The true Heir of Salazar Slytherin - Book 1

Chapter 20: Heaven on Earth

The following day Salazar, Sirius and Sylvia sat in the kitchen drinking some coffee and waiting for the Longbottoms to floo over so that they could take the portkey to China. However, none of them knew where exactly they would go, and Salazar kept quiet about it. They sat there in silence, drinking coffee and reading the newspapers, which didn't have anything interesting in them when the door opened, and a tired-looking Hadrian entered.

"Mornin'," he mumbled, stifling a yawn.

"Good morning, I see there was someone too excited to sleep," his dad greeted him, giving him a hug. Hadrian blushed slightly.

"Uhuh."

Salazar could see that his son was nearly falling asleep. Smiling, he stood up and walked over to the fridge, which was a simple cupboard with strong cooling charms. He took out the orange juice, poured some into a glass and added half a vial of a potion.

"Here, drink this. It will wake you up."

Salazar held out the glass to his son, who picked it up and drank it. In an instant, he was awake.

"Wow, what was that?" Hadrian asked, astonished about how much better he felt.

"I added a potion against fatigue. Normally I wouldn't give it to you, but we have to take a portkey to China, and I don't want to lose you somewhere over Russia because you were too tired to hold the grip on it. Now eat some before we depart," he pointed at the breakfast standing beside him.

Hadrian did as he was asked and dug in.

About half an hour later, suddenly, someone burst through the kitchen door with a loud bang startling everyone. Looking up, Hadrian saw that Neville and his parents, who strode in behind the boy with more decorum, arrived.

"Neville," he exclaimed, running over. "How are you? I'm so excited since this is my first holiday..." he started to rattle on, seemingly without taking a breath. They both walked over to the other side of the room, excitedly talking about what they thought where they would go and what they would do.

The adults in the room shook their head over the antics of the children. How much a few days could change a child or, in this case, two children. No one could deny the fact that the two were good for each other. Neville helped Hadrian to get over his past and enjoy life again, while Hadrian got Neville to overcome his shyness.

"Good morning, everyone," Alice greeted them with a warm smile. "We're ready when you are. Our luggage is in the drawing-room, and everything else is taken care of."

"Good. The elves will take the luggage and teleport it to our destination. Meanwhile, we will take a portkey. Hadrian, Neville, if you have to take care of anything, now is the last opportunity before we leave."

Both boys quickly left the room, Hadrian checking his room for things left behind and Neville going to the toilet. Ten minutes later, everyone met in the drawing-room. Salazar had done a last tour through the house to see if everything was alright and all the windows closed, not that it would make any difference. It was just for appearance sake. The house would shut down itself once they all left since no one would be there for the next fortnight. James already went after preparing the breakfast to see that the local elves and the mansion in China were ready.

"Okay, all hold tightly onto the portkey," he said while holding out a silver chain for everyone to grab. "The travel will take about two minutes, so don't let go before I say so," this was more a bit of advice for the children.

"Activate!"

With that, they all were whisked away, feeling a tug behind their navel. Then, as Salazar said about two minutes later, they stood in front of a large building on a hill overlooking a village of maybe three or four hundred inhabitants. All in all, it was a sight to behold.