"I really don't see what the big deal is," Rodrick spoke as he stared out the compartment window. he felt much better than usual, his Transfiguration was off. He'd taken it off as soon as he entered the compartment and set up privacy charms, he knew he needed to have it back up before they got out though. It took him a few moments before he realized Luna had never actually seen him like that before. It took that long because she made no reaction what so ever to it, as if it was completely natural. She didn't even ask about his family name although Rodrick did make sure to tell her.

Which resulted in her smiling... That really should've concerned him but frankly, he was just glad she wasn't against him. Although he doubted she ever would be.

"Honestly you're overreacting at this rate," Added on a smirking Nott.

"Seriously, it's unbecoming of you to be so melodramatic," Daphne remarked rolling her eyes, a mocking tone in her voice.

"I think you've been infested by quite a lot of Wrackspurts," Luna added on dreamily towards the other Blonde in the compartment.

Malfoy's face twitched more with each person that spoke before finally, he turned to Rodrick.

"You made me give away the Black fortune for a bloody cup!" He seethed.

Rodrick had trouble keeping the smile off his face, Does he not realize the amount of fun he could have with that?

It was at that point, the last person in the compartment decided to contribute.

"I agree with him to be honest," Astoria muttered, surprising the rest.

"See!" Malfoy remarked gleefully having a supporter.

"I think it would've been more worthwhile to sell it for some candy," Astoria added to everyone's amusement.

Malfoy stared at the girl in front of him, there was a strange look on his face as he wondered what on earth was wrong with her.

Nott could barely control himself at his face.

The compartment had six people, the girls on one side and the boys on the other. Both Tracey and Blaise had, to their friends surprise elected to stay at Hogwarts, for the Christmas holiday's, Tracey's parent's had their work cut out for them for the holiday while Blaise had decided that Hogwarts was better than a holiday with step-dad number 29.

Rodrick wasn't actually sure how many step father's the boy had but it always irritated Blaise when he exaggerated the number so he always did. Of course, he and Daphne did make sure to get permission from their head of house and naturally Daphne's parents to let the girl come over for Christmas. They offered Blaise the same but he'd refused on the grounds of protest against his mother... It didn't make any sense.

Rodrick just assumed the boy wanted to study History in secret.

"It's not like you would've kept the fortune or ever even received access to it," snorted Rodrick.

Malfoy deflated at that, "Still to lose it all for a cup we probably would've won..."

Rodrick raised an eyebrow at that, "Raise a hand if you think Slytherin could've won without cheating,"

Daphne had trouble keeping a straight face, Rodrick just admitted to it, in fact, been cheating...

Unsurprisingly no one even bothered to consider the notion, no one raised their hands, not even Malfoy.

"Besides, look at this way. You can annoy Harry Potter as much as you want now and still be guaranteed to win... Imagine the look on his face at the end of the year when Dumbledore hands it over to us anyway..." Nott spoke... his voice slowly getting more excited as he himself realized the full effects.

Malfoy stared at the boy for a few seconds before an evil grin slowly plastered itself on his face.

Daphne looked at the smile before she turned to Rodrick, "Why are you friends with them again?"

Rodrick chuckled at that, "I have absolutely no idea," he remarked. "Also you still can't kill him Malfoy,"

Draco rolled his eyes, "I know I know, it's against the rules"

Rodrick raised an eyebrow at that, "No, I happen to like him, I'd be disappointed if he disappeared,"

Malfoy had a look of horror etched on his face at that.

"If my secret is ever blown I could use him to avoid Azkaban, besides he's a good link to Sirius Black and considering he's the head of the Black family..." Rodrick added on

The look of horror quickly changed to confusion.

"And whose fault is that!?" Malfoy yelled out, exasperated.

Everyone ignored the outburst.

"You could say the same about your connections to our families," Nott remarked.

"No offense but that'll speed up my trip to Azkaban," deadpanned Rodrick.

"What about mine?" Luna asked cheerfully.

Rodrick contemplated her words, "I wouldn't know, they'd probably never believe I existed." he shrugged.

"Probably sent to a St Mungu's mental ward," Malfoy muttered.

"I doubt you'll end up there, My family wouldn't stand for it," Daphne remarked defensively.

'As if your family could stand to anything,' Nott thought to himself.

"That still doesn't justify me not being able to kill him..." Malfoy muttered disappointedly.

"I am pretty sure morals alone should justify that..." Daphne spoke, a tone of uncertainty in her voice as she stared at Malfoy.

