Waking up to last night's mistakes was entertaining to Harry, most were miserable and hung over or just like him, laughing at the misery of others. The dorm stirring is what woke Harry that Sunday morning, it was an annoying sound that clung and refused to go away. Malfoy was moaning about how he felt like shit to a uncaring Nott who seemingly waved him off as the Malfoy got no response. The distinctness of the noise in the room, and the fact it probably wouldn't just go away soon, Harry sat up and yawned. The curtains of his bed were shut, he had no concern over someone watching his stretching routine as he lifted his arms over his head, and then behind his back until he heard a satisfying pop where he groaned quietly. Wand at his side, he opened his curtains. The people in the dorms silenced as they watched the curtain swing open, Riddle was eyeing with slight interest, wondering if he was also hungover and miserable.
Harry felt fine, it felt almost like every morning besides the said hungover and miserable people all over the room. Tiernan must have heard Harry open his curtains as a second later he thundered out of bed, Malfoy cussed at the loud noise as Tiernan nearly slipped on the floor with his slick socks as he hurried over to Harry a scheming look on his face. Tiernan was watched with sour looks as he pranced his merry self over to Harry and sat next to him on the bed.
Tiernan decidedly didn't say anything only smiled at everyone in the room, none of them said anything directly but Malfoy mumbled something under his breath as he scurried to the bathroom. It was easy to tell who was hung over and who wasn't, Nott, Malfoy and Avery were critically hung over. Avery looked sick to his stomach with a bucket sitting next to his bed as he leaned over it in clear preparation while Nott was laying on his bed with no blanket over himself, but a cold pillow on his face. Riddle was just looking people over, his current target was Tiernan who noticed and grinned in an obnoxious way at him. Black just looked depressed, he was awake and by his habitats he looked normal besides the, well, depression. Black was fiddling with his wand a scowl on his face as he was clearly thinking something over.
Harry decided to placidly fiddle with his hair and coincidentally he heard a loud but largely incoherent comment from Malfoy who was preening over himself in the mirror, as the pink haired fellow lacked energy to close the door so Harry, and anyone else on his side of the wall, could see directly in the bathroom with ease. Ignoring that Harry frowned and peered around the room, he found himself having no need to stick around.
"Wanna go to breakfast?" Harry asked Tiernan who took a moment answering, his gazing falling to Black for a moment.
"Nah," Tiernan hummed as he fell back onto Harry's bed, "I feel like, I dunno, I kinda just wanna chill for awhile, y'know?"
"Sure," Harry agreed, as he made sure to hold onto his wand as he shuffled back against the wall, "What do you wanna do today?"
"Depends," Tiernan drawled, folding his arms carefully under his head, "Like, we got your broom, I currently am not hung over, unlike others, but I feel lazy as all hell."
Harry hummed, but knew it was all a waiting game. The subject they were waiting for? Black. Harry was assuming Tiernan wanted to wait until all of Riddle's group leaves, minus Black and talk to him. Or wait until Black leaves alone and follow after him. Either one would work to accomplish the goal at hand; which was basically for Harry to offer his assistance in helping the young Sirius, which would hopefully lead to Black in his group. Harry has been doing next to nothing the few weeks he's been here, so making a move that would both challenge Riddle again and simply move to his own goals would be helpful. Harry didn't appreciate the not so kind words Black said that caused him to be gifted pink hair, but for all Harry knew it was just him lashing out with recent events.
Everything around him had potential, he was leaving slack in his line he needed to pick up. Harry still hasn't gone to talk to the basilisk or try to comfort Myrtle, he needed to start enacting a plan if he dare said he had one. Harry needed to start blocking and covering as many paths as he could, for one he couldn't let Riddle get into the Chamber of Secrets. That was something he needed to hide, perhaps a glamour on the snake symbol, that was one of the most obvious indications of it in the bathroom and surely how Riddle found it. Horcruxes was also a thing he needed to deal with, Harry doesn't think Riddle had any yet, and without the chamber the diary wouldn't become his first. The murders of the Riddle family was something he needed to think over, that was going to be something slightly more difficult to stop. He couldn't exactly show Riddle a future snake inspired picture of himself and be like, 'do this shit, this is what you'll look like. Don't do horcruxes'.
"I'm going to breakfast," Riddle's tone was oddly sophisticated for such an average and menial line. Instantly Avery shakily rose, only to quickly sit back down. Nott easily uncovered his face with his pillow, but looked very unhappy to do so. Nott followed as Riddle walked to the door, Malfoy joined just as they were exiting. With a fleeting glance back at Black, who was pointedly refusing to look at Riddle, they were gone. Leaving a sickly Avery, a Black that was now not so subtly staring at Harry and Tiernan who was being patient.
"Fuck this," Avery groaned, he stood to his feet but shook slightly as he grabbed his bucket and rushed to the bathroom where he slammed the door roughly behind him.
Harry stared over to Black as he looked between Tiernan, who was starting to sit up, and Harry himself with a contemplative expression, "May we speak somewhere private?" Black asked, his voice professional sounding and it was a far cry from the excitedly cheerful voice from when they first met.
"Of course," Harry agreed, standing up with Tiernan following quickly. Black stood slowly, appearing slightly unsure of what to do next, "I wanted to talk to you anyway."
"Oh?" Black questioned, his brows raising slightly.
"Privacy is key," Harry smiled as he looked at the door, "I want to make sure Riddle is out of the common room."
"Riddle is quick, he's already in the hall," Black impatiently said looking nervously at the bathroom door.
"If you're so sure," Harry shrugged as he walked over to the door, opening it quickly he allowed the skipping Tiernan and the hesitant Black pass through the door. He quickly took lead of the group, guiding them without much care down the stairs and through the mostly empty common room. Acting causally works for the most part, especially with busy first years so the trio hardly got more than a glance. The trio got to the wall, where in wasting no time in opening. Harry weaved them swiftly into the maze of dungeon halls, and when he was satisfied with an old classroom they dipped inside.
The room smelled like mildew, but Harry didn't mind as he talked to the center of the room and turned to Black who was hovering at the door, "Come in, Black, I won't bite."
"Yesterday you told me you would never be satisfied with my suffering," Black nervously said as he stepped into the room, appearing like he regretted asking to go somewhere private with Harry and Tiernan.
"You also called me and Tiernan gay slurs and threatened to send a killing curse my way," Harry pointly said, his smile dipping slightly.
"I got bad news yesterda-" Black cut himself off but walked into the room with his head held down, "I don't need to be telling you this, not what we're here for I suppose."
