Chapter 2: Preparations
Hadrian woke up early in the morning and felt his heart beat faster than usual which had him on edge. The few times his heart was beating like crazy was when he was fighting fellow wizards to the death, or he was about to do something crazy.
Committing a coup against the Ministry of Magic warranted his heart beating fast.
He got up from his bed, put on his robes for the day, used a spell to clean his teeth, and popped in a mint-flavoured candy that made his mouth smell fresh. His room was a large room where the Potter husband and wife would sleep, but since Susan was dead, it was just Hadrian.
At the thought of his dead lover, he allowed tears to spill.
It wasn't often he thought of her; whenever he did, he made sure to weep when no one could see him. The only one who saw him cry was the Malfoy family and Sirius, but they didn't judge him and understood and did their best to support him. But after Sirius died, that sadness turned to rage and hate.
Today was a rare exception where he allowed his sadness to take over for a small while before he needed to put on the pureblood persona he had been taught by Draco.
The room was fairly large with access to a bathroom with a large bathtub that resembled more of a small swimming pool for kids. There was a walk-in closet with all sorts of robes and clothing. He never wore muggle clothes because he had no use for them. He had no dirty muggle blood in his veins.
There was a portrait of his parents in the bedroom that moved but couldn't speak for whatever reason. On the nightstand close to the bed was a moving photo of his parents that always waved at him whenever he looked.
Glancing over, he saw his parents dancing and as if sensing his staring, waved at him with smiles on their faces. He smiled.
Hadrian looked at the wall close to the door and saw a mirror that had been there when he had arrived. Susan had visited with her aunt one time and loved it and left a few make-up things there that he didn't dare touch because he felt as though he would insult her memory.
He clenched his fist when he remembered how Amelia was killed by Riddle and not long after, he lost Susan. He did everything in his power in that moment, to not release his magic that no doubt would have knocked over half the mansion.
Hadrian loved Susan with all his heart. They were going to get married and Hadrian even had plans on taking her maiden name so they would be known as Potter-Bones. But now he would never be able to see that happen. The thought of them having daughters and sons always made him smile, but now, that smile was one of pain because he would never get to see it happen.
Without warning, there was a knock on the door, startling Hadrian. "Come in," he called out and saw Draco stand there with a woman behind him.
The woman was wearing a leaf-green robe with heels to match it. Her hair was brownish black and her eyes were brown. Her name was Astoria Malfoy neé Greengrass. She was the younger sister of Daphne Greengrass. She married Draco and from the looks of things, Draco was happy with her, but sadly there was a curse within the family that made her sick so she wouldn't die of old age. She was a beautiful woman and very generous.
He immediately smiled at them.
"Ah, Draco and Astoria, my favourite couple!" He said in a joyful voice.
When Draco had married Astoria, the blonde-haired man had made Hadrian his best man. The wedding had been a little tense because Astoria didn't have the same pureblood views that Mr and Mrs Malfoy had. Personally, Hadrian had no problems. It was only the muggles that disgusted him otherwise he didn't care about being half-blood or pureblood.
Astoria smiled at Hadrian. She knew the smile was genuine but she always knew that he was lonely when he woke up and went to bed in this room. The only place he had memories of Susan.
She'd asked him multiple times on different occasions if he wanted to find someone but he had always been gentle with her and said he wasn't interested.
"Hello, Hadrian or should I say; my lord?" She winked at him while he rolled his eyes at her antics. Draco chuckled at the display.
Astoria would constantly tease Hadrian about being a dark lord while Hadrian had tried to look intimidating but eventually gave up because he knew that Astoria knew that there was a piece of him still in there that didn't want to do this.
Draco and Astoria had tried to divert him from the path of evil, but they knew he wasn't listening to them so in the end, Draco joined his best friend in killing muggles which gained some respect from the Malfoy patriarch and matriarch. Some Slytherins had joined Hadrian's cause but not only that, a lot of Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws had joined without hesitation after they had seen muggles bomb one another and realised that it was only a matter of time before they attack the wizarding world. A few handfuls of Gryffindors had joined as well which had surprised them.
The Ministry of Magic had learned of the killings and bombings that Hadrian committed and made him a wanted man in Wizarding Britain. The rest of the world didn't say or do anything about the matter, but they did keep tabs on what went on in Europe.
Wizarding Switzerland was the one who was careful about the matter. They didn't condone what Hadrian was doing, but they wouldn't hunt for him nor would they arrest him if he travelled to Switzerland as long as he didn't commit any crimes.
This also meant that aurors from outside Switzerland could hunt for Hadrian but they needed Switzerland's permission to hunt for him.
Hadrian was amazed by it. In his opinion, it was fair. If he was in Switzerland and was allowed to be there as long as he didn't cause any ruckus, then it certainly was fair for the foreign Aurors to hunt for him there as well.
He could live with that.
"Good morning, Astoria, I see you're as lively as ever," he muttered in mock distaste but did wink at her, causing husband and wife to grin at him.
"Hadrian, we gotta eat breakfast before we attack, or would you rather attack an empty stomach?" Draco raised a brow making Hadrian scoff.
"Yeah, yeah, father I will have a bite," he joked with his best friend and started making his way to the dining hall and saw his soldiers and the future Aurors of the wizarding world preparing themselves for battle. He had gained a mass of followers similar to Grindelwald's former strength.
Compared to the last two dark lords, he allowed muggleborns because they had magic. If they disowned their families and performed a ritual that cleanses the body from muggle blood, then the half-bloods and purebloods welcomed them into their society with open arms.
