In the following days after the Giant attack at Rowle manor, Hogwarts is filled with whispers and tears. The Daily Prophet the following morning had listed the dead including those among the Hags, (a rare considerate gesture). Several students openly wept at reading the names of relatives or family friends in the Daily Prophet. There were hugs and hushed whispers as the student's shared copies of the Daily Prophet and in hushed tones of voices discussed the deaths and the future progression of the war.
The ripples of the giant attack had been felt throughout wizarding society. The purebloods had immediately sent out their condolences to the dead, especially that of the Flint family. Numerous condolences have been sent to the Rowle family as the Ministry of Magic had omitted the fact that Rowle had been a Death Eater.
Still, the hasty departure of Euphemia Rowle did little to ease the minds of the purebloods nor Rowle relatives. In fact, Euphemia Rowle had almost seamlessly disappeared off the face of the earth. It was as if she had simply vanished. The purebloods were not the only ones interested in Euphemia Rowle as the Ministry of Magic had intended to put out a warrant for questioning the witch, but thankfully, a wise witch had responded to the warrant, (Mrs. Pettigrew). In secrecy, the Head of the Law Enforcement Department had been able to question Euphemia Rowle quietly and efficiently in secrecy, before Urquhart relayed all that he had learned to the Minister of Magic.
On the other hand, Voldemort and his Death Eaters have simply forgotten the existence of Livius Rowle's sole daughter. Truthfully, Euphemia Rowle was simply of no consequence or of value to their cause. It was a sad thing to say.
Besides Sylvia Flint and Bethanie Fawley, over two dozen students from all grade levels had been pulled out of Hogwarts that same night and the following morning. The reason for the abrupt departure of the students is that for some their parents had been among the deceased guests at Rowle manor, and for other's, their parents were among the dead Aurors, who had only been performing their duty. Regardless, the sudden giant attack had brought back many bad memories for those that had lost friends and family in recent giant skirmishes, and the past and rather catastrophic giant attack that transpired during the winter holidays.
Many students openly began to falter in their studies and health. Several students fell ill, while many more suffered from nightmares and became unable to sleep. The infirmary matron, Madam Pomfrey was rushing this way and that to attend to the students of Hogwarts. In the end, Professor Mortimer and Professor Slughorn were both drafted to brew cauldrons of Dreamless Sleep Potion for the students.
With so many of the students distracted, Professor Dumbledore requested that the Professors lower the homework load until after the funerals. Although it put the professors in a bit of a bind especially those teaching O.W.L.'s and N.E.W.T.'s even the staunchest of professors could not ignore the numerous distractions of their students within their classrooms. Disgruntled and a bit reluctant, but in the end the professors were acquitted to the request and lowered the intensity of their classes.
Among the Slytherins Terry Greengrass, and Regulus Black are terribly distracted. With good reason as their betrothed are among those that are not at Hogwarts. Each day, the two fretful boys sent out their house elves with long letters to be delivered to their beloveds.
Only one or two brief responses were returned to Terry, which only caused the flaxen-haired boy to become that much more fretful. It was not that Sylvia did not wish to write back but simply that she did not know what to say or feel. Yet this was perfectly understandable considering the unexpected circumstances.
It was the first great loss that Sylvia had experienced in her life. It was not that she had not known death before, but never truly experienced it among those she truly cared for. It hurt even further because of how her father had been so cruelly ripped away without so much as leave or a goodbye. No, it hurt all that much more and Sylvia did not how to go about expressing her pain.
Unlike Sylvia, Bethanie more than willingly replied to all the letters written to her by Regulus and their friends. She had informed them that their Great-Uncle Adelmar Fawley was to become her and her two younger brother's guardians. For good or bad, her great-uncle had never married because he had been born with a limp.
Still, Bethanie expressed her feelings of wariness and hope that her great-uncle would continue to treat her younger brothers kindly even upon her return to Hogwarts after her parent's funerals. Truthfully only time would tell if her great-uncle would prove to be a good guardian. Regardless, Bethanie had ordered the family house elves to personally report any signs of abuse from her great-uncle towards her younger brothers while she was at Hogwarts.
Regulus had been somewhat appeased by his betrothed's continual letters, but poor Terry had not had the same luck. Regardless, the two boys were often quite distracted and had to be kept continually occupied. Tiffany did her best to keep Terry distracted pulling in their friends in one at a time in a rotation shift. However, with Remus, Severus, and Rowan being Prefects, the amount of time they could spend with Terry was rather constrained.
