Hadrian Romanoff and the Beginning

Chapter 25

Hadrian barely noticed how fast the summer raced by.

The first week after he got home was spent being forced by Agent Uncle and his mom to write out a detailed report on his time at Hogwarts - he had to redo the whole thing because he misspelled 'transfiguration' one time in the whole thing.

Thankfully after he finished it and was brought up to speed on what they had been doing from their side he had been set free.

Only to immediately be captured by Pepper, Bruce and Remus and made to study for his non-magical exams as well as the magical exams on subjects Hogwarts didn't comfort. He was pretty sure that the whole of Ravenclaw didn't spend as much of their summer doing schoolwork.

"Stop pouting, Hadrian, we're almost finished," Bruce admonished.

"Of course, once we're done with this you have to go take the aptitude test to be considered for a Mentor," Remus added with a grin.

Hadrian groaned and let his head drop on the table. Pepper just reached over, lifted his head up by his hair and slid his notebook under him before letting his head drop back down.

He thought he was finally free when he took his exams and aptitude test only to turn around and find Tony and Jane staring at him with identical creepy smiles.

"What do you mean you're making me work directly under you and Auntie Jane? I thought I was gonna be with the newbies! Now all I'm gonna be doing is fetching coffee!"

"No son of mine is going to go through his life not knowing how the components needed to build a cell phone that doubles as a laser," Tony waved off his indignance.

"I already know how to make a phone into a stun gun, doesn't that count?" Hadrian paused. "And I'm not your son!"

Tony ruffled the boy's hair. "Says who?"

"I'm telling Mom!" Hadrian knocked Tony's hand away and ran off in search of his mother. It took a moment for Tony to realize the danger he was in before he started chasing after the eleven year old.

"Happy birthday, Hadrian!" Lisa, Terry, Neville and Wayne chorused.

They were crowded around Wayne's laptop in the Hufflepuff's bedroom. Lisa was wearing her usual braids but strand of shocking red ran was weaved into one of them. Neville's hair had lightened, looking more like it did when he was a baby. Terry had grown even more and had been put slightly to the back so that he didn't block anyone. Wayne's eyes looked closer to silver than grey and his hair had gotten longer.

"Did you get our presents?" Lisa asked, leaning forward so her face took up most of Hadrian's screen.

Hadrian chuckled. "Yeah, they got here yesterday. So..." He reached over to pick up a sheet of paper off his desk. He adjusted his glasses in a pompous manner, straightened his back in a pompous manner and cleared his throat in a pompous manner before he began to speak... pompously.

"Thank you, Lisa Ann Turpin, for your thoughtful gift of a dueling book about dueling rules from around the world and throughout history. Please pass along my thanks to your sister and parents as well for their participation," Hadrian read, his voice reminding Neville of his Uncle Algie.

Lisa rolled her eyes at the performance while Wayne was fighting a smile as he tried to keep Terry from knocking them both to the floor from laughing too hard.

"I would also like to give thanks to Terrence Benjamin Boot the Second for his wonderful gift in the form of a magical poker set. My mother would also like to give thanks." Hadrian winked at the boy. "In addition to the already given thanks I would also like to give thanks to Neville Franklin Longbottom for his gift of a book about Russian magical clans. I shall endeavor to use this in some way against Draco Lucius Malfoy."