SUMMERY: In the future Harry was given the choice to go back and do his life over. Speaking to snakes, jumping across rooftops, socializing with half-demons and purebloods, and having a best friend who lived in a magical diary wasn't the most normal of childhoods. Now eleven and entering his first year of Hogwarts, Hadrian must live each day as two people. A Gryffindor, 'Potter' and a Slytherin, 'Prince'. He...might not have thought this through.
Rating: M (-seriously, note that. If I get a flame later on because you see some shit you don't want to see I am going to mock your intelligence and your reading level. Harshly. I may even call your mother names and insult your manhood.)
Warnings: Violence. Mental and emotional abuse. Emotional manipulation. Characters with flexible morals. A Harry encouraged from a young age to think independently and form his own opinions. Other magical schools. Demons and magical creature culture. Pureblood politics. Verbal Sparing. Possessed diaries. Cunning criminals. Time travel.
AN: Second chap! Sorry for any mistakes, I haven't acquired a Beta. Don't forget to let me know if you like what I do.
-Pseudonymous
There's two types of people in this world
The ones that entertain and the ones that observe
"There! To the left!"
A forced blasted against the wall, tiles broke and pieces flew into the air.
"There!"
More blasts.
Eridanous and Eden circled around each other kicking, punching and blasting at their opponent. They hissed and cursed and picked up stray pieces of pluming and beat down on it. Water sloshed. Mirrors clattered from the walls to the floor and tiny pieces erupted and flooded the area. They slipped and tripped and clung to the tops of the sinks, holding themselves out of harms way when the enemy came too near.
Artfully they used their acrobatics and predator instincts to evade and confuse. Leaps here, stomps there, smacks and punches. More broken tiles. A broken stall door lay at an angle. They ducked and rolled between stalls seeking cover before peeking out and assessing their battle plans.
The war waged on.
A hand spun Eridanous around. Alarmed, he only just kept from blasting Eden's frightened face off. She pointed to the corner behind him and whispered.
"It's brought reinforcements."
Eridanous gulped and peered over his shoulder in horror. They were outnumbered. The devious monster.
With a very manly shriek he yelled out his instructions.
"Run away. Retreat."
They turned and ran out the door, slamming the door, and locking it. A slight skittering sound got their attention. They looked down to see legs poking out from under the door. They squealed and ran down the corridor, with a pop they landed on feline feet. Ears back, legs pumping, they rand as fast they could, neither stopping. Their original purpose of following the strange professor who talked to himself was forgotten.
Eridanous glanced at Eden.
"Let's never speak of this again."
"Agreed."
Three halls away a fifth year prefect cursed at, then stomped on and killed, three cockroaches.
"What are you looking for?"
"How to Rule the World book 3. It examines the socio-political climates of the muggle, magical and creature realms of India. I have the first two (the first is magical society as a whole and the second studies Britain exclusively) and I re-read book one recently."
Draco tightened his grip on Hadrian's hand to get his attention.
"Can I ask you a serious question?"
"Only if I can give you a serious answer."
"What's the point of researching this stuff? You are in the library reading this stuff, not even educational stuff in a school library mind, everyday. There is no one who is here more often then you. What are you planning to do with all this information? You're a walking library as it is with that brain of yours."
"World domination." Hadrian said with a straight face.
"Are you messing with me?" Draco pouted.
Hadrian tilted his head.
"If you have to think about it I find myself less than reassured."
Hadrian patted his arm. "I promise to keep you as a favorite underling."
"Just what I wanted to be when I grew up." Draco deadpanned.
"There it is, Parvati is reading it." Said Nott, interrupting. He was used to the byplay by now. It was still fun to watch of course, almost everyone did, but it was catching him off guard less and less. Draco and Prince made some sort of instant connection when they met and everyone was jealous. Of all the people Draco could have teased it just had to be Soboles Deorum, future Lord of the family, cousin and apprentice to Lady Arcana of the d'Arc clan, one of the ruling factions in the Viridian of all places.
It was as if Fate had served the situation up on a silver platter. And they were friends. Friends. Not associates, not acquaintances, not even companions, they were legitimate, public announced, friends. It was as close to declaring an alliance of houses as minors could get and they were eleven! Draco's father had been ecstatic. Nott could see why, as Lord Malfoy was currently being associated with Lady Arcana politically and now his son was forming a bond with the her cousin who would take over as Lord of House when he was of age.
