March 1000 A.D
The last 3 years had been like a dream for Hadrian, after the blood ritual he was finally a part of the Mikaelson family. Whilst he had always thought of them as such, he now truly was family. After the blood ritual, Hadrian was surprised to find a few new changes to himself, his hair, which has always been as though a bird was attempting to nest in it, was, whilst not flat was now more windswept, and silkier in nature. He also noticed he was taller, at a little over six feet. For the last 3 years he became even closer to his family, he and Elijah especially, they both bonded over the protective nature of their family, and the belief that a man was only as good as his word. He and Rebekah even began to aid Klaus in his artwork, they would go out in the evenings and pick colorful flowers he would use for his paintings.
Even the odd detachment he felt From Mikael, disappeared, the morning after the blood adoption, Mikael informed him he was worthy of getting his body tattooed, a tradition that Mikael believed one would get himself tattooed after a special event, and whilst he normally would have received one after saving Rebekah, he was not then a Mikaelson. Hadrian decided to get 3 tattoos. His first was þola, in runic, a symbol he learned meant Endure, it was to serve as a remembrance of what he had been through, not only with the Potters but of the last ten years with his new family. Hadrian also always felt the call of the wild, and always wished to explore the world, so he got the Vegvísir. Once those two were hammered into his body, a rather painful process of using a small sharp needle and ink, Mikael informed him he would also be getting the Ægishjálmur, the tattoo Mikael had deemed himself worthy of carrying. This did not mean that Mikael did not become soft, if anything he became harsher in his lessons, now that he was officially a Mikaelson he was held to a higher standard. Weapons training became faster and harder, mistakes were rewarded with a swift kick or punch, and any cowardice that was seen by Mikael was rewarded at the point of his sword, it often left him bloody, and in pain, especially during weapons training Mikael forbade the use of magic, whilst in combat, it was always good to use the addition of combat magic, but what would happen if he could not access it, or if using magic aided the enemy, so he was trained to fight and kill without its aid.
Just because he was training to fight without magic, didn't mean he sat idle with his magical training, to such that now he was able to conjure weapons and items with greater speed. One issue was that as he had no formal training, he commonly had to envision what he wanted to happen and use more magical power that was necessary for it to happen. Due to this, he would constantly practice his desire and feed less and less magic until he could figure out the precise amount needed, while this method would take longer than if he was taught with a wand and incantations, it was vastly superior once mastered.
Today, however, was the day their family would change, forever. Hadrian was roused from his deep sleep with a loud anguish yell "MOTHER", as Hadrian rushed out he was greeted by a sight that nearly brought him to his knees, he saw Niklaus running into the village center carrying the bloodied and abused body of Henrick, after gently placing his younger brothers body down to Esther, who had run out at the calling and was now on her knees examining Henrick, Niklaus explained that himself and Henrick had left the safety of the village to go and see the men change into beasts. After grasping hold of her son Esther ran her magic over him, looking for any signs of life, but she felt nothing, simply cold death, her eyes suddenly sought out Hadrian, and with bloodshot eyes, and tears streaming down her face begged him "Is there anything you can do" Hadrian quickly moved over to his mother and let his magic roam his brother's body, just as Esthers, trying to check for any signs of life. The feeling that was returned brought fresh tears to his eyes, as he looked over to his mother, all he could do was shake his head, and hang it down shamefully as he stood and walked backward away from Henrick, his eyes never leaving his brothers body, he could hear and see nothing but blood, as it rushed to his ears. His brother was dead.
As Esther looked down at her son, all she could feel was heart-stopping grief, before she could yell at Niklaus for being so stupid and reckless, she felt a change in the air, it was similar to the feelings over 13 years ago when she had first found Hadrian. As his eyes sought her son, she was frozen in fear. Hadrian appeared to be rooted to the ground, his eyes were filled with nothing but pain and grief, and suddenly they started to glow, but this was not the glow she and her family had come to recognize when he was feeling happy or particularly angry. They were glowing brighter than she had ever seen them, it was as though the sun itself was shinning out of them, suddenly the ground began to shake as if the very earth was grieving with them, next the sun was hidden behind thick, black, angry-looking clouds that were filled with more thunder and lightning than she had ever seen. Before Esther or any of the children could comfort Hadrian he let out a bellowing, incoherent scream, that was filled with such grief and rage, that the neighboring villagers would have heard it. As he yelled the lightning began to strike the ground around the village and forest, and the earth began to shake with such a force that those standing could barely stay afoot, suddenly it all stopped, and Hadrian fell to his knees and wept with the rest of the Family.
