"So is there a reason you decided to add... what 7? privacy charms?" Blaize speculated.
"21 to be exact" Rodrick replied as he turned back and walked towards his seat. It was between Malfoy and Blaize. All of them long changed into their school robes. Sitting down, Rodrick eyed the four students sitting in front of him, Astoria, Daphne, Tracey and Nott.
Next to Malfoy, ironically sat Luna. Rodrick had initially been surprised to see the Malfoy heir not give off any reaction when the blonde had decided to sit next to him. From the looks of things, it seemed like she was more uncomfortable than the pureblood. For some reason that amused him.
Blaise raised his eyebrows in surprise, he had never seen Rodrick put so much effort in order to conceal something. Even when he usually decided to put up charms in order to remove the transfiguration on himself, he had never gone that far.
"You know..." Rodrick started, grabbing everyone's attention. "We probably won't be able to fit into one compartment soon enough," He finished with a bemused expression on his face. He almost snorted at the twitch that seemed to pass Blaize's face.
"Legroom issues aside," Nott remarked, "Is there a particular reason you decided to put up 21 privacy charms?" There was a surprised and annoyed look gracing his face, he'd only managed to count 11 of the spells he'd seen the boy use... the fact that 10 had gone unnoticed was both incredible and irritating. He knew he couldn't pull that off, not without anyone knowing. When he glanced at Malfoy, Nott found a similar look on his face.
Rodrick sighed, "Well... I'd prefer other's didn't find out about this..."
"You mean the fact you're a Grindelwald or something else? Because the first one isn't much of a surprise anymore," Malfoy remarked, there was a glint in his eye... He knew there was something good waiting to happen... He could just feel it. His father had been acting strangely, ever since Rodrick had shown up to their dinner party in any case. His father had been seen frequenting the Azkaban cells, of course politically it was to ensure that prisons held up and all of the inmates weren't being treated too horribly, the ministry had loved him for willingly going to check each prisoner, after all, it meant that they could avoid visiting Azkaban and public wise, it was being seen as a wizard looking out for others, after what had happened to Sirius Black... Well it had apparently become a necessary part of the prisoners rights... Even if they weren't exactly stable... Ever since hearing of it... Malfoy had been expecting something big.
If only he knew.
Rodrick turned his gaze to his right, finding Malfoy with an expective look on his face. 'Hasn't his father told him? or perhaps he doesn't even know?' He thought to himself, keeping a grin in check. "I was just thinking..." He started.
"Oh dear," Tracey remarked, earning amused laughter out of most of the students in the compartment. Surprisingly even Nott seemed to find it funny.
Rodrick rolled his eyes before continuing. "Seeing as we have the house cup... I figured we should take complete advantage of it,"
Malfoy and Nott seemed to perk up at the words, no doubt they had their own ideas of what they should do. Daphne looked withdrawn but didn't say anything. The idea of buying the house cup still hadn't settled in well. Rodrick thought it was unfair... so what if he technically blackmailed the headmaster of their school in order to cheat and win the house cup... it's not like the man wouldn't have done it himself in order to let Gryffindor win.
"You think we should hide some muggleborns in the chamber of secrets!?" Malfoy asked excitedly to the surprise of most of the people in the compartment.
Rodrick, as well as everyone, glanced a look towards each other before they turned back to Draco.
"What happened to calling them mudbloods?" Nott, helpfully, asked.
Draco seemed to pale at the words before he shrugged uncaringly.
"His dad stopped teaching him Blood Supremacy I think," Blaize remarked amusedly.
"Or his mom finally took control of the house," Tracey added on.
"Maybe he's finally realised without them were screwed?" Rodrick added on grinning.
"All candy shops are owned by muggleborns," Astoria remarked helpfully.
"What's the difference?" Luna questioned amiably.
The last one seemed to tick the blonde off royally. "Oh for the love- It's because he's friends with one!" Draco exclaimed as he point at Rodrick.
Rodrick blinked a few times before smirking, "And that means we can't call them mudbloods anymore?"
Draco looked confused for a second before Daphne interjected. "Don't encourage him, Rodrick, he's improving... Slowly" her words sent the group into another fit of laughter.
Rodrick frowned when he realised Malfoy hadn't taken that badly... in fact, he looked rather pleased with himself. 'I don't think I want to know why...' He completely ignored the way he seemed to look at Astoria. 'Whatever the hell Lucius is planning is not my problem to solve...' Rodrick added on mentally.
"So we can't call them mudbloods... But throwing them into the chamber is completely fine?" Blaize questioned.
"You heard my sister... It's a slow change" Astoria added on grinning.
Rodrick was almost certain someone had replaced Malfoy, seeing as the boy didn't even react.
"Hey, it's Rodrick's call," Malfoy defended himself, grinning when he saw how uncomfortable the boy seemed to get.
"I don't understand how I was unanimously made the group decision maker," Rodrick remarked.
