•••
Draco
When Draco saw Hadrian open the door to the parlor, he stopped breathing. His mom received word from her cousin Regulus that he had been raising the boy, and that she and her son were invited to Hadrian birthday. He had been so nervous that his mom was bringing him to meet Hadrian. Draco's father hadn't been invited, of course, and didn't even know the boy was alive.
Draco's first thought upon seeing Hadrian was that he was so pretty. He must have accidentally said that aloud, but quietly. His mom, Cissy, looked down at him with a smile he couldn't quite read. Draco's face flushed red with embarrassment, and he hid behind his mother's leg. He was too embarrassed to listen to what anyone was saying.
The next thing he knew, Hadrian walked up to him with a smile as bright as the sun and said, "Comment t'appelles-tu ? Je m'appelle Hadrien." What's your name? My name is Hadrian.
Draco tried hiding further behind his mom. Hadrian can speak French? Since when? And why does he look so much prettier when he does? Many unanswerable questions circled around Draco mind, leaving him confused, before his mom nudged him gently from behind her and out of his stupor. It took Draco a few seconds to remember the question before he said nervously, "Je suis Malfoy. Draco Malfoy." I'm Malfoy. Draco Malfoy.
His mom gave him a look at that. She had always told him that he shouldn't introduce himself starting with his last name. That no matter what his father told, it would make him come off as arrogant.
Hadrian however didn't seem to see it that way. He held out his hand and said, "Enchanté, Draco ! Soyons amis !" Nice to meet you, Draco! Let's be friends! Draco was hesitant at first, looking at his mom for her opinion. But when she nodded in approval, a bright smile appeared on Draco's face and he took Hadrian's outstretched hand.
Draco's eyes were locked onto where he and Hadrian were holding hands, and he nodded when his mom said something about his father, though he wasn't paying any attention to the conversation. Hadrian seemed content to let Draco keep holding his hand as he talked to Draco's mom.
He only looked up when Hadrian started walking with to one of the couches. He met Hadrian's beautiful bright green eyes, well one bright green and one pale green almost white, scooted closer until their shoulders were almost touching. Though, Hadrian didn't seem to notice as he was in the midst of telling Draco how Regulus rescued him the day his parents died and brought him to the wonderful Étoile Noire.
And then the house elf, which told him was named Ceri, brought in tea, and Hadrian was explaining how the enchanted tea worked. Of course, Draco already knew how it worked. It was a Black Family secret, only members of the family knew how to make it, and Narcissa always had it made for the Yule Gala at Malfoy Manor. But, of course, Draco didn't tell Hadrian any of this. He was content to let him ramble about random things as long as he liked.
•••
Hadrian
Hadrian had just finished telling his new friend Draco about the time Regulus brought him on his annual trip to France, when a crack of apparition sounded outside the house. The wardlines prevented anyone from apparating inside the property line. That was another precaution alongside the house being unchartable.
The adults looked around nervously, but Hadrian jumped off the couch and ran to the close parlor door, with a confused Draco following close behind him. For a reason Hadrian couldn't put his finger on, he had known right away who was about to walk through the door, even if the adults didn't.
The parlor door opened from the outside with a click. Hadrian ran up the man with dark black shoulder length hair and gave him a hug around the waist. The man knelt down so Hadrian could give him a proper hug, and Hadrian hugged him even tighter.
"Tu as réussi, Sev ! Comment s'est passée ta rencontre avec Dumbie ? Je pensais que tu n'arriverais pas à temps." You actually made it, Sev! How did your meeting with the Dumbie go? I thought you wouldn't make it on time. Hadrian said, ending it was the pout of his lip that always worked on Severus.
An look of guilt appeared on Severus's face and he said, "Sorry, Hades. But I wouldn't miss your birthday party for the world. But, more seriously, how did you know it was me."
Regulus came up behind him as Hadrian thought on it for a few minutes. How had he known? He said with shrug, "Je ne sais pas comment. Je le savais, c'est tout." I don't know how. I just sort of…knew.
