After running through different government places and doing several paperworks, my job finally starts tomorrow! Wish me luck! I hope this one doesn't suck my blood off like some Vampire!

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"Expelliarmus!" Hadrianus cried, and the wand slipped from Reylan's hand, soaring through the air and landing on an eager child Naga's hand, "I did it!"

"Good job! On the first try!" both twins clapped, while Bella cheered, earning a beam from Hadrianus who returned his wand, handle first.

After returning home from Rawrbalrgh, the British Goblin village of his gobfather's clan, where he had been receiving lessons on Gobbledegook and Goblin culture and immensely enjoying his reward for being a fast learner in the form of being fed various mouth-watering delicacies until he almost fell into a food coma by Metalsmith Gryh, his gobfather's overenthusiastic mate, he found his father is getting ready for his meetings in Ministry. So Hadrianus had persuaded Davy to let him sneak inside his father's travel cloak in his small and slender green mamba form before she handed it to him. He foolishly assumed he had succeeded in conning his father, only to be snatched out from the said pocket by the strong fingers gripping his neck and then sternly chastised quite thoroughly for 'endangering himself like some imprudent Gryffindor', (In Hadrianus's defense, how would he know that all the adult weirdos enjoy hexing his unsuspecting father during important meetings? He thought his father shielded every hex coming his way and then smite them for daring to do so, so he was absolutely safe in there even if he was hiding in his clothes without his knowledge, but apparently, that simple logic didn't impress his father and now he is grounded for two freaking days! How would he survive forty-eight hours without flying? That's entirely unjust!) a pouting Hadrianus was left behind in the Castle with the Lestrange twins, Godmummy, and his mum in her serpentine glory, instead of another free ride to explore his father's department in the Ministry of Magic.

At least until they promised him to teach a few useful hexes.

"Is it too hard to keep holding on to the wand?" Hadrianus asked, looking thoughtful. "Would it disarm the police? Would it work if they have weapons hidden in their clothes? What happens if you do not have any weapons? What happens if you cast the spell to empty air or a dummy?"

"It is hard to hold on when the spell is too powerful or you're caught unaware." Bella, being the duty-bound and good Godmummy, replied. This is another reason he appreciated receiving lessons from Godmummy, Barty, and even the Lestrange twins, they always answer frankly and never told to him stop asking questions or deflect him even when he asks 'head-scratching questions' as Barty calls them; unlike Aunt Cissa, Lord Nott, Grand Aunt Walburga, and Uncle Batman (aka 'Mr. Grumpypant', as Uncle Reylan recently taught him to call). "It will disarm anyone, as long as they have weapons out in their hand, and no, it won't work on hidden weapons, you will have to summon them. If you cast an overpowered one, it will blast you away, whether you have a weapon out or not. Why don't you cast the spell and see for yourself what happens to air or dummy?"

"Expelliarmus!" Hadrianus cast, aiming his wand upwards to the air, and gasped when a blasting sound was heard, and now the ceiling has a huge hole in it, with the chunk of stone falling on the ground noisily and surrounding them with a fog of dust particles.

Oh no! What has he done? Grandpa will not be pleased when he learns about it!

"Reparo!" Reynaldo fixed them easily as Hadrianus looked uneasy after destroying a part of his own home. "Now, want to see if you can hold on to your wand or not?" He quickly distracted the child.

Hadrianus brightened and nodded, he always loves experimenting with spells and studying the effect. He held onto his Manchineel Wand tightly and readied himself to fight the spell.

For the sake of the ever-curious youngster, Reynaldo cast the charm verbally, "Expelliarmus!"

Hadrianus felt a tug on his wand and he held onto it with all his might as the red beam of light hit him. Though it became challenging when he felt Reynaldo increasing the power behind the spell steadily, and then, after a lot of effort, Hadrianus lost the battle as well as the hold onto his wand.

"Aw!" He whined when the wand was finally torn from his hand and went flying to a grinning Reynaldo's outstretched hand.

"Don't fret, baby Prince," Reynaldo was grinning, as he caught the flying wand, "You did quite well for a -" the rest of the word died on his lips as he yelped and threw the wand away, shaking his hand vigorously before looking at it, bewildered. His whole hand is now covered in blisters and burns, and the skin has started to inflame. "What the -"

"Oh no!" Hadrianus gasped as he came running to him, as did others, concerned. He immediately understood what happened, recalling Aurora's words, "My wand! It's poisonous! I completely forgot!"