"Well, if we're all going to share to the circle about why we wanted to see each other I'll go first," Lies, simple harmless lies formed from half truths swirled in Harry's mind as he went on, "I'm worried about you."
"What...?" Black looked floored he had clearly not prepared for that.
"Well, something happened yesterday, and that's obvious," Harry started coating his voice with only slightly manufactured concern, "Riddle was acting colder than usual and you seem... how do I say this... depressed? I don't like seeing people in such states, even someone who clearly holds a strong hatred for me-"
"I don't hate you," Black interrupted, eyes wide and a part of Harry's mind purred it was working, "I thought you did, with the wand thing... the hair and with how you treat Riddle I assumed you hated me."
"I don't hate anyone," Harry laughed the lies flowing with ease, Dumbledore was enough to hate at the moment, "I can be critical of people but that isn't hating anyone."
"Does that mean you can fix my fair and wand?" Black cautiously asked, taking his wand out but holding it an obvious form of submission.
"Of course," Harry chuckled, his one more genuine as he smiled over at Black, "I just password locked the wand, just saying amalgamation should fix it."
Black whispered the word with renewed hope to his wand and casted a simple spark. The spark was a light jade color and was definitely not pink, the look of pure relief and slight gratitude decorated Black's face, "Thanks."
"The hair will turn back to its regular color at with the word angusticeps," Harry watched as Black gained a smile and examined his hairs color, finding it the black it usually was, and should be, "Is anything else troubling you?"
"Uh," Black bit his lip and then Tiernan piped up.
"Look, Black, I may have overreacted at you personally when I left Riddle's group," Tiernan fiddled with the sleeves of his shirt, "I know it's not your fault what they did, but I don't forgive you for watching, but I shouldn't treat you like your the one who cursed me."
"....you mean it?" There was hope in Black's voice, a type you would hate to see strangled out of someone.
"Yeah, you aren't Riddle," Tiernan grumbled, shuffling slightly, "You aren't even Malfoy, Avery or Nott. I can't just see you as an extension of them when you aren't."
"Can we be on good terms again?" Black said, his voice was hope filled, like a bird flying for the first time after being trapped in a cage, "If you don't feel like you're ready that's fine, but I miss you."
"Yeah," Tiernan smiled, looking over and meeting Black's gaze, "We can be back on friendly terms, I'm not sure about first name-" Black visibly deflated, "-but maybe soon."
"Of course," Black smiled, fainter than before.
"Now, I hate seeing you like you were this morning what's going on?" crooned Tiernan and Harry watched on, observing the two carefully as he let Tiernan take the stage.
"Peverell won't spread my business will he?" Black uneasily spoke up a second later.
"I'm not that sort," Harry scoffed, speaking for himself, "I would never leak private information of someone."
"Yeah," Tiernan nodded a relaxed grin on his face, "He's coolio."
"My brother got worse," the words seemed forced from Black's lips as they trembled slightly, his straight posture receding to something less confident, he slouched forward and waited for Tiernan's response.
Tiernan gasped, just as he did last night and widened his eyes, "Little Sirius got worse? I thought you said he showed improvement-"
"It did for a few days," Black nodded, looking troubled, "It weakens for a few days and gets worse, I'm scared he won't make it any longer."
"Is there anything your Father can do?" Tiernan asked, his voice higher pitched with concern.
"My... my father is trying to find a dark healer," Black said after a flickering moment of hesitation, his eyes flickered to Harry who was impassive before shifting back to Tiernan, "The regular healers have given up, and even Riddle doesn't have the magic to help. Father is getting desperate and I am too. I don't want him to die," Black's voice was strained as it cracked but he went on, "I'm trying to find a ritual to maybe a life for his, but Tom wouldn't help me-"
"For good reason, you'd probably use yourself as the sacrifice," Tiernan exclaimed shaking his head, Harry noticed how Black's posture grew more cautious and closed off at his words, but the Lestrange confidential went on, "No, I suggest you try something first."
"What?" Black perked his voice raised in interest and curious hope.
"I can help," Harry piped back in and Black shifted his eyes cautiously to Harry, "Look, I have a very powerful Magical core and can do healing Magic, I can try. I hate seeing children die of something they can't control, I just want to help."
Black was quiet for a few moments, dark hooded silver eyes flickering between two helpful expressions, he nodded quickly, "What do you want?"
"Nothing," That was clearly the right thing to say as the dark look in Black's eyes vanished in an instant, "I just want to save a life."
"Would you mind going in with relatively short notice?" Black quietly asked looking jittery, "I need to owl my mom, I know she'll say yes but we need a port-key."
"I'll be willing at anytime," Harry nodded a serious expression on his face, "Just please don't tell Riddle about this, I don't want him-"
"I'm going to be avoiding him, for a little while anyway," Black hesitantly said, scratching the back of his neck, "He said some things, and I am uncomfortable being near him at the moment."
"Wanna hang around with us?" Tiernan asked a smile on his face and hope in his eyes.
"If we three are hanging out," Black started after a moment, pausing to contemplate his words, "Call me Orion, please."
"If we're gonna be paling around, then you can call me Tiernan again," smiled Tiernan looking happy as he glanced over to Harry who looked away, two sets of eyes on him.
"It's going to make Riddle angry if you start calling me Hadrian," Harry shook his head a sly look forming on his face, "If you are prepared for that, then you are welcomed to call me by my name."
"I don't care what Tom thinks at the moment, Hadrian," Black said testing the name, "He said some very insensitive and hurtful things, I would like for him to have at least some of my sorrow."
"Good," Harry nodded smiling to his two friends, both new but one newer than the other, "Who wants breakfast?"
"I'm hungry," Tiernan agreed, nodding while Black followed suit in a silent nod.
"I need to get some parchment and a quill from the dorms," Orion said looking between Tiernan and Harry, still appearing somewhat unsure of himself.
"Alrighty," Harry smiled as he started out of the room, Tiernan following next to him. Orion lingered for a moment before starting to walk next to Tiernan silently. The newly formed trio was silent, one trapped in thought, another cheerfully thinking about the future, while the last was wondering what the papers were going to be spouting today.
After a few minutes of trying to reach the main hall back to the dorms, Harry started to worry if he got them lost, but that was proven false a few moments later where they rounded a corner directly meeting the main path. With a brisk pace the three popped into the hall, and turned to walk to the dorms without a second of pause. The silence was starting to bother Harry slightly, as it was becoming slightly tense and heavy, something never good in Harry's experience.
"You wanna go to the lake today, Orion?" Tiernan piped up voice cheerful despite the atmosphere.
"If it's not raining," Orion agreed nodding, he watched with an odd something in his gaze as Tiernan smiled widely.