Nott snorted at that. "Malfoy's having morals... Good one Greengrass,"

Malfoy glared at Nott. "I don't want to hear that from you."

Nott shrugged at that uncaring.

"We make quite the strange group don't we," Astoria murmured. It came off as a surprise when the other's realized the girl was surprisingly self-aware... When she wasn't filling her mouth up in desserts anyway.

"How so?" Luna questioned curiously.

Nott snorted at that, "You're here," he answered to her.

Luna turned her gaze back to the boy "I don't understand,"

Nott was tempted to make some insult regarding the girl before remembered who the person next to him was, "Well you're a Ravenclaw..." he decided to settle on. He failed to notice the amused face both Malfoy and Grindelwald made.

Luna tilted her head at that, "What does that have anything to do with the compartment"

"Well it's filled with Slytherins," The boy stammered.

"But you're a Hufflepuff," Luna remarked with a smile.

Everyone else broke into laughter at that.

The look of horror on the boy's face was priceless.

...

The Greengrass family were outside of Gringotts bank, a detour Rodrick had asked to make at the last minute. He had contemplated whether the Deathly Hallow in his vault could help his magical extraction in any way, he still remembered his grandfathers warning regarding it but considering what he was planning to do, he figured it counted as stupid and reckless.

The goblin he spoke to was the same one as last time, when he'd asked him to let him enter his vault, he led him in with a sneer. Rodrick could've sworn the cart ride was much faster than last time. 'Goblins hold a grudge... Go figure,' He mused to himself. Countless wars with the race filtered through his mind.

"We're here," The goblin muttered disdainfully, he really didn't like visiting this particular vault, it almost always resulted in a headache.

Rodrick nodded amiably as he made his way inside. He eyed the necklace in the middle warily, once again, second thoughts regarding it rose up. He gulped as he moved towards it, when he grabbed it he immediately felt a jolt of magic rush through him at the contact. He blinked a couple of times before he removed the necklace from where it hung and eyed it closely.

It looked very similar to the time turner that Granger had used only... Rodrick frowned, there wasn't actually a way for him to turn back time using it, in fact, he couldn't even touch the hourglass in the middle at all. Peering at it closely, he noticed that the actual Time Turner was encased inside what looked a triangular crystal. There was a large amount of small unreadable text sprawled all over the crystal, inside he could see a faint silvery glow from each of the small pieces of sand inside the hourglass. Perhaps the strangest part was that there were 3 small looking pins extended from each corner of the crystal. Taking a closer look he frowned, he couldn't read any of the writing inside.

"It's another language altogether," Rodrick heard the goblin say, he turned to find the goblin looking far paler than before.

Rodrick nodded before he, to the goblin's shock, put on the necklace.

For a split second he felt his heartbeat echo through his head, when he looked up, he found the goblin watching him with a crazed look, a sudden rush of magic seeped through him at the contact, looking down, however, his eyes widened, the necklace had changed.

The shape had changed to match a pendant, one that took the image of the mark of the Deathly Hallows themselves, only this time, where the wand had originally been, there was now also a small horizontal hourglass crossed at its center. All of it was encased in what looked like a silver crystal globe. Rodrick turned towards the goblin and found an inquisitive look on his face.

"It fit's you,"

Rodrick raised an eyebrow at that, "What makes you say that?"

"You're not dead." The goblin replied, sending a shudder down Rodrick's spine.

He nodded once and turned towards the Deathly Hollow's book. He felt another jolt of magic go through him, unbeknownst to him was the small engraving of a book that etched itself onto the pendant, surrounded by, once again, the strange foreign language. He turned back to the goblin, however, Rodrick furrowed his brows when he noticed a silvery glow emanating from the creature's chest, where his heart supposedly was, he shook his head once and the glow seemed to disappear.

"That's all," Rodrick remarked, he placed the book into his bag, it was heavier than usual, he'd shrunk all three of their trunks and placed it inside, with a weighting charm of course but that could only do so much.

The Goblin replied quickly before moving back to the cart, there was a skip in his step, they'd finally gotten rid of that cursed item.

...

When he left the bank, Rodrick found the Greengrass's waiting for him outside, The parent's smiled at him as soon as he came into view, Daphne was busy eyeing the new addition to his neck while Astoria skipped around cheerfully as she waved her wand around.

"What is that?" Daphne questioned, referring to the necklace.

"Family heirloom," Rodrick replied, a small smile on his lips.

