Chương 1: Chapter 1 A Grindelwald's sorting.
Author Notes:
I have, finally, decided to upload my story onto Spacebattles, in hopes of getting a different viewpoint to the story.
This fic is based on an oc, the grandson of Gellert Grindelwald. This world is definitely AU.
...
A Grindlewald's Tale
Rodrick was startled. He found himself frozen, staring at an imminent disaster. One eye on a young raven haired girl, the other, on the trolley rocketing towards her. There was a tuft of red hair, pushing said trolley or… perhaps being pulled by it? Magic was the first explanation to enter his mind.
The girl wasn't budging. Rodrick was the first to move and took his place in front of her, facing the incoming onslaught. The trolley showed no signs of stopping. Putting one hand up, Rodrick murmured a small spell causing it to slow down until it came to a halt.
"T-thanks, I am not sure what got into it!" stammered the red-haired boy who was supposedly at the wheel. "I am Ron by the way, Ron Weasley," he quickly introduced himself. A little too cheerfully, considering he'd almost sent someone to the hospital.
"Rodrick," replied the black haired youth. "You should get going before her parents get here," he added with a small smirk.
The other boy didn't spare a second glance and started off his trolley once again towards his family. Rodrick took his eyes off the fleeing ginger and turned his attention to the young raven in front of him. "Are you okay?" his voice barely a whisper. The girl, however, looked glued in place. Rodrick moved a hand towards her head and a soft glow shined out of it.
"Ugh," was the first sound to leave her lips. The girl frantically looked around before her eyes slid up, soft yellow ones meeting her hazel ones. "Aah, thank you," she said quickly, fearing she had been impolite.
"No problem," replied the viper-eyed youth. "What's your name?" he asked with a smile that reached his eyes. Her clothes looked expensive… pureblood family perhaps?
"Astoria Greengrass," the little girl replied, her face glowing with a smile.
"Rodrick. A pleasure to meet you," Greengrass… the name sounded familiar.
Before he could contemplate it any further, he spotted three people running towards them. The woman was beautiful, with the same dark raven hair that reached her shoulders. Eyes sparkled like emeralds; She wore an expensive looking dark dress. Probably the mother. The man was dressed in a business suit. He had short brown hair with the same eyes as the young girl. Another dark haired girl followed them behind a trolley; she looked to be his age, he noted. When he looked closer, he saw the same emerald eyes as the mother. She was as tall as he is.
The woman bowed down towards her youngest daughter, pulling her into a hug. "I was so worried there for a second," there was a note of fear in her voice. She turned to the boy with a smile and thanked him.
Rodrick nodded, not knowing how else to respond and as he was about to turn to move away, a hand suddenly got a hold of his shoulder. The hand turned him gently, until he was facing the man.
"What's your name, young man? I believe I owe you my thanks for helping my daughter," there was a twinkle in his eyes as he spoke.
Rodrick opened his mouth to respond, but it was the young girl that spoke first: "His name is Rodrick!" she cheered with a toothy smile. Rodrick gave off a look of embarrassment at the sudden attention. He nodded meekly at the girl's words.
"Rodrick?" The man asked waiting for something else.
My last name, the boy realized."Just Rodrick, I am an orphan" he slowly added, not knowing what to expect next. The man's mouth went into an O shape.
"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you, Rodrick. My name is Cyrus Greengrass, and this is my wife, Roxanne,".The woman let loose another smile with the introductions. "I take it this is your first year? It will be Daphne's first year as well". The man added, pointing to his daughter, who appeared by his side.
Rodrick nodded again, unsure how to respond. The silence was starting to grow. 'What should I say? Should I leave now or am I expected to stay?' The thoughts whizzed around his head, fumbling for the correct course.
"Do you know anything about your family?" This question came from the green eyed mother, who wore a thoughtful, if empathetic, look on her face.
"No. I grew up in an orphanage," He was not sure how much to tell strangers.
Cyrus's eyes seemed to linger on Rodrick's trolley for a moment.
Ah, right. "I received all of the money for this with my letters of recommendation,"
"Really?" came the surprised answer of Cyrus, who put a hand on his chin to accommodate his thoughtful look. "Strange, perhaps you have some family somewhere who know about you?" He asked.
