Tears and blood streamed down Hadrian's face as he pushed Celsus forward, the previous day had been amazing, two weeks since first meeting the Malfoys they had brought their son Draco to meet him. Draco was a couple of months older than Hadrian though he was half an inch shorter; the boy had striking blonde hair like his parents. He and Hadrian had hit it off straight away and the Malfoys had decided that Draco would start to attend Riddale next term, both boys had been ecstatic, Hadrian had then introduced Blaise to Draco and it seemed that those two got on famously as well. 'Yes' Hadrian thought the day had been perfect, now though it seemed like the calm before the storm.
This morning Hadrian and his friends had bounced into their Latin lesson all of them discussing what they could do once Draco arrived next term. As Hadrian had looked towards the front of the classroom he realised that they had a new teacher, Hadrian suspected that Mr Graves had retired and privately thought that it was about time, the man was ancient. As the lesson progressed though Hadrian decided that he would give anything to have Mr Graves back, Hadrian knew that he was an annoying student, he found it hard to concentrate and completed his work in a matter of minutes. At Riddale teachers would set individual wok for each student at their own level, currently Hadrian was studying for his Latin GCSE and he completed his assigned work in ten minutes, because of this he was bored, most teachers knew that Hadrian worked exceptionally quickly and tried to provide him with something that would hold his interest, however the new teacher Mr Lofter seemed irate that Hadrian had completed the work so quickly and even accused him of cheating. The man had quickly cut off Hadrian's defence and proceeded to assign him detention and sent him to Dr Craven's office. Hadrian had been furious and grabbed his satchel before storming out of the classroom. He refused to go to Cravens office and so he ran through the corridors and fled outside, he had spent the next hour sat on a bench in the remembrance garden, tears of frustration sliding down his face. He had then proceeded to Dr Craven's office to try and explain the situation to the man, however it seemed that Mr Lofter had gotten there first and by the time Hadrian arrived Dr Craven was already furious with him insisting that Hadrian attend the detention and adding his own for the next day. Hadrian left the office feeling betrayed, the man hadn't even listened to his side of the story.
At five o'clock that evening he had made his way to the Latin classroom gritting his teeth thinking that all he would have to do was some lines. As soon as he had entered the classroom the man had locked the door and Hadrian's heart rate had sped up the man was holding a cane. "You are in need of some proper discipline, this school has let you run riot but I wont allow it anymore." Mr Lofter snarled as he yanked Hadrian's Blazer off of his shoulders, Hadrian had taken his waistcoat off before coming so his top half was only covered with the thin material of his school shirt. Hadrian's brain shut down as he felt the first lash upon his back the sound of the cane whistling through the air bringing back memories of the Dursleys. Hadrian was brought abruptly back to earth as the cane caught his cheek on a particularly brutal lash, he gasped as the pain hit his body all at once. Then his instincts kicked in and he ran towards the door his accidental magic rendering the lock useless, he ran through the school his back dripping blood through his ripped shirt, the waistband of his shorts was becoming saturated. Hadrian barely registered as he ran past Dr Craven, he wanted Severus. He automatically ran towards the stables, as he reached Celsus who was out in the paddock grazing he used his momentum to mount the horse in one fluid motion, he quickly urged Celsus to jump the fence of the paddock and took off towards the forest.
Arthur Craven had had a difficult day, first thing this morning he had a phone call about one of his upper year students had been caught stealing from a nearby village shop, he had been so angry, and then the new Latin teacher Mr Lofter turned up and stated that Hadrian had been cheating, this just increased his ire and when the young boy turned up he didn't even have the energy to listen to the boy and had quickly dismissed him telling him that he better attend the detention that evening and that he had another one the next day for not coming straight to him, later that afternoon as he thought about it his hands scrubbed at his hair as he groaned as he thought more about it the whole situation made no sense. Firstly Hadrian found Latin easy he would have no need to cheat, secondly Hadrian had never been one to hide from his sins, the boy admitted when he had done wrong and lastly like a punch in the gut he remembered Hadrian's eyes flashing with betrayal as he had turned the boy away without listening to him. He felt sick to his core, it had taken such a long time to gain Hadrian's trust and there was every chance he had just thrown it all away in a moment of frustration. He quickly looked at the clock it was quarter past five, Hadrian would be in his detention he shot up out of his chair and threw on his suit jacket hoping to meet the boy on his way back to the dorm, he needed to sort this out.
