Update: I was rereading this and noticed quite a few errors I missed when I posted this a couple years ago. Has it really been that long? Well, I'm going to try and squeeze my muse for all its got and add another chapter to this story as well as Ghost. It has a lot of potential and I think I have some solid ideas for it as well.

I don't own anything but what I create.

Edited on 1/26/2022

It was a dark and cloudless night in the small hamlet of Godric's Hollow, the moon shining brightly and illuminating the small village. There was a cottage on the outskirts where two happy boys were playing inside, a young woman trying to calm them down and get them to bed, with no idea of the evil that was approaching the house.

A black robed man with harsh and gaunt features appeared out of the shadows, his eyes slitted and red, glowing with power and hatred. He glared at the cottage with all the fury in his body, as within that unassuming building lay a power that could destroy him. One of those two boys held the power to stop his revolution and kill him, and he refused to allow such a threat to his power to exist. This man was the great Lord Voldemort, though any that dared to utter his name did so at their own peril, and no one would be allowed to threaten him and what he had created.

Voldemort had heard about a prophesy from one of his followers years ago, but it had taken him time to lure the Potters, the most likely subjects of the prophesy, into a position that he could take advantage of. They had protected themselves with one of the most powerful spells possible, the Fidelius charm. And they had chosen their friend and ally Sirius Black to be the anchor and secret keeper for them, which had proven to be a most wise decision. No matter what forces he had thrown at the Black Heir, the ambushes he had set, the men he had bribed, none of it had worked and Black had survived and even thrived to the point that he had been promoted within the Auror department.

This had been the development he had been waiting for, as a much more public position for the new Lord Black had given his spy, Pettigrew, the chance to convince the Potters to make him their secret keeper. Within a week, Pettigrew was able to finally give him the location of the Potter's hidden refuge. Now he stood on the threshold of his destiny.

With a negligent wave of his wand, Voldemort tore a hole through the other wards of the property and he strode up the front path. As he approached the front door, he blasted it to splinters without breaking his stride, absently sending a piercing hex at the girl watching the young boys. With the babysitter dead, Voldemort paused to savor the moment and look upon his destiny. The two boys were no more than children, the oldest boy was only four years of age, the younger had only recently had his first birthday. Both boys fit the prophesy, the eldest having been born on the 31st of July and the younger had his birthday on the 30th.

Voldemort examined the boys and was struck by the similarities between the older boy, the one named Harry, and himself as a child. Though this boy possessed the striking green eyes of his mother, eyes that stared up at him in fear.

"Who are you?" young Harry Potter asked fearfully as he clutched his baby brother to his chest protectively. His mind was still trying to process seeing their babysitter suddenly fall to the ground with a gaping hole in her chest, her face stuck in a grimace of pain, shock, and terror.

"I am your death, Heir Potter. A true pity, but know that after you die, your brother will be joining you shortly," Voldemort told the boy sincerely, his voice smooth and low. He may have been a monster capable of the worst crimes imaginable, but he could feel the power within this boy and regretted the necessary action of ending his life. Such power could have been a great asset to him eventually, but alas, it would never be.

Harry gasped as he tried to shield his brother with his own body, fear flooding his young mind at the almost foreign concept of death, but suddenly starting to understand ut after seeing this man murder the woman watching them. Within him, a latent power started to stir, different from the magic that was his birthright and ran in his veins, awoken by the mortal fear running through his body.

"Do not fear, young Potter, for in a few seconds you shall sleep forever more," Voldemort said as he raised his wand and leveled it at the little boy. The end of the wand glowed an emerald green, the same color of the boy's eyes, and he uttered those feared words. "Avada Kedavra!"

The green spell shot from his wand and struck the boy in the chest, right over his heart. But to the shock of both Voldemort and Harry, the green magic of the spell was absorbed into his body without killing him, the power flooding the boy and causing him to glow with a bright green light, the power more than he could handle. Harry felt like his veins were on fire, like the time he had accidentally touched the flame from the fireplace, but this time it was in every inch of his body. The glow around him seemed to shift from green to gold and back again several times before the glow seemed to 'shiver' as Harry tried and failed to contain the massive amount of power.