What did it matter to these people? He had never gotten much attention at the orphanage, and the moment he left, strangers were suddenly interested in him. "I wouldn't know of any," shrugged Rodrick, not all that bothered about it.
"You said letters?" The question came from Mrs. Greengrass this time. "There was more than one?" she added on.
"Yes, one from Hogwarts and another from Durmstrang" Rodrick replied quickly. Was that strange? He thought, most people got multiple letters didn't they? He turned his eyes over to the clock, panic swelling as he realized he was about to be late. The adults seemed to notice as well.
"I am going to go," he said with a smile "It was nice to meet all of you," he added politely. Before the Greengrass family could say anything else, he was already on his way. As he broke into a run, he heard snippets of a conversation involving wandless magic, or something like that. He put the thoughts at the back of his mind and made his way through the train platform, just like he'd seen others do before him.
To say he was awestruck at the sight that greeted him would be an understatement. Hundreds of people were on the other side. Some looked to be boarding the train, others were still hugging family members. He noticed the red haired boy from earlier talking to his family. Four or five? He wasn't sure how many children there were: there was a girl and even twins. Not much seemed to be missing. Their clothes looked rundown as his own and he paid them no more heed as he moved across.
Rodrick let go of his trolley. He started to levitate his items, believing it to be easier to carry everything inside. He did not expect the surprised looks. Everyone around him, including the red haired group was staring at him, in surprise or even in shock. Perhaps it was because he was alone, while everyone else was surrounded by family. He didn't let his thoughts linger on it too long, lest he got upset again. Soon he was walking through the compartments with his luggage floating behind and the stares of other passengers piercing him from all directions. 'What's with all these people' he thought, shifting around uncomfortably. He put away his trunk, taking a book and his wand out and made to find an empty compartment. He then proceeded to sink into one of the window seats and opened up his book. Hogwarts: A History.
...
Rodrick snorted as he read through another chapter of the book, according to the book, Muggles only saw a danger sign should they ever come anywhere close to Hogwarts, said sign was supposed to keep them from attempting to enter the castle. He knew full well that such a sign wouldn't have stopped him, let alone muggles who, he was certain, had a bigger death wish.
Hogwarts was a fascinating castle, it was said to have been built almost 1000 years ago, no one really knew the exact time as such records were lost over the years. The more he read, the more he realised how much he'd missed out on whilst stuck in the orphanage, it's not that he wasn't allowed out but more that he simply found the idea of magic really existing impossible. Until he'd received his letters. So far, it looked like he'd chosen the right school. As he was about to turn the page, Rodrick heard the rustle of the compartment door open, there in front of him was the girl he'd met on the platform.
...
The girl broke the silence first.
"Hello, I am Daphne Greengrass..." This seemed to earn no response from the boy, "from the platform, you helped my sister," her eyes slightly narrowed as once again he didn't reply, leaving the girl confused at his sudden memory loss.
"I remember, I am just curious why you're standing there," Rodrick eventually said with a small smile. She didn't like the smile if the scowl on her face was anything to go by. I must look rather pretentious I suppose. Getting rid of the smile, Rodrick stood up and offered his hand to shake properly; this received a better response.
The girl quickly took a seat opposite him.
Rather forward of her, didn't even ask for permission... although I suppose I don't own this compartment so perhaps she doesn't need it? Even then politeness demands some attempt of... ah forget it. "I imagine you're looking to be in Slytherin?" This caught the girl by surprise but she didn't seem to be upset her if her tugging lips had anything to say about it.
"Yes I suppose I am, either that or Ravenclaw, my parents were in those houses," She had a longing look in her eyes when she mentioned her family.
Wonder what that feels like, thought Rodrick.
Daphne followed with, "what makes you say that?" Her voice sounded sincere,I think so anyway, I am not sure what sincere sounds like, for all I know I could confuse it with contempt. Rodrick only just realized how big a different world an orphanage was to the wizarding world. Or basically any other place that wasn't't an orphanage...
"No reason," was all Rodrick answered with, this met two slightly narrowed slits, yup straight to Slytherin was his last thought.
Daphne eyes went over to the book beside and widened when she saw the book, "Reading a book like that? On a train?"