As he strode briskly down the corridor of the east wing he heard fast steps and ragged breathing, he saw Hadrian rush round the corner and gaped, the boys face was covered in blood and he was dripping blood behind him 'What had happened!' As Hadrian sped past him barely glancing in his direction he saw the problem, the boys shirt was torn and his back was bleeding, it looked like he had been lashed. Once he got himself moving again Hadrian was well ahead of him. He ran through the corridors barely catching glimpse of the boy, luckily he knew where the child was headed. As he neared the stable and paddock he saw Hadrian swiftly mount Celsus and jump the fence. He swore softly as the child rode bare back into the forest. He quickly looked around trying to find a big enough horse so that he could follow.
Celsus' hooves hit the ground as Hadrian urged him on the horses shoes would clip tree roots as they stampeded through the forest jumping over fallen trees and dikes, Hadrian didn't know where he was going until he saw a large tree in the distance, while he and Blaise had waited for the start of first year they had tried to build a tree house but it had only ended up as a platform high in the canopy. Hadrian pushed Celsus to his limits urging the horse to go even quicker, his ripped shirt flapped in his wake and the welts stung as the cool air whipped around him, as they reached the tree Hadrian pulled back hard on the reins causing Celsus to rear up before coming to a complete stop at the bass of the tree. Hadrian slid off his breath coming fast and hard he quickly tied the reins around the trunk before he hurried to climb the tree up to the platform, he sat there for ten minutes before he hear rustling in the forest as someone neared his destination he could only hope that Lofter hadn't come to finish the job he thought with a shudder.
Arthur pushed his borrowed horse hard as he rode through the forest, he hadn't a clue where Hadrian would go and he needed to find him quickly, just as he was about to turn around and go to check Hadrian's tracker he saw Celsus tied up in the distance, he pushed forward again eager to reach the child he felt he had wronged. He came to a stop at the foot of the tree and quickly secured the horse as he looked up into the canopy of the tree and saw a platform. Arthur sighed internally trust Hadrian to be severely injured but still able to climb a tree.
Hadrian shook as he heard someone start to climb the tree, he daren't look to see who it was, he was getting cold, starting to feel numb. Shock was setting in. He nearly scrambled over the edge of the platform in his haste to get away as Dr Craven climbed onto the platform; normally Hadrian would be relieved to see the man but after today he didn't know if he should trust him. The man crouched in front of him and started to speak, but Hadrian couldn't hear him, the mans lips were moving but Hadrian could hear nothing, his vision was starting to fade around the edges and his last thought before he passed out was 'Come on Severus.'
Arthur ran through the school Hadrian limp in his arms blood soaking into his sleeves from the boys back, he ran straight to the infirmary his heart beating out of his chest as he threw the doors open. An hour later Hadrian's torso was wrapped tightly as he lay unconscious on the infirmary bed his pale skin looking grey against the stark white of the bed linen. Arthur sat next to the bed stroking his fingers through the tousled hair, luckily the cut on Hadrian's face was not deep, it had bled a lot as facial wounds do, but hopefully it wouldn't scar. While Hadrian was being patched up Arthur had called the police and Lofter had been arrested, he then contacted Severus Prince informing him of the situation, the man had informed him he would be there as quickly as possible. Arthur felt so guilty, why hadn't he listened, he had no excuse it was his job to listen to the children of this school and he hadn't done it, but it was worse because it was Hadrian, he had spent so much time with Hadrian since he had started school here, the boy had been so alone and now Arthur had let him down, he continued stroking the child's head until he heard a door open, he looked back ready to defend Hadrian until he saw a pale Severus Prince stumble through the door.