1 August 1997
Rolf Scamander kept to his own detailed timetable. If Charlie hadn't accidentally marked the wrong checkbox on his brother's wedding invitation, Rolf would not be here as a placeholder and feeding the fire to a good rumor. While Charlie Weasley and Rolf Scamander might be locked in what people called a bromance, they both preferred women, and neither of them, contrary to popular opinion, swung both ways.
What did it matter if Rolf was twenty-five and didn't have a girlfriend? He didn't have time for one of those. Dressed in dress robes, he sat back and wondered if people thought he was the lady in this scenario. Rolf sat by an old man and a young girl; they both wore omelette colored robes, and these radishes kept swinging from the girl's ears. If this stand out as a peculiar thing, the pendant on a Xeno Lovegood's chest raised eyebrows. Rolf had heard stories about Gellert Grindelwald, but he'd not seen that symbol displayed do openly in years. Rolf's grandfather, Newt, had crossed paths with the dark wizard ages ago.
Xeno Lovegood was a weirdo even by the standards of the Scamander family. He published stuff without fact, which was dangerous, and he threatened the stability of magi-zoology. Rolf, thinking surely Xeno doubtless had no idea about the symbol, leaned over to address him before the bride and groom kissed.
"What is that around your neck, sir?" Rolf held off on the introduction for now.
"Well, it is the Deathly Hallows," said Xeno, turning his lazy eye upon him. They stood and the chairs disappeared. Rolf nodded. How many times had his grandfather read him a battered copy of the Tales of Beedle the Bard? He believed in the Deathly Hallows, too, though he didn't seek them. But he wanted to hear the part about Grindelwald and the greater good.
"Do you wear one?" The girl turned towards Rolf, and he got momentarily lost in her eyes.
"Me? No." Rolf showed her the Star of David hanging from his neck. "I'm a Jew."
One had nothing to do with the other, of course, except history seemed to strike at the same time. At the same time of a Grindelwald's reign of terror, a Muggle by the name of Hitler tried to exterminate the Jews in the Second World War. The magical community had itself locked in the clutches of a conflict, and Rolf wondered if people saw the parallel and the return of the greater good. Maybe it was because he travelled the world, but Rolf didn't let history or current events affect him. Like his grandfather, he acted as more the scientist.
Bill and Fleur danced. Rolf, bemused, nursed a drink, keeping an eye on drunk Charlie, and he gave up when Charlie went to spend time with Hagrid. He found Xeno's daughter, Luna, dancing in circles with her hands above her head. She seemed to be having a good old time with a party of one. Rolf drained his glass, handed it to a waiter, and went to chat with her. He wasn't a social butterfly by any stretch of the imagination, but he caught her hand as a slow medley struck up and spun her around.
"Rolf Scamander," he said, thinking she was pretty. "Who are you?"
"Luna Lovegood." She smiled when he lifted her and spun her around. "Do you always dance with strangers, Mr. Scamander?"
"Most people attend weddings for the bride and the groom," said Rolf. "I do know Bill because I am friends with Charlie, but I tend to be a wallflower, so I come for a chance to meet new people."
He let go of her the moment the song ended. Luna considered his answered and blushed when he asked her if she wanted to dance again. Rolf had started somewhere with someone, and he saw no point in stopping. Luna said yes. They stood beside each other and spun into another waltz.
"You're Newt Scamander's grandson," she stated this matter-of-factly and threw him off.
"Yes." Rolf studied her. Deciding to play with her, he sped up to match the tempo of a modern song and pulled her closer to the people on the dance floor. They discussed something called the Gurdyroot, and Rolf, really enjoying her company, hadn't the heart this was simply a red or purple onion, but he forgot to edit this in his mind before the words left his mouth. "I'm more of a coffee man myself, but who likes onion in their tea?"
"It's a Gurdyroot." She distracted him with a serene smile.
"No, it's an onion, and your breath probably kills you afterwards." Speaking with a bit of impatience, Rolf saw she was indeed Xeno Lovegood's daughter. Why would the old man feel a girl's head with such notions? He took her hand and squeezed it a little hard."There's fact and confirmation bias, Miss Lovegood, and if you live by the latter you have nothing."
"It's a dance," she said, jumping into defending her father. Wrackspurts, she said, existed too, and if he needed evidence of that, he should simply hang around to get jumbled thoughts. Rolf, immediately regretting not keeping his mouth shut, took a deep breath. She started to walk away, and Rolf, focusing on the contour of her lips, spun her around and used the excuse of a waltz pose. They stared at each other, and he counted her eyelashes and got lost in her silvery eyes. He pressed his lips to hers. It started slow, and he broke it a moment later. "Mr. Scamander."
