Chapter Text
“Hadrian James Potter,” the old woman in front of him had a stern expression on her ghastly, wrinkled face. As she looked up, her crescent-shaped glasses slipped off the bridge of her nose, almost losing the grip completely.
“I assume you know the reason why you’re here?” She folded her arms over the bordeaux cashmere jumper she was wearing and nudged her head into the direction of the leathered armchair in front of her desk.
Hadrian sat down slowly but steadily and squinted his bright, emerald-green eyes for a small moment. It was gone in an instant that it took the utter attention of someone to notice the slight change in his composure.
“I apologise, headmistress,” the raven-haired boy leaned back with confidence, “Unfortunately , I do not know the reason behind your need to speak to me in private.” He offered her one of his infamous, charming smiles.
The headmistress regarded it with distaste. It was on the verge of being inappropriate, regarding the reason she summoned the Potter heir to her office.
“I’m disappointed to see that you’re lying to me,” she sighed and handed him several folders. “But I can’t say that I’m surprised about it.” One by one, the table was filled with folders of different colours.
Hadrian regarded the folders, there were about a dozen spread across the table. The majority were yellow and orange, while about four were red. The well dressed boy merely raised an unimpressed eyebrow and locked eyes with the headmistress.
“Am I supposed to know what these are about?” He crossed his arms.
The headmistress pursed her lips. “These are files about all the students that you’ve caused serious harm to.”
Hadrian snorted. “ ‘Students that I’ve harmed’ ?”
“Yes, students that you’ve been bullying to the point that some of them decided to end their lives.” Her eyes flickered to the red files.
Hadrian tilted his head to the side and followed her gaze with cold eyes. “Hm,” he sat forward and picked up a red file. The headmistress watched his every move while he opened the file, trying to find a glimpse of remorse. She tried in vain.
“ ‘Noah Fernsby’ ? Can’t recall hearing that name.” Nonchalance. That’s all the headmistress was hearing.
Hadrian’s eyes skipped across the page and stopped at the section called ‘CAUSE’. Group Suicide. Hadrian let out a laugh. Even too scared to make a decision on his own. As expected.
“Mr. Potter,” the headmistress looked taken aback at the lack of neither remorse, nor a sense of responsibility for his actions and the consequences that come along with them. “I find it extremely inappropriate the way you are behaving right now. Four people took their own lives last night as a result of your bullying. In addition, there are the eight other students who have to suffer from minor to serious bodily harm due to your violence.” The headmistress gasped incredulously. “Not to mention that these are only the known cases of school violence. I am sure that there are more who are just too afraid to speak up about your bullying, Mr. Potter."
Hadrian had opened the rest of the red files while he distantly listened to the headmistress. Duke Abrams, Olivia Bagshaw and Freya Williams were the three other students who had participated in the group suicide along with Noah Fernsby. Hadrian skimmed across the other three files and concluded that they all had died by jumping off the school building. “How uncreative,” Hadrian snarled unimpressed as he closed the fourth file.
“Excuse me?”
Hadrian resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “I said ‘how uncreative’, headmistress,” his green eyes shined brightly as he grinned. “Do you want to hear it another time?” He tilted his head and a black curl fell over his eyes, out of his perfect coiffed hair.
“Mr. Potter!" The headmistress raised her voice and slammed her hand on the desk. “I strongly advise you to refrain from using such crude and disrespectful language if you don’t want to get into more trouble than you already are!”
Hadrian raised his hands in a mocking manner. “Of course, headmistress. I sincerely apologise.” He picked up the yellow and orange files and memorised the students’ names and faces. Hadrian never cared to remember those he decided to play with. Why would he? They were beneath him. Now, however, it was time to remember those who decided to rat him out to the headmistress.
The headmistress watched him analysing the files. He looked like the heir every pureblood would want as their son. Handsome, perfectly dressed all the time and incredibly intelligent. But the sun had its shadow. In Hadrian’s case, the shadow was way bigger and prominent than the sun. However, many were too blinded by the light to notice the shadow that hid itself way too well. That was the problem with Hadrian. When you first get to know him, he seems like a gentleman that wouldn’t hurt a fly. But his manipulative strategies and cruelty doesn’t stay hidden for long.
