THE SERPENTS OF SLYTHERIN [BOOK 1 - LAIR OF THE SERPENTS]

-Doran's Ring-

HP AU Fanfic

Parseltongue = $$ words $$

Italics = inner thoughts of a character

Chapter 1: Stockwell's Orphanage

Hadrian focused, he cleared his mind of distractions. Pointing at the chair in the room, he swiped his hand to the right. The chair then flung itself to the right, slamming into the wall, shattering into pieces. Hadrian then focused on what the chair looked like before. He focused hard and the chair slowly but surely started to fix itself. Hadrian was incredibly satisfied with himself. He then looked over and still saw Antoninus hovering off the ground, sitting cross-legged in the air. He had another two chairs rotating around him slowly in the air.

Antoninus was Hadrian's only friend throughout his stay at Stockwell's Orphanage. Antoninus had incredibly dark brown hair, that was a shaggy mess, just like Hadrian's. Antoninus had a very peculiar set of blue eyes. His left eye was lighter colored, an opal blue, whereas his right eye was a deep sapphire blue. Hadrian's eyes were also quite unique. They were a mesmerizing bright emerald green.

At first, when Hadrian first got here, he had been jealous of Antoninus. Hadrian never knew his parents, he just remembered waking up in the Orphanage. Antoninus had a few memories of his father, even if they were of his death. Regulus Black was his father. However, he then found out that Antoninus was dumped here by his mother. His mother had given the Orphanage his name and never returned. Hadrian and Antoninus then grew close, the other boys at the Orphanage would pick on them, and the girls would avoid them like the plague since they were both... different.

One day when the boys were playing near the swing, the other boys teamed up on them. The two of them fought back to back against them. Something interesting then occurred, Hadrian had flung one of the boys back without touching him and Antoninus seemingly made two of the boy's magnets as they shot towards each other, crashing, and knocking themselves out. The Orphanage staff turned a blind eye to these bullying incidents. They never believed Hadrian and Antoninus' side of the story. They stuck close to each other and relied on one another to get through those difficult times.

It was clear to the two boys after that day that they were special. The first few weeks after the incident, the boys had no success replicating what they previously did. Nothing was happening. Then, by a stroke of luck, the boys came across one of the leftover magazines left behind by the older boys in the Orphanage. That was when the two of them got the idea to do meditation and exercises from a Star Wars comic inside the magazine.

Hadrian and Antoninus were inspired by the idea and concept to 'let the force flow through them' and tried to mimic what the characters in the comic were doing. For the past five years in the Orphanage, they practiced based on that idea. Let whatever energy they were commanding flow through them. They would clear their minds and focus intently. This had led the boys to do incredible things that they themselves could not explain. They could manipulate objects, lift them, throw them, break them, without even touching them. They walked past groups of people without them even noticing them. They could unlock and lock doors by just looking at them. The could play with fire without leaving any burns on them. Both boys knew they were special but just didn't know what was the cause of their special abilities.

"They are upstairs Mr…"

"Dumbledore."

Sister Helena looked worried for the old man. Nobody would ever approach those two boys, too many weird and unusual things happened around them.

"Thank you, Sister Helena, I will be fine from here."

Sister Helena looked reluctant to leave the old man alone with the boys, but in the end, she caved to Dumbledore's wish. Dumbledore was not having a good day. Upon realizing that Harry Potter was not at Privet Drive with the Dursleys, Dumbledore had been scouring all over muggle London to find the boy. Lily Potter had been chewing him out, whilst James took his side to try and calm her down. Dumbledore didn't doubt that was going to have repercussions for James. If only the Dursleys had accepted Harry... how were they so cold-hearted?

Dumbledore then knocked on the door after Sister Helena had turned the corner. To his surprise, the door unlocked itself and opened. He then walked inside and saw a row of chairs neatly piled against the wall on the far side and two boys sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of their beds. It was quite strange for the chairs to be so orderly and neat when the rest of the room was a mess. The boy with the emerald green eyes, that he knew all too well, spoke up first.

"Excuse me sir, but who might you be?"

Dumbledore's eyes then twinkled as the door behind him shut by itself. This instantly caught the two boy's attention. Their eyebrows then skyrocketed as they saw Dumbledore snap his fingers and one of the chairs that they neatly arranged earlier flew out to right behind his legs. Dumbledore then calmly sat down and his muggle suit attire.

"I am Albus Dumbledore, the Headmaster at a school. I am here to give you your enrollment letters to my school. It is a special school for special individuals such as yourselves."

Both boys looked at him silently. Dumbledore then tried taking a quick look into their minds as they weren't responding when he found nothing. He momentarily lost the twinkle in his eyes as he realized that the two young boys somehow had learned the mind arts of Occlumency. How? They weren't even at Hogwarts yet! Unless… were the boys aware of their heritage? No… if so they wouldn't be here… they would have fled to somewhere in the wizarding world by now…

"This school teaches you to control the mysterious abilities that you have been seeing yourselves perform. This ability you have is to control magic."

That gauged a reaction and response from the two boys.

"Magic…?"

Both boys stammered out the term.

"Yes, magic. Magic can be controlled by wizards and witches… and both of you are wizards."

