Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter [J. K. Rowling] or Avengers [Marvel].
Note: This story will mainly be showing the life of Hadrian. And here Tony Stark is born in the year 1980 rather than 1970 to reduce the age gap. For those who missed it earlier in chapter 1. Slow build.
Warning: Mention of child death/murder in this chapter.
Rating: M for Mention of early abuse. Mild sexual content. Strong Language.
Pairing: Slash M/M Gay [Do not read if you do not like it]
Speech: "..."; Thoughts: 'Italics'; Other languages: "Italics" [language will be mentioned].
Chapter: 3
Hadrian's thought was running in a hundred different scenarios. 'My whole life has been a lie. It is like my identity just changed! But... no I am still me! My achievements are still mine. I may have a different name along with the name given by my adopted parents; which is not much different from the fake identity I have created as James Evans.' he concluded. He focused back to Director Ragnok as he seems to be saying something.
"My Prince, your adopted mother and father left a letter and a crystal ball for you. It was entrusted to us for safe keeping and to give it to you when you come here for the inheritance test. If you would like to read that, now? I think it would better. After which we could remove all the blocks and spells. Then we can update you on your adopted family investments, share and holdings, contracts, bequeaths and your vaults statements." said Ragnok.
"Yes. That would be acceptable. Also I need explanation about them as I have no idea about half of the things written there." he replied. 'Maybe I will find the reasons behind my adoption are written in the letter' he thought taking the letter and crystal from Ragnok.
Setting down the crystal, he opened the letter with his name on it and saw two different parchments, one with his name and the other to a Severus Snape. He started reading the one written to him.
|Our little Hadrian,
If you are reading this then it means we are no longer among the living. And that is in no way your fault; however we died, I am sure we died protecting you as any parents would have done in our place. We love you Hadrian, never forget that, you are our child in every way that matters, even by blood.
We just regret we could not be there with you to tell you about your true heritage or how we found and adopted you but most of all to cherish, love and raise you and of course for James to teach you pranking and basically creating chaos. We really wished to be there when you find out about your birth mother and father because even though we adopted you, we were warned against having the knowledge, so we never did the blood identification ritual on you to find out.
Now, how we found you, well it was a miracle for us. You see two days before we found you, I gave birth to a stillborn baby boy in a muggle hospital. I was visiting my parents in the muggle world when I went into labour pain. We were shocked as it was not my estimated delivery date.
I was rushed to the nearby hospital but what was supposed to be the happiest moment of our lives turned into a nightmare. I did not wanted to believe it, my baby boy, our little Harry as we had decided to name him as, he did not even get see the beautiful world, call me mama and James dada, run around in our lawn refusing to wear diapers or taking baths or throwing tantrums. The doctors were baffled as there seems to be no reason for the death of the unborn. We confounded the doctors and left with Harry.
We, James and I, were suspecting foul play, but the question was who. We did not inform anyone of the incident because whoever it was, they were close to us to feed me a potion or curse me that caused this. At that point we were suspecting everyone, enemies or friends or the members of the Order of the Phoenix, a vigilante group formed by Albus Dumbledore to fight against the Evil Dark Wizard Voldemort, we are members in that group and they could have easily slipped the potion during a meeting.
James was furious and wanted to file legal complaint and as an Auror wanted to do a thorough investigation but I asked him to wait and gather all the evidence and clues so that the murderer cannot bribe their way out or released on technicalities and lack of evidence. The only two people we trusted are your Godfathers, though one is not official. Sirius Black and Severus Snape.
They took magical oaths to proof their innocence after hearing about the incident. Then both started their own investigation. Severus is a Potions' Master, one of the best in the world, he started testing the blood samples from both me and the baby. After which Harry was buried in Potter Manor Cemetery, in a close burial ritual. Sirius is an Auror like James so he started helping James with his inquires within our friends circle and the ministry, discreetly.
In the meanwhile James found you in Godric's hollow church at around midnight after finishing his patrol duty. He was passing by when he heard your cry. As the church was closed at that hour, he went to check for the sound and to help if needed. He found you in the arms of a wounded woman, who was barely conscious. James brought the both of you in our house to help her, as I had been taking Healers training before I got pregnant.