She took a deep breath before starting to speak again. Calm yourself, Margaret. “I assume you know that this will have severe consequences for you, including your suspension from Ilvermorny?”
Hadrian leaned back again and crossed his legs. “Which consequences apart from the suspension are we talking about?” Hadrian had a few guesses but wasn’t too concerned. After all, his father was the head of the Auror Office and believed every word he told him, even if it was his word against hundreds.
Way too naive.
“The involvement of the ministry.”
Hadrian’s grin spread across his lips once again. A terrifying sign to look at his perfect white teeth. “Headmistress,” he almost purred, “do you honestly think that my father will believe you?” He laughed coldly. “You,” he pointed his wand at her, “over me?”
“Mr, Potter-!”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Margaret. We all know that the American Ministry relies on the British one.” Hadrian scratched his head with his bone-like wand. “And who is the head of the Auror Office in Britain?” Hadrian didn’t let her answer, nor did he expect her to. “Right, my father. And blood,” Hadrian stood up, “is thicker than water.” He spoke as if speaking to a toddler and folded his hands behind his back. The raven-haired boy smiled at the headmistress for the last time. His smile, however, didn’t reach his eyes. It looked out of place, the headmistress concluded.
“I’ll be gone after breakfast tomorrow.” Without another word, Hadrian turned around and left the headmistress’ office. Leaving behind a distraught and disbelieving woman. She laughed out. Laughed at the absurdity of the situation. At a eighteen-year-old boy who was the most cruel person she had ever met in her life. At the realisation why the boy had been so shameless all the years. At the harm the Potter heir had caused her students. At his indifference.
She will still try to fight for the victims’ justice. Even if it takes her everything that she’s got.
As soon as Hadrian left the headmistress’ office, his smile dropped. His jaw clenched and his fist balled as he remembered the students who decided to tell on him.
He snorted. Maybe he wasn’t clear enough in his orders. Maybe he was too lenient on them.
It was still early in the morning, 7:15 am to be exact. Breakfast had just started and he still had a whole day before leaving Ilvermorny. Enough time to talk to each and one of them for the last time.
The further Hadrian got away from the headmistress’ office, the more crowded the corridors became. Students that spotted him attempted to avoid him at all costs. It was an unspoken rule amongst the Ilvermorny students. ‘Do not cross paths with Hadrian James Potter, do not make eye contact with Hadrian James Potter and most importantly, do not upset Hadrian James Potter in any way’. Those who did not follow these rules had to deal with the consequences. It was almost impossible to not know about the unfortunate souls who crossed paths with Hadrian James Potter in a bad way. But no one dared to step in when Hadrian was playing with them, as he called it. Stepping in is equivalent to a death sentence that you have imposed on yourself. No one dared to. They were helpless against him.
“Hadrian!” A masculine voice yelled.
“Where were you?”
“You were gone this morning.” Two feminine voices called out.
Draven Draxler, Odelia Laurier and Alora Quinnell. They were the only exceptions, in the eyes of the pupils. Hadrian and them were the ‘partners in crime’ or the ‘devil’s group’, as the students tended to call them. What bonded them was their cruelty and tendency for violence. And where was a better place than a school to do exactly that? A place that was filled with hundreds of defenceless people who wouldn’t dare to stop any of the powerful heirs at their doings.
Hadrian stopped his stride and turned around. There he spotted short, wavy brown hair and two heads with blond and black, straight long hair. “Let’s go to breakfast first,” he gritted out before any of them could say anything else, still agitated by his conversation with the headmistress.
“But-,” Draven tried but was stopped by a strong grip of Hadrian’s hand in his hair. He hissed out in pain and was forced to look up at the slightly taller green-eyed boy in front of him. Hadrian was staring at him with cold eyes.
“What did I just tell you, hm?” Hadrian spoke in a soothing manner and tightened his grip. Draven felt the burn of his scalp and his eyes involuntarily filled with tears. The pain was too much to bear.
“Use your words,” Hadrian hissed out and yanked Draven’s head to the side, causing the brown-haired boy to lose balance and fall onto the cold floor beneath him.
Hadrian looked at the sign in front of him. A pathetic sign. Why do people not listen to what he’s saying? If they’d just listen, they wouldn’t have to experience the consequences that they’re well aware of.
