Chapter 21: Chapter 20 Dogs and Duels
Notes:
Hello my lovelies, here is another chapter for you all, there should be a regular update tomorrow, but after that I may take longer to update because I am working on a certain arc of the story that I need some extra time figuring out. Please be patient with me!
CatBug!
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
"You're joking."
It was dinnertime. Hadrian had just finished telling his friends what had happened when he'd left the grounds with Professor Snape. Theo had a piece of steak and kidney pie halfway to his mouth, but he'd appeared to have forgotten all about it.
"Seeker?" he said. "But first years never – you must be the youngest house player in about –"
"- a century," said Hadrian, delicately lifting a bite of shepherd's pie into his mouth. He felt particularly hungry after the excitement of the afternoon. "Flint told me."
Blaise was so amazed, so impressed, he just sat and gaped at Harry.
"I start training next week," said Hadrian. "Only don't tell anyone, Snape wants to keep it a secret." They all nod, understanding the severity of the punishment that Hadrian was facing if it got out before it was supposed to.
"Slytherins are good at keeping secrets," Daphne said, looking into Hadrian's eyes. "Your father played too."
"Really?" Hadrian asked. "What position?"
"He was a chaser, I believe," and Hadrian felt a lightness in his chest at another connection to his father.
Meanwhile, further down the Slytherin table, Malfoy was fuming. He had just been told by Professor Snape that he had a week's worth of detention for his 'idiotic stunt on a broom' and for bullying a classmate. He was itching for a fight, and when he saw Hadrian eating his dinner peacefully, he stormed up to the table to taunt him.
"Having your last meal, Potter? When are you getting on the train back to the muggles?" thinking that Hadrian had gotten a harsher punishment because he was not Snape's godson.
Hadrian slowly lowered his fork and knife, crossing his hands as he looked cooly up at Malfoy. "You're a lot braver now that you have both feet on the ground and you have your little friends with you," he said, pointedly looking at where Crabbe and Goyle were flanking him. There, of course, was nothing little about either Crabbe or Goyle, but as the Great Hall was full of teachers, they couldn't do anything more than scowl and crack their knuckles.
"I'd take you on anytime on my own," said Malfoy. "Tonight, if you want. Wizard's duel. Wands only – no contact. What's the matter? Never heard of a wizard's duel before, I suppose?" Hadrian merely shrugged, neither confirming nor denying.
"Crabbe is my second, who is yours?" Malfoy looked around and saw that Ron Weasley had just walked into the Great Hall with Seamus Finnegan and Dean Thomas, and he knew just what to do.
"Hey, Weasley!" Ron waved his friends on and slowly made his way to stand by Malfoy at the end of Slytherin's table, closest to the doors.
"What?" He asked with a sneer on his face.
"I've just challenged Potter to a duel, fancy being his second? Unless you are too much of a coward." Ron's face flushed in righteous fury.
"When and where?" he demanded.
"Trophy room. Midnight." Malfoy smirked, turning back to Hadrian. "Everyone will know if you don't show up," he said threateningly. Hadrian just rolled his eyes and ignored the blond until he and his bookends walked away.
He turned to look at Ron. "Look," says Hadrian. "I don't know you, and despite you glaring at me all of the time, you tried to defend me against Snape over the whole broom situation. Slytherins don't like to owe people, so I will repay you by telling you this: don't go to the duel." Weasley opened his mouth to argue when Hadrian kept talking. "I bet you Malfoy isn't even going to show up, and you are just going to get in trouble. I'm not going, and neither should you."
Looking angry, Ron stormed off to the Gryffindor table where he immediately told everyone what had happened.
Hadrian turned to look at Blaise, Theo, and Daphne. "So, what is a wizard's duel?" he asked casually, and Theo put his head in his hands and groaned.
Daphne took the lead, explaining, "A wizard's duel is something incredibly idiotic, especially given that we are all first years and have barely learned any spells. However, it is just that, a duel between two wizards."
"And what's a second?"
"It is the person there to take over if you die," Blaise said. Hadrian's eyes widened. Catching the look on Hadrian's face, Blaise added quickly, "But people only die in proper duels, you know, with real wizards. The most you and Malfoy would be able to do is send sparks at each other. Neither of you knows enough magic to do any real damage. I bet he expected you to refuse, anyway."
"And what if I had gone and waved my wand and nothing happened?"
"Throw it away and punch him in the nose," Theo suggested, lifting his head from his hands. "Besides, you say that as if that would ever happen anyway. You are one of the most magically powerful people I have ever met, and you don't need a wand to do magic anyway."
