She was different. It wasn't a good thing or a bad thing, it was just a fact. Luna Lovegood was like no one that he had ever met before. Maybe that was why he liked her so much.
He didn't want to go. He really didn't. He didn't even have a good reason not to. There wasn't really a reason when he thought about it. But the thought of all those people and all the bright lights and all the noise. It made him sick to his stomach. But as much as he didn't want to go (which was a lot), he knew he would. Because it was about her.
It was her wedding; the wedding where he was the best man. He didn't have a choice.
He had known Audrey since first year, back then though she was just a small Korean girl who talked too much and knew too little. It wasn't that she wasn't smart, she was. She just wasn't smart in the way that everyone else was.
She could recite song lyrics and mimic sounds like no one else he had ever met. Her memory was near photographic, she had never forgotten a face or a name and she always remembered the minor details.
But she just could never pay attention in class. She had trouble staying still and she struggled to perform the simplest of spells and read the smallest of paragraphs.
That's where Rolf came in. He helped her to concentrate. In return she was his voice.
Rolf was deaf; had been since he was only small. There were spells of course, spells that could return his hearing. But they hurt his head and made him lose his balance. He preferred hearing aids, even if they didn't always work that well.
Back then though, he just used sign language and read lips. But no one else could understand him and no one made an effort to learn. That was until Audrey came along.
He was lonely and Audrey helped. They helped each other really. Both of them knew what it was like not to fit in. To be different. So they became each other's normal.
Rolf knew how much today meant to Audrey, he knew how important it was for him to go.
So he went.
By the time he got there, Audrey was nearly ready. Ready to get married. It was weird to think of Audrey as a wife. She had always just seemed too independent, seemed like someone who didn't need anyone else to make her happy. But Audrey really loved Percy. Had as long as Rolf could remember.
He thought back to third year, where she would go on and on about the colour of his eyes and how he smiled and how she could've sworn that he looked at her during breakfast. Rolf thought that she was going crazy. But he never said so because the way Audrey smiled when she talked about him was worth every second of hearing about how cute Percy's hair looked that morning.
It took years for Percy to even consider her in that way though. It wasn't until fourth year that they had their first conversation. It took fifth and sixth year for them to become friends (Percy had also gotten a girlfriend around that time, Audrey really struggled with that). By seventh they were talking every day. After the war though, that was when they really hit it off.
Percy was struggling then, struggling to face the fact that he hadn't been on the right side. And that he hadn't been for some time. That all the time he had spent being stubborn that was time that could've been spent with his family. A family that was now missing a part of its foundation. A family that was now broken.
Audrey was there for him though. There for him when no one else could be. It had taken years but Percy had finally realised that Audrey was it. She was the one. After that everything else moved rather quickly. They moved in together, got engaged and now they were getting married.
And now Rolf was going back to being alone. Back to not fitting in. Back to having no one. He knew that was a stupid way to look at it. He really did. Him and Audrey had been friends for what seemed like forever and they would continue to be for the rest of their lives.
But he couldn't help but think that now when something important happened in Audrey's life, Percy would be the first one to know instead of him. That when she needed someone to talk to after a rough day, that someone would now be Percy instead of him. That instead of him there was Percy.
Rolf sighed, and swept the hair from his face.
"The big day's finally here."
Audrey turned around, a massive grin planted on her face. She looked stunning. More so than usual.
"You came; I was beginning to think you weren't going to show."
Rolf put his hands in his pockets and smiled, "And miss this. I wouldn't miss it for the world."
Audrey nodded and took a deep breath. She turned back around and stared at her reflection in the mirror. She was nervous, more nervous than Rolf had ever seen her.
"You alright Auds?"
Audrey nodded, she looked as if she was trying to convince herself more than anyone else. Tears were starting to well up in her eyes. Rolf was starting to worry now, what if this was more than nerves. She took a deep breath and willed herself not to cry.
"What if it doesn't work out? What if it's not perfect?"
Rolf shook his head, "Audrey even if today is a complete disaster, it'll still be perfect. Because today you are marrying the man that you love, the man that you are meant to be with. If that's not perfect, then nothing else will be."
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Rolf gently shook her shoulders before letting go. He turned around and made a move to leave the room.
"Rolf." He looked back to see Audrey facing him.
"Yeah, Auds?"
"Wish me luck?"
He smiled, "You don't need it."
The after party wasn't actually that bad. Usually parties like these sucked for Rolf, the noise made it even harder to hear and whenever he tried to read someone's lips there were either too excited to understand or they were eating.
Either way Rolf usually ended up wishing that he was anywhere else in the world.
But this one was different. The music wasn't all that overwhelming; it was actually kinda pleasant. Making conversation wasn't all that hard either. Although he hadn't really talked to all that many people, but he was sure that he talked to enough.
Currently though he was just sitting alone, firewhiskey in hand.
People were dancing. He saw Audrey and Percy. They looked so happy with one another; they seemed to be at peace.
The last time Rolf had been in a relationship was way before the war. It was with a girl named Codie. She had blue braids and kind eyes. She was from Jamaica, like his mum.
She was a squib. Her parents gave her up when they figured it out. She was put in foster care and lived with family after family, each time thinking that she had found a family. Eventually though she just got sick of being disappointed and ran away. She moved to London and began to work at a local grocery store. That's where her and Rolf met.
Their relationship didn't last all that long, they weren't the right fit. Sometimes he missed her though, missed her laugh and her voice. Missed her cynical jokes and her buck-toothed smile. But mostly he just missed having somebody.
"Hello."
Rolf looked up and saw a small woman with wispy blonde hair. She was smiling at him, a dreamy expression on her face.
"Hi."
"You must be Rolf Scamander. I've read some of your works before. Your recent article on Jobberknolls was really interesting. Although I must disagree with your thoughts on Ramonas; there is now way they could have migrated to the Atlantic, it's simply too far a distance for their little fins."
Rolf was lost for words, he had never even seen this woman before and here she was having a conversation with him as if she already knew him. It was astounding.
"I'm glad that you enjoyed it. But if you excuse me, I really must be going."
He went to stand but she grabbed his arm gently, as if to get him to stay. She seemed curious, her face was twisted as if she was just starting to understand.
"It must be hard to be a Scamander. Your grandfather was one of the greatest magizoologists magic has ever seen. Your parents were just as extraordinary, weren't they? That must be difficult, to have those expectations put upon you."
Rolf shrugged.
She smiled, "I think we'll being seeing each other again, perhaps sooner than you think. Goodbye Rolf Scamander."
Rolf was shocked, this whole encounter was unexpected. He didn't even know her name. A smile crept onto his face; she was something different. And everybody needed something different.