With a scream of pain, the power exploded out of young Harry's body and back at Voldemort, striking him straight through the shield he had thrown up by reflex, destroying his body and sending his soul flying out into the night. The explosion of power also destroyed the immediate area around the boys. However, there was a backlash from the explosion, as some of the energy flowed out from Harry's back, where Alex was huddled against his big brother in terror. That small burst of energy, heavily ladened with the dark magic of the killing curse, seared a starburst pattern into his brother's face, right on his left temple which had been pressed against his brother.

Minutes later, there was a flurry of action as Aurors arrived on the scene, led by the anxious Lord and Lady Potter. They were the first ones through what had been the front door of their cottage and Lily Potter gasped as she saw the dead body of the young muggleborn girl she had hired to watch her boys. She had graduated from Hogwarts the previous year and had been accepted into St. Mungo's as an apprentice.

Looking around while Lily was in shock, James saw a black robe and a pile of ashes right in front of the huddled forms of his boys and before his realized he had moved, he was there checking on his sons. To his immense surprise and relief, both were still alive. Harry was unconscious and his second son, Alexander, was just stirring, a piercing cry escaping as the boy woke up in pain, causing James to check him for injuries after seeing no apparent wounds on his eldest. Though he did notice idly that the normal feel of Harry's magic was off compared to how it was previous. But that thought didn't even have time to settle before it was shoved aside as James looked over his youngest son.

"Lily look at this," James said urgently as he ran his fingers over the burn on Alex's temple. Alex continued to cry as James picked him up to allow Lily to examine their son, her wand flashing as she cast a score of diagnostic spells on their son. When she ran her wand over the burn mark, she gasped in shock.

"James, this was made with extremely dark magic," Lily told him as she cast more spells.

"What do you mean by that, Lily?" came a wizened voice from behind them. The general noise of the Aurors doing their jobs seemed to die down as everyone turned to look at the new arrival.

The two adult Potters turned and saw that Albus Dumbledore had arrived at the cottage, having felt the destruction of the wards, including the Fidelius, when Voldemort had been killed.

"Dumbledore, thank Merlin you are here," Lily said in relief. "Alex was hit by some dark magic and I can't get a read on it."

"Here, allow me to examine him while you see to young Harry," Dumbledore said with a comforting smile as he held out his arms to take Alex from them. When the toddler was given to him, he set the boy on the couch and started scanning the boy's injury, ignoring the anxious parents as they looked over their eldest son. Though when it was determined that Harry was merely unconscious, they turned their attention back to Albus and Alexander. In their worry for their youngest, they didn't bother doing any deeper scans of Harry's magic, which would have shown that he was drained to the point of magical exhaustion and his core was severely strained, almost to the point of his core being damaged.

Using old and obscure spells, Dumbledore investigated the magic around the boy's wound and compared it to all the magic that he had come across before. Doing so, he was able to narrow the magic down, and though there was some differences in the magical residue, he could only conclude that the boy had been struck by the Killing Curse and had somehow survived. He had to quickly suppress a grin as he finally had an answer to the puzzle that had long eluded him. Now he could control that blasted prophesy and bring it to completion under his guidence and vision.

"Unbelievable," Albus said softly, appearing to be in shock. This brought the attention of James and Lily fully back to him, Lily holding the unconscious Harry in her arms.

"What is it, Albus?" James asked anxiously. He pushed past several people in his way as he moved swiftly to his son's side. He nervously ran his hand through Alex's hair in worry, looking him over before looking up at Dumbledore.

"Alexander...was struck by the Killing Curse," Dumbledore told them gravely, casting follow up spells to see what else he could determine. He also used the time to come up with some ideas, though what he could do at the moment was very limited. He needed more time!

"How is that possible? No one has ever survived that spell before," Lily asked as she stroked Harry's head anxiously. The young boy was starting to come around and she gave him a tender smile as he slowly opened his eyes. She gave him a kiss on the cheek and shifted him in her arms to be better supported before turning her attention back to the other men.

"I believe that the 'Power that He Knows Not' is responsible for his survival. Young Alexander is the one spoken of in the prophesy," Albus said firmly, convinced of his answer and setting the stage for his plans.

"Are you sure? You told us before that the prophesy could have applied to either of them," James said hesitantly, looking down at his little boy and trying to even consider a world where his baby would grow up to be a savior. It was mind boggling and he was having trouble wrapping his head around it.

