Not Who You Think

Twenty-six

Rodolphus looked up as Hadrian stalked into the dining room, his expression closed off and his magic completely masked from them. It worried him about what had happened to cause his son to react like that, especially hiding his magic from them; normally his magic would surround him slightly, but the complete masking that he was currently using indicated how tightly he was holding on to his magic, most likely to prevent it from lashing out – Marvolo did the same thing when he was extremely angry.

"Hadrian," he greeted as his son sat down next to him. Hadrian nodded wordlessly in reply, sitting stiffly in his chair as they waited for Bellatrix and Marvolo to join them.

"Good evening," Marvolo said as he swept in, gracefully taking the seat at the head of the table.

"How has your day been Marvolo? I haven't seen you since breakfast."

"It was enlightening. Hadrian informed me of some information the Caecus Phantoms discovered, and I spent much of the morning in the duelling room working off my anger. Did Hadrian not tell you? I had assumed he would join you and Bella in the library like he often does." Marvolo glanced at their son, quickly becoming concerned by how Hadrian was holding himself.

"No, we haven't seen Hadrian since breakfast either. We assumed he was spending time in his rooms," Bellatrix said as she entered the room. "I was finishing a letter to Cissa," she added as she sat down, answering the unspoken question of why she hadn't arrived with Rod. The food appeared as Bella sat down and they all served themselves, the three adults all incredibly aware of how tense their son seemed.

"What are everyone's plans for the rest of the afternoon?" Marvolo asked.

"Rab wanted to train with Bella and me, so we'll be in the West Wing with him and the other Ducklings that are staying here." Bella and Marvolo froze at Rodolphus' words, while Hadrian was glaring down at his plate.

"Ducklings?" Bella asked, a hint of a smile touching her lips.

"Hadrian let slip that he and his friends call the Death Eaters Ducklings."

"Ducklings. You call my Death Eaters, who are trained killers and commit acts that many view as malicious and disgusting, Ducklings? As in, ducklings that are yellow and covered in soft feathers and often represent innocence?" Marvolo asked slowly and incredulously. Hadrian nodded, not looking away from his plate as he continued to eat.

"Why?" Bella asked with a laugh. Hadrian finished what he was eating before looking up.

"Because they follow their leader like ducklings follow their mothers," Hadrian said stiffly before standing. "Excuse me." With that, he swept from the room, his plate being popped away by one of the elves.

"Does anyone know what happened to him since breakfast?" Rodolphus asked, the three of them staring after their son. Neither Bella nor Marvolo replied, just as confused as he was.

-

Prince appeared in Potter Manor in a swirl of shadows, rather than his normal discrete appearance. Streak, Striker, Flicker, Flame, and Flit were all already there, seated around the living room. Their attention snapped around to Prince as he stalked into the room, continually pacing around the room rather than sitting down.

"What happened?" Streak asked.

"Wait for Chaos and Mayhem. They can explain," Prince replied shortly. Streak and Striker exchanged concerned looks, but no one commented. They waited in silence until Mayhem and Chaos popped in, none of them wanting to break the tense silence that had fallen when Prince arrived.

"What's going on?" Flit asked once Chaos and Mayhem had sat down, all of them collectively deciding to just ignore the fact that Prince was still pacing with his magic completely masked.