The vows were done. Anything said, done or insinuated by Harry, or about him till midnight that day, would be covered by them. Harry didn't know what he had expected, but it wasn't for them to make such broad and long lasting vows. He had only asked for secrecy vows and without discussion or complaint they had made them as airtight as they could. Harry just stared in shock at the two men, who were patiently waiting for him to say something. A minute later, realizing Harry wasn't going to start, Snape cleared his throat and spoke.
"Considering the vows you asked us to make, I assume you already have suspicions regarding the headmaster." Harry just nodded. "My suspicions started yesterday when we found that professor Lupin had been placed under some quite harmful spells. After my trip to your relatives today I brought up my suspicions with him and we decided to discuss it with you. We are not certain that it was the headma…"
Harry snorted. "It was definitely him." He had been thinking about Moony for a lot of the summer regarding his abandonment of Harry. He had read about werewolves and how protective of their cubs they were and it never added up to how he treated Harry. But with the amount of spells on him, he figured there was probably something on most of the people he interacted with. "He has no problems with placing spells on people to make sure they follow the path he has laid out for them." the potion master's eyes widened.
" do you… Did he place spells on you? Would you allow me to do a magic scan on you? just to check." Snape stood up with his wand pointed at him before Harry could even consent, so he held up a hand to stop the potions master. Snape didn't look happy but he sat back down and put his wand away.
"There's no need. I already had one done and have been cleansed of everything that had been cast on me. I dont have the results with me but if I was given detention after dinner today for whatever reason I was brought to your office, I would be able to bring them to you and we could continue this conversation. there is only fifteen minutes till the start of dinner and I don't think we will get through everything by then." the professors nodded.
"So there were spells cast on you? And you're sure they were cast by albus?" Snape frowned at the wolf and shared a look with Harry.
"Would the test you did yesterday reveal potions?" He directed his question at the potions master and received a shake of the head, Snape fully understanding what he was implying. Turning back to Remus he spoke. "Yes, I am sure it was the headmaster. He placed a Siphon and binding on my core, as well as several spells, and fed me potions." Snape blanched and Mooney's eyes flickered amber for a second.
"He put blocks on your core?" Snape looked horrified at the thought before the expression changed into a confused frown. "Didnt you need a new wand? Most who bond with a wand when they have their core blocked wouldn't be able to use that same wand after the blocks have been removed." Snape was staring at the fake holly wand currently sticking out of his pocket. Harry just smirked at him and passed the wand over, handle first. The professor hesitantly took it from Harry. Holding someone else's wand was something just not done in their society so it must have felt awkward to him. As soon as his hand closed around the handle he looked up and locked eyes with Harry.
"It's fake." Lupin's head whipped towards them. "You've been using a fake wand? But you can't do spells with this." Harry took the wand back and made a show of 'using' it to pour himself a small cup of tea which he took a sip of, a smirk still present on his face as the two professors stared at him with wide eyes. "You've been using wandless magic in your classes?" Harry nodded his head; he had been trying to use wandless magic as much as possible without the aid of the elder runes. Considering it was only third year material and he was still doing the wand movements and using the words ment it wasn't too hard for him.
"As impressive as that is, you still need a…" Lupin cut himself off with a frown. "I'm assuming it's been fake since before the start of school?" Harry nodded, not sure where this was going. "How did you cast two patronuses on the train without a wand?" Lupin raised an eyebrow at him and Snape started sputtering.
"Two patronuses? That was you?" Harry raised an eyebrow. With all the Slytherins that saw he would have thought Snape would have heard about it. Clearly he wasn't the only one with that assumption as Lupin had the same expression on his face. Snape quickly collected himself and spoke. "I heard about what happened and that someone drove the dementors away but was unaware it was you." He knew it wasn't a coincidence that his name had been left out. It was more than likely intentional and Harry didn't want to think about the implications of the entire Slytherin house keeping him under Snape's radar, including Malfoy who was there when he cast the patronus and was Snape's godson.
Ignoring that he moved back to Lupin's original question. Lifting his sleeve so they could see the holster strapped to his forearm he took out his Hydra wand. "I already got a new wand. on the train was the only time I have used it though. I try to not let people see it. It is quite clearly not the wand I normally use and would rather avoid questions, hence the fake wand." Lupin opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by the chime of the clock placed on the mantle of the fireplace.