Confusion was writ over Rodrick's face, wondering if he'd made a mistake. "Is that bad?" he asked in a slightly wavering voice.
She studied him for a second before answering, "Well you said you're from an orphanage... I had thought you'd prefer the view over reading about a castle you're bound to learn about,". She finished with a raised eyebrow.
Content with the answer Rodrick deflated to his seat.
"I can watch the view next year if I make it out Hogwarts alive this year, I ought to prepare for that don't you think?" He said the last part with a hint of amusement; this earned a small chuckle out of the girl.
"I hardly see the danger, Hogwarts is the largest wizarding school in Britain and the safest," she looked about to continue the argument but stopped abruptly for some reason. If Rodrick sensed the abruptness, he didn't show it. He stared back at the book and spoke.
"I would rather not be turned into a frog on my first year, preferably would be better if I possibly turned someone else into a frog to set off some form of intimidation, " Rodrick said this without a hint of sarcasm, This made it all the funnier for the Greengrass. the sudden laughter had shaken Rodrick before a small scowl appeared on his face. "What?" he quietly asked. He knew very well it was possible, he still hadn't learned how to counter it, even with how much he knew regarding the branch of magic... Trying to use magic in frog form was for some strange reason harder then any other form.
After attempts to contain herself, the girl finally looked back at him and said: "I didn't realize muggle borns thought of witches and wizards as people who only know how to turn others into frogs." Rodrick quickly cut off anything else she was planning to say as he spoke up.
"I am not Muggle-born," he said with a stoic face. This earned a rather confused look out of the girl in front of him, before she could say anything, however, the door slammed open.
There stood a girl with bushy looking hair staring at them, both Daphne and Rodrick stared at the girl with mild annoyance at the rudeness shown but neither said anything.
"Have you seen a toad?" she asked expecting everyone to know the context.
Rodrick saw the look on Daphne's face about to entertain the girl further, before he stopped it. "No we haven't I am afraid," this prompted a harrumph out of the girl, her eyes wandered over to Rodrick's book before she proceeded to start babbling on about something or the other. Rodrick blocked all of it out and only stared at her waiting for the rant to finish. The other girl didn't look to do that as she attempted to converse with the girl. Pointlessthought Rodrick. After the initial stream of information, the girl finally decided to leave but not before introducing herself as Hermione Granger. She was gone after receiving introductions from the two passengers who now only stared at each other trying to think of a subject.
"Have you heard?" suddenly spoke the dark haired girl in front of him, "Harry Potter's on this train to Hogwarts!" she said the last part excitedly.
"Who?" was all that was needed to be said to send the girl in front of him to confusion. Her green eyes stared back in shock. "Joking, I know who he is. I am looking forward to the year, what house do you think he'd be in?"
"If you're going to joke make it believable," her serious tone didn't reach her eyes. "And I assume he'd be put into Gryffindor."
"I suppose I won't see him much then," he replied naturally, "Although I think a friendship would be quite Difficult." He accidentally said the second part out loud.
"How so?" intrigue ran all over her face. she was staring at him with a contemplative look.
"I would like to join Slytherin; it'd be the only place I'd belong in," the tone of his voice was almost despondent. if she noticed it, she said nothing.
"You told me you weren't Muggle-born..." she stopped herself there once again not trusting herself to talk anymore. If he was a pureblood, calling a muggle-born was an insult...
He nodded along, but before he could continue, the compartment door quickly opened up again revealing the trolley lady, Rodrick stared at the sweets silently wishing they'd disappear, Daphne, on the other hand, took a small bag of coins she used to get some candy of the trolley. Once she was done the lady turned to Rodrick expecting a response, He shook his head to signal his answer, the Lady took it with an understanding look and left.
Daphne Greengrass was currently sitting next to a mountain of sweets, she picked one of them up, quickly throwing it to the other wizard, The Boy was a little surprised by the gesture before he thanked her. The thoughtful look didn't help, but he wasn't in any place to complain.
He popped the sweet into his mouth before feeling a sudden hot burn as the sweet melted in. Rodrick almost screeched from the pain causing the girl to hold back her laughter. Better than the previous look by far. He thought to himself.