"I don't think it'd be raining today," Tiernan chuckled, "The weather witch said partly cloudy yesterday."
"The weather magic has a rate of failure," Orion commented as they reached the sliding wall, "I'll be right out, just give me a second."
"Alrighy-o," Tiernen chirped with a smile, Orion whispered the password and walked slowly into the common room. Harry noticed how Orion seemed to tip toe inside and hesitatingly poke his head inside the common room and towards the chairs Riddle's group gathers at times. After looking it over and presumably finding no one, or no one important, Orion walked in and quickly darted up the stairs to the boys dorms. With Harry and Tiernan hovering by the wall, it took a long drawn out seconds to register they weren't going inside. The wall slid shut and Harry leaned himself against the opposing wall as Tiernan hovered in the more central region.
"You didn't explain how you'd help Sirius," Tiernan commented looking over to Harry who looked right back, "I'm surprised he agreed owl his mother to get permission for him to bring you over and try."
"He's desperate," Harry softly said, "They have no other options, I'm sure they'll agree as well. Besides the name, I'm going to most likely be in the paper with an embellished statement about the bomb so the parents will consider me as someone valid."
"No offense, but you're a Hogwarts student, how are you going to heal him?" Tiernan pressed frowning slightly as he lifted his hand up and ran it back through his hair.
"Hard to explain," Harry shrugged, wondering how well it would go if he said 'death magic' or something along those lines. Tiernan looked puzzled and opened his mouth to say something else when the wall slid open once more, Orion stood pensively holding a piece of parchment with his inkwell and quill, he held a pensive expression on his face, "Lets go."
No one voiced any protest and they started walking down the hall, where Orion put his inkwell in his pocket but still tightly held his quill and parchment. Tiernan had his lips pursed, he clearly wanted to start a conversation with Orion but seemingly was lacking the words to do so. Harry wondered if talking about classes would be a conversation starter, but Orion piped up.
"I hope we have waffles today," Orion said, as he fidgeted with the feather portion of his quill.
"We better!" Tiernan exclaimed his voice slightly ebbed, "Like, we've had like a week of only pancakes, I don't hate pancakes but I want my blueberry waffles!"
"I know right?" Orion agreed trying to smile, "Like, someone needs to talk about balanced diets and no over consumption of a single food item. If I eat one more pancake, I'm filing a complaint."
"We need a revolution in these weary halls!" Tiernan smirked spinning around in a circle as he walked, somehow not tripping as he did so, "We need to find the kitchen elf's and tell them our digressions!"
"Someone needs too," Orion faintly was able to smile, "this is getting to the point where someone needs to do something, rise up against the oppressing forces of pancakes."
"Yes! So much yes," Tiernan smiled brightly and started to chatter on on how waffles were better than pancakes. Harry decided to ignore the conversation as he started to wish he had a book or something with him, a part of his mind then reminded him of the newspaper to come. A part of him wanted to burn every newspaper in the hall just for spite, while another part wanted to read and cringe at what misinformation was bound to be there and then take a scalding hot bath to wash away his sins. Boredly, Harry examined his nails, they have grown longer than his tastes, he probably should cut them. Or he could ignore it until he started to get massive hangnails where he regretted everything about life.
Whatever, he'll probably forget in about five seconds that he needs to trim his nails. Darkly amused, he wondered why everything couldn't be like that. Childhood trauma? Harry couldn't remember the meaning of the word or any actions falling under that category. He supposed life would be worse that way, as without being able to remember anything he wouldn't have lived long enough to die and have this chance. Glancing over to the over excited Tiernan who was still overzealously rambling about the inferiority of pancakes and the mildly over to Orion who was clearly listening and nodding along, he wondered if dying would really be a bad thing.
If he died before Hogwarts, he wouldn't have had to go through everything. The greater abuse of his later years by his 'family' would have never happened, Dumbledore wouldn't have strangled his first life from his grasp with lies and manipulations, and the taste of betrayal would be unfamiliar in his mind. Would it have been better if he died at five? Cold and alone, starving and far too small for his age, skin clinging to his under formed bones, a final breath falling from his lips as he felt himself falling into slumber he didn't want, and in his helpless naive he let it consume him. Death would have treated him as any other as he was escorted to the train, where this time he would board to see the next adventure.
Harry couldn't answer the question of if he wished he died, 'yes' or 'no' hardly seemed to be honest answers and 'maybe' didn't answer the question fully. At the moment he was content in the life he led, as he may have struggle but they would never drag him under as they did in his first life. Harry was more powerful than everyone around him, he may have no real idea of how to harness and use it fully but he had the power and held many cards. No one could over power him, no one could fire a compulsion charm at him and have him enslaved, no one could erase his memories and throw him out like trash. Harry was a possible equal to Death itself, he couldn't die so even a killing curse wouldn't be more than being knocked out. Death would merily throw him right back in the game, a game he was almost incapable of losing.
The mortality of his first life may be gone, but not the scars. Veron, Petunia, Dudley, Ron, Hermione, Ginny even more so Voldemort and Dumbledore left scars on Harry. Not all physical, most were mental but just as bad or worse as being whacked around. Watching Cedric Diggory die, locked under the stairs, being primed for a sacrificial lamb, the countless times of little arguments blown out of portion or his 'friends' ignoring him and calling him a liar for something that wasn't his fault. Frowning down at the floor, Harry wondered what he would say to these people if he ever saw them again. Dumbledore was alive at this very moment, so the answer for that would probably be 'hello professor'. Voldemort was Tom Riddle, and Harry didn't want to talk to the present or future version, only glare. Veron and the rest of the Dursley's wouldn't have much said to them besides nasty curses. Ron, Hermione and even Ginny is where he had no idea what to say to them. Ron and Hermione for his questioning of their sincerity and for Ginny... for Ginny he wanted to hate her. Dumbledore had shaped her into someone for him to marry with or without his consent, but he really wasn't sure what all she was aware of herself.
Harry held in a sigh as they finally reached the first floor, Harry just didn't know how to treat the past. Harry didn't want to look back in blind hatred without giving anyone a chance, but blind trust is worse lense to look through. Shaking his head he cleared his thoughts as they started walking to the doors of the Great Hall, tuning back into reality Orion was saying something.
"-don't know, I don't like asparagus," He was saying shrugging over to Tiernan who nodded.
"Well I don't like celery, I get it," Tiernan replied as Harry opened the door to the Great hall for the two chattery people. Not interested in the conversation he didn't jump in as they walked to the table, "I may not like a lot of foods, but I will try anything as long as it's not spicy."