Hadrian's expression morphed into one of consideration as he shrugged, picking up his silverware. "Figured it'd be better to know what to do and not need it than find myself in that situation and be helpless. I don't want to reveal my abilities before I have to if I can help it."
"Makes sense," Theo said, and Daphne nodded.
"Excuse me." The four looked up to see a second-year Slytherin.
Can't a person eat in peace in this place? Hadrian wondered as he set his knife and fork back down, turning his attention towards the older Slytherin.
"Yes?" he said, sighing through his nose.
"I couldn't help overhearing what you and Malfoy were saying-"
"Bet you could," Blaise muttered.
"— and you mustn't go wandering around the school at night, think of the points you'll lose Slytherin if you're caught, and you're bound to be. It's really very selfish of you."
"And it's really none of your business," said Hadrian.
"Goodbye," said Theo.
All things considered, it wasn't the perfect end to a perfect day, but it wasn't too bad, Hadrian thought as he and his friends left the hospital wing. They had visited with Neville while Madam Pomfrey finished healing his wrist and strongly recommended that all of them not return to her ward so soon, especially Neville, who had been her most frequent visitor since the start of the year.
As the group of five was making their way to drop Neville off at the Gryffindor common room, they heard Argus Filch making his way down the hallway they had just left.
He was the caretaker of the school and the only person considered worse than Peeves. He owned a cat called Mrs. Norris, a scrawny, dust-colored creature with bulging, lamp-like eyes just like Filch's. She patrolled the corridors alone. Break a rule in front of her, put just one toe out of line, and she'd whisk off for Filch, who'd appear, wheezing, two seconds later. Filch knew the secret passageways of the school better than anyone (except perhaps the Weasley twins) and could pop up as suddenly as any of the ghosts. The students all hated him, and it was the dearest ambition of many to give Mrs. Norris a good kick.
Generally, Hadrian strived to be at least cordial to all custodians and janitorial staff, feeling mutual respect regarding their similar positions when he still resided with the Dursleys, but Filch made himself the exception. Hadrian didn't understand why a person who hated children would choose to work in a school, of all places.
He, like many of the professors, seemed to strongly dislike, if not hate, all Slytherins based on principle, even more than he hated the rest of the school, and for once, Hadrian resented the man for hating him. Not because he was the boy-who-lived and deserved special treatment, but because Hadrian knew what it was like to be looked down on by everyone around you. To be treated like dirt just because of who you are or what you can do. So, when he was cordial to the man and all he got in return was a grunt and a sneer, Hadrian felt his respect for the caretaker dwindle and had taken to avoiding him whenever possible.
"Do you hear them, my sweet? Students out of bed and it's almost curfew," He practically sang. "Be a shame if they didn't make it back in time!"
"Shit!" Theo whispered when they heard the sound of Mrs. Norris getting closer. Taking a chance, the five started running down the hall, making turns randomly, hoping to lose their tail.
"Run!" Hadrian whisper-yelled, and the five of them sprinted down the gallery, not looking back to see whether Filch was following – they swung around the doorpost and galloped down one corridor then another, Hadrian in the lead, without any idea where they were or where they were going – they ripped through a tapestry and found themselves in a hidden passageway, hurtled along it and came out near the Charms classroom, which they knew was miles from where they were before.
"I think we've lost him," Blaise panted, leaning against the cold wall and wiping his forehead. Neville was bent double, wheezing and spluttering, and Daphne had her hand clamped over a stitch in her side. Hadrian and Theo seemed to be the only ones not out of breath, Hadrian having lots of experience running from Dudley and his gang, and Theo because of all of the time he had been putting into learning knife fighting.
"Why is Filch always out to get us?" Neville asked desperately.
"Because most of us are Slytherins?" Theo says.
"Because he hates joy and happiness?" Daphne suggests.
"Because he is looking for any reason to get students in trouble, even if it means holding us until curfew or making up some rule to ensure that we get punished because he has a vendetta against children, Slytherins, and me, most of all?" Hadrian offered, shrugging his shoulders. Neville made a face.
It wasn't going to be that simple for the group, though. They hadn't gone more than a dozen paces when a doorknob rattled, and something came shooting out of a classroom in front of them.
It was Peeves. He caught sight of them and gave a squeal of delight.
"Shut up, Peeves – please – you'll get us thrown out," Daphne pleaded.
Peeves cackled.
"Wandering around right before curfew, Ickle Firsties? Tut, tut, tut. Naughty, naughty, you'll get caughty."
