Marvolo raised his eyebrows as Narcissa frowned at the parchments in her hand, staring at it as if she was confused. She had just finished casting several intensive diagnostic charms on Hadrianus on Marvolo's order.
"Is everything okay?" Hadrianus asked, noticing the look on his godmother's face. The said Healer witch looked up and smiled brilliantly, hiding her confusion, "Of course, everything is fine. Don't worry, Adrian."
"Okay," Hadrianus still looked suspicious, but let it go on their insistence. But Marvolo was not going to let it go, not when it concerned his only son.
"Wait in my office, Narcissa."
"Yes, My Lord."
Narcissa nodded and stood after planting a goodnight kiss on Hadrianus' forehead, curtsied her Lord and left. Marvolo asked one of the House Elves to fetch Nagini, who had yet to show up from whatever research she was doing in the library after demanding to be Transfigured into her human form. Marvolo then turned to his son.
"There's something I want you to have. First, here's your locket."
"Finally!" Hadrianus cried on seeing the Slytherin Locket, he was missing its heavy weight around his neck since father asked for it last night! He immediately made grabby hands towards it but father pulled it just out of his reach. "What?"
"What did I teach you?" Marvolo scolded the inane child, making him blush.
"Right, sorry." Hadrianus mumbled, sufficiently cowed by the gentle rebuke for forgetting one of the most important rules father has installed recently, ' Never touch a magical object without knowing its intent. ' He has yet to understand every ward or magic on a magical item, but he has learned to read their intent, which was an important indicator to know whether the item was harmful or not.
Hadrianus raised his hand, concentrating, letting a tendril of his magic touch the locket, feeling the magic around it. "Okay, so aside from your cake, tracking and concealment charm, there's something new in here, and it feels...protective?"
"Not bad, you took only thirteen seconds this time! With more practice, you can do it in an instant." Marvolo smiled, looking proudly at his little mamba, oh how he has grown, "Can you tell me what type?" He could feel Hadrianus' magic poking at the locket, focused yet too young and amateur to pick up the traces. Marvolo gently gave a little push in the right direction and smiled when his son's magic swelled in happiness on finally finding out the answer.
"Is that...a warning against magic with bad intent?"
"Indeed, my son. Now, as you know, every ward needs to be charged periodically. You will have to charge it every week, let's see if you can find the wardstone."
"Umm," Hadrianus finally took the locket in his hand and opened it, eyes widening when he realised, "Is it in here?" He pointed at the seventh tiny diamond from the row of stones that now adorned the frame of a small photo of the three of them together.
Marvolo felt his lips tugging upward, "Are you telling me, or asking?"
"Telling you. It's in here," Hadrianus sounded more confident noticing his father's smile.
"Good job, my son. There you go, you've earned it." Marvolo produced a small velvet box.
Hadianus watched as his father put the box in front of him. After going through the same trials and finding out it has similar charms as it has on the locket, Hadrianus opened it to find a golden ring, set in a Celtic design triquetra, with a big emerald stone embedded in the central design, the Peverell Coat of arms.
"Holy schnikes! Father? Is that the heirship ring of Peverell? I thought it was lost!"
"As you can see, it's not!"
"Oh, but why did you put the similar charms on it?"
"It is a backup, and more focused on the tracking charms. You can, of course, use it to detect if there are any potions with bad intent in your food. And I can find you even if you're under strong wards. Nothing less than Fidelius can keep me away."
Hadrianus nodded and yawned as he put the ring on. The ring immediately adjusted itself to fit his long and delicate finger and then vanished from view, indicating it had accepted Hadrianus as a worthy owner. Marvolo watched in amusement as his little mamba crawled towards him tucked himself shamelessly to his side, and yawned again.
"Someone wants cuddles, I see."
A vigorous nodding added with the yawn, made Marvolo chuckle again. Lately, Hadrianus had again started behaving clingy, wanting to cuddle with them as much as he could before it was time for Hogwarts. Marvolo didn't mind, wanting to spend as much time as he could with the child before he went to school until December.