THE NEXT DAY
"I will not help you with this Esther, this will become a plague, it goes against nature itself and for that, the spirits will turn on you. I will have no part of it". It was all Ayana would as on the subject as she stormed away from Esther and Mikael. Now left alone Mikael came behind his wife and said "Then it is down to you my love"
After the death of Henrick, they could not bare to lose another one of their children, they would ensure their family would survive, and that they could protect themselves from the wolves they feared. Where the wolves could bite, they would bite harder, where the wolves had speed, they would be faster, agility, reflexes, senses, and strength, all could be heightened, and their Family could live forever. Esther knew tonight, on the full moon she would be able to call upon the sun for life, and the Ancient white oak tree, one of Nature's eternal objects for immortality. As she began to prepare what she needed Mikael stopped her "Could Hadrian not help you with this". Whilst Esther knew he could, and likely would to keep his family safe, she did not want to risk Hadrian, if all went according to plan, Hadrian would be able to keep his magic, only losing access to the spirits and his Wiccan nature, she would not rick it, looking back at Mikael "No, he cannot help this his, I will do it alone"
That evening, after eating together Mikael produced wine, and shared it with the family, they all drank it down, not knowing it was laced with blood. Once they had all consumed it, Mikael, with such speed and ferocity grabbed his sword and drove it through Hadrian's heart, the last thing he saw as his eyes swam out of focus and his vision turned black, was his father, ripping the sword out of him, and moving onto his siblings
Hadrian awoke with a gasp, not remembering what happened, as he looked around all he could see were his siblings, lying on the ground covered in blood, as he moved over to check on Rebekah, being the closest, Mikael walked back in, but with him was a villager, before he would question him Mikael commandingly stated "We must finish what we started, you have to drink it you want to love", and grasping his knife, he slashed and the villager's arm, blood flowing down the cut. "Drink" was all Mikael would say, as he forced Hadrian's head down upon the arm of the villager, blood flowing into his mouth. The feeling was euphoric, indescribable, as the blood flowed into Hadrian's mouth all he could feel was power, the very essence of magic was flooding his very body. With that, the Vampire species was born.
Hadrian House, America, 1995
"That's how it happened, after we were turned, we had to learn how to use our abilities, how to curb our bloodlust. It wasn't easy in the beginning, the sun burned my siblings whenever they went outside, only my magic kept me safe from it, the villagers who had opened their homes to us could keep us out, plants at the base of the white oak tree became toxic, and as the spell decreed, that which gave us life could also take it, so we burnt it to the ground, now nothing can. For the last 1,000 years we traveled the world, sometimes together, sometimes on our own, but we made a vow, Always and Forever, we would be there for each other" The order all sat there in amazement and horror at the story Hadrian had told, the Auror's sat there in stunned silence, the children, all sat there listening intently and Molly Weasley was openly weeping, thinking how such a small boy could have gone through so much, Snape predictable was sneering in the corner, wishing he could leave, not wishing to be in the presence of even more Potters.
The Potters were equally staring in amazement and open horror. Because of them, their son had been through more than any child should have to go through. Lily was in tears as she heard all of this, whilst she always held out hope that Hadrian would re-join their family, she now knew he never would, he had a new family, a family she could see clear as day he loved with all of his being. All Lily could do was look over to Hadrian and say, "I'm sorry Hadrian, I'm so sorry, for all of it, we wish we could take it all back", as she said this James and Elizabeth, who both had tears in their eyes could only nod. Hadrian looked at the three of them, "Whilst I may not see you as family, I no longer feel the burning hatred I felt for you all those years ago". It was all Hadrian could say, as he looked at the Potters, all he could feel was an odd sense of relief, he had seen and confronted his old family.
With a sudden realization Hadrian looked over and asked Albus a question he should have asked long ago, "What were you all doing here in the first place", at this Albus looked flummoxed, as though he had forgotten the reason himself, with a sudden brain wave he confessed, "We had received word that this home was going to be attacked on orders of the Dark Lord, we came to help those living here", as Albus looked on at the pristine house, and images of the bodies that littered the grounds and house flashed through his mind, he couldn't help but let a small chuckle as he said, "Not that it was needed", at this Hadrian gave a slight smile, "Do you know how did he get a body" at this Elizabeth looked down in shame as her hands began to shake at the memory. "Elizabeth was kidnapped during the tri-wizard tournament, during the final task, the Ritual used Bone of the father, Flesh of the servant" "And the blood of the enemy" Hadrian finished, looking grim. "Yes," Albus answered.
"I read of it Years ago, it was a bastardized version of a healing ritual, but this version would allow, what was essentially a wraith who was possessing a homunculus body to entwine its being with it, and gain a new body". Looking over at Elizabeth, he gently grabbed onto her hand, as she looked up, tears streaming down her eyes, all he could do was hold he hand and silently comfort her. After a few moments, Hadrian removed his hand from Elizabeth, despite her silent reluctance, and looked over at Albus "I was simply going to ignore this little war of yours" as he said this, ozone filled the air and lighting began to form outside, as this was happening Hadrian's Eyes began to once again glow like two small suns, "but he has attacked my home" Suddenly his Sclera filled with blood and veins began to form under his eyes, with a large and a soul screaming smile, with fangs protruding said "Consider me your ally"
….
