Hadrian's True Potential

Chapter Sixteen

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling does.

     Before long it was the day before Hadrian's birthday and he was looking forward to seeing Draco again. Draco was coming home from France later that day, and to Hadrian, it had felt like forever since he had last seen him.
     He had dueling club that day, so Hadrian was looking forward to seeing Nick and Blake. The three had been writing to each other to keep in touch, even though they saw each other twice a week. They were quickly becoming very close friends to Hadrian, and he knew he would miss them when he returned to Hogwarts.
    
     Hadrian was the second person to show up at dueling club, so he chatted with a girl briefly before they were allowed to duel. The girl, Jamie, who had strawberry blond hair tied back in a high ponytail, and a face covered in freckles, was a force to be reckoned with. She and Hadrian dueled for what felt like hours, which was really ten minutes, before Hadrian was able to get her wand away from her and win. Hadrian walked over to help her up, after his expelliarmus had a bit too much force and knocked her off her feet. They bowed to each other with their wands at their sides, and went their separate ways to find their friends.
     Hadrian found Nick and Blake dueling each other in a ring. They were very evenly matched, so Hadrian never knew who would win.
     Nick slashed his wand through the air, a sign he wanted to call a draw, and Blake slashed back. They both put their wands to the side and bowed to each other before walking over to Hadrian.
     "Hey Hades! How's life?" Nick asked cheerfully.
     "Good! How have you guys been?" Hadrian replied with a large smile.
     "We've been good. We got our marks and school supply lists yesterday. We both did pretty well on our OWLs. Durmstrang offers more courses than Hogwarts though, so we have different subjects then you do." Blake said, just as happy as the other two.
     "That's cool, why does Hogwarts offer less courses than Durmstrang?"
     "Hogwarts has only about half the students Durmstrang has, and after Dumbledore became the headmaster he took away even more courses, so Hogwarts only has the minimum amount of courses a school is forced to offer." Nick said.
     "That's stupid, just another reason to not like Dumbledore." Hadrian said with a sigh.
     "Why don't you like Dumbledore? He is the leader of the light, and you destroyed You-know-who." Blake said.
     "Can you two come ever after dueling club today? I will ask my dad if you can, and I can explain everything to you at my house." Hadrian said.
     "Yeah, that sounds good." Blake replied.
     "'You ready to duel? I'm going to take you down!" Hadrian exclaims.
     "I'm down, we get to face you together though. See if the pair of us can take you down." Nick said in return with a smirk.
     The three walked into the ring, and bowed to each other. Spells began to be thrown, and soon the duel was in full swing. Hadrian was weaving in and out of the spells Nick and Blake shot at him. He blocked their spells with shields, and gave as good as he got.
     Eventually the boys had to call a draw, as they were all panting, and couldn't carry on. The boys all flopped to the ground panting, and started laughing. The three stayed on the ground, out of breath, until they were able to regain some composure and stand up. The three chatted until the dueling club was over, and Hadrian asked his dad if Blake and Nick could go to their house, and he agreed.
     Once they got to their house, after Severus had apparated the three boys there, they all sat in the living room. Hadrian was a little hesitant on how to talk to his new friends about the Dursleys' abuse, and Dumbledore's involvement in it, and their ideas about having a third side to the war.
     Hadrian eventually started talking, and both boys were immediately supportive of him. They told Hadrian they would tell their parents about joining the third side, and would get their parents to tell their friends about joining too. They expressed their worry about having to join Voldemort if he came back, as their parents were supposedly loyal followers. So they were glad there was another option. They both said their parents only joined Voldemort because he had better ideals than Dumbledore, not because they thought he was good.
     After a while the boys had to go home, and Hadrian was left with his father in the living room. Not even twenty minutes later Lucius Malfoy came in through the floo, shortly followed by Draco and Narcissa.
     "Draco!" Hadrian exclaimed happily, as he ran over to hug his friend.
     "Hey, Ri." Draco said as he pulled Hadrian into a hug.
