6 Chapter 6

Rodrick woke up earlier than he'd planned, noticing the time, he opened his notebook and scribbled down anything he felt he needed to work on more. After filling up the page, he attempted to practice some of the spells under his cover. It wasn't long before the rest of the students in the dorm woke up themselves, he put his notebook away and got ready for the classes ahead. He spotted Blaise on his way.

"Good sleep?" Rodrick asked, Blaise's eyes were barely open.

"Not really, You tend to talk in your sleep. Ever notice?" Blaise asked with a raised eyebrow

"No, not really." Rodrick looked away and made his way towards the great hall for breakfast, it looked like Silencing charms were going to be a necessity. Blaise shrugged before following him.

They met up with Daphne and a still sleepy Tracey.

"Let me guess, Daphne talks in her sleep?" Blaise asked Tracey.

Daphne raised an eyebrow at this before looking towards Rodrick.

"Don't ask, I am not even sure myself," he quickly lied.

"Let's just go eat something before I flop back in bed," Tracey yawned.

They suddenly heard voice behind them, telling them not to let Snape hear that. The group turned to see the Slytherin prefect from yesterday, who was currently leading away a group of first years, Rodrick, and his friends decided to follow.

The group found themselves grateful for a guide; it truly was a maze, so many different staircases leading to different areas. Some even changed directions midstep. The portraits were moving around conversing with each other, students and even some of the ghosts. Rodrick looked around to see other first year students fumble around trying to find their way through the staircase; it was a comedic site. He spent the rest of the day conversing with Blaise about what kind of lessons they should expect.

Daphne let out a squeal causing the people around her to turn; there was a strange looking creature grabbing her nose.

"W-what is this!?" She screeched. Rodrick chuckled. He earned himself a glare, the prefect from earlier was suddenly beside them.

"Peeves, leave the girl alone," he had an amused look on his face.

Peeves? What on earth was- Never-mind. It was magic, anything was possible. When Peeves let go. Daphne grabbed Rodrick by the ear.

"What- What are you doing?" Rodrick tried and failed to push the hand away.

The rest, openly laughed at the sight, Daphne tried to look angry but couldn't help herself before letting off a smile and ended his misery, she was pretty sure he could've used magic if he really wanted to... Following this, the group finally made their way towards the great hall where they sat down for breakfast.

...

Breakfast was a quiet affair, Rodrick was still musing over his dreams, Blaise was currently talking to Malfoy about one thing or the other. Tracey and Daphne were staring at Rodrick expectantly, "Rodrick." the girls called out irritatedly. Rodrick put up his head quickly hearing their tone.

"What is it?" he stared at the two girls confused.

"Turn around," Came from Daphne, Rodrick almost couldn't hear her whisper.

Turning his head around he was met with a tall man dressed in black; he had a hooked nose and greasy hair. It was a moment later before he realized he was gaping, quite rudely, at the head of his house. Rodrick turned his body around completely. "A-h professor.. what-" but before he could finish, Snape pushed a schedule onto him.

"I expect you to be more alert than this. You represent this house, don't embarrass it," Snape sneered at him before moving on towards the rest of the table.

"What's his problem?" Rodrick asked the two girls, quite annoyed; his head was angry at him for some strange reason.

"He called out your name several times, you're the one who didn't respond," Tracey answered with a frown.

"Maybe I pulled his ear a little to hard..." Contemplated Daphne.

"Hilarious," Rodrick deadpanned before he turned his attention over to his schedule and studied it. The girls noticing this turned back to whatever they'd been doing before the interruption.

Their first class was Charms; It went rather well, all things considered, most of the professor's attention was on Harry Potter, it left Rodrick to his own devices. He used the lesson as a means to get an idea of what kind of level they were going to be studying. While the first lesson was more or less an introduction towards the subject, it looked to be a rather boring year for him. The professor asked questions, the students who answered correctly got points towards their house. Rodrick knew the answers, but he didn't need any of that attention, odds were he could probably get plenty of points by himself, perhaps enough to give Slytherin a good lead, but the attention it brought him wasn't worth it.

Most of the points, as a result, went to Gryffindor thanks to Granger. Some found their way towards Ravenclaw, at the moment none were for Slytherin, which seemed to put Daphne in a sour mood.