Speaking of muggleborns, he remembered a classmate named Hermoine Granger had gotten married to the pureblood Ronald Weasley. What was interesting about her, was the fact that she adopted the pureblood ways of thinking and even cleansed her body of muggle blood because during the war she had removed her parent's memories from the rumours he heard, and because of that couldn't make her parents remember that they had a daughter. So she adopted the pureblood mindset but didn't discriminate against them, which Hadrian understood.
Hadrian wasn't sure where she stood when it came to his acts of murder and the greater good of the wizarding world, but as long as she didn't get in his way, he was fine with her.
When he reached the dining hall, multiple followers were eating properly like true purebloods and speaking in respectful manners and encouraging each other for greatness. Many of them were purebloods and there were a lot of half-bloods and a handful of muggleborns.
The table was twenty-feet long with ten chairs on either side. On the table was a mass of food containing meats like bacon, sausages and chicken along with bread in the form of toast and eggs with salads and for drink there was pumpkin juice.
When they saw their leader, they stood up and bowed to him in respect before Hadrian eased them.
Hadrian sat down and picked a few sausages and a toast while thinking about the possibilities that could go wrong during the coup.
He didn't know why, but he had this feeling that something was going to go wrong. His stomach was also giving him weird signals that didn't ease his growing worry. He looked over the table and saw the likes of Theodore Nott, a Slytherin from his year group and Pansy Parkinson, one of his friends.
Mentally, the dark lord grinned. Pansy Parkinson didn't carry the name Parkinson any longer. It was Pansy Nott. They had gotten married and were pregnant with their first child which they found out was going to be a girl.
Just a few weeks after they found out they had been pregnant, Pansy and Nott had asked if he could be the godfather to their unborn daughter.
Hadrian had been honoured and told them he would love to.
"Good morning my lord!" Pansy called out over the chatter of the other wizards eating and chatting.
"Morning, Mrs Nott, how's the baby doing?" He asked gently while taking a sip of his juice.
The dining hall was always crowded with people during breakfast and dinner hours. It normally, was a large room if you were two or three people, but with an army to feed it felt like a very small room. It didn't help that the portraits of different people from the Potter family were watching them eat along with the house elves doing a lot of work, popping up out of nowhere.
Pansy smiled.
"She's doing great. Just three more months and she'll live with us and will grow up in a world where our fearless leader will rule into the golden age," she winked at him while Hadrian chuckled.
Pansy was another witch that always teased him about his role in the world and what he was striving for.
"Well, considering that I don't have any heirs of my own, maybe my goddaughter will be next in line to my throne," he jokingly winked at her and Nott's eyes lit up like fireworks.
"Sure, why not?" Pansy shrugged making Hadrian do a double-take.
"What?" He asked with wide eyes.
"Well, she is your goddaughter, meaning that if something were to happen to us, then you will be the father to our daughter and raise her as your own. Meaning you will need to train her to rule the society you would have built." Pansy looked smug at the last sentence and Hadrian looked at her sourly.
"Why are witches so complicated?" He asked a little too loud before he felt his blood freeze. The entire table froze along with him, particularly the males and sent prayers to their leader.
Hadrian knew who was standing behind him.
"Lord Hadrian Potter, what was that you said about witches, hm? Something about being complicated?" The voice of Astoria Malfoy made Hadrian shiver in fright.
She may not be as strong as she once was due to a magical illness, but that didn't mean she didn't hold her power over him or her husband.
"Uh, nothing Astoria, I didn't say anything," he gulped and the witches at the table snickered at his fear. He was a dark lord, but he was afraid of a sick wife?
"That's what I thought!" She said with triumph in her voice.
Hadrian breathed a sigh of relief and continued with his breakfast before he left and went to the training room he had on the first floor. He had realised that many of his recruits needed to learn hand-to-hand combat as they keep relying on magic which in the long run is an awful idea.
When he reached the room, he saw multiple witches and wizards training and sweating but stopped suddenly when they heard Hadrian's boots announce his presence.
He scanned the room as if judging everyone there. There were a few that he recognised like Hannah Abbott who was Susan's best friend. After what happened, Hannah easily wormed into Hadrian's cause, finally believing the pureblood superiority in terms of wizards and witches being the superior race.
There was another one by the name of Blaise Zabini who was a former Slytherin student in the same year as Hadrian and Draco. He was dark-skinned and had a cold expression on his face.
The other wizards and witches were either a few years older or younger, some even finishing their last year at Hogwarts. They all looked at him with respect and more than a little fear. Hadrian wasn't someone who took disrespect so easily. He would slowly drive the person mad, forcing them to do things against their will.
When a former member, Zacharias Smith had insulted Hadrian's heritage, the dark lord's response had been cruel and had made everyone there shiver in visible fright.
Hadrian had convinced Smith that his goal in life was to blow himself up with as many muggles as possible. With magic, Hadrian had escorted Smith to a pub filled with muggles and the former Hufflepuff had been none the wiser. He blew himself up along with thirty-five muggles and fifty were hurt.
After that, they never insulted him, to his face or behind his back.
"I see you have trained well over the last couple of years," he started with a smile that didn't reach his eyes. "I know for a fact that you have lost friends and family from those filthy muggles. You don't have to worry any longer, the moment has come where we take our rightful place, in the world, where wizards and witches will live freely."
His voice soothed everyone there, like a father comforting his children.
"Now, It is time for us to create a new era of peace and prosperity." He spoke with conviction in his voice while glancing at his loyal followers. "Are you all ready?"
"Yes, Lord Potter!" They spoke together like they were inside an Auror camp.
"Good," he smiled. "Then I shall tell the others it is time."