Chapter 10: 

Authors Notes: Gryffindor share Transfiguration, Charms, and Potions with Slytherin.

Time seemed to whizz through for Rodrick at Hogwarts; It had been two months since the start of the year. The school had a knack for excitement and drama occurring; this was mostly from a particular snake called Malfoy and his unhealthy obsession to try and torment the Boy Who Lived.

Each attempt ending spectacularly towards Harry Potter's favor. At the start of the year, Rodrick had found it amusing to see Malfoy fail so many times.

Two months in, however, Rodrick found himself irritated with the famed hero, he didn't have a problem with the boy himself so to speak but more with the professors.

Each one, Professor Snape aside, of course, had decided that due to his past, the boy had some special circumstances that allowed him to avoid punishment when he broke school rules. Rodrick found himself agreeing with Malfoy on more than one occasion when Harry Potter had violated a rule, and instead of punishment, he received a reward. Had it been any other student, they wouldn't get so lucky.

Professor Snape was perhaps the only teacher not to give the boy special treatment, and in Harry Potter's mind that meant the teacher was completely against him, it was ridiculous.

If Harry Potter received different treatment due to who he was, it made his own situation even worse, knowing that he had even fewer grounds to get any help for his circumstances. After all the only 'Benefits' he could think of being given to him would make his life all the more difficult.

The most recent event which still had Malfoy boiling over like a hot pan was when Harry Potter had received a brand new broom, another rule broken. Naturally, a first year having a broom is grounds for punishment at Hogwarts but because it was Harry Potter it didn't matter. Honestly, at this rate, it wouldn't surprise Rodrick if Albus Dumbledore had already decided that Gryffindor would be winning the house cup this year, simply because Harry Potter was in it.

Even then Rodrick couldn't find himself to care too much about the broom fiasco, as far as he was concerned as long as his feet remained on the ground, whatever happens in that hellish game didn't bother him. Rodrick was still glad that Malfoy was too distracted with the boy instead of trying to mess with him and his friends, it made life easier at Slytherin, although how long this freedom lasted was anyone's guess.

...

He stared around his current surroundings; there was nothing in sight, the vast area was blank and void of any colour. This wasn't his usual dream, the mirrors weren't in sight nor was the old teacher. It unnerved him, in fact, it felt quite suffocating. His mind burned through different kinds of explanations but none of them made any sense.

He blinked once. To his surprise, something appeared in front of him; it was a little too far to make out.

Rodrick moved towards the silhouette and quickly stopped when he noticed what the shape was. It was a familiar looking girl; he'd seen that hair enough times in the past months to recognize it, he had a card prepared for her today, in fact.

It was a stroke of luck him remembering her birthday if he was honest.

"Daphne," Rodrick called out but received no response.

He repeated the actions a few times to no avail.

He braced himself and he made his way closer to her. She was facing the other direction. He reached out with a hand and made to call her again before he quickly tensed. She was freezing.

Rodrick gulped down whatever built up in his throat before he attempted to turn her towards him. The sight that met him made him recoil, hitting the hard ground as he stared up at the girl. Her face was disfigured, one of her green eyes was replaced by a gaping hole. Her other eye looked devoid of life.

Rodrick attempted to speak, but nothing came out. The girl in front of him said the first words. "You hesitated...".

The sentence echoed through his head, louder each time. Before he jostled up from his bed covered in sweat. Rodrick looked around his dorm, Blaise was snoring quite loudly on the next bed. What the hell was that!? Rodrick almost shouted. He attempted to get out of his bed before he found himself drained of any energy, Whats going on... Where his last thoughts before he drifted back onto his bed and the darkness consumed him into sleep.

...

The morning took longer to come than he'd expected, the extra long sleep was appreciated. The words were still fresh on his mind, however, he quickly deemed it some nightmare and put it to the back of his head. He got himself ready for the upcoming Charms lesson, it was with Gryffindor, no doubt some trouble incoming.

Rodrick shook his head before he made his way over towards the mirror and freshened himself up for the day ahead. Blaise didn't look like he would be waking up anytime soon.

Rodrick let the boy doze off; Blaise had done the same to him previously which almost resulted in him been late to his head of house's lesson. Call it an eye for an eye, the thought however quickly repulsed him when he remembered the image in his dream.

Shaking himself, Rodrick made his way down to the common room where he spied Daphne and Tracey lounging around one of the sofa's, he saw Daphne's back facing him. He stopped himself for a moment fearful of the missing eye before he braced himself and moved closer.

