Hadrian Romanoff and the Beginning

Chapter-12

Hadrian trudged into the Charms classroom. His head was doing a decent job of killing him and his nose was so stopped up that he was pretty sure it was the second coming of the Hoover Dam.

He hadn't even tried going back to his dorm - he had been fine at breakfast and everyone who saw him would assume he was faking it for whatever reason. So he sucked it up and went to class.

History had been in his favor, being just as boring as ever, and he used the glorified nap hour to check his map before getting some much needed rest. A nap that was especially needed after his heart all but stopped when Professor Binns had called him Harry - it had only restarted when he realized that the ghost wasn't calling any of them by their actual names and he had just been one of the lucky ones that at least got a name that stated with the same letter. Poor Daphne had somehow been pegged as a Velma - and no one understood why that made Hadrian laugh so much.

Those poor, poor uncultured souls.

He couldn't wait until the nerds back home figured out how to hook up iTunes to the mirrors. His housemates would only begin to truly live once they heard the Scooby Doo theme song.

Hadrian shook his head before he got too wrapped up in making a list of iconic and or awesome opening themes to subject his fellow magicals to. But mark his words, he would make sure Will Smith's legacy breached the walls of Hogwarts.

"Hey, Hadrian," Neville greeted, jolting Hadrian from his thoughts. He hadn't even noticed that he had taken a seat next to Neville.

"Hey. How's it swinging?"

"What?"

"Nothing. Inside joke. Don't worry, soon we'll have our own and be able to confuse the masses by laughing everytime we hear the world 'mango'."

Neville looked at him oddly for a few seconds but let it go.

"Hey, what time is it?" Hadrian asked even as he rolled up his sleeve to look at his watch. "Flitwick should be here in about two minutes. Did you finish the homework?"

Neville's eyes widened in panic as he frantically searched his dirt caked satchel, breathing a sigh of relief when he found the slightly rumpled essay. He checked it over quickly and other than the usual ink spots that he always managed to end up with it was just fine. He looked up to see Hadrian having pulled out his weird muggle organizer from his own bag.

"What is that?" Neville finally asked. He hadn't before either because they were talking about something else when he saw it or he couldn't gather the nerve to do so.

"A binder. We used them at my old school to hold our notes, homework, classwork, all that." Hadrian explained, opening his binder to show crisp clean paper with his scrawled notes on it and the out of place looking parchment tucked neatly into the pockets. "Helps keep me organized. Odin knows that Uncle Phil would have a coronary if I lost any of my work."

Neville looks forlornly at the disorganized mess in his satchel. His Gran was always getting onto him about being messy and not having everything in its place. She'd probably be overjoyed - or as overjoyed as Augusta Longbottom was capable of - if he kept things together like Hadrian did.

Hadrian nudged him with his shoulder. "Don't look so down, Nev-boy. It's not like you can get one of these in Diagon Alley or Hogsmeade."

Neville looked between his rumpled essay and Hadrian's work, gathering his nerve. "Do you have an extra I could use? I mean, unless Lisa or Terry want to use it. They are Ravenclaws so I guess - "

Hadrian cut the boy off by slapping a hand on his shoulder. "Relax, Nev. I might have an extra somewhere in my trunk, I can look later if you want. And even if Lisa and Terry wanted it you asked first. Besides, I can c- write home and ask for someone to send me the ones I know I have at my house."