"Well it's time for dinner. I do believe Mr Potter I will be seeing you at your detention after dinner for writing an entire essay on the wrong ingredient. I do believe I set it on moongrass not moonstone." Harry took a minute to appreciate and admire Snapes pure brilliance at finding literally anything to give him a detention for before speaking.
"I will meet you in potions lab three." Snape looked like he was going to protest so Harry continued talking. "and professor Lupin there is a lovely tapestry on the seventh floor of Barnabas the barmy. You should go look at it after dinner." Before either man could question him, he left.
After an awful dinner of Ron complaining about Snape giving Harry detention like he was the one who needed to sit through it, and Hermione berating him for not doing his homework properly. He was making his way down to the dungeons when he saw Malfoy and his group walking up, probably on their way to the library. They were all chatting and didn't appear to have noticed Harry. Just as he was hoping to get past without notice he locked eyes with the boy he believed to be Nott who elbowed Malfoy.
"Potter." Harry sighed, they weren't the only ones in the corridor but there were no portraits and the only other people were upper year Slytherins so it wasn't too bad. But still he needed to say something while it was relatively safe to do so.
"Heir Malfoy." Everyone, including the eavesdropping sixth years looked shocked at him for the formal address. "I would appreciate it if you would stop approaching me in any kind of civil manner in public." The blond's eyes flashed in shock and anger before settling on confusion. "You three approaching me in the library was not sensible or subtle." Malfoy frowned slightly and went to speak but Zabini stepped forward pulling Harry's attention to him before he spoke.
"We thought approaching you away from Weasley and Granger was enough. we apologize if it wasn't. However a formal apology is normally done publicly that is why we approached you in a public space." Harry just blinked at him confused. Apology? Why was an apology necessary? And how the fuck do the Slytherins Know that he was acting infront of Weasley and Granger? Seriously what did he do last year for everyone to start going off script. "What I said to you on the train was unacceptable. Honestly, we thought the way you treated us in the library was due to what I said." Zabini thought he was mad at him? Harry let out another sigh and waved his hand dismissively.
"You were in an unpleasant situation and you lashed out at the person you didn't trust. It's understandable and not worth an apology. It was more of an issue that you approached me so publicly. Let me be clear because I have to get to my detention with Professor Snape. I have no problem with you. Any of you, or your house, but no one, and I mean NO ONE can see me being civil to you. That includes the portraits. Just because there are no people in a corridor doesn't mean no one's watching. Now I really do have to go but I hope to talk to all of you properly at some point." he dipped his head and turned on his heel, making his way as fast as he could towards potions lab three, and leaving about a dozen gaping Slytherins behind.
Snape was already there by the time he walked in and he raised an eyebrow at Harry's late entrance. "Don't blame me. I had to have a conversation with some of your Slytherins about subtlety. The potions master blinked in confusion but Harry didn't elaborate. Instead he walked over to the back wall and looked for the carving of the little snake he knew was there. After a minute he found it and spoke the password. He walked in without turning around and gestured for Snape to follow. Soon enough they were at the seventh floor entrance and ushering Moony into the passageway. He didn't miss the look of absolute confusion and curiosity shared between the two professors as they followed him down the winding paths until they reached Slytherins receiving room.
Gesturing to the seating area he spoke. "You can sit, I just need to get the magic test results for you. I won't be a minute. Kreacher." The house elf appeared with a loud pop and bowed. "Could you prepare tea for three please." Kreacher nodded eagerly and popped away.
Harry came back after collecting the results from the study to find Snape and Lupin looking around in wonder with an untouched tea service on the table between them. Sighing, Harry reached for the teapot to pour everyone a cup when an aggressive pop sounded and Kreacher snatched the pot before he could touch it. "Master doesn't be pouring himself tea. It wouldn't do for proper Lord of house Black." Harry just sat down and waited for Kreacher to finish pouring the tea, noticing how he placed the pot as far away from him as possible before popping away. He picked up his tea to take a sip as Remus spoke.
"Before we see the results of the magic scan I believe we have some questions. where are we and what were the passageways we used to get here?" Both men were staring intently at him. He knew they would want to know but the manic gleam in both of their eyes was giving him second thoughts about showing them.
"This is Slytherins quarters and we got here using passageways that Salazar Slytherin built into the castle. The only way to enter them is with parseltongue."
"These are Slytherins quarters?" Both men were eyeing the doors lining the walls with the same manic gleam in their eyes and Harry wondered if the hat ever considered them for Ravenclaw. "There were rumors about there being founder's quarters but no one has ever been able to find them." looking back over his results of the magic test he responded absentmindedly.