Tracey spotted him first but didn't say anything when she noticed his finger on his lip; she gave off a small nod instead. He made to throw the card onto her lap before she turned.

The card hit her forehead and dropped onto her lap.

Daphne stared down at the card before turning back up, she saw two yellow eyes almost looking through her, Rodrick was behind the couch towards her left, his arms resting on the back of the sofa lazily, there was a cheerful smile on his face.

"Happy birthday" he spoke first. She quickly gave him a grateful smile before opening and reading her second card.

"The scarf was a gift?" she heard him ask but before she could answer Tracey confirmed it for him, pointing towards herself. Daphne shrugged at the interaction with amusement.

The three of them sat in silence for a second before Rodrick plopped himself down onto the couch and grabbed hold of one of the books on the table. "Thanks for the card," she told him. He nodded his reaction, his attention already taken by the book.

After explaining Blaise's 'absence' from the group, the trio made their way over towards their first lesson, with a disapproving Tracey of course.

As they reached the door, they heard a pair of feet running towards them, almost crashing into Rodrick. Blaise looked to be out of breath before he huffed and narrowed his eyes at Rodrick.

"Not. Funny," he said in as much of a serious voice an 11-year-old could pull off, this naturally made the rest of them start laughing at his expense.

The boy gave off a small scowl before he made his way into the class. Rodrick put a hand over his shoulder to try and calm him down to no avail. With that failing, Rodrick playfully threatened to let it happen again, to Snape's lesson the next time.

Blaise took it with stride. He knew Rodrick was capable of a silencing charm. That was a genuinely terrifying threat. "On second thought, it was kind of funny, wasn't it?" he tried to put it off with a fake smile. This only made the boy laugh even more before Rodrick pushed him further into the Charms classroom. The two girls stared at the interaction with bewilderment before shrugging "Boys," and following them in.

Their lesson today? The levitation charm, Rodrick had no issue with using it, having learned it years ago, not even from his grandfather. If you could use magic, the first thing you did was telekineses. It's practically a rule. Though to be fair, he never really tried it outside the dreams. There was always a risk of complete embarrassment if it decided not to work. With the caretaker there... Well it was difficult trying to practice in secret... Even the other orphans didn't like her.

At the very least, he pretended he had some form of difficulty. He didn't want to attract any unnecessary attention to himself.

The Gryffindors, unsurprisingly took the opposite approach, in that, they did not know how to do the levitation charm but somehow acted out as if they had been using it for years.

The lesson was quite humorous, seeing all the students attempt and fail the simple form of magic. Blaise looked like he was about to explode, Rodrick decided to spare him the misery and helped show him how it was done properly.

He had wanted to help the girls as well. Unfortunately, they were two rows lower. Blaise shrugged his thanks and didn't question the fact Rodrick knew the spell already. Rodrick turned his attention back towards the rest of the class to see their progress, Malfoy looked like he had an idea of how it worked, his feather had managed to levitate a few inches of the table.

On the other hand, somehow, one of the Gryffindors had managed to blow up their feather, Rodrick stared at the feather shocked. How were they were able to take a levitation charm and change it to an exploding one.

Weasley looked like he was trying to hit the bloody feather with his wand with the way he swished it around. Hermione Granger, was right next to him trying to and failing to explain the correct pronunciation. It seemed she had a good idea of the spell, however.

Ronald Weasley had decided instead of attempting it himself he should challenge the girl instead.

Granger obliged, and much to Rodrick's amusement managed to get the feather quite high into the sky which in turn excited the charms professor.

"Marvellous Miss Granger, absolutely stunning." The girl practically beamed at the praise while Weasley looked like he just ate a rat.

Turning around Rodrick noticed a small frown on Daphne's face, Tracey looked put out as well. Were they competing with her?.

True to his thoughts Daphne then attempted to copy Granger and do the spell herself. Unfortunately, she made a small error and tried to lower her face to avoid the embarrassment when her feather refused to go up.

She had drawn too much attention when she'd attempted the spell. One of the Gryffindors, the one that had managed to blow up his feather, tried to make fun of the situation.

"S'ppose this proves not all Purebloods are as good as muggles ay?" he practically jeered at Daphne. Most of the students surrounding him started to snicker, some attempting and failing to hide their own, even Malfoy looked amused.

Daphne tried to lower her head even more, before...

Rodrick poked Blaise, "Watch this..." he Whispered. Blaise raised an eyebrow in response.

"Why don't you try it then, see how good you are, of course, try not to burn it this time," Rodrick shouted off towards the boy, this earned chuckles, mostly from the Slytherin students, Daphne looked back towards Rodrick with a questioned look on her face.

