9 Inner Thoughts
Harry watched in barely concealed amusement as that arrogant little snot - Riddle stood up with calm and grace, handed the hat to Dumbledore, and then strode just as calmly over to the sparsely applauding Slytherin table.
Riddle sat down next to Reginald Greengrass and across from him. The brat then proceeded to pointedly ignore everyone, except that he would give Harry a few shy looks every now and then.
When it had gone on for long enough, Harry raised his head abruptly from his meal and caught the other person's eye.
When he got caught stealing glances at Heir Black, Tom Riddle blushed like a maiden - from the tips of his ears to his neck.
Harry watched as the other boy squirmed in anxiety at being caught looking at someone.
An audible snort almost escaped his lips, but he tried to control his facial expressions and noticed that Riddle looked like a boy who didn't know where to look because he had been caught with his hands in his pants.
Harry laughed at the analogy.
Everyone turned towards him with raised eyebrows, trying to see or hear what had made the always reticent Heir Black laugh in merriment but when they didn't find anything interesting, they turned back to their food and other conversation partners.
Let the Heir Black be for now.
Nobody wanted to step on his toes and have their family fortunes take a turn for the worse for any intended or unintended slight to House Black on their part.
Meanwhile, Harry had an errant thought - had any of Voldemort's Death Eaters had ever caught him in such a situation?
What a blubbering mess that person would have been to see their exalted Dark Lord taking part in such a base, human act.
Ha!
Wouldn't Voldemort's cleverly crafted image of being above mere humans come crashing down, in such an instance?
Finally, the meal was done and Headmaster Dippet made his welcoming speech.
This was certainly different from his time.
Dumbledore would always make his welcoming speech before the feast; however, it was better this way.
At least, the children had stuffed themselves full with food and beverages and could even nod off on the table if the speech ran longer.
He had always hated when Dumbledore would drone on and on while his own stomach would be feeling hunger pangs.
Afterwards, the students were dismissed and Hadrian watched as him and his batch mates in Slytherin were lead out by this year's new fifth year prefects.
Fifteen minutes later, they entered the Slytherin Common Room down in the Hogwarts Dungeons and Hadrian stood alongside a group of tiny eleven-year-olds – most of who looked at least somewhat terrified but were clearly trying not to show it.
This got Hadrian Black thinking about the present circumstances he found himself in.
This was an unusual year at Hogwarts.
Why?
Because this year, many Heirs to prominent Wizarding families of Magical Britannia had entered the doors of Hogwarts in the same year and most of them were on the higher end of The Magical Power Spectrum.
Looking around himself, he found four of them as his own batch mates.
Heiress Travers - Heiress of The Noble and Most Ancient House of Travers - Amanda Travers.
Heiress Bullstrode - Heiress of The Noble and Most Ancient House of Bullstrode - Laiyla Bullstrode.
The Travers and The Bullstrodes were matriarchal houses whose seat of power could be given to either gender and therefore, these two girls who had been born first had truly lucked out on it.
They could either marry out of the family later on and pass on their titles to their offspring's or they could have someone from a Lower House or a second/spare son from an Upper House marry into their lineage.
How carefree!
How envy-worthy!
Heir Lestrange - Heir of The Noble and Most Ancient House of Lestrange - Ridgley Lestrange.
Heir Rosier - Heir of The Noble and Most Ancient House of Rosier - Sylvester Rosier.
To add a cherry to the cake, Tom Riddle - an apparent muggleborn but in reality The Last Scion of The Noble and Most Ancient House of Slytherin.
Hadrian Black felt a rising well of anticipation in his heart.
Being surrounded by such powerful pureblood children - their magic would have an equivalent exchange unconsciously and raise the inner core of magic in them and in turn become even purer.
He had realised in his last life that The Dark and The Neutrals weren't just spouting off rhetoric when they said they were superior to Muggle-borns.
It was a fact backed up by reason, logic and Lady Magic itself which Dumbledore and some of The Light side had tried to cover up.
Why?
Because they said that saying such facts aloud or recognising them was seen as discrimination against the Muggle-borns.
However, the bitter truth was that it was all bladder dash started by the puppet master - Albus Dumbledore himself.
Think about it for a moment, most of the Wizengamot seats were occupied by people who had ties with The Sacred Twenty-Eight.
If Dumbledore hadn't had a fallout with his lover because of Ariana's death, they would have conquered The Magical World together. Alas, Ariana's death put an end to that dream of Dumbledore.
But how could a power-hungry man change his thinking so easily and fight with his lover?
Nope..na..na..
It was just another way to flex his fingers and get the butter out of the container.
The House of Dumbledore was a Minor House in the large scheme of things and didn't have much power to its name, so how could Dumbledore become The Chief Warlock of Wizengamot so easily?
Wouldn't it imply that the overall power of The Dark families and The Neutrals was nothing more than that of a paper tiger if that had happened?
Whatever else they may be, The Greys and The Darks weren't idiots so, how would they allow an upstart to rise above their heads and control all the central positions of power in The Magical World.
Dumbledore had all three positions required to make an everlasting name for himself and looked down at everybody else while being perched upon his throne.
He was the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards and Headmaster at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Ha!
How laughable was it that the general popukace of Wiazrding Britain thought and believed that the person who stood at the top was a genial, loving grandfather.
Nope.
In reality, his hands were dyed red metaphorically, with countless bones underneath his throne.
Also, it wasn't as if others didn't see behind the facade, otherwise the pureblood society wouldn't have flocked to Voldemort in his last life when Riddle had offered them the power to do anything they wanted.
The main reason for widespread discontent between The Dark and The Neutrals was becuase anybody who dared to question Dumbledore in the subsequent years, had been drowned in spit by Dumbledore's fanfatical followers and the general wizarding population at large -- People who didnt even know how the games of poltics was played.
