A Bend In Time

Rowan sighs to herself as she makes her walk back to the Slytherin common room area as she recalls her conversation with Lily in a corridor. "Thanks for sticking up for me," Lily said.

"That's what friends are for," Rowan distantly replied.

Lily bites her lips and says, "Did I do something wrong, Rowan? It's just I've had the feeling that things have been off between us since that day in the library."

"It wasn't you," Rowan said with a bit of a frown. "I was just frustrated that day, that's all."

"So, we're still friends?" Lily timidly asked.

"We've always been friends," Rowan said with a slight smile.

Beaming, Lily hugs Rowan to her surprise, who awkwardly pats Lily on the back. Finally, Lily releases Rowan to much of her relief. "I'm glad. Want to have lunch tomorrow?"

"Mm, that would fine," Rowan said. "Well, we better get going it's getting late."

"See you tomorrow," Lily said as she darted up to the great stairs to the Gryffindor tower.

Maybe, it was just Rowan, but she wondered if was best she slowly distanced herself from Lily and the rest of Gryffindors. It would be the best choice for the future if she had to keep up with the pretense of being a pure Slytherin. But a part of her was very reluctant to do so, because just maybe, she'd grown fond of them all, after all. And besides, she still had plenty of time to do so if need be and with that lie, she convinced herself to leave things be as they were for now.

Sighing to herself, Rowan mutters, "Doxy," for the dungeon wall to swing open. Stepping inside, Rowan almost bumps into Wilkes who was pacing before the door.

"There you are!" Wilkes smugly said as he pounced forward towards the object of his interests.

Taking a step back, Rowan warily says, "I already got detention from Professor Slughorn."

"Yes, I heard," Wilkes said with a twinkle in his eye. "I knew that sooner or later you and Severus's true colors would show."

"Everyone has a dark side, Wilkes," Rowan drily remarked. "Some more than others, that's all."

"Yes, I know," Wilkes said with a glittering smile that caused Rowan to take another step back until her back was against the wall.

Without any hesitation, Wilkes without any embarrassment pins Rowan to the wall as his hand against the wall stops her from fleeing. "Wilkes?" Rowan drily croaked as a strange glowing light could be seen in Wilkes's eyes.

"I thought that we already had a conversation about personal space, Prefect Wilkes," the cold voice of Narcissa snapped.

"OW, OW!" Wilkes cried out as Narcissa painfully pulled him away by the ear.

Wincing, Wilkes pulls away and rubs his red ear. "I was just teasing her, Narcissa," Wilkes complained. "I was just going to congratulate Rowan for defeating her foe without a single bruise. I mean she's a girl, you know. Those kinds of things are rather impressive."

"Yes, well, no matter how impressive her feat was," Narcissa growled. "It was highly inappropriate and against another fellow Slytherin 1st year."

"Yes, Narcissa," Wilkes obediently said as Narcissa sternly pointed for him to return to studying with fifth years. Very downtrodden, Wilkes slinks away and back to the fifth years, who didn't even bother to console him as they had more important things to worry about.

Narcissa stares down at her nose at Rowan and stiffly says, "Don't think I saved you out of the kindness out of my heart, Rowan Prince. But Prefect Wilkes's actions were highly inappropriate and most especially directed towards a 1st year."

"It's just Wilkes being Wilkes," Rowan sighed in resignation. Though that was a bit odd, she had to admit. Wilkes had been changing ever since, the holiday break.

Narcissa casts Wilkes a look and quietly says, "Rowan Prince, you would do well to remember that no matter how charming Prefect Wilkes is he is still very much a pureblood."

"I know that," Rowan said with a frown. "Besides I'm much too young to be dating or liking a boy. And besides, he's really not my type."

"That's not what I'm talking about," Narcissa flatly said as she subtly tried to communicate something with her eyes.

Seeing Rowan's puzzled look, Narcissa pursed her lips and turns away, "You would do well to heed my words, Rowan Prince," before stiffly marching away.

"What was that all about?" Rowan thought to herself as she cast a look in the direction of Wilkes. It's true that today's actions were borderline creepy, but it was just Wilkes being Wilkes. But then again, who knows maybe Wilkes had a taste for younger girls. It would make sense if it wasn't spoken about and the reason Narcissa was subtly warning her.

Shaking her head, Rowan makes a personal note to not be left alone with Wilkes for the time being. As she makes her way up the stairs, she rubs the back of her neck to find a slight train of goosebumps. Pausing mid-step, Rowan abruptly recalls a rather startling fact, there had been two Death Eaters by the name of Wilkes. With a somewhat sick feeling, she makes her way back to her dorm to only be assaulted the moment she walks in through the door.

"Tell us everything!" Tiffany eagerly shrieked as Bethanie and Silvia all sat on Rowan's bed.

"There's nothing much to tell," Rowan curtly said, still rather perturbed by the fact that she may have missed a future Death Eater. "The three of you were present, what more do you want me to say?"

"Like how you ended up as an experienced fist-fighter?" Silvia pointedly said, recalling the ease with which Rowan beat Rosier.

"Practice," Rowan mumbled. "Lots and lots of practice.

Tiffany shivers and says, "That doesn't sound like much fun."

Rowan doesn't reply as Bethanie eyes her and says, "I suspect that it wasn't very much fun, Tiffany."

"Well, either way, you sure showed them," Silvia said with a grin. "That'll show them to think that us girls are any weaker." Tiffany bobs her head in agreement as Bethanie wrinkles her nose in distaste at the thought of physical violence.

"Now, off my bed," Rowan tiredly said as she shooed them away.

The three girls lightly jump off as they head over to their own beds. "By the way, how are Terry and Severus?" Bethanie asked as she climbed into her own bed.

"Well, Severus has a bit of a bruised face and Terry's got a cracked rib," Rowan murmured. "But nothing Madam Pomfrey hasn't seen before and one of her draughts can't cure."

"Well, I suspect that they'll be in class tomorrow," Silvia leered. "But I'm betting that Rosier and Avery, will have a bit more days needed for recovery." Tiffany and Bethanie wince as they recall the crushing of the family jewels. Even if they weren't boys, they'd both heard the painful crunch and the very, high pitched scream from Rosier.

"Well, we better get to bed," Bethanie lamely said. "Rowan's got detention with Professor Slughorn starting tomorrow."

Rowan drily says, "It's just manually scrubbing out the cauldrons. I've done worse things." The three girls wince as if saying, "What can possibly be worse than that?" But they didn't' further pry as they all settled down for an early bed. But that didn't last long as soon they were giggling and laughing as Rowan covered her head in frustration with her pillow. Needless to say, none of them ended up sleeping any time soon.