Chapter 364 - Pairings (2/2)
But there were still more romantic pairings to come! Ignoring Pandora, who'd somehow managed to finally land Xeno during the summer thanks to Tiffany's advice. Pandora wasn't the only successful girl, who had followed Tiffany's advice. During the summer, Willa had also managed to land Thomas Bell, the Hufflepuff Chaser, and was now actively dating him.
However, the greatest shock of them all was Remus Lupin and Mary MacDonald. They'd all been sitting at lunch, when Remus smooth as you pleased stepped into their conversation during lunch, and asked, Mary, if she'd go down with him to Hogsmeade. Flushing, Mary happily replied yes, before Remus smiled back, and returned to sitting with Terry, Severus, and the rest of the Marauders.
It had caused Rowan to openly gape for a while. It wasn't the idea of Remus dating Mary that was preposterous, but rather the idea that Remus was courageous enough to do so. Why even Tonks had to chase Remus down, and even then, Remus ran off once married! But then again, Remus was probably no longer afraid to get close to a girl now that he was free of the curse.
Still, it was a bit of relief for Rowan to see the subtle seeds planted slowly bearing fruit. Hopefully, they'd mature enough to maintain the changes, and not falter under the first fierce wind. Because if she had learned anything at all at this point is that fate does not like to be changed. And there is always a price for doing so, always.
Not soon enough the weekend finally arrived. Early morning as was tradition, Rowan was first out in front of Hogwarts. She knew for a fact that Hagrid would be going with Madame Maxime. She'd helped him last night pick out an outfit and do his hair. Ever since, his makeover, Hagrid had gained a lot more confidence in his looks.
He still dressed mostly the same, but now knew to at least take the time to keep his hair and beard neatly trimmed. Even just wearing a lumberjack shirt was enough for him to look good now that his face had dimension. At this rate, Hagrid might just end up moving to Beauxbatons with Madame Maxime that much earlier.
Rowan carefully tucked her hooded cloak around herself and wore a dark blue scarf instead of her usual Slytherin, emerald, and silver-colored scarf. The morning was crisp as she was the first into the carriage that morning. She admired the orange, somewhat bare trees, and the starting to freeze inky black lake.
Winter could clearly already be felt as the days grew colder and the skies grayer. With a sigh, she shakes her head as Rowan recalls the other two marauders, James and Sirius. Rowan resisted the urge to let her face fall into the palm of her hand. Sirius had boldly asked one of the Beauxbaton girls to accompany him and she said, yes. Ignoring the fact that the girl thought Sirius was cute in a little brother sort of way, Sirius proudly strutted around the castle with his tailfeathers all out.
And then there was James. Now, that guy truly filled Rowan with despair. The fool instead of confessing his feelings to Lily had tried to make her jealous. He'd been flirting with some other girl in obvious places to no avail.
One would think that after last year, he'd have gotten the hint. But then again, James still couldn't bring himself to admit out loud that he liked Lily. Every time, Rowan so much tried to suggest the topic he'd quickly change the subject.
As such, Rowan happily gave up, because James wasn't her brother, and she'd stopped prodding him for information. She had just been trying to verify where exactly James's tactics were in the scheme of things. After all, she still had the tiniest smidgeon of hope that Severus might just produce a miracle in the end. But like all things, it might just be a vain hope in the end.