Chapter 2 – Bored but brilliant Black

Hadrius Black was sitting in his room, lying on his bed and reading a muggle book that he had borrowed from Ginny the last time he snuck over. He was currently six, in his room were also his two younger brothers. Sirius who was five and Regulus who was four, the two were on the floor reading wizarding books for children.

"Hadrius! We're bored!" Sirius whined. 'Cute' was the immediate thought that came into Harry's head, it was even more enforced when Regulus started nodding rapidly.

"Are you? I suppose you want me to do something about that?" Hadrius smiled "What's the magic word?"

"Pweze!" Regulus begged. Harry shook his head and placed his book down, he stood up and ruffled Regulus's hair.

"It's 'please' little bro, and because you asked so nicely I'll do something for you. Do you two want to see a werewolf?"

"Yes please!" Sirius and Regulus bounced up and down

"Shush" Harry placed his finger on his lips and the two quickly became quiet "keep this a secret because I don't want to get in trouble with mum" After seeing two confirmation nods, Harry wandlessly placed locking and privacy charms on the room to keep others out, he raised a finger.

"Expecto patronum" From his finger tip burst a variety of animals and Sirius and Regulus had their jaws dropped. "Come on sit on the bed with me" Harry instructed and all three brothers sat on his bed.

"What are they?" Regulus asked

"I'll tell you" Harry said "that big one over there, that's a werewolf"

"A werewolf? Are they bad?" Sirius asked

"No, or at least not all of them" Harry answered "a lot of people think that all werewolves are bad but for the most part they're all nice and just want to be left alone or have friends"

"What's that one?" Regulus pointed to one of them

"That's a phoenix" Harry answered "they're special birds, when they die they come back to life. Oh, and over there, that's a stag, it's a deer. That snake is a basilisk"

"A basilisk?" Regulus pointed to the snake that was currently the length of the bed.

"Yes, they're very dangerous. You want to avoid them at all cost, or at least call me before you go and meet one. Over there, that's a nice dog."

"I like the dog" Sirius commented as he looked at a dog that looked familiar to Harry, it was Padfoot.

"I thought you would" Harry chuckled "over there is a cheetah" Harry pointed fondly, as the Cheetah was Ginny's animagus form.

"Is that a dragon?" Regulus asked, pointing to the horntail that was flying over their head.

"Yes" Harry nodded "I made it and the basilisk smaller so it can fit in the room, and there is my favourite, a dire wolf"

"Why is the dire wolf you're favourite?" Sirius asked

"Because of this" Harry stood up and the animals vanished, before the two could complain Harry transformed into a giant grey wolf. Sirius and Regulus jumped back in shock, it was then that they realised that the dire wolf was looking very amused.

"Hadrius?" Regulus asked and the wolf nodded it's head

"That's awesome!" Sirius exclaimed "Can...can we ride you?" The wolf jumped up and nodded before it lowered itself. Sirius ran up and sat on it, Regulus slowly approached and sat behind Sirius.

Harry slowly rose up, Sirius held on to his neck and Regulus held onto Sirius. At first he walked around slowly so they could get used to him, once they seemed more comfortable he started running. Sirius screamed with delight while Regulus seemed to be getting uncomfortable, so Harry stopped to let him off.

After some petting, Sirius continued to ride Harry all around the room. Until Harry's privacy wards went off to let him know someone was coming. He quickly transformed and put Sirius down, before Sirius could complain Harry had rushed to the door and opened it.

"Yes Kreatcher?" Harry asked politely

"Mistress has asked Master Hadrius and the younger masters to be prepared to attend a ball today" Kreatcher said with respect in his voice

"Thank you Kreatcher, when does mother want us to be ready?"

"In under an hour master" Harry sighed and cursed his mother for her springing this on him.

"Once again, thank you. I will talk with my brothers and get them ready, I shall call you if your services are required"

"Yes master Hadrius, younger masters clothes are in their rooms" Kreatcher was about to leave when a hand grabbed his arm, Kreatcher looked up to see his favourite master holding him. Hadrius let go and summoned something from under his bed.

