In the following class period, Rowan was still a bit distracted, but not for long. If she had thought that Professor McGonagall was bad, well, Professor Babbling had assigned them thrice as much as the amount of homework than in Transfiguration! It made more than one student suddenly want to drop the class, sadly, such an option was out of the question until next year.
The staggering amount of homework constituted of translation scripts and rune rituals. Their homework essays did not only have to be written in English but with a second written version as well in Ancient Runes. It was a test to ensure that they could reverse translate as well, which made Rowan want to scream!
And now it certainly made more sense why a greater portion of the student body in their year had elected Care of Magical Creatures, Divination or Muggle Studies as elective courses. She suddenly found herself in those same shoes of wanting to drop Ancient Runes and wishing she would have gone for an easier course. Tragically, it was much too late now.
The rest of the day passed in an exhausted blur followed by another exhausting day. Come Thursday, the last course of the day, Goobbledook, Rowan was earnestly praying for the weekend to finally arrive. For the first time in an exceedingly long time, she was planning to sleep in late on Saturday at least until seven o'clock, and eight o'clock on Sunday.
Thankfully, she at least had a bit of a respite as she had a free course period before Gobbledegook to give her enough time to gain her breath back. With a groan, Rowan rose to her feet and made her way to the new Gobbledegook Professor's classroom, Professor Manzil Snipe. From what she had heard from the lower years, he was not as nice as Flitwick, but he was not as tough as the new lower year transfiguration professor, Professor Norman Hopkins.
Tragically that did not mean much to Rowan as she did not have Professor Hopkins for Transfiguration. But if she had to guess, Professor Hopkins was on par with Professor McGonagall for strictness level, and that Professor Snipe was more on par with Professor Vector or Professor Babbling. The two witches were firm, but not overly strict, which meant that at least Professor Snipe was not a terrible teacher, to begin with.
Rowan was one of the first to make her way into the classroom and found it largely empty except for the figures of a few Hufflepuffs in her year sitting up in one of the corners of the classroom. Nodding her head at them in recognition, she goes up to sit next to the figure of Andrew Abbot.
Andrew flashes Rowan a tired grimace, unlike his usual natural cheery self. Why even Andrew was being affected by his Prefect duties. And he was a bloody Hufflepuff for heaven's sake!
Slumping down next to him, Rowan says, "I'm exhausted."
"Same," Andrew whimpered. "I haven't even had time to reply to Petunia's letter."
He was rather dismayed now at being been thrilled to be a Prefect. Just what had he been thinking at that point in time?! Who would have ever thought that his position as Prefect could possibly be a danger to his relationship with his girlfriend have Petunia Evans! But worst of all after his duties were done for the day, he only had enough energy to change into his pajamas or like last night falling straight away into bed sound asleep with his robes still on the instant, his head touched his fluffy pillows.
"I know what you mean," Rowan muttered as she rubbed her tired gaze. "Petunia's been writing to be all about the NASA program, and how the American's have launched Viking 1, the planetary probe towards Mars."
Andrew turns and stares at Rowan as he says, "I must confess, I really didn't get it, when Petunia tried to explain it to me. Why are the muggles sending metal-like things into space?"
"To see if there is life on the planet Mars or if it is even possible to inhabit the planet," Rowan matter-of-factly replied.
"Well, how in Merlin's name would that be important to us as wizarding folks?" Andrew muttered. "Professor Elias Murphy, the new muggle studies Professor is really excited about the whole subject of space travel. But I still don't get it."
Rowan purses her lips, before slowly saying, "Well, what if a witch of wizard went to the moon? Could we possibly create breathable air or even make it possible for witches and other wizards to travel to the moon by establishing a portkey? Or does magic outside of Earth even work or does it have a set of different rules? More importantly, even the idea that via magic the moon or another planet could possibly become a viable habitat for all wizardingkind if Earth one day is no longer habitable or we can no longer hide from muggles all together! It is an interesting theory which to consider or simply to test the infinite possibilities of magic."
Andrew's brows arch sky high as his mind finally begins to think and ponder the potential future implications of such an event. "Huh, I had never thought of it that way," Andrew slowly said. "I suppose it's a rather important event to think of after all. I guess it just seems so impossible to believe that muggles can go to the moon, and places that we wizarding folk could never possibly go all on our own."
Before Rowan can reply, the two figures holding hands of Pandora and Xeno arrive. Rowan and Andrew tiredly smile at the couple as they take a seat next to them. "Tired much?" Pandora grinned at them causing her aqua-colored eyes to glitter like the brightest gem.
