Chapter 1: In which Rolf is never ordinary
Rolf was never what one would call ordinary.
Even as a child, his interest in the magical creatures seemed to exceed even his grandfather Newt Scamander, the famous naturalist. His mother had regularly despaired when he brought home a gnome for a pet, a Cornish Pixie to study in his room (until it inevitably escaped and wreaked havoc), or once what Rolf had insisted to be a troll's finger (it had turned out to be a chicken bone on closer inspection). His mother would throw out his various trinkets and then utter the phrase that Rolf would come to expect throughout his entire childhood.
"Rolf this is getting ridiculous! Could you ever try to be more like your brother and sister?"
Yet Rolf held no desire to be remotely like Peter or Mona. Their interests were not held in nature or the beautiful creatures it possessed. They wanted only to stay indoors and read or, when they did go outside, to talk almost endlessly. They claimed to be too old to join in Rolf's silly 'playing'. They didn't seem to understand that Rolf was exploring, discovering new creatures and writing about them just as his grandfather did. He may not have discovered any just then but he knew he would someday.
His grandfather was the person whom Rolf aspired to be, the link that made Rolf believe he was part of the family instead of an orphan that they had taken in (as his siblings claimed). Newt had always been interested (or at least feigned interest) in what Rolf had to show him. He never laughed at Rolf's dream to own a dragon or shout at him when Rolf had gone searching for a bird that he had mistaken to be some new interesting magical creature (though Rolf swears that he saw it breathe fire) and had fallen out.
In fact, his grandfather seemed proud of his grandson, for being the only one in the family to hold an interest in the creatures that Newt had spent so much of his life discovering and learning about. Rolf may have been the odd one out in his family of sensible wizards but he was the only one that his grandfather understood, or at least partly. For Rolf was still a little eccentric in some of his tastes. At least, when he received his Hogwarts letter, he had grown out of his peculiar habit of wearing Doxy teeth around his neck (to keep away rogue spirits according to him).
At Hogwarts, Rolf found his true home. Whilst most of his classmates found him a little strange, he found some true friends. Ellie, a girl who was almost his polar opposite and David, a boy whose obsession with dragons bordered on almost scarily obsessive at some points and Rolf were drawn together as the outcasts of the school. He had never quite understood the human need for companionship but for some reason he almost needed Ellie and David as much as they needed him. They made each other laugh and whilst never entirely understanding each other, kept the easy friendship that would remain for the rest of their lives.
Rolf also found Hagrid, the gameskeeper of Hogwarts. Hagrid had discovered him when Rolf had been exploring the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest. Rolf had been expecting to be told off but instead Hagrid had invited him in to his hut for tea and rock cakes. They had bonded over their fascination for dangerous creatures and had swapped tales of their discoveries.
He also found Hogwarts to be the most fascinating place that he had ever been to. His attempts to befriend the centaurs had not gone down so well (they had been perplexed more than anything of him running up to them and wittering about the stars and what he saw in them), nor had his plan to break the house elves out of the kitchens (he had been reprimanded three times for that: first by a particularly annoyed house-elf, second by Professor Dumbledore, and third by Ellie) but overall he had found a new home and a place in which his own behaviour simply fitted in with the way of the school.
It was in his final year that Rolf received the worst news that he had ever received. His grandfather Newt had passed away. Ellie had attempted to reason that Newt was exceptionally old but that held no comfort for Rolf. For his grandfather had held the only link to Rolf feeling as if he belonged to his family and had been the only person in the family to accept Rolf for all his quirks and odd behaviour.
Newt's death was a sad occasion but also pushed Rolf to do what he had always wanted to: go far away and explore other places. So he left after completing his final year, said goodbye to Ellie and Hagrid, and took David with him to Egypt. There they both studied with a small group of wizards like themselves, about the magical creatures that they would find in Egypt. Rolf still was unable to find the different and interesting creatures that he dreamed of but it was still a good life. He may have still been considered the odd one of the group (not helped by his fascination in the magazine The Quibbler or the pet Mooncalf that had been a gift from Hagrid). Yet people were more interested in him than disturbed and he met another friend. His name was William or Bill and he was a curse breaker, having been brought in to deal with a tricky situation in a tomb that the group had been attempting to explore. He reminded them a little of Ellie, though only through sense of humour and wit.
Their studies took three years and led David to take a job in China to work with dragons: his dream. Bill returned to England where there was great danger from Lord Voldemort returning. Rolf considered returning but was offered a job in Japan on a research project exploring uncharted (in terms of beast cataloguing) territories. Rolf took it, keeping in contact with his old friends through Owls. Rolf did join the Order of the Phoenix but could only offer help through his newly found contacts with the Japanese Ministry of Magic and other foreign wizards that he persuaded to join in the fight.
He was invited to Bill's wedding to some French girl with a name that was something to do with flowers. Rolf was unable to go; an unfortunate incident broke out involving his new friend Gwendolyn and a dragon. There seemed chaos in England and so when the research project had ended, Rolf had gone to visit David in China. It was there that Rolf got a job in the Chinese Magical Creatures Control Division as a researcher. Through the year that followed, he lost contact with Bill and had to rely on information he gained at work, though this was often faulty and inconclusive. All he knew was that there was a new Minister of Magic and that Harry Potter, a friend of Bill's brother was missing. Rolf began to bury himself more and more into his work, as he had done as a child with his exploring.
Eventually Rolf was able to return to England and was reunited with Ellie, whom he discovered had grown into quite a pretty girl. They entered into a brief relationship but it was not to last. Whilst Rolf had finally become more mature and Ellie had lost some of her abrasive nature, they were simply too incompatible. So they had parted as friends. Bill called in some contacts and got Rolf a job at the Ministry of Magic, working for the Magical Creatures department again. This time he was allowed to go on his own research trips, lead expeditions of his own. It was there that he met the curious Luna Lovegood.