When Hadrian turned around he came face to face with Dr Craven and a man dressed in a black suit. "Dr Craven" Hadrian greeted formally before turning to face the other man "Sir" he bowed his head minutely, you never knew who you would meet at Riddale and so it was wise to treat strangers with respect.
"Ah Hadrian I see you have been riding." Dr Craven beamed, "however I do not see your riding hat." Hadrian squirmed under Dr Cravens disapproving gaze. Hadrian hated having to wear a helmet and refused to unless in a lesson or competition "We will talk about this later Heir Potter you have had plenty of wanings." Hadrian flinched when at Dr Cravens use at his formal title, "However I have someone here who wishes to meet you, Hadrian this is Lord Severus Prince, your Godfather." Hadrian's breath caught in his throat, how could he have forgotten that the goblins were telling Severus a couple of days ago, how could he have been so stupid.
Hadrian bowed at his waist, the man may be his Godfather, however he did not know him and he was a Lord "Lord Prince, it is a pleasure to meet you properly."
Severus watched as his Godson was rebuked for not wearing his helmet and almost smiled, he could tell that the child liked Dr Craven and that he disliked the disappointment in the mans tone. His breath caught as he was introduced to Hadrian and he watched as Hadrian gave the formal greeting to a lord, bowing at the waist one arm across his back and the other across his stomach. Severus' heart clenched, as much as he liked that Hadrian had learnt the proper greetings, he should have known Severus enough to know that it was unnecessary between them, Dumbledore had a lot to answer for.
"Hadrian." Severus said softly, Hadrian immediately met his eyes "Such formalities are unnecessary, if it were not for a certain individual we would know each other well." Severus could see that Hadrian was a bit nervous and quickly searched for something that would ease the tension "Perhaps you could show me around the school and grounds."
Hadrian quickly darted his eyes to Dr Craven searching for some reassurance in such a strange and unfamiliar situation. Dr Craven smiled at him and Hadrian instantly relaxed "That is a good idea Hadrian, perhaps you can show him to your room first and change into some more appropriate clothes?" Dr Craven said eying the grass stains on his jeans disdainfully.
Hadrian blushed "Of course sir, wearing such clothes would be undignified in the present company."
"Off you go then Hadrian, I will make sure that Celsus has food and water." Hadrian nodded and started to lead Severus back up to the school when he heard. "Oh and Hadrian, you can report to me at nine tomorrow morning, I haven't forgotten about your lack of helmet." Hadrian nodded respectfully before leading Severus back towards the school.
They walked for a few minutes before Hadrian said "I had completely forgotten that the bank would be telling you about the situation." Being vague enough that any eavesdroppers would not understand something that he had learned in politics.
Severus chuckled "I had thought so with your look of shock, when I was introduced. I decided that I wanted to meet you before taking Lucius and Narcissa to Gringotts, the both would have been impatient to see you and it would have been overwhelming, at least when they do come you will now at least be familiar with me." Severus said as Hadrian led him to one of the buildings adjacent to the main school.
"Yes I had worried about meeting you all at once, most of my interaction with adults, has either been with teachers or the Dursleys, as I've been living at the school for the last two years most of my interactions are with my peers." Hadrian said as he keyed in a code to the stone building and then swiped his student card, "This is the current 3A house, on this floor we have a small Library, a kitchenette for snacks, a room for studying, a games room, living room and a bathroom." Severus looked around, they were currently in the living room, it was decorated in light greys with accents of purple, "All the communal rooms are decorated with the school colours but our bedrooms are our own domain." Hadrian quickly took off his shoes before glancing at Severus "I'm sorry but I will have to ask you to take your shoes off, there is no tolerance for shoes in the house, I would get told off." Hadrian spoke apologetically.
Severus laughed as he slipped off his black oxfords putting them on the available shoe rack "From what I hear, you do not need help getting into trouble." He grinned looking down at Hadrian who smiled shyly up at him in reply as he led them through to the kitchenette.
"No I really don't, the school would be a lot more bothered by it if I wasn't doing so well in my academics. I'm just going to get a drink before we go up, I've been out riding for hours and forgot my water, would you like anything o eat or drink, I'm afraid we don't have coffee, they don't think that allowing seven year olds unrestricted access to caffeine is a good idea."