"How long did you live in the orphanage?" She suddenly asked. The immediate question didn't leave the boy fumbling for too long before he composed himself.
Rodrick Thought to himself quickly before he gave his answer. "My whole life, I never met any of my parents," he added on to settle any possible questions regarding his family.
"You don't know who your family is then?" She asked with a small twinkle in her eyes. A single shake was all it took to grab the girls attention. "Oh?" she added leaning a little closer now, "Who were they?"
"I only know my family name; it came with the letter...But I would rather not..." He wasn't sure how to finish. There didn't seem to be any harm in letting her know, but something in the back of his mind stopped him. The girl noticed this and nodded to move on with to something else. He smiled at the action. She was rather considerate for a pureblood.
"Is there any reason you sought this compartment out?" Rodrick asked. "Besides me helping your sister I mean?" He quickly added on, he was genuinely confused about the girl's reason for showing up there, he knew most of the other compartments hadn't been full.
"Well," the girl started with a contemplative look, "I was curious, you seemed to do wandless magic like it was nothing, almost everyone around here saw you. even at the station." She spoke, unsure where she was heading herself.
"Is it weird?" the boy asked back with a slightly resigned look.
"Yes, but in a good way," she quickly added, she looked up again and "It's impressive to do wandless magic in the first place but.. to do it in your first year... it's really..." she stopped again unsure of where to go with it.
"Hopefully, it will be enough to put me in Slytherin," the boy said quite quickly. Daphne gave him a strange look.
"Why do you want to be in Slytherin? Family tradition?" she added with a small smile of amusement. The questioning look came up again when he shook his head.
"I don't know what house my family members were in or even if they were in Hogwarts; I just know that it's the place I can fit in quite easily."
before the girl could ask his reason, he continued.
"Gryffindor is too packed together, I'd be involved with too many people, and I am sure you can quite tell I am not very good with socializing," she almost couldn't help the tugging lips when she heard that.
"Ravenclaw has a bar so high you could fall to death from it, no, the pressure there would kill me before the end of the year," she found herself nodding along to this, She was about to question it been only the first year but realized he was looking long term. "Hufflepuff... wouldn't even notice my discomfort no matter what I did, If I screamed it in their faces they'd probably shove a chocolate bar down my throat to calm me down... no, I really don't want to murder anyone before the end of the first term," she couldn't help the laughter at this part. while he was most likely exaggerating, she could very well see the scene happening before her. "That leaves Slytherin where you're tempted to mind your own business, hide in the shadows and plot in peace, although I just want the peace part out of it,"
Daphne found herself smiling at his explanation wondering how accurate it was.
"You've done a good job at convincing me to go to Slytherin, who knows, we both might end up there," she said with a glint in her eyes that screamed trouble.
"Evil" was his reply prompting a light slap from the girl. Both were laughing at the end of it.
Change into your school robes was heard inside the compartment, not needing another word, Rodrick got up and waited outside the doors for the girl to finish changing. After the girl had finished, they switched places.
With both changed they sat in silence finishing of the sweets.
...
Rodrick turned over to look at his companion; She still seemed quite strange to him, he'd never actually spent this much time with someone without something happening. The orphanage was a lonely place for him; no one else put up with him for long, almost everyone avoided him for some reason. The ones he made an effort to speak to would make more of an attempt to avoid him, even when they didn't, they always disappeared anyway. Adults wanting a child almost favored the good ones that didn't shun him, The people that didn't get adopted would usually blame it on been seen with him. He was the outsider. When he had gotten the first letter, he had finally understood why. Muggles didn't fit well with wizards; it came on a subconscious level.
Pureblood wizards didn't fit with muggles. When he'd first learned his family name and its history he'd felt ashamed of himself for even trying to interact with muggles, not for the usual pureblood reasons but for the fact that the only family that he had or could've had would've also been disappointed in him. It wasn't a pleasant thought. The dreams certainly helped prove that.
He had thought all pureblood families were like his own.
That was the main reason he was confused with the girl next to him, her family were purebloods, but they didn't seem revolted when they'd learned he was an orphan, the likelihood of an orphan been pureblood was small. They were open with him, and the girl had even put effort to find him on the train. It was strange, but in a comforting way, he might finally have a friend.