"This is a little present for you Kreatcher, some chocolate" Harry handed it to the elf who wasn't sure how to react.

"Master...mistress won't be pleased" The elf reminded him

"Mistress won't be pleased if she finds out but mistress doesn't need to find out, now does she, my friend?" The elf didn't say anything, he simply flung himself and hugged Harry tightly before wiping his eyes and taking the present. He nodded and walked off.

Harry closed the door and turned to his brothers, Regulus looked quite happy that his big brother was being nice to Kreatcher but Sirius looked like he was thinking about something.

"Harry" Sirius asked, the bothers had only recently started calling him Harry when nobody was around.

"Yeah mate?" Harry replied

"Why are you so nice to Kreatcher? I mean, he keeps telling us what to do and sometimes he acts like a git" Harry sighed he sat down on his bed, and motioned his brothers to sit next to him and they did.

"Kreatcher is a house elf" Harry started talking "and they're very strong, wizards forget that but they are. They can do things that wizards can't do like use magic without a wand"

"But you can do that" Sirius reminded him

"Yeah but Hadrius is stronger than most wizards, even dad said so" Regulus pointed out

"Anyway" Harry continued "house elves have to do whatever their masters tell them to do, when we're older we can escape here if we wanted. We could run, Kreatcher can't. He's stuck here until someone frees him and he nobody's going to free him. In fact he doesn't want to be free"

"Why not?" Sirius asked, unable to believe what Hadrius had just said.

"House elves need a master or they go insane or die. Both most of the time, they were born to work, they need to work. Kreatcher is the way he is, because of our parents and us"

"What does that mean?" Regulus asked curiously

"Have you ever noticed how Kreatcher loves taking orders from me?" Hadrius asked with a smile "If our parents give him an order than he'll do it, if I give him an order then he practically falls over his feet to do it. House elves respond to how they're treated, with the way dad treats him Kreatcher holds him in respect. Kreatcher sees mum as someone he needs to obey or he'll get hurt, and as she is in charge for the most part, he has to obey her even more.

With me, I've been treating Kreatcher kindly and he treats me like I'm the sole reason his alive. Give him a chance Sirius, me and Kreatcher have basically raised you two and Kreatcher does all the house work while we all play and have fun. You can't blame the guy for being a little grumpy, can you?"

"I suppose not" Sirius conceded "does...does he hate me? Because sometimes I don't think he likes me."

"No, he just thinks that you don't like him but he knows that you're still young so he's not sure how to react. Kreatcher only acts the way he does because of how we act, he'll be nicer to you if you're nicer to him. But sometimes he'll have to be a bit rude and act how mum wants him to act. Look, I promise you, make friends with an elf and you've got a friend for life.

Now come on, go to your rooms and get ready. Whether we like it or not we have to go to the ball, go get changed. Call me or Kreatcher if you need help"

The brothers obeyed and left, despite being near the same age as them, the two listened to whatever Hadrius told them. They're father was emotionally distant and most of the time he was never there, their mother was loud and constantly angry. Their brother was the only one in the house that the two cared for and knew cared for them, and that makes up for their parents, or at least it does in their opinion.

Harry merely shrugged and thanked Merlin for the time he saved by using his special cloak, he made the motion of pulling a hood up and suddenly he was dressed in clean, silky black robes. He conjured a comb and combed his hair back, fortunately his current body didn't come equipped with the untameable Potter hair.

His face was different to his previous ones, his cheek bones were higher and he had a strong jaw. In his original world he was powerful and could have passed off as rich easily if he put in the effort, now he just naturally looked rich and powerful. His eyes were grey but occasionally a bit of green would seep through, mostly when he was angry but Harry did his best to control that.

Soon Regulus came to his door and asked for some help with his bow tie, Harry pulled the young boy in and patiently taught him how to do his tie. He had half expected Sirius to come in next, he went over to Sirius's room and slowly nudged the door open. He took a peep in and saw Kreatcher was helping Sirius with the bow tie, Harry just smiled and left them to it.