"Miss Lovegood."
Great. Now he'd be distracted by the memory of kissing a stranger at a wedding between mutual friends. Rolf bent, struggling to find a way to play this off, and kissed her hand. He thanked her for the dance and turned to leave. As he started to say something else, anything else to throw in a save, people around them panicked and started to Disapparate. Aimed with nothing more than his wand and a fuzzy brain, and he decided to blame it on a Wrackspurt, whatever that was.
22 September 2011
Rolf Scamander really enjoyed running around the house and planning this thing to the last detail. Raised by his grandparents, he grew up in their house in Dorset, and they shared the place with an interesting array of creatures. Life was certainly never boring at the Scamander family home, and looking back, someone cut Rolf a rare deal after a rough start. He shrugged into the casual jacket, preferring Muggle clothes, kissed Grandma on the cheek on the way downstairs, and fought the urge to slide down the banter like the good old days.
"I am not blind, Mr. Scamander." Tina popped her head out of the door of the antique sitting room. She handed him the baby Demiguise.
"No, Grandma." Rolf straightened his clothes and scooped up the invisible apelike creature. He doubled back when Tina beckoned to him with a finger. Skin and bones, Tina had passed her one hundredth and eleventh birthday, 111, last month, which meant she moved like a sloth, but she was beautiful as ever in a demure lavender gown and her dark hair pinned back. Her hands arthritic and swollen, she tried to place a new titanium Star of David pendant around his neck. "I've got it."
"You're getting married," she said, standing on her tiptoes to kiss him on the cheek. Rolf blushed. "Whatever happens you don't forget who you are. You love each other, and you stand by that girl, but you are my …"
"Fat little Jewish boy?" Rolf wagged his finger at her.
They both turned around when they heard a wheezing cough. Newt Scamander, white-haired, bespectacled, and deaf, leaned on a walking stick and stood in the doorway. He wore a set of Klein blue dress robes and shifted his weight. Retired since 1990, he still travelled and enjoyed his freedom of hanging out in Dorset whenever he wished. Newt still wrote, and he'd formed the Scamander Foundation with people who actually knew what they were doing; he'd laid the groundwork for Rolf to continue his cause. Rolf accompanied him to lairs and nests, though Rolf shouldered most of the responsibility of being the Newt Scamander nowadays.
"You're my Little Newt," said Tina, pressing on with her compliment when Newt said Rolf had been close enough with his guess. Rolf and Newt laughed. "Oh, ha, ha, you're so funny, the pair of you! Newton!"
"Yes?" They both turned towards her.
"Shut up." Tina fixed her hair into these bouncy curls with a flick of her wand and shuffled out of the room. As she'd had free reign with both Xeno Lovegood's and her husband's Gringotts vaults to plan this thing, she'd had a lot of fun.
"I'm the favorite." Confident, Rolf sidestepped his grandfather.
"She chose me! Who the hell are you? You?" Newt waved his walking stick like an old man telling whippersnappers to get out of his garden. " You landed in her lap. You don't even look like me."
"Love you, too." Rolf, grinning, didn't catch his grandfather's response about Americans.
True, as Rolf was dark-skinned and stocky with wavy locks, he favored his mother over the rest Scamander family, but Newt had dared the press to challenge his legitimacy. Rolf had been born in New York City and got caught in a custody battle; Newt rarely spoke to his son, Francis, because of the aftermath of this fiasco. Rita Skeeter, a stain on society, still pushed this angle for whatever reason. Newt grumbled, complained, and swore like a Jarvey, yet Rolf suspected the old man got kicks out of his misery.
Rolf rolled his eyes, forgetting he'd left his lucky trinket, Newt's old pipe. It laid on the bedside cabinet. He ran back upstairs, and shielding his eyes, knocked on the door. Giggles greeted him.
"Hello." Luna opened the door and slammed it in his face second later. Her voice sounded fainter behind the door. Someone, probably Ginny or one of their friends, lost it and said she couldn't breathe. Rolf knocked again and held out his hand, palm up, when Luna opened the door. "You can't be here. It's bad luck if we see each other before the wedding!"
"Smoking pipe?" Rolf wasn't a smoker; he'd tried it twice and found it a disgusting habit. Luna walked away and came back a minute later. She slapped the pipe into his hand, and Rolf sighed when she took it back, seeing he was caught in a bind here, and stowed it away for him in his inside pocket. "Thank you."
"High five, Ashanti." Luna slapped skin with the over enthusiastic baby Demiguise and played a quick round of patty cake, a Muggle child's game, with Ashanti; they started small with the Demiguise and would soon move onto sign language. They'd found the half-starved newborn Demiguise in a trafficking operation in Sri Lanka. "Bye bye."
