35 Chapter 35: 

In hindsight, Rodrick really should've put more thought into this, for example, when should he actually show up to the first-floor corridor? How could he get away from his friends without them noticing? And most importantly, why the hell didn't he tell any of the professors in the first place? He knew from experience his dreams shouldn't be taken lightly. Honestly, the weirdest part about all this was that he'd found himself in the first-floor corridor with Luna Lovegood and Theodore Nott of all people. The three of them running towards the scene Rodrick had the unfortunate luck to dream of near 20 times. How the hell did it come to this!?

The most irritating part was, he'd had a vision about that particular event so many times, and when it came to pass, it really didn't turn out as bad as he'd thought, in fact, it was almost harmless as far as he was concerned. Then again that may have had something to do with the fact something, completely unrelated to the visions and as far as Rodrick's was concerned was far worse, happening on the same day.

Thinking back to that morning Rodrick couldn't help feeling agitated... So much could've been fixed if it weren't for the stupid visions.

...

It had been a relatively normal morning. He'd left his dorm on his own, Blaise still refused to wake him up after the Quidditch training incident, everyone else in his year had left for their breakfast already. If it had been any other time, he would've woken up fine on his own, last night, however, he'd had another dream... One that made his skin crawl. He'd seen what the large shadow was; he knew what might've potentially killed the creature he saw.

A massive dark scaled snake, he hadn't even been sure if it was a regular snake or not... Until it turned its eyes towards him, two big yellow eyes that carried a malevolent aura. The simple sighting of them sent him into a panic attack in his bed, he'd opened his eyes and to his horror, he'd found himself unable to move. It had taken almost an hour before he was able to move his limbs. He only knew of one creature that could cause such a thing, one of the few his grandfather had warned him to avoid no matter what. The king of serpents itself, a Basilisk.

Rodrick sighed, to think a Basilisk's stare was strong enough to paralyze him from a dream. He knew, then and there, he had to get to that corridor unless he wanted a Weasley's blood on his hands. He got his things and made his way towards his least favourite lesson of the year, Defence, no doubt any chance to get any breakfast was long gone. Halfway towards the lesson, Rodrick remembered the forgotten present; he contemplated going back for it... Well, he thought about it as he turned back to the dungeon. Ok, it really wasn't much of a contest, Lockhart could hardly be considered a pain, a gift-less girl on her birthday was far more dangerous.

The sudden detour had, quite fortunately, made him late for the lesson. When he entered, however, he regretted it somewhat... Lockhart was in a bad mood. Rodrick cursed missing the spectacle that could've caused that. That bad mood however also translated to Rodrick getting detention for being late.

Rodrick blinked as he heard the teacher give him detention, it was probably the first time he'd gotten one, he wasn't sure how to act about it... What he said next clearly wasn't the right question.

"Are you sure Professor?" He asked slightly confused, earning quiet laughter from his classmates. Ron had wanted to say something before he was pinched quiet by Granger.

"Sure? Of course, I am sure! You've missed half the lesson!"

That was when Nott had gotten his detention.

"Lucky him," he'd spoken a little too loudly.

Rodrick took a seat next to Nott; Daphne looked to argue about it before he dropped a small box in her hands on his way, her eyes suddenly sparkled at it. He turned towards Nott and asked what was eating up their faux Professor. The boy snorted at the wording.

"Someone's questioning his credibility; they said they knew some people who were supposedly involved in his work," Rodrick was a little taken back, his brows furrowed slightly however as he asked his next question.

"Why would that matter? I am sure he gets people like that all the time."

Nott smiled thinly at this, "Yeah, but apparently it's not just any random person this time, rumours state it was Albus Dumbledore himself."

Rodrick whistled at that reveal before turning his gaze back to the nervous Lockhart "I can see why that would be a bit of a problem." He snorted.

The lesson ended on a sombre note for the two students, Lockhart had asked them to come around before the feast started for their detention, it gave him a reason to avoid the headmaster.