Besides, it was very late. Narcissa was quite busy with the influx of more patients, all wanting to check up to prepare a medical fitness document for Hogwarts. Thanks to their new law, more and more magical humanoid creatures are coming out of the shadows to send their progeny to Hogwarts to learn advanced magic. It helped that Lord Slytherin welcomed everyone readily, with open arms. The only demand he made of them was to check themselves out by a proper Healer for a medical fitness certificate. At least it ensured all the preteens coming to Hogwarts were healthy. If not, they will obviously still be welcomed, so that they can have a proper healer look after them unless their condition is something contagious or requires bed rest.
"Sleep, son."
The child was curled up against his side, head pillowed on his shoulder and with one hand still gripping his father's robe though it started to loosen as Hadrianus fell asleep. For his part, Marvolo kept one arm firmly wrapped around his son, the steady puffs of hot air against his collar and the warm weight resting against him.
Once he was sure his son was completely asleep, only then he removed himself, rather reluctantly, to go to his office. After all, Narcissa is waiting for him with the news.
"Sit," Marvolo ordered Narcissa, who was having tea with Nagini and talking, and started to stand on seeing him. Judging by Nagini's concerned eyes, she already knows. Marvolo took his chair behind the table, "Now tell me, what have you so concerned about?"
"My Lord, as you already knew Hadrianus had a pure dark core, a minus 7 on the scale set by Unspeakable Saruman Dawlish."
This was a standard scale of Magical Core that was accepted Internationally, with zero being the perfect grey core and anything brighter than it considered on the plus side, and darker being on the minus side. Tom himself had been minus 9, recorded as having the darkest core, and Albus Dumbledore was recorded as having plus 6.5, the lightest core to the record. It was important to learn one's core, to know their magical affinity and strength. Having a light-core doesn't mean one is unable to cast dark magic, it's just they need to apply more power and strength behind their spells than light magic, and vice versa. Marvolo has also read that casting dark makes the caster drain faster and feel some sort of discomfort, but Marvolo has dismissed the last part.
"What do you mean, 'had'?" Marvolo asked as he felt dread pooling in his stomach. Is something messing with their son's core?
"Today's reading is suggesting that his core has changed drastically, it's plus 9 now," Narcissa mumbled out, causing Marvolo's eyebrow to almost fly past his hairline and he glanced at his wife. That means Hadrianus has a pure light core, lighter than even Dumbledore, who was recorded to have the lightest core in this century, but not anymore, thanks to Hadrianus.
How? How could someone's core change so drastically? What exactly is changing it so extraordinarily? The Elixir Of Life had basically no visible effect on Hadrianus, could it be the reason?
"How?" Nagini asked at the same time Marvolo asked, "Are you sure about that?"
"I don't know My Lady, and yes My Lord," Narcissa looked up at him, and Marvolo could see it in her eyes that even she was confused, not understanding it, "I tested at least three times, but still can't find a trace of previous dark-core in his core, it's like his core became pure light magic, but I know it was not possible, his core was pure dark before." It's not normal to change it so abruptly and drastically. "My Lord, is he going through some kind of ritual or spell which might have caused it?"
It made Marvolo frown, ignoring Nagini's meaningful glance. Could it be? Could the creature-suppressing ritual result in this? Could the Elixir of Life? But there were no reports of any change like that was noted in any of the reports from Flamels. There's nothing else other than the ritual he could think of at the moment. Marvolo could feel Hadrianus still had his Horcrux, so it was not influencing his core. It was something else. He needs to look into it more.
"Tell him the other things," Nagini ordered Narcissa, making Marvolo frown.
"Is there anything else I need to be concerned about?"
"Hadrianus has lost some weight, and he is having quite tremendously increased production of magic for his age."
Marvolo's frown deepened at the first part of the report, "How much weight did he lose? I thought Nagini always made sure he was eating all his nutrients!"
"I do! Still, he lost 2.5 kg."
"Only that?" Marvolo waved his hand dismissively, "That's probably because of his separation anxiety for upcoming school time. Why do you think him having tremendous production of magic would be bothersome?"