Regulus gave Severus a questioning look that Hadrian thought looked like it held hope it, but then Severus nodded as if agreeing with the unspoken question, and Regulus pulled both him and Hadrian into a fierce hug. Regulus didn't let go of them for several minutes; when he did, he rapped Hadrian into a shorter, solo hug.
When Regulus let go, he knelt down and held Hadrian's shoulders and said, "Nous sommes si fiers de toi, et tes parents l'auraient été aussi." We are so proud of you, and your parents would have been as well.
Hadrian was even more confused than he already was. Regulus and Severus had never talked much about his parents to him. And the few times they had, they both got really sad. That had got to be the first time Regulus mentioned his parents with a smile.
Unlike Regulus, Severus seemed to notice the confusion on Hadrian's face and explained, "Your father, James, was always able to tell who around him without even looking at them. No one could ever sneak up on him. Always said that his it was his family's magic."
Dora came up behind Hadrian and she said brightly, "Congratulations, Hades! Can I call you Hades? I think…that that was your first time using your family magic. Did you know that I will be going to a magic school in the fall! It's called Hogwarts!" As she spoke, her hair turned pink, then purple, then red, then back to blue.
Hadrian didn't know what to say, and Draco grabbed his hand again from where he was standing right next to him. Severus raised his eyebrow, and Regulus shook his head in what Hadrian thought must be amusement, though Hadrian didn't know why he would be amused. Draco guided Hadrian back to the couch as Hadrian pondered on why adults always seemed to know something he didn't.
•••
Severus
Severus shook his head with a smile. He didn't know when he went from caring about the boy because he was the only son of Severus's best friend to actually caring about him as a person. But the one thing Severus knew was that he crossed that line at some point in his three years of knowing the boy.
When Regulus had reached out him a week after Hadrian had gone missing, Severus hadn't known what to think. Of course, Severus went to meet up with him right away. It was just that Severus had thought that Regulus was dead, then all of a sudden he's alive and the missing child of his best friend since seven was in his care. It was a huge shock to everything Severus knew about the world. Still, he wouldn't let little shock prevent him from being with the two most important people in his life. He would protect Lily's boy with his life, no questions asked. However, now even could admit in the privacy of their home that he had grown a fondness for the boy that went beyond Lily.
Severus shook off the memory and and went over to Regulus with a smile on his face. He placed a kiss on Regulus's cheek and said, "I love you, Reg."
Regulus smiled even brightly than before, "I love you too, Sev," and then his face darkened, whispering, "Tell me later how your meeting went." And then his smile returned, and he walked back into the parlor.
Severus had always found it scary how fast Regulus's expression could change, and he could already see it was the same for Hadrian. How else could the boy switch from pouting to smiling in seconds. Severus shook the thought away before following Regulus into the room where everyone else was, and sitting on the couch beside him.
•••
Hadrian
Hadrian smiled at Severus when he walked into the room. He had begun to wonder if Sev would even join them, and was delighted when he did. Hadrian quickly glanced at the pile of presents by the fireplace before he turned to find that Draco was staring at him. Draco's face flushed bright red, for some unknown reason, and he looked down at the floor.
"Qu'est-ce qui ne va pas, Draco ?" What's wrong, Draco? Hadrian said, nervously. He had never had a friend his age before, so he didn't know what he could have done wrong so early on.
Draco seemed to recognize his concern and said, with a smile, "Ne t'inquiète pas, tu n'as rien fait de mal." Don't worry, you didn't do anything wrong.
Hadrian sighed in relief, although he still couldn't think of anything else that would make Draco act like that. He was pondering on what to talk about to stop Draco from being sad, when Dora practically jumped onto the couch and started talking more about Hogwarts.
"Well, there are four different houses you could be in," she said, excitedly, " Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. I will sorted into my House in September. Mom thinks I will be in Hufflepuff," she leaned over to whisper in Hadrian's ear, " I think she is secretly hoping that I'm in Slytherin, but who knows. She is really good at hiding it, though." She straightened up before continuing at a higher-than-normal volume, " I went shopping on my birthday back on September first of last year. My said that since my birthday is on the first day of term, I have to wait the entire year because, according to her, 'two weeks isn't nearly enough time to get used to being a wizard.'"
