Hadrian Severus Potter

Chapter 9

September 3, 1991

Harry caught up to Draco and the rest of the group before walking to the Quidditch Pitch. Draco was confident in his abilities to fly on a broomstick. Harry, on the other hand, was a nervous wreck. He doesn't normally feel this way and that only served to make him more anxious for the upcoming lesson. Draco and the rest were trying their best to calm him down.

It really wasn't working in their favour. They still had an extremely anxious and nervous Harry when they reached the Pitch. All the Slytherins went to pick a broom that looked a bit better than the other brooms. Looking at one of them, Harry wondered why the school was still using them. One of them was clearly cracked. That was a big safety hazard, but Dumbledore probably couldn't be bothered asking the School Board to ask for new brooms. Harry had heard other students talking about how the school brooms would be better off used as firewood and Harry was beginning to see why. They looked so dangerous to even sit on, let alone fly on.

As the Slytherins all stood on one side, talking and just peacefully existing, the Gryffindors came. They were all loud, obnoxiously smiling and altogether very annoying people who had disturbed the peace. Draco thought over what they might have done to deserve this. In the end, he decided that Fate just liked drama and Dumbledore just loved to see the Slytherins suffer, the biased little shit. Madame Hooch came after a bit and blew her whistle. Everyone went quiet.

"Now that I have your attention, pick a broom and stand beside it. Doesn't matter which broom, they're all the same," she bellowed. All the same my ass. Some are clearly better than the others, Pansy thought. At least the Slytherins got all the most safe ones to ride on. As the Gryffindors complied, she said, "Alright, I want you all to put up your wand hand above the broom and say, 'UP' in a loud voice."

"UP!"

Everyone had varying degrees of success. Harry and Draco's brooms came to their hands immediately with a meaty 'SMACK'. Harry stumbled slightly from the force of impact. Some others got it on other tries. And some didn't react at all. The Slytherins all snickered when Weasley's broom hit his nose.

"I want you all to mount your brooms... don't hold so tightly there, Granger... Finnigan, put your hands a little lower there... good," Madame Hooch went around correcting people's holds, praising others. Harry smirked when she told Weasley that he was holding it wrong and had been doing so for years. Harry had nudged Draco and they shared a laugh.

"Right! Everyone, when I blow my whistle, you all will kick off from the ground as hard as you can. One, two-"

Neville, looking very frightened and frankly quite terrified out of his mind, kicked off the ground a second early. He kept rising in the air as Madame Hooch was trying to call him down. Everyone watched as the broom went higher and higher. Harry was marvelling at the sheer stupidity that the teacher was showing. What was calling him down gonna do? The kid was clearly terrified and frozen in fear. He wasn't gonna be able to hear her, let alone follow those instructions.

It started flying toward the wall where it banged and bucked him off. Neville got stuck on the statue before his robes gave away. He fell to the ground after getting stuck in another statue. The broom flew lazily to the Forbidden Forest while the Gryffindor was stuck on the ground, groaning in pain. Madame Hooch rushed towards him, helping him up while cradling his arm.

"Ooh, tsk tsk. A broken wrist. Not to worry, child, we'll get you fixed up in a jiffy," she looked to the rest of the class and glared at them. "I want you all to stay on the ground. If I so much as find someone hovering 1 foot in the air, you will be expelled before you can say Quidditch."

And with that, she left with a hobbling and sniffling Neville.

Once they left the Pitch, Weasley went over to where there was an object.

"Hey, look! It's the coward's gift from his grandma! Charles mate, how far do you think you can throw this?" He yelled, tossing it to him. Charles grinned as he caught on to what Weasley was suggesting. He caught the Remembrall with a smirk.

Harry also got where they were going, and it made his blood boil. Weren't the Houses supposed to stick up for their own?!

He walked up to Charles and said in a low voice, "Give that to me."

Now, it isn't uncommon to see a House member to stick up for one of their own. It's a little odd to see one House member stand up for another House member who was in a different House. But when a Slytherin stands up for a Gryffindor or vice versa, it's quite rare to see a miracle like that. Yet here Harry was, a Slytherin, standing up for a Gryffindor and going out of his way to take back an object to probably give back to him. Charles was nonplussed, but recovered quickly. Then he grinned sadistically.

"Standing up for a Gryffindor, eh, dear brother of mine?" He purred, seemingly surprised. Harry scowled while the rest of the class watched in bated breath.

"Shut up Charles, and give that to me. Merlin knows what you're going to do with it," Harry said coldly.

Really, the only thing that could make Harry lose his shit was Charles and his dumbass face. Anyone could see that the two hated each other's guts.

"How about no? Why don't I put it somewhere Longbottom can retrieve it? Perhaps at the top of the Astronomy Tower?" Charles said, hopping onto his broom, despite Granger's warnings. Charles actually flipped her off before going higher into the air. Draco saw and he thought that Granger actually looked a bit hurt. Now, why would the Boy-Who-Lived willingly hurt his friend's feelings like that?

Harry just groaned internally and got onto his own broom. Draco was about to follow before Harry shook his head and took off after Charles. Draco sighed and stayed on the ground, but held his broomstick in case Harry needed help. Draco wondered what he had done to deserve such a trouble-attracting friend like Harry. He decided that Fate liked to screw with specific people a little too much.

The Potter twins flew up high. The rest of the students just watched the spectacle in awe. Draco estimated in about five minutes some teacher would come running.

"Give that here Charles. I will not hesitate to knock you off."

"Why don't you get it then?"

Charles threw the ball as far as he could. Harry dived and went after it. He could hear the shrieks of his classmates, Draco's being the most prominent.

He sounded like a girl.

Harry would be damned if this ball hit the ground and broke. He saw Neville holding it at breakfast and it clearly meant a lot to him. He managed to catch it and pull up before he hit the ground. He went back down to Pansy barreling into him. The other Slytherins caught up. Draco held his shoulders after Pansy let go and looked him up and down for injuries. When he saw none, he heaved a sigh of relief.

Then immediately proceeded to slap Harry on the face. Hard.

Harry grinned at that, holding his face. He decided then and there that both Draco and Uncle Sev were mother hens. Fight him.

"Never, do that that again, Harry. Understand?" Draco glared to put on extra emphasis. Harry nodded quickly to placate the blonde peacock that was Draco Malfoy. The other Slytherins watched in amusement as a slightly scared-looking Hadrian Potter was being berated by a furious Draco Malfoy.

That was, until they heard a shout that made Harry pale quite considerably.

"HADRIAN SEVERUS POTTER!"

Everyone looked to where there was a furious - no, that's an understatement, positively fuming - Severus Snape, along with an equally furious-looking Minerva McGonagall, striding down the Pitch.

All everyone could think of was that Harry had landed himself into trouble. Big time.

And Harry was looking worse for wear at that moment. The Slytherins and Gryffindors immediately felt sorry for the raven-haired boy at that moment. And none more so than Harry himself. He wondered if it wasn't too late to write down a will and prepare his funeral. He decided that he wanted either Draco to witness his will or a goblin. Maybe even both if it was allowed.

"Fuck," Harry swore softly.

Draco completely agreed with him.