1st August 1988

With a small Pop, Hadrian suddenly found himself on his knees, feeling exhausted as he looked up, he didn't recognize anything, all he could see was a forest, he would have thought his jump had failed and he was still in the forest surrounding Potter manor, if not for the fact that the sun was suddenly in the middle of the sky. "Tempus" With a quick spell Hadrian at least get an accurate time, "Hmm, 10.30" still, realizing that he didn't have any clue where to go, he quickly produced another spell he had read about "Point me town" knowing the spell was vague but having no other real option he went to the left began the long walk to the nearest town.

It was around midday that Hadrian finally found himself in the small town of Rocheport, Missouri. "Wow, America, didn't think I could jump that far" Having only jumped twice before and only a few short miles. Suddenly feeling the effect of the jump and the long walk he headed in the direction of a small diner. As he entered, he couldn't help but feel as though all eyes were on him, then again, he was only 9 years old and on his own. Quickly making his way to a small booth he looked at the menu, he was amazed at all of the options on offer, his musing was interrupted by the arrival of a middle-aged waitress. "Hello darlin, are you here by yourself," The kindly older waitress said, she had seen him enter and was concerned that such a young child would be here by himself, he definitely wasn't a local, she had met nearly everyone who lived here, one of the problems in living in a small town.

Hadrian looked up, and produced his best puppy eyes to emphasize the emerald green as he said, "No mam, I'm staying with some friends but they are heavy sleepers, thought I would get some breakfast", amazed at his quick lie he hoped the waitress would buy it, apparently she had and asked what he would like whilst saying what a lovely accent he had, he quickly blushed under such announcement, having not being used to praise or affection, he quickly got his blush under control and after ordering some pancakes and water he sat back, simply happy that he was free.

After feasting on the small portion of pancakes and feeling full, he suddenly came to the realization that he had no money, slightly panicking he tried to conjure some muggle money, but try as he might, having never seen American money, he was stumped. Before the waitress could come back, he grabbed his backpack and made his way to the toilet, smiling at the waitress as he passed, so as to not look suspicious. As he entered the cubical, he began to panic, trying to calm himself he partially managed, though his heart was still beating far too fast, he was eventually able to conjure some English money, having once seen it when he ventured into the small muggle town back in England.

Walking back into the diner, he gave the money to the waitress, who looked a little put out at the English currency, with a look of compassion Hadrian explained he had no American money as had only arrived at his friends last night and was sorry. The Waitress simply smiled and took it anyway, with a quiet thanks Hadrian left the diner and took a real look at the small village.

After a few short hours, Hadrian found he liked the quaint village, the people were friendly, and the climate was pleasant. All too soon, however, it was nightfall, and it began to get cold, and with this Hadrian realized he had no place to stay, deciding not to test his luck with the English money trick he began to search for a dry place to sleep in. As he began to walk, he started to feel something, an odd sensation came over him and he stopped walking, seeing as no one was around he closed his eyes and began to focus on his magic, with his eyes closed and centered with his magic he was open to more of the world, quickly finding what the strange feeling was and with his eyes still closed he turned to where he felt the feeling coming from and began to walk, it was a few minutes later that Hadrian found himself in front of a small house in the middle of the village. As he walked towards it, he suddenly felt something overcome him. Wards. Undeterred as he felt no malice coming from them, simply designed to repel muggles, he walked closer to the house, seeing no lights on he looked around, but could not see anything. All of a sudden, the feeling vanished, annoyed that he had come not to find anything magical, other than the wards, he turned and left, and soon forgot about the house in search of a safe place to sleep.