On the other hand, Regulus was in a much better state as Sirius kept hounding his younger brother along with Florinda and Flortentia Champlain, (Regulus's female best friends since their 1st year at Hogwarts). Barty would have gladly helped out as well, but he was busy keeping a close eye on Lorcan along with Lorcan's three housemates, Glenda Chittock (the childhood best friend), Gilderoy Lockhart (the annoying roommate), and Jacob Clayton (the nice one).
Many of the students were a lot more docile in some manner, but that meant that their energy was welling up in a negative manner. There had been countless fights in the week along that the professors had given out far more detentions than they could normally handle. In the end, a third of them were hoisted off onto Filch, who happily began a list of projects he hadn't gotten around to starting. Not that anyone vocally complained not with the muscular Peterson twins watching over their detention…
In fact, it was so bad that a record number of points had been lost in that week alone from all of the four Hogwarts houses. The points in the hourglasses were rapidly dwindling. House points were nearing two digits, a far cry from being halfway full as the week before. Not that Rowan's week was going any better.
It is a dark and gray morning in the Great Hall with a stormy sky reflected upon the ceiling of the Great Hall. The wax candles hanging overhead seem to cast a dimmer light. Breakfast would normally be a good start to the day except that Severus had taken to sitting on the opposite end of the Slytherin table as far away as possible from Rowan.
Not that Terry or Regulus noticed to lost in gloomily picking at their brunch. The one to truly notice was Tiffany. (With Lily, Remus, Peter, and James from the Gryffindor Table. Not that Sirius ever would be much too thick when it came to subtle emotional matters. Although Sirius would eventually notice. Eventually being the key word!)
Seeing Rowan mechanically chewing on her food, Tiffany peeks at Rowan, before peeking back down at Severus sitting further down the table. Twirling her finger around a lock of her short strawberry blond hair, Tiffany says, "So, it's been nearly a week. Exactly what is going on between you and Severus, Rowan? I've never seen you both like this. I mean, Severus isn't just avoiding you just at mealtimes, but he acts like he can't hear you when you make a comment. And then he blatantly completely ignores you in class!"
Rowan swallowed and turned her midnight-indigo-colored eyes at Tiffany. "Severus cannot understand nor accept a decision I made in the past," she truthfully answered. "Severus needs to come to terms with it, Tiffany. Leave him be." She paused to grimace. "Even if he is being an awful prick about it."
Tiffany choked at Rowan's choice words, before glancing at Severus, who glowered at his plate of food and violently hacked at it. She opened and closed her mouth for a moment, before changing her mind about what to say. "It's just, it feels strange seeing you two fight like this."
"Yes, I know," Rowan quietly murmured. She knew only too well how that felt. It was because she had a missing tooth and nothing she did felt right. There was always a gap that she simply could not fill.
Seeing Rowan become somber all of a sudden, Tiffany feels a pang of regret for bringing up the subject. Normally Terry would be great at diverting the subject, but Terry was currently lost in emotional turmoil. Furrowing her brow prettily, she cocks her head and tries to think of a different topic.
Tiffany's face lights up and she says, "I don't know if you've heard, but Auror Alastor Moody practically eloped with the widow, Druella Black. They did a D'Eath. I can tell you that it was quite the romantic whirlwind!"
Rowan's face doesn't appear to be shocked considering that she read the same news in the Daily Prophet. Though she will admit that she was shocked at the time. It was certainly something she would have never expected out of Mad-Eye Moody. But then again, this was another place and time. Anything was truly possible including the present.
"Sirius says that his mother, Walburga was both thrilled and appalled that the two did a D'Eath in secret," Tiffany happily recounted. "Still the Black elders are quite thrilled at the unexpected match as Auror Moody is quite the pureblood catch with most excellent breeding."
Tiffany paused to wrinkle her nose cutely. "Though Sirius says that his two cousins, Cissa (Narcissa) and Andromeda were quite shocked that their mother remarried. But according to Sirius, his aunt said that she was a widow and that her daughters were all grown up and married and that she could quote 'marry anyone she damn well wanted.'"
Unwillingly the end of Rowan's nose crinkles just enough to encourage Tiffany to continue. Sometimes what is needed is not a field of flowers or even a bright sunny sky. Sometimes all that is needed is a single ray of sunshine to warm the cockles of the soul.