Ok so to start off I completely forgot a disclaimer so I don't own Harry Potter. However if you required a disclaimer to figure this out you probably should seek medical help. Second thank you to PJandLGequalsLove, Flying Chrissy, Vivianne95 and guest for the kind reviews. Overall that's four so seriously thanks, wasn't expecting this many, as a reward... a new chapter (which is an awful reward as I would've posted it anyway).
Enjoy SuchaNarcissist :)
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§Parseltongue§
Bold is notes or screaming, it should be pretty obvious which.
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You want a perfect, perfect life,
Nothing wrong, nothing real inside,
All I see is a perfect lie,
I don't want your perfect life.
Perfect Life - Red
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It was nice to be home Hadrian decided, the familiar rooms with all their knocks and scratches: one where Dudley threw a robot at a wall, that one there where Vernon punched the wall when Dudley was confirmed dead, that one when he slipped with the knife- you could still see dried flakes of blood embedded in the wall. Harry knew everything about this house from the interior of the attic insulation to the blood soaked basement floor, thus he felt safe unlike in Hogwarts where the very stairways moved and people could hide around every corner. Here in this house Harry could drop his masks and be himself, it was one of the greatest gifts possible.
Harry noted several small changes, mainly an owl perch in the kitchen and a jar of pickled eyes on the mantelpiece. Those had been fun to collect he remembered, who'd of guessed the guard Cerberus was so meek, especially when sung to sleep. It had been child's play, it was as if Dumbledore wanted the stone to be stolen; after all if the best defenses in the world couldn't stop a first year- well how could they be the best? If Dumbledore wanted to test him, well he'd play along after all there's no need to give away what he knew.
It had been decided via letter that they would spend a week or two at home before travelling for a while. They tried to visit a new country every year, they had started the year Hadrian turned eight as a way of escaping the mess that was the Dursley divorce. They had gone to Santillana del Mar in the Cantabria region of Spain. It was a lovely area, they had spent days in the little town, it was still one of his favorite places; especially the museo de la tortura that was one of the main reasons they had visited. It had been informative to say the least- they showcased methods from the time of the inquisition as well as generalized methods throughout history.
Of course they had visited other places like the nearby zoo and the Altamira caves, or in this case the museum about them. All in all it was the best two weeks of Harry's life and it set the trend for the next years with trips centering on certain museums or disasters, with the three week holiday in his ninth year being particularly memorable, after all how many people can claim that they drove through over four countries to visit museums specific to different methods and instrumentations of torture? This year they were intending to visit Italy, the weather would be perfect, and Petunia wanted to visit the volcano that had caused such wonderful devastation across a whole country.
However before that he had to put up with two weeks of the entire neighborhood avoiding him like the plague, how very droll. Instinctively he just knew it wasn't going to work out quite as smoothly as he had hoped it would've done, for some reason he felt that his fire arms training was going to be delayed and Hadrian was excellent at trusting his instincts.
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Of course Harry was quite right and on the very day of his birthday- while he was in Italy no less- a crazy, bug-eyed, childlike thing had appeared wearing a dirty tea towel spouting nonsense about how the great Harry Potter was amazing but couldn't get an education because someone was out to get him.
Harry not only knew that already, but was getting quite irritated by all the various death threats he had been receiving. Then he found out that the 'house elf' had been stealing his mail, that was the last straw, no one takes something that belongs to an Evans the letters were pinned to the wall by a thin knife blade thrown with perfect accuracy, while the thing was staring in shock- its bulbous eyes looked ready to fall out in amazement- he grabbed his letters and penned a quick note while the thing tried to bash its own head in. The note was quickly attached via a stiletto switchblade from his boot to the things shoulder at which point it seemed to recover its mental faculties, gasped in shock and vanished back to its-presumable- owner.
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Lucius Malfoy was by necessity a hard man to shock, working for a dark lord does that for you, but seeing one of his house elves appear on the dining room table standing on his breakfast, bleeding heavily with a note attached via a knife was one of those things that could startle even the most prepared man and as for someone still in his dressing gown and a piece of toast halfway to his mouth it was quite the wake up call.
The note when finally separated from the barmy elf read as:
Dear Owner,
Please prevent your crazed house elf from trying to save me ever again, I don't appreciate the attempt to prevent my education and I certainly don't appreciate having my mail stolen; if possible could you possibly prevent a repeat of this occurrence, I don't usually miss with knives and if startled again, the next elf will be returned with a blade between its eyeballs.
Insincerely yours,
Hadrian Evans
Well that was interesting, the boy clearly wasn't as light as he appeared if he could coldly stick a knife through the shoulder of a house elf, further cementing the idea that the boy who lived was not what he appeared on the outside. The knowledge that he was dangerous was just a confirmation of the previous opinions he held. Draco was going to have to be warned, he would rather keep his heir alive, he wouldn't put it past Potter to stage an accident if he got too irritating- in that the boy was starting to remind him of his lord.
On that note there was that diary, maybe if he got the boy the diary then, further thought on this would be required but first he really had to stop the elf going on about "Mr Harry Potter sir, such a good master, such good aim, amazing, knows just how to punish, so proud to bear a message from Mr Potter" It was ridiculous that the elf was more loyal to the boy who had just stabbed him than the family he served.
In his haste to inform his family of the letter, he completely forgot to inform the elf that he was not to interfere with Hadrian's life in any way, when he finally did remember he figured that the crazy thing would have forgotten by now- it was always mental- stealing underwear and adding syrup to all the food if left alone- it wouldn't interfere again surely? Especially not after such a dire warning figured Lucius.
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In the kitchens beneath Malfoy Manor a house elf in a stained tea towel rocked back and forth, prayers and praises leaving its mouth as it led a room full of similarly dressed elves in a chant, on his head rested a great pointed cone, painted black with two green dots and above them a lightning bolt in neon yellow. In various corners of the room were items such as odd socks and worn out paper backs, however if one Hadrian Evans were to enter he would recognize most of the stuff as things lost or discarded long ago. However he might have been more worried by the large painting of his face covering an entire wall, especially with the candles burning in front of it; it looked kind of like a madman's altar- if one were to worship the boy who lived.
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A new obsessed evil is revealed and that poor Lucius he never seems to get a rest does he :)
Amdis means eternal or immortal and for a white kneazle with red eyes I couldn't resist.
The torture museums refer to:
8. Museo de la tortura, Santilla del Mar, Spain
8. The Tower of London, London, UK
8. The London Dungeon, London, UK
9. Museum of Medieval Torture Instruments, Amsterdam, Netherlands
9. Torture Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands
9. Torture Museum Oude Steen, Bruges, Belgium
9. Museum of Medieval Torture Instruments, Prague, Czech Republic
10. The Medieval Torture Museum, Rüdesheim am Rhein, Germany
10. Medieval Crime Museum, Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany
11. Medieval Criminal and Torture Museum, San Gimignano, Italy
The numbers refer to the age at which they were visited. Out of all of these some may have closed or opened but just pretend. I can only say that I have visited one personally and that was the one in Santilla del Mar, which is the reason that there are torture museums in this chapter; on a side note really nice place to go on holiday, some lovely cafes.