"It shouldn't be if he keeps up intense magical practice in Hogwarts," Narcissa replied carefully.
"Are you telling my son may implode if he doesn't use up the magic he is creating?" Nagini asked in a dangerously calm voice.
"Of course not, My Lady," Narcissa was quick to assure her, "However, he might feel discomfort if he keeps producing magic even when his reserve is full." It made Nagini thoughtful.
Marvolo did not concern himself with that, instead focusing on his drastic change of magical core after Narcissa left. Maybe Hadrianus was originally a Pure light-cored wizard, his creature and Marvolo's Horcrux were influencing him to be dark-cored? If so, does that mean, his son was born to be the next Light Lord? What does it mean for the Dark sect?
And then, there was Pack Elder's baffled declaration about his soul. About how he hadn't been able to assess it at all.
"Your son? Is he even a human?"
"Well, he is a Naga!"
"He is much more than just a Naga! ... He carries the mask of Death with him!"
"He reeks of both Death and Divinity."
Death ?
But if he reeks of death, why would he be light-cored? He should be dark-cored...or, was it?
Marvolo doesn't know, which makes it all the more perplexing. How can he not find it out yet, after living with the child for years ? What good is his genius for, if he can't solve a puzzle concerning his own child?
Is Hadrianus really not a human being, but something else? Marvolo has been pondering a doubt for a long time, and now it again comes to his mind. What if Hadrianus is a humanoid form of an extraterrestrial being? If so, that explains him surviving the Killing Curse, and the healing energy in his magic, even if he has no memory or recollection of being so. But, if he was really some extraterrestrial being, what were they doing, being born as a common human and mingling with them? What is their intention? And what does it mean for Marvolo?
" The Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not..."
As soon as the words flashed in his mind, Marvolo made an irritated face and waved his hand as if it were a bothersome fly. No, Hadrianus was not the Prophecy Child anymore.
Marvolo sighed, crossing his fingers and laying them on his upper abdomen, leaning back in his chair, and staring at the ceiling to process the new information.
What exactly are you, Hadrianus?
The next early morning saw the Slytherin Matriarch walking purposefully to her destination, the Heir Chamber. She has only one week left before her little Hatchling leaves for Hogwarts, and she is determined to milk the time as much as she can. It was not much struggle these days to convince Tom to transfigure her into human form, despite his concerns about whether this would impact her health negatively. After all, when her hatchling is in Hogwarts, she has no reason to stay in her human form for a prolonged time.
The words from Narcissa last night left a bad taste in Nagini's mouth, after confirming what Nagini had guessed and then had been worrying about. No, she is not interested in her Hatchling's magical core, she is more interested in learning why a growing child like Hadrianus is losing weight despite eating healthily, and whether the excess magic in his reserve will be distressing for her son while he is away from home, from Nagini's care.
No matter what Narcissa says, it's not her son who has the risk of spontaneously combusting one day, not being able to contain the magic anymore. To stop that, Nagini already has some plans in motion, and one of the most important is to teach her son how to do idle magic.
Nagini has heard from Tom that Hadrianus from five decades in the past used to do idle magic all the time. But she hadn't seen him do it even once around Nagini. Neither does she have any reports on present Hadrianus doing the same. And Nagini has a strong suspicion on why it was so.
It may not help much, but keeping up the practice of idle magic could be useful to use up excess magic, even though Nagini knows Hadrianus' core will probably replenish it faster.
Maybe, try subtly convincing Bella to teach Hadrinaus some consuming dark spells? If what Narcissa discovered was true and Hadrianus is truly light-cored, then learning some dark spells will drain him quicker than anything else. All the books say so!
"Mum?" The sleepy voice of her precious child woke her up from the trance, and Nagini blinked on finding herself standing beside her hatchling's bed. She has no recollection of when she arrived, having lost in thought and worry.