"What?" All the adults looked at him, confused.

"My wand wood, it's poisonous, made from Manchineel tree, the Death's tree, the wandmaker Aurora called it. She said its toxicity will be increased a few folds more, being infused with magic and my blood." Hadrianus explained hurriedly, panicking, "What do we do?" He cried, seeing the blistering spreading fast, and Reynaldo took a pained gasp, stumbling.

"I am taking him to St. Mungos." Bella decided but Reynaldo raised his hand, albeit painfully.

"Can't...they'll know.."

"You'll die!"

"I'm calling Cissy and Severus, they'd know what to do," Reylan decided and went to the Floo. Hadrianus wrung his hand, distraught and irate at himself for forgetting such an important matter. His mum, noticing his distress, slithered to him and flickered her tongue over his cheeks while hissing comfortingly, her snake version of kisses.

'Shield, Hadrianus! You're in public!' A voice that sounded suspiciously like his father echoed through his head, and he took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. 'What would father do, in this situation?' Hadrianus asked himself, watching as Reynaldo collapsed on the ground while Godmummy tried to keep him awake. 'Shield. Shield and think, assess then react.'

As he calmed down, one of the many emergency medical lessons he received from both his father and gobfather came and went flashing in front of his eyes, and Hadrianus immediately jumped up, knowing what he have to do.

"Bailey, bring water. Lots and lots of water, and a handful of bezoar!" He barked, grabbing his wand and tucking it safely in his holster, before kneeling in front of Reynaldo's prone form and checking for the pulse, which seems to be erratic. As Bailey arrived, he instructed her to pour the water on his body and wash the area thoroughly, while he himself took Reynaldo's head on his lap, and put three bezoars inside his mouth.

"Try swallowing, Uncle Roddy!" He patted his cheeks to get some response and aided him, massaging the side of his neck, as shown by his gobfather Sharptooth.  "Godmummy, can you spell remove his clothes? Yes, thanks! Bailey, don't touch it, use magic to pour the water! You're doing great! Cody! Can you please tie a tourniquet right here, near the shoulder? No, not that tight! Yes, just like that! Davy! See if we have anything for burns and bring it, please! Be quick! Ask if anyone else wants to help!" He doesn't know whether all these would work on contact poisoning, but he would rather cover all the grounds.

Several pops and more House elves arrived, and all started working on a near unconscious Reynaldo under their Master Prince's command while Bella hovered nearby watching them work. It was the scene Narcissa walked into, prompting her to hurriedly kneel beside them to assess the damage, promising Bella that Severus is close behind with every kind of antidote he could find on Manchineel poisoning.

Pleased by their method, Narcissa asked them to continue as they were doing, as it is clearly working to control the spread of the poison. Hadrianus moved away from where he was sitting near his head, giving her space to not interrupt the reading when Narcissa started with diagnostic spells.

Within a few minutes, Severus arrived with Reylan in tow and blinked on seeing the flood they have created in the room while everyone worked frantically around an unconscious, and half-naked Reynaldo, washing and pouring more water on the angry blisters. More House Elves arrived to clean the mess and vanish the spoiled water on Narcissa's request, to stop it from being further contaminated, magically as per Hadrianus's instruction and warning, while Lady Slytherin in her serpentine form watched them work from where she was perching near the corner of the room.

Severus tiptoed around the mess where all the House Elves were working, making sure to not touch any of the mess, and hold out three vials of antidotes for Narcissa, who quickly started spelling them into Reynaldo's system.

After a while, Reynaldo became more stable, and Narcissa asked them to take him to a guest room to sleep and change his clothes. "The bezoar, tourniquet, and the vigorous cleaning of the contaminated area helped a lot. It caused all the difference and probably saved his life." Narcissa confessed, squeezing her unconscious brother-in-law's hand. "Let's get him settled."

Everyone around guided the asleep patient to the nearest guest room, as directed by one of the House-elves, and get him settled. Both Reylan and Bella sat by him, prepared to watch over him as Reynaldo slept off the effect when Severus looked around for the youngest resident of the Castle who practically saved his friend's life.