Rodrick left the classroom with his three friends plus Nott, Malfoy was preoccupied with Potter, he'd been using the new spell Rodrick taught him to make the Gryffindor and his friend's lives harder, if the Slytherins didn't know any better, they'd think Malfoy was in love with the guy. He was certainly obsessed.

Daphne and Tracey eyed Nott warily, the boy gave no indication of either noticing or caring, Rodrick shrugged, it really didn't matter, he'd have to spend a detention with him anyway... That was when it clicked... He needed to go to the first-floor corridor; he could use his detention to get out of the hall. He was sure Lockhart wouldn't mind at all, well he didn't really care either way. That also meant he'd need to take Nott with him... Well, at least the boy could stay calm, although how well he could do that in front of a Basilisk was another matter. In fact, he'd probably start a new theory on Dumbledore hiding illegal creatures in Hogwarts, if he survived anyway.

Daphne was quite put out he'd miss the feast, although she looked a little jealous, she'd asked him whether he wanted company or not. Blaise joked she only wanted to stay with Lockhart earning two slaps from the girls although Tracey looked amused more than anything. Daphne was flustered.

Nott turned to him with a raised eyebrow, "Ignore 'em, their idiots."

The three turned their attention to him and slapped him across his head. Nott snorted but kept his mouth shut.

The group, surprisingly Nott included, went to the Library to finish off a charms assignment, with the amount of time Rodrick had spent on Herbology and Astronomy he was falling behind on some of his other assignments, never potions though, Rodrick shuddered at the thought of missing a potions assignment. Thankfully, his male friends were even less likely to have done it. The girls accompanied them to help, but Nott more or less believed it was to watch them suffer through it.

It took several hours before they finished it, mostly due to Nott and Blaise bickering about one thing or another. They finally made their way to their last class of the day, Charms. Other than Malfoy's already big head getting 'accidentally' enlarged nothing else happened. Although after the lesson, Ron was set on fire, that was entertaining to watch. His friends, even Nott for that matter eyed him warily after that.

He'd had a broad grin on his face on seeing Ron run around trying and failing to take out the fire on his sleeve.

"Are you okay?" Blaise asked.

Rodrick turned towards and flashed him a massive smile "Never better."

The four students stared at each other, "Never smile like that again," Nott spoke first, earning nods from the rest. Rodrick was baffled, Nott was criticizing him on his smile, the world really was about to end.

Nott separated from them at that point, finding more interest in Malfoy laughing and walking after a burning Weasley.

...

The group made their way to the Great hall for the start of the feast, although Rodrick planned to leave earlier for his 'detention.' As Rodrick sat down opposite Daphne he spotted a blonde blur show up behind him, settling down on his right, Blaise took the seat on Rodrick's other side.

Oh if only he knew what was about to happen...

"Hello, everyone," She greeted them in her strange voice.

"Hello, Lovegood," Rodrick remarked.

Daphne and Tracey followed with their greetings, Blaise, however, kept to himself. Several Slytherins glanced towards them but said nothing. Rodrick ignored it all and started filling up his plate with food, the rest copied him and started eating.

Luna was still glancing towards his face every now and then, but Rodrick said nothing. There was a slight churning feeling in his stomach, but he shrugged it off as hunger. It was then Daphne took out her gift and opened it, seemingly remembering now.

Rodrick tried to suppress the smile on his face as the girl's face twitched. Tracey looked away, Blaise was the first to start laughing. It was a small pad of animated pictures of Lockhart struggling with the pixies.

"You're such a fan you know, I thought you'd love it," Rodrick remarked in a suppressed tone.

Daphne closed the book and put it away in her pocket and in an icy tone, thanked him. Rodrick could've sworn he felt the temperature drop.

"I am sorry," Luna broke the tension quickly.

The four Slytherins quickly turned their gaze towards her, "I don't have a gift, I wasn't aware it was your birthday," She added on.

Daphne's eyes softened before telling her it was all right.

Blaise gasped, "You didn't tell me that..." He spoke, astonished.