You couldn't plan a better match really. If they stayed in good favor with each other they'd be a formidable force when each reached their majority. It had Slytherin house scrambling trying to re-balance the order of things. Everything had to be reconsidered now and Prince was being watched constantly. Everyone wanted to know what Draco saw in him. Would he be powerful? Would he be well connected? Was he interested in politics? Did he share his cousins views? What were his plans?
So they watched.
Hadrian looked over at a table a few feet away when something clicked in his head.
"You! I forgot you two! Sly and Ash is one pair of twins, Ro and Rab is two, Fred and George is three and you, Padma and Parvati, are four. Right? Did I get it right?"
"Yes, that's right." She looked amused.
"I knew it."
Draco scoffed.
"Oh, by the way, I was wondering if I could read that book you have? When you're finished with it?"
"Are you interested in the social and political structures of India?" She asked skeptically.
"Yes! I could spend hours reading about the nuances and shades of morality and superiority and racism and political savvy and revolutions and alliances of other countries. I find it incredible. Especially to compare them with that of Britain and then go through and compare the muggle socio-political scene with that of the magical and creature realms of that country and then I go through and compare them to each other. For instance, if the muggle scene in America is similar to the Argents or if the Magical world of Russia and Germany are similar to those of the Morgans but not the magicals in Britain even though the magicals in Britain have their own version of the same thing in a more subtle and still current variety. What do these things say about them as a people? And is it the common thought among the populace or is it a stereotype? Or maybe a government/ministry pushed ideals popular among the more easily entertained of the masses and polished to go over well commercial- down on paper you know?- but no one stops to notice if it works in the physical world? Then of course there's the high-class scene of each world and boy is that a whole world in and of its self! Did you know the high class realms, whether its muggle or magical or creature or alternative dark being, they all have the same general principles even if the laws which govern them, the unnamed ones that everyone knows not the actual laws, are different? And you could take one pureblood from say the magical realm here and Britain and plop them in the middle of the Vamps or Morgan and they could adapt. The muggles would die of course, but isn't it interesting? How their survivor instinct just kicks in? All the possibilities of social experimentation astounds me and I have to say I am having fun entertaining the idea of conducting several ones of my own...""
Everyone stared and blinked.
"Okay I...I'm not sure what you just said."
"Let me try again. I like to compare the socially acceptable and unacceptable behavior of the wizarding, dark creature and muggle worlds of each country along with political popular ideals of the time and compare them with those of different countries. Then I ask questions. Why is it popular? Why is it acceptable? Is it recent or a traditional thing? Who are the political stars? What's popular where and why and why not? What recent wars have been fought over them? Who were the players? Why did they succeed? Why did they fail?"
She nodded slowly, closed her book and handed it to him.
"You need this more than I do."
To his left two students wearing green were analyzing, observing and making calculations.
Someone knocked at the dormitory door quietly and whispered "Potter?"
Eden sighed, shifted form, stretched her arms, and turned and poked Hadrian's cheek.
"We seem to have a visitor at..." She glanced at her watch "...half past midnight."
One emerald eye opened slowly and assessed the situation. "You get it."
"First off, this is a boy's dormitory. Secondly, this is the first year boy dormitory. I could pass for a fourth year maybe but not an eleven year old."
He agreed with her there. She was even shorter than Lady but she was too...womanly to be eleven. His face flushed.
"And lastly, and perhaps most relevant, I'm supposed to be a cat. Oh and you're closer to the door. Don't forget that."
The eye closed in contemplation. Then, without notice, arms twisted around her middle towing Eden on top of Hadrian before continuing and pushing her off the edge of the bed and through the curtains.
"Tah-dah."
Eden scowled and crept to the door and drew it open. Two indistinguishable boys with rosy unkempt hair stared at her.
She raised an eyebrow. "Can I…help you?"
"Sorry. We were looking for a friend of ours. This is obviously the wrong dorm."
Eden was going to accept this and started closing the door. Then she recalled twins helped Hadrian get his trunk onto the train. Were they in Gryffindor? She thought they might be and she didn't think they'd visit him from another house with prior notice.
"Wait. Are you Gryffindor kids?"
The twins looked at each other before they tilted their heads. "Yes?"
