Chapter 325 - A Piece of Meat

Once they were back, Reginald woke a rather grouchy Aunt Georgine from her nap to have breakfast. Rowan and Severus sat on the opposite end of the dining as they ate a warm bowl of oatmeal accompanied by soft, perfectly warm rolls and jam. After brunch, they washed their dishes by hand in the sink, which was a bit of a nostalgic feeling as it had been over three years since either of them had washed a single dish after eating a meal.

Once that was done, they wandered outside for a bit and stood in the doorway watching the crowd. Plenty of Ministry members kept hurrying past and back again trying to keep everything under wrap. It'd only been a few minutes when they saw a familiar delicate flaxen-haired teen, Terry Greengrass. Terry was surrounded by five or six girls all with flaxen colored hair and all gorgeous beauties. They were his Greengrass cousins all from the same branch as him.

Rowan waved Terry over who ran over to them and particularly shoved the startled Severus at them. The swarm of girls all stared at Severus as they were between ten and fifteen at the oldest. The girls circled Severus rather predatorily as one of the younger girls says, "Who's your friend, cousin?"

"This is my good friend, Severus Prince," Terry snickered. "And his twin sister is at my side, Rowan Prince."

"Prince?" The girls exclaimed in unison as their eyes began to greedily glitter as if they had spotted a glistening galleon carelessly left on one of the many cobblestoned roads in Diagon Alley.

Suddenly feeling like a piece of meat in front of a flock of hungry birds, Severus turns to gaze at Rowan in panic, who innocently blinks her eyes at him. The girls instantly swarm Severus with questions all tugging and pulling on his clothes trying to get closer to him. Severus is unable to move lest he risks touching female body parts that he really shouldn't without getting a slap to the face.

"Aren't you going to rescue him?" Terry asked rather amused, while one of the prettiest girls of the whole bunch quietly remained at his side staring at the scene with wide eyes.

"Eventually," Rowan snickered. "Besides it'll do him some good being exposed to girls other than Lily."

Glancing int the direction of the blond girls, Rowan asked, "Do your cousins attend Beauxbatons?" Though she did pause to study the one girl that had remained behind at Terry's side and was rather impressed by her collected demeanor.

"It's rather customary that the girls in our branch of the family attend Beauxbatons and the boys, Hogwarts. I'm not entirely sure as to why as Beauxbatons is open to both girls and boys much like Hogwarts is," Terry confessed with a shrug. "But in the end, it's tradition."

"And who's this?" Rowan asked as she gestured with her hand at the girl remaining by Terry's side.

Terry flashes Rowan a pointed gaze as he gently turns to the younger girl roughly thirteen years old and introduces her. "This is my younger cousin, Rosie Greengrass."

Rowan's eyes flash in instant recognition and understanding just who this girl was. This was the same cousin of Terry, who was a squib and had almost been raped by Mulciber. Deciding not to speak on the delicate subject, she nods her head at the rather pretty younger girl with kind-looking eyes. "It is a pleasure to meet a cousin of Terry's with such excellent manners," Rowan drily remarked gesturing at the pack of girl surrounding Severus. "You must be rather close as he seems to rather dote on you, Rosie Greengrass."

The lovely blond-haired girl flashes Rowan a shy, but sweet smile. "Terry's a good one," Rosie softly said, before wrinkling her nose mischievously and adding, "But he's a troublesome one."

Terry lets out a gasp of protest as Rosie grins impishly back and the two Greengrass cousins look suddenly alike. Rowan suddenly gets the eerie feeling that this particular branch of the Greengrass family tend to have this kind of double-sided nature. They may be sweet or even calm natured, but they all have a switch inside of them.

Glancing up and seeing Severus at the end of his wits, Rowan finally walks over and easily shoves the girls aside and pulls the tattered Severus away from them. The girls rather hostile glare at Rowan clearly having missed Terry's second statement some time ago. Motioning for Severus to head inside to clean up, he only too willingly vanishes into the tent.

"Ladies," Rowan politely said. "My brother is not a piece of meat, and I do believe that what you all just did is called sexual harassment and that is in fact a crime. Nevertheless, I understand that he is a big piece of meat at the moment given that he is the Prince heir. But I can assure you he will never like any of you as none of you are his type.

