Hadrian's True Potential

Chapter Eighteen

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

     The rest of Hadrian's summer vacation flew by. He managed to spend plenty of time with Draco while still attending dueling club and doing his hand to hand combat lessons.

     It was finally the week before school started and that meant the dueling competition was happening tomorrow. He was very excited to compete against other people, and was looking forward to watching peoples dueling style to see if he could pick up anything that would be helpful.

      Hadrian had yet to lose a duel at practice, and was hoping that trend would continue. He knew he would be facing much older students so he didn't think he'd win, but he hoped to place somewhere near the top.

     When Hadrian woke up on the day of the dueling tournament he could hardly contain his excitement. He quickly showered and combed his hair, which he quickly gave up on, and went to find his father to eat breakfast.

     He found his father sitting in the living room drinking a cup of coffee, and they exchanged morning pleasantries before Hadrian went and made himself a bowl of cereal and poured a glass of juice. He sat at the table and scarfed down his cereal and juice and made his way back upstairs to put on his dueling robes. He put them on slowly, knowing he still had almost two hours until they had to leave, and wanted to kill time.

     Once Hadrian had his robes on and was ready to go he made his way to their backyard so he could stretch and warm up.

     An hour later he was warmed up and ready to go, so he walked back in the house and plonked himself down on the couch next to his father.

     "Ready to go?" His father asked, while looking up from his newspaper.

     "As ready as I'll ever be." Hadrian replied.

     "Give me five minutes then we can go. Might as well leave a little early." Severus said as he stood up and placed his newspaper beside him on the couch.

     Hadrian nodded from his position, and closed his eyes as he heard his father leave. He wouldn't say it out loud, but as excited as he was, he was just as nervous. What if he messed up? Or what if a stray spell hit him and he was badly hurt? He expected minor jinxes and hexes to hit him, but what if a bone breaking hex hit him, or something as equally dangerous. He knew that because he was put into the older group they were allowed stronger spells and some people at these competitions were seriously hurt. He was beginning to regret being put with the older kids, now realizing that he could be really hurt. But then another thought occurred to him. He needed to be able to duel older people, he was in the middle of creating a third side in a war, and he was the main leader. Hadrian squeezed his eyes shut tightly and breathed in deeply, everything will be fine, he told himself, and before he could dwell any longer his father came back and told him to put on his shoes. Thankful for the distraction he went and put on his shoes.
    
     When Hadrian and his father arrived at the building where the dueling tournament was taking place they both looked around in awe, even if the older didn't show it. The building was massive and held many rings for people to duel in, and had areas for people to watch. The architecture of the building was beautiful and the place was already filling up with people, and the tournament wasn't to start for another twenty minutes.

     Severus went off to check Hadrian in, and Hadrian went to go see if Blake and Nick had arrived yet.

     Hadrian found Nick and Blake conversing together and were standing near John and Alice, their instructors. They all chatted with each other until they were called up to their first duel. And as if sensing Hadrian's nervousness the two boys wrapped their arms around his shoulders and Blake said, "You'll do fine, Hades, I know you're nervous but you're one of the best duelers I've ever met, and you're only thirteen. Now go out there and show us your skill."