With a sigh, Hadrian crouched down to Draven. The said boy flinched as Hadrian cupped his cheek and stared at him. “You know I hate to do this to you, right?” Hadrian’s expression didn’t change a bit when he said it. It was still as expressionless as before.
“Y-yes,” Draven hesitated. He didn’t know if he said the right thing or if he had just dug his own grave deeper.
Apparently he didn’t, as Hadrian smiled at him. It wasn’t soothing at all, but was a good sign for Hadrian.
“Then why do you still disobey my orders, hm?”
“I promise I won’t-“
Hadrian snarled and let go of his cheek. “You know that I’m lenient on you because I tolerate your presence. But if you keep on acting that way, it’ll have consequences for you.” He stood up again and didn’t offer a hand to help Draven up. He didn’t expect Hadrian to do so anyway.
Odelia rushed to help Draven up while Alora watched from a distance. They knew better than to speak to Hadrian after what had just happened.
“Everything alright?” Odelia whispered to Draven who clenched his jaw.
“Yes,” Draven pushed her hands away, “don’t be ridiculous, Odelia.” He hissed and rolled his shoulders as he stood up.
“What are you guys looking at?” He nudged his head into the direction of students who watched the whole scene unfold in annoyance. Some of them looked away in an instant but one didn’t. At that, Draven grinned maliciously and slowly approached the girl who seemed to be a year below him.
“Feeling brave, hm?” He looked down at the girl whose face colour seemed to drain in a second.
“N-no! That wasn’t my intention, please don’t-,” a slap interrupted her. It echoed through the corridor and left a bright, red hand mark on her cheek. Tears rolled down her eyes as she cupped her stinging cheek.
Students who saw and heard the commotion ignored it and didn’t look in their direction. If it was just Draven who was harassing the poor girl, maybe they would. But there were still Odelia and Alora present who didn’t hesitate to do the exact same to people who they believed ‘looked at Draven the wrong way’.
“Lies, lies, lies,” Draven stood still and collected in front of her. He was like a demon from the depths of hell, void of any empathy and compassion who fuelled himself from the agony of others. He was a monster.
“Pathetic excuses,” Draven got even closer and his eyes glowed in cruel glee at seeing her being terrified. “Excuses should be punished, don’t you think so?”
But before the petrified girl could even dare to answer, a kick into her stomach vanished the air in her lungs. She groaned and crouched over at the excruciating pain and as a result, Draven yanked her hair head up, forcing her to look up at him standing over her. The younger girl’s face was messy and plastered with tears and snot. Draven grimaced at the sign.
“Merlin, so unpleasant to look at,” the brown-haired boy clicked his tongue in disgust, “why don’t we give others a good reason to look at you?” He hums and whipped his head around to look at Odelia and Arola who watched the scene with boredom, leaning casually against the opposite wall.
“Look out for professors, alright,” the girls mockingly saluted and grinned.
“Of course,” Arola snickered and crossed her arms over her chest. “Hurry up, Hadrian is waiting for us and this is getting boring,” she clicked her tongue and looked down at her perfectly manicured nails.
Draven scoffed and turned around to the girl in front of him. He tilted his head to the side as he regarded her eyes avoiding his. Pathetic.
He balled his hands into a fist and as the first punch landed onto her nose, he heard a crunch. His eyes darkened and his face became stoic at the sound of it.
The girl groaned in pain and tears streamed down her face.
“Stop crying or I’ll give you a worse beating,” Draven growled under his breath, agitated by her crying. His threat seemed to work as the girl tried her best to stop the tears from streaming down her face.
At that, Draven let loose and landed punch after punch onto the poor girl’s face. Pale skin became bruised, wounded and bloodied. Her friend could only hear the dozens of punches landing in silence, too terrified to stop the Draxler heir at his doings, too terrified to even look into their direction.
Draven watched as the girl seemed to lose consciousness and huffed. It was just getting fun.With annoyance, he let go of her and she fell onto the hard ground like a puppet, unconscious and beaten up.
“Well,” he rubbed his bloodied hand against his trousers, trying to get rid of the blood that started to dry on his hands. “Let’s go to breakfast,” he gave the girls a smile to which Odelia rolled her eyes and Alora grinned.