"Good morning, Hatchling." Nagini smiled down at her still half-asleep son, who leaned into her touch eagerly. Hadrianus yawned and stretched out his tail, before sighing in contentment. He has been shifting to his creature form before sleep these days, claiming he was missing his naga. Nagini hadn't told Tom about it, though she is pretty sure Tom knows. Tom obsessively keeps track of his son.
"Is it time for the ritual?"
"I'm afraid so, little one. Wake up."
After the Creature Binding Ritual was done, Hadrianus again sat close to his mum's side. "Mum, I'll miss you."
"I'll miss you too, my little Cuddle bug. Come here."
Hsdrianus eagerly hid his face in mum's collarbone, "Do I have to go to Hogwarts?"
Nagini sighed. Despite her better wishes, Hadrianus really needs to go to Hogwarts. "Want to see a magic trick?"
As expected, Hadrianus perked up, "Trick?"
Nagini opened her fist, releasing her magic from her palm. The magic created beautiful sparkles emitting from her artfully slender fingers. She then twitched her fingers, and the sparkles turned into glowing tiny stars, obeying her magic. It was a trick past Hadrianus taught me, and she had perfected it last night, to teach her hatchling in present. She could only hope that Hadrianus would come back home safely after the incident with Time Travel.
"Wow!" Hadrianus' bright eyes gleamed as he stared at them.
"How does it feel?"
Hadrianus closed his eyes, feeling the warm stars as they glittered around him. "Warm, and comforting, like you."
Nagini smiled, and kissed his forehead, "That's my love for you, my love. Whenever you miss me, do this, and you will feel my presence next to you."
"Teach me! How do I do that?"
"Gladly."
"What do you mean, 'another' date?" Severus frowned at Barty as they walked down the corridor of the Knight Headquarters to their apparition point, "We were simply hanging out. Neither of us is dating, and Reylan is soon going to be our student, did your halfwit brain forget that?"
Barty winced at the reminder, "How could I forget that?" Merlin, it was going to be weird seeing one of his crushes acting like his student while the other one was a completely stubborn arse. Well, at least Severus is his colleague, and work romances are not forbidden in Hogwarts.
"It is never going to work." Severus' voice was completely convinced.
"Why?" Barty wanted to know, his baby blue eyes were earnest as they stared deep into Severus's dark ones.
Several years of Occlumency practice he has helped Severus from gulping audibly and looking away. Unlike what he said, he knew he was being set up with them by Bella. Severus didn't mind at first. He loved spending time with them, Barty and Reylan both were his closest acquaintances, dare he say, friends in Hogwarts. And Severus knew from experience that they didn't choose to befriend him because of his inheritance, after all, he is a Half-blood. It was the companionship created over sharing classes, meals, and homework together in Hogwarts.
He had forgotten how it felt to be appreciated for his knowledge, his talents, his humour and his sass. To be appreciated for who he was, not just the fact that he is a spy and a valuable source of information.
But if he continued to do this in Hogwarts, it's not going to be a secret from Dumbledore. After all, he has spies in every corner of Hogwarts. Despite the offer of retirement that their Lord suggested, Severus is going to be Dumbledore's spy until the day Dumbledore dies. It's the least he could do to repay His Lord for all the kindness and honour He has given him. But pursuing a relationship with someone who is publicly Lord Slytherin's friend who is close enough to become his son's godfather, is going to make Dumbledore suspicious.
Thankfully, Severus was saved by a pitter-patter of footsteps, and soon a sprinting little Dark Prince was seen coming out of the Floo room. Barty gave Severus a look that indicated they were going to have this conversation again.
"Going somewhere, Little Prince?" Barty called out.
Hadrianus turned and skidded to a halt in front of them. "Hey Barty, Uncle Batman, Good afternoon. I have been meaning to ask you some questions. What do the professors usually give as punishment?"
They started to answer before pausing and exchanging a look. When their Lord suggested the punishment for the children, it seemed like he had Hadrianus in his mind.
"Lines." Severus deadpanned and Barty nodded.
"Lines?" Hadrianus squeaked, his eyes comically wide. That's the worst punishment in history! "For how long?"