She smiled. "Looking for Harry then?"
Confusion and curiosity fought for dominance across the twins faces. Apparently curiosity won out.
"We are. Do you know where his room is?"
Eden grinned wickedly.
"I do. It's this one. You were right all along. Shall I rouse him?"
Not waiting for them to reply Eden ran back to the bed, pulled aside the hangings and pounced on Hadrian.
"Get up! You have two cute gingers come to call for you."
"Tell Sly and Ash to bugger off I'm tired."
"I would, but these are Weasley..." She trailed off to glance over for confirmation, getting a nod she continued, "Weasley gingers. "
"What? Crap!" He shot up knocking Eden off the bed with a squeak followed by a curse when her head hit the nightstand. She glared up at him one hand rubbing her head.
"Graceful." he snickered.
Eden flipped him off and held up a demanding hand. Once he obliged and pulled her to her feet Eden kicked him three times in the shins.
"Merlin! What was that for?"
"You need to be more careful, I am a weak little girl and you could have injured me."
"Weak my arse…"
Golden eyes narrowed. "What was that?"
"Er…"
Snickers brought their attention back to the door.
"Right, are you going to explain this your soul-less friends over there or are you just gonna spend the night beating me?"
Hadrian repressed a snarky comment, then sent an innocent, small, embarrassed smile at the Weasley twins.
"Yes, introduce us to your…." They eyed Eden's huge long sleeve shirt, lack of pants and the fact they were obviously sharing a single bed "…friend."
"Yeah Potter, explain this to them."
"Really? You're just gonna throw me under the bus? Do know what McGonagal would do if she saw this?" Hadrian shuddered.
As if on a cue only they could hear, Hadrian and Eden walked to the door, pulled the twins in, shut and locked the door and dragged them to Hadrian's bed. Eden shoved them both in, climbed in beside them, waited for Hadrian to do the same and then closed the curtains and add a few more silencing charms for good measure.
The twin's faces were very red and they stared back and forth between Hadrian and Eden nervously.
Hadrian rolled his eyes.
"I'm eleven. Get a grip."
They spent the rest of the night weaving a tale about a best friend whom he met and just so happened not to be entirely human and a plan to have an awesome pet which led to Eden posing as said pet. It wasn't even a lie, just different truths pasted together. The twins thought it was wicked Hadrian managed to trick everyone. Crises averted and the twins sworn to secrecy, the kitchen were brought up.
"And we wanted to know if you'd be interested in sneaking down with us."
"If you weren't afraid to."
"But we see you have no issues breaking the rules."
They waggled their eyebrows.
The Slytherin/Gryffindor first year Potions classes was all anyone talked about. It started off much as would be expected. Snape stalked in and terrified the firsties, gave a speech demonstrating his ability to kill them all and get away with it and then the roll was called. After that things got out of control. Snape fired off questions and soon a competition started between Potter and the Slytherin everyone called Prince. They raised their hands in unison for every question, whichever was called to answer first got it right. Then, when a potion was assigned for the class, both students ignored their instructions entirely and began making potions of their own creation. The danced around their cauldrons all but cackling madly. The entire class gave up working on their own potions and semi circles were created around the two students. Those who knew something about potions, Like Malfoy and Nott who's families were known for their abilities in the subject, and a muggleborn by the name Granger who had memorized the entire text, kept up a constant stream on information for the other students. Naming off ingredients, guessing which was chosen and why and naming it's effects and well known potions it was part of. Snape, rather than yell at the lot of them to get back to work, stood to the side and watched.
They finished in unison with a chorus of "Complete!"
Both of them had made their own poisons. Snape, no doubt delighted, asked them questions about which ingredients they used and what they thought the side effects and signs of the poison would be, how it would be administered, the deadliness of it and the length of time it took to go into effect. When he finished Potter suggested they test it on a live subject to see who was closest to knowing their poison the best. The class, as one, backed away. Making a scathing remark about their intelligence, Snape sneered at the classroom at large then conjured two rabbits.
Potter's dropped fluidly, without a sound. Dead. The moment the poison was swallowed.
Prince's frothed at the mouth, squealed at things only it could see, clawed at it's self then went into convulsions until it died.
