Hadriana Potter and Mother Magic: Betrayals Chapter 1

Chapter 14

Hadriana stared at the headstone of her parents grave. She stared at their names, eternally carved into stone, and the epithet 'The last enemy to be destroyed is death,' and their birthdays and the day of their deaths.

After hearing the true prophesy, Hadriana had asked Lucius to apparate her to Godrics Hollow. She remembered being here in her past life with Hermione. She remembered the grief that had welled up, the tears that had fallen.

Now all Hadriana felt was anger.

James and Lily Potter had been stupid to have trusted Dumbledore. They had placed all their eggs on once basket, and that basket had had a false bottom, opening when they least expected it. Now their eggs lay shattered.

Hadriana turned away from the grave and made her way through the small, out of the way cemetery. Everything about Godrics Hollow was small; the houses, the shops, the streets. She walked down the street, her shoes sinking into the snow, and somehow found herself standing in front of her old home.

A sign hung on the gate that read, 'Here remains Potter Cottage, destroyed on 31st of October, 1981, by the Dark Lord. James and Lily Potter lost their lives; they are survived by their daughter Harry - The Girl Who Lived.'

She looked up at the house, dismissing the memoriam; nature had long reclaimed it, ivy crawling up the stone exterior and around the exposed, charred remains of the top right corner, where the killing curse had undoubtedly backfired. Snow had all but drowned the house, making it look like a pale, hulking ghost in the gloomy, wintry sunlight.

Hadriana unlatched the gate and stepped inside. The front garden was overgrown and choked by weeds. She picked her way listlessly through the debris and through the front door, staring at the foyer floor; this is where her father had died, but she felt nothing. No grief, no anger, no sadness. She stepped over where James had laid dead and made her way up the creaking, old stairs. She turned right on the landing and made her way down the hall.

The nursery was all but destroyed. Two of its four walls had exploded outward, and a bit of the floor, too. Hadriana's old crib remained, and a magical alphabet lay still on the walls. She stepped inside and dropped into a crouch, gingerly picking up a stuffed wolf that had seen better days. She brushed the toy free of dust and snow and stared at it. She didn't remember ever playing with it.

Hadriana stared at the floor where her mother died, and again she felt nothing. No, that wasn't quite true. She felt angry. Angry that Dumbledore had manipulated her parents, angry that they had fallen for it all, angry that they had been stupid enough to announce their allegiance for Dumbledore, angry that she had chosen to save such an ungrateful, cruel world.

Hadriana stared at the toy wolf in her hands, expression morphing into that of fury. She dropped the plush and turned, leaving behind the house she had been born in and spent fifteen months of her life. She walked down the stairs and out the front door, down the weedy garden path and out the gate.

Hadriana turned and faced the house from the street. Her wand slipped into her palm, and the first spell hit the overgrown grass and hedges, hungry, furious flames swallowing up everything in its path. The next three hit the house itself, and soon enough Hadriana stood watching as the house burned.

She felt a presence at her side and knew immediately who it was, "Everything that has ever gone wrong for either of us is because of him," she said hollowly, almost choking on her rage, "I am going to destroy him, Tom, no matter who stands in my way,"

Hadriana looked up at Tom, whose burgundy eyes shone with black fury. He nodded, "And I will help you,"

***

Tom apparated them back to Malfoy Manor shortly after the flames burnt out. Hadriana ignored the Malfoys and made her way silently upstairs to her room, spelling the door locked behind her. Tom sighed and turned to Lucius, "She burned Potter Cottage to the ground,"