Something could be said about the way time seemed to slip through without a person noticing, it was a rare moment for someone to experience it. Unfortunately for Rodrick, this rare moment appeared to happen far too often.
When it had started, it was due to his dreams where he'd met his grandfather. Those dreams passed in a blur for Rodrick but he knew they were real, half the time he woke up with new spells ingrained into his head, spells he'd never even heard off. It seemed that the more advanced the spell was, the faster time appeared to pass. Rodrick almost never had to dream about learning the same spell. His grandfather had made it clear that he should practice on his own. There were only three exceptions to this rule. He could hardly practice those in public view after all. In the end, however, he remembered all those dreams, when time had slipped past him like nothing, it was because of those memories that he didn't panic.
In the past month, however, he had a few strange instances where he would fall asleep, only to wake up, what felt like seconds later, in the next morning with no memories at all. He had passed it off at first deeming it only a lack of sleep. Right now was an entirely different matter, he'd completely dozed off without realizing it. He'd spent three dances with a girl he'd never seen before with no memory of them occurring.
He knew he'd started to speak to her, but anything after that was blank. He'd attempted to ask the girl after their dance was over on what they'd talked about before she went off listing things that made no sense at all. Giving up on that part he said his good bye's and moved away. It was then that he'd realized that his Occulemency shields were in complete disarray, his grandfather was sure to reprimand him for this.
He turned towards Daphne.
"So... did anything happen since we stopped dancing..." he started.
Daphne gave him a deadpan look, Rodrick tilted his head.
"Not a clue," She said this with a false smile.
Rodrick stared at her before admitting that he actually had no memories since they split off.
Daphne's glare softened slightly. When she saw the serious look on his face, she got somewhat worried.
He added on, saying it wasn't the first time he had missing memories and assured her that it happened very rarely. Which only seemed to worry her more.
It was at that point they saw Tracey and Blaise show up.
Rodrick snorted at his friend's face; he'd had to deal with that girl far too often for his likes.
Blaise had scowled at him before he noticed the worried look on Daphne's face.
She went on to explain what the boy had told her to the other two.
The next 10 minutes consisted of theories from them. Tracey had considered a lack of sleep, Blaise thought the blonde had drugged him, and then a passing Astoria mentioned sweets. The sweets comment got the group to stare at the nine-year-old girl before they saw her hands brought out in front of them, the group chuckled at the sight slightly before they decided to find some to enjoy. Rodrick stayed behind in his seat as he saw the rest go, Daphne turned around when she noticed the missing and found him staring down onto the floor. Rodrick looked up and urged her to follow the group stating Blaise as a bad influence on her sister. This brought out laughter from Tracey and a well-natured growl from Blaise. Daphne nodded slightly before telling him to wait there.
...
Luna Lovegood was currently sitting down at one of the tables enjoying a drink, her father had, of course, made sure she didn't drink anything bad. She saw her father in conversation with an uptight looking wizard. She turned her attention elsewhere, and they landed on the boy who'd danced with her earlier. She had honestly never seen anyone like him before; there was a strange glow about his body that made no sense. She had at first assumed that he was using magic to hide his face, but when they'd broken off she found the glow encompassing his whole body, she was curious if he changed his everything. That wasn't what intrigued her, however, it was his eyes. There was something about them that entranced her and frankly frightened her. When she'd danced with him, she had stared into them accidentally with him being a little taller. She couldn't quite explain why, but as soon as she saw them, the glow surrounding him seemed to grow more and more until eventually, it looked like a dark shadow had encompassed him, his eyes the only thing visible. When she blinked, it had disappeared, and the boy looked normal.
Honestly, she really shouldn't have mentioned it; the boy seemed like he'd had a panic attack, although he did remain silent for the rest of their dances. She had enjoyed all three of them much more when she wasn't seeing the shade; he didn't interrupt her at all as she spoke about her father's newspaper. Curiously when their dance ended, and she searched his eyes, the shade didn't appear again. She wanted to go over and speak to him about it, but he seemed preoccupied. Oh well, maybe next year when I join his school, the blonde girl thought before she turned her attention back to her upside-down newspaper.
The rest of the day passed off uneventful, Rodrick had said his goodbye's to his friends before they floo'd back to their homes. The children spent the rest of the day in the backyard playing around with different spells Rodrick showed them. Once night came Rodrick made his into his bed before he heard Daphne open the door. She was currently standing near Rodrick side of the bed before she put her hand out in front of him. Rodrick stared at the hand.
"One more," she asked.
He sat still on his bed for a few moment's longer.
"Well?" She remarked, her arms crossed in front of her.
He sighed, wasn't she the one that suggested he sleep early?
...
Christmas seemed to pass in a blur. His gift to Daphne was accepted with a broad smile on her face although she refrained from doing anything, it was a silver bracelet lined with green snakes. Astoria's smile was probably even larger if anything, Rodrick had given her a large bag of magical sweets.
