Chapter 10 - Afternoon Tea Party (2/2)

”And what is your excuse, Rowan?” Sirsa coolly asked as she turned to face Rowan.

”Aunt Georgine was raising her hand to Severus to strike him, so I hit her first,” Rowan replied with zero hesitation in her eyes.

Sirsa furrows her lips in displeasure, ”That is not an acceptable excuse.”

”And how did I know Aunt Georgine was going to stop?” Rowan countered.

”Whatever do you mean?” Sirsa said quite startled. ”Even if Georgine was ever so furious she would have never struck Severus and would have merely slammed her hands onto the table in a fit of anger.”

”Oh,” Rowan lamely said as she places down the squashed cake onto the table and glances around for a napkin, before wiping her hand clean. ”I guess I'll have to go and apologize later,” Rowan tactfully answered avoiding the question.

Sirsa is dazed for a moment at the casually uttered statement, before carefully probing further. ”What do ever do you mean by that you thought Georgine wasn't going to stop?”

Severus and Rowan glance at each other and remain tactfully silent. ”Rowan? Severus?” Sirsa firmly asked again.

”Show her,” Severus quietly said after a minute of awkward silence.

Seeing Severus's relentless gaze, Rowan mutters, ”Fine,” and raises the left side of her hair to reveal a gruesome, scabby scar on her left temple.

Sirsa is deathly still for a moment as a rather horrified expression appears across her face. ”Did-, did your mother allow this?” Sirsa hoarsely asked.

”Mother tried to stop it and most of the time it worked,” Severus quickly said in the defense of Eileen. ”But when father was too drunk-. He wasn't always so easy to calm down.”

Sirsa is silent for some time, before carefully saying, ”We the Princes may be cold and say terrible things to each other at times, but we will never strike one another. That I can guarantee.”

”I'm back, young master,” Dawn suddenly said as she arrived with a tray, utterly running the moment. ”Oh, no! What happened?!” Dawn shrieked rather aghast.

”It was an accident,” Sirsa truthfully said. ”Worry, not, Dawn. I'll attend to the ladies inside until the patio is once more presentable.”

”Thank you, Mistress,” Dawn gratefully said as she places Severus's plate into his hands and magically begins to clean.

Severus quietly walks over to Rowan and remarks, ”Grandma, doesn't seem quite so bad.”

”Mm, yeah, I think you're right,” Rowan commented back.

”Should we head to the creek?” Severus muttered after a second.

”Sounds like a good plan,” Rowan frankly replied. The twins swiftly retreat to the creek to eat their snacks and play with the fish that have two tiny legs and liked to nibble on their toes. From reading, a copy of Fantastic Beasts & Where To Find Them, Rowan had quickly recognized the creatures as Plimpy's. Which freaked Severus out the first time when Rowan tied their legs up and tossed them back into the creek and had been forced to explain the purpose of tying the Plimpy's legs up. And despite their adventurous nature, the twins stayed far away from the deep end of the creek as who knows what else could possibly be quietly hiding in the darkness.

But even when ignoring the deep end of the creek there were plenty of other things to observe such as tiny green stick-like figures, Bowtruckle's shyly peeking at them from the trees. With a few brave souls even going as far as to approach them and only allowing Rowan to hold them. Which made Severus furious as the Bowtruckle's would flee anytime he approached them. But he still had hope that with enough time the Bowtruckle's would come around because frankly, Rowan's knowing smirk was getting on his nerves.

And though Rowan found the Bowtruckle's cute and most of the woodland creatures endearing except for the fairies and electric blue pixies that were rather infuriating. At least the fairies merely fluttered around, but the pixies barred their sharp teeth at them and tried to play mischievous tricks on them such as pulling on their ears. Either way, she tended to splash them away with water any chance she got. Because frankly, anything with tiny sharp teeth gave her the willies. And that very much included the fairies, nasty little buggers, the whole lot of them!