A New Beginning (DH -COMPLIANT)

Chapter 39 ~ Hugo Pulls an “Albus”

As Rod walked toward breakfast, he began to think it might be a good idea to grab something and go eat elsewhere this morning. The witches were bound to be furious with him and he didn’t feel like being glared at the entire time he was in the Great Hall.

Students from all houses spoke to Rod as he passed, having decided he was an all right sort, even if he were in Slytherin. The wizard turned into the Great Hall just as Hugo, James, Albus and Lily appeared on the Main stairwell heading for breakfast themselves. Lily was very excited. Hugo had asked her to come to the Christmas ball with him. It took the pressure off of asking another witch. Hugo wasn’t yet completely enamored of them yet. Going with his cousin was fine as far as he was concerned.

Rod quickly walked to the Slytherin table and hastily made two egg and bacon sandwiches, wrapping them in napkins and putting them in his pocket as the other wizards looked on. They still didn’t talk to Rod that much, but no longer bothered him. They watched as he headed out of the Great Hall.

Rod pushed the door open just as Hugo and his relatives were coming in. The Gryffindor gave him a big smile.

“Hey Rod,” Hugo said, stopping as the others gave the Slytherin a quick greeting and continued inside.

“Hi Hugo,” he said, walking past him.

”Where are you going?” Hugo asked him.

”I thought I’d eat outside,” the wizard replied, “It’ll be better.”

Hugo looked curious.

”Why would it be better?” Hugo asked him.

Rod sighed.

”I pissed off some Slytherin witches, and I think I’d be better off outside when they got here,” he said to Hugo.

”You did? Wow. What did you do?” Hugo pressed. Slytherin witches were notoriously mean. They’d hex you the minute your back was turned.

Rod looked toward the dungeon entrance furtively, imagining the scowling witches marching toward the Great Hall, wands in hand, Muriel leading the bunch.

”I really need to go, Hugo,” Rod said nervously.

”All right,” Hugo said realizing the witches might show up at any time, “Wait for me outside. I’ll eat with you.”

”Okay,” Rod said, willing to say anything to get out of the Main Hall.

Hugo hurried inside and Rod made a beeline for the double doors that led on to the grounds. It was freezing out. Rod quickly cast a warming charm around himself getting rid of the bite. It felt more like a very cool day now.

Presently Hugo came out, munching on a doughnut. He immediately stiffened.

“Wow, it’s cold,” he complained, his teeth chattering.

Rod pulled out his wand again and cast a warming spell on Hugo also.

”Thanks,” Hugo said gratefully. Warming charms were learnt in fifth year so he didn’t know it yet.

The two wizards began to walk idly around the castle, Rod pulling out a sandwich.

”So what happened?” Hugo asked him.

”One of the witches tried to hex me when my back was turned,” Ron replied, biting into his sandwich.

”What for?” Hugo pressed.

Rod sighed.

”She wanted me to ask her to the Christmas dance, and I didn’t want to,” he said, frowning.

”Was she ugly?” Hugo inquired.

“Not outside. No,” Rod answered, “I just don’t like her. Anyway, I’ve never gone to a Christmas ball. I don’t even know how to dance.”

Hugo stopped walking and looked at Rod incredulously.

”You’ve never been to a Christmas dance?” he asked him, “But you’re a seventh year.”

Rod shrugged.

”I’ve never gone to any of them. I’m poor, remember? I didn’t have anything nice to wear and no witch would go with me anyway.”

Rod sounded a little bitter about this. Everyone seemed to have a lot of fun at the dances and they only made him feel more ostracized.

“So what happened when she tried to hex you?” Hugo asked him, pulling out another donut and biting into it.

”I blocked it and it hit her,” Rod replied.

Hugo grinned from ear to ear.

”Bet she didn’t see that coming,” the Gryffindor chuckled.

”No, but now they’re all mad at me. I’m going to have to be careful for a while,” the Slytherin said.

Hugo shook his head. It was bad enough when wizards and witches outside your house tried to ambush you. It had to be a hundred times worse when they were your housemates.

“So are you going to go to the dance?” Hugo asked him. “I’m going.”

Rod looked at the fourth year curiously. He had a date?

”Who are you going with?” Rod asked him.

”My cousin Lily. She’s a second year,” Hugo replied, “This way I don’t have any pressure. She’s good for something.”

Rod laughed.

”Yeah, but I don’t have a cousin to ask to the dance,” Rod said.

”You should ask Rose. I bet she’d go with you,” Hugo suggested.

Rod dropped some of the bacon out of his second sandwich.

”No. No I couldn’t ask her to the ball, Hugo,” he said, turning red. He certainly felt warmer now. “I don’t even know how to dance. Besides, why would she go with me? I’m nobody. She’s the best chaser in Gryffindor. Plus I’m a Slytherin.”