Now run along, before I do something violent to your pretty faces. And you can ask Terry, I throw a very mean jab. I'd hate to leave a permanent mark, but alas I won't feel too bad since we're all the same gender." The girls shiver and instantly run away as if they had seen a vicious beast flash their teeth at them.

"Thanks," Terry said in relief. "That will at least teach them to leave me alone for a bit. Mind if I use you, Rowan in the future to scare them away?" Causing his cousin, Rosie, who is standing at his side to furrow her brow prettily and narrow her eyes purposefully at him as if daring him to just try that antic on her.

"Nonsense, it'll be fun," Rowan said. "Where are you going to be seated?"

"I'll be seated in the upper boxes with the family," Terry wearily sighed as Rosie painfully nudged him in the ribs earning her a glare from him. "At least, they're pretty good seats. And Bethanie, Silvia, and Tiffany will be there with their families, so it won't be all bad."

"In that case, tell them I said, hi," Rowan said as she waved goodbye to Terry and Rosie, who quickly trotted back the way they came. He'd get in trouble if his pack of female cousins was left alone for long. They tended to be a mischievous bunch all together and would certainly end up getting into mischief like a pack of ferrets with balls of yarn!

Severus cautiously poked his head out a bit later as he fearfully whispered, "Are they gone?"

"Yes, they're gone," Rowan smirked at him. "Terry said that they'll be sitting together as a family. So, you don't have to worry about being chased by his female cousins."

"Thank Merlin!" Severus said in relief as he stepped back out into the sunlight.

Suddenly they heard a commotion next door and they both turned to see James and Sirius rolling out of the tent. Both Rowan and Severus simply stare until Sirius and James roll to a stop at their feet. The four of them stare at each other until James smiles brightly up at them. "It looks like we're neighbors," James impishly declared.

"What luck," Rowan sarcastically said as Severus helped James and Sirius to their feet.

"Where's Regulus?" Rowan asked as she watched Sirius and James put their clothes to right.

"He's off with mother and father somewhere," Sirius pointed to the sea of tents.

"Why?" James asked as he brushed grass out of his hair.

With a sigh, Rowan steps up and helps James remove the grass from his hair. "Really, the two of you act like little children."

James pouts and says, "No, we don't!" Rowan merely stares at James until he glances away.

Sirius shrugs as Severus says, "So how has your summer been?"

"Great actually!" Sirius said with delight. "Mother and Father sent us to stay with Aunt Lucretia over the summer. Sure, we had to work on our homework during the afternoons, but morning and evenings, we are allowed to roam about. There are a field and pond out there so Regulus and I could fly on our brooms and play Quidditch!"

"That's great," Severus exclaimed as Sirius beamed back.

"James, Sirius? Come inside, breakfasts ready," called out a grandmotherly voice as Euphemia Potter stepped out from the tent. Her toffee-colored eyes sparkled in the sunlight as she easily spotted her son and Sirius next door.

"Why hello, dears," Euphemia said. "The two of you look familiar." She furrows her brows, before saying, "Ah yes, the Prince children. I thought I recognized the two of you!"

"Hello, Mrs. Potter," Rowan and Severus politely greeted her back.

"Have you had breakfast yet, dears?" Euphemia kindly asked.

"We did, Mrs. Potter," Severus replied. "We ate with my grandfather and our aunt."

"Of course, of course," Euphemia softly said recalling that their grandmother had passed away at the start of the summer.

"Well, if you would like to play or join us simply come right over," Euphemia said as she motioned for James and Sirius to follow her inside. Sirius eagerly does as James rolls his eyes and waves goodbye to them.

"Well that was interesting," Severus drily commented.

"I think at this point's it's best we go inside," Rowan drily said. "I'd hate to run into anyone else at this point."

"Agreed," Severus said before they went inside to join their grandfather for a nice read. As it turns it was the right and proper choice as not long after a pet kneazle got loose and made a mess of things. At this point, there were several ministry members near the breaking point about to kill the stupid thing if not for the owners. It was a close call as those at the breaking point had to be firmly pulled away and gently talked too.