     The boys pulled away, and addressed the adults. Hadrian said hi to the other Malfoy's and Draco said hi to Severus. The boys then left the adults to discuss the third side of the war, while Hadrian and Draco went up to Hadrian's room to catch up.
     The pair chatted for a while about their holidays so far. Hadrian spoke about Nick and Blake, and his hand to hand combat training. He also talked about the third side briefly, but didn't go into too much detail, as Draco already knew a lot about Dumbledore's interference with Hadrian's life.
     Draco talked about his travels and what he saw in France. He also expressed his hatred towards the balls he had had to attend. He was forced to dance with random girls, and said he hated every minute of it. He spoke about all the family he had seen and the shops he was forced into to try on a million pairs of robes.
     Draco then went quiet for a moment, then spoke, "Hadrian." He said seriously.
     Hadrian looked up attentively at Draco, his face showing concern.
     "Do you remember I spoke about their being a chance I would be betrothed to someone while at the ball." Draco said.
     Hadrian gulped before nodding, "Yeah." he said softly.
     "Well, my parents found a pureblood witch from France. They wanted a contract between the pair of us, her parents were amenable to it." Draco said quietly. "I told them no though, I said I could never marry her. I said there was someone who I already liked, and couldn't just give up on that person."
     Hadrian looked sad at the thought of Draco liking someone, as he knew there was no way he would ever like him. He would be happy for his friend though, as he really liked Draco.
     "My parents agreed to not sign the contract if I asked the person if they would go out with me."
     "Have you spoken with them yet? Did they agree?" Hadrian asked quietly.
     "I'm getting onto it, Ri. So I knew as soon as I got to see them again I would ask them, because I really like them. Hadrian?" Draco asked quietly.
     "Yeah." Hadrian asked just as quietly.
     Draco reached forward to take Hadrian's hands in his own, causing him to look at him oddly. "I really like you Hadrian, and I was wondering if you would like to be my boyfriend?" Draco said softly.
     "But,- really? You really like me?" Hadrian said, fear of rejection laced his voice.
     "Of course, Ri, more than you can ever imagine."
     Hadrian jumped into Draco's arms, and wrapped his arms around his neck. "I really like you too. Of course I'll be your boyfriend."
     Draco held Hadrian in his arms, enjoying the comfort it brought them both.
     Eventually the boys broke apart, and both had huge smiles on their faces. The boys began chatting again, and Draco had an arm wrapped around Hadrian, and Hadrian laid his head against Draco's shoulder.
     A while later the boys were called down for dinner, and decided to wait until after dinner to tell their parents.
     Dinner was a quiet affair, with the five talking about trivial matters. Hadrian was a little nervous to tell his dad he and Draco were dating now. Even though his dad knew he was gay, he was still a little nervous.
     After dinner they all retired to the living room. Hadrian and Draco sat on the couch together, and Draco got the adults attention. Draco then said that Hadrian had agreed to be his boyfriend.
     Lucius and Narcissa were immediately happy as Draco had already told them he was going to ask him. Hadrian then turned to look at his dad. His dad had a smile on his face and motioned for him to go over to him.
     Severus pulled his son into his lap and hugged him tight, "So this is the lucky lad you spoke about the other night." He spoke with a chuckle.
     Hadrian blushed, but nodded. "Well, I'm very glad the pair of you are happy, but I do hope the two of you take things slow, as you are both very young. And Draco, I trust that you will never hurt him, so I won't have to show you just how many spells I know." Hadrian blushed and buried his face into his father's neck.
     "I promise I won't hurt him, don't worry." Draco said, "Spoke about me did you, Ri?" Draco said while smiling.
     "Shut up!" Hadrian mumbled. Hadrian then stood up from his father's lap and went to sit next to Draco and put his head on his shoulder.
     They all spoke for a little while longer before the Malfoy's had to go home. Hadiran hugged Draco tighty, and Draco kissed the crown of his head. "I'll see you tomorrow, Ri."
     Hadrian blushed, "Bye, Dray." Hadrian said, then released him and waved goodbye as the three Malfoys stepped through the floo.
     "It's time for bed now Hades, go get ready for bed please. You have a big day tomorrow." Severus said.
     "'Kay." Hadrian replied and went up the stairs to get ready for bed.
     Hadrian lay awake that night smiling, thoughts of Draco running through his head.