"Spicy food is the best, tho!" Orion shook his head, "Spicy is so good."
"I don't like to purposefully burn my mouth, thank you," Tiernan flatly said as he sat in his spot and Harry took his own. Orion hovered for a moment before rounding the table and sitting across from Tiernan.
"I call bullshit, you like boiling soup," Orion denied narrowing his eyes at Tiernan.
"It's soup," Tiernan insisted, as he looked brightly over today's food, "We got waffles, but we have an issue."
"Hold up," Orion held up a finger signalizing Tiernan to wait, "I need to write this before the owls come."
"'Kay," Tiernan said staring at the waffle abomination that replaced pancakes this fine Sunday. The waffle was a causal golden brown, lovely rounded edges and nice looking square spaces, the smell was captivating but what fruit they decided to place in them was not. What would you expect in a waffle? Blueberries, chocolate chips, maybe even strawberry chunks? What about slices of bananas?
Harry avoided getting a waffle as he got an average serving of sausage, scrambled eggs, and a piece of toast. Tiernan looked mildly disgusted as he stared at the waffle, reaching forward as if to put one on his plat just only drew his hand back at the last second. Shaking his head with a shiver he glared at the plate before getting a massive amount of scrambled eggs and a single piece of toast. Harry didn't care much as he ate a sausage that was particularly good, juicy and delicious. Good food raising his mood, he smiled faintly as he glanced up and saw Orion quickly writing with his ink freshly dipped quill in ink. Harry looked away and hoped he would actually be able to help Orion with his brother, he didn't doubt Death, but he doubted himself to do it himself without Death snarling him through it. Harry knew independence was a virtue he needed, but the suffocating feeling possible of failure swirling in the back of his mind wasn't something he wanted.
Harry ate about half of his plate when Orion seemed satisfied with the letter, and sighed leaning back in his seat as he stared warily down at his letter, "You're sure you can help?"
"Yes," Harry confidently answered, hiding his self-doubt behind a layer of said confidence. A part of his mind wondered if Riddle did the same thing.
"Mother will take you to the Black Manor as soon as possible," warned Orion who was pulling a tan envelope from his pocket that he set on the table. He scribbled his name in the corner and put what Harry assumed to be his mother's name in the middle of the envelope and then folded the letter with careful lean fingers, "It wouldn't surprise me if she sent a..." Orion trailed off before lowering his voice to a secretive whisper, "Port-key tonight."
"I don't mind," Harry nodded feeling slightly nervous, as he watched Orion tapped the letter inside his envelope and seal it. His hand shook as he did so and there was a hard look in his eyes as he looked up to where the owls entered.
"Hope you don't," darkly chuckled Orion was he looked over to Harry with a sharp look, "You do realize if you are lying, the outcome won't be good for you, Hadrian."
"No need to threaten me," Harry smirked as he leaned forward, "I know what I'm doing, Orion."
"Good," Orion shook his head he leaned heavily on the table as the previously intimidating posture crumbled as he clasped the letter with a tight hand, "I don't have the energy for the revenge stuff."
"Good to know," Harry lightly said, combing his hand back through his hair causally, Orion didn't pay much mind to his words as he still peered up waiting for the owls.
"You should eat, no need to worry yourself," Tiernan piped up before pausing as Orion looked over at him with a particular expression that seemingly meant something to the two of them as Tiernan frowned and quickly looked away.
"I just don't really feel hungry," Orion quietly said, as he looked over the food options, his gaze landed on the banana waffles. A sneer was instantly on his face with his eyes in downcast, "That's disgusting."
"It's something... like Dumbledore would request just to torture everyone," Tiernan quickly agreed as he glanced up at the head table where he had a revolted look on his face, "Yeah, he's actually eating it."
Glancing over to the teacher's table, he had to squint to see but it did appear like a returned Dumbledore was munching on banana waffles. Having another perfectly reasonable reason to hate Dumbledore, Harry looked away and had a contemplative expression on his face. What were the chances that Dumbledore just so happened to be away yesterday? Harry didn't think he's given Dumbledore a reason to hate him enough to kill him and possibly everyone else in the hall, but he couldn't help but think Dumbledore had something to do with it.
Harry returned back to his food, and wondered if he should try to ask the kitchen for some treacle tarts. He knew he wasn't the kitchens usual type of guest, which was usually Hufflepuffs and teachers, but it wouldn't hurt to chat up the elves. They were all around very helpful and befriending them would make spreading himself through Hogwarts easier, as elves tend to be watching when you wouldn't expect them too. It would serve great insight in the castle, in many ways... the overbearing sound of flapping wings and some cooes from owls started to fill the hall.
Looking up, he searched the crowd of birds eagerly for Hedwig, who much to his disappointment didn't seem to be present. Frowning slightly, he made a note to take time some time soon to search for her in the owlery. Harry did notice Tiernan's owl, who was a moody little barn owl with a generally unpredictable temperament fly over and politely land next to Tiernan who was swift at greeting the owl. Within its beak was a carefully held copy of the Daily Prophet, Tiernan grabbed it with a quiet 'thank you' to the owl and threw it over to Harry.
Catching it with ease he still glared at Tiernan for the necessary action, but he was busy crooning at his owl and acting if he's got a girlfriend yet. The bird didn't seem to want to answer as it hooted with an affronted tone and flew off without another peep, "Hey! I didn't mean it as an insult!" Tiernan called to the owl who didn't listen, "I really didn't!" The owl didn't return but did pause and haughtily glance back before leaving the hall.
Orion had his lips pursed and was staring down at his usual spot that had his owl plopped down on the table with Malfoy trying to shew it off. Squeezing his hand even tighter around his envelope, he was about to stand when Tiernan jumped to his feet, "I'll do it."
"There's no need," Orion said, but settled back into his seat anyway with a partially concerned look as Tiernan skipped down the table. Tiernan wore an expression that made Harry want to sprint after him, he sparklingly wide grin with a bold look in his eyes that clearly wasn't the best expression when he was surely about to taunt Riddle.
"I'll be right back," Harry grumbled as he stood and hurried after Tiernan who he joined just as he got Riddle's group's attention. Riddle stared at Harry and most of the other's were focused on Tiernan.
"Hey, gang, I'm just here for Orion's owl," chirped Tiernan, who had a sharper aspect to his smile as he gestured for Orion's large black horn owl to follow him, "C'mon Hooters."
"When were you two on first name basis again?!" Malfoy squawked, looking between Riddle, Harry and Tiernan at lightning speeds. Riddle's expression didn't change and his eyes didn't move from Harry's, the two seemed to be having a staring contest that Harry didn't really get the purpose of.
