London, England

September 1st, 1991

The past month had been possibly, in Hadrian's honest opinion, the weirdest and the best he ever had in his short eleven years of a life; he did not have to clean the house like an unpaid servant, bossed around by his not so nice family and most of all, he did not have to sleep in the small, uncomfortable room that was under the stairs. This past month, he experienced for what was for the first time in his life, what it was like to sleep on a soft bed. It was really nice. In fact, he was pretty sure that really nice was not really the right word for the feeling he got when he first slept on the bed. It was more like, magical and beyond explaining.

"Hadrian, let's go," said Remus Lupin; the tall, brown-haired man who wore a set of shabby looking robes that had been darned in several places, though he didn't seem to mind it as much as he would have in his shoes. In fact, Harry thought, he seemed to like it for some reason, or maybe he just did not have time to buy a new set of robes. He decided then, that if he ever got a chance, he would buy his savior new robes. Besides, he thought, a grown man needed more neat looking clothes than the wore he wore that looked like they were going to fall apart any minute. "The train departs at eleven, Harry. It's almost the time. We have to hurry,"

The truth was, it was only ten and a half o'clock in the morning; it had not been that long since the sun has set and people started to crowd out, passing by each other as they walked or either drove to their respective workplaces early in the morning.

"Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is the British wizarding school, located in the Highlands of Scotland. It takes students from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and Ireland." Remus had explained to him the day after he had arrived at the doorstep of his home, drenched in the rain and looking like he had not slept for weeks. He looked better now though, Harry thought as they walked towards the train station. "Hogwarts students are divided into four houses: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Gryffindor is well known for courage, bravery, daring, nerve, and chivalry. The house colors are deep red and gold, and the house is symbolized by a lion. "

"Hufflepuff is well known for loyalty, patience, hard work, fair-play, honesty, and tolerance. The house is symbolized by a badger, and the house colors are yellow and black. " Remus continued on. "Ravenclaw values intelligence, wit, cleverness, creativity, and wisdom. The house is symbolized by an eagle and the house colors are blue and bronze. Slytherin values ambition, leadership, cunning, determination, and resourcefulness. The house is symbolized by a serpent, and the house colors are green and silver."

Hadrian pushed forward his cart as he followed after Remus, walking into what looked like a train station. It was filled with people; people in all kinds of clothes, people of all kind of genders and people with all kinds of families. He looked around, there were platform numbers everywhere but for some reason, he could not find the platform nine and three-quarters. Though, he supposed, that was to be expected. There was no way that a wizarding school where wizards and witches all around the country went to, would place their train platform so open to the eye.

"So, how do we go in?"

"See that wall over there?" Remus stated, pointing to the tall, metal wall that was placed in the north of the King's Cross Station. He watched with fascination as a red-haired boy, no older than eleven, same age as him, rushed into the wall and disappeared from the view. He was not surprised; he had seen many things he had deemed impossible since his eleventh birthday. A boy disappearing into the wall was not more surprising than hearing that he was a wizard, a boy of a magical blood. "We're going to rush forward into that wall, just like that red-haired boy. A warning though, Hadrian, the most important thing is for you not to stop once you start running and to not be afraid. Come on, run off."

Harry shrugged his shoulders, preparing to run through the wall. He exhaled deeply and started running, the sudden breeze cool to his fair skin. He rushed forward, pushing his cart with him and just like that, went through the wall without much trouble.

A platform crowded with people was what awaited on the other side of the wall; adults who were seeing off their children and children who were going to get on the train that would take them to Hogwarts in hours time. Children walked with their parents, pushing their carts forward; which consisted of many suitcases and luggage, owls were put inside cages, some sleeping and some awake, staring at the road ahead.

"Fascinating, isn't?" Remus appeared beside him, putting his hand on his shoulder and dragging him away closer to the scarlet train. "The first time I came here, I was so excited. I had been waiting for the letter to arrive for almost my whole life, you see, every wizarding child's dream, to get their Hogwarts invitation letter. And then when it came and I arrived at the train station, I was so, how to describe it I wonder, suddenly anxious and yet excited at the same time. I could not wait to arrive at Hogwarts and I get on the train and, this is where I made my friends and maybe, you too would make here friends here too."

He thought about Draconis Malfoy; the short, blond-haired boy with stormy gray eyes that he had met earlier the month at Madam Malkin's when he went there with Remus to get his clothes measured. When Harry talked with him, he couldn't help but think that this was someone he could picture himself being friends with and maybe in near future, they would be. Who knows, he was not a seer. He could not foresee the future.

