, and Hadrian would go to spend the remainder of the holiday. Lucius would go to Privet Drive after Hadrian left to retrieve Doll-Harry, and place compulsions to ensure the Dursleys would believe Hadrian had been picked up early for school by the Grangers. Hadrian happily said goodbye to all of them, and said he would see them on September 1st at the train. He had his trunk in his pocket and followed as Hermione led him through the door, and out into the muggle world.
Doctors Jonathan and Penelope Granger were very excited to finally meet one of Hermione's new friends. As they were both dentists and often had emergencies come up related to their practice, this was the first time they had been able to meet one of her magical friends. Previously they had dropped her off, or sent her with a neighbor to be dropped off. They had lots of questions for Hadrian, but he had ready answers, having long ago perfected his background story. In fact, it was the same story Hermione knew as well. She knew there were things he was hiding, but had been working really hard on her occlumency and was hoping by the end of this school year, or early next she'd be good enough to get the full story.
Hadrian disliked having to talk about his family, but waved it off as his aunt and uncle not getting along with his parents, and so the relationship was somewhat strained. He didn't speak about their treatment of him in detail, nor that he actually lived with the Malfoys, or in his trunk if he had to be at the Dursleys. He was much happier to answer questions about his favorite subjects, both muggle and magical. Hermione had gushed over how smart he and Draco were, and her parents were proud to meet the boy who was ranked number one, and still willing to work with their daughter.
Hadrian gave convincing arguments for the classes he intended to sign up for in his 3rd year, and offered up the variety of employment opportunities which would be available to him because of it. They were impressed and could see that Hermione was soaking up the conversation, likely beginning to make plans for her own electives and future employment. But when he mentioned that, though it was getting much better, some careers were still barred to those who presented as Omegas, they were confused. Shooting their daughter a look, they saw she was also confused. Hadrian picked up on this, and probed a bit.
"Has no one mentioned secondary genders to you?" He directed his question to his friend, but knew her parents were listening avidly.
"No," Hermione answered. "But you said 'omega,' so it sounds similar to a pack mentality I read about in both muggle and magical wolves, and more especially with werewolves."
Hadrian nodded, he knew her passion for reading and research would have led her to something about it. "It is similar, yes," he responded. "In wolf and werewolf hierarchy, there is an Alpha, who leads the entire pack, a beta, or perhaps a few, depending on the size of the pack, who are secondary leaders, able to take charge when the alpha is not present, and then there are all the pack members, which you could somewhat liken to omegas."
Hermione and her parents were nodding along.
"For wix, it's a secondary gender, and the numbers of each are very different. Betas are the most common, then alphas, closely followed by omegas. In general, betas bond with other betas, and alphas bond with omegas. Of course the variance in the population of a given area may result in not enough omegas or alphas for their opposite counterpart, and so there are occasionally alpha-beta or beta-omega bonds," he continued.
"Bonds?" Jonathan asked.
"Like marriage," Hadrian replied. "Bonds can be male-female, male-male, or female-female...though only females or male omegas can carry children. If male beta partners want to have children, they have to blood-adopt, same for females. I'm not 100% on all the details, but I'm pretty sure we'll be covering at least some of this in our Wix Health class this year."
The matter-of-fact delivery of the information ensured it took a few moments for both Hermione and her parents to fully realize what was said. Hermione launched into a litany of questions regarding secondary gender, same sex pairings, and blood adoption, and that conversation carried them through the remainder of the drive.
Later that evening, after the Grangers had gone to bed, Hadrian left the comfortable bed in the guest room and made his way down into his trunk flat. He activated the mirror and called out for Lucius' study. The blonde man's face appeared in his mirror, and they greeted each other.
"It was fine," Lucius assured Hadrian immediately. "I cast the spells wandlessly so as not to activate the magic tracing wards Dumbledore placed over your previous residence, removed the doll, and it has been packed away in preparation for your return next summer."
"Oh, thank Merlin," Hadrian heaved a great sigh of relief. "I was concerned."
"Clearly," Lucius deadpanned, eyed the way Hadrian had slumped over in the chair.
"I miss you," Hadrian said with a huff. "I know it's only an extra week, and it hasn't even been a full day…" he trailed off.
"I know, Hadrian," the man replied, "we miss you, too. Now then, it's late, and you should be sleeping. You're with a friend, and safe."
Hadrian nodded, "Tell Draco and Narcissa I said hello. Have a good night, Lucius. Blessed Be."
