Rodrick opened his eyes; he blinked warily, his vision failing him. It took a few seconds before the blur disappeared and his vision returned to normal. He stared ahead, he saw the familiar professor, he'd had for seven years, it'd be hard to forget what she looked like... Something was off; she looked younger... He was currently standing in the middle of the great hall. Turning around Rodrick saw everyone's eyes on them... What's going o- His thoughts abruptly stopped. The scroll in her hand, the student, sitting on the stool in front of them... It was the sorting ceremony. Rodrick was in the wrong place; he should be sitting... Why was he even here for another year in the first place. He made to move and found himself unbalanced. He almost fell. Looking down he found the ground closer than ever... What was going on? Turning, he viewed the faces around him. His eyes widened. This was his year... They were being sorted... It was then his memories clicked, of what had happened before he visited that realm. He set off a silencing and illusionment charm and screamed.
He was back in the past. It took a while before Rodrick could control his emotions, the memories, the knowledge and even his power, All of it swarmed inside his young body. He was trying to comprehend his situation; It was screwed up. He was actually screwed. All of those memories came on their own. No emotions followed them. Of all the blasted things to be doing right now, Rodrick was criticizing them, criticizing the actions his future self-took. He started laughing. He knew what caused it... His grandfather really should've mentioned this part! He finally calmed down. He didn't care anymore. He did not intend living through that same nightmare; he felt hollow... so many of those years wasted... Well not exactly, they were wasted but only for this half. Frankly, without the emotional attachment, his other side had grown... Rodrick found himself unwilling even to contemplate following the same path. In fact... The first idea that popped into his mind was freedom. After all... What are second chances for? Even ones you never wanted? From the looks of it, noone else seemed to have their memories... Good, it'll make things easier.
Rodrick noticed the magic surrounding his face starting to disappear; he got rid of both silence and Illusion charms. He refused to care. He stared up and noticed the Weasley gaping at his face and hair change. Rodrick returned a smirk to his face, the glare from his eyes unsettled the Weasley to the point he turned his head away. The boy couldn't even say anything as his classmates face changed. It seemed no one else paid any attention to the transformation; it was Harry Potter's turn to be sorted after all. Rodrick managed to keep his emotions in check; he wasn't hidden under the illusion or silence charm anymore. He looked up and caught the eyes of the headmaster; a small smirk started to appear on Rodrick's face. Fate wants to fuck with me? Well, I will not give it that satisfaction. Let's see how long it takes this world to put me in Azkaban or worse. Thought Rodrick darkly.
Albus had been pleased when he'd seen The Boy Who Lived be put into Gryffindor; it showed that the dark lord's influence hadn't affected him too much. That feeling however disappeared, there were very people left to sort one of them, however... Something wasn't right about him, his face had started to change, while that wasn't all too weird, in fact, there have been cases in the past were first years pretended to be someone else's pet! Thought Dumbledore with slight amusement. No, it was the shape it took, it looked familiar... Dumbledore stomach tensed when he'd heard McGonagall called the boy's name, something inside him was screaming at him to stop it, but he couldn't find the will to do it.
Rodrick grinned when he'd heard his name, he used a hand to sweep one of his bangs away from his eye, he needed a haircut honestly, He looked at McGonagall before he moved closer and took his seat at the sorting hat.
Never in her life had McGonagall been so confused, it was the last boy's turn to be sorted, he was a strange one regarding his name or the lack thereof. He only had the first name however that wasn't what exactly worried her; it was the look in his eye, she'd never seen someone so...devoid of emotion, even the dark lord wasn't this bad. Plus the fact the sorting hat seemed to shriek as soon as she put it on his head didn't help at all.
Rodrick almost couldn't help the laugh; the sorting hat had screamed when it met his mind. He might actually be able to enjoy this year if the memories stopped throbbing his head any case. It took seconds before the hat loudly proclaimed Slytherin if only to get away from him. Everyone was quiet; no one seemed to want to react, even the teacher's hadn't made any action. This was perfectly fine for the boy; it made the next part easier.
Rodrick got up from the chair, amused at the still stunned teachers. God if that freaked em out... This next part might send em into shock! Rodrick walked a few spaces and stopped; he had a thoughtful expression on his face before all hell broke loose. He turned his head around towards the Transfiguration Professor and opened his mouth.
"Grindelwald by the way," he said, "My name is Rodrick Grindelwald" That did it, the stunned expression disappeared, replaced by horror. Even the headmaster had a despaired look on his face, this only made the grin on his face grow before he turned back towards the tables. He noted unsurprisingly 75% of the students had copied the teachers with their open horror, and that 25% of them were openly smirking or grinning, they were all from 1 particular table. He noticed specifically how Draco Malfoy looked like he'd just gotten the best birthday present ever, Lucius must've already spoken to him. Rodrick made his way over towards the table and to his amusement found one of the first years quickly vacate their seats so as to let him face the Malfoy heir. The whispers and questions started then, Rodrick ignored em and went for the silent treatment instead. Even the bloody teacher's table seemed to be gossiping; the headmaster was currently trying to glare him out of existence. It wasn't long before the feast began although it looked like the headmaster decided to forgo the Hogwarts song. Rodrick did note how Daphne appears to stare at him, disbelief? Disgust? He wasn't sure; it was all right though they barely knew each other right now anyway.
He stared at his head of house and gave him a bright, cheerful smile. Snape took it for what it was; 'I am going to give you so much paperwork this year,' and visibly blanched. By the end of the feast, half of Hogwarts deemed him mad, Slytherin were already calling him the future dark lord. The Gryffindors had that heroically stupid disgusted look on their face and Rodrick had a content stomach full of food so he couldn't really care at all right now. If there was one positive side to all this, it was another seven years of Hogwarts feasts.
Albus Dumbledore was considering retirement or outright refusing any more orphans at Hogwarts. Every time one was involved something bad happened, the year just started, and you could practically paint a picture of how the boy's going to turn out, What did he do to deserve this? He knew he couldn't in conscience not at least try to help the kid, if only for his old friend's sake. The boy's existence put another sour note on his childhood fancies, but he would try! He wouldn't give up on the only thing that remained of his old friend, even if it was likely a grand or great grandson. A small glimmer of hope existed that the boy might not be too bad, In fact, if done right he could be very valuable to the order, the first couple of lessons should give him an idea. Dumbledore had a determined look on his face once again.
Little did he know Rodrick had absolutely no intention of showing up to those lessons.
He gave one last look to Quirrell suggesting getting a new boss but sadly the professor didn't understand him and looked away, ah well all that's left is to turn him into a bbq Rodrick thought cheerfully, he couldn't wait to use his favorite spell again.
Most of the Slytherin couldn't really tell whether their new companion was cheerful because he planned to do something or because he was mad, he was probably both to be fair but all things considered, no one really wanted to get on a Grindelwald's bad side. Especially if his name wasn't the only thing that was passed on.
