A True Riddle

Chapter 19 - Bella

The deep hoot resounds through the house, causing the woman still half asleep in the bedroom to open her eyes. The owl hoots again and she groans, pulling herself upwards.
"Why must he send an owl this early in the morning?" She mutters, sliding out of bed and padding down the hall, sparing a quick glance at her husband's door, which is still closed. Finally, she reaches the dining room, and the eurasian eagle owl standing on the table. The owl hoots yet again, staring at the woman dead in the eyes.
"Shut up you infernal bird." She hisses.as the bird hoots again, throwing a conveniently placed pen at it.The owl hops out of the way and glares at the woman, holding out its leg to display the letter attached to it. The woman strides forward and takes the letter. The owl ruffles its feathers and looks at the bowl of owl treats on the shelf, the woman rolls her eyes and throws one of the treats at the bird, who snatches it out of the air. The woman unrolls the letter and quickly scans it.
"Rodolphus! Get up! We need to pack." She calls up to her no longer sleeping husband.

"How can she just go back to him?!" Hadrian exclaims, throwing the scrunched price of paper to the floor, Draco puts a comforting hand on Hadrian's shoulder. They are gathered in Tom's study with Tom, Severus, George, and, of course, Fred.
"She was scared, happens to the best of us." Tom replies.
She was a coward. Jormun hisses.
"We could have helped her." Hadrian says, his voice breaking.
Draco grabs his shoulders, turning Hadrian so he can stare directly in his eyes, "Now you know how I felt when I found out about Umbridge."
Hadrian is temporarily shocked, but he quickly regains his righteousness, "That was completely different. I didn't know you that well. She's my best friend."
"Then why didn't you tell her about Umbridge?"
"Because." Hadrian replies sulkily, "Anyway, this isn't about me."
"Then stop being so mad at her decisions, she's made them, it's over. You should be focusing on taking Dumbledore down, and your other friends." Draco gestures to Fred, who looks almost broken and is quietly being comforted by George.
At the sight it is like all of the wind went out of Hadrian's sails, and he relaxes, "I'm sorry." He goes over to Fred, "We will get her back. I promise."
Fred looks at him and slowly nods, he turns to Tom, "What's the plan?"
Severus is the one to respond, "I'm sorry but we can't try and take Hermione, we refuse to do anything like that. But we have put measures in place so we will know the second she is harmed or threatened, so we can remove her from the danger. Apart from that, we will continue with our original plan of attacking Dumbledore and Hogwarts." Fred looks upset, but nods anyway.
"And thank you for reminding me about Umbridge." Tom says to Draco, "Can someone go find her and bring her to me? There's a lesson she needs to learn." He grins viciously.
Severus nods, "I will send Rudolphous when he arrives."
"Good, and a perfect segue to our next topic, the other Death Eaters should be arriving later today. I sent owls to them to inform them that we are almost ready to march."
"Wait, there's other Death Eaters?" Hadrian asks. Now that he is thinking about it he knew, in theory, that there were more Death Eaters, like Bellatrix, but he just assumed that he hadn't encountered them in the giant manor.
"Yes, we didn't wish to overwhelm your friends with a lot of Death Eaters, that they have always been told are bad. But it's time for everyone to start training together. I've also asked Karakoff to come with any Durmstrang boys who want to help." Tom says. A muttered "Okay" sweeps around the room. "That's all, you can go. And Fred? You'll be the first to hear any news about Hermione."
"Thank you." Fred says, standing and walking out with the others.
"Oh! Hadrian." Tom calls, causing Hadrian, and Draco to turn around and re-enter the room.
"Yes?"
"I'm sure you've already worked this out, but the Death Eaters coming will mean that you will doubtlessly meet Bellatrix, your surrogate mother." Tom says. Hadrian nods stiffly, he still isn't sure how he feels about his biological mother.
"We can arrange it so that you don't have to encounter her, if you would like." Severus says.
"No, it's fine, I think I'd like to meet her." Hadrian replies.
"Very well." Tom says.
"We'll see you later." Severus says, walking round to embrace Hadrian in a rare hug, which he happily returns.
"What was that for?" Hadrian asks, once released.
"This just makes the war so much more real, and I realised I've never really gotten the chance to hug you when you were growing up, so I have a lot to catch up on." Severus replies.
"Oh." Hadrian whispers softly.
"Sorry."
"No, it's fine." Hadrian says, slowly backing out of the room. All of a sudden he leaps forward, wrapping his arms around Severus, "I love you, Dad." He looks at Tom, who has walked around to join them, "You too, Father."
"We love you too." Tom replies softly, "But you really ought to go practice now."
Hadrian nods, releasing his parents, and taking Draco's hand, "See you later."