C8

Harry Potter walked through the Great Hall accompanied by his best friend, Neville, and the bushy-haired witch he met on the train, Hermione. This Harry wasn't the shy, nervous, and abused first years the in another time-line might have appeared during his first year. No, this Harry while still nervous about the sorting looked healthy, maybe even a little spoiled, had a smile on his face as he glanced at the head table.

Sitting there he could his mother, who took the post of Mundane Studies teacher. She gave him a subtle nod with a smile on her face. To her side was Aunt Min, Harry had to remember that he had to call her Professor McGonagall. At the big chair that looked more like a throne sat grandpa Albus, and right next to him was uncle Hadrian.

His family had tried to explain to him that his Uncle Hadrian was actually really old, older than Hogwarts truly, but Harry couldn't call the man that looked like a twenty-year-old grandpa. It was just too weird.

"Who is the man with red eyes?" Someone asked, probably a New Blood student.

"That's Professor Black, I read about him in Great Magical Events of the 20th Century," Hermione answered, looking excited. "I also read his biography."

Harry wondered if she had read the entire biography, after all, there were five volumes. If so, then he was impressed and just a bit scared of his newest friend.

At the head table, Hadrian observed as the sorting went. Some things didn't change. Harry still went to Gryffindor, just this time it was faster. One thing that did change was Draco Malfoy going to Ravenclaw instead of Slytherin.

'The lack of his father's influence must be the reason for this change,' Hadrian thought. Lucius was still in Azkaban the last time he checked.

The first year went by quickly. Without Quirrelmort, there wasn't a troll and Hermione was never in danger in the first place, since this time she actually had friends in Harry and Neville. Ronald Weasley got his first detention that day.

Since there was no philosopher's stone, the wasn't any end-of-the-year adventure. Also, without Snape being unfair - he was never hired as a teacher, and from what Hadrian knew was content with his potions shop - Ravenclaw won the house cup that year.

The second year also went better. There were no petrification accidents, Harry got on the Quidditch team - and thanks to him Gryffindor had won the Quidditch Cup - and Lockhart wasn't there to vanish his bones.

Since Harry wasn't a parselmouth, Hadrian had to think of another way to get access to the chamber and get rid of the massive basilisk living under Hogwarts.

In the end, he could only ask himself if explosions were the answer. No, they weren't. Explosions were the question and the answer was yes.

So, Hadrian with the headmaster's permission used the reducto curse on the sink at the second-floor girl's bathroom. Heading down the pipes, he did the same to the snake door and Salazar Slytherin's statue. Minutes later a fifty feet long snake was dead and the mysteries of the Chamber of Secrets were resolved.

Third-year went by without a hitch. There were no dementors, no fugitive mass murderer, no werewolf going rogue.

Fourth-year had been fun, how could it not with the Triwizard Tournament. This time without his name coming out of the cup, Harry had fun cheering for Cedric Diggory, who had won in the end. Hadrian watched as his surrogated nephew mustered his courage and asked Hermione to the ball.

Hadrian later would swear he didn't get drunk nor did he give the middle finger to the sky while insulting a certain author for not making Harry and Hermione canon. Not that anyone there understood what he meant.

Fourth-year was also Hadrian's last year as a teacher at Hogwarts. The year was 2005 and Hadrian felt it was time for him to go on a new adventure. He resigned from his post at the end of the year feast, which generated outcries among the students. It seemed they were going to miss their teacher.

It was with goodbyes and a lot of promises to visit that Hadrian embarked on a flight to his new destination, the USA.

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New York, the city that never sleeps.

When Hadrian first arrived in New York months before, he thought he would be able to see the Stark Tower. He was surprised that the tower didn't exist till he remembered that he was five years too early.

In the months since he left England, Hadrian bought an apartment in the upper east side and lived comfortably. He familiarized himself with the city, especially with Manhattan after he took noticed that Yancy Academy did in fact exist.

Hadrian had memories of meeting demi-gods, he even met some gods before, especially roman ones but he wanted to make sure be checking if the academy existed or not.

Hadrian didn't know if he was going to mess around with the demi-gods mission when the time came. He didn't fancy camping around with twelve-year-olds. He also didn't know how his presence might affect the oracle.

'I'll decide later,' Hadrian thought.

Applying a glamour over his eyes to make than look storm-gray instead of blood-red, Hadrian left his apartment and went about his day.