Chapter 49 - First Quidditch Match Ⅲ

Rowan furrows her brow as she carefully peers down the Great Hall. "There is no way I can get there faster," Rowan thought to herself. "I'll just have to take a risk of being seen." Thinking of the location, she suddenly vanished from the corridor to only appear two corridors away from Filch's office. Hurriedly reorienting herself, she briskly trots through the two corridors.

Rowan ignores the curious gazes of the portraits and peers around the corner to see James quietly sneaking towards Filch's door. Rowan sighs to her herself in worry and relief. "It looks like Fleamont Potter has yet to gift James the invisible cloak. Probably a good thing, but not so great for me at the moment."

Rowan tries to gesture to James trying to get his attention, but James is too preoccupied as he stealthily presses himself against the wall to sneak closer to the door. "It looks like I have no choice," Rowan thought as she reached for her wand.

The instant James is about to peer around the open door of Filch's office, Rowan sprits around the corner as James looks up in shock. Rowan is a blur as she shouts and points her wand into the office of Filch, "Fumos!" Yellow sparks emerge from her wand as a cloud of smoke fills the office of Filch.

Rowan grabs James with her free hand and drags him away as a stream of curses can be heard from inside. "Mrs. Norris!" Filch roared as a sharp meow can be heard as Mrs. Norris rushes out of the room in search of the culprits.

"Run fool!" Rowan hissed as James finally reacts and begins to run alongside her.

The two of them run down the stairs as they hear Mrs. Norris's meows close behind them. Rowan suddenly pulls James into an empty classroom and shuts the classroom behind them. The two try not to breathe as they hear the soft padding of Mrs. Norris paws to only stop and sniff for the culprits. The two hold their breaths for what seemed like forever until Mrs. Norris lets out an angry meow and continues forward.

They both slowly let out breaths of relief as they slump against the door. The two of them stare at each other for a moment, before bursting into laughter. Feeling something underhand, Rowan glances down to see that she is clutching James's hand. Rowan instantly let's go as if it were a hot potato and hastily gets up.

"You idiot, next time do your homework!" Rowan grumbled as she studied the empty classroom.

"The older boys said that all the professors attended the Quidditch matches," James sheepishly replied as he got back to his feet. "It sounded like a good idea at the time."

"PROFESSORS! But Filch is a caretaker," Rowan drily retorted.

James sheepishly shrugs and says, "Sorry, my mistake."

"Mm," Rowan murmured as her eyes are drawn to a corner of the classroom to a dusty sheet covering a cabinet of sorts.

"Anyway, thanks," James sincerely said as he sheepishly rubbed his unruly hair. "But how did you know that I was here?"

"Because of the three other idiots," Rowan distantly muttered as she walked over to the corner of the classroom.

"Idiots?" James crossly muttered to himself. "Maybe, but what does that say about you?" James pointedly said to Rowan.

Rowan mumbles an inaudible reply not even paying attention to James words as she kicks up the sheet to see sliver claws and the bottom of a glassy surface. "What is that?" James curiously asked as he took a step towards Rowan.

"Nothing of interest," Rowan hastily lied as she turned away from the Mirror of Erised. The Mirror of Erised showed one their most desperate desires, but frankly Rowan was already aware of them and frankly, sometimes ignorance is bliss.

"If you say so," James muttered unconvinced at seeing Rowan rapidly walk away. "But seriously, what is it?"

"A mirror that shows you things that should never be seen by the light of day," Rowan somewhat truthfully replied.

Seeing Rowan's somber reply James feels a tad guilty and says, "Anyway, what I meant to say before is thanks."

"Mm," Rowan muttered as she turned away. "And though it pains me to say this, I've grown rather fond of you four including you, James."

James chuckles ruefully and says, "Me too. Who knew I'd ever be friends with a Slytherin?"

Rowan snorts and says, "Mrs. Norris, should be gone now. We should be able to safely head back now." Rowan doesn't wait for James to reply as she opens the classroom door and slips out into the hallway.

James hurries after Rowan as they cautiously slip their way back through the hallways and back onto the grounds. They speedily stride across the stark grounds to suddenly hear, the roar of Wilkes's voice in the nearby distance. "And Slytherin wins, 160 to 110!"

Rowan halts on the stiff ground as she looked into the distance. "It looks like the match is over."

"So, it is," James wryly commented back as the chilly wind fluttered their hair and robes.

In the distance, three running figures can be seen, Lupin, Sirius, and Pettigrew. Out of breath, the three boys breathlessly come to a standstill before them. "So, did you get caught?" Pettigrew painfully panted as he held his aching side.

Sirius rolls his eyes and panted back. "Of course, they didn't! Blimey Pettigrew, they wouldn't be here otherwise!" Pettigrew shrugs as if the thought had not occurred to him.

"So, how did you avoid Filch?" Lupin breathlessly said with gleaming eyes.

James glances at Rowan, who crisply says, "I'm going." Rowan strides off to the stands with not another word.

"Huh," Sirius remarked at Rowan's abrupt departure.

Lupin raises an eyebrow at James and suspiciously says, "You didn't do anything to Rowan, did you, James?"

James rolls his eyes and snaps back. "Of course not!"

Pettigrew mutters something inaudible under his breath as Sirius raises an eyebrow at Pettigrew. "You don't like her very much do you, Pettigrew?" Sirius remarked.

Pettigrew flushed in embarrassment as Lupin drily says, "I get the feeling it is a rather mutual dislike to be perfectly honest."

Lupin, James, and Sirius all furrow their brows in thought as they recall the past. "Mm, I think you're right," James finally said. "But I don't think she hates Pettigrew and I think the same can be said about Pettigrew, right?"

Pettigrew coughed and hastily changes the subject. "James, did you set off the dung bomb?"

"No, I didn't have a chance to as Rowan grabbed me before I could," James regretfully answered as they all sigh a bit in disappointment.

"Well, there's always next time," Pettigrew spiritedly said imaging himself as the hero of their next mischievous plot.

"That's the spirit, Pettigrew!" Sirius proudly said as he slapped Pettigrew on the back. Beaming the four of them eagerly discuss new ideas especially given that they still had the dung bomb left.