"Blessed be," the blonde said, and the mirrors went dark.
Hadrian sighed again, feeling a bit sorry for himself, and made his way back up to the guest room. Zils had been intrigued by the new space to explore, but had retreated to his habitat for the evening. He could taste Hadrian's sadness, but hoped the morning would bring him back to good spirits.
Tuesday, September 1, 1992The weekend passed quickly for Hadrian and Hermione. They had reviewed their homework, played games, read books, and Hermione had taken Hadrian to all her favorite places. Hadrian had a good time, and had only missed the Malfoys when he wanted to fly, but couldn't because they were in a muggle area, and when he had seen an enormous stained glass peacock lawn ornament when they were shopping at Hermione's favorite mall. He had purchased it and stuck it in his trunk for a Yule present for the man. Hadrian suspected Hermione's preference though had more to do with the number of bookshops, more than any other type of shop, but he had managed to pull the girl from them without too much trouble.
Tuesday morning, the Doctors Granger had not had any emergencies and so were able to take the children to King's Cross station themselves. They accompanied the two through the barrier, Penelope holding on to Hermione, and Jonathan holding on to Hadrian. Previously, both had to be touching Hermione in order to pass through the barrier, so this was slightly easier. They looked around in awe, as it was only their third time seeing such a large amount of magic in one place.
The two dentists had found shopping in Diagon Alley the previous year rather taxing, simply because they were alone with no witch or wizard to guide them. And they had been rather unnerved by the experience of the train seeing as they were forced to walk straight into a brick wall to get there. This year, they were much more calm now that they knew what to expect, and were able to enjoy the hustle and bustle of the children with their various animals, the laughter, hugs, and tears of the families around them. They ushered the children up to the train and assisted Hermione with her trunk. Penelope handed over the carrier to Hermione's new pet cat, Crookshanks. Hermione thrust the carrier at Hadrian, and jumped down to hug her parents again.
Hadrian laughed at her exuberance, and the two made their way into an empty compartment, and opened the window to wave at her parents. They saw Neville arrive, and when he noticed them, made his way over. He waved and told them he'd join them soon. They watched as his grandmother nearly ignored his goodbye, merely sniffing and shooing him onto the train. They rolled their eyes, and when Neville joined them, began laughing about the absurdity.
A few minutes later, they saw the Malfoys pop into existence in the apparition area, and Draco immediately spotted them, and pulled his parents over. They all quickly left the compartment, and went over to give their greetings, Hadrian with big hugs; he had missed them dreadfully after all. Hermione introduced the Malfoys to her parents this time, and they had a few minutes of pleasant conversation before the fifteen minute warning whistle sounded. A last flurry of hugs, and the children made their way back to their compartment.
They were a bit shocked to see a small white-blonde headed girl sitting there, her trunk securely in the rack. They ignored her for the moment, and waved to the adults. The Malfoy parents then made their way back to the apparition zone to leave, and the Grangers toward the muggle exit. Goodbyes complete, they all turned to look at the silent girl who had been reading a magazine upside down.
"You're Harry Potter," the fairy-like girl said as Hadrian stepped forward, about to introduce himself.
"Hadrian Potter," he replied, sticking his hand out for either a handshake if the girl was muggle raised, or the more appropriate kiss to the back of the hand if she were wix raised. The girl looked up and he locked on to her startlingly bright blue eyes which dominated her petite face, making her look much like a Japanese chibi drawing. She extended her right hand, palm down, and Hadrian lifted it to his lips lightly. "Heir Hadrian Potter," he adjusted his address after the kiss to her hand.
Draco stepped up, taking her still uplifted hand, and gave the required kiss as he introduced himself, "Heir Draco Prince-Malfoy."
Neville took his turn next and stuttered out, "H-heir N-n-neville Longb-bottom." The others looked at him confused, he hadn't stuttered so much in ages.
Hermione stepped forward and air-kissed on both the girls cheeks, indicating she'd like to be friends with the girl, rather than the curtsey which was more formal and aloof, and said brightly, "Hermione Granger."
"I'm Heiress Luna Lovegood," the ethereal being replied dreamily.
"Pleasure to meet you, Heiress Lovegood," Hadrian continued once all the introductions were made. "You must be a first year, since I haven't seen you before, and your robes have no house insignia."
"Luna, please," the blonde-haired blue-eyed girl replied. "And yes, I am a first year."
Now that the girl had said more than just a few words, they could hear how light her voice was. It floated through the air leisurely, like a butterfly riding the wind.