"Wave goodbye to Mama." Rolf mirrored the action with Ashanti and headed downstairs. Ashanti., wanting Luna, called after her, and Ginny flung open the door again.
"Hey, Scamander." Ginny paused. Rolf had lowered his hand and grinned at her. Charlie Weasley had called Rolf by his surname since forever ago, and Rolf guessed she'd picked it up. He took it in stride. "I want a monkey. An invisible monkey. Where's mine? Charlie's like your brother, right? I'm your sister. Monkey. Please and thank you."
"First off, she's not a monkey. Secondly, Ginny, you've got three of these." Rolf, thinking of James, Albus, and Lily, showed her three fingers. Luna, catching this, switched from Spanish with one of her bridal party and flipped him off. Ginny laughed. "Who's in there with you?"
"Gloriana and Sara," said Luna. She sighed when Rolf had a brief conversation in Spanish with the ladies. He had his back turned. "Please go away. See you at the top of the hour, Rolf."
Thirty minutes later, Rolf, smiling politely, for nothing could ruin this day, went outside. White chairs lined the back garden and a clothed canopy, a chuppah, a Jewish custom, stood up front. Charlie Weasley, his best man, stood underneath this with an old wizened Kenyan wizard Rolf hadn't seen in ages; Emeka Mwangi was his kindred spirit in another part of the world. This had been thrown together and Rolf didn't care about it at the end of the day; it was a party and nothing more. He spotted a familiar friends and faces like Barnabas Cuffe, editor of the Daily Prophet, Rita Skeeter, Harry Potter and his friends, and ancient Tiberius Ogden.
"Oh, my goodness, it's Emeka Mwangi. Are you kidding me?" Charlie feigned shock as Rolf approached. Unlike Charlie's dress robes, Emeka wore light robes of red and his bald palate gleamed. Those in the front, including Rita Skeeter caught this, but Rita did not smile. Emeka flashed his white teeth and bowed to Rolf. "You said friends and family. I sent an owl to Mr. Mwangi. Give me the monkey, Scamander, come on."
"I wouldn't wish to miss this for anything in the world," said Emeka, clasping hands with Rolf. The man spoke English in a slow, deep tone reminiscent of Kingsley Shacklebolt. Charlie took Ashanti, and the creature, shy around too many strangers, shimmered away. As a Demiguise's fur was invisible, Rolf didn't bother to brush off his suit. Rolf, happy tears in his eyes, embraced the Kenyan like a long lost relative.
Ginny, one of the last to join the guests, punched the air in triumph. She'd taken out a camera, standing in as the wedding photographer. She wiped her auburn hair out of her eyes and apologized to the group, though this got greeted by silence. Next moment, Xeno Lovegood, cross eyed and aloof, strode up the aisle donned in robes of omelette yellow; the sight hurt Rolf's eyes. This paled next to his daughter. Rita Skeeter and a few other guests squealed in harsh laughter.
Rolf, who had imagined Luna wearing a simple white gown with a touch of her own simply gaped at her. His mouth fell open. He saw Tina bury cover her face with a hand, recover, and sit up straighter. This was a small affair, but everyone in the world had received an open invitation because they were they were the Scamander family. Luna, completely unaware of the stares and buzzing gossip, walked up to him in a gown of stars and rainbows. Rolf could've taken this as a hit, but the unicorn horns thing sapped his attention. Catatonic, imagining the backlash from this … Rolf held on his hands and slipped into the behavior of an automation.
"Scamander." Charlie prodded him. Rolf, thrown for a loop here, kept turning from Luna, to Emeka, to Charlie, and back again. Emeka read from a book and repeated the spill. "Today. It's a yes or a no!"
"Unicorns. Yes. Sorry, yes, I will." Rolf crashed back down to earth. He forgot the glass after kissing his bride and backtracked to break the wine glass with his right foot. There were cheers of "Mazel tov!" and applause, yet he registered none of it. He took Luna's arm and marched with her back into the house, accidentally stepping on a Diricawl. It Disapparated a few feet away. Rolf went back into the bedroom and locked the door from the inside. "What is this? We agreed on a 1920's theme! What? What is this?"
"You're angry," she said, sitting on the bed.
"You have to take that thing off your head for me to take you seriously." Rolf held the doorknob and swore under his breath when someone knocked. "Do you mind? I am alone with my wife!"
"Rolf, open the door," said Tina.
Luna took off the unicorn horn tiara and stood there like some girl caught in a wrongdoing. Rolf walked away, took a moment, and locked himself in the bathroom. It wasn't the wedding, as his grandfather had told them time and time again, but the marriage. This was nothing more than a party, a celebration, a celebration of a love and friendship between two people who happened to stumble upon each other in Lima, Peru one day. Was he seriously going to let the likes of Rita Skeeter or some other big shot, whoever it was, let it all go to hell?