"Your son survived something impossible, there can be no other explanation. This will change things, he will need to be trained to handle this power, the responsibility of being the Chosen One, the one that survived the impossible and vanquished the great Lord Voldemort," Dumbledore told them sagely as he cast some healing spells on the boy, healing the wound, though it didn't fully heal, leaving a scar, which only solidified his conclusion. "He has marked young Alexander here, just as the prophesy foretold! Now, we must prepare, as I believe that Voldemort didn't die, but he has simply been rendered powerless for the moment. But he will surely return, and Alexander must be made ready."

James and Lily shared a look as they cradled their sons, having picked up Alex after Dumbledore had finished. "What should we do?" The thought of all that they would need to do in the future was staggering and more than a little intimidating. Harry reached up to try and get his mother's attention, but he was too weak to even move properly, and he instead leaned a heavy head against her shoulder, looking down at his little brother with a small smile. He had saved him, though he had no idea how.

"For now, focus on raising your sons and give the world time to adjust," Dumbledore said as he gently stroked the forehead of the youngest Potter with a smile. "In time, we will begin his training and prepare him for his destiny. But that will have to wait until Alexander is much older. He will need to be prepared to the best of our ability, which will also mean that we must all make sacrifices." His gaze shifted slightly to the older Potter boy, the one he had previously thought would be the Chosen One. But now he knew the truth and with that knowledge, he could make sure that the Wizarding World stayed on track to the future he was guiding it to.

Suddenly, there was a flash of light as a reporter took a picture of the family, and several other reporters started shouting questions. James groaned as he realized that one of the Aurors had let slip to the press what had happened. He shot a glare around at all the robed figures in his home, trying to figure out just who was responsible. The glare softened slightly when he caught sight of his best friend and fellow Marauder, Sirius Black, pushing his way inside before forcibly herding the reporters back and away from the scene along with a few other Aurors.

"Go on, give the people their savor," Dumbledore said as he realized the potential benefits of the press letting everyone know what had happened. He then turned and vanished with a crack of displaced air. He had a lot of planning to do.

James and Lily shared another look and hesitantly stepped out of the ruins of their cottage and into the limelight.

XxXxXxX

The sun rose over the mountains, lighting up a mountain top fortress. This fortress was an ancient monastery that had been converted long ago by a shadow organization that took control of the area. The previous inhabitants were removed forcibly in a battle long forgotten and never recorded except in a single journal, one that only a few even knew existed. In the courtyard, there were rows upon rows of men, and even some women, in what appeared to be ninja outfits practicing sword katas under the watchful eye of a large man with a giant sword on his back. Elsewhere, there were others training with ranged weapons ranging from shuriken to bows to rifles. Though those practicing with modern weapons were much further away so that the noise didn't interfere with the training of the others.

As the sun creeped up over the fortress, its light shined through a window into a room that was well furnished and had rows of swords and other medieval weapons on the walls, tastefully decorated in a classical and elegant style, and there was a large king sized four poster bed which contained a single occupant. This was a young man with dark black hair, which was spread out over his pillow. As the sun entered his room and eventually illuminated his face, he frowned as he started to wake up. He opened his eyes, blinking as the sun shined right into his emerald green eyes. He glared at the window and rolled over onto his side away from the window and pulled the covers up over his head. He was very obviously not a morning person.

There was a knock at the door to his room the kept him from going back to sleep. He tried to ignore it, but the knock was getting annoying. "What?" he yelled out; his voice muffled from the covers.

"Master Hadrian, your father has summoned you," a woman's voice came through the door to his room. Her message delivered, Hadrian could hear footsteps fading away as if there was no chance of the message being ignored...which she would be correct about. Hadrian's father was not someone you could get away with ignoring.

Hadrian sighed and pulled his covers down and rolled out of bed, yawning as he did. He knew better than to ignore a summons from his father and went about his morning routine. He looked at his mirror as he finished dressing, admiring his armor. It had been a seventeenth birthday present from his father this year. It was still new, though he had trained regularly in it to make sure it was worn in. It was colored in black with gold trimming. Under his armor was a dark green tunic that matched his eyes and attached to his side was an elaborate katana, the hilt styled in the shape of a western dragon, the wings making up the cross guard.