"Where did The Dark Prince go?"

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Marvolo sighed when the horde of stupid wizards filtered out of the meeting room, before relaxing back to his chair and glaring at the large pile of paperwork on his desk. Is it too difficult to understand which files don't need to be reviewed by the Head of the Department, and which file does? Why can't the stupid undersecretary understand such simple things, or are they too lost without the 'proper' guidance of bigotry and bribery? Why is he surrounded by incompetent fools?

He needs to Crucio someone. He needed this release for too long and too badly, to the point of refusing to bring his son to with him. Thankfully, he had employed someone for this sole purpose.

He stretched his four limbs, before turning his neck with a satisfying pop, then tapped his wand on the bell. The door opened to reveal the pink monstrosity that was his idiotic Junior Undersecretary.

"You.. you wanted to see me, M-my Lord?" Umbridge asked quietly, her eyes fixed on the Yew wand in Marvolo's hands. She still had one foot in the doorway, like she still had hope that he might send her away after all.

"Umbridge!" Marvolo barked, "Enter and close the door behind you!" He had been regretting ever since he decided to keep an eye on the witch and keep her as his employee. He wished he had two Bellas, so one can keep an eye on his Little Mamba when he will go to Hogwarts and have the other assist him! Bella would have kept everyone on their toes and made sure to buffer between him and the other incompetent fools! She is the perfect assistant one could ever dream of!

At least he can have her work for him again, as soon as his son graduates!

As soon as Umbridge closed the door and Marvolo felt the wards flare up, he wasted no time shifting back to his Lord Voldemort façade, and pointing His Yew wand at her, "Crucio!"

As usual, the thrill created by casting the Unforgiveable had been exactly what He needed to cheer up. The shrieks and thrashing of His stupid Undersecretary were only a bonus point. After almost twenty seconds, Voldemort lowered His wand, caressing the precious wand that had become almost too warm to touch after the intensity of the magical power behind the spell.

"Isss it too challenging for your halfwitted brain to not comprehend the differenssce between some foolish trivial matter that even the Internsss could sssolve, and a truly urgent matter that needsss the Head'sss permissssion?" Lord Voldemort snapped as Umbridge paused in between her shrieks to breathe, "How could sssomething asss trifling asss doxy infessstation need my authorization?!"

Umbridge flinched when The Dark Lord threw the file her way, all the files scattering on the floor around, making her panic and try to crawl after them, trying to arrange them back, "I...I'm sorry, M-my Lord, I...I thought...without your approval..."

"Well then do not think!" He snapped at her, "I have divided resssponsibilitiesss among my ssstaff on the very firssst day for thisss very reassson. Alssso, I would appreciate knowing what gave you the impressssion that you have the right to threaten anybody in my name," Voldemort said with chilling calm. "I don't recall usss ever reaching the level of closssenessss granting you such libertiesss... Unlessss, of courssse, you're implying that I sssuffered from temporary idiocy and then sssomehow lossst all memoriesss of sssuch an event, hmm?" Thanks to His sensitive hearing, He had no problem listening as the stupid frog flaunted and abused her position over the others. He didn't even know that a position as low as 'Junior Undersecretary' could have power over others, He basically created the position to aid His secretary Theonel, so He wouldn't have to worry about every minor detail of the Department!

Umbridge swallowed nervously, feeling like a frog staring into the eyes of a snake. "I...I'm sorry," she squeaks, her voice raising a high octave, Her heart starting to hammer as some primal instinct in her recognized that she was in the presence of something far more dangerous than herself. "I only wanted to be sure that everything meets your approval, My Lord."  

"If there'sss sssomething I don't approve of, I won't have any problem correcting it myssself. I don't require your assssistance. However, sssince you were appointed under my leaderssship, you've been breaking ssseveral rulesss I've made for the Department. Don't even think that I've not noticed you ripping off the application letter of that girl and then approving an incompetent fool! That wasss sssupposssed to be my job, not yoursss."

"Bu..but, My Lord, she is a Mudblood!"

