Chapter 184 - Bonding (2/2)

”Here,” Rowan said as she shoved the items into his chest. Surprised Sirius blinks at her in confusion as she says, ”You can have them. I won't likely use them again until next summer. And I can always buy them again. For you, on the other hand, it won't be quite so easy. So, consider it a very belated birthday gift.”

”I always knew you liked me!” Sirius said with a beaming smile as Rowan rolled her eyes.

”I like Regulus much more than you, Sirius,” Rowan confessed as she flashed the blushing Regulus a wide grin.

”Well, I know plenty of girls who like me!” Sirius huffed as he gleefully clutched the gifts to his chest.

Rowan doesn't reply as she instead says, ”Go off and put it away! Then we'll tell each other some ghost stories.”

”Ghost stories?” Severus suddenly gulped.

”It'll be fun, Severus,” Rowan said with a light smile.

Sirius innocently says, ”Okay, I'll be right back,” before rushing away.

Regulus being a bit smarter of the two catches the abrupt pallor on Severus's face and hastily says, ”Maybe, this isn't such a good idea.”

”Nonsense, it will help us bond closer together,” Rowan persuasively said not comforting Regulus whatsoever.

Sirius turns and happily jumps onto the bed pulling the pale Severus to sit next to him. ”Okay, who goes first?”

”I will,” Rowan said with a sinister purr as Regulus reached to hug a pillow to his chest.

”There once was a father, who was putting his little boy to bed. He heard something outside in the hallway and left just a minute, before coming back. Strangely enough, his little boy was climbing back onto the bed, but the father thought nothing of it as he thought his little boy might have dropped something and had gotten out of bed to pick it up.” Severus shivers as Sirius eagerly leans forward, while Regulus hugs the pillow tighter to his chest.

”The father then proceeds to tuck his little boy back into bed and tells him a story. Once the story is over, the little boy asks him to check under the bed for monsters. Chuckling good-natured the father does,” Rowan dramatically paused as they all take a deep breath.

”But instead he sees another tearstained version of his son under the bed. The tearfully little boy whispers, ”Daddy, there's somebody on my bed.”

Sirius falls off the bed and lets out a high-pitched shriek at suddenly finding himself staring into the blank abyss under Rowan's bed. Scrambling back onto the bed, he clutches the bed covers in panic as he gasps in fear, while Regulus also terrified clutches his pillow with all his might. Severus was expected some sort of twisted ending merely edges away from the edge of the bed and scoots closer to the center of the bed.

”Who wants to go next?” Rowan cheerfully asked. ”Or should I go again?”

”NO!” All three boys cried out as Rowan said, ”Okay, well, hurry up then” Needless to say, the rest of the scary stories were rather lame. And a bit of a letdown as everyone quickly went to bed afterward.

Later that night, Sirius crawled into bed with Regulus. And neither breathed a word as to the reason why. Sirius wasn't the only one as Rowan found Severus huddling in her bed as well. She found it rather cute and endearing, while Severus cursed his twin sister under his breath. Oddly enough, Rowan slept rather well, while the boy's night was full of turbulent dreams.