A True Riddle

Chapter 5 - Class

It was hard for Hadrian to tear himself away from Draco in the morning. If it could even be called that, it was so early it could be considered late. But he managed to convince himself to slip out of Draco's bed, much to a sleepy, half-awake, Draco's annoyance. And he managed to bribe himself to leave by promising himself that he could see Draco later.

It was harder than Hadrian expected to see Ron lying in his bed, so unsuspecting, it would be easy to kill him, two words, one action, and the second biggest liar in his life would be gone. Just like that. But his plans would be ruined, and he refuses to let this weasel be the cause of his plans collapsing. With his mind made up Hadrian takes the place of the illusion on his bed, and goes to sleep for the few hours to daybreak.

It was even harder to wake up the next morning to see Ron's, disappointingly alive, face being so cheerful and so friendly. As if it all isn't an act. Yet somehow Hadrian manages to get up, get dressed and act at least slightly friendly. And if he was a bit subdued, Ron, like the 'amazing' friend he is, didn't seem to notice. When Hadrian and Ron went downstairs they see Hermione sitting at one of the tables, reading a book and comparing it to a sheet of paper, presumably her homework.

"Hey 'Mione." Ron says sitting next to her.

"Hey Ron, Hi Harry." She replies without looking up.

"Hi." Hadrian hesitates a second before sitting down. Her name wasn't on the list that was being paid out of his account, but that didn't mean that she hadn't been paid at all.

"You good?" She asks him.

"Yep." Hadrian nods, "Can we go to breakfast now?"

"I suppose." She looks over her work once more.

"Hey, Hermione, I don't suppose you could lend me your homework, to help me finish mine?" Ron asks.

"Have you even started it?" Hermione sighs when Ron shakes his head, "Of course not. Okay, I'll help you with it, but you can't have mine."

"Thank you." Ron looks satisfied.

"Do you need help as well Harry?" She looks at Hadrian.

"Actually Hermione, I think I'm fine." He says, he can just ask Draco what they did in class later, and use it as an excuse to spend time with him.

"You sure?" She asks, looking at him, surprised.

"Yep. Now...breakfast?"

"Okay, just let me put this in my room." Hermione runs up the stairs to her dorm leaving Hadrian and Ron alone. Which was awkward for Hadrian, for obvious reasons, but not so much for Ron, because he still thought Hadrian didn't know his secret.

"Ready to go." Hermione calls as she appears, breaking the one sided tenseness.

"Great." Hadrian stands up and leads the way out of Gryffindor's common rooms.

Hadrian's friends chatter around him at breakfast, but he mainly ignores them. Every now and then one of them will try to involve him, but he just gives one word answers, eventually they get the hint and leave him alone.

"Who are you waiting for?" Hermione leans towards Hadrian as she whispers to him, making sure no one else hears.

"No one." Hadrian exclaims defensively, dragging his gaze away from the entrance to the grand hall, which he had been staring at intensely almost the whole time through breakfast.

"Sure. And the fact that your fork has been hovering in the air for the past two minutes is intentional, so is having half your food fall off in the past few forkfuls." She says knowingly.

"I was just thinking." Hadrian claims, lowering his fork.

"About what?"

"Things." Hadrian replies mysteriously.

"If you say so." Hermione sighs, turning back to her breakfast. Then, finally, Draco walks through the door, he's surrounded by Blaise, Pansy, Crabbe and Goyle, so in other words, his friends, probably true friends. A pang of sadness and envy goes through Hadrian at the thought, what would it be like to have true friends? He supposes Hermione is his true friend, there is no record of Dumbledore paying her out of his account, and she does actually seem to care about him. His eyes track Draco across the hall to the Slytherin table and he notices that Draco seems slightly less put together then normal, his hair is slightly messier, his tie slightly looser. When Draco sits he finally meets Hadrian's gaze, a small, secret, smile spreads across Draco's face and an answering one appears on Hadrian's.

"Cute things." Hermione whispers, following Hadrian's gaze, "If not slightly messy. I wonder who did that?"

"Ack. What are you talking about?" Hadrian quickly turns to face Hermione.

"Oh nothing." Hermione laughs before turning to immerse herself into the conversation happening around them.

The rest of the day passess in a blur until it's finally time for Potions, the one lesson that Hadrian shares with Draco.

"Today we will be brewing a potion that many of you do not need, but nonetheless is required for you to know for your O.W.Ls. It is the Befuddlement Draught." Snape faces the assembled kids, "This potion causes the drinker to become reckless, which is the last thing we need with a class of Gryffindors, so to ensure that you both brew it properly, and don't accidentally consume any, you will be working in pairs consisting of a Slytherin and a Gryffindor. So quickly, quickly, pair up." He claps his hands, and as if a spell has been cast the students turn to face each other and reluctantly pair up.

"Potter, since you will no doubt make a larger mess of this than your classmates, go with Draco so he can prevent you from messing it up too much." Snape calls to Hadrian, who happily moves to sit next to Draco, silently thanking his father for the excuse.

"The recipe is on page 73, and I've written it on the board if you don't have a book." Snape glares at the class, "Get to work."

"How are you?" Draco asks Hadrian the second the chatter around them is loud enough to drown out their conversation.

"Fine I guess, it's hard to pretend to still be that weasel's friend, but I'll manage." Hadrian glares at Ron, who is working with Pansy.

"I know." Draco says comfortingly, "But soon we'll get our revenge."

"Yep. Now, what's first?"

Draco laughs, "Here, slice the scurvy grass into fine shreds." He gives Hadrian the grass, "I'll put the cauldron on then cut the lovelace.

"Sure." Hadrian takes the grass and starts working happily next to his mate.

A/N: I'm just going to stop there cause I don't know what to do next for this chapter. Song is Happy Face by Jagwar Twin because the chapter starts with Hadrian pretending to put up with Ron.