The next day at least brought something new. Apart from the usual classes Hades had history of magic and Defense against the Dark Arts. Now, he certainly hadn't expected to like history, especially considering how much the upper years had complained. Adrian Pucey had been rather pleasant to him since the first encounter, and the favour of the other Slytherins had luckily followed. He was right about the teacher, the ghost was awful. It was impossible to listen to his droning, and he'd noticed most of the Gryffindors had fallen asleep. However, his eyes were drawn to the textbook. Not because he was fascinated by random dates of goblin ward and such. No, there were two things that had enthralled him so. The first was the more ancient history, the development of magic. Not only was it fascinating, but it's bloody history was rather entertaining to the demon child.
The second, was the fact that a lot of it was wrong. Now, Hades was no expert, but he'd heard many stories over the years of his father and uncles corrupting the humans. They had been at many famous events, and had told different storues to ones he was reading. So correcting parts and filling the gaps was something to amuse him whilst everyone else took a nap. Unfortunately this could mean one of two things. He'd either be an expert in this, because he was one of the few people actually paying attention.... Or he would completely fail because he put the correct facts rather than the ones in the book.
Now DADA was certainly very different. Defense against the dark arts. The name made him chuckle, eliciting a few confused looks from Hufflepuffs in class. Draco seemed to agree though, rolling his eyes at Hadrian when no one was looking. They entered the class room to a stuttering welcome from Professor Quirrel, before joining Theo, Blaise and Draco at the back of the class.
He was grateful for it during the lesson, as DADA was an immense waste of time. Not only was half of it rubbish, any useful information was lost by the ramblings of the teacher. It wasn't long before he drifted off whilst his friends took notes, his sight fading to red as his demonic vision took hold. It was a trick his Uncle Lucifer had taught him, an ability to reveal the darker parts of people's auras. In theory, you could see 'evil' or darkness. He'd picked it up surprisingly quickly, becoming almost second nature. It had become so easy in fact, that if he stopped concentrating, it just kind of happened.
He glanced around, reading the shapes and colours around him. Most of the Hufflepuffs had little to no darkness near them, clearly stoic light wizards. The Slytherins however had circles of black around their head, showing they were repeatedly exposed to dark influences. Some even had darker spots around their heart, showing a practice and acceptance of dark magic. It was a stark contrast to his own aura. He was surrounded by black, no longer visible beneath the shadows of his darkness. The true surprise, however, was the professor. For a defense against the dark arts teacher, he'd expect some slight darkness around his head, from experience with dark creatures. But this was so much more than that. Not only did the teacher have a darkened heart, he had two. He was sharing the body with another dark presence. Perhaps this had something to do with the teachers presence in the forest.
He snapped out of his daydream like state, but too late. Quirrel dismissed the class, he friends gathering their things together, and he reluctantly followed suit. There was no way that had been two hours! He sighed, following his friends out of the classroom, still watching the strange professor. "I hope the other lessons will be more interesting than that." The others nodded, clearly underwhelmed by the lesson. "I know! I could barely hear what he was saying, and I'm sure most of what I did hear wasn't right." Draco agreed with Theo, chipping in with his own thoughts. "I'm glad I already knew the basics before we came here." Blaise nodded, hands shoved into his back pockets and bag swinging. "I feel like we'll be needing the textbooks." Disheartened, the four boys walked into the Great hall for lunch, hoping the rest of the week would be more interesting.
Dumbledore sat in his office, fingers steepled together as he stared across his office in contemplation. Fawkes made no noise, being uncharacteristically quiet recently. Albus had a problem. It had been a problem for a while, but seemed to be so increasingly each year. Harry Potter. Or rather, Hadrian Morningstar. The child could not be controlled, and that would not do, if Voldemort was returning as he thought. This was a greater worry now the mirror was gone. They'd searched the castle top to bottom, teachers, ghosts and elves alike. Nothing. At this rate they were going to have to start searching teacher and student quarters, which would certainly end in an uproar.
None of this helped him think of how to bring Potter back under his control. If he tried to remove the boy from his house, every Slytherin would be up in arms, and the media would certainly get a kick out of that. The issue was, all the boys cards were hidden. Perhaps if he learnt more about the child's estranged guardian, he could regain control of the situation. But how could he do that, even the ministry hadn't been able to reach the man. He sat up, eyes widening as a plan started to form, and he cheerfully sucked on a lemon sherbet as he celebrated. This would be perfect.
Hadrian scowled, flicking at the miniature devils snare that had been reaching to him ever since he'd entered the classroom. He hated Herbology. Professor Sprout had been when he'd picked up the pot without it dying straight away, but now the entire class was frustrated by the pandemonium. Apart from Draco and Blaise, who found it hilarious. The tiny plant had held a tight grip on him for a while, and when he finally got it off, it had started hurling things in all directions in some kind of tantrum. Even the professor couldn't take it anymore, and she hurried over to remove the pot. "Mr Morningstar, you're dismissed from today's lesson, you can go to the library and focus on theory work."