Hadrian paused as he stopped admiring himself, not wanting to be like his idiotic nephew who thought he was God's gift to humanity. The little brat spent far too much time making sure he looked perfect before even considering leaving his room. But the cause for his pause was that he could see the very top of a scar that lay on the inside of his left pectoral muscle, directly over his heart. It had started as a very small minor thing when he had gotten it as a child, but over the years, due to neglect from his birth parents and then the stress and physical exertion of training with his adopted family, the scar had grown larger. But unlike the many other scars that he had gathered over the last six years, this scar never faded away, it instead seemed to darken until it was almost a pearlescent red against his tanned skin. But it wasn't painful anymore, and it only bothered him as a memory of a time he wished to forget as easily as his birth family had forgotten him. Hadrian rubbed the area of the scar through his armor, lost in thoughts for a few minutes, before adjusting his outfit so that the scar was fully covered.

After making sure that he was properly attired, Hadrian left his room and started on the long walk from his room to his father's throne room. As he walked down the labyrinth of hallways, he reflected on how he had come to this place so many years ago, the memories coming easily after his brief trip down memory lane earlier.

FLASHBACK:

A small boy walked around the outside of a very large manor, a letter in his hands. This was the younger form of Hadrian, then known as Harry Potter, at least to those that still remembered he existed. The morning had started off amazing as an owl had been waiting for him on the windowsill of his room, a letter tied to its leg. All sleep had fled his mind as he took the letter from the owl eagerly. Ripping it open, he found his acceptance letter to Hogwarts and the smile on his face only widened. He ran downstairs from his room on the far side of the manor, only to stop at the entrance to the dining room as he found his parents fussing over his little brother while overseeing their house elves preparing for his birthday party.

Harry frowned slightly and let out a sigh as he realized that he would never get their attention now, and that he would probably be spending his birthday alone again. A ghost of a smile came to his face as he thought about the previous year which had only been him, his godfather Sirius, and his father's other friend Remus. The three of them had gone to a small waterpark for his birthday, while his parents had taken his brother over to France for a week for his birthday, completely forgetting about their eldest son. He still decided to try to get their attention.

"Mum? Father? I got something today," Harry said softly as he walked over to them, the letter in his hands.

James didn't even look at Harry as he used his wand to levitate some decorations. "That's nice. Why don't you go play while we get things ready for the party tonight," he said absently, not even really paying his son any attention as he was focused on making things perfect for his favorite child.

A sad look came to Harry's eyes at the dismissive attitude of his father. He looked over at his mother, who was fussing over his brother's clothes and trying to fix his hair. "Mum? Look at what came for me," he said to her, holding out his letter, while trying to ignore the smug look Alex was giving him at their parents ignoring him. However, even she didn't look away from what she was doing.

"Harry, we're busy right now. Stop distracting us," Lily said in a firm tone as she tried to straighten Alex's messy hair. "Seriously, whenever we have something important to do for Alex, you try to distract us. We'll talk about your attitude tomorrow, now go find something to do, Harry."

Little Harry's eyes teared up, but he fought them back with a sniffle. With his head hanging, Harry turned and walked away, heading to the kitchen to get something to eat. At least the house elves would be happy to see him. After eating a large breakfast, curtesy of the elves, Harry had decided to go for a walk in the forest around the manor. That had taken all afternoon and he had gotten back just after it had gotten dark.

Harry could see activity in the dining room and walked over to the window, scowling as he could see the party going on inside. He watched from the window as his family celebrated his younger brother's birthday, completely oblivious that he wasn't there. As everyone moved into the dining room to sit down, Harry scowled as he saw James sit Alex in what was Harry's position at his right hand, the place of the Heir to the House. He watched as his father led a toast to the many people who had come to see the famous 'Boy-Who-Lived', the one who had destroyed the infamous Lord Voldemort.

"My friends, I would like to raise a toast to my son and heir, Alexander Potter!" James Potter said with a proud smile at the young boy, who was only eight years old. The young boy was sitting next to his father with a cocky smile, his pudgy face wearing glasses just like his father. He was wearing the finest robes of acromantula silk with real gold trimming.