Hugo looked at him incredulously.

”If it wasn’t for you, she would have been shish kabob, Rod. Witches appreciate things like getting saved from death. I bet she’d go with you. I’ll ask her for you,” he offered.

Rod’s eyes looked as if they were going to bug out of his head.

”Ah no, that’s all right, Hugo,” he said weakly.

”No, it’s fine. I’ll ask her this afternoon when I go see her,” the boy said enthusiastically, “Better you than that idiot Roland Bainsley. He’s a jerk. He’s always chasing after Rose. I don’t like him a bit. Don’t like how he looks at her.”

Hugo scowled blackly. Roland Bainsley was another seventh year Gryffindor who really did have designs on Rose. He was also very jealous of her, though they didn’t go out.

“Hugo,” Rod said to the fourth year plaintively, “Listen, I don’t think . . .”

Hugo smiled at him.

”You’re going to have a great time with Rose, Rod,” he said with a huge grin. “Listen, I’m still hungry so I’m going to head back to the Great Hall for some more doughnuts. I’ll tell you what she says tomorrow. See you later.”

And “poof!” Hugo disappeared as if he had apparated. Rod blinked after him, feeling like he had a ton of rock cakes in his stomach. Him and Rose at the ball? He couldn’t even dance. He had never even walked a witch to class, much less took her out on a date.

Maybe Rose would say no though. She had to be popular. A lot of wizards probably were planning on asking her to the ball. Maybe she even already had a date.

Rod hoped so. He really didn’t much care what people thought about him in general, but he didn’t want Rose to think he was a loser. He didn’t know the first thing about how to treat a witch on a date.

Rod still didn’t have that much confidence despite his situation at Hogwarts being better and people treating him nicer. His face was still a bit acned, though he had taken to caring for his skin better thanks to Madam Peabody who sent him a kit after meeting him in the infirmary with instructions how to use it.

But, somewhere deep inside he felt a little elated at the thought that Rose might go to the dance with him. She had always been pleasant to him and he really did admire her Quidditch skills. Having her brother ask her for him was a bit lame, but he did try to stop Hugo from doing it, and if she did say no, the rejection might not hurt as much from afar.

Rod finished his sandwich and headed back for the castle. Whatever was going to happen would happen. He’d just deal with it.

The wizard smiled a little as he thought about how the witches in Slytherin would lose some tail feathers if Rose did accompany him to the dance. That in itself was worth dodging a few hexes.

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Snape returned home and headed down into his labs to check on his brewing. As he checked each cauldron, his mind wandered back to his talk with Bartleby. It was the first time he had ever voiced what it was that he wanted. What he felt he needed. Stability, Maturity. Experience.

Hermione already knew what it was to be a wife and a mother. She had handled it successfully. She had also experienced loss and pain, and knew as well as what it was to rebuild a life. Above all, she knew how to love.

The wizard carefully stirred his mixtures, adjusting the flame as he moved from cauldron to cauldron. Bartleby had no idea what his life had been like. The prostitutes he indulged in from time to time were all pretty, shapely witches, but little more than vessels to catch his release. He didn’t even embrace them, or put his mouth anywhere near them. The most he would do was caress the soft skin of their backs and buttocks or play with whatever hair was exposed beneath the hood while he slaked his desire. It was rather clinical in nature, though he was gentle and thorough with the women. Contrary to belief, Severus Snape was not an inherently cruel man. He never had been. Anger, rage and despair fueled him all those years at Hogwarts. He lashed out at the world because he found no beauty in it. All he found was pain.

But that was all behind him now. He could see the beauty, the possibilities that awaited him if only he’d pursue them, not let them pass him by. Hermione had been the first witch he’d kissed in ages and the first witch he’d wanted to kiss since Lily Potter. The contact and her surprise had been rather delicious, her amber eyes full of shock when he looked at her afterwards. He left quickly, because although he got away with the first kiss, he was sure a second kiss would have been overkill.

Snape sincerely hoped Hermione would enjoy going out on the town with him. He’d make it clear to her that it was a simple outing, something different that he thought she’d enjoy. There would be no pressure. He had found another Charms vs. Potions article that he was sure would put her into battle mode despite their location, and he could imagine her yelling at him how ridiculous the concept was while trying to keep her voice down in a public place. Maybe he’d make her lose it completely and she’d roar at him in exasperation.

The wizard smirked. Hermione was so passionate about what she believed in. Could she ever become passionate about a man like him?

Gods, he hoped so.

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”Hey Rose! Are you getting out soon?” Hugo said, pushing past the privacy curtain and walking up to his sister, giving her a quick peck on the cheek.