"Ohhh, this morning!" Tiernan cheekily said as he turned with his fluff of hair bouncing behind him in a pretty show. The owl, Hooters, followed and was quick to spot Orion who he instantly swooped too. Riddle sneered at Harry as he turned away, the group watched with glaring eyes at the retreating forms of Tiernan and Harry, mostly Tiernan, but Riddle was bent on glaring at Harry until he fell to the ground dead.
Harry ignored this for the most part as he and Tiernan went back to their table spots and watched as Orion handed Hooters the letter, "This is for Ma, Hooters, this is about Sirius so please be quick. I might have found a way, don't stop and hunt like you usually do, please."
Hooters's posture seemingly straightened as he took the letter with most rigor, he head butter Orion gently before taking to air, his wing flaps hurried as the owl zoomed out of the hall. Orion bit his lips and watched the bird leave, after Hooters left he shook his head and got a single piece of toast. Harry sighed quietly and started to open the Daily Prophet paper and sure enough, it was about yesterday's attack.
A Terrorist Attack on Hogwarts!
My Dear readers, I want to bring to light a topic of much seriousness and maturity. Yesterday on Halloween a vicious and cynical attack was launched at Hogwarts in the form of a Black Envelope delivered to the Boy-Who-Lived, Hadrian Peverell. It was breakfast, approximately 7:30 in the morning. Hogwarts was sleepy and eager for the Halloween feast this coming evening, first years to six years dotted the hall as a strange looking bird, thought to maybe be a raven, dropped a letter to Mr. Peverell and left in a hurry. The Peverell filled with suspicion stared down at the letter, and didn't open it right away, instead he avoided touching it. His friend and companion, Tiernan M. Lestrange, asked him who he thought it was from, Mr. Peverell answered he didn't know. Mr. Lestrange commented on it didn't look like any spam mail, but Mr. Peverell wasn't convinced the open it yet, and by the Auror report said, "who sends black envelopes? It's probably a Death Threat or something." Mr. Lestrange's response was something that would be light hearted without the added context as he said his father tended to use black envelopes. Mr. Peverell doubted the letter was from his father and Hier Lestrange replied that he immensely doubted the Dark Lord would send Mr. Peverell mail and said if he was so nervous about it, he should use his wand to open it. Staring down at the black envelope, with Mr. Peverell's full name in bright red ink, he agreed. Using a bubble shield charm and a letter opening charm, the letter exploded with a loud bang.
By student reports, the hall broke out in terrorized screams as The-Boy-Who lived darted with the bravery and boldness of a Gryffindor to the shield charm that entrapped the explosion, by teacher reports the ball was cracked and rolled into the front corner of the hall. The Hier Peverell surely read the note inside, in which the Auror scriptor described it as, "a thin piece of parchment with scorched and brown edges with the words 'Signed, the Dark Lord' neatly written in elegant script in bright red ink..."
The teachers jumped into action, it was reportedly just chaotic, the first thing done was Mr. Peverell was trapped with a very similar shield charm by The Defense Against the Professor teacher, who's name is Carl Tamen, who hosted no comment besides "He could have been contaminated with a poison, it would have done no good to release him back to the student population is that was the case." Students were mostly evacuated from the hall and being escorted by either there head or house or Perfects as one student other than Mr. Peverell himself remained. Mr. Lestrange threatened and cussed out Professor Horace Slughorn as he refused to go, Professor Taman agreed as if there was a poison Mr. Lestrange would have most likely been affected as well.
You must be wondering now, what the attack was? After a few wellness questions, Mr. Peverell informed the teachers it was a Muggle device. This Muggle device is called a 'bomb'. A simple explanation by an anonymous scientist working with Muggle technology Control (MTC) said, "A bomb is very complicated and very powerful. A simplistic explanation of a bomb is an explosive device that makes and lets out its energy very quickly and has a big shock wave effect. This rush of energy can be compared to a Bombarda, but is typically hundreds upon thousands of times more powerful, the bombs currently dropped in London can destroy entire streets, destroying buildings, people, and can pass most, if not all, wards. Bombs destroy anything and everything in their path, and without Mr. Peverell's paranoia the entire Great Hall at Hogwarts would be rubble with all the students dead."
With this chilling information described to us, it seems worrying. Mr. Peverell himself said with reason a muggle bomb was most likely sent in the first place was the fact they can get through the Hogwarts mail wards and wouldn't be detected as a nefarious device. Headmaster Dippet has released a statement saying they will be adding more precautions to the wards but this attack is very worrying. This has proven the Dark Lord as no regard for the lives of children, this would have wiped out a generation of witches and wizards and he sent no warnings or inclinations to this attack. In one of his recent speeches, he even said he had no attacks planned in the near future, and this is beyond an attack. Attacking the public of grown adults is one thing, but children are another. This can not stand with the Ministry, and we will be urging them to take action.
Let's hope nothing else occurs anytime soon, as we all wish for some good news. This is a topic that will most likely be reported on more very soon, stay tuned and have a nice morning.
Harry was surprised at how it didn't perpetuate much, if not any, false information. The only person bashed in the slightest was Grindelwald, who deserves much more colorful words for this attack. Somewhat satisfied with the article he offered Tiernan the paper who grabbed it and set it to the side as he was still eating the mass of eggs. With nothing better to do, Harry returned to his food and wondered what the best method of frying an egg was.
The day had passed, it was the tail end of dinner when Orion, Tiernan and Harry arrived back in the Great Hall. They had a productive day, or at least Harry thought so. They spent nearly the entire day doing homework, Harry didn't mind as he was really starting to find reading enjoyable but Tiernan mostly tried to copy off of both Orion and Harry and scrambled and reword information he got from the both of them and things he remembered. Orion reminded Harry of Hermione of the fact he kept pestering Tiernan to stop copying him and do his own research, but Tiernan only grinned and said he wasn't copying, he was simply doing informative research off Orion's paper. Orion never made him stop, but always grumbled when Tiernan was unapologetically copying.
"I'm probably going to get an Outstanding on my paper," Tiernan said, his voice slick and cheeky as they each settled at the same spots from this morning.
"Yeah," Orion said scowling as he graded a chicken leg and put it on his plate, "Thanks to mine and Hadrian's efforts."
"Pufft! I was simply doing research off your papers, it's just like taking it from a book," Tiernan insisted as he also grabbed a chicken leg and then a scope of mashed potatoes.
"Were you letting him do this before I came along?" Orion scowled over at Harry who tightly grinned and replied.
"Well, the teachers never think he's copying," shrugged Harry as he got a chicken leg and some potatoes.