"Because anyone else is too unstable," Luna answered helpfully.
Rodrick raised an eyebrow at that, "Seriously? Me? Stable?" he questioned staring at the girl in front of him, he decided to wave around his cursed arm for added effect. The others looked at each other for a few seconds before they snorted at the thought.
"How do I resign?" Rodrick questioned, increasing their amusement at the idea.
A few moment's passed before Blaize was finally capable of speaking, "Seriously, why the privacy charms?"
"He want's to start a war," Daphne finally answered, she shrugged at the annoyed look on Rodrick's face, knowing he wanted to tell them but frankly it was taking too long.
"A war?" Malfoy questioned frowning.
"You don't approve?" Rodrick grumbled.
"No offence but the last Grindelwald to start a war... Didn't exactly end well... For anyone..." Nott sighed, leaning back into his seat. He wasn't sure why he'd decided to sit next to the girls, he knew he could've swapped with Luna if he'd asked.
Rodrick rolled his eyes, "A war with Gryffindor, as in a non-lethal version,"
"Really, I feel like Dumbledore profited quite a lot from that war... His status and all," Blaize mumbled to himself.
Rodrick deciding to ignore his best friend and turned towards the others, "Nothing illegal but I want to make this year an absolute hell for everyone else,"
The other's stared at Rodrick before a grin seemed to blossom on Malfoy and Nott's faces...
"For everyone?" Daphne decided to question. "I thought it was only with Gryffindor?"
Rodrick almost snorted at the thought, "As if the other houses could control themselves" he scoffed.
The other's entertained the thought before they promptly agreed with him.
"So... We start a war... Make life hell for everyone, I believe teachers included?" There was an almost hopeful tone to the voice. "And then we win the house cup anyway?" Malfoy added on, his look growing greedier by the second. "... If we win after making a clear showing of breaking every school rule... We'll make Hogwarts history..." There was an almost fanatical look on the boy's face at the thought.
"I don't remember the part about breaking every rule..." Daphne frowned, concern writ over her face.
"Starting a war is pretty much doing just that," Rodrick remarked evenly.
"Killing isn't allowed... That's a school rule..." The question didn't need to be asked, Nott merely stared at Rodrick, awaiting confirmation.
"Accident's happen," Rodrick shrugged to Nott's delight.
"Rodrick!" Daphne warned.
"Fine, fine, no killing," Rodrick dramatically raised his hands. He didn't react to Nott's sudden displeasure.
'There goes my chance to prove I am not a Hufflepuff...'
"How do you even plan to start a war... I doubt most of Slytherin would agree," Malfoy decided to add on.
Rodrick frowned, "I thought it wouldn't be that difficult considering the Black vote..."
Malfoy shook his head, "That was different, our house wouldn't have been affected by that... Seeing as you want to start a war, something that will, without doubt, affect everyone, you're going to need quite a lot of pull,"
"Which I don't have enough off?" Rodrick questioned disappointed.
Malfoy stumbled as he was about to answer, he really wasn't sure how much influence the boy had. instead, he shrugged, ever since his father had started his Azkaban program, his lecturing on pureblood matters had dropped considerably, he didn't feel the need to act like a blood supremacist... At the very least he didn't have anything to gain from it, considering Rodrick seemed to like them and the fact that his father wasn't paying him much attention.
"You said you already won the house cup, no?" Luna decided to ask.
The question seemed to send everyone into a small panic, all of them having forgotten Luna wasn't actually a Slytherin. If she told anyone about the whole house cup thing, who knew how many problems they'd get. She seemed to notice this given what she said next. "I won't tell anyone, I feel more of a Slytherin than a Ravenclaw anyway..."
"It's the end of the world isn't it?" Nott asked, his mind trying to process just how accurate the girl's words were.
"Says the Hufflepuff," Tracey remarked quietly.
Nott's face looked paler than usual as everyone else snickered.
"What about the house cup?" Rodrick questioned.
"If you already have it then you really have nothing to worry about," Luna remarked smiling.
Rodrick quickly turned to Malfoy before raising an eyebrow.
"I suppose..." Malfoy spoke warily... If they told their house then they'd more likely agree...
"That settles that then," Rodrick remarked grinning.
Malfoy changed his attention towards Astoria, "What do you mean muggle-borns own all the candy shops?" he questioned, a frantic look on his face. Perhaps muggle-borns had more power then he'd initially thought...
Astoria took one long look at the blonde before asking in a serious voice, "How would you like to work as a store worker... Or a secretary or under anyone for that matter."
Malfoy had a horrified look at the thought of doing such common work.
"That's what Muggleborns are for," Astoria remarked nonchalantly.
The others stared at the girl with raised eyebrows, wondering where it'd all come from. Everyone but Malfoy and Nott who'd seemed to have the revelation of the century given to them. The blonde quickly turned to Nott, "Is she serious!?" he questioned.