...
He was currently following a giant burly man, The Greengrass girl flanking him, Daphne was her name, he believed. The giant man had a bushy beard that covered his neck and even longer hair. He had a torch in hand in front him, a load of good it did, a magic spell would've been much more efficient.
They reached what looked to be a river; the man pointed towards some row boats for students to use. Before he'd moved an inch further, Rodrick was pulled to a stop by Daphne. ''Hold on a minute'' she whispered, her eyes looking away. Before he could reply he saw a fuzz of hair running towards them. The girl gave Daphne a hug and a scrutinizing look towards him.
Who is she? He thought. Rodrick took a closer look and noticed the aura she put off, it wasn't the same as Daphne nor was it similar to the Granger girl. Throughout the journey towards the platform, Rodrick had seen different families put off different presence's, especially between purebloods and Muggle-borns, of course not all families gave off such an aura but the prominent ones did, Greengrass was one of them. This girl looked to be in between. Wizard marrying a muggle? The idea confused him, surely marrying a fellow wizard would make life easier, not to mention a muggle learning to deal with a wizard for a partner would be troublesome, to say the least. He couldn't fathom why such a union could take place. Of course he could be wrong. He was only 11.
''My name is Tracey Davis,'' the new girl introduced herself, her eyes showed off a look of wonder and excitement. She was a red head with curly looking hair, with black eyes to go with it.
Davis wasn't a name he knew; He'd studied as much on magical families as he could after he'd received the letters. ''Nice to meet you, mines Rodrick,'' A static reply, Rodrick turned his attention away towards the row boats preparing to get on. He heard a scoff from Daphne. His lips tugged upwards at that.
''Rude ain't he?'' mused Daphne, Rodrick noticed the humor in her voice. Tracey let out a chuckle and followed him onto the boat. He could get on well with her as well it seemed.
Rodrick had imagined what the castle would look like countless times while reading 'Hogwarts: A History', but he certainly wasn't ready for the sight awaiting him. The castle was as big as it was old, sprawling so broad and high he couldn't frame it all into his vision. What attracted his attention the most were the towers almost piling on top of each other, vying to pierce the sky first. Rodrick was unable to take his eyes off the view for the rest of the trip, all the way to the massive doors, drinking in every detail he could, trying and failing to compare it to what was written.
Walking through the castle to the large staircase, the trio found themselves at the back of the rest of the students. Ahead of them at the top was a witch in every sense of the word. ''Who is that?'' Rodrick turned to Daphne, a look of surprise flitted through her face before she focused on the person in question.
''Professor McGonagall, head of Gryffindor,'' she replied with a small smile. Tracey Davis answered, staring at the witch with a look of awe.
Rodrick couldn't help the chuckle at such a face; she seemed to make it with everything around her. Daphne didn't find it as funny if her irritated look suggested anything.
The professor started to speak, ''Welcome to Hogwarts, now in a few moments you will pass through these doors and join your classmates, but before you can take your seats you must be sorted into your houses.''
Rodrick suddenly felt uneasy at that, he had expected the sorting, but he had hoped it would be private. To be sorted in front of so many people unnerved him, what if something went wrong with his sorting? Daphne noticed the look on his face, she tugged at his sleeve and gave him a reassuring smile. It didn't help, but he pretended to calm down all the same.
The action seemed to placate her. The body of students followed the professor into the main hall. There were four large rows of tables filled up by students, at the front of the hall was a 5th table on top of a dais. It was filled with professors on one side, all staring down at the students. In the middle was a seat covered by a...Wrinkled hat...It couldn't be... thought Rodrick.
A few moments later his fears were confirmed, they were all going to be sorted by a wrinkled hat. Rodrick looked to be about ready to leave the hall at the thought, but, Daphne wouldn't move out of the way, almost knowing his thoughts.
The headmaster started to give a speech, but Rodrick simply couldn't focus, his brain was going into overdrive trying to figure a way out of this. The hat would know his family, if it suddenly decided to spill that out...Well he didn't know what would happen, he didn't want to find out either.