It took a few moments before Roxanne joined in, "It looks quite nice," she made an attempt to reach it to examine it closer before Rodrick instinctively moved back. A surprise expression took over the woman's face. Cyrus had a thoughtful one on his. Rodrick had a sheepish smile on his, wondering what to say.

Daphne broke the small silence. "It's cursed isn't it?" there was a tone of amusement in her voice.

Rodrick nodded, "I'd be surprised if it wasn't,"

"Why wear it?" Astoria asked, blunt and straight to the point.

Rodrick shrugged, "Might help, regarding you," he answered.

A look of understanding swept over the Greengrass adult's faces, "It won't affect you right?" Roxanne asked worriedly.

Rodrick shook his head, "If anything, it seems to keep my magic in check," When he looked closer, however, he furrowed his brows as he noticed the same silvery glow come out of Roxanne's heart.

"Problem?" Daphne asked, worriedly.

"No, not really,"

The group fell into a small silence at that, Rodrick quickly perked up, "I think I need new robes, these ones don't fit me as well as before,"

Roxanne nodded quickly at the sudden change, there was a cheerful look. "Yes, I agree," she chuckled, "It looks like your finally growing," she remarked playfully.

Rodrick felt himself turn red at that, his height was a sore point, when he turned towards Daphne he found the same amused look on her face, she'd teased him about Tracey being taller than him for quite a while. It seemed he'd grown a couple of inches taller than Daphne in the past several months, realistically that put him on height with the red head... He was nowhere near Blaise but it was better than before. Rodrick guessed it might have had something to with the fact he was using Transfiguration much less than usual.

"Ah, I should probably take some Galleons out," Rodrick muttered quietly, already turning around.

"No need, I won't have you paying for it," Roxanne spoke up.

Rodrick turned back to the woman about to object before he found an almost fanatic look on her face. He tried to refuse the offer.

"It'll be your Christmas gift," Roxanne 'persuaded' the boy, Cyrus could barely hold his smile as he noticed the sudden change in his wife's behavior.

"Ruins the surprise don't you think?" Rodrick tried to counter before Roxanne decided he would get both, the robes and a mystery gift. He sighed as he turned to find Daphne barely able to hold her laughter.

"What?" he questioned.

"You get weirder every year," she snorted.

Rodrick rolled his eyes at that.

"Don't listen to her, she's just jealous," Astoria spoke in defense of the boy, earning laughter out of the adults.

Daphne huffed at her sister, "Whose side are you on?"

"The one that lets me eat as much candy as I want,"

Rodrick patted the girl for that one, turning he found Daphne giving him an unamused look.

"I really think we should stop feeding her so much sugar though..." Roxanne spoke to her husband quietly.

Astoria seemed to hear that as she turned towards her mother with the most cheerful smile she could pull off, "Mom can we buy candy?"

There was no hesitation on Roxanne's part as she quickly agreed to her daughter. Astoria cheered in the victory, for a second she'd been worried.

Cyrus shook his head at that, his wife really couldn't handle Astoria.

"Am I the only one that's responsible here!?" Daphne questioned dramatically.

Rodrick snorted, "Responsibilities boring,"

Daphne rolled her eyes at that, "I am just trying to make sure she keeps her looks,"

Rodrick raised an eyebrow at her, "Why does that matter?"

"So if she ever get's a crush on anyone, they won't reject her," Daphne deadpanned, half serious.

Rodrick stared incredulously at her before laughing, "I am pretty sure the love of her life is candy, any way you never seemed to worry about that yourself."

Daphne raised an eyebrow at him.

"Right," Rodrick muttered quickly realizing why. Dangerous ground.

It seemed Cyrus had been paying attention to their little conversation, at least the part about Astoria possibly having a crush as he decided to walk up towards his youngest daughter and effectively tell her she can buy as much candy as she could ever want. He was already losing one daughter to a boy, he wasn't risking his second one.

Roxanne started laughing, she'd been about to remind him that the girl was only eleven before remembering Daphne had been a similar age before she'd developed her own crush.

Daphne facepalmed herself at her father's actions. Astoria felt like she was in heaven.

"Doesn't bode very well for me does it," Rodrick muttered quietly, thinking about the protective father.

Daphne raised an eyebrow at him, "You sound worried,"

A small frown etched its way onto his face causing the girl to laugh.

"Why do I feel like your not comprehending the situation properly?" Rodrick remarked as he followed the group ahead of them.