"They can only be found by the founder's Heir.'' He heard a clunk and looked up to see two gaping professors and a spilt milk jug. Realizing what he said he continued speaking. "We were going to get to that later anyway, but yes I am a founder's Heir. However, back to Dumbledore isn't a good person. Here." He handed over the first magic test done by the goblins. The potions master took it curiously and began to read, Remus leaning over his shoulder to do the same. The werewolves' eyes went amber and he started to emit a low growl. Snape looked up to meet Harry's eyes. Harry just raised an eyebrow.
"Just to confirm, everything here is already gone?" Harry nodded moving forward to sit on the coffee table, right next to Moony and the wolf calmed slightly. Snape nodded and continued reading more carefully. After a minute his face scrunched into a frown. "It says you have a blood glamor." He looked Harry up and down. "I don't see a difference from before." Harry lifted his hand and very obviously removed the ring. Pulling out a hairband he tied half of his hair back and pulled off his glasses. Snape blinked a few times before nodding and going back to the parchment. "The only thing I don't know about is the Horcrux." he looked toward Lupin for an answer but Lupin shrugged.
"It's something I haven't come across before. I was hoping you would know. We can go look for it after we're done here." Hadrian decided to cut in before they tried to research it.
"It's ancient black magic and you will not go looking for it." Both heads snapped to him with a deep frown and he continued. "It's not something I am going to tell you about and I need you to make an unbreakable vow that you won't go looking into it. Neither of you can know this, especially you." he turned towards Snape. "If the dark lord found out you knew anything about it, you would be signing your own death warrant." Snapes scowl dropped and he suddenly went very pale. "All you need to know is that it is gone and there is no lasting damage." Both men looked a little better at that and with a little grumbling they made one more vow.
"I cant believe that the headmaster did this to you." they had gone back to looking at the parchment again and going through it properly.
"That's not everything I have." Both men looked to him to continue. "He is the reason mum and dad are dead." He held up a hand to stop Snape's inevitable interruption and looked him dead in the eyes. "The prophecy is fake." It was silent for a long moment. The only sound was the harsh and steady breathing of the potions master attempting to calm himself down.
"Explain." The word was growled out but Hadrian paid it no mind.
"The prophecy is fake. Well it's sort of fake. There was a prophecy but Dumbledore changed it, imperio Trelawny and made her recite the fake one in your presence so it would get back to the dark lord. Dumbledore painted the target on my parents' backs. It was his attempt to get rid of the prophecy child." Snape looked pissed and Hadrian couldn't blame him.
"Do you know what the original prophecy said?" Hadrian nodded.
"The one with the power to restore the Dark Lord approaches... born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies... and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not... and either must stay on the side of the other, for neither can thrive while the false Light survives... the one with the power to unite races and magic will be born as the seventh month dies." Snape and Lupin looked shocked.
"Restore the dark lord, be on the same side, against the false light? this implies you're going to bring him back." Snape looked horrified and Hadrian couldn't help but feel he was being hypocritical.
"Well I assume there was a reason you joined him in the first place?" he said it much sharper than he meant to and Snape winced. "I looked into his old ideals. I'll be honest, I agree with most of them." Moony looked horrified but Hadrian hadn't expected anything else from him considering he had only been fed what Dumbles wanted him to know. Pulling out a large stack of paper he placed it on the table and looked at Remus. "Who would you consider the Dark Lords most trusted?" he blinked in confusion before speaking.
"Malfoy and Nott. Nott was one of the first death eaters and Malfoy was his right hand." Hadrian nodded and pushed the stack of parchment towards him.
"Those are the voting records of the Wizengamot for the last two years. Look at the bill, decide what you would vote for then check it against Nott, Malfoy, and Dumbledore. You might be surprised." while Moony did that he turned to Snape. "I understand why you joined him. I think if my parents weren't fed the bullshit Dumbles comes out with about the dark, and voldi didn't go insane, they would have agreed with the ideals. Oh and did I mention Dumbles is stealing from my vaults and paying Weasley and Granger to spy on me." Snape just pinched the bridge of his nose probably trying to stave off a building headache.
"Right, I'm going to go back to the original reason we wanted to talk to you. Your living situation." Hadrian looked down, he didn't like this topic.
"I have it handled. it may not have looked good but this summer was great. I'm the one who wanted to be put in the shed, they left me alone all summer. I bought one of the trunks with an apartment in it so I wasn't actually living in the shed. It also had a floo so I could go to diagon whenever I wanted." he looked at Snape who seemed to be considering his words. Eventually he let out a sigh.