"Bad habits," tisked Orion leaning back as he looked over the food and got some boiled carrots, "In the real world you can't do that."
"Are books or just asking illegal outside of school?" Tiernan wondered aloud as he started to consume his mashed potatoes, "I surely don't think so."
"Retaining information is important," Orion argued swirling mashed potatoes on his fork, "You have to be able to duel on the fly, the same is with DADA information and Potions."
"I'm never brewing potions without instructions," snorted Tiernan cheekily as he smiled over at Orion, "You know what that causes? Mistakes."
"You act like a Gryffindor with studying," scoffed Orion as he disdainfully casted a glance at Tiernan that definitely didn't look like a pout.
"At least I study," shrugged Tiernan as he happily pieced up his chicken drumstick, "Gryffindors are obvious about it, I'm smart about it."
"Yeahh," Orion said, his voice sounding as if he didn't agree at all, "whatever you say, Pal."
Harry was silent as he picked at the mashed potatoes, just not feeling in the mood to eat. His stomach felt uncomfortably empty yet warningly full, it was like an odd mix of feeling hungry but full to the brim. Frowning he swirled his fork in the mashed potatoes and idly wondered what tomorrow would be like, as his first Dark Arts class with Malfoy was a very interesting thing. Harry just hoped he wouldn't act cocky and arrogant with a mixture of Umbridge or there will be consequences. To who? Maybe Professor Malfoy, or maybe to Harry himself.
"You think you'll get the owl tonight?" Tiernan asked quietly, snapping Harry out of his thoughts and causing him to glance over to Orion who froze with a spoon full of mashed potatoes in hand.
"Of course," Orion ground out, setting the spoon on his plate, "We'll have to get out of the wards, any ideas?"
Harry and Tiernan shared a glance both of them had the idea of invisibility charms, but neither were sure to share this information with Orion, "You know where the one-eyed witch statue is?"
"...no..?" Orion answered looking slightly puzzled, "What does a statue have to do with anything?"
"Using the statue we can get to Honeydukes," Harry explained but only saw both of the Slytherins grow confused. Tiernan had his brows knitted together and his lips pursed and Orion just was eyeing him with an odd expression.
"Pardon, but what the fuck is a honeyduke?" Tiernan asked, and Harry realized his mistake.
Thinking for a moment, Harry wondered how to answer but sighed, "Just trust me, I'll use the statue to go to Hogsmeade and we can port-key out."
"So, it's a secret passage way to Hogsmeade?" frowned Tiernan while Orion looked at Harry with a ruffled expression on his face.
"How do you know? You've only been here a month," Orion asked, Harry paused for a long moment before answering.
"Gryffindors," he shrugged and Orion nodded and chuckled.
"That Potter, right?" Orion sniggered, shaking his head as he picked his spoon back up, "He must have told you Honeyduke or whatever as his low-life form of a prank."
"I suppose," Harry curtly nodded as he looked back down at his food, still feeling like food was the scourge of Magical kind.
"Don't take it badly," Tiernan said, smiling over to Harry, "Potter likes tricking people in small ways, it's no surprise he'd give you a bogus name."
"Or a 'bogus' tunnel," Orion frowned before he quickly ate the mashed potatoes off his spoon.
"The tunnel exists," Harry dismissed, as he set down his eating utensils with a cling.
"You never know," Tiernan mildly said, agreeing with Orion he went on, "Potter might have littered the entire place in prank spells or designed it to catch some sLImy ssLYthERins, as Gryffindors do."
"It'll work," Harry drawled, not bothering on defending Charlus, "If it doesn't I'll drink Malfoy's hair gel."
"A daring thing to say, as it would probably kill you," Orion chuckled, "nah, if it doesn't exist and you're wrong, just say so. Nothing wrong with it, a little hope never hurts."
"Yeahh," Harry agreed as he looked up to where the owl would come from, "When do you think your owl will be here?"
"Anytime," Orion reassured, "Now be quiet, please, I wanna eat food."
Harry didn't reply, instead he watched where the owl would come in as Tiernan and Orion ate their food. Nervousness twisted like a knife in the pit of his stomach, but now wasn't the time for self-doubt. A life needed to be saved and Harry was going to be the one to save it. That was a solemn promise.
A few minutes of staring later an owl burst into the Great Hall, people stared at the large black owl clutching a white letter in its jaws and wondered why it was here, now it wasn't exactly mail time. Hooters was quick to find Orion again and landed heavily on the table, appearing exhausted as he dropped the letter on the table and let out a tired hoot.
"Thank you," Orion whispered to the owl, a glint in his eyes as he took the letter an gave the owl a large bite of a chicken leg, "You can go now."
Hooters cooed and took off, wings beating the air harshly as the owl flew briskly back out the hall.
"What does it say?" Tiernan pestered leaning halfway over the table. Orion held the letter close with gaze flicking across the envelope, he edged the letter away from Tiernan sight and leaned back with a slight glare.
"Mind yourself, please," Orion frowned and Tiernan sat back in his spot with a huff. The Black opened the letter and quickly read the note and with a hard expression he dug in the envelope and pulled three coins out, all obvious galloens, "These are password activated, the password is at the bottom of the page."
Harry got handed the letter and he avoided the main block of text and eyed the password, inmersabilis. Without a second more, he handed it to Tiernan who was just as timely with his reading, the letter was passed back to Orion.
"We should go," Orion insisted looking jittery as he stood, Harry got to his feet and Tiernan quickly followed, "Mother is waiting, and my Father would like to speak with you."
"Let's do this," Harry agreed as the knife twisted once more, "I'll take you to the statue."
Despite his two fellow Slytherins thought the tunnel to be fake, it was proven to be real when he whispered the password and the hump shifted to show the dark gaping tunnel below. Harry didn't wait for the other's as he jumped into the dark hole, he slid down the slide and the lerch in his stomach reminded him of the childhood he missed as he didn't get the chance to slide down slides. Seconds later the trip ended and he stumbled to his feet.
"Hadrian?" called down the partially panicked voice of Tiernan.
"It's fine," he called upwards, as he flicked his wand to form a bright lumos, "We need to hurry, it'll probably take a half an hour to reach the outside of the wards."
"Okkie dokie," answered Tiernan who quickly joined him at the bottom of the hole. Orion silently followed, only he was silent before he yelped half way down the slide and nearly face planted at the bottom. Tiernan was the one who caught him and Harry watched as Orion looked up he looked embarrassed but his face was paler than usual.
"You should have warned me," Orion mumbled pulling himself away from Tiernan and brushed himself off like he fell into a lint basket.
"Of?" Harry asked in amusement, Orion's expression twitched as he sighed slightly.