Daphne was behind Rodrick, next to her was her long time friend chatting animatedly with a fellow student, she stared at Rodrick wondering what was wrong with him, he'd been acting strange ever since they'd met the professor, the look he gave was haunting almost lifeless, it sent shock through her, to say the least. She hadn't noticed it on the train, but as soon as the sorting part was mentioned, he'd gone pale. Was he hiding something? She couldn't tell, her thoughts already pre-occupied. The sorting ceremony had begun.
Before long, almost half the students had been sorted, the next name to come up was the girl from the train, Hermione Granger. The hat had spent quite a bit of time before deciding on Gryffindor, the girl's eyes lit up at that before she made her way over to the table.
The next to follow was Malfoy, the loudmouth who had interrupted them on the staircase, the hat didn't touch his head, out of fear of corruption maybe? Before it quickly threw him into Slytherin. That was a part Rodrick didn't enjoy, knowing he might have to deal with him for seven years, well assuming he made it that far.
Greengrass was next, as predicted she was off to Slytherin, with a smile on her face. As she passed him she looked a little flustered at the wink she got from Rodrick, it was quite amusing to see.
The ginger would've been criminal was next, the hat seemed to enjoy tormenting him before pushing him towards his family members in Gryffindor. After a couple of strangers were put through, it was Daphne's friends turn, it didn't take long before she was also put into Slytherin.
Curious, thought Rodrick, the girl didn't seem like she belonged there or was it done merely because the girl had thought been with her friend would make it easier? This brought the better question out, did the hat take into account what the students wanted? It had certainly given off that vibe when it was Harry Potters turn, although almost everyone expected him in Gryffindor so perhaps that wasn't a good example. If it did then Rodrick found himself in an actual dilemma, While he might want to be in a house with people he already knew, Been put into Slytherin could potentially backfire badly, especially in his circumstances.
Before long everyone else had been sorted, lucky me, mused Rodrick. The professor finally called out his name, as he suspected they had no knowledge of his family name, the headmaster seemed to inspect him when he himself had noticed that.
Well, perhaps the hat won't know either, he hoped, before steeling his nerves and walking towards it.
''Strange... very very strange,'' The hat had said as soon he put it on. This was expected for Rodrick but the second part was not. ''I am not sure.''
That did it. Everyone was staring towards him at that; the hat wasn't sure? What did that mean? Even the headmaster was openly gawking at him now. ''Why not?'' hopeless asked Rodrick; he knew he was doomed either way.
''It's difficult, you would fit in well at Ravenclaw as well as Slytherin, but the only relation I have of you is in Gryffindor.'' That confused Rodrick, he had a family member in Gryffindor? Who? This was a first for him. He didn't ask, not wanting to risk anything.
The hat was quite for a few minutes, no it was longer than that. Rodrick had lost count; the student body had started to whisper amongst themselves about something, even some of the professors began to do it. It was nerve-wracking, he wasn't sure how long had passed, he knew it was less than 10 minutes, but it had felt like hours before the hat had finally spoken up again, it wasn't an answer though but a question.
''Where would you prefer?'' The hat gave him a choice, this took him by surprise, it hadn't mentioned anything about his family which it knew off, instead it was merely giving him a choice. He gave off a small resigned look towards his new friends before replying.
''If I said Hufflepuff, would you put me there?'' He asked half amused. The hat refused quickly.
Hearing that Rodrick steeled his nerves and gave his answer.
It was another small silence before the hat finally shouted out.
''Slytherin.''
...
It didn't have the same effect as the rest, not that Rodrick had any place to complain in the first place. After going through everyone else's sorting, most houses met them with applause or cheers at their newest addition, After Rodrick, there was only silence.
Rodrick stood from his place and started to make his way over to the Slytherin table, avoiding any eye contact, He saw a place in front of Daphne and decided to take it. He sat down focusing in front of him having no intention to engage any strangers around him, especially considering the wary looks everyone seemed to give him. The biggest one being from a certain blonde haired kid who'd already started to act like the head of the bloody house; he sat four seats apart from him on the other side, he had no problem in making Rodrick uncomfortable with the way he was staring.
"I Didn't know orphans were allowed in Slytherin," Malfoy sneered towards Rodrick, his eyes were almost challenging. Two Slytherins beside him puffed their chests out of nowhere.