"Not if you don't give us away, Peeves, please," Hadrian said, begging, holding his hands up placatingly, wishing desperately that whatever his magic did last time would kick in and do it again. No such luck.
"Should tell Filch, I should," said Peeves with a saintly voice, but his eyes glittered wickedly. "It's for your own good, you know, almost curfew and out of bed, lost in this big ol' castle."
"Get out of the way," snapped Theo, taking a swipe at Peeves – that was a big mistake.
"STUDENTS OUT OF BED!" Peeves bellowed, "STUDENTS OUT OF BED DOWN THE CHARMS CORRIDOR!"
"Shit! Theo, why did you do that?" Blaise asked as they ducked under Peeves and ran for their lives, right to the end of the corridor where they slammed into a door – and it was locked.
"I panicked!" he hissed back.
"So much for your fighting skills," Daphne muttered, getting a surprised snort out of Neville.
"This is it! We're done for, this is the end!" Blaise wailed. Hadrian rolled his eyes and pushed the Italian boy out of his way.
He waved his hand without using his wand, and the door swung open.
"Did you forget that I taught you how to do this?" Hadrian asked, exasperated as everyone quickly filed into the room, and he re-locked the door. Neville gaped at him in wonder, and Hadrian made a promise to himself to teach Neville later.
"Which way did they go, Peeves?" Filch was saying. "Quick, tell me."
"Say 'please.'"
"Don't mess with me, Peeves, now where did they go?"
"Shan't say nothing if you don't say please," said Peeved in his annoying singsong voice.
"All right – please."
"NOTHING! He haaa! Told you I wouldn't say nothing if you didn't say please! Ha ha! Haaaaaa!" And they heard the sound of Peeves whooshing away and Filch cursing in rage.
Hadrian smirked, pleased that at least Filch was now as frustrated as he was. Filch tried the door, and they all held their breath as the door stayed locked and Filch wandered back down the hall.
"What, Neville?" Hadrian asked slightly annoyed, for Neville had been tugging on the sleeve of his shirt for the last minute.
Hadrian turned around – and saw, quite clearly, what. For a moment, he was sure he'd walked into a nightmare – this was too much, on top of everything that had happened so far.
They weren't in a room, as he had supposed. They were in a corridor. The forbidden corridor on the third floor. And now they knew why it was forbidden.
They were looking straight into the eyes of a monstrous dog, a dog that filled the whole space between the ceiling and the floor. Not only was this dog terrifying because of its size, but it also had three heads. Three pairs of rolling, mad eyes; three noses, twitching and quivering in their direction; three drooling mouths, saliva hanging in slippery ropes from yellowish fangs.
It was standing quite still, all six eyes staring at them, and Hadrian knew that the only reason they weren't already dead was that their sudden appearance had taken it by surprise, but it was quickly getting over that; there was no mistaking what those thunderous growls meant.
Hadrian groped for the doorknob, unlocking it wandlessly – between Filch and death, he'd take Filch.
They fell backward – Hadrian slammed the door shut, locking it with a wave of his hand, and they ran, they almost flew, back down the corridor. Filch must have hurried off to look for them somewhere else because they didn't see him anywhere, but they hardly cared – all they wanted to do was put as much space between them and that monster. They didn't stop running until they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady on the seventh floor.
"And what have you been up to?" She asked, looking at the five panting students.
"Running from Peeves," Hadrian gasped out, not wanting to tell her where they had been. She gained a look of understanding and gave the group a smile. Neville quickly muttered the password and waved them goodbye, promising to talk tomorrow, but that they had better hurry if they wanted to make it back without being caught breaking curfew, it long having passed during their escapade to the third-floor corridor.
Taking a few shortcuts that the Weasley twins had told him about as thanks for assisting with their prank, Hadrian had them approach the entrance to the Slytherin common room in under ten minutes.
What's the password? He racked his brain trying to remember before shrugging. I've wanted to try this for a while anyway. He looked at the blank wall between the two torches that had little snakes carved into the sconces and hissed.
"Open." The wall opened up, and the group walked through the doorway and made their way to the couches in the corner, where no one would overhear them.
"You couldn't just use the password?" Theo asked, making a face at Hadrian, who just shrugged.
"I forgot it. Besides, I've been wanting to see if that works since the first night, and now I know it does." He grinned. "Isn't magic cool?"
Daphne consolingly patted Theo's shoulder as he looked like his mind had imploded.