“Come on now, we don’t want Hadrian to get agitated again,” Odelia urged them to walk at a faster pace. Draven shook his head in amusement at her behaviour while Alora rolled her eyes.
“Are you his bitch or what?” Alora scoffed. Odelia stopped abruptly and turned around. “What did you just say?” Odelia hissed and stepped closer to Alora. But before she could do anything, Dravene got in between the both girls.
“Girls, girls,” he grinned in amusement, “now is not the right time to fight. Remember, Draven is waiting for us and we all know how much he hates to wait for people,” he sternly looked at both of them.
Odelia pursed her lips and huffed. “Right, let’s keep going.” She gave Alora one last stare before turning around and walking ahead of them.
Alora just snickered at that and tilted her head to the side. “It’s just funny to see her get so agitated over my words, isn’t it?” The blonde haired girl grinned and looked at Draven.
“Don’t just stand there, let’s go to breakfast.” Draven didn’t answer her and catched up with Odelia. In response, Alora rolled her eyes and walked to breakfast in a confident stride. She wouldn’t run for anyone or anything. That was for sure.
Hadrian filled his plate with fruits and bread. Around him, there were several chairs left unaccompanied as no one wanted to be too close to the Potter heir. The breakfast hall was almost completely full and hundreds of voices blended together. Hadrian hated it. He hated their chatter and noises. He hated the way that they laughed at anything.
Leaning back in his chair, his eyes flickered across the hall. As he made eye contact with a golden-haired boy, he furrowed his eyebrows. Certainly, it was one of his ‘victims’, as the headmistress called them. The said boy paled in an instant and looked away from the green-eyed devil.
Hadrian grinned to himself. He will get his punishment soon enough. All the professors were already seated at the head table and whispered furiously. Hadrian had already expected a speech to be held this morning and regarding the professor’s restlessness, they were about to hold one. He tilted his head in curiosity. How do they plan on telling the students that four had just ended their lives a few hours ago? Will they tell them that these poor students were ‘harassed’ and ‘bullied’ by him? Not that Hadrian thought they needed to mention that as everyone in the school knew about his doings.
Hadrian wondered if they were going to talk about his suspension. About him leaving the school. He tilted his head. Thinking. Should he tell Odelia, Alora and Draven about it before the speech?
The breakfast hall’s doors suddenly barged open and Odelia, Draven and Alora strut into the hall. He regarded them. Were they friends? No, they weren’t. They were people he tolerated to be around. People who didn’t whine about everything. So why bother to tell them about it if the headmistress was about to anyway?
Draven sat down to his left while Odelia and Alora sat down in front of him. “What’s up with the teachers? They look like someone’s been murdered,” Alora snickered and turned to Hadrian. “Well, where were you this morning? You were nowhere to be found.” Alora stared at him with her big, blue eyes. She had a maniacal glint to them that made many tremble. But not Hadrian.
“Funny how your assumption is so accurate,” Hadrian replied lazily and bit into a piece of bread.
Odelia furrowed her eyebrows. “What do you mean?”
“Someone has died?” Draven’s eyes got bigger as he turned his upper body to Hadrian. “Who died?”
Hadrian looked at the three of them. “The reason why I wasn’t found this morning was because the headmistress summoned me to her office,” he placed the bread onto his plate filled with fruits and pomegranate. “Apparently four students have committed a group suicide last night,” green eyes scanned their reactions. Alora and Odelia looked shocked for a moment but then furrowed their eyebrows. Draven however looked excited about the information.
“So you were summoned because-?” Draven started but Hadrian interrupted.
“I was summoned because Noah Fernsby, Duke Abrams, Olivia Bagshaw and Freya Williams were students that I have ‘bullied’,” he scoffed and popped a grape into his mouth. “And guess how they died? They jumped off the school’s building,” Hadrian laughed out. “There are better ways to end one's life, not such a pathetic one,” he clicked his tongue and opened the pomegranate. It was messy and the juice splattered over his whole plate and hands. Hadrian, however, didn’t bother. It was normal for the pomegranate to get messy and Hadrian enjoyed watching the fruit, which appears to be tidy and neat on the outside, get so chaotic and messy on the inside.
