Bab 37: The Aftermath
After Koni finished crying tears of relief, Hadrian headed off to bed.
It'd been a long day, and one of the worst dates Hadrian had ever been on. Nevermind that it was the only one.
Hadrian woke up very early the next day, eager to call Daphne before she'd have to go to breakfast. He grabbed the mirror, tapped it with the tip of his wand, and waited for Daphne to answer.
The mirror whirred for a while until Daphne's face finally materialized. She was still in her pajamas, which meant she was yet to get ready, let alone eat breakfast.
Daphne rubbed her eyes tiredly and said, "Morning, Rian.", with a smile on her face.
"Morning, Daph.", Hadrian replied, "...Is this a bad time?"
Daphne shook her head gently, "It's fine, the others are still asleep."
"Oh alright, good!"
"Did you have something to tell me?", Daphne asked, "N-not that I mind having a normal chat - honestly!", she added, panicked that Hadrian would be offended.
Hadrian smiled, "I did have something to tell you, actually."
"Go ahead."
"Well, when I went out with Koni...", Daphne's smile faltered for a few seconds, before she reverted to a smile - a smile that was noticeably forced.
Hadrian continued, "Well, just as we were about to go back to the school, a bunch of Necromancers showed up!"
"What?!", Daphne hissed, "You got out of there straight away, right...?"
Hadrian didn't respond, which caused Daphne to ask the question once more, "...Right?!"
Hadrian shook his head.
"Hadrian! You could have gotten hurt! I know you're good at duelling, but these are dark wizards we're talking about!", Daphne scolded.
"I didn't stay to fight dark wizards, Daph.", Hadrian said, in an attempt to mollify the girl.
Daphne looked confused, "So you stayed because...your girlfriend was was hurt and couldn't move?"
Hadrian stared at Daphne before speaking in a deadpan voice, "She's not my girlfriend, we're just friends."
Daphne looked at Hadrian with a mixture of hope and relief, and also a little bit of disbelief.
"I thought you went on a date with her?"
"What? No!", Hadrian exclaimed, "...She was showing me around the city, It wasn't a date."
Daphne let out a breath she didn't even know she was holding, "Oh."
"Yes, 'oh.' I stayed to help defeat the Nundu that was wreaking havoc, not to fight dark wizards or tend to Koni's wounds."
"What on earth is a 'Nundu' ?",
"A magical beast - it was pretty strong, I guess."
Daphne narrowed her eyes, "If you say so..."
Hadrian nodded, "Mhm. How about you, anything interesting happening at Hogwarts?"
Daphne perked up, "Oh, yes! I forgot to tell you this last time! During the night we got sorted, at the feast, Dumbledore told us that anyone who went to the 3rd-floor corridor would 'die a painful death'."
"What?", Hadrian blurted out, "Is Dumbledore mad? What if someone wanders there on accident?"
Daphne nodded her head in agreement, "Yes, Dumbledore is barmy. And I don't know. I think I heard a couple of 5th years saying that they were going to go there anyway - so if they live to tell the tale, I'll make sure to tell you."
Hadrian sighed, "I guess both our schools have an inherent affinity for danger."
Daphne smirked, "Or maybe it's because of you."
"I could say the same for you.", Hadrian said as he smiled at Daphne.
Daphne stuck her tongue out, which made Hadrian snort.
"What kind of 'Ice-Queen' behaves like that?", he teased.
"Shush, Hadr- Oh! One minute!", Daphne shouted, behind her as her face disappeared momentarily.
"D'you have to go?"
Daphne nodded, "Tracey needs to use the loo."
Hadrian sighed dramatically, "I see you've replaced me already."
Daphne rolled her eyes, "Bye, Rian."
"Bye."
Hadrian slid the mirror under his bed, before picking up his large trunk. Hadrian opened the trunk and fished its contents for a book and some rune stones.
"A-ha!", Hadrian called out as he grabbed his big book on runes called 'The Big Book On Runes'. He then swiftly gathered 16 rune stones.
Hadrian looked around his room. It was bigger now - but ever since that 5th year that Koni asked to enlarge his room had done so, it had begun to annoy Hadrian.
Hadrian wanted to do it on his own.
He picked up the runestones and began carefully carving out the 'Space Rune Inscriptions' onto it. The runestones were to be placed in the four corners of the room, but first Hadrian had to form rune clusters. Rune clusters are created when 2 or more inscribed runes are placed one another and carved so their patterns would connect.
Hadrian needed to create a rune cluster composed of 4 runes, 4 times. This was the safest and most stable way to make a size rune cluster, for a room the same size as Hadrian's.
It took Hadrian 20 minutes to finish inscribing, and another 10 to form them into rune clusters. When he was done, he placed them accordingly and activated the clusters one by one.
The room quadrupled in size! There now seemed to be enough space for Hadrian to customize his room the way he wanted, all he needed was the furniture.
Hadrian looked around the room, admiring the improvement. Seconds later, Hadrian flicked his wand, casting the Tempus charm.
"Time to go see the Headmaster.", Hadrian muttered to himself as he dashed his trunk under his bed.
Upon entering the room, Hadrian noticed that two other people were also in the room.
The only recognizable ones were Headmaster Bwezani and Koni. There was one other person, and that person was someone Hadrian did not know.
"Good morning...sir?", Hadrian said, glancing at the man standing beside Bwezani.
"Good morning, Hadrian.", Headmaster Bwezani responded, "This man here works for our Ministry, and wishes to talk to you about what happened yesterday."
Hadrian nodded slowly, sticking out his hand to greet the man, "Hadrian Black."
