Hogsmeade is full of students and shoppers despite the autumn, chilly wind that carries sweeping colored, fallen leaves across the cobblestones. Feeling an encroaching headache and rather hungry as lunch was long past due, Rowan finally snaps and whirls around to face her unwanted trailing companion. "Potter, don't you have a date with Lily?"
Despite the chill in the air, James blinks and flushes a rosy pink as he says, "Er, well, she is still on patrol." James pointed at the figure of Lily just across the street, who was shouting at the fourth year, who had the brilliant idea to throw a dung bomb in the middle of the street after purchasing it from Zonko's.
"I'll tell you what, Potter," Rowan crisply said. "I will cover for Lily so that the two of you can go on your planned date."
"Right," James muttered as Rowan marched over to Lily, who had the fourth-year boy quivering in place as she chastised him for attempting to use a dung-bomb in the middle of the street.
"May I interrupt?" Rowan carefully said as Lily fixed her emerald eyes on Rowan and James, before softening and hardening again as she shooed the boy away, who eagerly escapes the clutches of the fierce tempered Gryffindor Prefect.
"Do you need anything, Rowan?" Lily asked as her gaze shifts between the two of them as if coming to some sort of conclusion.
"Lily, why don't you and James head off to your date?" Rowan sincerely suggested. "I'll still be on duty for a while, and then we can trade, so I can have a bite to eat."
"That sounds good, Rowan," Lily murmured with a wry grin, before attempting to smile friendly-like at James. After her long day shepherding the students at Hogsmeade, she was not looking forward to her date with James, and much less explaining to her friend and housemate the truth that she did not hold any romantic feelings for James. She had been too much of a coward nor she had the heart to deny his request after his fight with Sirius at that time. She now bitterly regretted her kind, but a rather naïve reply. However, she had no other choice now and might as well make the best of it for the time being. At least, she'd earn herself a meal out of this.
Seeing Lily lost in thought for a moment, Rowan loudly says, "Oh, don't mind me. Off the two of you go, I'm certain that the Three Broomsticks will have seating available or Madam Puddifoot's."
"No need to rush us, Rowan," Lily quickly protested as she came too. "I don't think, James is going to run off and abandon me."
"Well, time is precious," Rowan stubbornly insisted as could not wait to get rid of James, because he had been severely grating on her nerves. It wasn't that he was being overbearingly chatty, it's just that he constantly seemed to only be observing her for no apparent reason but accompanying her without a word. And there was only so much she could take, before saying something she did not mean truly mean.
"Er, right," Lily lamely said before turning towards James and trying to be cheerful. "Well, we best be going."
"Right," James muttered back as the two somewhat awkwardly turned away and headed down the street towards Three Broomsticks. Both of them were lost in their own thoughts as each thought about their date, James couldn't help compare his first date with Lily to the present one, and Lily couldn't help but wonder what it would like to go on a date with another. Either way, it would make for a rather lukewarm date.
Seeing the two of them awkwardly walk down the street together, Rowan shakes her head at the sight but privately sighs with relief. Finally, she had gotten rid of Potter! Feeling rather cheery, she reaches into her mokeskin bag and pulls out another Ice Mice. She quickly pops the sweet into her mouth and shivers as she feels her teeth begin to clatter as she chews. It was a terrible, nasty quirk to have, but she blamed Terry naturally for the development of said quirk.
Not able to resist Rowan pops a second Ice Mice into her mouth, before sweeping down the student filled streets of Hogsmeade. The students mostly quell down as she starts docking points and assigning detentions if needed. She had just finished berating an overly aggressive snogging couple, before spotting the unusual, lonely figure of Sirius.
Dismissing the couple, she moves towards Sirius, while the couple flees. Taking a moment, Rowan studies Sirius with an assessing eye. Sirius was tall, well-built with fair skin, and lustrous black hair, and striking grey eyes. He was as much of a heartbreaker as ever, but as of late, she had heard rumors that Sirius was taken. Not that she had ever seen any indications of it, but then again, here Sirius was without any notable partner in any sight.
Approaching the furrowed handsome figure of Sirius, Rowan loudly clears her throat and snickers, "So, who is she?"
"What?!" Sirius squawked in panic and almost tripped from shock. "Rowan! I-, I don't know what you are talking about!" He stammered. "That is pure nonsense, no matter what Moony, Prongs, Wormtail or Bramble might I have told you, it is complete and utter rot!"
Rowan's lips twitch as she hides a smile and most sternly stares down her nose at him and pointedly arches her brow at him. "Sirius, you have always been, a terrible liar. And that is without a doubt one of the worst lies I have ever heard."
Sirius opens his mouth to protest, but Rowan fiercely interrupts, "And you are a Gryffindor, Sirius, your lot always wear their heart on your sleeve. I have ears and eyes, Sirius."
Sirius opens and closes his mouth, before sulkily replying, "Be as that it may, I don't see why that's any of your business, Rowan."
"Oh?" Rowan said with a gleam in her eye. "I am further intrigued, Sirius. What manner of creature has turned away your advances? I must say, I find myself completely and utterly astounded by her shockingly good sense!"
Sirius sputters indignantly at Rowan's words and draws his chest up with pride and anger. "I will have you know that I am considered a first-rate catch, Rowan. I am the HEIR to the Black Family namesake, a pureblood, and in possession of an incredibly vast fortune."
"If one considers inbreeding a fortunate occasion," Rowan privately thought to herself, before loudly saying, "As lovely as all those reasons are, Sirius, it will appear that they are inconsequential to the current holder of your affections."
Narrowing her eyes at Sirius, Rowan muses out loud with a wicked teasing glint in her eyes. "So, who is she? A Ravenclaw? Personally, I always thought that a girl with splendid brains was way out of your league, Sirius. Was I finally proven right?"
Seeing Sirius's face darken in anger, Rowan purses her lips for a moment. "Well, it would be highly unlikely for any one of your lionesses from your house to turn you down nor the Hufflepuff's as you have dated a good number from that house. No-!" She gasped in shock and delight. "A Slytherin, Sirius?"
Sirius's face crumbles as Rowan's eyes gleam with interest. "C'mon Sirius, I shan't tell another soul."
Sirius reluctantly opens his mouth to speak, when he lets out a petrified squeak. With wide panicked eyes, he gasps, "I have to go!" And rushes away as if the very ghosts of Hogwarts were at his heels.
Bewildered, Rowan turns around and scans the street, but she does not see anyone that would cause Sirius to freeze up panic. Furrowing her brows, she sees several Slytherin females on the cobbled street including the figures of Tiffany, Silvia, and Bethanie entering Gladrags Wizardwear to shop for some personal articles, while Terry and Regulus gallantly remain outside and allow the girls to shop on their own.
However, there was no other clue to be found. But she would be undeterred in her quest! That and she would not resist her merciless Slytherin urge to tease the lovestruck Gryffindor, Sirius Black. What could she say? She was a Slytherin after all.