Severus chuckled at Hadrian's disgruntled tone "I can see how that would be a bad idea and no to the refreshment I had something in Dr Craven's office." Severus chose to ignore the comment about adults until they were in a more private area. Severus watched as Hadrian gulped down two glasses of water before putting his glass in the dishwasher.
Hadrian led him up a flight of stairs saying "The maximum number of students per year is fourteen and each year group is split into A and B after a month of being here. In my year group we have thirteen students six in 3A and seven in 3B. " They reached the top of the stairs "There are four bedrooms on this floor and three on the next, Josh, Silas, Fritz and Samuel are on this floor." Hadrian said before leading Severus up another flight of stairs "Me and Blaise are on this floor, I think you know the Zabini's, Lorelle has spoken of you if only briefly."
Severus nodded as he watched Hadrian tapping another code and then sliding his student card to enter his bedroom "Yes Lorelle was four years above me and you're parents at school." Severus looked around the room it was about twelve foot by fourteen foot and had a door, which Severus assumed led off to an en suite bathroom. On the far wall, there was a double bed made of oak, the bedding was navy blue with accents of dove grey, there was a car motif on the bedspread. Either side of the bed there were matching bedside tables on one side there was an alarm clock and on the other there was a photo. On the wall above the bed there was another photo. In one of the corners of the opposite wall there was a study area with a large L shaped oak desk currently housing a pile of books and a laptop, along half of one wall there was an oak bookcase. In the opposite corner there was a small dove grey sofa with a navy blanket thrown over the back of it. Severus looked to Hadrian who was in the far corner pulling clothes out of an oak wardrobe.
Hadrian turned to Severus "I hope you don't mind, but I really need a quick shower, I'll be like five minutes tops." Severus nodded and Hadrian quickly made his way to the ensuite.
While Hadrian was busy Severus decided to have a closer look around, firstly he looked at the picture on the bedside table, it was a group of six boys all dressed in their school uniform, they were all stood in front of the main school building, Hadrian was in the middle of the group his arm slung over the shoulder of an olive skinned boy with dark hair, Severus assumed that this was Blaise, on Hadrian's other side their was a boy with short blonde hair who was smiling nervously at the camera, next to Blaise there was a boy with ginger hair who was laughing, kneeling in front of the four boys were two boys one with blonde hair and one with brown, they were smiling cheekily at the camera. All the boys were dressed smartly, but Severus' eyes were drawn to Hadrian, Hadrian was laughing his eyes bright with humour as he looked into the camera. Severus pulled himself away to look at the picture above the bed, it was in black and white, a picture of Hadrian on his own obviously taken without his knowledge, it was of Hadrian walking towards the camera obviously lost in his own world, the school behind him was covered in snow, Hadrian was dressed in grey suit trousers with a white shirt, a black overcoat protected him from the cold and he wore black oxfords. In the picture Hadrian was looking up at a tree an almost pensive look on his face. Severus loved the photo and was determined to get one for him. Severus then moved over to the bookshelf and desk, on the shelf nearest to the desk there were about twenty colourful ring binders with matching exercise books. On the desk there was another ten ring binders and exercise books, Severus opened the first book he came to it was full of notes in Hadrian's perfect script it was full of chemical equations. Hadrian then came out of the bedroom dressed in a t-shirt with a motif of a dancing robot, a black bomber jacket and black ripped skinny jeans. Severus breath caught, he hadn't truly realised until that moment how young his godson was, he acted so mature, so in control but now Severus realised that it was a coping mechanism left over from his early childhood, Hadrian hadn't had anyone to rely on in those crucial years and so he learnt to rely on himself, but now, with rosy cheeks from the shower, bare feet and wet hair tousled from the towel Severus saw that Hadrian was a very young seven. "Hadrian." He breathed and his voice shook, Hadrian dropped the towel and ran at him, Severus scooped him up and let Hadrian cry into his neck, it all must be so overwhelming for his little boy. Severus sat on the sofa, Hadrian curled impossibly small on his chest. They sat like that for half an hour until Hadrian ran out of tears. When Severus looked down at him he smiled, it was time to get to know each other.