"As long as Binns, the professor that took the overseeing detention, pleases," Severus allowed a vindictive smirk. "However, it wouldn't stop us from grounding you for an entire weekend, with promises of disgusting potions to clean up and prepare ingredients for. And obviously, a letter to home which I believe will have you write lines once again, when our Lord hears it."
"Right," Hadrianus gulped, knowing it is a Ghost, it could be anywhere from two to six hours. He won't have any brain cells left after that. Add that with those disgusting potion ingredients and most importantly, a letter to father? Yeah, Hadrianus is decided, he is going to act like the most obedient and polite and gooddest little boy in front of teachers in Hogwarts. "Thanks for the heads up. Oh, and if mum asks about me, I died. Nuclear explosions, happen all the time." With that, he turned and ran off again.
"Children," Barty sighed, shaking his head, and Severus snorted, before looking back at the child's retreating form with a frown. There was something different with Hadrianus, lately. What exactly was different about? Hadrianus' aura has always been dark, giving off the vibe of being a dangerous predator that one should be worried about. Severus doesn't know whether or not it was not because of Naga Inheritance, as the only other Naga Severus knows is The Dark Lord, and he is equally terrifying and dangerous.
But lately, there was something different about The Dark Prince. While he still gives off the vibe of being a powerful being, he doesn't seem as dangerous and worrisome as before. Instead, he feels like a beacon of life, safety and joy.
What exactly changed about him? Severus wondered.
Marvolo looked up as Hadrianus barrelled into his office. Before he could question him or reprimand him for behaving like some mannerless brat, the child rushed to him like there were hellions on his tail and then jumped, quickly shifting to his naga form in the air. Hadrianus then bounced lightly on landing on his lap and without wasting another second, slithered right under his robe.
All of it happened within seconds and Marvolo was left blinking in confusion, his wand hand twitching. Thank Merlin for all the practices on his control over his impulses, or he could have hurt the child.
Marvolo peered on his lap where the child is now tightly coiled up around his torso inside his robes, his face hiding into his own coils. Did something happened, that scared his child to come running to him like that?
": Hadrianus ?:"
": Hide me !:"
A chuckle left his lips before he could stop it, when Marvolo realising what must have happened. He sighed, looking back at the reports on the table, while petting his son's sparkling scales near his neck, ": What did you do this time ?:"
":I am completely innocent,:" Hadrianus confessed in a voice that usually tells Marvolo that he was anything but, ":I just don't want to hear anymore how she had sorted all my socks and underwear by colour and type in my trunk closet !:" Hadrianus exclaimed in indignation and Marvolo laughed. Okay, that was reasonable enough.
":She's suffering from a worst case of Reisefieber, I swear. Even more than me, I think!:" Hadrianus raised his tiny triangular head to look at Marvolo, and Marvolo had no idea how the child managed to give him puppy eyes even in his adorably lethal naga form.
":You do realize there is no escaping from her nose? :"
Hadrianus shivered and coiled more tightly as he wailed desperately, ": Hide me! I know only you can!:"
"'And what do I get in exchange ?:"
": Uh, how about no detention mail from Hogwarts professors unless it was intentional to get caught? :"
Marvolo sighed, amusing himself by thinking about where the payments for his help have come down to, ": That would be enough for now, and I expect you to explain why you'd want to get caught ,:" He then cast a strong bubble head charm, surrounding the green mamba's lean form on his lap, making sure it is hidden by the desk, and resumed petting his head as he restarted his work.
After a few minutes, Marvolo sensed Nagini coming their way. His office door opened, and Nagini peered inside, looking around. Severus said her son came this way, ignoring the overgrown hatchling who loyally informed her that her son told them to tell her he died of 'new-clea explosion', whatever that meant.
"Have you seen Hatchling?"
"Define 'seen'."
Nagini rolled her eyes and shut the door, going to look around the headquarters. There were plenty of places he could hide aftr all.
Without looking up from his work, Marvolo raised his index finger and high-fived his son's tiny tail.
