Chapter 583 - Curps (2/2)
Severus and Terry walked over towards Lupin and them. Terry loudly sniffs and through watery eyes, in a muffled voice says, ”I'm most averse to them.”
Sirius snickers at Terry's words, and cheerfully retorts, ���Serves you right for making fun of me in the past.”
Terry merely glares with watery eyes as Severus reaches into his pocket and hands Terry a hankie. Terry murmurs, ”Thank you,” as he wipes his eyes and runny nose. ”Achoo!”
Severus frowns in disgust, before saying to Lupin, ”How's being a Prefect going?”
Lupin sighs and says, ”I wish that Lily and I had thought to make a map for the first years and transfer students like the two of you did. Thankfully, your first year Slytherins and the transfer students from your house shared them with friends and then we made copies for all our Gryffindors. Also, I heard that the two of you are offering to tutor the other first years as well. I must say I am impressed.”
Severus cheeks faintly begin to turn pink and grumbles, ”Rowan said that might help keep interhouse friendsh.i.p.s alive and well. And besides, we are each only tutoring them twice per week. Monday and Wednesday for me and Tuesdays and Thursdays for Rowan.”
”It seems like a really good idea to be perfectly honest,” Lupin remarked most notably impressed.
”I would have liked to have had tutors our first year at Hogwarts,” Pettigrew muttered with a shudder remembering that first year. ”If not for Rowan tutoring us in the library, I think we would have failed all of our classes.”
”Mm,” Lupin grins. ”Rowan doesn't look it, but she's surprisingly the nurturing type.”
Pettigrew nods as Severus smiles a rare gentle smile in public. ”Mm, when we were young children all sorts of animals would find their way to her. They always knew she would help bandage a wound or fix a broken limb. Oh, she'd grumble about their foolishness, but she'd always lend a willing hand.”
”I'm surprised, she didn't end up as a Gryffindor,” Sirius grumbled. ”She's certainly Gryffindorish at times.”
”The same thing can be said about Hufflepuff given her love of food and interhouse friendsh.i.p.s,” Pettigrew observed.
”Nah,” Terry sniffed. ”She's much too cunning to be anything but a Slytherin.”
They all turn to eye Terry as if saying, ”You would know, Spider.”
Terry must have sensed their inner thoughts as he narrows his eyes and says, ”You were all thinking something rude right now, weren't you!?”
They all glance away as James slowly says, ”If they were, I can't claim to know.”
Terry snorts and wipes his nose clean. Glancing back at the girls around the Curps pen, he says, ”You know I think the only real mistake is that Professor Kettleburn regrets that Rowan never took Care of Magical Creatures. I heard him bem.o.a.ning to himself after the Triwizard Tournament over a pint of Firewhiskery.”
”Even Bowtrunkles like her,” Pettigrew wistfully muttered recalling the valentine booth in their second year.
”Pfft,” Sirius chokes. ”That is an understatement of the century! A bloody dragon let her walk up to it without her using any magic at all!”
”Dragon?” James sputtered in disbelief.
”Last year, Rowan had to participate in the Triwizard Tournament as Hogwarts champion,” Lupin flatly said as he eyed the sudden guilty-looking figures of Terry and Severus. ”Taking a dragon egg from the dragon's egg was the first challenge.”
”It was supposed to be a joke!” Terry protested loudly in his own defense. ”How were Severus and I supposed to know the bloody goblet would go and select her as the Hogwarts Champion!”
James merely nods his head not quite able to wrap his head around the idea. Nevertheless, strangely enough, they all chatter about ignoring the elephant in the room so to speak. No one mentioned Pettigrew and James distance as they talked around or in between them. It was strange and awkward, but it would get better with time, or at least that is what they secretly told themselves.