𝕸𝖆𝖈𝖆𝖇𝖗𝖊 ➳ 𝙃.𝙋

04

He raced down the stairs, nearly tripping at the turn, bumping his foot at the edge of the second-last step and let out a big grunt. He then twisted the doorknob to the dining room and stepped inside the sunny living room.

Henry sat there complaining about wanting more bacon, his mother was taking out a plate for her husband, and his dad was cracking jokes about the rubbish quidditch game between the Appleby Arrows and Pride of Portree. Perfect Family. Without him.

Hadrian suddenly felt like he was intruding; it wasn't the first time he felt like that. Honestly speaking, he felt it almost every day. It hurt, stung but instead of showing his sadness, and he kept it to himself. No one needs to hear his negativity. Really, there is no one to listen to his negativity. He removed the awful frown his face and replaced it with a usual smile.

"Morning, mum, dad," Hadrian said quietly. His morning greeting went ignored as usual. He entered the dining room slowly and then the kitchen, taking out a plate next to his mum. His mother, Lily Evans, turned to face her son and gave him a smile which Hadrian returned immediately.

"How about you give some of your bacon to Henry? You know it's his favourite, plus, you're the older sibling—" As soon as her mother's soft velvet voice reached his ear, Hadrian suddenly felt his heart drop, but he forced the smile on his face to stay.

"Sure. Take it," Hadrian replied, cutting her mother short disheartened. My favourite is also bacon.

"Hadrian, don't cut off your mother, so disrespectful. What is so terrible about giving your little brother some bacon? It's not that hard," James Potter chided his elder son while looking down at the Daily Prophet with an unamused frown. "Why is the daily prophet full of rubbish? You know what, Padfoot would write a better article than this Rita Skeeter person."

"I'm sorry." 'It's not that I don't want to give Henry bacon, I just want her to know, that it's my favourite too,' Hadrian thought to himself. There was no response to his apology.

Time passed slowly for Hadrian. By the time it was the afternoon, Hadrian felt like an older man. A very very old man. As he waved goodbye to Professor Wicks, who had stayed an extra half an hour just to clean up the backyard, it was 4:30.

"You just had to Bombarda half of the yard," Henry complained to his older brother. Hadrian did indeed blow up half of the yard in the midst of the lesson when Professor Wicks checked his knowledge of the spell. Hadrian was thrilled Persephone helped him to say the least. Professor Wicks didn't even complain to his parents like usual about his limited knowledge and control of the spell which contrasts most drastically to his younger brother.

"I hadn't tried it before. I didn't know that it would've been that powerful," Hadrian replied with a sheepish smile, shutting the door.

"But I saw you practice yesterday and you could hardly get your wand to light up. How do you improve that much in like less than 24 hours." Hadrian was going to reply, but Henry went on, "You know what? I don't care. I did better than you today anyways, and I blew up that stuffed bear perfectly, didn't you hear the Professor?"

"Congratulations. You were great," Hadrian replied genuinely although with a hint of defeatedness in his tone. His younger brother was great. Hadrian had always admired his younger brother's talent to grasp spells so quickly and effortlessly ever since a child.

"I have a press meeting with mum and dad today for the new posters. My picture is going to be hung up in the ministry. You know, about being the-boy-who-defeated-you-know-who and things like that. How exciting is that?" Henry told his older brother, excitedly. His eyes were glittering as he prided himself over the accomplishments he didn't remember doing.