"The Hadrian Potter effect," Blaise said, throwing his arm around said boy. "He breaks every rule of magic without a thought, and poor Theo here has to wrap his brain around it every time. You may as well just accept that Hadrian doesn't have to obey the rules of magic like we do, you might be happier that way," he told Theo with a bright smile. "I know I am." Theo groaned disparagingly in response, prompting Daphne, Blaise, and Hadrian to burst out into laughter.
Eventually, they calmed down and headed to bed, not knowing that Draco Malfoy had expected them to go out later that night and tipped off Filch about a midnight duel in the trophy room.
Malfoy's reaction when he saw Hadrian the next morning, getting ready to go to breakfast, was almost worth the entire adventure with the three-headed dog alone. Although Hadrian's good mood was dampened when he walked into the Great Hall and saw that Gryffindor had lost a considerable amount of house points, and Ron Weasley was fuming, alone, at the Gryffindor table, having been shunned by his housemates.
He stormed over to Hadrian when he saw him walk into the Great Hall.
"And where were you?" he shouted, drawing everybody's attention.
"I told you I wasn't going, and I told you not to go either. Whatever happened afterward is on you, mate," Hadrian told him, looking at him weirdly. "I'm not sure what you were expecting."
"I was expecting you to be there!" Ron yelled, pointing his finger into Hadrian's chest, who waved off his trio of Slytherins that moved forward when Weasley started to encroach on Hadrian's space.
"Why?" Hadrian asked, genuinely confused. "I told you I wouldn't be there," he repeated.
"But you are supposed to be the hero! To fight battles and save the day," Ron complained, and Hadrian rolled his eyes.
"I'm not some hero, I am eleven. I don't know why everybody expects me to be something I'm not or to fight their battles for them."
"Because you are the Boy-Who-Lived! You defeated You-Know-Who!" Ron was practically screaming at this point, and Professor McGonagall was rushing down from the Head table to intervene.
"Maybe I did – it is more likely that my parents, the adult witch and wizard, did something," Hadrian said pointedly. "Even if that was true, then I did the deed, I finished. I'm done." He made an X with his hands and then swung them out to his sides, and Ron's mouth dropped open in shock. "No more heroics or swooping in like some white knight. I saved the world, and now I am just a student like everybody else."
"It's like I don't even know you," Ron whispered, horrified.
"You don't!" Hadrian yelled. "That is my entire point! Everybody seems to think that because I may or may not have done something a decade ago, that they are suddenly entitled to every part of me, or they act like they already know everything about me. News flash! I was raised in the muggle world by people who hated me. I didn't find out about magic until I got my Hogwarts letter. And I have no intention of catering to strangers' whims and changing who I am because they expected me to be a carbon copy of two people I don't even remember!"
He looked out at the Great Hall where everybody had stopped eating in their shock, many mouths open and eyes wide in surprise. McGonagall was frozen a few feet away from the crowd of students, lips pursed tightly as her face lost all color. "That goes for all of you," he told them. "I don't owe anybody anything. If anything, you all owe me for ending a war I never signed up to fight in. You're welcome!"
Hadrian turned on his heel, showing his back to the school, and stormed out of the hall with his three best friends, whom he could trust to always have his back. Their group was quickly joined by Neville, Hermione, and Dora as they made their way down to the kitchens so Hadrian could eat in peace.
"What are those creatures?" Hermione asked once Hadrian let them into the kitchens, and the group was immediately swarmed by house-elves.
"They are magical creatures called house-elves," Hadrian told her, guiding her over to sit at a table while he explained, not wanting her to get the wrong idea.
"House-elves are magical creatures that have magic different than ours. While our magic is bound to a core, their magic is free. Imagine it as a well versus a river, both are water and have a source, but the source and movement of the water are completely different. Are you with me so far?" Hermione nodded her head as she eyed Hadrian warily.
"Yes," she said slowly. "Where are you going with this?"
"I'll explain," he assured her as the rest of their friends gathered round to hear his explanation. "House-elves have magic that is free-floating and needs an external source to stabilize it. If they don't have that stabilizing source, then they will go mad and then die." Hermione gasped.
"No! That is horrible."
"It is," Hadrian agreed. "It is why they need to bind themselves to something. It can be a person or a business, but they must be bound so that their magic doesn't kill them. They are actually cousins of the brownies, so in exchange for the bond, house-elves often clean or cook. Of course, some elves develop specialties like gardening or baking, but as a species, general cleaning and protection is what they offer and contribute to the bond."
"So, they aren't slaves?" Hermione asked, starting to calm down internally from getting fired up, hearing how they were bound to people. Hadrian shook his head.