"That's because it's true." Andromeda said, having listened closer when her daughter brought up Hogwarts. Hadrian "Think of all the Muggleborns, Nymphie. They already don't get to learn much about wizarding society before they are shipped off to Hogwarts. The very least Dumbledore can do is give them more than two weeks to process that they are a witch or wizard and prepare for their first school year in the magical world."
"I guess, but I'm not a Muggleborn Witch," Dora protested, but even Hadrian could see the fault in her logic. And, he was four!
"Dora?" Hadrian said, softly. All heads in the room turned towards him, and he knew he had them. They looked at his innocent face with curiosity. On the inside, he was very pleased, but kept up his small smile on the outside while . He let his question hang in the air for a few seconds before he said as soft tears ran down his cheeks, "C'est juste que… leurs autres élèves ne sont-ils pas… des élèves qui ont grandi sans parents magiques… et qui fêtent peut-être leur anniversaire le 1er septembre ? Enfin… je serais triste si je devais grandir sans parents magiques… et que personne ne me parlait de magie." It's just that…aren't there other students…students who grew up without magical parents…and might have their birthday on September first? I mean…I would be sad if I had to grow up with magical parents…and nobody told me about magic.
The silence rang through the room for a few minutes before the shock wore off long enough to everyone to realize that Hadrian was still crying. Dora wrapped her arms around Hadrian in a comforting hug. She spent the next few minutes reassuring him that she didn't mean what she had said and that she would never say it again. He had managed to calm down to just sniffling by the time a pop sounded the arrival of Ceri, who was carrying several trays of food magically suspended in the air.
Ceri set the trays down on the coffee table before picking up the tray that had their cups of tea. Ceri glanced over at Hadrian, and said with a concerned frown, "Young Master Hades be sad. Should Ceri yous more tea?"
"That would be lovely, Ceri," Regulus said, "And bring some for the rest of us as well."
"Yes, Master Regulus," Ceri said with a bow, before popping out of the room."
Hadrian cheered up a bunch when he looked a what food Ceri had made for his birthday brunch. The house elf had made all of Hadrian's favorites: Quiche Lorraine, Pommes Purée, Crêpes, Pain au Chocolat, Gratin Dauphinois, and Madeleines. Hadrian, Draco, and Dora talked about Hogwarts in between bites of food, Hadrian and Draco both agreeing that since every other member of the family was in Slytherin they want to be in there as well and Dora agreeing with her mom that she would probably end up in Hufflepuff.
At some point Ceri popped in with more tea. Probably around the time the three were talking about which class would be their favorite. Hadrian said that he was excited for Potions because Sev taught that class, which brought a to Severus's face when Hadrian looked at him. Draco agreed with Hadrian on the Potions, but Dora said she was most excited for Care of Magical Creatures in third year, and that her mom had gifted her an owl for her birthday, to which she had named brownie because of her chocolate brown feathers.
Hadrian then pointed out that Dora had cheated, and that she could only choose from first year classes. She rolled her eyes and said that she was excited for Defense. At the mention of that class, Severus started ranting about how no single teacher had taught the post for more than a year in decades, and that was when Regulus decided it was time for Hadrian to open his presents.
Hadrian opened his first present. It was a broomstick. When Hadrian looked up confused, Regulus explained that it was a practice broom for children to practice playing quidditch. Hadrian's father had played quidditch at Hogwarts, and Regulus thought that if Hadrian was going to take after his father, he might want to practice first.
The next bunch of presents were a bunch of book that Regulus said he and the others got from Diagon Alley as well as the fantasy section of a muggle book store. Some of the books from Diagon Alley were fiction books about great wizards and some were nonfiction books that were meant to teach children about wizarding customs and simple magic.
Hadrian ran over and gave everyone a hug while repeatedly saying 'thank you' over and over again.
Dora then said that her and her mom picked out the muggle fantasy book; The Hobbit, The Chronicles of Narnia, Eragon, Earth Sea, and more. She explained that it was really interesting to see the muggle view on magic. Hadrian proceeded to hug Dora and Andromeda again, but this time even tighter, while 'thank you's left his mouth faster than he could breathe.