As everyone rose and raised their glasses, young Harry Potter watched in shock as a ripple of pain shot through his young eleven-year-old body as the family magics of the House of Potter left him. He stumbled away and ran into the woods surrounding the house with tears falling from his eyes.

END FLASHBACK

Hadrian snarled as the memory hit him and he grit his teeth as he tried to suppress the memories of his past. When his father had disowned him, he had run until he couldn't run anymore, but had found himself completely lost. It had truly sunk in what had happened when he had tried to call for his family's house elves, but nothing had happened. That would only happen if he was no longer considered a Potter. With a callous disregard for his eldest son, James Potter had cast him out of the family in order to make Alex his Heir.

After a few days of wandering, he had found himself in a small town in Wales. After wandering and scrounging for anything to eat, the dirty and scraped up boy had run into a tall and imposing man with wavy black hair and an impeccably groomed goatee. He wore a very expensive suit and had several bodyguards around him who had grabbed the little boy roughly. But the man had taken one look at the boy and called them off.

Hadrian smiled as he remembered being taken to an upscale hotel and given an offer, to join the man's family and organization, to have a place at his side. Granted, as a child, he had no idea what the offer had meant, but he had just had everything torn from him shortly before he was supposed to start going to Hogwarts and had nothing to his name. So, the naive boy had gone with the older man, which had been the best decision he had ever made.

Hadrian, as he was now known, finally made his way into his father's throne room and knelt before the imposing figure of the man that had adopted him, the demon of the underworld, Ra's al Ghul. When Ra's had learned that his name was 'Harry', he had decided that it was too common and far too lowbrow for the name of his Heir. So he had changed it to Hadrian, which met with no protests from the young boy. He was all too eager to distance himself from his past family.

"Father, I have come as you have summoned me," Hadrian said formally, his head bowed in respect. The flames around the room flickered and cast a foreboding aura that was meant to intimidate those that came before Ra's al Ghul. But Hadrian was well used to it, and it didn't affect him like that.

"Hadrian, my son, I have received word from your birth country of something that has me concerned," Ra's said evenly, his eyes narrowed as he stared at his adopted son. Flanked behind him were his daughters, Nyssa and Talia, and off to the side was Talia's son, Damian. "You were sent to France last month, my son. During that time, did you ever go to England?"

Hadrian kept his head down and shook his head. "No, father. I had no reason to do so, and I have no desire to step foot there anytime soon." He firmly kept his tone even, so his slight exaggeration wouldn't be detected. While it was true, he did have some plans in the works for that country.

Ra's al Ghul looked down at the young man that was his heir, trying to determine any form of deceit in his son's voice. "I see. This is very disturbing as there is an event being held at the school of magic that they have in their country. The so called 'Tri-Wizard Tournament'. Last night was the choosing of their champions…and your birth name was called."

Hadrian looked up in shock, his eyes widened before narrowing in anger. He knew that since his adoption Ra's had kept tabs on his birth country, having spies in every major country and culture. But now someone was trying to drag him back there.

"How did that happen, father? Few people there even know I'm still alive," Hadrian asked, trying to control his anger. Losing his temper would only serve to get him punished harshly, something his adopted sisters would love to see. They had never liked that Hadrian had been named Ra's al Ghul's heir, bypassing them and their children in the line of succession. The last six years had seen many attempts at them trying to kill him, but he had survived and grown stronger than he could have ever imagined.

"I don't know," Ra's said, shocking everyone there. Ra's al Ghul was infamous for always knowing everything that was going on. He was practically omnipotent with all his contacts and sources of information that he had gained over his six plus centuries of life. "However, I have determined that you shall go and investigate this. If you have an enemy, then it is your duty to determine who it is and crush them."

Hadrian grit his teeth in anger. He was the Heir to the Demon, yet someone thought that they could control him and force him to do their will. "Gladly, Father. I will teach them the error of interfering with the League of Assassins."

"Very well. You will leave at once. Do not fail me, my son, and show those backwards fools the true might of the Demon's Heir," Ra's al Ghul said dismissively, motioning for Hadrian to leave. Behind him, Talia looked on smugly at the younger man, clearly enjoying the situation. On the other hand, Nyssa actually looked mildly concerned. While she cared little for the other boy, she didn't like the concept of others being able to bind him to some contest without his will. And while she would never admit it, Hadrian had grown on her over the years. Talia's son Damian looked on with his usual superior look on his face.