Days turned to weeks and Hadrian began to struggle, as he was in such a small town he could not still go back to the same places over and over again, he was able to get water, knowing the water conjuration spell but the food was another issue. Ashamed of himself he had started stealing, nothing large just small things he hoped people would not miss, from a loaf of bread in the local bakery to small items from the local shop, to keep himself going. Deciding to move on Hadrian grabbed all of his belongings from a small shelter he had forged and conjured, he was able to get most of the shelter to stay in place, using a liberal number of runes to keep the conjuration from vanishing overnight. With all of his belonging packed he began the long march north to where the next village was. As he began walking, he started to feel that odd sensation again, the same he had felt when he arrived in the town. Deciding to follow it again he came upon a familiar house. Deciding he had nothing to lose, he looked around again once more finding nothing he used a silent Alohomora and unlocked the door. What surprised Hadrian was that the house was empty, with no furniture, no pictures or toys, nothing. As he was about to leave the sensation got stronger, deciding to follow it he came upon a small cupboard under the stairs, feeling brave he opened the cupboard but did not find what he expected.

Stairs, they seemed to start on the floor and go down to a basement, feeling adventurous he decided to go down, as he walked he began to notice an odd series of flashing multicolored lights that would bask against the wall to his right, as he got to the bottom of the stairs, it opened up to a small stoned room, with nothing really there but a larger wooden door on the far side of the room, with enough room at the bottom to allow the light to come through.

As his curiosity got the better of him, he dropped his rucksack on the floor and opened the old wooden door with a load creek, wincing at the sound Hadrian quickly opened wide the door.

Runes, as far as his eye could see littered the room, every corner was covered in them, flashing brightly at odd intervals. Suddenly he realized this was an active runic circle and the danger of what could happen if they were messed with set in, he quickly decided it was maybe best to leave, as he turned to walk out of the door, it suddenly closed, feeling panicked he ran to the door and tried to open it, throwing everything he knew at it, from banishing charms, gouging hexes and even some of the more dangerous spells her knew at the door but it would not budge. He even tried to ram the door open, but it was set like stone, it would not budge. Realizing he was trapped he turned back to the runic circle and tried to determine what was happening.

As he began to look at the runes they started flashing far faster, and the room started to hum, before he could try and figure out what was happening his body was frozen where he was. As the runes started to glow and flash faster and faster until even having his eyes open was a struggle, he suddenly felt his feet lift from the ground and his body started to thrum in time with the runes, as he began to panic he tried to reach out with his magic, to try and stop whatever was happening, but before he could even begin, a white-hot searing pain went through his body, if the wizard who had created the runic circle was there, they would have seen the rune on Hadrian's head begin to light with the others before he could even scream Hadrian felt his body being thrown backward.

With a sudden stop, he found himself on the floor, as his body racked with pain, he let out a loud groan of pain. After lying still for a few moments he tried to open his eyes, only to be startled by what he was seeing, as before his eyes was not the ceiling of the stone room he was in, but an open sky, wincing as he sat up he looked around his surroundings, just as he began to look around he was stopped, by a feeling of something cold and sharp pressing against the back of his neck. "Stay where you are" Was all he heard in a low powerful voice. Deciding to do what he said he sat there, trying to be as still as possible "Stand up and turn around" the same voice called out again. With a large struggle and with what took far longer than normal Hadrian was finally able to stand, as he turned around he was started at what he saw, a large forest surrounding him on all sides, he could see what looked like a path and a series of small huts were in the distance, but in front of him was a man and a woman, but what surprised him, even more, was the man was wielding a sword, even stranger was what they were dressed in.

The man was in leathers, a tight animal leather shirt and trousers adorned the man, he also had a small sword belt on his hips and what appeared to be studded braces on his wrist, he had shoulder-length blond hair and a fierce expression on his face, the woman was wearing an odd dress, that looked laced at the front with a small circular silver necklace on. "Who are you stranger," the man asked again, this time his sword at Hadrian's throat. Before he could reply the woman spoke, holding up her hand and placing it on the blade "Calm Mikael, look at him, he is but a child, put the sword away" she said in a significantly kinder yet firm voice. As the man, eventually removed his sword Hadrian couldn't help but rub his hand on the area it was pressing on. The woman quickly turned back to Hadrian and said, "What Is your name child", seeing no reason to lie and hoping they could help him he replied "Hadrian", the woman smiled at him and replied in kind, "My name is Esther, and this is my husband, Mikael"