Hydrus Black chapter 36

Chapter 36 -

Hydrus let out a small sigh as he entered the great hall with all of his friends for breakfast. Ever since Voldemort's reveal, all eyes had been on him. It had grown quite irritating; to be honest, he couldn't even walk down the hallways without getting stared at, more than usual at least. Nor was he given any respite in the Slytherin common room as it was no secret that the vast majority of the dark lord's followers had come from Slytherin house and that many of those followers had relatives that were still in the house right now.

Though there were surprisingly less followers in the house than what one might expect for a large variety of reasons, some of the students in Slytherin were old enough to remember bits of the war, and the smarter ones had no inclination to jump headfirst into another one, not to mention those who had heard horror stories about some of the things done during that time. There were also a few purebloods in the house who had actually lost some or most of their family to Voldemort when those families refused to join him, it said a lot about Voldemort's supposed belief that purebloods were superior if he was willing to end entire bloodlines if they didn't bend the knee to him. A couple of particularly brave seventh years had threatened the rest of the house, stating they'd be more than willing to duel anyone who wanted to openly support the dark lord in front of them. A few people who had been on the fence about the whole topic had quickly decided which side they wanted to join when they saw the dark lord as a wraith, he was barely human at this point; why would they follow him?

Others were also put off from doing anything against Hydrus because of who he was, everyone knew that Bellatrix Black was a dangerous individual, no matter what you believed about her innocence, and the students with functioning brains didn't really want to anger her, especially when she would likely also bring the full wrath of the Black family down on them. A lot of those from pureblood families knew exactly how dangerous the Black family could be. And if that wasn't enough, you could also add in the fact that Hydrus was also the sole remaining Potter, meaning he had the power of two very powerful and dangerous houses.

There was also the fact that there were more halfbloods in Slytherin than people would generally expect. A lot of them knew that they'd be second-class citizens at best under the dark lord's rule unless they had some special way to prove themselves, not to mention the danger to their less-than-pure families. A great many of them remembered that Hydrus had originally been born as a half-blood and saw him as one of them. Meanwhile, a lot of purebloods respected him and treated him as a pureblood due to him being blood adopted into the Black family.

So all in all, Hydrus wasn't in anywhere near as much danger as people expected, but he did still take precautions, and it was lucky he did as one particularly stupid seventh year had tried to sneak into his room at night, only to be met with a dozen or so snakes that had sent the man running. Hydrus wasn't quite sure why his friends had initially made a fuss about it. He was a parselmouth after all; what was so wrong with him of all people keeping snakes around his room at night until he learnt better safety spells?

At least he could relax slightly, knowing that today was the last day of school and that they would go back home today. With that happy thought, he settled down into his seat, Daphne sitting at his right immediately while Draco settled on his left while the others all gathered around him.

"So, this was an uneventful year," Theo said dryly as he filled up his plate, earning an amused look from Hydrus.

"That's one way to put it," Hydrus said with a small smirk. "I'm just hoping that all of this attention dies down by next year."

"What's wrong with a bit of attention?" Draco asked, looking around to see everyone staring at them with varying degrees of subtlety. The blonde boy was lacking his usual cocky attitude and was looking quite thoughtful.

"Nothing wrong with attention, but I'd prefer it to be for things that I've accomplished." Hydrus said with a small frown. "I didn't ask for a dark wizard to be possessing my teacher."

"I don't think any of us did," Daphne replied.

"I did actually hope he'd be more interesting, but possession wasn't exactly what I had in mind," Blaise commented lightly.

"You were still the one who pointed out that Professor Quirrell was a danger to students," Pansy spoke up, staring at Hydrus with a slightly nervous look. "And it was your mum who brought the aurors, so in a way, it kind of is one of your accomplishments."

"I suppose so," Hydrus said thoughtfully. Pansy perked up slightly and opened her mouth to say something but was cut off by Daphne.

"Hydrus, over there," Daphne gestured to the Gryffindor table. Hydrus looked at the table and saw Hermione Granger sitting next to Liv, both girls surrounded by the other Gryffindors in their year. Granger gave him a small wave and a smile. Hydrus held back a sigh and simply responded with a polite nod before turning back to Daphne.

Meanwhile, at the Gryffindor table, Hermione looked slightly put out at the less-than-warm response she had gotten from Hydrus Black. He hadn't been rude or anything; he just hadn't seemed very enthusiastic. She couldn't help but worry slightly at that, maybe she was bothering him.

"Don't worry, Hermione," Liv cut in through Hermione's thought. "He's probably just tired, it's been a long year for him."

"Yes, I suppose you're right," Hermione said slowly. A part of her thought that it was possible that Liv was wrong, but the more she thought about it, the more it made sense. Hydrus had only just finished his first year like everyone else here, he also had to spend that year getting in constant fights with Neville and Ron while also dealing with that awful Professor Quirrell. No wonder the poor boy was tired.