Daphne shook her head, "I know what you're talking about, there's a solution to it, that's all"

Interest piqued, Rodrick turned towards the girl, "And that is?"

Daphne grinned, "We're teenager's, we rebel,"

Rodrick blinked at that, "That doesn't sound like a good solution,"

Daphne shrugged, "It works pretty well,"

"I really doubt that... It's hopeless isn't it" He sighed.

Daphne shook her head at his antics, "You can stand up to a Basilisk but you can't stand up to my parent's, who happened to like you by the way,"

Rodrick snorted, "The Basilisk sort of put me in a situation where I had no choice,"

There was a glint in the girl's eyes as soon as she heard him, "Is that right?" she remarked.

Rodrick had a bad feeling as he watched the girl's face slowly adopt a mischievous smile, "Daphne..." he started before he watched the girl skip towards her parents. He could feel the danger in the air.

"Father..." Daphne started off on a formal note.

The feeling of dread escalated as soon as he heard that.

Cyrus turned to his daughter before he found the girl adopting an adorable smile on her face, 'Uh oh...'

"Can I date Rodrick?" she asked in her most cheerful voice, her eyes were wide and hopeful.

Astoria dropped her ice cream she turned to stare at her sister wide eyed.

'Where did she get that!?' Rodrick idly thought.

Roxanne could barely hold her laughter at Cyrus's face.

Both adult's quickly turned towards the boy, only to find him comically frozen in place unable to utter any words.

Rodrick did the first thing that came to mind as he took out his wand and placed a Disillusionment charm on himself.

Daphne rolled her eyes at that, "Oh real mature,"

Roxanne started laughing at the situation, while Cyrus was still perplexed by the whole thing.

A few moments passed and Rodrick showed no signs of reappearing.

Daphne frowned at the boy's action, it really was making things quite awkward, she was about to call his name out before Astoria spoke up.

"I think he's waiting for daddy's answer," there was a cheerful tone to her voice as she said this.

The eyes quickly glanced towards Cyrus, Daphne raised an eyebrow at him when he didn't say anything.

In a moment of panic, Cyrus said the most reasonable thing he could think of, an answer that always worked no matter the situation. He'd been using it ever since Daphne learned to talk.

"Ask your mother,"

The pressure immediately shifted towards the amused green eyed woman, she chuckled before turning to her daughter, "I think you should be asking the person in question," there was a smile plastered on her face, she'd long approved of the boy ever since he'd saved both her daughter's, the fact he was so willing to help Astoria only added more points in his favor.

Daphne waited a few moments before raising her hands into air dramatically, "I really doubt this is how you dealt with the Basilisk Rodrick!" she spoke somewhat annoyed.

"This is hardly the same thing!" A voice echoed out from nowhere.

It was at that moment that Cyrus truly realized how much people were willing to ignore in the street so as to avoid attention, this really must look like a comic and yet people walked past like it's normal.

Daphne frowned when she still didn't see anyone reappearing.

'Thud'

Daphne and her parent's quickly turned towards the sound before they found Astoria... Hanging in mid air, her arms around something.

"Found him!" she cheered, causing Roxanne to let out a laugh. Cyrus shook his head at all this.

Rodrick quickly reappeared out of nowhere.

"There you are!" Daphne spoke as she crossed her arms.

"And you can't get away!" Astoria added on happily.

Rodrick swished his wand and both he and the girl around his neck disappeared.

"Oh for the love of..." Daphne muttered.

Cyrus eyed the situation with amusement, "Honey, I think our daughter's been kidnapped,"

Roxanne shook her head, knowing what he was trying to do. "It's ok, we still have Daphne,"

"Hey!" a voice echoed out of nowhere, once again revealing the two students.

"I can't believe you fell for that," Daphne remarked cheerfully as she quickly swept over towards the two and took the wand out of Rodrick's hand. "No more wand-waving until you get home," she remarked, her eyes glowing with amusement.

"Why didn't you set up a silencing charm?" Cyrus questioned curiously, he knew the boy was capable of that.

Rodrick sighed, "I did,"

'Oh... Wow,' The collective thoughts entered each brain, except Astoria's.

"..."

"Tori, you can let go now,"

Astoria shook her head, her hair had managed to whip Rodrick in the face causing Daphne to stifle a laugh at the situation.

"They abandoned me! This is their punishment!" she spoke, attempting a glare at her parents.

"How is this a punishment!? for them anyway?" Rodrick questioned incredulously.

"Use your imagination," Astoria shrugged.