Hadrian stood smoothly and bowed his head to his father before turning and striding out of the chamber, the cape of his armor flowing around him as he walked. Once he was outside the room, he allowed his feelings to manifest in the form of a burning red aura of magic. The few that came across him on his way back to his quarters quickly avoided him in order to not face his wrath. The few times that Hadrian had been this angry, those that had crossed him hadn't enjoyed the experience...though they had lived to regret their mistake, if only barely. One was still recovering from the burns he had suffered.

XxXxXxX

Within the hour, Hadrian was on a private jet heading to London, where he would be meeting one of his personal contacts. His father had stressed that creating his own information network was vital for someone in his position, to have people loyal to him and that would assist him in his goals, but to always remember that they were tools, to be used and discarded when they no longer served a purpose.

"Lord Hadrian, we will be landing within the hour, will you be requiring anything else?" asked one of the flight attendants, a beautiful young woman that had enjoyed being employed by the very wealthy young man. Plus, the fact that despite her beauty and her flirting with him, he hadn't taken advantage of her in any way. That sort of honor was hard to find these days. Though, if he had ever invited her into his bed, she wouldn't have turned him down or even hesitated to accept.

Hadrian frowned and looked up from his laptop where he was doing research. "Contact Natasha and have her bring some support to Scotland. Tell her to find me when she gets there," he told him before returning to his research.

The attendant bowed to the young Lord before heading to the cockpit, leaving Hadrian alone in the richly appointed cabin. Hadrian spent the rest of the time researching the various arcane texts that he'd had uploaded into his personal server for anything about this 'Tri-Wizard Tournament' as well as the various schools involved. Knowledge was power after all, and Hadrian was determined to be as powerful as possible.

When his plane touched down at Heathrow, Hadrian headed out into the city and made his way through the streets to a small dingy pub, not far from the entrance to Diagon Alley, a place he had visited once the previous year for business. It was there that he was meeting his main contact within England, at least for the magical world.

When Hadrian stepped into the pub, he immediately stood out compared to the other occupants in his Armani three-piece suit, his long black hair pulled back into a low ponytail. He ignored the stared he was receiving and walked to the back where there was a man sitting alone at a table. When he sat down, the other man gave him a grin, his noble and aristocratic features lighting up with delight at seeing him. He was dressed in casual clothes, a black leather jacket giving him a biker feel that was at odds with his overall appearance, yet it seemed to work for him.

"Hadrian, such a pleasure to see you again, though I can guess as to the reason," the other man said with a jovial smile.

"Sirius, you are such a shame to purebloods everywhere," Hadrian replied with a chuckle as he waved his hand negligently, erecting a privacy spell around them.

"I know, isn't great?" Sirius said with a bark of laughter. He took a drink from his glass, what appeared to be beer of some kind.

Hadrian smiled as he looked at his godfather fondly. "How have you been, Sirius? How's the family?" The last time he had been in England had been for Sirius' wedding a year before. Even though he had left his past behind him, he had still remained in contact with Sirius, though at first he had been forced to go through his adopted father.

"Felicia's pregnant, actually," Sirius told him proudly. "Our first one, and I was hoping you would be the godfather."

Hadrian was shocked by that news, and it showed on his normally composed face, causing Sirius to break out in laughter. Shaking his head to clear it, Hadrian shot the older man a droll look. "Laugh it up, Black. I'm still shocked she hasn't left your immature man-child self yet."

"Ah, priceless. But seriously, Hadrian, I know you don't want any ties to England, but there's no one else I would rather have watch over my kid should anything happen to us," Sirius said, growing slightly serious at the end. He still hadn't forgotten what his former best friend had done to his eldest son, nor had he forgiven him. And he knew that what they had done to Harry had given the boy a sense of empathy and compassion that would be hard pressed to find in anyone else, even though the boy in front of him tried hard to appear hard and merciless. So, if the worst ever happened, Harry would treat his child extremely well.

"It would be an honor," Hadrian said as he gave Sirius a slight bow of his head. He sighed though and gave his godfather a piercing look. "Now, down to business. What can you tell me about what happened?"