"Let's just get this over with," Orion mumbled, no one protested as they each started to walk quickly down the hall, they moved in a slight jog as they went. Footsteps echoed in the air and any noise made sounded ten times louder, exampled by when Tiernan sneezed and it sounded like thunder. After awhile of this brisk walk/jog, they broke through the wards. Even though Harry couldn't see them, he could feel them wrap tightly around him for a moment and let go when he stumbled forward. The tunnel felt colder as Orion stopped and nodded, his face looking very ominous from how the light determined the shadows, "We breached the wards."
Harry drew his galleon as Tiernan did, Orion drew his a moment after, "inmersabilis."
Harry may not hate wizard transport as much as his last life, but pork-key felt no better than it did his last. The world lurched around him and Harry felt motion sickness hit him with a hard slap in the face. Quietly, he never wanted to use pork-key again. This was just as horrible as his first and that rang true when he reached his destination and stumbled to the ground. Struggling, he made sure he didn't topple over, beside him appeared a frazzled Tiernan and a stoic Orion.
They had appeared in a large marble room, it was held up by wonderfully designed pillars with a large chandelier hanging from the ceiling the looked to be made of gold and emerald, the candles were the only thing that lit the room, "Mother and Father are in the meeting room," Orion explained as he started to lead Harry and a hesitant Tiernan, "They only want to speak with Hadrian, so we can wait with Sirius."
"O-okay," Tiernan mumbled looking over to Harry with a look he couldn't read.
After a minute of walking through tall marble halls with walls adorned with many portraits and ancient artifacts, Orion paused outside a tall dark door that loomed towingly over them. Harry felt slightly intimidated as he looked over to Orion who merely nodded to the door, reaching out to the handle Orion instantly started guiding Tiernan down the hall. The Lestrange looked back at Harry with a pensive expression but followed anyways. Harry wrapped his hand around the freezing cold door knob and opened the door hesitantly, he stepped inside cautiously and saw Lord Black and Lady Black sitting primly on a couch that faced the door. A pair of silver and a pair of pale green eyes watched him as Harry tried to not show his nervousness as he carefully shut the door. Standing awkwardly he watched as Lord Black pointed to a comfortable looking chair in front of them, Harry nodded and walked across the Slytherin green carpet and to the black plush seat. Sitting down stiffly he stared across at the two Blacks and wondered if he was going to die tonight.
"Mr. Peverell," drawled Lord Black who looked him over with bright silver eyes, the look Harry was getting made him want to shift uncomfortably but he resisted, "My son mailed us an interesting letter this morning, you have any idea what it read?"
"I offered to heal your sick child," Harry nodded and folded his hands together to stop himself from fidgeting.
"He's owl'ed us about you before," Lord Black went on, ignoring the answer for the most part, "He has told me about Riddle's defeat, types of magic used, and a general sort of observations, and those observation have some supporting evidence to the claim that you can healing Sirius. You apparently healed Hier Lestrange, from an injury and have shown to have a decent Magical Core. Rather interesting, and even more the fact I couldn't pull your Gringott's records."
"I would rather not a stranger view my records, Sir," Harry answered his voice smooth sounding, but Harry doubted his mask of confidence as Lady Black was giving him a look.
"I understand that," Lord Black said idly, not sounding like he cared at all, "But how am I supposed to know what you advertised as true, if I have no records from Gringotts?"
"If you don't want my service, you should have said so," Harry stiffly said, watching as Lord Black's mask cracked and showed a hint of desperation for a single moment.
"I'm not telling you no," Lord Black quickly said, putting a smirk on his face, "I just want to ask, how do you have these abilities? It typically takes years of study to heal someone who doesn't have an illness that no one has ever cured."
"Look," Harry drawled, leaning forward slightly, "I am trying to do a good thing, Lord Black, and I don't want to get interrogated for having a little sympathy."
Lord Black was silent for a moment, he shared a glance with his wife before looking back to Harry, "I'm not trying to interrogate you, I'm simply trying to understand."
"If you want to understand me, get to know me," Harry replied mellowly.
"Should I assume that you won't answer any of my questions, then?" Lord Black drawled, sounding somewhat disappointed.
"That would be correct," Harry agreed, leaning back in his chair, Lord Black narrowed his eyes at Harry.
"What do you think, darling?" Lord Black asked Lady Black who tilted her head as she looked at Harry for a moment, the intense look once again making Harry want to shift in his seat.
"No point to not try," Lady Black softly said, she stood and looked over to Harry, "Please, follow me."
"You sure about this?" Lord Black asked, putting a hand on her shoulder.
"He just wants to help," Lady Black drawled softly, as she looked over to Lord Black, "Don't be concerned, Mr. Peverell means no harm."
"I trust your judgement," Lord Black scowled as he removed his hand from her shoulder as he looked over to Harry who he looked at appraisingly.
Lady Black didn't reply as she beckoned Harry to follow her once more as she walked gracefully to the door, Harry stood and followed, he felt Lord Black staring at him as he went but he didn't look back. Lady Black was deathly silent as she led him down the marble hall and to a door at the end of the hall. She opened the door and inside was a room heavy with sickness, Harry could almost smell it and he heard it quickly.
A painful rasp echoed against the walls of the room and he flinched slightly, as he stepped inside a wet cough followed and he was quick to find the source. A boy, maybe seven, he laid sickly and deathly pale on the bed, his eyes flickered over to Harry and they looked dead and glossy. Harry's gut twisted as he approached the sickly child, he felt a heart wrenching amount of sympathy tug at him as he stared into silver eyes that appeared to be the eyes of a dead man.
"Hello," Harry softly said, as he stumbled to sit in the seat next to the young one's bed, "I'm here to help, would you like that?"
The boy opened his mouth and wheezed, a loud rasping sound that made Harry wince, the boy closed his mouth and then his eyes.
"Can I have your hand, please?" Harry asked, making sure his voice sounded kind and light. The boy's hand twitched towards him, but Sirius didn't have the strength to lift it further, "Nice try," Harry complemented as he cupped his hand around the child's.
Focusing he fixed his gaze on the child's face, he pushed his intent through his mind, to heal Sirius. Harry knew the boy would die if he didn't help, and he balled his sympathy in his him and pushed that to the forefront of his mind. Dying young was not going to be the fate of Sirius, and Harry would insure it, he tried to do as he did last time, he pushed 'magic' down his hand and into the young one with the purpose of healing. Sirius gasped as Harry felt his magic hit the air, it was different than when he healed Death, the flame flickered to life and Harry felt as if he was draining something out of himself.