Cyrus couldn't help himself as he started laughing at his youngest daughter's face. Even Roxanne seemed to crack.

"Astoria... You're not exactly light..." Rodrick remarked, much to Daphne's amusement, he was proving her point.

"Use magic," she spoke.

"I don't have a wand,"

"As if!" Daphne snorted, "I've seen you do a summoning charm without a wand before!"

Rodrick stared at the girl with a look of betrayal on his face before he sighed and levitated the girl on his back.

Astoria had been about to complain before Rodrick placed her on his shoulder's, she quickly grabbed onto his hair while he held her legs still, if she started kicking he wasn't sure he could hold her in place. "This is much better," the girl exclaimed.

"Imagine if Malfoy saw us like this..." Daphne remarked as she shook her head.

Cyrus seemed to take the words in quickly before sighing, his daughter was having too much fun from the looks of it. Turning to Roxanne, hopeful she could get everything back under control. His stomach squirmed when he realized she had no intention of doing anything.

Daphne quickly walked up towards Rodrick, "You haven't actually answered," she spoke barely able to hold her laughter at the look on his face.

Rodrick twitched slightly before smiling at Daphne. "No," he replied amiably as he walked away, dramatically turning his nose up. Astoria started laughing.

Daphne blinked a few times before she turned to her parent's, "He's joking, right?", quickly she turned back to the boy and called out to him to no avail.

"Where to Astoria?" Rodrick asked, enjoying the frustrated look on Daphne's face.

A thoughtful look took over Astoria before she beamed, "If we put a cloak over you we'd look like my mom" she remarked.

Cyrus raised an eyebrow at that wondering where it was going.

"And then...?" Rodrick questioned.

"We can go to a bar and order fire whiskey!"

Cyrus' head ringed with alarms at that, "Absolutely not!" he spoke quickly.

Astoria turned towards her father which in turn forced Rodrick to turn around and put on the biggest pout she could.

Cyrus looked away unable to hold her gaze.

"Mom..." she started on her mother looking down.

It took a second before Roxanne broke, "Ok fire whiskey it is dear,"

Cyrus turned to his wife, "Roxanne! she's eleven!"

"She's just so adorable," Roxanne cooed.

Rodrick stared incredulously at his guardians.

"I really don't see the big deal... " Astoria remarked, smiling mischievously at her sister, "I mean Daphne's already drank it,"

The temperature quickly dropped, even Rodrick felt the tension, he quickly schooled his expression as everyone turned towards a frozen Daphne.

Her father's gaze swept straight into her, Daphne squirmed for a few seconds before she blurted out, "So did Rodrick!"

Rodrick chuckled at that, "It's not as big of a deal as their dau-" he stared before he noticed Roxanne's glare on him.

"Explain! Now!" Cyrus spoke thinly to Daphne while Roxanne did the same to Rodrick.

"Malfoy's house elf accidentally gave me some!" Rodrick spluttered, the answer seemed to mollify Roxanne.

"Draco Malfoy snuck it into the common room!" Daphne remarked it took her a few seconds to realize her's wasn't much of an excuse.

Rodrick remembered the day, it was on the day Harry broke his broom.

Cyrus frowned at Malfoy's actions... Who gave a third-year access to Fire whiskey?

Roxanne, however, questioned further, "And why exactly did you decide to try it?"

Daphne squirmed on her feet for a few seconds before she saw her sister smiling even more... 'She wouldn't...'

"Rodrick warned us not to drink it..." Astoria started, "I listened... She didn't," she finished with a cheerful smile.

Daphne's face fell at that.

"She got super drunk," Astoria added on.

"TORI!" Daphne exclaimed.

Rodrick turned away from the spectacle, "Let's go buy you a candy shop,"

Astoria's eyes widened, "You can afford that?"

Rodrick nodded, chuckling, "I have an idea that might work,"

"What is it?" Astoria asked eagerly.

"It involves a hyperactive eleven year old," he finished as he walked away. 'That reminds me, I need that book on Apparition.'

Daphne took it for what it is and thanked Rodrick in her head, who knows what else Astoria might've said as well... She turned to her parent's and relaxed when she saw 'some' amusement in their faces. 'Maybe it's not so bad...'

"Daphne Greengrass," Her mother started.

'I am screwed,' Daphne quickly thought of her mother's full use of her name.

Cyrus quickly shook his head as he followed the other two student's wondering when he'll get the chance to tell Rodrick of Sirius Black's invitation to his home.