"I don't know" Nott replied, a tone of fear in his voice. "It makes sense I guess..."
Malfoy's eyes slowly widened at the thought of working for so little, he turned towards Rodrick. "Listen if you ever become a dark lord, make sure to have enough house elves or something," Malfoy had his hands on his head. Worrying about the kind of future without servants.
Rodrick didn't even deign him with a response as he turned towards Daphne, "What are your parent's teaching Tori exactly?" he questioned.
Daphne twitched at the question, "They're your guardians, don't blame me. She started acting like this after you joined,"
"Hey! they were yours first! you explain them," Rodrick fired back.
Astoria was watching this with a smile on her face. Luna couldn't help the chuckle.
"What is it?" Blaize questioned the blonde girl as Rodrick and Daphne bickered back and forth.
"I told Astoria about the muggle-born thing, she asked me why they were important," Luna answered smiling.
Blaize was suddenly far more careful when approaching Luna... "You really are a Slytherin" he finished, earning a bigger smile.
"Is that the only reason?" Tracey finally spoke out earning most of the compartment's attention... as everyone else quickly grew bored of the couple's argument.
"Reason?" Nott asked, curious.
Tracey turned towards Nottn, "I mean for the whole privacy thing"
Rodrick raised an eyebrow when he saw Nott's expression, the boy looked uncomfortable. "Not really," He decided to answer, once again getting everyone's attention.
"No?" Daphne questioned. Even she was surprised to hear that.
Rodrick grinned, "What I am about to tell you, can't leave this compartment."
If Rodrick didn't have everyone's attention before... He did now.
"You heard me right." Rodrick added on with more emphasis, "You can't tell anyone, yes, even you Malfoy, no letters to daddy about this"
A vein showed on Malfoy though he managed to keep his calm, interest in knowing outweighed everything else.
"What is it?" Luna asked casually, her head tilted to the side.
"Well... It has something to do with something called the Tri-wizard tournament..."
...
As Malfoy dug into his food, he contemplated Rodrick's reasoning... They were going to start a war... Because they finally had a decent Defence teacher. Not that he agreed but he figured the man was better than the previous ones. He'd already known what the tri-wizard tournament was, only he hadn't known that it would happen in their following year... He was pretty sure that his father didn't know... That part both freaked him out and elated him, he had information his father didn't have for once... Only, somehow Rodrick had gotten it first... The Slytherin apparently wanted to use this chance to start a war, in the sense that the students would go to the defence professor for extra help in their duelling. That way whoever was chosen for the Tri-Wizard tournament wouldn't embarrass Hogwarts, not horribly anyway. Seeing as it was likely to be a random draw, Hogwarts wasn't guaranteed a good pick. Therefore the war would hopefully convince people to go try and learn more and preferably not embarrass the school if by some chance they're chosen. Usually, Malfoy might have had a problem with the idea of helping other's better themselves... but Rodrick promised to help teach their small group in exchange.
Like hell, he was missing that. Grindelwald knew more dark curses then anyone else he knew. If his father found out about him missing out on such an opportunity...
Of course, Draco knew his reasoning was all drivel. He more than likely just wanted an excuse to show off and raise hell and get away with it. He could understand that thought process, it was quite reasonable. Frankly, he was looking forward to how the boy would even convince their house... If there was one thing Malfoy had learned in the past three years, it was that Rodrick seemed to have a natural magnet for attracting people... It was terrifying. Malfoy almost shuddered when he considered just how popular the Slytherin orphan was in both Gryffindor and his own house... Such a sentence shouldn't have been possible... 'Maybe his talents in both the representative house subjects had something to do with it,'
His thought process however quickly ended when he saw the owls fly in with the daily Prophet. 'That... Never happens on the opening feast...' Everyone else had come to the same conclusion, the only way that came about was if something big, something serious had happened. As Malfoy clasped a hold of the paper, he heard a loud gasp emanating from everyone else. 'What the hell happened?' he thought to himself as he unfurled the paper.
PETTIGREW ESCAPED!?
He turned towards Rodrick, wondering how the boy would react to such news, it wouldn't really affect Black as his freedom was already finished but the fact the former death eater had escaped could spell trouble for the one who'd put him there... And in a sense anyone else who was related to the boy. He didn't know enough of Pettigrew to determine whether he should be worried or not. What he found however almost sent a shudder down his spine. Rodrick's eyes had an almost emotionless glint in them...
He watched as Rodrick put the paper down before, and to his surprise, the shadow of a smirk appeared on his face. 'What on earth is going on with this year? Almost as if the years are getting more and more hectic... Next years a bloody Tri-wizard tournament... It's almost taunting, what's next? Potter a part of Slytherin?' Malfoy wondered.
"I need to write a letter," He heard Rodrick say before he put the paper down and settled into eating, a smile on his face.