A Bend In Time

In the weeks that followed nothing of importance occurred other than the fact that Hufflepuff won this year's Quidditch cup and that the Marauder's had been caught around sneaking around at night. As a result, Gryffindor lost 50 points all at once which seriously peeved the Gryffindor Prefects but wasn't too off-putting for the rest of the Gryffindor's. After all, the general consensus among them was it was just boys being boys and the four brats had gotten a month's worth of detention as well.

The Fifth and Seventh years went into the frenzy as the Easter Holidays approached that it made it not impossible to study in the common room area as they claimed it as their own. The rest of the Slytherin's years tactfully took to studying in the library or in the dorms. Unfortunately, the professors were thinking the exact same thing as they piled on sky-high amounts of homework. That by the time the Easter Holiday's rolled around it was a welcome relief too many to just have enough time to study and finish their homework without having points being docketed for their homework being late.

Even Rowan was actually glad as she too studied for the exams in-between research. Sitting in the dorm rooms under her warm, cozy fur quilt, she studied the twelve uses of dragon's blood. Rowan mutters the last two out loud, "Oven cleaner and Spot Remover, really?"

"I'll never remember all of this!" Tiffany sighed in exasperation as her head flopped onto her open book.

"Well, that may very well be the case," Bethanie kindly said. "But as long as we pass, I don't think it will really matter."

"IF is good," Silvia muttered mutinously under her breath. "Oh, let's just take a break from all of this! It's Easter for cripes sake!"

Rowan paused and looks up, "That actually doesn't sound like a bad idea for an hour or two."

Bethanie nods her head in agreement, "Yes, resting between studying has been proven to be conductive at times."

"Yes!" Tiffany said as she lifted her hands in relief.

"Well, it's gotten a bit warmer outside," Bethanie mused. "How about a brisk walk outside?"

"That doesn't sound half bad," Rowan declared. "It'd be nice to get some fresh air outside of these stuffy castle walls."

"Anything to get out of this," Silvia huffed under her breath as they all scrambled out from their warm bedding. Scrambling to their feet they pull on coats, a scarf, maybe a warm hat or earmuffs and gloves. And yes, the snow had long begun to melt away leaving the grounds sparse and b.a.r.e, but the icy chilly wind outside had yet to fade away.

The four girls head outside and enjoy the sunlight even if was only 9 Celsius, (48 Fahrenheit). They all chat about various topics to get their minds off things until Silvia says, "Although, Father, did say this might be a rough year. Apparently awful things have begun to happen in the countryside, there's been an attack or two on muggles by dark wizards."

"Well, that's nothing, new, dear," Bethanie said, "There's always terrible people out in the world seeking to do terrible things."

"Well, we'll all be fine, we are after all from wizarding families," Tiffany said with some relief.

"And so, it's starting," Rowan privately thought to herself as she stared across the dark lake. For even if parts of history had already been changed that didn't mean fate would remain still. And that meant that the attacks would only increase with the passing of time.

Turning away from their chatter, Rowan blinks at seeing five students making their way across the lawn towards Hagrid's log cabin. Blinking twice to make sure she wasn't seeing things, unfortunately, she wasn't as she spotted a familiar fiery mane of hair trailing after four familiar boys.

"To go or not to go is the question?" Rowan grumpily thought to herself. Unable to ignore the napping feeling, Rowan sighs and says, "If you girls don't mind, I think I'm going to stretch my legs a bit more."

"Alright," Bethanie said. "We were just thinking about heading back inside it's still a bit too much too cold to watch the lake." The other two girls grunted in agreement as they said their goodbye's, and each headed off their separate ways."

"I swear I'm becoming their babysitter," Rowan grumbled under her breath as she trudged across the muddy lawns. With her nose and cheeks red from the cold, Rowan shivers as she unhappily trudges forward having forgotten to put hot stones into her clothes to keep her warm.

Finally, Rowan appears at the edge of Hagrid's cabin and glances around for a perch before spotting a nice stump. "Wingardium Leviosa!" Rowan whispered as the log floated over to neatly halt just under Hagrid's window. Climbing onto the stump Rowan peers inside to see the windows stifling over from the heat, but more importantly in the fiery hearth under a black kettle is a rather huge, black egg.

Gaping, Rowan resists the urge to slap her face and trembling climbs down as she takes a seat on the stump. "Of all the bloody things to do this! Do you have a death wish, Hagrid!" Rowan snarled to herself until her next thought splashed cold water onto her. "Wait, this isn't supposed to happen until Potter's first year?! Just what is going on?!"

Taking a deep breath, Rowan softly mutters, "It'll be okay. We just have to make sure the egg doesn't hatch, or I find someone to take the bloody dragon off his hands." After some thinking, she recalls the current Care of Magical Creatures, Professor Kettleburn. If he was told not only would he help Hagrid hatch the creature, but even help him send the creature off to a nice place. After all, Kettleburn was a friend of Newt Scamander and shared his likeminded views.

With a firm resolution in mind, Rowan wanders back to the castle as she tries to recall where Professor Kettleburn could be found. After stopping a few older students, she was finally told where to find him at the moment in the Hospital Wing under the care of the new matron, Madam Poppy Pomfrey. Apparently while helping Professor Sprout with one of her plants, he'd been bitten and needed an antidote.