"Alright then." pronounced the Gryffindor student. He stared down at his feather, he performed his swish and flick and muttered the words.

Rodrick pointed his finger below the desk.

Instead of the feather going up. The Gryffindor started to fly up instead. The boy started whining in the air, much similar to Nevile Longbottom's first flying attempt; this brought about waves of laughter from most of the students in the room, even the Irishman's friends.

"I meant the feather," Rodrick deadpanned, "At least Slytherins know how to aim the bloody wand," he added on, This brought out small scowls from some of the Gryffindors, but even they couldn't help the smiles tugging at their faces.

The Slytherins were howling with laughter at the floating boy at this point. Rodrick looked towards Daphne and saw a smile etched onto her face before smiling himself.

The charms Professor brought everything back under control once his own small fit of laughter ended, he reprimanded the boy for poor spell control and told him to practice more.

The class ended not long after that, Rodrick was outside waiting for his friends before he was practically pushed aside by Granger who looked to be storming off, 'Whats wrong with her?'

He was soon joined by Blaise who had a stony look on his face, no doubt due to the next lesson, History. Daphne and Tracey joined them, both still laughing from the flying Gryffindor.

"I can't believe he managed to levitate himself but not a feather!" scoffed Daphne, Rodrick was merely smiling

"I am sure Rodrick here can help explain what happened," Blaise was almost grinning when he uttered the words.

Rodrick silently cursed the boy before looking back towards two questioning pair of eyes. The pairs reaction after explaining what had occurred, however, was quite a surprise.

Daphne looked grateful towards him for his part before whispering to herself. Tracey demanded he taught her the spell later on. 'Ah the joys of friends...'

After finishing their second lesson, the group made their way towards the great hall to join in on the Halloween feast, Daphne, however, broke off from the group at the entrance.

"I'll see you guys in a bit, I just need to go to the bathroom first," she uttered somewhat embarrassed, Tracey and Blaise nodded their heads at this before making their way into the great hall.

Rodrick promised to leave her a seat near them to which he got a smile in return before the girl turned around and made her way away from the hall.

Rodrick, however, stayed glued to the floor, staring at the retreating girl. For some odd reason, the words from his dream echoed through his head once again. A moment later, however, Rodrick turned and went into the great hall to take his seat beside Blaise, opposite Tracey.

It was moments into the feast when Rodrick's fears were confirmed. He'd been in conversation with Tracey, when Professor Quirrell ran into the Hall screaming his head off about a troll in the dungeon.

Time seem to sit still for Rodrick the moment he heard the words.

He didn't pay any mind towards Dumbledores words; it looked like Blaise and Tracey were too busy panicking to notice him.

Quickly casting a disillusionment charm on himself, Rodrick moved past Quirrell and out of the great hall.

By the time he'd left, it looked like everyone was still trying to get out of their seat.

Ignoring all of that Rodrick started a small run towards the girl's bathroom hoping he wouldn't be too late, unbeknownst to him were the two Gryffindors with the same idea.

Rodrick had bolted towards his destination before he noticed the open door towards the girl's bathroom, he sighed in relief when he didn't see any sign of a troll. He went inside the room without a second thought before he heard a familiar voice squeal.

"Rodrick! yo-you shouldn't be in here!" shrieked Daphne abashed at the boldness.

Rodrick looked at her and sighed in relief once again when he noticed both eyes staring at him; the action got him a raised eyebrow.

"We have to leave now! There's a troll on the loose, and it might come here." it took a few moments before the girl processed his words.

"W-what!? Are you joking?" she asked back, her eyes widening by the second, when she saw the serious look on his face.

"W-wait a second, I can't leave just yet, it's Granger, she's crying inside one of the stools. I can't seem to get her out." she said this pointing towards one of the closed stools.

Rodrick flinched a little when he realized, but steeled himself and made his way over and opened the door forcefully. The girl gave a startled gasp at the action.

He recognized the bushy hair within seconds and then noticed the red puffs around her eyes indicating crying. "What are you doing here! this is hardl-" but before she could finish Rodrick interrupted her, urging her to move stating it was dangerous.

The girl gave no reaction towards the words and instead almost deflated more before more tears came out. Dammit! She's not even thinking straight...I have to do this another way. He quickly thought.

His mind whirled around trying to think of how to put her spirits back up before he focused on one, Daphne was looking more and more worried by the second. She had stationed herself at the door in lookout for the troll.