“What does that mean for you, then?” Draven asked, voice with less excitement there was before.
Brown eyes collided with green ones and Hadrian saw a glimpse of worry in them. He grinned.
“Are you worried about me, Draven?” He tilted his head to the side and a curl fell over his eyes once again. Draven’s eyes flickered to the curl before pursing his lips.
“No, of course not. Why would I be?” He crossed his arms over his chest and looked away from Hadrian.
“Well,” the raven-haired boy was amused that Draven would even consider being worried about him,”I think you’ll find out soon enough.” Hadrian watched as the headmistress stood up. Soon after, the breakfast hall got quiet.
“Good morning dear students,” her eyes roamed the breakfast hall and as she saw Hadrian, they became cold. Hadrian grinned at her in amusement.
“Samhain is almost upon us and we are all looking forward to seeing our family again and they are looking forward to seeing you too. Unfortunately, not all families can share in this joy. Last night, sadly, four of our students took their own lives: Noah Fernsby, Duke Abrams, Olivia Bagshaw and Freya Williams.” Whispers broke out and glances were thrown his way. Everyone knew of the Potter heir’s tendency to go after them. Hadrian ignored them.
“We lost brilliant students who had bright futures ahead of them. Students who were kind to everyone, but their suffering had gotten the upper hand. Because of this, the professors of Ilvermorny have sat down with Aurors and have come to the decision,” the headmistress folded her hands behind her back and looked into the faces of her shocked and perplexed students, “that the person responsible will be suspended from the school from tomorrow on.” The students began to whisper furiously again and Odelia, Alora and Draven stared at him with wide eyes.
“You’re leaving tomorrow?!” Draven practically yelled at the green-eyed boy and looked visibly upset. “Why didn’t- no, you can’t leave! You can’t, Hadrian!” He rested his hands on Hadrian’s shoulder and manically muttered under his breath.
“Draven,” Hadrian was calm and collected, “calm down.” He took the boy’s hands off his shoulders and held them for a moment. Otherwise the agitated boy in front of him would cause even a worse scene.
“How am I supposed to be calm when-“
“It is not the end of the world, alright?” Hadrian stared at Draven and analysed his facial expressions. It was a weird and uncomfortable feeling to know that someone is upset for you. That someone cares for you. He clicked his tongue. So many pathetic feelings.
“It is for me!” Draven had his eyes blown open wide. “You know what, I’m going to get a suspension too! I’ll come with you, Hadrian. I’m going to beat up someone until they don’t breathe anymore, yeah, that’s what I’m going to do-,”
“No, Draven,” Hadrian interrupted his rambling and took his face into his hands. Odelia and Alora watched as the raven-haired boy touched someone without the intention of harming them for the first time.
“What is-,” Alora tried but was quickly stopped.
“Shut up and watch,” Odelia whispered harshly and stared at Hadrian and Draven.
Draven watched with wide, confused eyes as Hadrian softly held his face. For the first time, he wasn’t terrified of looking into Avada Kedavra green eyes, but rather welcomed it. He took the chance to study Hadrian features: An angel-like face, looking like someone carved a greek god out of marble, aristocratic features that purebloods would die for, smooth, tanned skin without a flaw in sight and black, smooth curls that one would want to run their hand through.
He watched as a grin formed on Hadrian’s soft, pinkish lips. Fuck, he forgot that Hadrian was a natural at legilimency.
“Thank you, Draven.” He smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. It seemed out of place, uncanny almost.
“I didn’t know you were praising my features to such an extent,” he grinned like a cherished cat and stared at the slight redness that was forming on Draven’s cheeks. It was the first time that he saw any sign of embarrassment from the brown haired boy, to which he tilted his head.
Draven must be really losing it right now.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Draven flush deepened as he freed his face out of Hadrian’s grip.
Hadrian’s eyes followed his movements with a sharp glint, their emerald depths reflecting the candle’s flame at the center of the table.
“Don’t avoid the main problem, Hadrian,” Draven collected himself and bit his bottom lip nervously.
“Yes,” Odelia spoke, to which Hadrian turned away from Draven, looking at the black-haired girl. “What are we supposed to do about your suspension?” She looked overwhelmed.