Sirius sighed and leaned back in his seat. "James and I are leading a squad of Aurors to provide security for the tournament. Everything was fine and going to plan when during the selection process your name came out of the artifact that they were using to select the champions. I looked around and everyone was surprised…including your parents."

"They are not my parents, Black," Hadrian snapped harshly, his eyes glowing softly with restrained magic.

"Harry…" Sirius said, but stopped when Hadrian glared at him with glowing green eyes, "Hadrian, I know you have serious issues with them, and rightfully so, but still…"

"Drop it, Sirius. Now, tell me about the officials overseeing the tournament. Who among them is likely to have done this?"

Giving a sigh of defeat, Sirius shook his head. "The main two are Barty Crouch and Ludo Bagman. Barty was a major hardass during the war, but I doubt he's the one behind this. And Bagman is definitely not a suspect. The man was a quidditch player for years, and he took a few too many bludgers to the head. They don't even know you're alive, let alone have a reason to draw you back to England. We all figured that Alex would have been the one to be targeted for this if it was Death Eaters trying to get revenge for their master, with him being the boy-who-lived after all."

"My father has many enemies that would like to strike at him through me, do you know if anyone of the officials or people from the other schools has a grudge against him?" Hadrian asked intently.

"I wish I could tell you, Hadrian, but if they do, then there is no indication of it. But the League has more enemies in the world than I can count," Sirius said dejectedly. He still wasn't happy that his godson was part of that organization, let alone its heir. But if it meant keeping him safe, he would work with the devil himself.

"Well, that's not very high," Hadrian said with a smirk.

"Low blow, pup," Sirius said with a chuckle, raising his glass in a salute.

"Ok, what am I walking into?" Hadrian asked as he started to relax a little. If this was a hidden enemy, then Sirius wouldn't be able to tell him anything that he wouldn't be able to figure out on his own. He would just have to deal with things as they came.

"Honestly? It's bedlam," Sirius said while rolling his eyes. "The lost Potter being chosen to participate in the tournament. This is also bringing up everything that your family has tried to put in the past, everyone writing articles about what happened to you, the fallout to your parents, how it nearly cost them their seat on the Wizengamot…"

"Sirius, they are not my parents! They lost the right to call themselves that when I was eleven," Hadrian growled in anger. That was one wound that had never healed, and the pain of his disowning was still as strong as it was that night six years before.

"Fine, but you have to know that they are regretful for what they did, and they will be trying to get your forgiveness. Your…Lily even took a job at the school to try and be there should you ever show up. She's been getting progressively more depressed each year you didn't show up on September 1st," Sirius told him evenly, trying to not show how much the young man intimidated him.

"Then they will be greatly disappointed," Hadrian remarked snidely. "Do you have any assets or allies that I can use at the school? Do you have anything that can help me at all with that?"

"I might, but I have to make some floo calls to make sure. By the time you get to Hogwarts, I'll have a better answer for you. I made some inquiries earlier, but I don't have anything for certain yet."

Hadrian nodded in acceptance. "Very well. I will be there tomorrow evening. You have until then to get some answers from your contacts. This should help," he said as he pulled a large sack from an enchanted pocket within his jacket. He dropped it on the table, the sack jingling with gold.

"Yeah, that should help," Sirius said sardonically. Of course, he had more than enough gold to grease the palms of various people, but the fact that it was Hadrian's gold might be more compelling and would make it nearly impossible to trace back to him. "So, what are you going to do?"

Hadrian gave him a smirk and stood up. "I'm going to make an entrance," he said before he faded away from sight, his privacy spell ending as he disappeared fully. The last thing he saw was Sirius' shocked expression at his sudden exit. The Leaky Cauldron was known to have anti-apparition wards to keep people from splinching themselves after drinking too much...at least until they left the bar.

So, this was an idea I had while reading some of the 'wrong boy-who-lived' and neglected Harry stories out there. I'll be using a lot of elements I saw from various stories, so there will be similarities, but hopefully this will end up being something unique. I'm also working on other ideas as well as Ghost of Konoha, which I haven't abandoned. Just dealing with serious writer's block in that story. Updates on this story will come slowly, if at all. It depends on the response I get to this story. If people like it, I'll devote more time to it. So please, read and review.