บท 32: Chapter 32:
Rodrick and his friends split off from Malfoy's group; Pansy had decided to follow the Malfoy heir, Luna went along following the first years before she gave off a cheerful goodbye to him and his friends. They were currently led towards several carriages, Rodrick stared around trying to find if there was anything that would be pulling them before he considered the fact they were bewitched to move on their own.
"I kinda miss the boats," Spoke a wistful Tracey as she stared at the black lake.
"I don't, it's not good for my hair," remarked Blaise with slight disdain.
Rodrick and Daphne stared at each other at that before chuckling.
"You barely have any" They spoke at the same time.
Blaise frowned, he was about to retort before he saw Tracey laughing along with them and decided three against one weren't excellent odds. He scowled mockingly before making his way inside the carriage. Rodrick followed him and took a seat opposite the boy; Daphne was the next one, she took a seat next to Rodrick and Tracey went opposite her.
"Where do you think Malfoy went?" asked a bemused Tracey.
"Potter hunting most likely," retorted Rodrick, he sighed before resting his head near the carriage windows.
Tracey shook her head; she was always the most sensible of them.
"Weird they didn't appear on the train, don't you think? Even Weasley didn't show up."
Rodrick narrowed his eyes when Weasley was mentioned; he had nothing against the family, more against the youngest male. The night after they'd gotten their books for the year Rodrick had a dream remembering the troll incident from the previous year.
"Don't mention that moron," Rodrick scoffed.
The three others stared at each other confused before they turned back to Rodrick.
"Ron Weasley?" asked Tracey.
He nodded his head.
Daphne moved a little closer to peer at his face before she spoke.
"Did something happen between you two?" she asked carefully even though she had an idea on what the problem was...
Rodrick turned his face at her, a confused look on his face.
"Don't you remember? I am fairly certain the club didn't hit you..." He stated uneasily as he took his wand and started scanning her head.
Daphne blinked at the action before pushing the wand away, "It wasn't that b-" She stopped as she remembered how that night had ended.
"Oh, don't worry about that! You were there to save the poor witch in distress!" Blaise mocked. That earned him two angry looking glares from the girls.
"Sorry..." he quickly muttered.
Daphne turned back to Rodrick and saw him still eyeing her.
"If you say so," He shrugged
Daphne chuckled, shaking her head. He had an odd way of caring for people.
...
It didn't take very long to reach the castle.
Tracey and Daphne were both trying to hex Blaise for some odd reason. Rodrick wondered what Blaise could have possibly done to deserve that. He sighed at his friend's actions before he followed the group of wizards into the hall.
Things had gone on similarly to the previous year although Rodrick had noticed their head of house was missing and unsurprisingly it was Malfoy who noticed that Harry Potter hadn't turned up either. Rodrick's friends quickly started throwing out random theories on the matter, Rodrick had been about to join his friend's ridiculous ideas before one from Theodore Nott had raised the bar too high.
"Maybe they couldn't pass through the platform and had to come here in a flying car, got caught by the ministry and are now in Azkaban."
The second year side of the table was staring at Nott before some broke out in laughter attracting some of the other years aswell.
"It's possible..." Nott murmured to himself.
"Yeah, and Dumbledore used to be a dark wizard," Retorted a sarcastic Blaise.
Rodrick snorted when he realized how much truth there was to that; his grandfather had filled him with some quite interesting stories. Daphne had rolled her eyes at the boy's behaviour while Tracey giggled on with the rest.
Their attention was quickly taken away when the Transfiguration Professor walked in with a group of first years behind her.
When the sorting started, Rodrick turned his attention elsewhere, he focused when people of interest came up, Luna and Ginny, but otherwise left his eyes to wander. He wasn't surprised to see the Weasley girl go to Gryffindor but was a little surprised to see Luna go to Ravenclaw, Malfoy had almost gasped when that happened, he hadn't expected that at all. Rodrick wasn't too surprised, the girl was surprisingly very self-aware. His attention quickly went towards the great oak doors before his eyes found Harry Potter and Ron Weasley, his eyes widened slightly before he pointed his friends towards them. Malfoy sneered when he saw them, he'd hoped Harry wasn't showing up this year. Nott looked disappointed his theory wasn't true. Everyone else was more curious than anything else; the older years didn't really care all that much.
He saw his head of house quickly lead the two boys elsewhere.
"Wonder what's happened?" Rodrick questioned no one in particular, that unfortunately set everyone off to create their own strange theories. Rodrick noted amused even Daphne had decided to join in.
The rumours quickly sorted around; the two idiots had shown up in a flying car.