Snape proceeded to give a disturbing lecture about the pro and cons of each poison and what situations might call for which. By the end of it the released students were racing to Madam Promphrey for enough dreamless sleep potions to last them the month.
By dinner everyone was swept up in it. They were both geniuses at potions obviously, but that wasn't what they discussed. No, there were sixth year Ravenclaws arguing about what their chosen poison said about either first year's personality. People brought up how well they did in their other classes and by the end of the meal the entire school was separated into team Potter or team Prince. Who was best at charms? Transfiguration? Was cleverest? Richest? Better looking? It was a war and the two first years involved finished their desserts leisurely, ignoring the yelling matches and fist fights breaking out on all side, intent only on finishing their treacle tarts, seemingly blissfully aware to the chaos they had created.
The staff were not immune to it. McGonagal and Snape had never been more heated toward one another, even at quidditch for which both were fanatic. The argued with wild hand gestures, sarcastic comments and subtle barbs. Other teachers took best on who would do best at the end of year exams and who they favored in their subjects. Dumbledore watched the violent confusion with merry amusement.
Beneath the staff table two felines, one black and one orange, smacked their paws to their foreheads and sighed.
Prince shut the hangings around his bed and pulled out Tom. Normally he would be lounging in the common room, acting for all the world as if he owned the place, head in Draco's lap with a book held above him to read. Tonight there was too much happening. It was three days since the potions class and no one would shut up about it.
He flipped open the book and whined about the noise and lack of privacy to Tom, who in turn had telepathic mental reading powers of sort and demanded to know what he had done. So he told him. He explained how it had all been innocent fun and he didn't get what all the fuss was about. How he and Potter were always the best in their classes and often teased and mocked each other. That both were watched a bit more closely than other students. Prince for being the future lord of the Deorum House and his cousin being Lady Arcana and her connections to the Viridan and her recent political moves.
That Potter was watched for being The-Boy-Who-Lived and that defeating Lord Voldemort as an infant pretty much gave everyone the right to stare at him and wait for something exciting to happen. Hadrian pointed out there was no real animosity between himself and Potter, that they just had a strange understanding. Hadrian recalled their interactions for Tom and the remarks his friends made about it. Then, five pages later, he finished.
Tom was silent.
Tom.
Tom?
Hadrian shrugged, took his potion, did his mental exercises and retreated to his mindscape. A large warehouse divided into rows of shelves with labeled jars appeared before him. He strolled up and down the aisles, placing his daily interaction into the appropriate ingredients jar. Both of his persona's memories were rewound and play for him so he could observe his reactions. He made his notes and sat in the middle of his mindscape. Slowly he recalled which emotions he felt when and carefully analyzed their usefulness. He went for paler shades of some and discarded others altogether. Meticulously he brought them out, tasted them, experimented, compared and replaced them. On and on the hours went until both personas were properly divided, tested for structure and sealed away.
He let his mind wander, images floated before him and faded away just as quickly. The only instance of note were a series of green flashes, high laughter and a scream. The sequence repeated several times before he managed to push it on and continue to other thoughts. Hadrian considered making a note to analyze it when he was conscious but then deemed it unimportant. It seemed familiar and a long ago and far away sort of feeling but it wasn't something all that unusual. If he had repeats of these on other nights he'd look into it but for now he chalked it up to a strange mental occurrence and forgot about it.
Hadrian took calming breaths and let his attachment to the physical world fade away. Now was the time to let himself be. He wasn't Prince. He wasn't Potter. He was just Hadrian. No planning or plotting needed. Lady stressed to him often that his self care routine was a mandatory requirement. It was what kept you sane. How you remembered who you were. How you kept your personas separate from yourself. One had to have a strong grip and a lot of self control to pull this off. The mental damage possible was phenomenal. To skip this would be stupid. Hadrian was many things, stupid not one of them.
Mind finally cleared, everything done, he allowed himself to sleep.
When he woke that morning, he found a message written in Tom's elegant loops and swirls.
Tell me about this Harry Potter.
AN: DUN DUN DUN. Sorry, I totally couldn't resist. Get's the point across though.
Next Chap: Flying, a prank war, Narcissa Malfoy slaps a bitch, Tom asks uncomfortable questions, there's a Troll in the dungeons, a criminal tells the worst bedtime story ever, Hadrian meets Dumbledore.
Until then,
-Pseudonymous