Chapter 11:

The troll was frozen still; its club inches away from Daphne's face. She'd closed her eyes anticipating the hit, when nothing happened, she opened them. The silence that covered the area was palpable.

"Daphne!" A voice broke through the silence, Daphne quickly turned her head and saw Rodrick with his wand out, 'He used the spell.'

Rodrick moved closer, wand still out. He ignored everyone else's reaction to what had just occurred. 'I can't risk getting caught here after that spell.' He reached Daphne, who was still staring up at him unmoving; he held out his hand towards her.

She quickly took it when it reached her. After helping her up, he moved back away from the troll, Daphne following behind. "Wha-" she started to speak but was quickly cut off when the troll let out another grunt.

The spell was released. Ronald hearing the troll again scampered away. Rodrick aimed his wand towards the club and levitated into the air, a few seconds later the club was enlarged to almost three times its size when Rodrick shouted out "Engorgio!"

He heard Ron Weasley mutter "Bloody hell" to himself. Rodrick crashed the massive club onto the confused troll's head, knocking it down to the floor immediately.

"What was that!?" asked Potter. Daphne was still gaping at the fallen troll before a retreating Rodrick quickly pulled her. "We need to leave, now before the teachers come," She nodded her agreement before following him with a sprint.

The three Gryffindors were still staring at the fallen troll, Hermione turned around to ask Rodrick what spell he had used to freeze the troll, all she saw was the running figures moving further and further away, it took a moment before she realised why.

"That was wicked!" exclaimed Ron Weasley, he was in conversation with Harry Potter before they were quickly interrupted by Hermione urging them to leave before one of the teachers caught them. Ronald to his credit understood why fast enough before muttering, "That snake's trying to pin the blame on us!" The gingers outburst resulted in him pulled along by her, once again urging them to move.

...

Rodrick and Daphne were quietly moving down towards the Slytherin Dungeons; They came to an abrupt stop when they noticed a prefect standing outside the entrance.

"What do we do now?" asked a fearful Daphne, Rodrick didn't reply he was only staring out towards the Prefect. "Rodrick?" she called out again.

Rodrick turned to face her, "Bear with me for a second," he remarked before she could ask him why, he put a finger over his lips.

He took out his wand and cast another disillusionment charm, over the both of them, he followed through with a silencing charm.

Daphne kept quiet throughout but the panic in her was swelling, they couldn't get through the entrance without saying the password. Rodrick didn't seem deterred about this. As they got closer, Daphne noticed he wasn't moving towards the door but the prefect themselves.

"Rodrick, what are you doing!" she whispered frantically but was rebuffed to stay quiet. With a huff They both reached the prefect in question; he still hadn't realized they were there much to Daphne's surprise. The disillusionment charm must've quite powerful if it fooled a sixth-year prefect.

Rodrick pointed his wand at the prefect. Daphne's eyes were bulging wider by the second.

"Confundo," Rodrick uttered at the prefect; the spell seemed to send the other boy into a haze. "Professor Snape wants Draco Malfoy in his office, right now." He added on. Daphne was completely silent watching the exchange. She quickly sighed in relief when she noticed the boy turn towards the entrance and give the password.

Once they were inside the common room, the prefect started calling out Malfoys name. The blonde was surprised by the sudden request to see his Professor Snape but obliged and followed the prefect out, Crabbe and Goyle in tow.

Rodrick walked towards one of the pillars, Daphne in tow, and hid behind it before he removed the disillusionment charm. Daphne nodded her thanks; the two students made their way over to one of the empty sofa's, The common room was still buzzing with people, most were discussing the troll incident. Some were more focused on playing board games, Blaise and worried looking Tracey were the latter. Daphne was currently staring down at the table in front of her unsure of what to say, the boy had saved her life, and she couldn't think of anything to say in response.

Rodrick however deflated as soon as he hit the couch, his body practically melted into the comfort. A few moments later, he turned towards Daphne but looked unsure of himself, steeling himself, he asked her if he could borrow her wand.