The girl's parents had gifted him with brand new dragon hide gloves. They'd given Astoria a brand new training broom much to the girl's delight. Daphne was given a brand new dress. Rodrick rolled his eyes at the girl's happy reaction; he'll never understand either of them.
Much to his surprise, both Greengrass girls had given him a gift of their own. A brand new wand holster came from Daphne who stated if he kept the wand in his pocket he was bound to break it, Rodrick feigned mock hurt at the words before he thanked her for the gift.
Astoria had drawn him a picture of himself, at least tried to anyway. The art style made him laugh far too much. When everyone else saw it they joined in leaving a pouting Astoria. He thanked her and promised her more sweets, eliciting a smile from her and a grimace from her parents.
The family much to the children's surprise and enjoyment spent the day in Hogsmeade, Rodrick enjoyed the place evenly, never having seen so much magic happen openly. They'd visited most of the buildings in the area, Cyrus and Roxanne seemed to stare wistfully at some tea shop they passed.
"So is there something special about this place?" He questioned bemused.
"I'll tell you in a couple of years..." When Rodrick raised an eyebrow at this, the girl whispered for him to shut up and some other things he couldn't quite make out.
Daphne hook ehr ehad as she followed on.
Much to the children's amusement and slight annoyance, the adults vehemently avoided the practical jokes shop they encountered.
When they returned to the Greengrass Manor, night had already fallen, on his way there the family had found an owl waiting for them with a letter, addressed to Rodrick.
Rodrick opened it and found only two words. "NOT FUNNY!" He quickly started laughing, knowing who it was from.
When the adults saw it and questioned it, Rodrick explained.
He had brought a history of magics textbook for Blaise so as to help him in his struggle. Daphne couldn't help laughing, knowing how bad it was while the parents looked at him bemused. Rodrick sent back a letter telling the boy he owled the wrong person.
...
That night Rodrick woke up in front of the mirrors once again.
"It has been a while since you've come here," The old man's voice spoke, Rodrick turned to face him and nodded slowly.
Before he could say anything, however, Gellert quickly grabbed him when he saw his eyes, Rodrick was startled, his grandfather was worried about something.
"W-what is-" however he was cut off before he could finish.
"Have you had any moments you can't seem to remember?" The old man asked exasperatedly.
Rodrick quickly nodded his head, fearful.
Gellert stared at him for a few moments longer before a grave look took over and let, the old man crashed into the ground seating himself with a heavy look on his face.
Rodrick was at this point fearful. Before he could say anything, Gellert spoke first.
"The prophecy is already in place."
Rodrick took the words in slowly before he asked him what he meant.
Gellert took a long look at him before sighing, and he spoke.
On the day he'd been born Gellert had given a prophecy to his mother, through her mind, it was what had caused the distance to grow between them. It had been the last time Gellert had spoken to his only daughter. It took Rodrick a few moments to process the information before he asked him what the prophecy was, Gellert shook his head stating that whoever makes it wouldn't be able to remember it.
Rodrick sighed before realizing that his mother was the only one who knew and, well, she was dead. Gellert explained that there was a possible chance of the prophecy appearing in the department of mysteries but also stated that attempting to take that was practical suicide. Rodrick simply stared at the floor. He perked up slightly before asking him what the dreams had anything to do with it. Gellert looked at him gravely before stating that the dreams confirmed the Prophecy's existence.
When Rodrick tried to question him on why he knew, Gellert refused to answer, telling him it was far too early for him to know. Rodrick narrowed his eyes dangerously at his grandfather for the first time in his life.
"I was 8, when you taught me the killing curse." He stated without emotion.
Gellert's face, however, was resolute.
"This is not about something as trivial as murder, this is far bigger than you could imagine, your mind is not ready." His grandfather spoke, calmly. Before he stood up.
Rodrick looked up and for the first time in his life, saw his grandfather for who he was. The Dark Lord Grindelwald was standing in front of him; his eyes thundered down on the boy before they softened. He questioned whether he would be told.
"In time, I still have a few years left before I am gone."
There was something about the way he spoke, the finality of it seemed almost too real for Rodrick, but he didn't say anything. He asked his grandfather about how he was able to make prophecies in the first place.
"Several of the years before my defeat I spent my time researching through Divination to learn its limits."
The sentence didn't make any sense to the boy, 'Why would grandfather worry about that? in the middle of a war... What could have been more important?' When he asked for more information, however, Gellert changed the subject. Rodrick asked him about the vault, and why he collected so much, he already understood why it was cursed, albeit a little too much, but he understood.
Gellert looked at his grandson and wondered how much he should tell him, he knew the boy would need to know eventually but he wasn't ready, he had plenty of time left to ensure he would be, he settled for the middle ground.
"I started collecting it several years before my defeat."
Rodrick had stared at him before he realized something. "You received a prophecy?"
Gellert shook his head at this reluctantly before stating he received a lot more.
Rodrick saw the look on his grandfather's face before gulping and adding the next part, somewhat fearful.
"You knew you were going to lose