Clean-up crew

Chapter 4 - Strange Man

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2:17 AM August 13th, 1991

Location: The Leaky Cauldron, Diagon Alley

It was around 2:00 in the morning, yet Hadrian was already awake, his eyes glued to the page of his book.

Stacks of different textbooks and magical theory books were all around the room. They were stacked according to their topic, author, and title. 

After weeks of staying in the apartment, Hadrian had finally found a way to leave.

A smirk graced his lips as he wandlessly made a few of his books float to his packing trunk. Although the task was a bit difficult, he continued to do so all morning until all his books were packed away.

It was a large improvement, considering that just a few weeks ago he could barely turn on a light. The proof was in a lot of shattered lightbulbs, which has promptly been thrown out.

His magic still wasn't as strong as when he first tried out the bombarda charm. He supposed it was because back then; he was fueled by emotions. 

Lost in his thoughts, Hadrian mindlessly packed the rest of the things away by hand. Once everything was neatly packed away, he walked down the stairs, his trunk in tow.

"Hello Mr. Tom," Hadrian greeted, looking at the man.

He was wearing a brown coat, that day which was long enough to reach the man's toes.

"Mornin' Hadrian," Tom replied a bright smile on his face.

He stopped what he was doing and walked over to Hadrian.

"Today's the day you're leavin' right?" Tom asked, his smile becoming a bit sadder.

Over the time Hadrian had been at his pub Tom had become rather fond of the boy.

Although he was still a child, he was 'mature beyond his years' although it seemed to him that it wasn't much of a good thing.

In fact, Tom made it his personal mission to make Hadrian smile brighter than the sun.

Hadrian looked at Tom, his regular apathetic face, replaced with something a bit sadder.

"I am," he replied curtly, staring at Tom.

"Don't worry, I'll visit this place at least once a week.

Tom smiled brighter and said, "I hope you do."

Hadrian put the keys to his now former apartment on the table and pulled his robe a bit closer to him.

His height shifted, and his face changed at rapid speeds. His cheekbones highlighted themselves more than they did before. His voice dropped at least an octave, but it was still as scratchy as before.

His hair turned into a dirty blond color and was much wavier than before.

"Good day," he called out to Tom, waving him goodbye.

Right when he left the pub, he bumped into a man, causing the man. to lose balance.

The man was wearing a large black robe, that covered the majority of his face.

Before the poor guy could fall Hadrian caught his hand, and pulled him upright.

"My apologies," he said curtly a small reassuring smile on his face. It was obviously fake.

Hadrian looked at the man up and down noticing his white boots.

"Nice shoes," he commented absentmindedly, staring at them with a sharp gaze,

"It'd be a shame for them to get dirty, you should be careful."

Hadrian handed the man a white handkerchief that he'd made long ago back when he lived with the three pigs(the dursleys).

Then Hadrian walked away leaving the man, confused, slightly irritated, and alone.

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3:42 AM August 13th, 1991
Location: The Leaky Cauldron, Diagon Alley

The man that Hadrian had bumped into walked into the pub, taking a seat near the window of the pub.

The man's name was Antonin Dolohov. In his mind, the man toyed with the idea of finding Hadrian and killing him, although his gut wouldn't allow him to.

His mind replayed the scene of Hadrian stopping him from falling over and over again as if it were on an endless loop.

Suddenly his back felt a crawling sensation and he ducked right as a knife hit the area in which his head would have been.

He looked down at the cup of alcohol in front of him and chucked it in the direction the knife came from.

Suddenly, 4 men all dressed in blue appeared. They were soaked in alcohol.

Antonin pulled his wand out of its holster and started dueling with the strange attackers, various dark spells being flung all over the pub. 

Wizards screamed and yelled, running away from the commotion. Although a few did stay back to watch.

Antonin rushed at the wizards in blue, his eyes glistening with enjoyment. A wide smile spread across his face as blood splattered everywhere, including on his face.

He quickly cut some of the wizards' limbs causing many of them to scream in the fall.

The last remaining wizard that could stand cast a strong bombarda, rattling the store and breaking the windows. 

People outside crowded at the wreckage, their eyes on the scene of the fight.

Before Antonin could do anything the last remaining wizard slashed their neck and fell to the ground. The only thing left of him was flesh and blood.

Antonin checked the wizard's bodies but didn't find anything except a symbol of an axe and a shield.

He quickly burned their robes and apparated away.

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4:26 AM August 13th, 1991

Location: ???

Somewhere in a dark alley, Antonin gazed at a file in his hands.

It was titled [Unknown] and described a man with blond wavy hair, who was fairly tall and had a sharp gaze.

Antonin looked at the handkerchief he was given. It was designed with a snake that had its jaws wide open.

He wiped his boots, which in fact had gotten a bit dirty.

"How interesting," he muttered.

He would only later know, that his meeting with Hadrian would become a major turning point in his life.