While I was trying to heal the woman she requested us to keep her Mistress's son, she said you were in danger from some of your people, she gave us the crystal ball and said that it was a memory ball from your mother for you. She also requested it to be heard in private only by you and also not to search for/about your mother and father until you are old enough to understand, till then we are to promise her that we would protect you. She passed away within the hour after that.
It was not hard to fall in love with you. The toothless smile you gave me when I took you in my arms was enough to melt the hardest of hearts. You were a tiny little baby barely two, three days old, with jet-black curls, dark green eyes, pink soft skin and cherry red lips. James joked that you would be a heart-breaker for hundreds when you grow up. You are a happy child.
We are happy to get a second chance so soon, though we are still mourning for Harry. Never think that you are in any way replacing Harry, we would still love you the same and would have raised you both as brothers or twins had he been here.
Severus and Sirius both came the next day after receiving a message from us. After we explained the situation Severus agreed to brew the blood-adoption potion. Sirius had asked to blood-adopt any child we had, as he was hit with the impotency curse during one of his mission by a Death-Eater, Voldemort's follower. So it was decided he too would adopt you and both Severus and Sirius would take the godfather oath.
On 31st July, 1980 you were adopted and named Hadrian James Potter late near midnight, for Severus had just finished the potion and did not want to keep the potion unattended. His house was known to a lot of questionable people, though that story is not mine to tell. You have to ask him if he is there with you. I will leave a letter for him too. Sirius adopted you at midnight, so you became Hadrian James Potter-Black on 1st August, 1980.
After that both Sirius and Severus took the godfather oath, it is very different to be a godfather in the magical world than the muggle world. Sirius was officially registered but Severus was not, for the same reasons I have not said about his life, though he loved you as his own. A story was spread that you were born to us that night. No one apart from the four of us knows about your adoption.
To the world you are the baby I was pregnant with. It was easier than to explain about your adoption and we did not want the stigma of adoption on you. People can be cruel. Especially to those who are unable or old enough to fight back. We give you the option of letting people know about it.
Know this, whatever your decision, we love you and are proud of you son, always.
Back to the 'story', for the lack of a better term. It seemed happiness was not ours to keep for long. By the end of the 2nd week in August, the Headmaster of Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore came to visit us, we, James and I were told that there had been a prophecy made about a child been born at the end of July.
It was made by Sybill Trelawney while Trelawney was having an interview with Dumbledore for the post of Divination teacher at Hogwarts in a room above the bar at the Hog's Head inn. The Hog's Head inn, you will find out during your Hogsmeade weekend in your Hogwarts years, has long attracted a more interesting clientele, it is a place where it is never safe to be assured that you are not being overheard. The eavesdropper listening in on them was detected only a short way into the prophecy and thrown from the building.
The prophecy goes as: 'The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches... born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies...' there was more to it of course but Dumbledore did not tell us the whole thing just the part that was overheard by the eavesdropper, said he was afraid that if Voldemort was to find us, he could extract the information from our mind. He then suggested us to go into hiding, under the fidelius charm, you can read about it in the advance charm's book.
The basic concept is it hides the object or person/people in plain sight, the knowledge of its existence is known only to the secret keeper, and can be known by others only when said secret keeper shares the knowledge. So unless/until the secret keeper says anything we are safe.
We agreed for your safety as technically you were 'born' to us on 31st July just before midnight. And though we could have ignored the technicality, it seemed that Voldemort took the prophecy quite seriously.
Prophecies are very imprecise. It can be interpreted in many ways.
We agreed on Sirius to be our secret-keeper.
But remember we were still investigating Harry's murder and did not quite know who to trust. So we asked Severus if he could confirm whether Voldemort is planning on attacking someone. We had to be vague to him as we did not want to alarm him, Severus was already in a lot of stress and we were not quite sure from what.
Severus also informed us that I was given a potion named 'Venenum Insignis' which is a very old obscure potion, created in the late 1400's; it was given to the enemy family so that they did not have any heir before they were eliminated.The potion was made illegal in mid 1500's and the procedure was confiscated and burned. The original test result is in the Potter Family Vault.
If we die before finding the culprit, please Hadrian, do try to find the murderer and bring justice for your blood brother. You too should be careful though, we don't want anything bad to happen to you either.