Smiling at the blond Ravenclaw, Rowan says, "Aren't we all? I would think it's worse in your house because despite Ravenclaws always having one's nose stuck in a book, they're always full of an endless stream of questions."
"I know," Pandora huffed. "They don't leave me enough time to spend with Xeno here."
"It's alright, Pans," replied Xeno to his girlfriend, who flashed him a pink hearted smile.
Despite being boyfriend and girlfriend Xeno dressed as eccentric as ever with bright feathers interwoven in his candy floss like hair, and slightly cross-eyed blue eyes. There was little doubt in Rowan's mind exactly which parent, the yet unborn Luna Lovegood resembled more. It did not take a genius to figure out exactly who it was.
Barely holding off from rolling her eyes at the pink lovey-dovey display of the Ravenclaw couple, Rowan says, "So Xeno ready to take your N.E.W.T.'s this year?"
Xeno pales as he drily says, "I'll manage somehow."
Before Pandora can cheer up her boyfriend, the tall, lean figure of Severus Prince sits right down next to her. Xeno and everyone just stared in surprise at Severus as he always sat down next to Lily in the class. Why in Merlin's name was he sitting up here with them?!
Xeno, Pandora, and Andrew all turn to stare at Rowan with questions in their eyes. Rowan merely makes a shooing motion in reply as Lily enters the classroom and goes to sit with Regulus and Dirk without glancing up even once at Severus.
The three friends once more look at Lily, who peeks up at them and sees Severus gazing most intently at the open book in front of him. A look of dismay fills Lily's emerald eyes, before she glances away in embarrassment, and opens her bag to only stare at the empty seat beside her that is usually filled. For a moment, she stares longingly at the empty seat next to her and bites her lips as she is prone to doing when uneasy. She had been feeling very lonely without Severus at her side, but she did not know how to truly go about patch things up between the two of them.
And even worse, she had often found her eyes naturally drawn to his figure. She simply didn't know what to make of her feelings, and they frightened her, but at the same time filled her with a longing she had never felt before. But even worse, she had never felt so timid before. It was most unGryffindor of her!
While Lily distracts herself by pulling out her school supplies, Xeno, Pandora, and Andrew, all turn to gaze at Rowan with wide eyes. Though Pandora's shrewd eyes did hold a glimmer of truth to them, Rowan shrugged her shoulders and firmly refused to answer the unspoken questions in their eyes. Thankfully, she is saved from any further pestering, when the door slams open.
They all turn to face the new Goobledegook Professor, Professor Manzil Snipe. The short wizard with sly-looking eyes has his hair slicked back and a sharp hooked nose. The entire class becomes silent as he says in Gobbledegook, "I am Professor Manzil Snipe. For the rest of the year, there will be no English spoken in this class except for Gobbledegook. Naturally, there are exceptions to explain a new word and the following context for the word to be understood. You should all be fluent enough speakers at this point in time, and I have been informed by Professor Flitwick that you have already been tested on the basics of negotiation and bargaining. This year, the final exam will be to create various written contracts in Gobbledegook."
There are gasps and loud groans heard in class from the fifth and the seventh years, while the fourth and sixth years all seem to look on with utter delight. It was going to be an awfully long year for the fifth and seventh years.
Without showing the slightest bit of dismay at his student's groans, Professor Snipe goes to say, "Highly secure goblin contracts must be written in Gobbledegook. As such to ensure that all of you are capable of doing so, the written contracts that will be for the final exam will be presented to an actual Gringotts lawyer, who will judge the final result, and decide if it is an iron-clad contract worthy of a goblin."
Ignoring the expressions on the fifth and seventh years, Professor Snipe concentrates on the sparkling faces of the fourth and sixth years, mostly of the Slytherin variety with a few exceptions like Dirk Cresswell, a Ravenclaw. Without any further ado, he just jumps in and begins to write a standard goblin contract.
The only sound after that can be heard is the scratching of quills against parchment. It remained that way for the rest of the class period. Though there was a rather pleasant surprise in store for the Hogwarts librarian, Madam Irma Pince later that evening. The rarely ever used library textbooks on Gringotts bank laws were all checked out to the shock of the librarian. Though she was privately tickled pink to see the goblin law books being so solemnly read. It cheered her prickly librarian heart quite a bit causing her to give her stamp of approval to Professor Snipe.