"Yup... not sure what I expected." Rodrick deadpanned
Nott had never looked so happy, his theory was half true, but it was still something. Malfoy had never looked so upset. They didn't get expelled after all.
"Come now Malfoy, if McGonagall really expelled Potter, there's no way they'd win the house cup," Rodrick remarked, a bemused smile on his face. It sent most of the people around him to either laugh or roll their eyes, but all of them knew it was true. "Besides... It only means we'd be able to get away with more..." he left the meaning up to everyone else to decide although Malfoy did look considerably happier at that.
The Slytherins were quickly escorted down to their dungeons; the prefects gave their usual lecture to the first years before they finally told everyone the password. "Mudblood," Rodrick really didn't want to ask who thought that was a good idea, it was the prefect's decision to pick a 'suitable name.' He was fairly certain their head hadn't known, he'd been quite busy during the sorting. Even Daphne and Tracey looked put out, but they could never really show that around their Slytherin classmates, most of them were smirking at the choice, Blaise, Rodrick noted slightly relieved, was indifferent. Malfoy was ecstatic; he looked high on a cheering charm.
Rodrick gave his goodbyes to the girls before he marched up to the dorms, Blaise and Malfoy in tow, Malfoy's two bodyguards were still lounging around the common room, no doubt spying for Malfoy. Still, Rodrick was surprised Malfoy would give him the lead so easily, 'what did his father tell him exactly?' He thought. Blaise seemed confused whether to appear too friendly with the girls or not, Rodrick had no issue there, he didn't really have a reputation to worry about. It seemed that his reputation simply couldn't go bad, Grindelwald charisma was hard to hate. Rodrick chuckled to himself at the thought. The trio quickly found their new dorms; they were warmer than the previous year.
"Think the first year ones are cold to get them used to the environment?" Nott asked, he'd showed up from behind Malfoy.
"Nah, they can get used to that by talking to Malfoy," Rodrick replied back.
Nott snorted at the answer, before smirking at Malfoy's scowl.
"Hilarious! Rodrick..."
To Rodrick's surprise, Malfoy seemed to want to say more but held his mouth. Rodrick stopped walking up, earning a confused look from Blaise. Nott had ignored him altogether and kept on going.
"Go ahead; I'll join you in a sec," Rodrick turned his attention towards Draco.
Blaise nodded warily before he made his way up, Malfoy was about to follow before a hand on his shoulder stopped him. Malfoy turned to face Rodrick's eyes, slightly unsettled.
"Wha-" He was about to ask before Rodrick cut him off.
"What did your father tell you?"
Malfoy eyes widened slightly, he thought for a few seconds before giving off his answer.
"He told me you're dangerous."
Rodrick's eyes narrowed slightly before he let go of the boy's shoulder and made to enter the dorms.
"Is he wrong?" Asked Malfoy, he was still standing on the staircase. He had a defiant look on his face.
Rodrick for a split second remembered his grandfather's words, 'Only fear can bring down someone like Malfoy.' He closed his eyes, he still somewhat disagreed with the words, but not because it wasn't true. At the end of the day, he was a Grindelwald; nothing would ever change that. As long as he didn't need to use fear on his other friends, it was okay.
Malfoy Snr should understand why he was threatening his kid... It#s not like he didnt do the same with him.
Rodrick sighed, he quickly focused his magic, he wasn't even sure how effective it was. His grandfather had shown him howto focus his magic to his Occulemency shield but it was hard to pull off, it felt like forcing magic to his head, it always gave him a headache when he tried. He turned back, his eyes locking themselves to Malfoy's. 'Well here goes nothing... worst case I have to show him the killing curse as proof,' thought an amused Rodrick, that would probably always work.
"How much are you willing to risk to find out?" Rodrick asked in an emotionless voice. His magic amplifying the shield behind his eyes.
Malfoy flinched, the boy's demeanour changed too quickly, it was almost frightening. He had been doubtful about his father's words, after the train incident he was left even more unsure of it, but he went along with it... His father was always right after all. But now... staring at the eyes in front of him... Malfoy didn't know how or why, but he felt dread oozing from them. He was quick to turn his gaze; there was something unsettling about them... His father was right... Definitely right, he made the right choice in befriending him.
Malfoy smirked but said nothing; he didn't know what he could say at that point.
Rodrick raised an eyebrow before he shrugged and continued on his way up. It apparently seemed to work.
Malfoy followed him up quickly; his father had urged him to get close to the wizard, only now could he see why.
The next day proved to be a wonderful start for Rodrick, Ron Weasley received a howler, one that sent half the hall into laughter and everyone at the Slytherin table.
Their head of house was quite angry at the password but naturally, no one owned up to it. It was the Slytherin way.
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