Harry didn't stop, even when he felt himself growing weaker, the boy was now looking at him in wide-eyed amazement. His eyes were gaining life and as Harry stared into them he felt as if he was losing some of his own, Sirius's breathing was leveling out without a rasp and his face was gaining color. Harry on the other hand was starting to feel dizzy, his head was spinning in a way that made him almost lose balance, then the flame weakened and his Magic started to flow back to him, the flame died and Sirius was healed. Harry felt terribly sick but he held himself together as Sirius sat up in bed and looked over to his mother, glancing over the slight motion made his gut wrench but Lady Black had her hands cupped over her mouth and visible tears were in her eyes.
Harry let go of Sirius's hand weakly and watched the young boy leap to his feet and surry off his bed and to his mother who he hugged tightly. Lady Black did the same, she hugged him and held him close as she whispered and mumbled words Harry's mind couldn't catch or process. Eyes feeling heavy he forced himself to not drift off and sleep, in the corner of his vision he saw movement and saw Tiernan and Orion peering back. His mind told him they probably were hiding there to watch the process. Harry told his mind to shut up as he didn't feel like thinking at the moment.
The two rushed over, Orion to his brother and Tiernan to Harry. Orion hugged his mother and brother and was saying something with the largest grin possible on his face, Tiernan reached him and the words barely reached him, "You did it! That was amazing, the magic was so- are you alright?"
I can't exactly die, Harry mirthfully thought to himself as he closed his eyes, "Should be fine," Harry mumbled, but he was unsure if his words came out right as even to him they sounded warbled.
"Uh, Lady Black," Tiernan sounded hesitant but very concerned, "I think somethings wrong."
She didn't reply to Tiernan, Harry could guess she was still fawning over her son. Plus, Harry didn't really need help, he could die and he'd be back in a minute or so. Not like they knew that, and it wasn't like Harry could politely inform them. Flicking his eyes open he saw Tiernan staring down at him a fearfully concerned expression on his face.
"Lady Black!" Tiernan raised his voice, as he turned towards her, "There's something wrong with Hadrian!"
"What's wrong with him?" Lady Black said, but Harry was shocked at how distant her voice sounded, he looked over to Tiernan who was still facing away from him and towards Lady Black.
"I don't know!" Tiernan said, his voice rising in pitch.
"Orion, take your brother to your father," Lady Black ordered, and that was the last thing Harry heard before everything became white noise.
"You pushed it too hard," A familiar voice mumbled in his mind, "As soon as you felt tired, you should have taken a break."
"Death?" He groaned, but he was hushed by Death.
"Silent now," Death briskly said, "You are not used to using so much magic in one sitting, you've basically entered a coma while your body recovers. If you were normal, it would be about two weeks or so before you would wake. I'm speeding it up, you'll wake and be viable in about a minute or so."
"That was awful," Harry whispered.
"It could have been worse," Death replied, and Harry could hear the shrug in his tone, "Tiernan thinks you're dead at the moment."
"I don't want him to think-"
"Lady Black is trying to tell him you've just fainted," Death explained to him, voice somewhat bored, "He's sobbing at the moment and it's really depressing. I wonder what would happen if you actually died."
"Can I just go back?" Harry asked, and Death was quiet for a moment.
"I suppose," Death agreed and Harry was plunged back into the forefront of his mind. Harry still felt dizzy as he found himself on the floor, he groaned and the sobbing he just noticed ceased. Someone dropped to the floor next to him and he opened his eyes to see a wide eyed still crying Tiernan leaning over him, a tear fell on Harry's cheek causing him to shiver slightly.
"I told you I'd be fine," Harry said, and Tiernan reached down and pulled him upright into a tight hug.
"Don't fucking do that again or I'll make you 'faint' myself," Tiernan sniffled as he tightly held on to Harry, who was froze for a moment before he also hugged Tiernan back.
"I'll tell you next time," Harry simply replied and Tiernan laughed loudly, but it wasn't an amused laugh but more of a hysterical one.
"Boys," Lady Black drew their attention as she looked down at them with a slightly relieved expression, "Little Sirius is probably terrified he killed you, can you talk to him before you go back to Hogwarts?"
"Of course," Harry agreed, waveringly trying to stand to his feet, Tiernan helped him up and Harry mumbled a thank you. Harry had a slight struggle walking but he managed to follow Lady Black back to the tea room with Tiernan hovering at his side, eyeing him with concern. The door was left open, and the first thing Harry saw was Lord Black hugging his son loosely and Sirius looking devastated.
"Sirius, he's alright," Lady Black gently stated and Sirius looked up and over to Harry, Sirius practically had stars in his eyes as he wormed his way out of his father's arms and skipped over to Harry.
"You're alright, sir!" chirped Sirius and Harry smiled widely and chuckled.
"You can call me Hadrian," nodded Harry who watched Sirius's eyes widen and the smile grow.
"You can call me Sirius, Mr. Hadrian!" Sirius grinned and Harry felt happy.
"Thank you," Lord Black spoke up, coming up to his son, "I didn't think you would manage."
"No problem," Harry brightly said, "I was only trying to help."
"The Black family is in debt to you," Lord Black went on, and Harry's eyes widened slightly. That was a very serious thing for Lord Black to say, "Thank you."
"You're welcome," Harry replied, his throat feeling tight.
Orion Black was still standing at the coach as he thought over tonight, he wasn't sure just how to look at everything. In a single day, Hadrian approached him to help his brother and followed through, he managed to get the favor of his family and besides all that his magic... It was astonishingly amazing. It had the same alluring taste and feel as Tom's magic, but was different. Orion himself has only felt Tom's magic when he was particularly pissed or was trying to scare or punish someone, but this was completely different.
Hadrian's magic didn't have sharp glass edges or threatened everyone in the room, it was dark but it was gentle and soft, and most of all just by how the magic expressed he really did care about healing Sirius. Orion was sure he found someone who was immensely powerful, dark, but unlike Tom he cared about the people around him more than usefulness or uselessness. Orion was sure he would be presented an ultimatum by Riddle and everyone else, and he'd sure miss Malfoy but his choice was clear. Riddle didn't care about him personally, and Hadrian seemingly does and would care for him as a person and not just name or magic.
Besides, Mother and Father will probably adore him more than they ever would Riddle, they would be very upset if he cut it off with Hadrian. Sirius looked like he had found himself a hero to look up too as well, and Orion wouldn't want to let the little guy down.
A/N: Yeet skeet this is literally almost 11000 words. I'm impressed with myself, but ha, that's besides the point. Did you like the chapter? I didn't switch to many things up, but I'm curious to how people like this chapter.