"Why were you staring at him anyway?" Ron's voice cut in.

"Hmm, maybe Hermione has a crush," Lavender Brown giggled.

"I do not!" Hermione said with a bright blush.

"What's to like about him?!" Ron blurted out.

"He is pretty easy on the eyes," Parvati said with a giggle of her own.

"He'll also likely end up working for you know who sooner or later," Neville said with a small growl. "You heard what he said, his mother used to be involved with him."

"We don't know that for sure," Liv replied thoughtfully.

"That's true," Hermione quickly said. "According to my research, Bellatrix Black has claimed that she was forced to work for him, so it's likely not her fault. Besides, they're obviously not with him now. And Hydrus is such a nice boy."

"Nice?!" Neville repeated with obvious disbelief. "He sent me to the hospital wing!"

"You got into a fight with him," said Hermione in a disapproving voice. "I noticed that you never denied throwing the first punch. He has the right to defend himself. Besides, he also saved Liv and me from the troll."

"I had it handled," Liv half-heartedly protested.

"Besides, he's always been nice to me and Liv," Hermione continued speaking as if Liv hadn't said anything, "and if it wasn't for him, Liv would have been in detention with Professor Snape right now. Without him, we wouldn't even know about Professor Quirrell performing dark magic on students," She pointed out. A lot of the Gryffindors went silent at that. After Liv had been examined, the whole of the student body ended up getting checked by Madam Pomfrey. A few people ended up being discovered to suffer from some sort of magic, but it was mostly linked back to other students. Though it had been rumoured that a couple of parents were now going to be receiving very harsh talks from law enforcement. Still, it was worrying for them that one of their own had been under the influence of the evil wizard that they wouldn't dare speak the name of.

"How do we know that Black wasn't the one to do the dark magic on her and then blame it on you know who?" Ron asked suddenly. Liv quickly plastered a confused expression on her face. She knew, in a way, it was kind of Hydrus's fault, but he also had just admitted that he never would have done it if he knew what the side effects were, so she wasn't really as tempted to throw him under the bus as she might have been before.

"He's a first year, Ron," Said Liv with a roll of her eyes.

"A very talented first year," Agreed Hermione. "But nowhere near capable of performing dark magic on the level of you-know-who. Besides, if he was going to do dark magic on anyone here, then it would be you or Neville. He has no reason to do that to Liv or me."

"She totally has a crush on him," Lavender whispered to Parvati, both girls erupting into a fit of giggles.

(.)

"So, this'll be awkward." Theo commented lightly, earning an amused snort from Hydrus.

It was finally time for the school year to end and for them to leave Hogwarts, which was why Hydrus found himself sat in a train compartment with Daphne, Draco, Theo, Blaise and Pansy, Crabbe and Goyle. The group had all been pretty silent for the first few minutes of the train ride, at least until Theo's comment.

"You can say that again," Hydrus replied.

"So, this'll be awkward," Theo said again.

"I don't know about you guys, but I'm going to be spending my summer holiday in Italy," Blaise commented suddenly. "I reckon my mother is trying to decide if she wants me to come back or not."

"My father is a big supporter of you-know-who," Theo sighed deeply. "My mother hates his guts, though."

"Your father or you-know-who?" Crabbe asked.

"Yes," Was Theo's response.

"Same," Draco said quietly, glancing at Hydrus for a second before staring out the window.

"Why does your mother hate Theo's father?" Goyle frowned, causing Draco to look away from the window and stare at him with disbelief.

"He meant you-know-who, you idiot," Pansy said in an irritated voice.

"I'mma kill him," Hydrus said bluntly in a matter-of-fact voice, earning surprised looks from the others. "And yes, Goyle, I am talking about you-know-who."

"Umm...yeah, I don't think it'll be that easy," Draco said slowly.

"Never said it was," Hydrus shrugged. "But he killed my birth mother and father and threatened my current mother, so I'm going to kill him," he said in such a way that it made it sound like he was stating a simple fact of life. Water was wet, the sky was blue, and Hydrus was going to kill him - all things that everyone should know.

"I'll come over and help you practise," Daphne said, patting him on the shoulder.

"You're the best," He said, giving her a fond look. She smiled back at him, neither of them noticing Pansy staring at the two of them.

(.)

"Mum!" Hydrus grinned when he spotted his mother at the train station. He didn't hesitate to pull her into a hug, which she happily returned. The pair easily ignored all the eyes that were on them before people realised that they could be caught staring and looked away. "It's good to see you," Hydrus smiled up at her once they both let go of each other.

"Good to see you as well, Hydrus." She smiled warmly at him just as Andromeda and Tonks walked up to the group.

"Wotcher, Aunt Bell," Tonks said with a big grin. Bellatrix closed her eyes and took in a very deep breath before opening them and turning to Tonks.

