Forthcoming

1.7 Brilliancy

Part Seven.
Book 1.
Chapter Seven.

Hadrian and Draco had expected people to talk about them. Hadrian mainly had expected people to be whispering about him. That's Hadrian Riddle, Tom and Bellatrix's son. At the very least he expected the Slytherins to be talking about him.

But no one was. They were all concerned with someone else.

Harry Potter.

There were whispers everywhere. Everyone was talking about the boy who lived.

"Over there. The one with the glasses."

"Look at the scar!"

"In Gryffindor-"

Those were the people from other houses when they saw Potter. The Slytherins had other things to say. During History of Magic, Theodore whispered,

"My father reckons he's a weakling and it was a lucky fluke."

"What if he has dark magic, though?" Blaise said.

"He thinks he's all that," Hadrian said haughtily as Potter passed with the Weasel. The two of them had been sticking close to each other since school began, a fact that Hadrian scorned. The Weasleys were blood traitors, and poor on top of it all. How could Potter befriend one of them, especially over Hadrian himself?

Potter didn't look very respectable either, Hadrian had to admit. His hair was unruly and his glasses were round and often dirty, but at least Potter was a person of somewhat importance. His name was known to the whole wizarding world. Weasley was no one at all.

There were a hundred and forty-two staircases at Hogwarts: wide, sweeping ones; narrow, rickety ones; some that led somewhere different on a Friday; some with a vanishing step halfway up that you had to remember to jump. Then there were doors that wouldn't open unless you asked politely, or tickled them in exactly the right place, and doors that weren't really doors at all, but solid walls just pretending. It was also very hard to remember where anything was, because it all seemed to move around a lot. The people in the portraits kept going to visit each other, and Hadrian was sure the coats of armor could walk.

Hogwarts was a large place, with moving staircases and moving pictures like those that Hadrian had in his home. At one point he was introduced to the ghost of Slytherin house when he soared past Hadrian and Draco and Theodore and Blaise on their way to Transfiguration - a class Hadrian wasn't fond of because of the sharp manner of Professor McGonagall. The Slytherin ghost was named the Bloody Baron, and he was slightly terrifying, with bloodstained robes and chains that clanked. He had sat next to Draco during the feast - Hadrian had remembered Draco edging away from the ghost a bit - but Draco had been focusing on the other new students too much to introduce himself. The Bloody Baron actually stopped and spoke to them, this time.

"New students," he grunted. His voice was a low growl, rasping.

"Hello," Parkinson said boldly. "Who are you?"

"That's the Bloody Baron, that is," Hadrian piped up.

The Bloody Baron fixed his glare on Hadrian, who didn't seem perturbed.

"You're the Slytherin ghost," Draco realized, remembering stories his mother and father had told him. The Baron inclined his head.