Lord of time (chapter 41-107)

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True to Hadrian's word, he did indeed invite the others over for a visit, while they were impressed with the manor, they weren't overly awed, which was to be expected since they had grown up in manors of their own, even seeing Hogwarts hadn't been astounding to them, like it had been for Hadrian the first time he saw it at the age of eleven.

"What's it like?" Avery said almost wistfully, "Living on your own and not having anyone to tell you what to do?"

"Aiden never wish for that," Hadrian said seriously, "There will be a time when you will end up having your own place and wishing to hell and back that you had your parents there for you. Yes they can be annoying and demanding but that's just what a parent is, it's what you'll turn into when you have a kid of your own. I lost my parents young, and there's nothing I wouldn't give to have been raised by them, or to remember them."

Aiden groaned, "When I'm old I'm definitely not going to make any kid of mine forced to endure tea parties and balls," a grimace set on his face. He knew how bad it was so he knew for sure he wouldn't do that. It wasn't as if he wanted his parents to be dead or anything, he just wished they weren't so demanding or pushy when it comes to sitting on ceremony all the time.

"I thought all that happened so that people can see how 'refined' you are and see you as a proper pureblood heir and appropriate for whatever family that they will inevitably end up creating a contract with." Hadrian asked blankly, drinking his Butterbeer still staring a little perplexed.

"They do," Tom was the one who answered, "But it's really the coming out party that people really take notice if you don't already have a contract. Abraxas doesn't need to do any of that, he has been betrothed since he was seven years old."

"I actually thought all contracts were made around that age," Hadrian admitted wryly, Lucius Malfoy didn't create a contract for his son, although the Parkinson's had tried to have one drawn up if rumour was to be believed, when that hadn't worked Pancy had tried for years to get into Draco's bed. In the end he had been married to Astoria Greengrass, ironic really, that the Malfoy's had married the Greengrass and Malfoy families together despite the fact the Greengrass' had been neutral during the wars with Voldemort.

"Quite a few still do that actually, mostly during the first instance of accidental magic," Dolohov insisted, reaching over for his own bottle of Butterbeer, twisting the cork off and putting it on the table before taking a long drink. He was really glad to get out of the house for a while. Although to be honest, it was slightly disconcerting, Tom was acting different than normal. He wasn't as impassive like he usually was, if anything he had a smug smirk on his face that had remained there throughout the day.

Hadrian snorted, "Go figure," of course they wouldn't want to risk their kid getting married off to a squib. Although nothing happened if you did decide to ignore the contract, it was just an obligation between families, nothing dramatic like losing ones magic or even suing them, although they actually could do that if they wanted to. If the son or daughter did decide against the contract and refuse to marry they ended up disowned more often than not. It's exactly what had happened to Eileen Prince, she'd married a Muggle and quickly got stricken off despite the fact she was the last heir and the name went defunct just like the Peverell name. "Do any of you have a contract?" Hadrian added genuinely curious, he'd never thought to ask before.

"No," they all said, hints of relief in their tone, it meant that they at least got a say in whom they ended up marrying. Although their fathers did have the last say unless they wanted to end up disowned. Which was the biggest shame in the magical world, only better than being a squib.

"Thank Merlin for that," Thaddeus added ruefully. His father Cantankerus who was older than most of his friends fathers due to the fact he hadn't married when he was younger, instead chose to find someone he cared about, a pureblood though, he was a pureblood supremist, and had raised him that way too. Although Thaddeus didn't believe it as much anymore, Hadrian's book had sort of shook everything he believed to its very foundation and even now he was still trying to find something concrete to believe in.