'How did he know I am an orphan?' thought Rodrick, His first suspicion went towards Daphne or Tracey telling Malfoy but thought better of it quickly when he remembered Harry Potter been targeted out of nowhere earlier. 'Leave it to an extremist pureblood to set up a spy network.' He'd heard of the Malfoys on his way through Diagon Alley; They were well known for their dislike of Muggles, not much for anything else, nothing positive anyway. Rodrick Turned his eyes towards the source of the voice, only to see a smug face in return. "You ought to be grateful for that" he shrugged back.
"Why the hell would I care?" he bit back confused. Daphne, as well as some more Slytherins around them, turned their attentions towards them.
"Because if your family ever gets another heir, you'll still be welcomed here," he replied back with tugging smirk.
Rodrick was quite surprised with himself at this, it wasn't in his nature to antagonize someone, but with Malfoy he found himself lacking any care. He knew a friendship with him would neither end well nor even start. 'If I had a family whose reputation I cared about I might've been more careful, sadly mine's a reputation that can't be saved.' The thought brought a sad look on his face 'any case no matter how good of friends he was, (if that were possible), with Malfoy, his family wouldn't be willing to help an orphan. Of course, if I told him my family name, that would be different but it wouldn't be the kind of support I'd want...' Rodrick turned his attention back towards table and noticed most of those around him had trouble keeping the smile off their face at this response, Malfoy looked positively radiant with anger. Greengrass was positively glowing with laughter, Tracey looked nervous.
'How dare he... doesn't he know who I am? Who my father is?' these thoughts sent a storm through his mind however before Malfoy could form a response the Headmaster started his speech.
"Welcome!" he said. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin out banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are. Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you."
The reactions were mixed throughout the hall. Daphne looked towards Tracey with a look of mild confusion before she turned towards Rodrick and found a different expression.
"Subtle," This brought some looks his way which was once again quickly taken away towards Malfoy who had, in his glories number of years of wisdom, decided to question the headmaster's sanity.
Daphne ignored the blonde and turned her head towards Rodrick and tried asking what he meant but before she could let out any words. Food had appeared on the tables. The sight of all those different kinds of cuisine almost made her salivate at sight; she hadn't realized how hungry she was until now. Her long time friend was staring at the food in awe. Rodrick, however, looked almost like a stone. 'Ah, he's probably never had anything like this,' she realized. She called out his name and told him to relax and eat. He merely nodded back before attempting to bring food onto his plate. One of the boys near him got into a conversation with him.
Rodrick was currently talking to one of his fellow first years, A boy named Blaize Zabini, he was slightly closed off from what Rodrick could tell, this however made it all the easier to start talking to him, it was something they had in common. After explaining his situation, Blaize seemed more intent to listen, of course, it was only after mentioning he wasn't a muggle born. Telling him he was pureblood would cause more harm than good, what would he do if he asked for proof? Half-blood was a little more open, of course, Blaize still asked the question, but Rodrick's response earned a small smirk.
"What muggle born goes to Slytherin exactly?" it was vague, but it seemed to lighten the mood between them.
The boy was indeed stuck up, to say the least. His opinion seemed blunt but that sometimes could be useful, which is far more than he can say for his fellow other Slytherins, his two friends aside. Whether they could be friends or not was another matter. Rodrick was terrible at making friendships, to begin with, his lifetime in an orphanage helped start the foundation for that. His strange dreams helped put an even bigger wedge between him and his fellow orphans and the sudden proof, his letters, that those dreams were more a part of his reality then he realized helped ruin everything he'd grown up believing as a muggle. He was essentially starting from scratch, and with terrible social skills, it was a tiring adventure.
His friendship with Daphne didn't start out with him talking to her but more out of him saving her sister, the rest just fell into place really, Tracey Davis came along with it. There wouldn't be such luck with everyone else. There was no harm in trying either. They had been talking about their different lifestyles up to this point, it was comical, to say the least. Blaize who had grown up with more fathers than he'd ever wanted and a mother who may or may not have smothered him a touch too much was talking with an orphan who had no idea what having a family in the first place feels like. Yes, it was comical. Which is why it was so easy to talk to each other, they get to see a glimpse of what the other side was like. While this may have been true for the other first year Slytherins, They seemed to be slightly too discriminating towards him for some unexplainable reason, other than insulting Malfoy but that was bound to happen sooner or later. He'd seen Daphne's family first hand and felt uncomfortable talking to her about what it's like, he couldn't fathom why. Tracey had too much energy to be stuck in one conversation. He had no intention of talking to the older years if he couldn't even manage his year group.