"I'm glad you found a solution. I'm angry you needed to, but I'm glad you did. However if something ever happens please promise you'll owl me." Hadrian felt touched that he seemed to genuinely care and he nodded.
The moment was interrupted by a rather loud growl and they both looked to see a rather angry Moony flicking through the parchment Hadrian had given him. "Why?" he was growling and Hadrian thought it was about time to mention it.
"You know if you're trying to hide being a werewolf you might want to stop growling." his head snapped up and Hadrian smiled. "Your eyes have been flickering amber this whole time, Moony." his eyes widened at the use of his marauder name. "I found one of my dads journals, Remus Lupin, also Known as Moony. Can I ask what made you so upset?" he gestured to the parchment and Remus blinked at the swift topic shift. It took him a few seconds to register what had happened. That his cub had acknowledged him being a werewolf so nonchalantly and moved on, like it was just something that was fact and not massively important. Only then did he realize Harry was still sitting on the low table close to him trying to keep his wolf calm. With a slight rasp to his voice he spoke.
"I just don't understand. Albus is voting for bills repressing dark creatures, yet he is always preaching about their equality, but the dark is trying to remove the restrictions. It goes against the dark's ideals." Hadrian shook his head.
"It goes against what you have been told is the dark's ideals. I've heard more members of the lite faction hate dark creatures. These people believe the light faction's main goals are the banning, and removal of all dark magic, including dark creatures."Lupin just sat gaping at him. "The light's ideals have no consistency no matter who you ask; their ideals will completely change from person to person. With the dark faction depending on who you ask, the only time you will not get the correct answer as to what the dark stands for is when you ask someone in the light faction. Everyone in the dark has the same base ideals. Don't get me wrong, not all of them share the exact same beliefs but the fundamentals are always consistent. That is the dark want to protect their culture and right to magic." Snape looked at the boy who was only just thirteen and listened to why Severus had that stupid mark on his arm, why he had damned himself and reminded him that in the end he wanted to do the right thing and he had thought the dark was doing that. "Anyway, we are getting sidetracked. Now that we have gone through that, I think it would be good to show you what my inheritance test looks like." he placed the parchment on the desk and waited for them to read it.
Snape was first to break the silence. "It was you. You gave the proxies to Nott Greengrass and Lucius." Hadrian just smirked into his tea. "He has been wanting to meet you for ages."
"He has, however, not doing so gives him plausible deniability of my identity." Snape nodded .
"Nott, Greengrass, and Lucius all believe you are the same person or at least know each other and coordinated the proxies." He looked up at Snape. He didn't think it would be that obvious, sure a little suspicious for it to happen around the same time but not obvious. The older man gave him a small smirk and continued. "They all happened to be having lunch together when the letters arrived and they were all written by the same hand." Hadrian facepalmed. He should have tried to stagger them or something. Oh well he cant change it now.
"There are many other titles on here, why not give them out?" Lupin was the one to ask the question and the two turned towards him.
"Gryffindor can be traced back to me easily, same for Potter, and Peverell. Gaunt and Slytherin are associated with the dark lord and could put whoever I gave it to in an awkward position. Black, Sayre, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw I have already given. and Giving out Emris and LeFay would cause a riot. You saw the prophet when it was announced that two of the founder's houses had a lord again. It was chaos. As funny as it was, I don't feel like reinstating one of the Royal houses just yet." Both men nodded and it made sense. Now that Moony was calm Hadrian decided to move back to his seat. Pulling his wand out he poured himself another cup of tea. Snape and Lupin both stared at the wand. Tentatively Lupin spoke.
"If you don't mind, what is your wand made of? its…" he made a vague gesture with his hand and Snape filled the gap.
"Unusual." He could tell they both wanted to look, but inquiring about other peoples wands was a large social faux pas so they were trying to be tactful in their curiosity. Hadrian placed it on the table in front of them and they moved forward looking in intrigue, neither attempting to touch it though.
"It's made of Luxe Hydra fang with a dual core of a dark phoenix feather and a thestral heartstring." their eyes practically sparkled at the information. "So what happens now?" Their gazes snapped from the wand to Hadrian with a confused expression. "You wanted to know about my time with my relatives, which you know now. I confirmed your suspicions about the headmaster and then some. You understand the political direction I am going and the situation I am currently in with my 'friends'. So I ask again what will you do with this information? What happens now?"