Daphne's eyes turned back to ice before stating he had plenty of time to remember. Rodrick chuckled at the look before she turned it on him, he promptly looked away, although his face still showed too much amusement, if the glare on Daphne's face was to go by...

That was when Rodrick's life flipped over on itself.

"Rodrick, you really shouldn't leave your expression so open like that on purpose, it's quite rude,"

'Ah, shit,'

Blaise was the first to ask, of all the times he chose to speak to the Ravenclaw it was now. "What do you mean?"

Rodrick knew he should've put a stop to it at that point, bad feelings shouldn't be ignored, but his curiosity took over.

"For someone so talented in human Transfiguration, you really should be able to hide your amusement a bit better." She answered smiling.

Dread tensed through Rodrick, he still found himself unable to utter any words.

"What are you talking about Lovegood?" Daphne asked, her eyes showed no emotion. Her brain was already bringing up old memories she'd found strange at the time.

Luna flinched slightly but finished on anyway, if she'd turned towards Rodrick she would've seen the silent panic on his face. "I mean he's always using it on his face isn't he?" She admitted, slightly unsure, she'd thought his friends would've known about it. "He doesn't actually look like this right?" she added on, maybe she'd been mistaken it herself?

All the attention fell to Rodrick, his face impassive. He promptly got up from his seat and muttered something about detention; he refused to meet Daphne's eyes. He quickly left. He knew it was a stupid thing to do, but if he stuck around and tried to explain, it would take too long, someone else was in danger. Unbeknownst to him, Luna got up and followed.

The three students left at the table stared at the disappearing students. Blaise quickly turned his eyes to Tracey, "Well... That was interesting, do you think she was right?"

Tracey looked back, a bemused expression on her face, "Probably?" before she continued eating.

Daphne was conflicted, unsure of what to think the situation. She then turned her attention to the two around her, "That's it? That's your reaction to that!?" she almost yelled at the two.

They stared at her slightly unsettled before Blaise remarked, "You sound surprised."

Daphne's eyes twitched at that, "Of course I am surprised!" She hissed. "You heard him, he practically admitted the blonde was right. He's been hiding what his face looked like! For over a year!" she whispered the second part.

Tracey patted her friend on her shoulder, "Their his own secrets Daphne, I mean I am surprised don't get me wrong but... Well." Tracey stopped herself; she wasn't sure where she was going with it.

Daphne looked towards her friends and noticed the same expression on her face, 'She's hurt as well...' she quickly realized.

"I am not exactly one to judge him; he's still been a really good friend." Tracey finished before she looked down at her food, upset.

Blaise looked at the two before he snorted, "The guys the definition of Slytherin, what else did you expect?"

The two girls turned to him.

"I mean come on... The first Halloween should've been proof enough..." He added on.

It took them a few moments before the message kicked in, Blaise was referring to his knowledge of magic, it took a few more moments before it hit home. Rodrick had been an orphan before he turned up at Hogwarts, they'd always ignored that fact before, but now it was starting to daunt on them. He knew too much for his age, who exactly did he learn from? He put himself off as an orphan. He never tried to search for any family members, that meant he already knew what happened to them, was it such common knowledge? An orphan knew it? He'd been hiding what he looked like since their first term in the castle... Malfoy's interest...

Tracey was staring at her slightly worried, Daphne turned towards her friend and smiled. "It's fine, you're right anyway," she spoke, Tracey smiled back, but Daphne knew she didn't believe her.

Blaise had a small smile on his face. There was a small chance he might finally find out who his friend really was.

Daphne stared down at her food... Thinking about the different possible reasons he'd have to go so far... For Malfoy to have enough of an interest to go behind the ministry's back... None of them were good. She sighed, she was feeling horrible, she didn't know anything about one of her closest friends... He lived with her family... And she never once questioned the strange things surrounding the boy. How much did her family know?

Even then, she was surprised to find she was mostly angry at him for lying to her from the beginning, just how much more about him was a lie?

She quickly finished up her food and left the other two, Tracey had tried to get up, but Daphne shook her head. She wasn't in the mood for the feast anymore.