Chapter 695 - Halloween Arrangements Ⅱ (1/2)
After lunch, Rowan found herself in the Great Hall having been excused from her afternoon classes. A prefect from each house had been assigned to aid with the preparations for the Halloween Feast and unluckily, Rowan was assigned first. Normally, Prefects switched between holidays, tragically, not for the Christmas Feast. Even though neither Severus nor Rowan would be present as they would be gone from Hogwarts for the holidays, they still had to aid in the holiday decorating before their departure. Life was simply not fair...
Tilting her head to the side, Rowan sees the other three Prefects make their way into the hall. From Ravenclaw, the male prefect, David Goldstein, a fair youth with straight blond hair that nearly reached his shoulders and light brown-colored eyes. He looked more than a fair bit like the yet unborn Anthony Goldstein. He possibly was his father or near relative such as an uncle and was ironically also distantly related to the wife of Newt Scamander, Tina Goldstein. Very distantly related, but purebloods tended to be related in some form or another to each other.
Rowan's lips soften for a moment at the sight of her cheerful, round-faced friend, Andrew Abbott. Andrew's face perks up at spotting his friend and openly grins at her. Things were going well for him and Petunia despite maintaining a long-distance relationship via letters. At least according to Petunia's letter if they were an indication. But then again not that Petunia would ever admit to Andrew, but she found it terribly Romanic in its own fashion exchanging letters with her far-off boyfriend.
Rowan returns the greeting of Andrew with the faintest of smiles before she turns her gaze to the last Prefect from Gryffindor, Lily. The emerald eyes of Lily meet with the pitch, black, indigo-colored eyes of Rowan. Sadness and loneliness can be seen in the depths of Lily's eyes, but something else that was new, a startling realization. Lily flushes in embarrassment and looks away as her crimson hair sways lazily around her.
Rowan's eyes widen at Lily's actions as a thought slowly creeps into her mind. No, it's impossible! But then again. Maybe, just maybe, Lily had never paused to truly consider her own feelings before…And just maybe, Severus still had one final shot left.
Left with that startling thought in mind, Rowan is a bit dazed when she starts at the voice of Professor McGonagall. ”Good now that all of the prefects have gathered, we shall begin preparing the Great Hall for tonight's feast. Prefect Abbott and Prefect Evans shall aid me in transfiguring these stones into bats. And as for Prefect Goldstein and Prefect Prince to aid Hagrid with carving the jack-o-lanterns at the entrance of the Great Hall.”
”Yes, Professor McGonagall,” the four Prefects chimed as they each respectively moved to their respective duties towards the opposite end of the Great Hall.
Wearing a fitted lumberjack shirt and trousers with a warm coat, Hagrid's muscled body was quite the sight to see. Combined with his continued Hygiene regimen and neatly trimmed hair and beard, Hagrid's hut had become a daily visited destination by droves of teenage girls, who openly sighed at the sight of the rugged, muscled groundskeeper. It had become a daily problem that the Prefects including Rowan had regularly found themselves marching onto the cold, frozen, muddy grounds to drag gaggles of female students back into the castle.
Hagrid happily beams at them, while he waves his wand behind him as magical giant pumpkins large enough for three grown men to sit trail obediently after him. It was a sight that would have been unthinkable once but now filled Rowan with a tinge of joy at seeing the groundskeeper of Hogwarts so very proud as he openly performed magic.
Behind the giant pumpkins follow smaller pumpkins which neatly begin to line up in a row in the Great Hall. In a booming, cheerful voice, Hagrid says, ”Well, we all best jus' git to it now. Prefect Goldstein and Row-, er, I mean, Prefect Prince, y'all carve dem smaller pumpkins, whilst I carve 'em big ones.”
”And thanks for me, ma-,” Hagrid begins to say, but a stern pointed look from Rowan quells the words in Hagrid's throat.
”I shall stop by later for tea within the next week or two, Hagrid,” Rowan firmly interjected causing Hagrid to sheepishly smile back.