The man startled for a moment, before clutching Hadrian's hand firmly and saying, "Head Auror, Hamisi Jamba."
Mr. Jamba was extremely tall. He was also covered in scars, all around his head and neck.
"Mr. Black, Ms. Nkonkoni.", the man addressed the pair gruffly, "Please begin by telling me about where you were at the beginning of the incident and what you were doing during it."
Koni looked at Hadrian expectantly. Hadrian cleared his throat and began to explain what happened before the attack. He'd told the man which shops and attractions they'd gone to and that they didn't note any strange happenings going on whilst on their visits.
Then...Hadrian got to the part just before it happened, "...We went into a fortune teller's tent. The fortune teller was speaking nonsense so we left."
"But-!?", Koni blurted out.
"Yes?", the Auror asked, diverting his attention towards Koni.
"...Erm, nothing.", Koni hastily tried to cover her miss-slip, "Nothing at all!..."
Hadrian palmed his head in exasperation.
"...Well then.", the Auror said, "...Continue Mr. Black."
"Yes, erm - the fortune teller. As we were leaving the fortune teller's tent, we heard loud explosions from the circus and around us. We got ready to run but then the Nundu popped out. The Headmaster separated us from the Nundu and told us to get out of the area. I took Koni to a nearby Auror who apparated her away."
"Yet you chose to stay and fight - why?", the Auror asked.
Hadrian shrugged, "I knew I could help, so I did."
The Auror scowled, "You should have just stayed put! Winning a children's tournament does not give you the qualifications to help in the subjugation of a XXXXX Magical Beast! Did you want to be in the newspaper again? Or was it bec-"
"Mr. Jamba!", Bwezani shouted, stopping the Auror's tirade. "I think you have all the information you need off of them. Hadrian, Koni - you may leave."
Hadrian and Koni knew a dismissal when they heard one, so they promptly gathered themselves and left the office.
"What was his problem!?", Koni squawked out, irritated at the Auror's questioning.
"I don't know. I don't really care either."
"How could you not care?", she shouted out.
Hadrian shrugged in response.
They walked in silence for a few minutes, before Hadrian broke it.
"Hey, Koni?".
Koni stopped and turned to face Hadrian.
"What's up?"
"About what happened in the fortune teller's tent..."
Koni's face became ashen, "Uh- yeah, I won't say anything."
Hadrian sighed in relief, "Good. I mean- thanks."
Koni smiled, "It's fine, we're friends aren't we."
Hadrian nodded, "Yup. Who else is going to save you from becoming Nundu food?", he finished off with a grin.
Koni crossed her arms and huffed, "I could have taken it on too!"
Hadrian smiled and nodded, "Uh-huh. Keep telling yourself that."
"I will!", Koni retorted.
They began walking again until Hadrian stopped abruptly. "I need to go...do something, I'll see you later Koni!", he said as he ran off in the opposite direction.
Hadrian ran up to his room. Once he arrived, he dove underneath his bed and picked up his mirror.
He tapped it once with his wand and said, "Grandfather."
Charlus' face materialized after a couple of seconds.
"Hadrian! How are you?", said Charlus.
Charlus had been waiting for Hadrian's call for a week. He knew Hadrian would be busy adjusting to school, so he never called him - but always had the mirror shrunken and in his pocket for when his grandson did call.
"I'm alright!"
"That's good. How about the school, is it fun there?"
"It's very...exciting.", Hadrian replied cryptically.
"As long as you're enjoying yourself. Was there any reason why you wanted to talk, surely you didn't want to have a chat with your boring, old man."
"I wouldn't mind, but yes - there is a reason why I'm calling."
Charlus gestured for him to continue.
"Well, it has to do with Hogwarts. Daphne told me that Dumbledore told the students during the opening feast that if they went on the 3rd-floor corridor, they would die painfully."
"What!", Charlus exclaimed, "What is he playing at!?".
Hadrian shook his head, "I don't know. I wanted to tell you because you could do something about it...as Regent to House Gryffindor and Slytherin."
Charlus' face broke out into a smile, "I understand, I'll talk to Madame Bones and inform her about it."
Hadrian looked at Charlus confused, "Who's Mada-..."
"Madame Bones is the Head of the Department of Law Enforcement. Normally the ministry wouldn't have jurisdiction over what happens at Hogwarts, but they are allowed to intervene if the students' lives are in danger. There is also the fact that you essentially own the school, so you are free to do whatever you want with it, including giving Aurors permission to guard the 3rd-floor corridor...", Charlus explained.
"Brilliant!", Hadrian grinned.
"Cyrus and Archie are going to be very... angry with Dumbledore," Charlus noted. "Mind you, it's the wives you have to watch out for, 'ey?", he ended with a wink.
Hadrian chuckled, "Wouldn't know, haven't got one."
"What about Cyrus' girl? She seems awfully smitten with you."
Hadrian's face slowly turned red as he spluttered out, "D-daphne? No! We're friends..."
Charlus barked out in laughter, "If you say so!"
Hadrian scowled, the redness in his cheeks still present, "I'll talk to you another time, my friend's waiting for me, bye."
"I'll see you later, son.", said Charlus, smiling warmly at Hadrian as he ended the mirror call.
PERTIMBANGAN PENCIPTA 
MIKK
MIKK Sorry for posting late! I had to change certain sentences around and blah-blah-blah.
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Anyone watched the TOG ending to season 1? TOG is probably my favourite webtoon. I've re-read it 4 times now...heh.
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https://discord.gg/xAwFaGr
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ty for reading.
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