A Bend in Time - Chapter 74

With a rather depressing gaze, the cult Quidditch Slytherins returned to the dorms as they had lost against the Hufflepuffs. Desite being quite the good-natured people, they really had some buff athletic members. The Gryffindor's were naturally thrilled as they congratulated the Hufflepuff Quidditch, team members. Unlike the first match, Rowan has sat next to Severus and Terry and her roommates to blend in. Using her master sleeping ability to sleep with her eyes open, Rowan lightly slept through the entire match. And thanks to having sat next to Terry and the rest of them, despite having not watched the match, Rowan could still parrot the match back to anyone that might ask.

With a yawn, Rowan trudged after the Slytherin gaggle as Severus occasionally shot his twin sister dark looks. Smirking back, Rowan says, "What's wrong my precious younger brother?" Severus snorts under his breath but doesn't dare make a remark lest Rowan tripped him into the snow or shovel snow down his shirt. She'd already done it on several occasions.

Rowan is midway through snickering when she spots a group of four familiar boys sneaking across the grounds towards the forbidden forest. Preventing herself from slapping her forehead in aggravation, Rowan mutters, "Idiots will always be idiots."

"Whose an idiot?" A cheerful voice whispered into her ear.

Shivering, Rowan pulls away almost falling to the snow to only be caught by a pair of strong hands. Staring up at her savior, Rowan sees the painted face of Wilkes's cheerful face smiling down at her. "Did I scare you?" Wilkes beamed in delight though a look in his eyes didn't quite the match his expression. Odd, really.

"Yeah," Rowan said sideways, before gently being put lightly onto her feet by Wilkes.

Wilkes grins and says, "Did I just make your heart wildly beat in your chest, Rowan?"

Tiffany gasps in delight as Silvia shudders and Bethanie looks on disapprovingly. "Even if it did, I won't accept you!" Severus growled as he pointedly stepped in front of Rowan to glare up at Wilkes. Wilkes cackles in delight at Severus's reaction as Terry had wisely grabbed Lucius by the sleeve and solemnly pointed at Wilkes.

Failing to see Lucius approach him from behind, Wilkes says, "The heart wants what the heart wants. Who am I to force my heart to without hope and despair, when the object of my affection lies right before me?"

"Oh?" Lucius icy voice said from behind. "All I see is our first years, Prefect Wilkes. Whom could you possibly be referring too?"



Wilkes pales as he hastily turns around to see the frosty disposition of Lucius with Narcissa staring down her nose in disgust at Wilkes. "It was just a friendly little joke!" Wilkes hastily protested.

"Did that seem like a joke to you, Narcissa?" Lucius coolly remarked.

"It sounded more like the degenerate comment of a pervert," Narcissa crisply replied.

"Mm, that's what I thought as well," Lucius aloofly said. "Prefect Wilkes, let us take a walk down to Slughorn's office to have a nice little chat about personal boundaries." With a pleading and rather doomed expression, Lucius keeps a firm grip on Wilkes's robe as he easily drags him behind off to see the head of Slytherin, Professor Slughorn. Narcissa coldly followed after not even pausing to glance at Rowan, but nevertheless, Rowan nodded her head after the both of them in gratitude.

"Mm, me thinks Wilkes is going to be stuck in detention for some time," Silvia snickered.

"Agreed," they all chimed as Terry proudly puffed up in pride at having wisely grabbed Lucius in time.

"Thanks," Rowan said causing Terry to stick out his chest and says, "That's what friends are for."

"Yeah, you're right," Rowan said with a grin as Severus mutters under his breath, "I could have done that as well." Seeing the sulking expression on Severus's face, Rowan leans over to intertwine their arms together and says, "Aw, jealous, Sev?"

"As if," Severus indignantly huffed, but nevertheless, he didn't pull his arm away.

Laughing and chattering, the six of them made their way back to the Slytherin quarters until Rowan hastily says, "I forgot something in the stands, I'll be right back."