Remus gave him a small smile, half kneeling in front of him as he imagined his own father would have done if were alive and breathing and with his hands on his shoulders and gave him a quick yet tight enough hug.

He had never been hugged before; his family did not like him much to think that he needed some parent's love. "Harry, have a happy school year there. If you want, you should know that you always have a place at my home," he said. "Though, I doubt that Dumbledore will like it much but then again, when did I ever did things that the old fool liked?"

He had an impression that Remus did not like the old Headmaster that much.

"Now-"

"Mr. Lupin, do you have any idea where my parents went? I lost them!" came a voice, gentle and confused. She ran towards them, her long red hair swaying with the autumn breeze slightly and she smiled once she stopped in front of them and panted, her eyes meeting Harry's for a split second she reverted her eyes to Remus so fast that he thought that he had imagined it. "Have you seen them, Mr. Lupin?"

"Ginevra, how come you always get lost? Do you happen to loose them on a purpose?"

Ginevra gave a small smile, shrugging her shoulders lightly as she gave them a dry laugh. Her eyes were ocean blue, Harry noted with mild fascination, the color of everything beautiful and pure. His most favorite color in this whole world. The color of the summer sky and forever beauty, the peaceful and relaxing sounding ocean. Not that he ever has been at the ocean. It was only a pure speculation. "Well, my mother was being more overbearing than the usual. So, I just couldn't bear it and just, kind of ditched them which I regret fully and wholeheartedly as of now," she stated, biting her lips anxiously. "I shouldn't have done that,"

"You definitely shouldn't have done that,"

"I've been wondering, Mr. Lupin but who's this? Do you perhaps, have a secret son that none know of? You know, I've been hearing a little rumor around the house; they say that you have dated with the late Dorcas Meadows and was planning on proposing to her. Could it be that he is the secret love child you two had?"

"As always, you have a wild imagination, Ginevra. No way that ever happened." Remus stated with a roll of eyes. "Ginevra, meet Hadrian. He is Lily's son."

"Then you are Hadrian Black?" she asked, a small smile tugging her lips. "Regulus and Lilian Black's son? The one that survived that attack?"

"That I am," he stated with a light shrug of shoulders. He still had not gotten to the way people said his name; like he was some kind of a hero or celebrity to be married like he was not a poor orphan that had lost both of his parents to the war just like any other orphan that came out of the war. Like he was special when he wasn't. He was just Harry; a son and an orphan, a tragic combination.

But the way Ginevra had said it, there was something different. It did not feel like she was admiring him or even pitying him which he really did not want, she was just seeing a boy; a boy who was in every normal, just like her. Just like everyone else. He could not say that he minded it. In fact, he liked it. For the first time in what was weeks, Hadrian was just Hadrian to someone besides Remus and for him who had been bothered from left and right, it was a fresh change.

"Then you are a first-year too?"

He nodded his head, giving her a small, confident smile.

"Well then, good luck. You may need it," she stated as Remus after giving him a short pat on the shoulder, stalked away on the search for Ginevra's parents. "See you next year then. I am going to Hogwarts next year,"

Harry smiled, watching them go and turned, hopping on the train. This year, he thought, everything was going to change. This had the possibility of being the most wonderful and best year yet.

He has been walking around the train in search of a compartment and yet no such a luck. There did not seem to be a compartment where he could sit and not be idolized. He really did not need that on the way to the school. Finally, he opened the last compartment door. This was it, he knew and then it was done. If it was filled with people, he decided, he would just force himself to sit with that red-haired boy who looked at him like he was some football star. "Excuse me," he started, managing to somehow his voice despite his deep annoyance at the school crowd. He was not some doll to be looked at. He was alive human being that actually had feelings. "Can I sit here?"

The dark-haired boy turned his head, his dark eyes icy and indifferent as he stared at him indifferently. The other boy, blond-haired and gray-eyed and familiar, turned his head and his eyes widened in a recognization. "You are," he choked out, a small smile tugging his lips. "That boy I met at Madam Malkin's. Well, why don't you come in? We have more place than we have a need for anyway,"

Harry entered, feeling a sudden relief settle in deep inside his chest. He put his luggage below the passenger seat and sat down and sighed, relieved that he did not have to sit with that red-haired boy. He really did not want to spend five hours of a pure word torture.

