...

"You're really not going?" Tracey questioned in between her sips of the juice box in her hands, a somewhat bemused expression on her face.

"Why do you sound surprised?" Rodrick questioned curiously, "It's a party for Purebloods,"

"I thought you said you were one?" Tracey remarked, a frown quickly filling her face as she reached the end of her drink- Just in time for them to turn the corner of the hall and into the Great one where their lunch for the day was prepared. Strapped around the girl's waist, Rodrick held in the urge to sigh at the sight of the bag that contained what was no doubt more games the girl had abysmal luck in.

"I am but I am also an orphan, so, you know, don't really have a lot of options for references,"

Tracey hummed in response to the words before her expression twisted again. "But Draco's dad was the one that introduced you to Diagon Alley wasn't he? So maybe he already knows!"

"...Well, I mean it's not like he's going to spout it off- And besides, that's a big if, maybe the man was just feeling charitable?"

Tracey's snort was unexpected. And also didn't bode well.

According to his grandfather, Lucius Malfoy definitely didn't know what his second name was, and based on the interactions he'd seen between the man's son and the Weasley's, even if he knew he was counted amongst the man's number, it didn't mean much without a reputation.

Which begged the question- Why Malfoy was at all interested in him enough to invite him to the gathering of the snobs? It was either to make fun of him or interrogate him- Though what exactly for, he wasn't sure.

All of it, in a way, just boiled down to one conclusion.

His grandfather, from his prison cell, had somehow set off a chain reaction that had ended in Malfoy being his guide into the Wizarding World. Without playing the one card that would've cajoled the blonde into doing it happily. Ie, his second name.

And frankly, that meant that whatever his grandfather had in fact done, had probably convinced the man in question to seek him out for his own good. Or survival.

Chain reactions caused by Gellert Grindelwald never ended well after all. Or even started well for that matter. His grandfather had started two world wars, lost both of them, and was somehow still convinced he came out of 'em standing.

"Earth to Rodrick!" The sound of fingers clicking brought him out of his musings as he blinked once before taking in the exasperated girl already through the doors to the great hall.

Letting out a sigh, with a somewhat sheepish expression on his face, he followed the girl inside.

"What about you then?" He questioned idly as he took in the large, rather empty, hall. The singular table filled with a fraction of what it had following the previous magical food fight. "Does your family not celebrate Christmas?" Which given even the orphanage did would make for a pretty sad picture.

"Hm? Oh no, they do." The girl shrugged, turning around on the spot as she led the way to an empty part on the large table.

"Ah, my condolences then for not getting invited." He nodded, a deadpan look on his face.

Tracey Davis laughed at that for some reason.

He'll never understand the redhead, or any of his friends really. Their need to laugh at what most certainly wasn't intended as humor was rather worrying in truth. He wasn't sure what kind of surrounding led to that level of misunderstandings.

"Of course, I was invited, ya silly!" He's certainly never been called that before. "I just didn't want to go is all!"

He blinked at that one as he took a seat next to the girl.

"It's... you know, I am sure the parties are great and all but it's my dad's side that's throwing this year's one and they're all muggle."

"Ah, terrible people then got it." He nodded again, this time with a tad more seriousness to his expression.

Tracey, halfway into going through her bag, promptly froze.

"What? No! Of course not!" She remarked with a huff, crossing her arms in the process. "They're not terrible, just really... You know, dull 'cos there's no magic..." The girl's expression turned into a frown as she stared at him. "Do you think muggles are terrible or something? 'Cos they're people too you know!" She wagged a finger at him, a stern expression on her face. One that seemed to draw what few students around them to the conversation.

He held in the urge to gulp.

"...In my defense the only muggles I've interacted with are from an orphanage..."

The girls wagging finger froze.

"Eh. Oh. Right." She remarked sheepishly, and slightly uncomfortable at that. Before bemusement quickly took over, though she at least lowered her threatening appendage.

It might've not been a wand, but he was the last person to follow the idea that it couldn't have turned into a weapon with wandless magic.

"Was it really that bad?" She followed on, curiously as she placed both hands on top of each other on the table, her head tilting as she gave him a once over. "Or are you just... Biased 'cos no one adopted you?"

The girl had the subtlety of a freight train it seemed.

A flurry of emotions filled him at that one, mostly indignation.

"I'll have you know if the caretaker put a better price on my head, I would've been."

She blinked a few times at that one.

"Price?"

"Yeah, any of the children that had a good chance of being adopted generally had a high price for them, which for some reason translated to better picks for adopting families." He finished with a shrug. "Was more of a business than an orphanage to the caretaker really, 'cos I am pretty sure that's borderline illegal."

"...Rodrick, that is illegal..."

"Huh,"

"I am... Sorry, you had to go through that." Tracey admitted, her fingers fidgeting with each other. "So... What was the price on your head?"

"Clearly not enough."

The girl let out what he presumed was an accidental snort.

"Yeah, I should've seen that one coming," She shook her head. "Well, probably for the best, would've really scared those families if they suddenly found it they adopted a wizard!"

He'd never really thought of it that way- Oh god, imagine how his grandfather might've reacted if he was adopted by muggles!

"Yes... Probably for the best I am still an orphan without a family." A single beat passed. "Thanks."

The girl blinked a few times in response, a very clearly uncomfortable expression on her face.

Figures, the moment he does make a joke, she doesn't bloody get it.

After a further moment of silence, the girl let out a sigh and just focused back on her bag of magical time-wasters.

"You know, for a moment I thought you were related to a bigot or something, what with your comment!" The girl joked- Presumably. He needed to figure out how humor worked.

When the words fully registered in his brain, he made an effort not to visibly react to the startlingly accurate point.

"I guess I can't really blame you if you had to go through that though," She finished with a shake of her head as she brought out the magical chess set.

"...Probably for the best really- 'Cos that'd imply even a bigot didn't want anything to do with me,"

She didn't laugh at that joke either.

What was he doing wrong? Did he just not have a sense of humor or something? His grandfather definitely would've laughed- Oh that might explain it.

"I mean, they could've just been in Azkaban?" The girl remarked warily. "That's... Not helping is it? It's really hard to talk about these things..." The end of her sentence practically came out in a whisper, even if he'd still managed to hear it.

Still, he was more focused on the fact that, despite getting the wrong prison, Tracey Davis had literally nailed it on the head.

He really needed to be more careful.

He should probably try and end the subject and focus back on accidentally winning more games against the abysmally unlucky girl.

"Related to criminals or bigots." He remarked with a deadpan voice. "My, my, aren't those great options for me. I think I'd rather take the auction house orphanage."

Tracey Davis laughed that time.

Maybe he wasn't a lost cause after all!

He idly wondered what his grandfather would say if he ever decided to become a comedian.

His family history certainly had enough material for it.

...

Hope You Enjoyed! Don't Forget Feedback!