"Hurry up, it'll be dinner soon," Bethanie called out.

Rowan motions that she understood as she hurries back and around a dark corridor teleported in the shadows of Hagrid's large wooden cabin. Luckily everyone was already inside and being hidden by Hagrid's cabin no one saw her figure suddenly appear on the grounds. Shivering at the cold breeze, Rowan tugs her cloak around and curses those idiots under breath as she hurries across the grounds towards the forbidden forest.

Darting into the dark forest, Rowan nimbly makes her way through a narrow, winding earth trail that made its way through the thick black trees. Hopefully, they'd stuck to the path rather wandering into the forest on their own. Not too far off the path, she hears voices and hurries towards them to see the four figures of the Marauders in the midst of a snowball fight. "You buffoons!" Rowan snapped. "Do you have any common sense!"

The four boys sheepishly stop as James wipes the snow out of his hair and Pettigrew says, "We were just having some fun!"

Rowan ignores Pettigrew's comment and says, "Are you trying to get yourselves killed?!"

"We really were just going for a walk!" Lupin protested.

"There is a bloody Acromantula nest in here!" Rowan growled. "Do you want all your insides to be sucked dry!"

The four boys gulp as Sirius stammers, "C' mon Rowan, it can't be that bad-."

A loud snap in the distance causes them all to be quiet as the forest is suddenly eerily quiet. None of them dare to move as Rowan reaches for her wand and warily gazes around. Despite not hearing anything, Rowan doesn't lower her wand until suddenly a large figure erupts from the bushes.

The four boys scramble as Rowan points her wand at the creature to only halt. A majestic white unicorn stands before them and paws the ground with its hooves. "I think it wants us to leave," Pettigrew tremblingly said.

"You think?" Lupin finally snapped.

Putting her wand away, Rowan makes soft horse trainer noises and gently approaches the unicorn with her hand outstretched. The unicorn snorts and tosses its mane as it lets out a huff and smell's her hand. Rowan finally comes to a stop and gently reaches up to caress the unicorn's head much like that of a horse. The unicorn gently breathes into Rowan's hair and allows her to gently pet it.

Seeing the unicorn mare so very still, Rowan softly says, "If the four of you would like you can slowly approach, and she'll let you touch her." Thanks to her tree dryad heritage animals or magical creatures could sense the touch of forest magic within her and tended to be rather docile when with her.

The four rather eagerly approach as Rowan says, "Let the mare first sniff your hands so she can recognize your scent." The four of them gently approach and do as they are told, before gently patting the mare's silvery coat and mane.

"I thought you were bad with living creatures," Sirius remarked.

"I'm only bad when putting them in potions," Rowan replied. "I'm not bad with them in real life."

"Well, it I think this is the most at ease I've seen you," James said as he watched the gentle light in her eyes.

Rowan snorts and reluctantly moves her hand away and says, "We best be going back if we don't want to get detention." The unicorn mare whickers at them and shakes her head as if in understanding causing the boys to step back. The unicorn snorts at them as if telling them to get going, before darting back into the trees.

The four of them hurry back onto the path as the shadows grow darker and the sun is almost gone over the horizon. With just a glimmer of sunlight still left the four of them burst out of the forest and make through way back to the glimmering castle. Half-frozen, the five of them burst through the front doors and hurry towards the Great Hall to warm themselves.

Shivering, James through clenched teeth says, "Thanks."

"Mm," Rowan muttered as the scent of food filled her nose. With some delight, she recognizes the scent and bursts into the hall to spot a new recipe on the table, vegetable curry.

Hurrying over to the Slytherin table, James shakes his head as he watches Rowan's hurry to sit over next to Severus. "What are you looking at mate?" Sirius asked.

"Nothing," James said as he shook his head and headed over to the Gryffindor table with everyone in tow. Taking a seat, they proceeded to enjoy a mild spicy new dish. It was quite enjoyable as it warmed both the body and soul.