It had been a bloody war, even with Hadrian on their side, Voldemort and his Death eaters put up a hard fight, after learning of the death of his Death eaters and werewolves at Hadrian's hands he stopped letting his inner circle out on raids, only allowing the new recruits out, in case the Original was out that night. But after 2 years of open warfare, they had won, after hunting down all of the Horcrux's riddle made, they had a final stand at Hogwarts. The battle was bloody, Voldemort, his Death Eaters, and all the dark creatures he could find stood on one end, the Forbidden Forest behind them, with Hadrian, the Order, and all those willing to fight with them stood with Hogwarts behind them. Before it could begin Hadrian walked out from the line, he simply looked to the sky and for all to hear proclaimed, "I dedicate these deaths, to Odin and Freya". As they heard this, the death eaters, who did not know who this being was simply laughed, they were soon silenced, when a bolt of lightning struck down the center of the army of the dark and destroyed more than a quarter of Voldemort's army in one swoop. This was the beginning of the end, before their eyes, and before anyone could move, Hadrian was gone, moving so fast their eyes could hardly see them, all they saw was the carnage left in his wake, Werewolves ripped apart, some had their heads crushed with such force they could neither make out brain or skull, some had their jaws ripped off, some of the luckier ones simply had their hearts ripped out. Seeing this happen, the rest of the light charged, shooting out all manner of spells not limiting themselves to stunners of body binds, Hadrian having drilled into them the importance of killing one's enemy. Before long, the battle was over, with the dark lord's army scattered over the field of Hogwarts, with Hadrian holding onto Voldemort's throat, as he suddenly ripped into the man's chest, but instead of bringing out the heart, he ripped out a portion of Voldemort's spine, and suddenly the most feared dark lord simply fell to the floor, as though he was a marionette with his strings cut.
The light was not without loss, Alistair Moody had been killed, he was protecting Tonks from a killing curse to the back from her deranged aunt, he was soon avenged as Tonks, Sirius and James teamed up and destroyed the crazy bitch, all that was left of he was a small buddle of blood and flesh on the ground. Remus had been killed whilst taking out Greyback, who had cowardly fled Hadrian that night when he saw his wolves being killed. As Hadrian surveyed the survivors in the great hall, he was startled to see Lily Potter, lying on her back with her Family hovering over her, tears falling down the eyes of those close her her. During the battle, she had been hit with a curse that was slowly liquifying her Organs, but unlike the standard organ liquefier cure, they were rupturing faster than Madam Pomphrey could repair. Before anyone saw him, Hadrian sped over and was kneeling next to her, gripping her hand in comfort. Looking over at madam Pomphrey he asked, "How long do you need to reverse the spell", "The spell I can reverse, it's the damage its doing that I can't reverse, the very nature of the spell fights against my attempts to reverse the damage", with a quick look at those surrounding Lily, he conjured a privacy screen to surround them. Quickly looking all of them in the eye he muttered "Never speak of this to anyone", with that he sat behind Lily, and softly lifted her head into his lap, before anyone would speak Hadrian was ripping into his wrist and pushing against lily's mouth "Drink, it will heal you as she fixes this" As Lily drank, the cuts and damage that had covered Lily were healed before their eyes, as though she had ingested an enormous amount of Phoenix Tears, looking back at madam Pomphrey he nodded and asked her to remove the spell, this will heal her.
That was over 16 years ago now, that act was a true turning point for Hadrian and the Potters, and whilst they would never be family, he was often seen visiting them when he was in England. Elizabeth was now 32 Years old and had been teaching Charms at Hogwarts for the last 10 years. She had married a muggle-born called Lucas, and both now had 2 children, one in his final year of Hogwarts and the other in his fifth. James, sick of fighting after the war went into getting his mastery of Transfiguration and had a career as a part-time teacher who would travel the world to teach students how to become an Animagus. Lily became a world-renowned Author, she published several books covering from, Charms, Potions to Ancient Runes. Even at the age of 53 they were constantly kept busy with their work.
Hadrian was content, he had confronted his former family and after learning they truly, were sorry, he became closer to them than he ever could have imagined, he had several lifetimes to accept and move past what had happened to him as a child at their hands. As he sat in his leather chair, with a roaring fireplace, a glass of 180-Year-old barrel-aged Whiskey, and a new book on Ancient Greek magic, a book Lily had sent him, he was happy. Little did he know what was to come, as miles away, in a filth-riddled abandoned house, Elijah Mikaelson's body was rapidly healing, after his desiccated skin had returned to its usual color he ripped the fractured wooden coat rack that had been used to stake him, the Petrova Doppelgänger had been found.