"No. They are bound in service, which can sound like slavery at first, but the differences are that house-elves can leave if they no longer like who they are serving or protecting, and that they quite literally need the bond to keep their magic stable." He spoke softly, "Without it, they perish. Just like we aren't slaves because we need to work for money to live, elves aren't slaves because they work to keep their magic stable either."
Hermione frowned. "How can they leave if they no longer like who they are bound to? I doubt they would be able to just leave a bad bond," she said, getting a deep frown on her face when Hadrian started to laugh. "It's not funny! We are talking about their lives and safety here!"
Hadrian held up his hands to ward her off. "That isn't why I'm laughing, I promise. I just asked Lippy, the very first house-elf I ever met, the exact same question. Lippy works as a house-elf bonded to a business, and she took care of me when I had temporarily stayed at the Silver Lantern Inn." Hadrian smiled fondly, thinking of his elf friend.
"She is the one who told me that being bonded is important to their health, and in exchange, they do the cleaning and protect their masters. It is because of her that I know that elves live a very long time, so many don't serve just one master but generations of masters in a family if they don't want to leave. The way that a house-elf is freed is if their master gives them clothes, and it is very insulting to offer a house-elf clothes if they are being treated well," he warned Hermione. "It is considered a grave offense."
When he saw that Hermione looked confused, he elaborated. "Imagine if you had a home and a job that you loved, and one day your boss decided to not only fire you but to kick you out of your house at the same time, just because they simply didn't want you around anymore." Hermione's face crumpled, and she looked devastated. Hadrian gently rested a hand on her shoulder and squeezed.
"Lippy assured me that even though they might require a bond to stabilize their magic, house-elves are very powerful and that there are many ways to get clothes if they truly want to be free." Hadrian shrugged. "Sometimes they go to other wizards and get help in exchange for something if they are bound to a bad master or business, often in exchange for a new bond, but never make the mistake of thinking that elves are helpless or weak. They are some of the most magically powerful creatures in magical Britain, if not the world." Many house-elves in the kitchen who had paused their work to listen to a wizard attempt to explain their magic and abilities, nodded their heads in approval.
"He be right," Mimzy said, startling Hermione, Blaise, and Theo when she appeared suddenly, dropping off plates of food for the guests in the kitchen.
"Hello, Mimzy," Hadrian greeted with a smile. "How are you doing today?"
Mimzy blushed and let out a squeak that Hermione and Daphne found adorable. "I be well, Mr. Hadrian. Is the breakfast to you's and you's friends liking?" Hadrian glanced at the spread of food she had delivered.
"It all looks wonderful Mimzy, thank you," he told her, and his friends all agreed, praising the elf for her hard work.
"Thank you for explaining, Hadrian, but do you mind if I ask Mimzy a few questions?" Hermione asked.
"Not at all, in fact, I would have encouraged it if you hadn't suggested it yourself. As long as it is okay with Mimzy," he said, looking to the elf who was practically bouncing in place with how excited she was. Mimzy guided the young witch away to another area in the kitchen to give them some privacy while Hadrian turned back to his friends.
"That was really interesting, Hadrian," Daphne said. "I have grown up with house-elves, and I had no idea that their magic was so different from ours."
Theo dipped his head in agreement. "It is cool to learn more about them. I knew that they had strong magic and that we shouldn't take them for granted because they had their own ways of freeing themselves if they wanted to, but not that they were some of the most powerful creatures in magical Britain."
By the time Hermione returned to the table, most of the food was gone, although they had saved her a plate, and they had moved on to discuss what they had found in the third-floor corridor, telling Dora about what happened yesterday evening after they collected Neville from the hospital wing.
"Thank you for telling me, and for having me talk to Mimzy," Hermione whispered to Hadrian as Blaise re-enacted them turning around to see a large three-headed dog in the same room with them, Dora laughing all the while.
"It's not a problem. I knew that you would feel strongly for them, like I did, and want them to have good working conditions. And I think it is great that you care so much for others, but without the information you need to know, you would have just offended them. And offended elves can be vicious and petty, and dealing with pissed-off elves is no way to spend your Hogwarts years," he whispered back, shooting her a wink when she smiled, before listening to Blaise's story.
"That is not what happened at all!" Hadrian denied, shaking his head as he told Dora what really happened with the Cerberus.
Notes:
Draco in bed thinking: They are going to look so stupid tomorrow when they lose a bunch of house points and get detention for being out after curfew. *Snickers evilly*
Sits up in a cold sweat: Shit! We are in the same house! If they lose house points that means *I* lose house points.
Meanwhile, Harry, Blaise, and Theo are sleeping across the hall in their own beds blissfully unaware.