"We will be the best of friends," she continued when no one said anything.
The others exchanged looks and gave slight shrugs, taking their seats and preparing for departure.
"Do you mind if I let Crookshanks out of his carrier?" the bushy-haired witch asked the others. "He hates it there, but I didn't want him to get hurt or lost."
Everyone shook their heads, so Hermione focused on Luna. "Luna, is that alright?" she pressed.
"Certainly," the youngest responded, "He will help frighten the Wrackspurts away. They fly into your ears and make your brain go fuzzy, you know."
Hadrian, Draco, and Hermione exchanged incredulous looks, but Neville was entirely focused on the diminutive blonde.
Slowly, they all moved on to their own pursuits. Hadrian and Hermione to books, Draco and Neville to Exploding Snap, and Luna continued with her upside down magazine. When the trolley lady appeared, they all stepped to the door to buy the sweets. Draco and Hadrian bought by far the most, shared some amongst their group, and set some aside in their trunks. As they were all happily munching, Hadrian started up a conversation.
"So, Luna," he began, finishing off a chocolate frog, "what are you reading?"
"The Quibbler," she replied.
"Oh, I love that magazine," Neville spoke up quickly, and then blushed heavily.
"Daddy publishes it," the new girl answered. "Have you read this month's issue?"
"N-n-no, it hadn't c-come yet," Neville stuttered, his embarrassment growing.
"Here, you can read this one," she said, handing over her copy, and pulling another out of her pocket. "Did you know that Minister Fudge has an army of heliopaths?"
Hadrian and Draco exchanged a look. Lucius, Severus, and Mr. Morgan had all decried the magazine, labelling it a joke and not worth the paper it was printed on. But if Neville enjoyed it, so be it. They wondered if the strange creatures the girl was mentioning even existed, or who the writers were for the magazine, as they had never read anything remotely useful in the thing.
"Interesting," Draco drawled. Before anyone else could say anything, the door to their compartment slammed open and Crookshanks dove under Hermione's seat, fur standing on its end.
"Good afternoon"
"Children," the two identical red-headed Weasleys said loudly, stepping into the compartment.
"We just came to"
"Check on"
"Our dear neighbor," they continued in unison before returning to their twin speak.
"Luna"
"My dear"
"You are well?" they finished together.
The girl giggled, while Neville looked completely gobsmacked at her tinkling laugh, and said, "I'm fine, thank you Gred, Forge."
The twins plopped down on either side of her, forcing Hermione to scoot over, causing Crookshanks to hiss a bit.
"So will you four"
"Be taking care of"
"Our dear Luna"
"This year?" the two boys traded off, piercing everyone else in the compartment with sharp eyes.
No one answered, or moved.
"Because she's under our protection," they chorused in sing-song voices. The blonde giggled again. Neville's face was scarlet.
"We've just met her," Hadrian finally replied. "But if she wants to be friends, we certainly don't mind having her."
"Good," the red-heads spoke together.
"Ronnie-kins" the left twin started,
"And Ginny" the right twin continued,
"Don't treat her"
"Very well."
"And we're in"
"The market for some"
"Help to fix it," the two finished in tandem.
"Help?" Draco asked, puzzled as to why the Demon Twins of Gryffindor would need their help with anything.
"We've some"
"Interesting"
"Possibly dangerous"
"But mainly interesting"
"Things to test"
"On our dear"
"Little brother, Ronnie-kins," together again.
"And we think"
"You four"
"Are just the ones to assist," they finished.
"I see," Hadrian said, looking at the two closely. "Well, if we're going to work together, we should make proper introductions. I'm Heir Hadrian Potter, but you may call me Hadrian." He reached out and shook each twin's hand.
"Fred and" said the twin on the left of Luna.
"George Weasley," Said the twin on the right of Luna.
"But you can call us," they began together,
"Gred"
"And Forge," the one on the right, which they now knew to be George, ended.
Merlin, their twin-speak was going to drive him crazy. He hoped Draco had the foresight to check his aura sight to see if there was a way to tell the two apart once they moved.
"Heir Draco Prince-Malfoy," the blonde boy stood, "Draco is fine.
"Heir Neville Longbottom," the shy one said.
"Hermione Granger," the older girl finished.
"So we have this idea…" the twins started.
And so the rest of the ride passed peacefully away, the first year, four second years, and two fourth years plotting mischief and mayhem on a certain red-headed 2nd year Gryffindor brother, and their 1st year sister.