Hadrian Salazar Riddle - A Harry Potter Fanfiction

Chapter 29

Yule passed smoothly, with Hadrian occasionally talking with Sirius and long nights of talking with Ash in bed.

Hadrian had gotten used to the albino sleeping in his bed with him, so he simply gave up on trying to push him off. Ash was more than happy with this relinquishment.

He also accompanied Hadrian to his classes, making them far less boring than before. The man would play pranks on all the annoying brats in the class, though Defence was usually quiet since it was an actually useful class. Defence also brought up certain conversations of his life.

~•~•~•~•~

"Does anyone know what a Boggart is?" Lupin asked. Granger waved her hand in the air as usual, answering the question strait from the textbook. Hadrian always wondered why she wasn't in Ravenclaw.

"You all will be facing one right now. The Boggart will change into your greatest fear and you will change it's looks to make it seem funny, by using the spell Ridiculus. You should know though that the Boggart can change into more than one thing. Pansy, how about you start." Lupin explained, gesturing for the girl to come forward. She sauntered forward and pulled out her wand, waiting for Lupin to start. He opened the closet, and out came a large spider, glaring at the small girl. Quivering, Pansy shouted out 'Ridiculus' and made the spider look as if it were wearing a pink tutu and a tiara.

"Alright, now line up." Lupin instructed, and waited for the students. Draco was first, while Hadrian was last. "Alright, let's get started."

Draco's fear, which was a flock of birds continuously circling him, changed into them having their wings stuck together. Daphne's fear was a giant snake, which strangely resembled Draka. She changed it to be slippery so that it couldn't stay upright, flailing along the floor.

This continued on, with some fears being funny and others being just plain stupid. When it finally got to Hadrian's turn, everyone held their breath. The Boggart didn't change into anything for awhile, trying to find something that he was afraid of. When it finally took form, the whole room was confused.

The boggart now looked like someone that might be in their year, wearing round glasses and having messy hair. But his smile was sad and depressing.

"You killed me. You stole me. You took my parents from me." The Boggart said, trying to get under Hadrian's skin.

"You never knew your parents. You were dead before you got into this world. And it's your fault that your parents were taken. If you had stayed alive, they would have been alive." Hadrian replied, taking a different route for dealing with the Boggart. He simply got over the fear.

The Boggart started changing again, with Harry Potter not being one of Hadrian's fears anymore. When it took shape again, Hadrian knew he should have said the spell and been done with it.

In front of him stood his father. But not just his father. Death was beside him.

"Which one will you choose, Little Snake? Your own father? Or his and your greatest fear? Me!" Death grinned maniacaly.

"You would never make me choose, Ash." Hadrian replied, eye's narrowing.

"And how would you know that? Do you actually trust me? Do you actually trust Death?!" Death laughed in his metallic voice. Hadrian flinched slightly, knowing the absurdity of that truth.

"Yes. Ridiculus." Hadrian muttered, not letting anyone hear him. The force of the spell sent the Boggart flying backwards and into the closet, Hadrian locking it shut behind them. When he turned around, he found that Death was standing next to him, looking pained, and the whole class was silent.

"Hadrian." Death whispered.

"What are you looking at!" Hadrian yelled, more to Death than the rest of the class, even though they thought he was yelling at them.

"Class dismissed!" Lupin said, trying to cool down the atmosphere. Hadrian stalked out of the class, leaving Death. Inside, Hadrian was seething.

~•~•~•~•~

He couldn't believe how stupid he was! Even though the students didn't have any idea what that was about, he still had shown weakness, and that was unacceptable. His father would be so disappointed.

"Hadrian." He heard from beside the bed.

"What do you want Death."

"What happened to calling me Ash?" Death asked. Hadrian didn't reply.

"What's wrong with you, Hadrian? Just because you're afraid of me doesn't me you can't talk."

"I'm not afraid of you!" Hadrian yelled, sitting up and staring at Death. "I'm afraid of what you can do! You could take my father from me, the only family I have left, in the blink of an eye! Why wouldn't I be afraid of that!" He finished, looking at Death for an answer.

"I'm not going to take your father from you. He already has slipped me up once, and I care too much for you to do that. It would break you." Death answered.

"I'm already broken." Hadrian muttered, and laid back down to go to sleep. He felt the bed shift, and knew that death decided he wouldn't leave him alone. He felt arms wrap around him, pressing him to Death's chest.

"Goodnight, my Little Snake."

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This chapter was pretty short, but I packed a lot into it! The next chapter is Chapter 30, a big benchmark for me. I honestly never thought I would get so far in this story, but I'm glad I did! I'm hoping for the next chapter to be double the length of an ordinary one, but I can't make any promises. Thanks!

Amber Silverwood