~*~HPLV~*~

September the first dawned bright and early. To be honest, Hadrian could not sleep very well. He was very nervous about the new day. He was not sure how his new peers would react to him. True, this time he had a pureblood name, but he did not have the luxury of doing whatever he wanted. Not if he wanted to stay undetected by the dark lord. Which would be a job and a half.

The man knew he had done the necromancy ritual. There would be concequences.

That morning he had merely picked up his packed trunk with everything he ever wanted to take with him from Private Drive, and caught a taxi to King's Cross. Not wanting to be too early, he sat on a bench with some muggles until it was half-past eleven. Then he approached the barrier.

A harem of red heads were blocking the way. They seemed to be arguing about who would cross first and he watched amusedly as the mother seemed to confuse her two twin sons before they both ran headfirst into the barrier. The mother was then accosted by a bushy haired girl, whom the mother took a pity on immediately, and seemed to be explaining the process to.

Hadrian walked closer.

"Now to main trick is to not stop running. Just keep going straight at it. Best do it at a run if you're nervous. Now go on."

The bushy haired girl gave him a curious look before running straight at the wall and disappearing too.

"First year as well, my dear?" The red haired witch said kindly to Harry.

"Yes, and I overheard the conversation..."

"That's alright dearie. Saves me from explaining twice. My son Ron is also a first year, yes you go on ahead Ronnie."

With a glare at that nickname, the lanky red head with something on his nose also disappeared through the wall between platforms nine and ten. "Off you go now, dearie." She said, giving him an encouraging push.

With a smirk, he allowed himself to walk calmly to the barrier and slide through. The moment he was out of the magic, he saw the gleaming red engine of the Hogwarts express. It was like coming home.

He quickly moved out of the way as more students poured out of the gateway and made his way onto the train. Hadrian quickly made up his mind that he didn't want that many friends. Acquaintances would be fine. He wanted to play the part of a Light wizard this time, but he didn't want to be a constant source of joy and happiness. Perhaps Ravenclaw would suit his needs in this lifetime.

But as he looked up and down the train, he realized to his dismay that every compartment was already full of upper years, having saved seats by apparating onto the train, and the only empty compartment seemed to be the one full with the lanky redhead and his rat. Hadrian wrinkled his nose. Though weak, this redhead's family had felt clean and Light as a greek yogurt. They were definitely a Light family. It would be a start.

"Anyone sitting here?" He asked.

The redhead shook his head, looking in dismay at his rat. "No. Feel free to take a seat."

No sooner had he sat down than a bushy haired witch, the same he had seen at the front, barged into their compartment. "Has anyone seen a toad? Neville's lost one." A lost looking boy was behind her sniffling, at his lost toad.

"No." Ron said shortly.

"Have you tried casting a summoning charm?" Hadrian enquired. "I've seen it work for one witch."

"That would be great if we could cast one!" The girl said irritated.

"Let's find an upper year that can." Hadrian insisted. "It will be much faster than looking through every compartment.

Ron grunted but they did end up trying to help.

No one they met seemed to want to help, however. And the fourth compartment they visited consisted of the young pointy-faced Malfoy and two huge boys that had bulks almost up to Dudley's standards. Hadrian's eyebrows rose. He would have thought that Malfoy would be trying to form connections. But from the look on his face, he seemed content to regal stupid and stupider with tales of his own superiority.

"Has anyone seen a toad? Neville's lost one. We're hoping to cast the summoning charm to find him. Could one of you do that?" Hermione said as the boys behind her just stared.

Malfoy seemed taken aback for a second. Then the superior smirk was back on his face. "Can't even keep track of a toad. And these people want to be wizards?" He and his cronies laughed with him.

Neville started shaking and looking like he was about to cry. And Ron's ears turned a weird shade of pink.

"How many of you have even tried to cast a spell? I bet none of them worked because that's how weak muggleborns and blood traitors are."

Ron was opening and closing his mouth but nothing was coming out. Harry was finding it difficult not to curse the arrogant Malfoy brat.

"If you didn't want to help, you could have just said so!" Hermione said, turning back to exit and close the door behind her. But Malfoy pulled his wand out. Before he could do anything, Harry said, "Protego." And a blue shield slid into place.

Malfoy's face was priceless. Whatever he was about to cast died on his lips as he stared at the perfect shield.

"I guess being pureblood doesn't make you good at everything." Harry said quietly. Then he elbowed and pushed the stunned Neville, Hermione and Ron back into the hallway, and said "Finite." Before closing the door.

Four faces stared back at him. "What was that." Ron breathed.

"It's just a shield charm." Harry shrugged. He found it difficult to not let a superior smirk on his face. Not because he felt surperior, but he had fallen into the habit of mimicking Tom's expressions. Just to gall him. But he crushed that instinct here. "Just second year."

"Just second year?" Hermione screeched.

"Keep your voice down." Harry pleaded. "Let's—go back to the compartment ok?"