“And what are we supposed to do about Draven absolutely embarrassing himself, hm?” Alora teasingly grinned to which Draven threw his crumpled napkin at the blonde girl. “Hey!”
Hadrian pointedly ignored Alora’s comment and tilted his head a bit. “There’s nothing we can do about it.”
Alora didn’t let that slide. “But we’ve got to do something! They can’t suspend you! Do they have actual proof? Pictures of you beating them up? We made sure that no professors were in sign when you were playing with them!” Her hair became more dishevelled with every word and Draven seemed to share her concern.
“She’s right. They can’t possibly have any legitimate proof against you! Just witness statements that can’t be trusted to use as a source for such an important decision. Such as a suspension from Ilvermorny!”
Hadrian sighed at that. “You guys know that the headmistress hates my guts,” he glanced towards the headmistress who had taken her seat again. One day he will kill that bitch. “She will get what she wants; my suspension.” He started to eat the pomegranate. “I’ll be fine. My father will probably get me enrolled at Hogwarts.”
Alora looked at him incredulously. “You mean the Hogwarts that is located in the Scottish highlands and where the Ministry is run by a Dark Lord who recruits students to work for him in his army?!” She huffed in disbelief.
Hadrian slowly turned his head into her direction. “Yes, exactly that Hogwarts.” He squinted his eyes a bit. She had every right to be shocked. If it were for Hadrian, he’d probably go to Drumstrang or Mahoutokoro. But he knew for a fact that his father would enroll him at Hogwarts so that he’d be closer to him.
The reason why he attended Ilvermorny was because of the Minister of Magic: The Dark Lord Voldemort. During the Wizarding War, the Dark Lord had murdered his mother and many other aurors who fought against him, including Albus Dumbledore, the beacon of the light side. After Dumbledore’s death, the war was practically over and the dark side had formed the new Ministry. As the Dark Lord Voldemort became Minister, things had drastically changed for the wizarding world in Britain. Dark magic was legalised, creatures such as vampires, werewolves and veelas were allowed to live normally like any other wizard and dark magic has been taught at Hogwarts ever since. But there were not only good aspects to the change of the system.
Muggleborns and non-purebloods have been viciously discriminated and wizards who caused them harm, even murdered them, did not face many, to none, consequences. Hadrian didn’t particularly care about that part of the system and generally liked the way that politics work in Britain. At Ilvermorny, dark magic wasn’t taught, as the Ministry had forbidden the use of it completely. To speak frankly, Hadrian saw his suspension as an opportunity to improve his magic and finally be able to learn more about it.
Suddenly, the headmistress stood up again.
I thought she finished her speech.
“As it seems that the shock of the news has worn off a bit, I can now come with some good news.” Students sat up at that and looked at the headmistress with interest.
“The Triwizard Tournament is taking place this year. Students will be selected through a testing process to come along and compete in the tournament. Hogwarts will be the host for the tournament and will host us for a full school year.” Hadrian raised his eyebrows and snorted.
“Guess I’ll be seeing you guys again sooner than we thought,” Hadrian whispered with a grin.
“Why are you so sure that we will participate?” Odelia tilted her head and was met with green eyes that said ‘Don’t try to lie to me now, we all know that you guys love attention’.
“We will participate!” Draven spoke for all of them eagerly with a vicious grin. “We’ll destroy them.” He looked over to Hadrian who was already staring at him.
Yes, they will.
“Ilvermorny, Beauxbatons, Durmstrang, Mahoutokoro and Uagadou will take part. The winner of the tournament does not only win money, but also gets the chance to gain political prestige.” The four students looked at each other knowingly. The ‘political prestige’ the headmistress was talking about was being recruited into the Death Eater army. If that was actually something prestigious depended on the person’s point of view, Hadrian guessed.
“The selection for the students who can come along will begin next week. There are 15 students in total that will attend the tournament, only one of each school who will participate and represent the whole school. More information will come later in the week and now, eat before classes start.” She sat down graciously and didn’t look in Hadrian’s direction again. Hadrian hummed and turned to the others again who looked thrilled by the news, especially Draven.
“Well,” Alora clapped her hands, “I already know that this year will be really interesting.” She grinned while tucking her blonde hair behind her ear.
Yes, certainly interesting.