Date in the City II

Upon Hadrian's return to Uagadou, he'd made sure that the first thing he would do, was to drop Animagus studies.

Whilst it was highly recommended for students to go through the Animagus training, it wasn't at all mandatory. Most became Animagus during their 3rd or 4th year, but there were also some that never had the dedication or skill to go through the arduous training process.

It required a high level of Self-Transfiguration and extreme patience. Unfortunately, some people, as hard as they may try, did not possess these qualities.

However, Hadrian did.

In fact, he would have been working tirelessly to unlock his Animagus form, if it were not for the unique circumstances brought upon by his Dragonlord heritage.

Currently, Hadrian was on his way to Professor Kasiwa's office. She was the Animagus Meditation trainer, and she was the one Hadrian needed to inform about his discontinuation of her course.

Hadrian knocked on her door and waited for a few seconds. He could hear her tumbling, and objects dropping the floor as she neared the door.

She swung the door open and smiled widely at Hadrian.

"Welcome!", she greeted, "What can I do for you...erm - Hardy?"

"Hadrian."

"Yes! What can I do for you, Hadrian?"

"Not much.", Hadrian replied, "I've come to inform you that I've dropped Animagus training."

"What?!", Professor Kasiwa exclaimed, "Why?!"

"I've got my hands' full learning other subjects, so I won't have any time to for your lessons.", Hadrian lied.

"If you are sure...", Kasiwa said, almost imploring Hadrian to change his mind, "-then I will remove you from the class list."

Hadrian smiled, "Thank you."

Professor Kasiwa's response was to swing the door shut incredibly hard.

'I don't know why she's offended,' Hadrian mused, 'I never said she was a bad teacher.'

After that, Hadrian made his way to his regular lessons.

He'd made sure to listen more intently during Alchemy lesson. He already made arrangements with Merlin - but he wasn't with Merlin most of the time, so he had to take what he could get.

For the next few days, the only time people saw Hadrian, was during lessons. This frustrated Koni very much since she hadn't spoken to Hadrian since last year.

Until finally, she was able to corner Hadrian.

"Hadrian!", she greeted as she left the gaggle of girls she was standing with.

She wrapped her hands around his waist; causing the giggles to erupt from the group.

"Ah.", Hadrian said as he returned the hug Koni gave him, "Hey, Koni."

"Hey?!", Koni shouted, "Is that all you have to say for yourself?"

"I'm not...quite following-"

"I've looked everywhere for you!", Koni interrupted.

"I've been busy."

"Doing what?"

Hadrian looked at her confused, "Learning."

"Ugh!", she sounded, "You're always working!"

"What would you rather I do?"

Koni shifted on her feet, "You could come with me to the city again..."

Hadrian deadpanned, "You do know what happened the last time we went, or did you forget?"

"It's fine now!", Koni declared, "There's Aurors there now, and they've made the wards stronger."

Hadrian sighed, "Fine, I wanted to see that fortune teller anyway. Saturday, right?"

"Yes!", Koni cheered, before she fixed her demeanor to a calmer tone, "Uh, yes. Saturday."

Two hands grabbed Koni, spinning her away from Hadrian.

"If you're finished asking him out on your second date,", the girl who was now pulling Koni started, "-let's finally get to class!"

Koni smiled sheepishly, before waving and making her way to her lesson.

Hadrian shook his head, "...It's not a date.", but no one was around him to hear his declaration.

-

Hadrian stood just outside of the city's wizarding area, a couple of meters up the road - where Koni was waiting for him.

Hadrian walked up to her and said, "Hey, Koni."

Koni recoiled in shock, "Wah!"

Hadrian chuckled as she scowled at him.

"Didn't anyone tell you it was rude to sneak up on people.", Koni snarled lowly.

Hadrian shrugged, "Let's just go and get this over with."

Koni frowned, "You don't seem too pleased to be going on a -"

"Excuse me!", a large man wearing the Uagadou Auror uniform shouted over at them, "I need identification."

Hadrian looked at Koni for an explanation, to which she responded by tapping her forearm.

Koni walked in front of Hadrian and flashed hers first, to which the Auror responded with by nodding.

Hadrian then showed him his Focus Tattoo, the Auror's eyebrows raised in surprise, no doubt shocked that someone that age had such good control over their magic.

"Am I free to go?", Hadrian asked.

"What?", the Auror blinked, "Oh - yes. Go ahead, Mr Black."

"Wait, how do you-", Hadrian was cut off by Koni, who grabbed Hadrian's arm, leading him deeper into the wizarding area.

"Hey, Koni.", Koni looked back but continued dragging Hadrian, "-can we go see the Fortune Teller first?"

