Chapter 714 - The REMATCH Ⅱ

With fifteen minutes remaining until the hour, Rowan at long last found Hogwarts safely deserted and empty of students. Peeking into the Great Hall in one final round, she did not find any students lingering in the corridors nor near the great staircase. Satisfied, she at long last makes her way out of the castle out onto the cold grounds. She shivered briefly at the crisp wind and tugged her new scarf in Slytherin house colors around her neck and up to cover her mouth all the way to the tip of her nose. Potter never had returned her scarf after Hogsmeade. Luckily, she was prepared for such an eventuality and had kept a few extra scarfs in her trunk for use.

The Quidditch Stands were still some distance away when Rowan heard loud pounding footsteps behind her. Perplexed and curious, she paused to glance around only to see the tall, slender figure of James Potter jogging behind her. His hazel eyes sparkle despite the gloom, while his untidy black hair is as messy as ever sticking up at the back.

Resisting the urge to roll her eyes, Rowan arches her brow at his rosy-cheeked panting figure. "James," she slowly said, "why aren't you already sitting at the stands?"

"I forgot my house scarf in the dorms and had to go back to retrieve it, Rowan," James sheepishly replied rolling his eyes reflexively. The two of them were a bit more at ease with each other, but still, at times, there was some distance between them. But they were well on their way to becoming friends of sorts.

Rowan's lips twitch as she fights to hide an emerging smile by saying, "Why am I not surprised? And besides isn't that my scarf, to begin with?"

James finds himself unable to suppress a rueful grin at the Slytherin's teasing jab. "Well, it's mine now," he confidently retorted, before changing the subject. "Besides the point, why aren't you already in the quidditch stands?"

"I was rounding the last of the stragglers," Rowan bluntly replied as arched her brow at him. James ruefully grins back as they trudged across the frozen ground towards the Quidditch Stands. The student body already sitting stands voices and shouts can already be heard echoing across the grounds.

"Ever the exemplary Prefect," James impishly remarked with a teasing glint in his eyes.

"Some of us have responsibilities, and take them seriously, James," Rowan pointedly commented back.

"Touché," James murmured with a shrug.

The two of them fall into a familiar silence as the quidditch stands draw nearer. The two of them begin to separate as each headed towards their house stands, when James calls out, "Good luck, Slytherin is going to need it!"

"Not if we have Regulus," Rowan confidently declared earning a good-natured chuckle from James before he turned away and headed towards the Gryffindor stands.

Rowan stares at him for a moment as if unsure of what to make of him. There were times, she was so certain he was her friend, the James that she grew up with. And at other times, she was not so certain. That part of her seemed to be rather indecisive and was a part of herself that she did not like very much at all. To be truthful, she was not even certain just what it was that she wanted from him either. It was a strange sentiment, but it was what it was.

Shaking her head, Rowan heads the Slytherin quidditch stands and takes a seat on the lower end of the stands. Just because she was a Prefect that did not mean she was about to lose her caution in case of an accident. Knowing she can't wear her magical noise muffling earplugs just in case she is needed, she contents herself with at least placing regular earmuffs on to block some of the screams and shouts. She had the feeling she would have a headache by the end of the match.

With only a few minutes left until eleven o'clock, both teams emerge as the very stands shake from the excited roars. In emerald robes, Slytherin emerges from the south end, while from the north end, the Gryffindors come out in crimson robes being led by the confident Quidditch Captain, Sirius Black. The shouting of excitement grew as Rowan dully wondered if she should consider casting Muffailto onto herself to cancel the screams in her ears. But tragically, she already knew the answer was NO, no matter how much her ears pained her. She needed to be able to hear a cry for help or a request from her housemates.

Still, Rowan did not know where Slytherin gained their confidence. Slytherin had lost two experienced chasers, a beater, and a keeper. The best that they had come up with was Regulus's two female friends, the nearly identical cousins Florinda and Florentina as Chasers. The Slytherin Captain, Turpentine, a 6th year. Parsley Parkinson was still a beater but was presently a 7th year. To replace their beater, the perverted Felton Graham had taken the prior beater's place, and for the new keeper, Delilah Pizzaro, (a 7th year). Needless to say, if she was frank, the match would probably come down to the snitch and that meant that the match rested solely on the Slytherin seeker's shoulders, Regulus.

In the center of the field, the players line up across from each with Regulus facing Mary MacDonalds, who gives him a fierce wink. Regulus turns his gaze towards the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain and stares firmly at his older brother, Sirius. Sirius nods his head in understanding as if saying, "Bring it on, little brother." Before the two brothers look away Madam Hooch walks onto the field.

Madam Hooch nods her head at both teams being lined up neatly across from each other. "Now, I want a nice fair game, all of you." Madam Hooch emphatically said as she eyes the Slytherin team as they innocently glance away, while Sirius let out a rather loud snort as if to say, "AS IF!"

"Alright, Captain's shake hands," Madam Hooch said as the handsome, gray-eyed Sirius stepped up for Gryffindor side steps, while a rather stout-looking girl in her 6th year, Turpentine steps up from the Slytherin side. Both sides glare at each other as sparks nearly emerge as they clench their hands together as painfully as possible. And if Sirius was honest to himself, he was impressed by the 6th year girl's painful grip.

"Alright, now that's enough," Madam Hooch snapped as the two captains stiffly let go both trying not to shake the pain away from their hands as the strengthening wind caused their robes to begin to lightly flap around them.

Madam Hooch moves twoards the cases on the ground. A thick locked box eagerly seems to shake as Madam Hooch carefully undo's the lock and moves aside at the last second as two black Bludgers zoom into the air. With a wave of her wand the next case opened to reveal a red leather covered ball, the Quaffle and tosses it high into the air as it very slowly begins to fall back down.

Everyone goes silent as Madam Hooch says, "Mount your brooms, please." Then at long last, the last case is unlocked, a tiny golden round sphere with wings eagerly zooms out of its confined prison and vanishes. Madam Hooch instantly blows her silver whistle as 15 brooms rise into the air signaling the start of the game. The crowd wildly cheers the REMATCH was about to begin!