Whose side is truly the dark one?

Summer plans and a surprise - 30

Draco could see the dark circles around Hadrian's eyes that he was trying so hard to hide growing over the week. He knew about the silencing charms he had been placing around his bed every night as he had dropped them to comfort his little brother during his many nightmares. He was also aware that Hadrian knew he knew and wanted to keep it from the others as he hates people worrying about him. However, Draco cared more about Hadrian's health to care. So, while Hadrian struggled to stay awake as he helped Pansy with her history of magic homework, Draco let the others in in his plan. They needed to find a way to help Hadrian relax again so that he could start sleeping hall night again. Sleepless potions only worked for so long and the more a person took, the greater the chance of getting addicted grew.

"Why don't we take him to the lake, after all, he loves being outside." Blaise had suggested earlier that week. The group agreed and Hadrian soon found himself being pulled along with no clue as to their final destination after class Friday. The group split up to fulfill their separate tasks, leaving Hadrian and Draco alone in the empty hall. "Draco where are we going?" Hadrian asked in a tired and confused tone. "Patience little brother, it's a surprise." Draco answered for a third time as he dug through his bag for something. Seconds later he pulled out an extra tie and held it towards Hadrian. "I know you don't like the dark but it'll be okay. Just hold and squeeze my hand while I lead you to the surprise." Draco watched as the fear in Hadrian's eyes slowly calmed down and gently tied the tie over his brother's eyes.

   Hadrian squeezed his hand tightly as Draco slowly lead him outside and warned him of any drops or steps they walked across. "Almost there Hades," Draco said in a soothing voice and Hadrian took a deep breath to calm his racing heart. He felt the tie slip off his face and looked around in confusion as his friends held gifts in their hands and Pansy shot mini sparks out of her wand. "We noticed you've been feeling down and wanted to cheer you up," Theo explained. "I figured we could take you outside as you enjoy nature and celebrate your birthday early as we won't all be able to come over during your real one this summer!" Blaise finished proudly.

All Hadrian could do without crying was point to himself and Pansy just nodded her head. Little, happy tears slipped down his face as a small smile grew. Moments later, he found himself in a group hug as they all relaxed under the security of the surrounding trees. They discussed random topics and passed Hadrian several gifts from all of them, claiming they needed to make up for his past birthdays that had been missed. Hadrian loved each and every one of the gifts and thanked all of them repeatedly. He knew he would treasure them forever and handled each with care.

From Theodore, Hadrian received many books from most of the taught subjects and forgotten ones from Hogwarts. These included magical politics, magical inheritance books Hadrian had yet to read, and the Tales of Beedle the Bard for some fun. Vincent and Greggory teamed up and bought a collection of candy large enough to rival their own. Hadrian's favorite of the candies is the chocolate cauldrons and the bag they handed him the candy in was overflowing with them. Hadrian decided Blaise's gift to be his favorite as it held a black dragon hide wand holster. The reason behind it being due to not needing a wand for his magic, Hadrian constantly misplaced his stick of wood and would be forced to transfigure one quickly for class.

  Pansy was extremely proud of her gift to Hadrian as she put a lot of work into it. With a little bit of help from a house elf, she created a scrapbook from pictures taken over the year and magically made photos straight from her memory with a pensive. Daphne and Tracey had added memories to it as well but gave Pansy all the credit. As an extra something from them, the two also gave Hadrian a shrunken tree branch made for Raven to relax on inside his room. Hadrian finished handing out hugs and the group turned their attention to the food Vincent and Greggory had though to ask the house elves for.

   After gorging down on all the food the house elves had happily prepared for them, they led Hadrian to meet up with Fred, George, and Neville. The three were waiting for them by the quidditch fields and hung out for the rest of the afternoon. "Any plans for the summer?" Hadrian asked as they all sat in silence, just enjoying the sun. "Well my mother found herself a sixth husband. I pity the idiot as he'll be probably be meeting death by next Yule but I'm going to be avoiding them in the family manor with they stay in Italy." Blaise lightly complained as he loved his mother but genuinely hated the men she chose the marry as they only wanted her for her looks.

"All I have planned is to visit my grandfather most of the summer and read some more." Theo commented absentmindedly as he lazily flipped through his book. "Astoria is becoming a first year next year, so I will tutor her a little and discuss politics with father" Daphne said in a loving tone reserved for her little sister, parents, and closest friends. Her parents were strict as are most pure blood families but they loved her and she loved them. "Mother convinced father to take us to France for the summer but luckily I learned French as it is language of romance! I assume you two boys are just going to hang out and play exploding snap and wizards chess?" Pansy added towards Vincent and Greggory, who nodded as they tended to hang out with each other more than with the others.

"Father wanted to visit some family in France so we may so we may drop by to visit you Pans, and you too Blaise. We have family in other countries as well so honestly it will be a trip across a lot of Europe. You are coming with us Hadrian as mother wants you to come and she doesn't take no as an answer." Draco responded in his false arrogant tone making the Hadrian and Neville giggle while the girls just rolled their eyes fondly. "Oh... okay I guess" Hadrian quietly answered having only now finding out he had plans for the summer.

"You all are lucky, Gran is probably going to keep me locked up in the manor all summer and have tea with her friends every week" Neville mumbled sadly with his shoulders slumped. "At least you don't live with a banshee, mum found out from Ronald that we are friends with "slimy snakes" and will punish us with chores to de nome the garden all summer while she spoils her ronneykins and Ginny baby" Gred and Forge grumbled.

"You could always practice new prank ideas out on them over the summer for a little fun." Hadrian mentioned with a small smirk. "Y'all aren't known as the devil twins for no reason you know." Pansy said with yet another eye roll. Fred and George responded with matching smirks and they laughed over the many pranks and chaos they had ensued over the past years. Soon it was time to eat once more and the group promised to all try and meet up to buy their school supplies together.