Soon the Black family were attending a ball that was hosted by a business friend of their father and actual friend of their mother, the last part surprised Harry as he thought she was incapable of having friends but then he reasoned that even the Devil had followers. Harry was standing quietly with Sirius and Regulus, the former two were doing their best not to destroy something.

Regulus was a very smart and curious boy, but was also very worried about being good and behaving properly. So he held onto Hadrius's hand and decided to stick with him, he knew his big brother was smart enough to know what to do and what not to do and he was fine with just staying with his brother.

Sirius was the type of person who always needed to be doing something or be too tired to do anything, unlike Regulus he was more loud and active. He was just as great at learning but he preferred to have fun, something Harry sympathised with but Sirius and Harry knew that they needed to act 'proper' and behave.

Harry had the advantage of occlumency and centuries of experience in dealing with people to help keep calm. It was his job to make things easier for his brothers and doing what he wanted to do for fun, including pranking, would make things awkward for them when they got home. He wasn't worried about Regulus, Regulus was shy and well behaved. Sirius was a bit more wild but Harry had took Sirius aside before they left and promised him a reward if he behaved.

With that being said he still kept an eye on him, his mother and father were currently greeting some of the older adults. Harry was a bit amused at the fact that he was older than pretty much all of them, unless there was another master of death in the crowd that he didn't know about. He was brought out of his thoughts when he was tackled with a hug.

Hugging him was a young Bellatrix Black, Bellatrix or Bell as she let Harry call her was insanely different from the one in Harry's world. She was a young and cute girl with curly black hair that reached her shoulder and was usually very happy. It was hard for Harry at first but after some talks with Ginny he reasoned that this was an entirely different Bellatrix to the first one. This one was a little girl while the other one was an unredeemable monster, he'd definitely do his best to keep her from going down the same path.

"Alright Bell?" He gave her a brief hug before she let go "Remember what I told you last time I saw you?"

"I know" she sighed "act boring in public"

"Go on then, let's see it"

"Okay" She said before getting rid of her smile, she leant her head back and squared her shoulders and looked very much like a pure-blood princess.

"Well done Bell" Sirius said "you remind me of mum" With that Bellatrix's act dropped and she slapped Sirius on the arm.

"Prat" she said playfully

"Hi Bell, where's your sisters?" Regulus greeted her.

"Oh they're coming, there they are" She pointed to the two girls that were walking towards them. Bellatrix was the oldest, the next was the brown haired Andromeda and the light blonde Narcissa. Bellatrix was the oldest, she was a month younger than Sirius, Andromeda was a year younger than her and Narcissa was a year younger than her.

"Hi Hadrius" The two girls hugged him and received a hug back

"Alright, I love you two too, now get off before one of the adults starts complaining." The two giggled before letting go. "So, how are my favourite cousins doing?"

"We're doing great" Andromeda answered "but we didn't really want to come"

"Neither did we" Sirius growled "if the adults want to talk then why do we need to come?"

"Sirius Orion Black!" Harry said in a perfect imitation of their mother, so much so that Sirius actually jumped because he thought it was her "You will attend and you will like it!" He ended with a smirk

"That's not funny" Sirius was about to punch him in the arm but refrained doing so as he remembered he had to behave so settled with a scowl.

Harry and his brothers talked with the three for a bit when they were called back to their mother, suddenly he saw some movement, his mother was trailing behind his father who was walking towards them along with another man who Harry assumed was a business partner.

"Hugo" Orion said in a business-like manner "allow me to introduce my children. The youngest is Regulus Black, then we have my second child Sirius Black and finally my first child, Hadrius Black. He was the one I told you about."

"Ah yes, the heir to the black family." Hugo said in an unimpressed voice "You're not much are you? You look quite young, don't you?"

"Yes sir, sadly despite all my talents I haven't learnt the magic required to age a few years" Harry replied, a bit too annoyed by the looks this guy was giving him. Harry remembered this man very clearly, he had killed him in his previous life murdering children. Harry had planned to eventually show off as the Black heir, and build a reputation, but this guy was giving him a golden opportunity to do it now.