Daphne was a little startled at the request but quickly agreed before giving him her wand, Rodrick looked a little surprised but smiled quickly. He stared at the wand given him, he recognized the wood, Garrick Ollivander had given him a similar wand to try out when he was in Diagon Alley looking for supplies, the wand had worked fine enough for him, but the wandmaker had decided to give him a different type to try out. Rodrick asked Daphne what wood it was, she confirmed it to be Rowan causing a small smile to light up on his face remembering what the wandmaker had told him. She raised an eyebrow at this before he added on "My wand is made of elder wood." The girl stared at him for a few moments longer waiting for some form of explanation, Rodrick sighed "Nevermind" to which she frowned.

He took his own wand out before pointing hers towards it. Daphne stared on bemused.

Rodrick whispered the words "Deletrius," at his wand, a small wave of lights flew out of Daphne's wand over Rodricks own. The spell looked to be over in seconds before Rodrick handed Daphne's wand back.

"What did you do?" she questioned.

Rodrick looked back at her somewhat amused; he wasn't sure whether he should say anything or not but he figured it was safer to tell her then to have her questioning a professor.

"The spell I used can help get rid of the echo of previous spells used by a wand," he whispered.

A small look of understanding had appeared in Daphne's eyes before she remarked: "That Confundus spell you used then."

Rodrick stared at her before shaking his head slowly; he was surprised she didn't know what he was trying to hide. Daphne looked a little confused at the action.

"If not that then..."

Rodrick moved closer towards and whispered in her ear. Daphne almost flushed at the action, but the words she heard had stunned her. The spell he had used, "Imperio," was an Unforgivable, he'd broken the law using it. If the teachers found out about it, then he could likely get expelled or worse. The thought made her stomach squirm.

A frown marred Daphne's face, she was shocked he'd risked getting expelled, she attempted to question why he did it if it was forbidden, but the look on his face broke her resolve. He risked it, to make sure she was safe. Realising that she got closer to him and enveloped him in a hug thanking him. The action surprised him; he sat there still for a few moments before returning the hug.

Rodrick was the first to pull back from the hug before giving her a small thankful smile she didn't push the subject. She had hundreds of questions on the spells he had used, almost all of them were spells she'd never heard of. However, she couldn't bring herself to question him now.

"I'll tell you later if you want to know. Just not now," he added on when he noticed her expression. She inclined her head down, unsure of what to say. The boy looked worn out, no doubt from all the spells used, he made to lower his head onto the sofa for a nap but wound up with it on the part of her shoulder, She didn't say or move anywhere when she noticed. Tracey and Blaise had spotted them after they'd finished their game. The worry on her face had disappeared when she saw her; it was replaced by a small smirk when she saw Rodrick's head on her shoulder. Daphne rolled her eyes at the look on her face.

Blaise looked confused at the situation. The two took their seats on the opposite sofa, where Daphne told them about everything that had occurred, minus the forbidden spell. By the end of the story, both of them looked quite surprised. The smirk on Tracey's face grew even more, and Daphne couldn't help but scoff. Blaise looked jealous, most likely from Rodrick's knowledge on spells, but his face quickly turned confused. He asked a question to no one in particular but had managed to settle them into an uncomfortable silence.

"How he know all of those spells in his first year?"

The hidden meaning that Rodrick was hiding something. Something quite big for that matter. The group didn't pay the thought any mind; he would tell them when he was comfortable. Besides, hiding something was a quality of Slytherin, they couldn't very well be mad at him for it.

The two made their way to leave towards their dormitories, Daphne insisted on her staying until Rodrick woke up. The others didn't question her and made their good nights before making their way to their dorms. Daphne eventually started humming along to the silence, most of the Slytherin students had made their way onto their dorms, there were a few remaining playing a game of chess or reading a book in one of the corners. Rodrick woke up once again a while later. When he noticed the position he was in he was about to apologize before Daphne assured him it was okay. Rodrick thanked her again before he got up from the sofa and made his way onto his dorm.