"I have ssseen her NEWT resultsss, which confirmsss that ssshe'sss more eligible than that incompetent fool you hired, and that'sss what makesss her worthy to work in my Department!"  Voldemort roars, the force of His wrath makes the lights in the room dim and flicker momentarily, and Umbridge had acquired an interesting shade of paleness and green.

Lord Voldemort sighed and took a deep breath, especially since He can feel waves of apprehension and anxiety coming from the Horcrux bond as well. "Make no missstake, Doloresss, that you are employed asss my Undersssecretary merely becaussse I wisssh to keep an eye on you, and make sssure you do not messss with my goalsss. However, if you continue thisss charade, I would be really glad to be rid of you and find sssomeone more competent, sssomeone, who can actually do the job. Do. Not. Forget. Your. Place."

Umbridge gasped, realizing what it meant for her, and immediately started groveling in hopes of avoiding another Cruciatus. "N..no, M-my Lord, I...I'm sorry...please..."

"I'm sssure you are," Lord Voldemort resisted the urge to roll His eyes, "You will amend thissss." He added an extra hiss and it had an instant effect, as always.

"Y..yes, of course...anything.."

"You will go and find that girl, apologize to her properly and persssonally bring her here for another Job Interview, which I will hossst in two daysss. And you will dissscharge that fool. Am I underssstood?

"Y..yes, My Lord."

"Now begone!" He snapped, making her scamper off real quick.

Lord Voldemort rolled His eyes, before shifting back to his more human form and banishing the pile of paperwork back to her desk. He then grabbed the box where all the flying memos dismount, and went through them to find out the next agenda for the day. It looks like he still has fifteen minutes before Elena Ashworth and The Count would come to see him and discuss the next plans for the Removal of Creature KOS bill.

Maybe he can have some tea and maybe a sandwich until then?

Having his mind set up, he was about to call his receptionist and let her know when a knock was heard, and the receptionist appeared, "Lord Slytherin, sir," She smiled brightly on seeing him, blushing and tucking the stray hairs behind her ear, "Lady Malfoy is waiting outside, wishing to meet you about some familial emergency."

Narcissa? Familial emergency? Marvolo felt a worry rising inside him. Is it related to the dread and anxiety he felt from his son's end of the Horcrux bond? Marvolo had dismissed it initially, knowing Bella and the twins would take care of him. And now Narcissa is here? What is happening?

"Ask her to wait in my study, I will be there. Thank you, Amanda." Marvolo nodded, years of practice aiding him expertly ignoring the blush that appeared on her face at being acknowledged. It's all part of the charm and his good looks, he knows.

"Yes, sir."

As soon as Amanda left, Marvolo jumped up and rushed towards his study, the adjoining room beyond the other side of the gate. "What happened to my son? Is he okay?" He demanded as soon as he entered, not in the mood for pleasantries when his very much mortal son's health is involved. Why can't the child get some rest from all the injuries and hurts? It's like the whole Universe is working against him to break his promise of keeping the child safe every single day!

What could go wrong on a simple day, in the safest place he could find on Earth while hanging out with not one but four competent adults to take care of him?

"The Dark Prince is physically fine, My Lord."

"What happened?"

"After Reynaldo accidentally touched the Dark Prince's Manchineel Wand while teaching him some spell casting, The Dark Prince has left, probably blaming himself for poisoning Reynaldo, and since then we can't find him anywhere. The Castle annulled all our attempts to find him and every the House Elf refused to cooperate with us and disclose his location even under threat of clothes by you, declaring, and I quote, 'he doesn't want to come near us, and harm us'. All they would inform us is that The Dark Prince is hiding somewhere and sulking."

Marvolo blinked. That was not what he expected.

Of course, none of the House Elves would go against their Master Prince, they are more loyal to the child than the Lord of the Castle himself. Marvolo is sure that if he gives clothes to any of them, they will happily go to their Master Prince and bond with him personally. Even Mother Castle seems to be more fond of her Heir. With her loyalty to her Heir and all Marvolo's safety enchantments working against them, it's no wonder they haven't found him. Not even creature sense and blood magic would work there. They probably won't ever find him, and keep running in circles.

"Where is Nagini?"

Narcissa blushed, not having noticed her Lord's familiar's whereabouts in their haste to find the Dark Prince. "I am not sure, My Lord. Last I noticed her when I went to the room to tend to