"I'll get the next class,"The determined look on her face was frightening. Rodrick had a bemused look on his face; He couldn't see Tracey's face. Blaise was reading the Transfiguration book, their next class.

Seeing his face Daphne turned towards Rodrick with a frown. "Why don't you try helping? you never put your hand up once during Charms," she accused.

"Most of the class didn't," he replied back.

"I expected a little more from you," she replied back albeit quieter.

"You know I was raised in Muggle surroundings right."

"So was Granger, didn't stop her, besides at the train station..." The girl trailed off before she shook her head and turned away.

Rodrick sighed before he moved on past her, the move seemed to irritate the girl, but her face quickly turned even more determined than before.

"I'll do it by myself" she declared. Tracey showed up at her side with an encouraging look.

'Girls will be girls,' Not that he'd really know, there were barely any at the orphanage.

Transfiguration was another subject they learned, the professor, Minerva McGonagall, seemed strict but fair. This encouraged the girls even more, only the teacher didn't ask any questions. She explained to the class the basics regarding Transfiguration and how important it was that they attempted it properly with care. She showed the class an example of said Transfiguration, desk to pig; She explained the spell behind it and what was required.

The class seemed to get excited at learning such a spell before the professor quickly corrected them on what they will be actually be learning during the year instead. Rodrick didn't pay attention, unfortunately. He copied the movement and spell name, his grandfather had never really shown him that particular spell... The desk turned to a pig like shown before; It wasn't a complete transformation, the Pig had wooden legs. The entire class turned towards Rodrick; he stared back at them confused. The class reactions were mixed in astonishment, and some envy. His friends, particularly Tracey had a look of awe. The professor's reaction was unreadable, her eyes seemed to light up for a second.

"That's quite impressive, I hadn't expected you to be able to do such a thing, Rodrick?" She said his name with a little uncertainty. "Still I didn't say you could use your wand so soon."

Dread filled him at this; he was in trouble. Not gaining points was one thing, losing them would cause problems.

"However I can't very well punish you after such a successful attempt," The professor flicked her wand and turned Rodrick's desk back to normal. She stared at him for a few seconds longer before uttering, "10 points to Slytherin," This brought a cheer from the Slytherins. Daphne was strangely silent, Tracey was beaming. The Gryffindors quietly booed Rodrick, but even they couldn't help the surprised looks. Granger had her mouth open in shock.

The class continued with a much faster pace. Once it finished, everyone made their way out, Rodrick had been ready to leave before the professor stopped him.

It was only the two of them now, Rodrick was offered a seat at her desk. "I must say I've never known a first year to be able to do that, in fact, I have never known a 4th year to manage it either, where did you learn such a thing? And no I can't accept luck as an answer, that was a near perfect Transfiguration, you've done this before."

Rodrick wasn't sure how to answer, he'd hoped to avoid this exact situation, but he'd messed up on his first week anyway, it was why he'd wanted to avoid grabbing any attention during Charms. "I had some time to practice, I received the letter almost a year ago," he hoped this would help solve the issue.

"Rodrick you're not the only student to receive the letter at such a time, even then, let's say that was the case, it is still too soon, Granger received her letter on the 19th of this month, and yet I am sure she would barely be able to change a match let alone a desk, did someone teach you?"

"I don't know, professor, I copied what you did," he lied.

She saw the unsettled look on his face; she knew it was no matter of luck however she didn't want to push him away either.

"Very well, I'll let this attempt go, and we'll consider it a matter of luck. However, I will need you to do me a favor." She said with a kind voice.

'Favor?' Rodrick wasn't quite sure what she had in mind, he doubted it could very much end badly if he accepted. " what kind?"

"You will attempt the course to the best of your ability, if you are ahead, so be it, I want to know what I should teach you, I don't need you wasting time on things you already know," the professor had a serious look when she mentioned all of this.

Rodrick gulped before accepting; he was met with a smile before being dismissed. Minerva McGonagall had a slight twinkle in her eyes when she looked at him. 'Snape will hold this over Gryffindor for a while,' she thought with a resigned look.

Rodrick made his way out of the classroom before surprise flitted over his face, Daphne was standing next to the wall waiting for him.

"You didn't need to wait," he said

She ignored him and asked what the professor had wanted. Rodrick explained everything before he started to move towards the great hall, Daphne in tow.

