After the Great Unwelcome Propositioning Incident as it was being called, the third year Slytherins were much tamer. It was though as none of them had any energy to act out after Professor Mortimer's decorum class, and those that did were terrified out of their minds by her. As such, one more load was removed from Rowan and Severus's shoulders.
With the fireplace in the Slytherin common room already roaring and crackling, the fifth and seventh years huddle together to study as they are gratefully kept warm and wide awake via the endless supply of hot tea and snacks provided in the common room by the house elves at the snack table. Taking mercy upon the younger years and recalling the dreadful chill of Professor Slughorn's potions classroom, Rowan taught all the first year and transfer students how to enchant a round stone to keep warm, and safely be put in their robes in order to keep warm during the worst of the cold months, especially during Potions. Quickly the spell was taught to the other first-year and students in the other three houses and was instantly adopted by the older non-Slytherin years.
It was a shock to half of the school especially the Ravenclaw's, who bitterly lamented the fact that Rowan and Severus had been sorted into Slytherin. In the Ravenclaw's opinion, Rowan and Severus Prince should have been sorted into their house. But there was always hope for the next generation, and someday surely there would be a Prince sorted into Ravenclaw.
As for the marauders as a whole they were trying to rekindle their friendship with James and vice-versa. There were still some rough patches in their budding friendship, but overall, both parties were trying. When neither Sirius, Pettigrew, Lupin, or Severus were available, Terry had taken James under his wing. It was a source of laughter and worry among the marauders as even Severus was worried Terry might corrupt James, but for the time being, it was nothing to worry about.
On the other hand, neither Rowan nor Severus had yet to deal with their own fraying friendships. Rowan had not yet tried to truly reach out to James, and Severus had yet to speak to Lily. Both of them were still avoiding each of the respective parties for the time being, but sooner or later, they would have to face the source of their emotional turmoil. Thankfully, though their Prefect duties were the perfect excuse to avoid emotional responsibility. And it was not a lie since they were always busy with one thing or another.
The first portion of October had already passed by when Rowan in dismay realized the appalling fact, and she had yet to fulfill her promise to Nadira. However, she vowed that she would by the end of the upcoming week and no later, before hurrying up the stairs towards Professor Babbling's classroom on the third floor.
Rowan rushes in and hurries over to sit next to Andrew Abbot and was the last to arrive. Andrew sends her an empathetic look of understanding as he too was the Hufflepuff Prefect and always seemed to be running around in a hurry. Sharing sympathetic glances with each other, Rowan hastily unpacks her school bag, and asks, "So how did your essay go?"
"Not very well," Andrew grimly replied with a tired sigh. "I wasn't able to research as much as I would have liked to since I had to accompany a first-year and two transfer students down to the infirmary. They all had caught a stomach cold and were throwing up the entire way up to the infirmary." (Because the Hufflepuff's quarters are also located in the dungeons only near the Hogwarts kitchen.)
Rowan visibly flinched at Andrew's words as that was one of the many Prefect duties, she would have to perform. So far, she had prematurely nipped that in the bud, but sooner or later, one of the Slytherin first years would fall ill. And since the Slytherin quarters were located in the dungeons that only made it far more likely to occur.
Suppressing a groan, Rowan begins to unpack her things, when the new Head of Gryffindor, Professor Bathsheda Babbling swept into the classroom. Her crooked dark hat is more crooked than usual and her slightly crooked button nose is scrunched up in a grimace. She looks more than a tad pale, while her coffee-colored hair is a bit in disarray, while her blue and brown eyes have eyeshadows underneath them. It would seem that the Prefect's weren't the only ones that were severely stressed this year because the position of Head of Gryffindor had finally started to take its toll on Professor Babbling.
Suppressing the urge to spew curses, Professor Babbling grumpily says, "I hope that you have all finished your essays on time."
The classroom as a whole mutters, "Yes, Professor," before tactfully remaining silent. They could easily tell that Professor Babbling was overwrought and none of them wanted to get on the wrong side of her.
Turning to the board, Professor Babbling waves her wand as the chalk begins to quickly scribble a rune script that they had already learned. Finished, she turns back to face them and says, "With O.W.L.'s this year, we have been reviewing past rune scripts, but we have yet to go over the alternate usage of Runes beyond being written or inscribed on various items to embedded with power to create talismans of sorts or even spell matrix's."
"Can someone name a group that still uses Magical Runes in every day to day life?" Professor Babbling asked as she glanced all around the room before her eyes finally settle onto Rowan Prince. "Miss Prince?"
Rowan almost groans at being signaled out as her mind hurries to come up with an answer. After a pause, she carefully replies, "I believe Merpeople still use runes, Professor."
"Correct, five points to Slytherin," Professor Babbling said, before turning and asking the class, "And why is that? Does anyone know?"
From the back of the classroom, the figure of Quyen Crowley can be seen raising her hand. "Yes, Miss Crowley?" Professor Babbling gestured to the student to begin to speak.
Quyen confidently arches her chin and answers, "It is a well-known fact that wand magic does not work very well underwater, and if it does often with unexpected results. It is a phenomenon not yet explained, but one thing all wizarding researchers all agree upon is that it has something to do with the way that wands are forged above land. Many attempts in the past have been made by intrepid wandmakers, but it is impossible to forge a wand beneath the surface of the water. Not only is the wand core and wand itself damaged by the water itself, but even the best-forged water wands fare even worse than properly made wands.
There is even more speculation that the phenomenon is related to the fact that since wizardkind much like muggles were born on land, therefore all wizards to some extent carry ancient earth elemental magic within them. And thusly, the very nature of our magic is to some extent repulsed by the natural water elemental magic found within all water surfaces. And vice-a-versa as the Merfolk's inherent water elemental magic is repulsed by the natural earth magic found within all forged wands. Unfortunately, the merpeople's reaction is even more severe to wood wands causing them unbelievable amounts of pain, and oftentimes accompanied by severely burned fingers and hands." (Thought that phenomenon only excluded water dwelling magical creatures and not land-dwelling creatures such as goblins and others.)
"Thank you, Miss Crowley, ten points to Slytherin," Professor Babbling said causing Quyen to proudly perk up in pleasure.
Personally, Rowan was intrigued by said theory. She had been somewhat familiar with the concept before, but with everything going on in her life, she had never really had time to contemplate the subject. And more importantly, she had to keep that in mind when she finally went and visited Nadira. That was if Nadira was not already severely irked with Rowan for having failed to keep her promise. And as a rule of thumb, one should never mess with a magical snake's feelings when they might end up eaten alive.