"Don't talk to me like that, little boy"

"Little?" Harry said in amusement "a word I'm sure your wife is all too familiar with, I'm positive she used it at least once on your wedding night." Orion and Walburga's jaws dropped, Sirius and Regulus were a bit too young to understand the joke and Harry was definitely not going to explain it to them. "However if my height represents a problem then I can provide a solution"

Harry's body morphed and he grew until he was exactly an inch taller than Hugo, his parents jaws dropped even lower and his brothers looked very amused.

"You're a metamorphmagus?" Hugo masked the surprise from his face, almost instantaneously.

"I believe that is the term used to describe what I am" Harry said as he shrunk back down to his original size "I am the heir to the Black family, I'm capable of more things than you could ever dream of."

"Oh yeah? Prove it!" Hugo challenged

"With the permission of my parents I will" Harry replied

"Now Hugo" Orion spoke "he is but a child and…"

"No, no" Hugo interrupted "he is the heir to the 'most ancient and noble house of Black', of course he wouldn't make a claim he couldn't back up." Hugo was saying loudly and drawing in a crowd of people whose attention he had gained. "Come on then heir, show us what makes you so impressive?"

"Well, you'd have to make it worth the effort." Harry smiled "What do you have that's worth me gifting you with my time?"

"How about a chocolate bar?" Hugo said in a mocking voice "Or how about a brand new teddy bear? Or how about a nice lollipop?" A few people were chuckling.

"Aren't you adorable?" Harry grinned "But no, that's not what I was thinking. How about this? If I can impress this crowd that's gathered around us with a single spell, then you will hand other whatever companies you own to my father and half a million galleons to me, unless of course you can't afford it. Judging by your clothes I can assume that you entered this party through the servants entrance"

"Ooh" Sirius whispered to Regulus "Hadrius is going to murder him" Regulus nodded in agreement.

The crowd started making noises, giggling and whispering were heard along with little bits of laughter. Hugo was suddenly feeling very self-conscious about the green robes he had chosen to wear. Hugo knew he couldn't back out now, he had been challenged and by a child, he'd be a laughing stock if he backed out.

"And what's in it for me?"

"Well sir" Harry smirked "if I fail to dazzle our beloved audience, I will and pay you all the money I currently have access to and leave the Black family"

The crowd burst into whispers and conversations, Hugo's eyes lit up, he knew how rich the Blacks were and the kid likely had access to a lot of money, at lest a few thousand and probably over a million. Besides, he'd look great if he took away the heir of the Black family and there was definitely no way this kid knew any spell that could impress anyone.

"Deal" Hugo smiled

"No deal!" Walburga interrupted

"Mother, this is between me and him. Don't interfere, and I want an unbreakable vow from you. I'm not about to risk so much if you have no intention of following through"

"Fine" Hugo groaned, too focused on the money and his chance to show up the kid to realise that he shouldn't do what he was about to do "I, Hugo Brownwood, swear on my life and magic that if the child in front of me manages to impress this crowd, I shall hand over to his father any and all businesses I own and gift the child half a million galleons, so mote it be." A bright light flashed and signalled that magic had confirmed it. "Now hurry up, I want to spend your money."

"Very well" Harry smiled, he raised his hand in the air

"What are you going to do? Sing? Dance?" Hugo sneered

"No, no my unintelligent friend" Harry then pointed a single finger into the sky "I'm going to do this, expecto patronum"

Before Hugo could say anything, a giant blinding light burst from Harry's fingertips, and everyone shielded their eyes. Hugo opened his eyes moments later when the light had died down and jumped back when he saw a werewolf towering over him, as did the entire crowd when they took note of everything.

In the air was a dragon, phoenix and an eagle, the dragon was full sized as well. On the ground the basilisk which Harry had sized to be the same height as the cheetah next to it, slithered by Harry's feet. The dire wolf stood in front of Harry while the stag stood behind him and the grim dog stood next to Sirius, the werewolf eyed Hugo before it let out a deafening roar. Causing the whole crowd to jump in fright, soon the patronus's all greeted Harry before disappearing. Nobody spoke for five whole minutes, all they could do was look at Harry.