Rose sat up.

”I hope so. Maybe Friday if Madam Peabody will let me go. I swear, Hugo, if I get another bowl of gruel I’m going to be stuck in here for malnutrition next,” she complained.

Hugo looked about furtively, then passed her a napkin containing a roast beef sandwich, which Rose promptly slipped under her pillow.

”Thanks Hugo,” she said gratefully as he pulled up a chair, smiling at her.

“Rose, do you have a date for the dance yet?” he asked her eagerly.

Rose shook her head.

”No, but I expect Roland will ask me. Again,” she sighed, “I might end up having to go with him. No one else will ask me because he’s so jealous. I heard he threatened to beat Monroe Gadston up when he said he was thinking about asking me. You know how big Roland is.”

”Yes as big and as bright as a troll,” Hugo snorted, “But listen, I know someone who’d love to take you to the dance. He’s really nice.”

Rose looked interested.

”Who?” she asked him.

”Rod Dormers,” Hugo said enthusiastically.

“Rod? He wants to go to the dance with me?” Rose said, surprised. Rod was so shy. She couldn’t imagine him asking her to go with him anywhere. She looked at her brother suspiciously.

”How do you know he wants to go with me?” she asked him, “Did he tell you he did?”

Hugo looked a little taken aback by her question.

”No, but I told him I’d ask you for him, and he didn’t say not to,” Hugo said, “That’s practically saying he wants to go with you. I told him I’d give him your answer tomorrow.”

Rose’s brows furrowed as she looked at her meddling little brother. It was easy to see he liked Rod.

“How did you get on the subject of the Christmas dance anyway?” Rose asked him.

Hugo told Rose how Rod had never gone to any of the Hogwarts dances because he was so poor and didn’t have nice things, and how this year one of the witches at Slytherin wanted him to ask her, and he didn’t want to, then how she tried to hex him when his back was turned and how Rod deflected it back and stunned her instead.

”Wow. The witches are really pushy in Slytherin aren’t they?” Rose said, frowning.

”Yeah. Rod ate his breakfast outside so they wouldn’t see him,” Hugo said, “He cast a warming spell on me so I’d stay warm when I was with him. You’ll go with him, won’t you Rose? He’s never been to a dance and you owe him.”

”I don’t owe him,” Rose said stubbornly.

”You do so. You’d be six feet under if not for Rod,” Hugo argued.

Rose hesitated. Yes, that was true. Plus, Rod had never been to a dance before. It would be nice for him to attend at least one before he left Hogwarts. He’d never had much fun there. Despite Rod being a Slytherin, she didn’t think anyone would really say anything about him escorting her, particularly since he saved her and got arrested for her.

“Can he dance?” Rose asked Hugo, who shook his head.

”No, he can’t,” Hugo admitted.

Rose sighed.

”Well, how is he going to take me to the dance if he can’t dance, Hugo?” the witch asked her brother, who shrugged.

“I don’t know. Maybe you can show him before you two go,” Hugo suggested, “I’ll help you. Mum had us dancing way before it was necessary.”

Hugo scowled as he remembered two-stepping around the house with Rose, following his mum and dad. He had hated it.

Rose looked at her brother. He was willing to actually dance himself to help Rod so he could go to the dance with her? He must really like Rod.

”Come on, sis. Be nice,” Hugo cajoled her, “It’s just a dance.”

Hugo gave Rose the same puppy dog eyes Ron used to use on Hermione. They worked just as well on Rose. She folded.

“All right. Tell Rod if he’s willing to learn to dance, I’ll go with him to the Christmas dance, but we’re going to have to practice first. I don’t want to look bad on the floor or have to stand around drinking punch all night,” the witch said with a scowl.

Hugo did a little happy dance.

”That’s great sis. You’re all right, you know that?” he said to her, smiling.

”Yeah, yeah. I know,” she responded, smiling herself, “But you’ll never hear the end of this if anything goes wrong.”

”What could possibly go wrong?” Hugo asked her, his smile seeming to be plastered on his face.

Walking back toward Gryffindor Tower was Roland and a few other wizards. They were taking the main stairwell.

”I’ll be glad when Rose gets out of the infirmary,” Roland said in his deep, growly voice, his brown eyes a bit hard, “I still have to ask her to the dance. No one else better have or there’s going to be trouble. Big trouble.”

None of his companions said a word about this.

They all knew how Roland was.

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A/N: The title for this chapter came from my own personal interpretation of Albus from previous stories I’ve written. He was always extremely meddlesome when it came to Severus and Hermione, working behind the scenes to get them together. In this instance, Hugo is playing matchmaker. Lol. Thanks for reading.