"That was something else alright; I can't believe you managed to do that, even if it was luck." There was a definite hint of awe in her voice. "Are you sure no one taught you anything?"

The question brought him to a stop, should he lie again or not? He thought it over for a few moments before he shrugged. Who was going to believe a first year? "Someone did, but I'd rather not talk about it right now. Where are the rest?"

"But you told-" she stopped herself and instead gave a grateful smile for the honesty shown. "Can you do anything else?" she asked excitedly.

"I suppose we'll find out" He replied with amusement in his voice. This met a frown which quickly turned into laughter. The two made their way towards the great hall with Daphne teasing Rodrick about the wood legged pig. Unbeknownst to them both was the Cat staring and taking in everything that was said.

The worst lesson was perhaps History, taught by the ghost Binns. Rodrick would have found the subject interesting had it been any other professor, not only did he manage to make the subject a bore, but he also managed to get it incorrect! It irritated him to no end; he had wanted to learn as much history as he could. It wasn't a lesson his grandfather was keen on teaching, which even if he was, would likely be rather biased. Some of his fellow Slytherins had managed to fall asleep during the torture, Daphne managed to stay up the longest, he wasn't even sure if she did fall asleep as he fell first. It was both strange and somewhat expected that Hogwarts would hire a ghost for history.

Astronomy was a subject most of the students, born into a magical family, enjoyed to no end. It was most likely a new experience for them having been raised on magic. The muggle-borns didn't have much interest in it, having learned about it already. Granger unsurprisingly had a lot to offer on the subject to everyone else annoyance. Rodrick found the subject enjoyable. While he grew up in the orphanage, he didn't have much of a chance for education, other then the odd science books he'd found.

Not all the subjects were taught inside, one of the classes was taught in the greenhouse. Herbology, which almost everyone found arguably dull. The professor this time looked dreary, the subject simply couldn't be taught with excitement, most of it involved waiting long periods of time for results.

Rodrick spent most of the lesson staring at the textbook given; Granger was next to him trying to get information on how he had managed the Transfiguration from earlier. Daphne had managed to save him there when she directed Granger's conversation elsewhere. Rodrick did, however, notice the glare coming from Malfoy, he knew why. The glare was due to them interacting with Granger. He paid him no mind, however. Malfoy as a stickler for blood supremacy and an even bigger one for irritation, he did annoyingly fit in well with most of the Slytherins, even Blaise seemed to have a form of respect for the blonde.

Daphne had found herself enjoying Rodrick's company in studying; He was smart, and it seemed, talented with magic. It came off as a shock, but he seemed further ahead of the class, most likely near Granger, knowledge wise any case, who knew how far ahead he was practically. He was already using Wand-less magic as it was. He tried to hide it but he didn't manage it that well, while most would look on in confusion at the professor's instructions and remarks, Rodrick would attempt a disinterested look, but even he couldn't hide the understanding that showed on his face. Which she found due to the look on Granger's face, although she made it rather known... She had been initially angry with him as he could've easily scored points for their house but after the Transfiguration, she cooled down a little when she realized that he might be too far ahead for a student and that while it might help his house, it would cause him attention he might not want. She was surprised that he'd even told her in the first place that he had in fact been taught, after lying to a professor.

They were in the library preparing for their Potions lesson that was set the next day. Tracey was already asleep on the desk which she found amusing. Rodrick was skimming through the potions book. They were speaking quietly with one another.

"What do you think our head of house is like? as a teacher?" she asked the boy in front of her.

"I heard he favors Slytherin students during lessons, at least points will be easier to come by," He shrugged back, eyes still on the book in front of him.

"Would be unfair if he gave us that kind of advantage." Daphne had a frown on her face at this.

"I don't take him for the fair type, anyway it's our house, I don't see an issue," this time there was a grin on his face.

"You're, just as bad," Daphne shook her head, "Stop smirking you look like Malfoy," she added playfully. His mood soured considerably at that; Daphne couldn't help the giggle before covering her mouth.

The two managed to spend the rest of the time chatting, forgetting about their books.

"Ah, we should probably go, I am starving," He suddenly remarked. Dinner looked to start soon enough.

Daphne nudged Tracey awake before helping her collect everything.