"Well then" Orion clapped his hands together "I'll expect ownership to be handed to me by next Monday"

"What?!" An enraged Hugo screamed

"I'm not an expert in people but they look impressed. Are you all impressed?" Orion asked the crowd who in response began cheering and clapping.

"Bravo!" One person shouted

"First class! First class!" A different person shouted

"Amazing!" One woman said.

"I rest my case" Orion smiled smugly, before giving Hadrius a look of pride.

"Impossible!" Hugo shouted "I was supposed to win! I was supposed to get the money and this twerp was supposed to be kicked out!"

"No, I wouldn't have given you the money or left the family" Harry shook his head

"WHAT?! We MADE A DEAL!" Hugo shouted

"True but I wasn't the idiot who made an unbreakable vow to hold up my end, I'm just a child who has to do whatever his parents tell him to do. I don't control the money, but I'll give you something nice to cheer you up" Harry reached into his robes and tossed two items at Hugo's feet. Hugo picked the items up and saw what they were.

"There's a nice lollipop for you, and a galleon so you can buy your self-something to eat because you've been such a good boy today" Harry talked to him as if he was a child and most people had begun openly laughing at the red faced Hugo. "or you can buy another teddy bear if you want" Harry added

"If you're so fond of animals then try this on for size!" An enraged Hugo ripped out his wand and shot a snake from it, a Cobra landed at Hadrius's feet and hissed, Hugo looked very pleased with himself before a certain sound caught his ear. More hissing and not from the snake, it was coming from the boy.

"He's a parsletounge!" One person shouted.

Walburga and Orion were staring in shock, they couldn't believe their son was just casually conversing with a snake. The snake nodded at Hadrius before turning and heading straight towards Hugo who was rapidly panicking and rushed back only to find Orion pointing a wand at him. Orion vanished the snake, before giving Hugo a look that would've terrified even Malfoy.

Hugo and everyone else was wondering what he was going to do, however they didn't have to wonder long as the aurors chose that moment to actually do their jobs and grabbed Hugo and took him away.

"I'm expecting those businesses and my money!" Harry shouted before turning his attention back to Orion "Father, it's been a rather stressful evening, perhaps it'd be wise to return home?"

"Yes" Orion nodded "Good idea"

"Go upstairs" Harry instructed his brothers once they got home "get changed and I'll come up and tuck you in later"

"Will you tell me another bed time story?" Regulus asked

"Sure thing buddy, now go get ready for bed" As the brothers went upstairs, Harry was ushered into a room by his mother where his father and grandfather were sitting. The door closed and he was immediately greeted with a slap from his mother.

"How dare you?!" She screamed

"Wow mother, that was powerful, sloppy technique but I know you'll improve with practise." Harry said in an uninterested voice, acting like he hadn't even been slapped.

"Enough!" His grandfather Arcturus Black ordered, and Walburga stopped before she slapped him again "Come here" He said softly, Harry obediently walked over to his grandfather. "What happened tonight?"

"The short version is I embarrassed an idiot and made the family richer and more influential at the same time" Harry answered "you're welcome for that."

"And the long version?"

"Father" Orion spoke "it was truly incredible. Hugo was acting childish and rude, as if the Black family were not worth his time. He insisted on seeing Harry, after a short bout of verbal battling between Harry and Hugo, Harry then grew to his height. He is a metamorphmagus"

"Really?" Arcturus was impressed

"That's not all" Orion continued "Hadrius and Hugo made a wager over if Hadrius was capable of impressing the crowd that had gathered during the conversation"

"A wager? What were the stakes?" His grandfather asked curiously

"If Hadrius had won then Hugo would have to hand over all of his companies to me and provide Harry with half a million galleons"

"Impressive but what did Harry put up for the wager?"

"I'll tell you what!" Walburga interrupted "He said that if he lost he'd give that scoundrel all the money he had access to and leave the family!"

"Is that true?" Arcturus asked Hadrius

"Somewhat true" Hadrius replied

"Somewhat?"

"Yes, I did make the wager but I had no intention of doing any of those things"

"Did you not?"

