A New Beginning (DH -COMPLIANT)

Chapter 19 ~ Someone New

Harry was at work at the Ministry and in his office looking over some paperwork when a little elf winked in with a wrapped package in its claw. Eli looked up at the wizard and bowed.

”From Mrs. Weasley,” the elf said, placing it on Harry’s desk then winking out.

Harry picked the small package up and opened it. It was the Resurrection Stone. It was wrapped in different parchment, so it must have been used. He hoped the Professor got something out of it. The oath hadn’t been pulling him to act, so maybe the dark wizard found some closure.

Well, he had done what he wanted with the stone and now it was time to put it beyond the reach of others who would abuse its power. He didn’t want it for himself. He’d had enough dealing with power when Voldemort was around. All he wanted was a normal life and he had it. He intended to keep it.

After work, instead of heading for home, Harry instead went to Hogwarts. He knew just what to do with the stone. After letting himself through the gates, he warded them back and pulled his miniaturized broom out of his pocket. He enlarged and mounted it, kicking off and flying toward the lake. No one would ever find the stone there.

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Sixth-year Slytherin Rod Dormers made his way out of Hogwarts and headed for the lake, his rather shabby school robes rifling around him, just a bit too short for his long legs. As he walked, his watery blue eyes were focused on the water and the Giant Squid, splashing about. He gingerly scratched his cheek, trying to avoid the number of pimples splattered across his skin. He winced as his nail caught one anyway.

As he approached the lake, he saw two Gryffindor girls approaching him. He lowered his eyes and tried to will himself invisible.

”Hey look, it’s Odd Rod,” one of the girls called out as he swept past them. The other girl laughed and made an “L” on her forehead with her thumb and forefinger.

”What a loser,” she giggled, “A two-time loser when you add in he’s a Slytherin.”

”Stupid chits,” Rod muttered, heading for a large boulder and sitting down on it, staring across the sun-sparkled water.

Rod was a pureblood, but a poor one and an orphan. Hogwarts was not run as it was when Dumbledore was alive. The wizard had provided students in need with adequate supplies and for the most part, they didn’t stand out from the others. That wasn’t the case now. Everything Rod owned was a hand-me-down and looked it. He had been badly embarrassed by his fellow Slytherins when he removed his robes and the collar of it had someone else’s name stitched on it, and a date of over a decade ago.

His shoes were atrocious though he kept them clean and as polished as possible, but the care just made the creases stand out even more. Even his wand was notched and beat up, though it worked for him. Maybe not as good as if it had chosen him, but it worked. Rod was a fair student, but an outcast in his house and by association, from the other houses as well. He was a Slytherin after all, and considered an embarrassment by his other housemates.

“Why don’t you just leave Oddkins?” they’d sneer at him, “You bring the whole house down. You’re a disgrace to the name of Slytherin.”

He would never reply to this. Never argue. He would just go off somewhere alone and imagine he was someplace else, rich and respected with a good bloodline and family tree. He was known for his daydreaming, for walking through the corridors with the appearance of not really being all there. Then he’d be buffeted about by other students when he inadvertently bumped into them.

“Watch where you’re going, Odd Rod,” they’d say, pushing him back and forth until he stumbled free of them.

Rod scratched his dirty blonde hair. It was always itchy, just like his skin was always blotchy with eruptions.

“You need to get a shag, Odd Rod. That’ll clear those craters up. But you’re going to need some galleons. No witch in her right mind would shag a bloke like you for free,” one of his roommates said as the others laughed.

Rod tried to ignore them. But they were right for the most part. Witches wouldn’t even speak to him unless it was to tell him to go sit someplace else or get out of the way . . .

No. That wasn’t true. There was one witch that spoke nicely to him from time to time. But she was a Gryffindor.

Her name was Rose Weasley and she was a chaser for the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Rod liked to watch her fly and secretly cheered for her, even when Gryffindor was playing against Slytherin. She was wild and free in the air, as if she had been born on a broom, her red hair streaming behind her as she made some dangerous and wonderful save in front of the gasping, cheering crowd. Once in a while she’d wave and give him a smile, even when her friends said, “Ew, why do you even speak to him, Rose? He’s . . . odd.”

But he didn’t dare think Rose actually liked him. More likely she felt sorry for him because he was such a loser and a nobody. Nothing about him stood out except for his sad state. He was an average student and had no great magical abilities. He was the kind of wizard that turned invisible when surrounded by others. No one of great note.

It didn’t help that Rod had to do work around Hogwarts to stay enrolled, such as muck out the Thestral stables and do clean-up around the castle under the watchful eye of the new caretaker. Filch had been dead for years, but Anthony Gronin was just as crotchety and bad-tempered as Filch was, with one exception. He was a wizard and had no problem using his wand on students that pissed him off. More than one set of singed robes billowed away from the grinning caretaker as its owner howled.

Sometimes a tired Rod would enter Slytherin’s common room just before curfew after working around the stables. He would scourgify himself carefully, removing all the scent and dirt, but the others would wrinkle their noses and pretend he stunk anyway, all moving away from him and telling him he should have showered off with the hose he used on the stables before he returned, or better yet, should have slept in the stables.

Young people can be so cruel.

Rod was used to the mistreatment though, and said nothing to his Head of House or teachers or the Headmaster. What good would it do? It wouldn’t change anything and people couldn’t be forced to respect him. But what it gave the young wizard was a core of bitterness that he held deep inside himself, seething and roiling but never given anywhere to go.

Rod picked up a stone and looked at it. He liked stones. This one was nothing special however, so he just threw it across the lake.

Suddenly he saw a motion in the sky and looked up. It was someone on a broom, flying over the lake. It looked like he threw something in the direction of the flailing squid. He couldn’t see what.

Suddenly, the squid seemed to flail harder, all of its tentacles writhing about as the person on the broom turned and flew away.

Then something quite small hit the ground, bounced and rolled toward him. Rod squinted and walked over to it, bending and picking it up. He studied it. It was a stone. It was black and had markings on it. It was also cracked.

“Wow, this is pretty cool,” he said, depositing it in his pocket, intending to study it further when he had time. Right now, he had to head back to the school . . . it was time for Potions.

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A/N: Ooh. A new original character. Rod Dolmer Dormers. And he has the Resurrection Stone. That can’t be good can it? No, I really don’t think so. Thanks for reading.