A small shriek came from a Slytherin girl near Malfoy; she looked shocked before she pointed towards the cause.
A ghost... It was a ghost with blood on his shirt, it had the first years entranced. Daphne turned towards the other tables and noticed even more of them, but none of them had any blood on their selfs, except the one pulling his head back, that one was disgusting. She almost threw up her food at the sight. Next to her Tracey looked in awe and excitement. 'I have no idea how her brain works' thought a bemused Daphne. She heard the boy in front of her ask who the ghosts were. It still surprised her how easy it was for him to accept all this. Rodrick, for an orphan, was acting like he had known all this his whole life. "That there is The Bloody Baron, he's the ghost of Slytherin," This came from one of the older years. 'of course, he is...' thought Daphne.
"Leave it for a Slytherin ghost to die with blood covering him" Shrugged Rodrick.
She couldn't help the chuckle that came out. Her fellow housemates returned to their food, a few of them had started up conversations with said ghost. Daphne turned to see the rest of the hall, Hufflepuff's table seemed to be chatting animatedly, Gryffindor was a little too loud, some even let off sparks with their wands. 'Dolts the lot of em' thought Daphne. Ravenclaw looked reserved; though she couldn't quite see much of the house from here. She turned back towards her plate of food and went back to eating. It wasn't long before Tracey brought her back into a conversation about the food back at her home.
The first years were soon escorted out of the hall; they were following two prefects towards there would be rooms for the year. Rodrick was chatting with Daphne on the way, Tracey was trying to make new friends with the other students. She was currently speaking with a pug-faced girl.
"Something about her seems off," Rodrick remarked, slyly pointing towards the girl with Tracey.
"What is?" replied back Daphne although there appeared to be the hint of a smile.
"She isn't snorting; I half expected her to," shrugged the boy with a small glint in his eyes.
"That's just rude! there your classmates you really ought to take care what you say!" Daphne had pulled him closer to whisper and attempted to come off as serious, Rodrick turned his head towards and gave off an innocent look in his eye which prompted the girl to start laughing immediately. " I don't understand you at all, one minute you're nice to everyone, the next you insult them behind their backs. It's hardly a good quality you know,"
"The way I see it you should have no problem as long as it's not you or miss Davis getting insulted," Rodrick replied back with an air of misplaced confidence.
"And how do I know you won't talk behind our backs when you're with someone else?" She asked with a mischievous glint in her eyes.
"Oh, I value our friendship too much for that," This time Rodrick had a smirk to go with it.
"You've barely known me a day, hardly enough time to warrant such value," she was slightly confused at him for this.
"Yes, just from that you can imagine just how hard I try to make friends," He'd attempted to say this with as much sarcasm as he could, but all it did was get him to look slightly pitiful, realizing that he gave a resigned look towards the ground.
Daphne seeing this tugged at his arm before giving him a small smile, "Perhaps but you're not as bad as you think you are," she tried to cheer him up. Instead, the twinkle in his eyes from earlier returned.
"Try to convince our fellow Slytherins that,"
"I am afraid that's impossible, even with magic," she replied back playfully.
The group of students had made it towards a wall the prefects decided to stop in front of. One of them had motioned to said wall and told the rest it was the entrance to their dorm, after uttering out the password, Basilisk, they pushed in how important it was that they kept such a thing a secret from the other houses. The prefects led the way down the dimly lit corridor before explaining more of the rules surrounding the wizarding school and of course, more importantly, their head of houses rules for Slytherin.
Tracey Davis had come back towards them, looking quite put out after her conversation with the pug.
"Basilisk," said Rodrick, "Is it any wonder the other houses are wary of us?"
The words managed to light up Tracey's mood, Rodrick smiled back at the little victory. He continued the rest of the walk in silence slowly behind Daphne who was busy animatedly chatting away to her friend.
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