Choose to make this day, this one day, one to remember. Emeka Mwangi had told him this once in Nairobi after a landslide hit his reservation on the back of a wild fire at his place. He ran a magi-zoo in Nairobi called Heart of Zola. Saying this to himself and over again like a mantra, Rolf cracked his neck and decided to face the naysayers. When he opened the door, took his wand on the bedside cabinet, and held up a hand to stop Luna from saying whatever she needed.
Rolf spun his finger in a circle. "Turn around for me?"
Luna, holding her arms at her side, spun around as Rolf opened the door to let his grandmother in.
"Grandma, say you were headed to a party at the Blue Diamond circa, I don't know. 1922? Like Upper West Side?" Rolf ran a his hand through his hair, throwing out a No-Maj reference he prayed she got. Rolf read anything and everything he could get his hands on. "I want to play with Zelda Fitzgerald."
"She was crazy," said Tina, fingering her wand thoughtfully.
"Exactly." Rolf raised his eyebrows as he read Luna's confused expression. Next moment, Tina unzipped Luna's gown and studied it as it fell to the floor. She transfigured it into a black flapper dress and handed it to Luna. "Thanks, Grandma."
"That's what I'm here for." Tina took off her long strand of pearls and handed them to Luna. "These are on loan, okay? Your something borrowed. They're for my fiftieth anniversary."
"Thank you," said Luna, holding her long hair back for Rolf. Tina left. Rolf fixed the necklace and buried himself in her neck. Luna giggled, squealing when he picked her up and tossed her on his bed. "We're missing our party."
"Yeah. Come on." Rolf offered her a hand and pulled her back outside. Luna, holding her heels in her hand, allowed herself to be dragged along. He picked her up, surrounded by friends and family, and spun her around. Rolf, who had picked up lessons from his grandmother, set Luna on the ground. He counted to eight, demonstrating for her. "Touch and step, touch and step."
"You taught Scamander to dance?" Charlie nodded to Tina, who nodded and snuggled next to her husband at one of the tables. "He murders people on the dance floor."
"Yeah," said Tina proudly. She tapped her wand on an old-fashioned wireless. A snappy, jazz tune started. She offered her hand to Rolf like a princess They danced side by side, and even Rita Skeeter, sitting at a table in the back, dropped her cursed Quick Quotes Quill. Tina, enjoying herself, went at a slower pace, yet she stayed in step and raised her arms. Newt, sipping a drink, raised his shot glass. "That was fun."
"Damn, Grandma," said Charlie, complimenting her before he gave a short speech He flipped over a shot glass and took another from a house-elf. The Demiguise shattered the empty one.
"Thanks. He's playful. This one." Tina offered Rolf to Luna and went to sit with Newt and Xeno.
"How playful are you, Mr. Scamander?" Luna laughed as another number struck itself up and Rolf spun her around in circles. She gasped as he pulled her close. Rolf, laughing with her, took a step and danced the night away.
"He's fallen asleep twice," said Rolf, spinning Luna around as they fell into a waltz around nine Many of guests had left. Rita, bored, had left an hour earlier, and Rolf hoped he disappointed her with a mundane story. Rolf went to chase down Ginny. "Come here."
"The kids are at home, Rolf," she said, preparing to Disapparate with Harry.
"Yes. This is worth it! No, seriously, Ginny, two minutes." Rolf unpacked her camera and pointed off to the distance. Tina gave up an hour ago and called it a night. Rolf pointed at his sleeping grandfather who nodded off on Charlie's shoulder. Charlie had passed out, too, the Demiguise clinging to him little a small child.
"Best day ever." Ginny knelt on the ground and started taking shots.
"Right? Between you and me, this never happened." Rolf snickered with her and took Luna by the hand again. They raced up to the house together and he threw her on the bed.
"Your grandmother is across the corridor." Luna put any thoughts to a proper wedding night on pause. Rolf threw his blazer on the floor and pulled her towards the open window, and they climbed onto the roof. Rolf conjured an expensive bottle of wine and two glasses. The bottle filled the glasses with generous measures. Rolf laid back after nursing a third glass and Luna snuggled next to him and fingered his Star of David. "If you're a weirdo, something's wrong with you. Someone ought to share this with Miss Skeeter."
"Damn straight. She can't touch me …you're with me." Rolf played with Luna's hair and stroked her pale face before he kissed her passionately. "The world's gonna know my name. What's she got? A column? The world's my playground, Luna, I go for all or nothing."