Lord of time (chapter 41-107)

48

Hadrian yawned tiredly, completely exhausted as he slumped down on the chair of the common room, he had just attended the last feast they'd have at Hogwarts for the year. Tomorrow they would be having breakfast and leaving on the Hogwarts express. He knew next year would leave him even more fatigued. With his OWLS, the amount of tests he'd have to take, both written and practical, crammed into a single fortnight, but that was a year away, not something he would need to concern himself with right now.

"What happened in that detention?" Carrow asked cautiously, they had seen how Dumbledore was looking at their friend lately, and none of them liked it at all. A greedy look almost possessive, but not quite the way most people would look, honestly? It was as if Dumbledore had found the answer to all his hopes and dreams, it was disgusting and Tom had been in a foul mood over it. In fact tonight was the first time they'd actually seen them apart, which was why he felt safe enough to actually ask. He definitely didn't want to deal with Tom when he was in one of those moods, best just to take a step back. "Do you know something we don't..." he didn't seem even remotely surprised by Dumbledore's sudden interest in him.

Avery and the others who were sitting around glanced at Carrow incredulously; they couldn't believe he had just asked that. While admittedly it had been on their thoughts a lot lately, it didn't mean they had the guts to outright ask. Dolohov and Nott glanced around the common room as if they were expecting Tom to come out of the shadows. They were always used to Tom getting intolerable at the end of the year, but this year had been by far the worst.

"I'm sure I know quite a lot that you don't," Hadrian told him seriously, which was just all too true, "Don't worry about it, it's nothing spectacular to be honest." shrugging his shoulders. "Just Dumbledore being Dumbledore, and of course Tom keeps rising to it." sighing in exasperation, shaking his head, but he continued to forget Tom was actually just fifteen years old, while he himself was just playing the part. He chuckled at the looks on their faces, surprise, shock and awe that he would actually say something about Tom; especially something none of the others would dare to say out loud. Hell they didn't even let themselves think it while Tom was around.

"It's obviously something," Carrow continued, he was on a roll; he'd unleashed the genie from the box he might as well continue.

"Obviously," Hadrian echoed, nodding his head. "Honestly, given the curiosity of you all, I'm surprised you aren't in Gryffindor, but that's not really it is it? You want to know everything for your own gain, to ensure you have blackmail material should you ever need it." he said smirking wryly at them. He had more than enough to last him six decades and he quite frankly revelled in it. "Sorry guys, I'm not about to give up my own leverage,"

"Wait, are you saying you've got something on him?" Avery gaped, agog, he didn't want to believe it.

"More than one something," Hadrian shrugged carelessly, he knew it was safe to say as such, these boys all had the ability to tell I someone was entering their minds, Dumbledore wouldn't risk trying to read their thoughts because of their knowledge that he could. He wouldn't risk them tattling to their parents and bringing the whole wrath of the Ministry down upon his head.

"Bloody hell," Nott said in admiration, not doubting it for a second, he wasn't sure where Hadrian got his information, but he had it in spades, and not just Dumbledore, Grindelwald too, he thought remembering the information they'd gotten on the train ride last year. For someone supposedly new to the whole magic thing, he'd taken them by surprise. Admittedly when they saw Hadrian first using magic on Avery, they'd contemplated the idea that he just had extraordinary control over his abilities, but deep inside they'd known he wasn't new to magic. They just couldn't believe he'd successfully duped both the Headmaster, Deputy Headmaster and the Ministry of magic.