"No, firstly because I do not lose. Secondly, I am only a child and therefore cannot be responsible or held responsible for any agreements I make and as I'm the one who made them, the Black family is not obligated to honour them. Unlike that idiot who I tricked into making an unbreakable vow?"

"Wait!" Orion interrupted "You tricked him?!"

"Of course" Harry nodded "you provided me with a man who believed himself to be better than everyone and had an obsession with money, easy prey that any skilled predator can catch. I made the challenge and once I put up the stakes he was too busy dreaming about embarrassing the family and enjoying our riches to consider what he was getting into. He underestimated me, he assumed that I just knew about vows from overhearing a conversation and thought that I wouldn't be able to win." Harry was not going to mention the subtle mental messages he was sending to help Hugo agree.

"What happened next?" Arcturus asked

"Hadrius performed a patronus charm father, wandlessly!" Orion answered "He used a single finger, the light was blinding and then a whole bunch of creatures came through. Hadrius, show it to your grandfather"

Hadrius nodded and did the charm again, after a few moments of admiration and complete shock from his grandfather he got rid of the patroni and the room was silent. His mother still looked upset, his father was trying not to grin and his grandfather looked to be in thought.

"Father" Orion spoke once more "Hadrius is also a parslemouth" Arcturus's eyebrows went so high at such an incredible pace that Harry thought they would've gone into the roof. Arcturus's summoned a snake and after some proof via talking to the snake, he got rid of it.

"Why didn't you tell us you were a parslemouth?!" Walburga demanded

"I didn't plan that mother" Harry replied and it was true, that part was not planned but fortunately he had planned to show his parsletounge ability in the future and he could still make this work. "Why didn't you say it was worth knowing?" Harry continued "I know a lot of things mother, do you wish me to inform you of everything I know? If that's the case then I'm more than willing to start at water is wet and fire is hot, if you're a fast learner then we can move onto how to walk by next month." Walburga lit up with fury, however her reply which was probably getting out her wand was cut off by Arcturus and Orion's chuckling.

"You're an intelligent lad, aren't you?" Arcturus smiled

"I am your grandson" Harry winked

"A charmer too" Orion clapped Hadrius on the back "the girls will all be falling for him". 'Literally falling if Ginny finds out' Harry thought.

"Tell me one thing" Arcturus spoke "you planned all of this didn't you? Right from the very beginning you planned it"

"No" Harry shook his head "not from the beginning, just as soon as I saw Hugo coming towards me."

"Why did you do it by the way? You antagonised him and tricked him into that vow, and won, why?"

"Simple" Harry turned around and opened the door "I was bored. Goodnight everyone" Harry walked out, leaving three adults in complete shock. As he left he heard his father say something along the lines of 'are we sure he is six?' and his grandfather muttering something about being a true Slytherin.

Hadrius made his way up the stairs and changed into his pyjamas, which for him took all of a second, he made his way into Sirius and Regulus's room as the two still shared. He opened the door and saw the two were still awake in their own beds.

"Hi guys" he whispered

"Hadrius!" They exclaimed

"You were amazing!" Sirius whispered excitedly

"Thanks mate" He took a step in and closed the door

"Why did you do it?" Regulus asked

"I was giving everyone a message"

"What message?"

"Don't mess with me or my family" Harry answered "now Sirius, you were well behaved so tomorrow you'll find a bowl of chocolate waiting for you"

"Really?!" Sirius lit up

"Yes but tomorrow, you still want that story Reg?"

"No" Regulus shook his head "but can you stay here tonight?"

"If that's what you want" Harry nodded.

Regulus moved up and offered Harry a spot in his bed, Harry shook his head in amusement before lying down next to his brother who had decided to use him as a giant teddy bear. Harry looked over to Sirius who was looking a little envious, Harry wandlessly expanded the bed.

"Come on mate" Harry said to Sirius "I've made enough space for the three of us"

Sirius grinned before jumping out of his bed and running into the newly expanded bed, he tossed the covers over himself and Hadrius. Sirius had also chosen to start hugging Harry as well.

"Love you Harry" The brothers whispered

"Love you two too" Harry whispered back before the three brothers descended into a comfortable sleep.