"It's good to see you as well, Nymph-a-dora," Bellatrix said, drawing the name out as long as she could, switching Tonks's grin into a glare in record time.

"Don't call me that."

"Then don't call me Aunt Bell."

"I swear, I sometimes think you two are the same age." Andromeda sighed.

"We are not," The two protested at the same time.

"That looks interesting," Hydrus said suddenly, looking down the station and spotting the Malfoy family. Draco was looking quite awkward and nervous, standing in between his mother and father, the former looking red-faced and quite angry while the latter looked like he was barely keeping his composure. The lack of noise coming from them suggested that one of them had rather wisely set up a privacy spell.

"I hope she finally dumps him," Bellatrix said suddenly.

"Ditto/Same," Tonks and Hydrus said at the same time.

"Indeed," Agreed Andromeda before turning to Hydrus and Tonks. "So, how was your year? You know, disregarding the whole dark lord coming back to life?"

"I've had worse years," Hydrus shrugged.

"The NEWT exams were nightmares," Tonks groaned loudly. "If I never see another exam in my life, then I'll be happy," she told them whilst rubbing her eyes.

"Don't you have to take exams to become an auror?" Hydrus couldn't help but ask. Tonks groaned again.

"Anyway," Bellatrix said, ignoring the pained metamorphamagus beside her. "We should probably go before -"

"Black," A voice called.

"That," Bellatrix finished with a sigh just as Augusta Longbottom and Neville walked up to the group.

"Black." Neville stared at Hydrus with narrowed eyes.

"Bottom," Hydrus inclined his head.

"You may think that you have everyone fooled, Bellatrix," Augusta said with a fierce glare. "But you do not fool me."

"If you're sure," Bellatrix nodded in a bored manner.

"I know full well that you are working with you-know-who," Augusta continued, unphased by Bellatrix's apparent lack of interest in this conversation. "My Neville told me how he claimed that you were once his, and I do not doubt that you still are."

"If you're sure," Bellatrix repeated in the same manner.

"Is this a joke to you?!" Augusta boomed, her voice attracting the ears and eyes of everyone around them. "Your master returns!"

"He's not my master!" Bellatrix glared.

"You care not for all the damage you caused!" Augusta hissed. "My son and daughter-in-law are still in the hospital to this day! Their child here has been left without parents for more than a decade! The boy honours his father to this day by using his wand, and you still -"

"Hold on a sec!" Bellatrix and Hydrus said at the same time, staring at the Longbottoms with disbelief. "You're using a legacy wand?!" They both asked Neville in sync.

"What's it to you?!" Neville said defensively, pulling out his wand. "My father was a great wizard and -"

"And you're not him, you clotpole!" Hydrus cut him off, staring at Neville with complete, unfiltered disbelief.

"You have the gall to say I don't care about him when you gave him a legacy wand?!" Bellatrix turned on Augusta. "I know damn well that the Longbottoms don't have money problems, surely you can afford a new wand."

"There is nothing wrong with using his father's wand!" A furious Augusta said with flared nostrils. "His father was the best of the best, his wand will make Neville into a great wizard as well."

"The wand chooses the wizard." Hydrus glared at Augusta, feeling more and more glad that he had ended up with Bellatrix instead of the Longbottom family. "Every muggleborn and pureblood knows this! Even the best wizard in the world can't do great magic with a wand that doesn't match him. Trust me, I tried. No wonder your grandson is so horrible at school. He's working with a wand that doesn't work for him; he's not his dad, in case you hadn't noticed. I wouldn't even be able to perform good magic with my father's wand. You keep accusing my mother of all of this stuff when you sabotaged your own grandson's education and school year because you were either too lazy to get him a wand or too stubborn to realise he needed a different one."

"Don't talk to my Gran like that!" Neville interrupted.

"I'm saying this for your benefit, you pillock." Hydrus stared at him with no small amount of irritation before Bellatrix put her hand on his shoulder.

"Forget it, Hydrus," Bellatrix said before turning to Augusta. "There's no point in wasting our time, but I will leave you with this. Frank and Alice Longbottom were great people who had their own wands, they didn't use their parents' wands. Well...in Alice's case, it was because she was muggleborn, but Frank wasn't. You can accuse me of as many things as you like, but you're the one doing a disservice to the boy by forcing him to use another person's wand. If you want him to be even half the wizard that his father was, then for Merlin's sake, get the boy his own wand." She said before turning and walking to the Floo grates with Hydrus, followed by Andromeda and Tonks. Narcissa and Draco met them there.

"Where's Mr Malfoy?" Hydrus couldn't help but ask.

"Better not to talk about that, Hydrus," Narcissa said softly before flooing away with a solemn-looking Draco.

"I sincerely hope she dumped him," Bellatrix said once they were gone.