"We didn't get each other's names the other day. My robe measurement was done before we could," the blond-haired boy stated beside him with a small smile. "But I am Draco Malfoy. It's a great pleasure to meet you,"

"Draconis Malfoy," the dark-haired boy stated with a smug grin. "His name is Draconis Malfoy. He hates it when people call him by that. Don't you, Draconis?" teased he, closing shut the gray covered book he was reading before Harry came in.

"Draco," Draco stated as he gave him a small, polite smile, bent on ignoring his dark-haired friend and pretend that the previous minute had not happened at all. "My name is Draco."

"My name is Theodore Nott," Theodore stated, giving him a small, polite smile that tugged his lips. "And you? What's your name?"

"Hadrian Black," Harry smiled.

"Black? Then you are my second or third cousin of my mother's big and wide family that I can't possibly bother to remember the names of?" he said with a big, wide smile. "Well then, nice to meet you, cousin five,"

"The world we live in is really, indeed twisted. We are all related in one way or another. That's what I call real sick. For example, my parents were fourth cousins that got married right after they had finished school,"

"My parents were third cousins," Draco stated with a small smile. "But, well, I suppose that you don't have to worry about your parents being cousins, Hadrian. After all, Regulus Black did go against all the pure blood agenda he have been taught in childhood when he married your mother."

It nerved him a little, how much people knew things about his parents that he didn't. But he supposed, that was to be expected as his aunt had not bothered to tell him anything beyond the fact that got killed in a tragic car accident which turned out to be a blunt, shameless lie. What else did she lie him about, Harry wondered as the train moved on and on.

"So, Hadrian, I am curious, which house do you wish for the hat to sort you in?" Theodore asked, leaning forward to him with a small smile. His dark hair swayed due to the heavy breeze that blew through the open compartment window and his dark eyes stared at him with slight playfulness. "I and Draco for one, are aiming for Slytherin as is the tradition in our families."

Now that he thought about it, he did not give much thought about it. He had spent the whole month, laying in his bed and being anxious about his stay at Hogwarts that it seemed, that he had forgotten to give it a thought. "Your father's family were always Slytherins as was he," Remus had told him, "Well, all except one. Your uncle, Sirius Black. He was a Gryffindor as was me and your mother,"

To be honest, he really did not care which house he was put in as long as it was a house his parents were in. There had to be something there, something that would help him learn more about his parents that he never had a chance to know and never would. Photographs or something like that. If he could not talk with them and converse like a child with living parents would have been able to, then he would learn about them all he could, bit by a bit until there was nothing to learn anymore. He wanted to learn them, to get to know them as well as he could.

"Either Gryffindor or Slytherin," he stated, a small smile on his lips.

"Either Slytherin or Gryffindor," Theodore repeated with an amused look seen in his dark eyes as he gave a dry laugh. "Never heard anyone put those two houses in the same sentence together. How utterly ironic,"

"Why is that?"

"Well, those two houses aren't exactly on the best terms," Draco explained. "They fight in everything; Quitditch games, house points and even in silly fights. Which makes your already seemingly likely parents even more likely. But as my mother said, she was a unique woman. She had a certain fascination with Slytherin house even though she was a Muggle-born, especially with her soon to be husband,"

"What does being a Muggle-born have anything to do with that?"

"Well, people like mine and Draco's father, think of them unworthy of the magic they were given and below them, the supposed elite pureblood wizards and witches. Though, there are expectations in the house; like Andromeda Black, Draco's aunt and Sirius Black, your uncle," Theodore explained. "But those with this kind of views are deemed as blood traitors and disowned by their parents from their family tree. Not really the kind of a risk one would like to take if they wished to remain in the family,"

"But what about my father, wasn't he also one of them?"

"A blood traitor?" Draco arched his eyebrows, an amused smile gracing his lips. "That he was; married a muggle-born, supported Dumbledore's cause during the war, worked as a spy for him while branded a Death Eater. But you see, your father was too smart to be caught as a blood-traitor. He even cast some kind of a spell that hid his union with your mother and in doing so, hiding you. Though, I don't know if it still works."

"It does," Theodore stated. "Though, I assume that as soon as Hadrian enters the house, the spell will be disabled. That's how the spell works, as your aunt Andromeda explained, hid the union until the hidden member enters the house."

Harry nodded his head, trying to process all the information he got. It was indeed useful information, he thought, that he may need at a later time when he got, even more, information in the future and to link them together.