Koni stopped in her tracks, "Why are you so obsessed with a fortune teller, Hadrian?"

"What do you mean?", Hadrian asked, head tilted to the side in confusion, "You remember what happened, don't you?"

Koni cleared her throat, "Of course I do. I just think there's another place we should head to first."

Hadrian shrugged, "It must be something new if you're this excited, we went through everything last time."

"...Oh it's new, alright.", Koni answered, "Hurry up, there's not enough time left!"

Hadrian narrowed his eyes, "Koni, what do you mean?... Why are you acting so weird?"

"The attraction!", Koni quickly answered, "It's starting soon."

Hadrian looked around, they were surrounded by trees. Koni had led him deep into the outskirt of the city.

"Koni, where are we goi-"

BOOM!

A loud explosion resonated far in the distance, back at the center of the city.

"It's started.", Koni whispered.

"What?"

"Now!"

3 figures wearing black robes emerged from the trees.

Koni walked calmly over to them.

"Koni!", Hadrian called as he watched her draw closer to them, "Stop! Get back!"

Koni chuckled, "Now why would I want to do that, Mr. Black?"

"Koni! No... you're not Koni.", Hadrian realized, "Who are you?"

'Koni' stared at Hadrian for a few seconds before responding.

"What makes you think I'm not Koni?"

Hadrian shook his head, "A lot of things were not adding up, but the thing that made you so suspicious, was the fact you didn't even remember what happened with the fortune teller."

'Koni' clapped, the three men dropped the hoods.

Hadrian's eyes zeroed in on one of the men.

"You!", he growled, "You're supposed to be an Auror."

The man laughed, "I am what my master says I am, if this is what he wants - then I would forfeit my job immediately."

"...What did you do with Koni?!"

"She's fine, for now.", 'Koni' answered.

"What do you want?", Hadrian narrowed his eyes, "What do I have, that you need so desperately?"

'Koni's' eyes glared coldly at Hadrian, "Talent."

Hadrian tsked, "What do you mean, 'Talent.'"

"Our Master wants to induct you into our order. You either join, or Miss Nkonkoni will die."

Another explosion sounded off in the distance, accompanied by vague screams.

"Fine.", Hadrian sighed, "I've made my choice."

'Koni' mouth stretched into a venomous sneer, "Welcome, to the Leg-"

Hadrian shot a fast chain of cutting charms at the trio of necromancers, aimed at their necks.

They narrowly dodged out of the way.

"Fine!", 'Koni' spat, "Die then!"

Hadrian scoffed internally, even if he did join - how was he to believe their words that Koni would be safe?

Hadrian charged up his next spell, one of the newer spells he'd learned from Merlin's Grimoire, "Fulminis!".

A stream of lightning erupted from his wand, hitting two of 'Koni's henchmen.

"Useless!", 'Koni' snarled as she threw dark spells at Hadrian.

Hadrian ducked, leaped and dodged the spells.

"Diviato!", Hadrian shouted as he split one of the spells that came at him. The spell traveled past Hadrian's sides and connected with the trees behind him.

The trees darkened before collapsing backward. Where the spell connected, there was a dark mark, seemingly draining the tree of all life force.

"Argh!", 'Koni' let out a cry of frustration.

'She' then turned her hand on her own teammates, and shot an unfamiliar red spell at them, "Corruptenta Hiditeus."

The henchmen bodies turned sickly pale, as their veins strained and begged for blood to flow through it once more.

Their eyes rolled back into their heads as the life force drained from their very body. The blood coalesced and formed two large red orbs above their corpses.

"Flares Demonigeo!!!", 'Koni' shouted.

Two, large, demon-like wolves emerged from the red orbs.

Meanwhile, Hadrian was throwing spell after spell at the Necromancer, who was able to trigger the spell, despite not being close to the orbs of blood.

"Fulminis! Scorchi! Duplaro!", two scorching hot balls of fire, and two beams of lightning shot from Hadrian's wand.

Hadrian felt the magic from within him drain, which was common with most of Merlin's spells.

The two wolves ran into the spells, guarding 'Koni's' body from the spellfire, before diving towards Hadrian.

"Impedid! Flipendo!", Hadrian cried desperately, but the two large wolves continued their path to him.

It seemed that the spells were ineffective since all it did was disperse after 'connecting'.

The wolves were now too close, and Hadrian could see what they looked like with great detail.

The amalgamation of dark magic, soul magic, and necromancy was noticeably present, with the way the air contorted and shifted under the wolves' presence.

Suddenly, as the wolves' jaws got ready to devour Hadrian, they flinched back.

His eyes flashed a bright golden color, and then silver, before finally relaxing on a deep, soul-sucking black.

"ROAARR!!", a chilling sound emanated from within Hadrian...