We have already been under the fidelius charm for almost fifteen months and yesterday our secret keeper was changed to Peter Pettigrew another of James' close friend who is also in the Order, after Sirius suggested that we change our secret keeper as it has become a common knowledge that he is the secret keeper and also that we could create a ruse.
James and I were not quite happy with the plan, though for different reasons. James is worried about Sirius' safety and though I too am quite worried about that, Peter just rubs on me the wrong way. I do not trust him. I did suggest another friend of ours Remus Lupin, your honorary Uncle.
Albus always sends him out on different missions for the Order; which is why he was not there during Harry or you and we did not say anything to him, as the information is too sensitive to risk getting out if he got captured during such missions.
For some reasons, James and Sirius are suspicious of him. They think he is a spy in the Order, though I don't agree with them.
These are the most important information we could think of to give you. I have a feeling that you will need it and I won't be there to tell you all this. James disagrees and calls me paranoid like Mad-Eye.
I hope Sirius is not teaching you only to prank people.
Do not let any prophecy dictate your life baby. Live it fully. And always remember we love you Hadrian.
Love Always,
Mama & Dada
Lily & James Potter.
October 27th, 1981
P.S: I hope Sirius is there to help you with everything you are going to face because of the prophecy but if for some reason he is unavailable than you can go to Alice, your godmother, and Frank Longbottom they are Aurors too. Or, last but not the least, Amelia Bones, she is at present the Head Auror and the House of Bones have a long standing alliance with the House of Potter. |
Hadrian sat there what felt like hour's reading and re-reading the letter. He could not decide what to do with all the information. 'I need time and all the fact about what happened after their deaths. It's clear that this Peter Pettigrew person had betrayed them. But what happened to my godfathers and this Remus Lupin. Why they did not contact me and wasn't I supposed to go live with them after my adopted parents died? This letter just gave me more questions than answers! Maybe these goblins can give me some answers; I have to ask them about it. But first I have to be clear of outer influence, as those spells seems to be, at least by their names.'
Straightening up Hadrian said to the Director, "Now first please explain these spells and all to me. I understand most were cast today by Albus Dumbledore and I have a very brief idea of who he is but what a Horcrux is and who is this Tom Marvolo Riddle aka Lord Voldemort?"
Ragnok took the parchment with the test result and said, "Most of the spells are self explanatory. These were placed to mould you in pre-thought out personality; where you would be loyal to these specific characters and organisation and distrust to these people, a school house and a type of magic." and showing him the names on the list.
"And what about the rest?" he asked.
"Well the Shame Compulsion Keyed to Home Life would depend on the kind of home life you lead and different situation would get a different reaction. For example: An abused person would get a great urge or impulse to hide about his/her home life, would feel shame for being weak and not standing up. Whereas a normally treated person would get the minimal effect, mostly embarrassed for being mothered or something similar. That is the best I can explain as human emotions are more complicated than us goblins or any known beings, really." Ragnok explained with an amused expression.
"This is why he arranged my home life to be abusive, by leaving me with my adopted aunt and uncle." he added, looking up from the parchment to see the shocked and grimed face of Ragnok, he continued, "But I left for schooling at the age of 5, so there is no established home life for me and at the moment I feel nothing for them, just indifference."
Without commenting on it, Ragnok continued, "The last one is also self explanatory, it is exactly as the name says, complete recklessness. Very harmful in many situations. The blocks on your powers will be a bit difficult to remove as it has almost been 10 years, though you are lucky to have found out about it now rather than later in your life. The removal of the blocks will be painful enough now; I can't imagine the pain you would have had later in your life. It was cast the day after your parents' murder. The whole wizarding world came to know about it somehow. People were celebrating the fall of the Dark Lord and hail for the Boy-Who-Lived."
"So they were murdered." he stated confirming his suspicion, "But how or who defeated Voldemort? And who is this Boy-Who-Lived?"
Ragnok blinked in confusion and simply said, "You."
[Author's Note:It took a long time to complete this chapter. Phew! Buuuttt... I have started writing the next one while completing this. Hopefully I will update the next one faster.
Leave comments people.
Where should Hadrian and Tony meet? The poll is ongoing. Please vote. Just visit my profile and vote.
Hadrian now knows about his godfathers. What happened to them? Will he find out who poisoned Harry? What will he do to them?
What is there in the memory crystal?
Keep reading to find out ;) Thank you. ]