The door split open suddenly and a short, brown-haired and chocolate brown-eyed girl entered, already wearing her school robes as she entered their compartment with a small smile. "Hello, have you seen a toad around here? A boy named Neville lost one,"

Theodore Nott's dark eyes widened, his breath got caught in his throat as he stared at him where their blond-haired sat with a small, charismatic smile on his face as he stared with a fascinated look in his eyes at the brunette. "No, Hermione," he stated. "But if we do, we will be sure to tell you or Longbottom,"

Hermione stared at him, a pleasant smile tugging her lips. "Do that then, Young Master Draconis," she teased and turned, closing the door behind her. "Until the next time, pretty boy,"

Draco was left staring ahead, biting his lips with an amused smile. He leaned back to his seat and turned his head, staring at them as if nothing of such a great entertainment hasn't happened in the past minute. "What?"

"Nothing, just a thought; you seem really amused with her," Theodore stated. "Which I completely understand as I am sure that's the first someone called you pretty and I completely agree with her; you are such a pretty asshole but you seem more amused than the usual when it comes to the girls,"

"She seems really fascinating,"

Theodore shrugged his shoulders, a knowing smirk on his lips. "If you say so, pretty arsehole,"

Rolling his eyes, Draco threw the newspaper that was thrown on the floor in pure annoyance.

"Pretty boy, are you angry at our friend here?" Hadrian asked innocently, smiling at his friend playfully. "Don't be mad, oh pretty one! Tell us, enlighten us, oh pretty one, what did we do to offend your honor?"

"I hate you two so much," which he had told them only for one reason solely; he had run out of newspapers to throw at them. He really should consider few more the next time he boards the train, Draco decided and thus in a half hour of a time, they would arrive at Hogwarts.

"Slytherin!" the hat shouted and Harry sighed in a relief as he hopped off the wooden stool. The Slytherin table cheered, Ravenclaw table gave a light cheer, Hufflepuffs gave a loud cheer with smiles on their faces and Gryffindors after a moment of a shock, some of them gave a cheer and some, booed. Not that he did not know anything about Gryffindor's not so friendly rivalry with his house; he knew almost everything about them as his two friends had told him on the train.

He smiled widely, running towards his table excitingly and sitting in the middle of a table filled with green-tied boys and girls of all ages. A boy beside him, older and red-haired gave a pat on his shoulder, a playful smirk on his face. "Hadrian, welcome to Slytherin; the house of snakes and cunning. We welcome you here wholeheartedly and as such you do not have to fear being left alone. We protect our own!"

The boy beside him rolled his eyes; he was tall, had a short dark-brown hair and dark eyes that were darker than the night itself. He put his hand over the red-haired boy's shoulder, shaking his head in an amusement. "You aren't a prefect, George," stated he. "That's a prefect's job that's done much, much later."

"Right. How could I forget? Mr. Aspiring Prefect," George laughed which made the other boy roll his eyes furthermore. "I am George Weasley by the way and this guy is Terence, Terence Higgs."

Terence laughed, his arm still over George's shoulders. "Call me Terry, please. Terence is such an old-fashioned, dull name. George is a far better name or Fred. Speaking of that, how's your twin nowadays? Did he bring that thing he promised to bring the last summer?"

"I bet he did," George laughed. "He was sneaking something in his luggage; that has to be it. Though, I can't wait to get my hands into it. All the pranks we can do on people!"

"All the ways we could blackmail them!"

"You are reading my mind, old friend!"

"Because I was thinking the same thing!" Terry laughed and turned his head to Harry, staring at him playfully. "You'll keep this a secret though, won't you, little Harry?"

Harry nodded his head and smiled at George. George Weasley, he said his name was, Harry remembered, then he has to be Ginevra's brother.

"Slytherin!" shouted the hat and Draco, smiling and excited rushed forward to their table and sat beside him in the center of the table. Once he sat, he patted him on the back, laughing lightly at him. "Told you that you would end up in Slytherin,"

"That for sure," Harry agreed.

"You must be Malfoy heir!" George gave a playful laugh. "Draconis Malfoy the First!"

"I am not first anything but," Draco started. "You must be George Weasley, one of the wonder twins."

"That I am!"

"Nott, Theodore," called Professor Minerva McGonagall; a tall, stoic looking woman as she waited for Theodore beside the wooden stool. Theodore walked forward and with a sigh, sat on it. "Slytherin!" it shouted immediately and they two gave a small laugh. "All in," Draco said.

"All in,"