Hadrian and Antoninus then exchanged eye contact. Dumbledore could tell they just communicated some sort of message, but he couldn't figure out what it was as he couldn't glance at their surface thoughts.

"This school… will it teach us how to use magic? How to control it?"

Dumbledore wasn't too surprised to see how quickly the two boys accepted the concept of the existence of magic. The earlier display of the door unlocking and opening by itself proved that the boys were clearly aware of their abilities, but just didn't know what their ability was.

"Yes. The school that I am in charge of his called Hogwarts. Hogwarts is a school for wizards and witches. A school of magic. You will meet others who have the same gift as you do."

The boys then did their quick silent communication again.

"But Mr. Dumbledore, you must be mistaken. You said you came here to offer us enrollment letters… but we don't have any income to pay for school… we are orphans after all."

Dumbledore's eyes twitched slightly. He knew that Antoninus Black was an orphan, but Harry wasn't. He was unsure of how to tell Harry that his parents were alive, and he had a younger twin brother.

"Harry, you hail from an ancient wizarding family, you, your parents, and those before them are automatically given a spot at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It is the same for you, Antoninus."

That apparently was the wrong move to gain the boy's trust. Instantly both tensed, the room seemed to have darkened slightly. Dumbledore looked at Antoninus. His eyes… it reminded him of Gellert. I wonder if he too was born with the Eye of Kilrogg... In fact, the two boys closeness reminded him of he and Gellert when they were young and rash.

"My name is Hadrian, not… Harry, Mr. Dumbledore. Also, how do you know our names? We haven't introduced ourselves…"

Hadrian's tone had changed from polite to borderline demanding. The rooms shadows seemed to grow longer despite the sun's fixed position in the sky.

"I know your names due to the registration list at Hogwarts."

Dumbledore then took at the enrollment letters and sent them gliding towards the boys slowly. Both boys grabbed hold of the letters but didn't open them, continuing to observe the Headmaster.

"I also know your name Harr- Hadrian, because your parents are alive. They sent me to also come and find you…and bring you to them."

Both boys eyes widened at the revelation. The shadows in the room then went back to normal. Hadrian was conflicted, he didn't know what to think. This, however, told Dumbledore that it was Antoninus who was manipulating the shadows earlier. Another similarity to Gellert… Hadrian then spoke up, his voice stern and resolute.

"Impossible! They would have come for me… They wouldn't have abandoned me!"

His rage of emotions caused every object in the room to shake slightly. Dumbledore appeared calm on the outside but was incredibly shocked on the inside. Both boys were incredibly talented with magic… such control and raw power of their abilities for their age… Hadrian had shown a lot more power than his twin brother. Hadrian seemed to have caught Dumbledore's mind wandering slightly and glared at him with those emerald green eyes.

"Even if they were alive, why did they send you! Why aren't they here? Did they have more important things to do than to come to find their long lost abandoned son?"

The slight sarcasm at the end made Dumbledore's expression age several years.

"It was for security reasons that I cannot say… you weren't supposed to be at an Orphanage Hadrian. You were supposed to be with the Dursleys, your mother's side of the family, but then they-"

"Sent me to this Orphanage. You don't need to connect the dots for me Mr. Dumbledore. I can understand just fine."

Hadrian felt angry, betrayed and hurt all at the same time. He didn't know what to think of his family being alive. He then remembered the meditation exercises he and Antoninus did. He slowly calmed down and regained his composure. Despite his family's betrayal, this was also a chance! A chance to see the wizarding world before going to the school Hogwarts.

"If I go… can Antoninus come with me?"

Dumbledore wasn't quite sure what to say. Black… that had been a bit of a sore spot to James in particular for the last eleven years. He had taken Sirius' betrayal even harsher than the rest of the Order. Dumbledore wasn't sure how he'd react to Antoninus.

"I am not sure if that is a good idea, Hadrian… Your family's history with the Blacks is-"

"If he can't go, then I don't go. I am not going to leave this forsaken place without him."

Dumbledore looked at the two boys for a long time.

"Very well. Please read the letters when I am gone. You will find it most informative. I will send another teacher from the school to come to pick both of you up."

Dumbledore then stood up and took out his wand. Both boys looked curiously at the wooden object in his hand. A small white light emitted from the tip of his wand as he waved it around the room. The chair he just sat on flipped back to the neat row at the side. The cracked and broken wooden floorboards fixed themselves. The carpet then dusted and cleaned itself. The wall paint was then refurbished. The messy room in the span of seconds was now spotlessly clean. Both boys looked at wonder at Dumbledore.

"You will learn that at Hogwarts. Now, Hadrian, Antoninus, I will be leaving now. I will see you at the start of term."

The door then opened itself as Dumbledore walked out. It then closed and locked itself again. Hadrian and Antoninus sat quietly, lost in thought for a while. They then discussed many things after Dumbledore had left. Whilst Hadrian still didn't know what to think of his family and their abandonment. Dumbledore could tell him it was for security reasons or whatever, but Hadrian already saw the deceit in his words. He wasn't telling them the full truth for whatever reason. He had also meant what he said, he wasn't going anywhere without Antoninus, not if he could help it.