Rodrick brought himself down onto eye level with the crying girl; the action made her look up before she pulled her head back quickly, their faces it seemed were to close for her comfort. Well, at least she's paying some attention. He thought to himself.

He steeled himself to the next part, knowing it might not work out well. "Tell me, do you want to prove to everyone here how much of a mud blood you are?"

The words shocked her, even Daphne gasped at the language, "RODRICK!" she shouted at him. The moment she made eye contact with him, the viper looking eyes stilled her. They rendered her silent. 'His face...there's something...' Daphne thought.

Hermione at this point stopped crying, instead her face contorted into shock.

"Your life here is hard enough already, don't give those idiots any more fuel to use against you." His words were quiet but sharp. They ringed through her head quickly. "Muggle-born or not, never lower your nose down to anyone beneath you, and judging from our classmates...that's quite a lot of them." The words practically shattered something inside her, she immediately whimpered out a reply. "Even if I don't have friends..." the words were quiet.

Daphne had a look of pity on her face. This is dangerous...Do I offer myself as a friend or...However before he could finish the thought, the answer came up to him.

"If you're going to cry over small insults perhaps your not worth anything as a friend, you're smart enough to warrant friends, don't degrade yourself for the sake of others. If you can't find any friends at Gryffindor without degrading yourself. You can always join my group instead, were all plenty stuck up there." Rodrick had grinned before he put out a hand. Hermione looked at the hand almost about to cry. She took it.

Rodrick helped her up and gave off another smile at her. The smile practically melted off any of the tension she had felt before she muttered a thank you.

Daphne had a surprised look on her face as she saw the girl back on her feet.

A moment later however she found herself being pulled back by Rodrick, within seconds, she was behind him and then heard a shout from Hermione.

'Crack!' Daphne looked up from her place on the floor to see the 12-foot looking tree, with its bark-like massive arms, its mud infested hammer-looking feet and a huge club on its right hand.

The troll was at the front of the door to the bathroom; the club had hit the side of the door, breaking off pieces of it, initially aimed for Daphne's head. Daphne's heartbeat was increasing quickly, she turned and saw a shocked look on Hermione's face. The girl was unable to move. When she turned towards Rodrick, She saw a steel mask in place.

"EXPULSO" Rodrick shouted aiming his wand at the troll, a flash of light emitted from the wand, straight into the troll pushing it out of the door. Within seconds Rodrick followed on with another spell.

"GLACIUS" a blue haze was released from the tip of the wand, aimed for the ground beneath the retreating troll.

'Crash.' The troll made a loud thud as its feet slipped on the frozen floor.

Hermione at this point had recovered from the floor and was by Daphne's side.

Rodrick pulled Daphne onto her feet before using another spell.

"INCARCEROUS," thin cords of rope were released from his wand and bound themselves onto the trolls hand and feet wrapping it stuck.

He pocketed his wand. The girls were stunned momentarily before they were both pulled by hand from Rodrick rushing them outside the bathroom past the troll.

"That will only hold it for a few seconds," They took his words in quickly and started making a sprint away from the troll, true to his words the troll was up in seconds, free from the bindings and looked to be angrier than before. It got into its own sprint trying to catch up to the three students running away.

Rodrick looked ahead and saw two Gryffindor Running towards them, the red tuft of hair confirmed Ronald Weasley, who had practically screamed when he saw the troll, the glasses confirmed Harry Potter, who surprisingly was a lot calmer.

"Turn around dolts you're going the wrong way!" he shouted at the two Gryffindors.

Seeing Hermione with Rodrick seemed to ease the boys as they attempted to turn around to run the other way.

Hermione stepped to the side to avoid bumping into Harry Potter, Daphne's attention was diverted away. She'd staring back at the Troll as she ran forward, it was a few feet away.

'Crash.' Daphne grunted as she impacted onto Ronald Weasley, Both of them fell onto the floor. Dammit Weasley, Rodrick inwardly cursed as he turned around and saw the source of the noise, he quickly took out his wand aiming it at the troll. The dreams voice was now thundering through his head. The troll was right above a confused Daphne who was Staring at the boy she just crashed into. The troll had his club lifted high aiming to slam down, Daphne turned her eyes and saw the raised club. She was frozen at the sight of it, images flashed before her eyes. Ron, on the other hand, was taking his imminent death in much more civilised way. In that he screamed his bloody lungs out. Harry Potter had stopped running and turned back, trying to find his wand. Hermione had her hand covering her mouth.

As the troll was about to lower his club onto the girls face, one word echoed through the hall. It silenced the trolls grunts and stopped his giant club mere inches away from Daphne's face.

"IMPERIO!"