He sighed, and thanked her before rushing back to the castle and away from the harassing plant. He'd been meaning to go to the library at some point anyway. He entered the library, mouth dropping open at the vast array of books in the large room. It wasn't anywhere near as big as Mammons library, but it was still big to be sure. He hurried in after recieving a glare from Madame Pince, and began searching for a book to read that night. For the two nights he'd been here, he hadn't gotten a wink of sleep, and had promptly given up. He quickly decided on two books, the story of the founders, and the rise of Merlin for the night.
Checking the time, he had another half an hour until dinner, and decided now was as good a time as any to visit home. The only issue was, opening a gateway to hell took some sacrifice. Wandering along the halls, he saw a cat wandering through an empty corridor. Shrugging, he petrified the creature before picking it up and taking it into a near empty classroom. It didn't take long for him to draw a runic circle using the creatures blood, before adding a drop of his own to activate the pentagram. A wall of flames burst from the ground, and he stepped through, breathing in the familiar scent of Sulfur. It was still quiet, and he hurried along to where Charon was waiting by the river.
Passing over the coin he'd kept in his bag, he jumped in the boat, eager to to get in. The journey seemed to take forever, but finally they arrived, and he pet Cerberus before crawling along the walls to the palace. "Dad?" It was just how he remembered, the screams and cries comforting to him, the warmth of the flames, and the blue tint of the fire pits lighting the walls. "Hades!" The voice boomed, and he turned to see his father and Uncle Lucifer walking towards him. Grinning, he ran over and jumped into Abbadons arms, holding the demon close. "I've missed you all so much!" Uncle Lucifer ruffled his hair, and they entered the sitting room, his father still carrying him. They all sat together on the sofa and Hade rushed through all that had happened since he'd arrived. Mostly complaining about the mortals, which the two Princes of Hell certainly sympathised with.
"I'm glad you are doing well though Hadrian. And as glad as I am to see you, you are aware you could have simply called?" Hades laughed, leaning against his father as his uncle teased him. "I know, but I miss home. Besides, I needed to show you guys something." He removed the mirror from his messenger bag, having retrieved it that morning to inspect. "Any idea what this is? The mortals were trying to guard it. Not very well, I might add." He enlarged it, and Lucifer leant forward, inspecting the large looking glass. "Ah, the mirror of erised. One of my own inventions." Hades rolled his eyes, of course the Prince of pride had made an enchanted mirror." Just an idea I had, it's supposed to capture the minds of mortals by showing them their deepest desire. If they stare too long, they'll be trapped, and waste away." Hadrian was impressed, that explained why it hadn't worked on him. He wasn't entirely mortal. "So why were the wizards trying to protect it uncle?"
He smiled as his father pulled him into a one-armed embrace, before turning back to Lucifer. "There is a spell on this mirror. They're using it to conceal another object. It only appears to people who would in no way desire it." Hades scoffed, that seemed rather stupid. What if someone else had been snooping and just happened to get their hands on it. "Can you retrieve it?" His uncle looked almost insulted, and he smiled, apologetic before the demon simply thrust his hand through the glass, pulling out a red glowing rock. "That's from Uncle Mammon's throne!" He'd recognise it anywhere, the glowing crystalline stone having been in the throne room for so long.
Lucifer rolled his eyes, chucking the object to his nephew. "In the mortals world, it is known as the philosopher's stone. They had some silly story that a wizard had invented it, but really Belphegor broke Mammon's chair and couldn't be bothered to throw it away properly. It made sense really, the Prince of greed could create and elixir of life, and turn lead into gold.... and the Prince of Sloth broke it and was so lazy it got into the hands of wizards. "You can keep it as a souvenir Hadrian, although I wouldn't let it get into the wrong hands. That's too much power for mortals." Hadrian had a thoughtful look on his face, before standing and walking out the room. The two Princes followed to see the child return it the arm of Mammon's throne. "It's probably best I leave it here then. If I ever need it I can always steal it off Uncle when he's busy.
Harry waved to his family, before walking through the flames again, and returning to the mortal world. Immediately the silence deafened him, and he sighed, evaporating the cat corpse and cleaning away the blood. It was probably time for dinner by now. He walked to the Great hall, waving to his friends where they sat at the Slytherin table. "Hey guys, sorry I'm late, lost track of time." They were quick to fill him in on how boring herbology had been once the plants started behaving, and he shoved them playfully before tucking in to his dinner.
He never noticed the eyes that watched him for the rest of the evening.