Chapter 502 - Prongs

On Rowan's last night in Cokesworth, the Evans and the Abbott's gathered together for an outdoor barbeque. Over by the grills, Mr. Evans and Mr. Abbott prepared meat as the smell sizzled into the night. The Abbott children ran in the small backyard, while the youths sat at a lawn table playing a crazy eight's card game. To everyone's shock Rowan won every single time even when the three other players ganged up against her.

With a smirk, Rowan proudly claimed her winnings to the dismay of everyone else. Andrew sadly remarked, "That was all of my summer money too."

"What a shame," Rowan snickered. "Because it's mine now."

Andrew glares at Rowan and says, "That's because you cheated somehow."

"I didn't use any magic nor any obvious cheats," Rowan demurely replied.

Petunia narrowed her light-colored eyes and said, "Maybe, but I noticed that you didn't deny that you weren't cheating in some other manner, Rowan."

Rowan flashes them a shark like smile. "I'm a Slytherin, remember. I always get even in the end."

"And this is exactly why Slytherins don't have many friends outside of their house," Andrew mumbled causing Lily and Petunia to snort.

Rowan shrugs and says, "All's fair in love and war. And this is war."

"We're playing a game, Rowan," Lily drily said.

"Nonsense, it's practicing battle and psychological tactics," Rowan cheerfully said which earned her more glares from the three of them.

Luckily, she is saved when, Mrs. Evans says, "The food is ready you, four, come sit down at the table."

The four of them scramble off the lawn only pausing to gather the cards, before hurrying over to sit at the red checkered cloth covered table. The four of them sit down as the three children hurry over and sit down as well. There's potato salad, jello salad, crisps, lemonade, sausages, and steak. They all begin to serve themselves, before hungrily digging in.

After a second serving, Rowan licks her teeth clean with a satisfied sigh as Lily and Petunia stare at Rowan. "Sometimes it amazes me how much you eat Rowan," Petunia drily remarked.

"Pfft, Severus and Terry can eat up to three or four plates in one sitting," Rowan muttered. "I've got nothing on the two of them."

Petunia warily shakes her head as she turns to glance at her boyfriend who is finishing his third plate. Andrew happily smiles at her as Petunia's cheeks turn light pink. "Well, I suppose three plates isn't all that much," Petunia muttered out loud to herself.

"Vernon certainly ate a lot more than that at every meal," Rowan privately thought to herself.

The rest of the night quickly passes by full of laughter and chatter until the Evans finally leave after helping with the cleanup. Tired everyone happily retires to bed to sleep after their exciting evening. Rowan is getting ready to bed when with a loud clunk the silver necklace with a moonstone pedant that hung around her neck clatters loudly onto the bathroom tile floor.

With a wary gaze, she bends down and picks up the silver pendant necklace. The necklace clamp had cleanly snapped off in two. Frowning, Rowan walks over to her bed and grabs her wand. Pointing her wand at the necklace she says, "Reparo." But nothing happens.

Thinking she must be doing something wrong; Rowan tears a page out of a book and says, "Reparo!" The page seamlessly inserts itself back into the book as if nothing had ever occurred. Maybe, the necklace could only be repaired via a magical metal like spell or magic metal crafter? It made perfect sense as enchanted items or magically items had to be reforged by a specialist such as a blacksmith.

Still, Rowan could not feel a tinge of unease in the pit of her stomach. She was never one for believing in omens. But this seemed just like to much of a coincidence. Shaking her head, she climbs into bed and clutches the pendant in her hand. She unknowingly falls asleep like that as her night is full of troubled dreams.

Blinking wide awake she found that it was rather bright. Glancing around, Rowan climbs off the bed and walks over to the window where the curtains are blowing from the open window. Outside on the lawn she sees James smiling and waving up at her.

Faintly smiling, Rowan waves back and runs down still in her pajama's as James makes his way to the front door. "What are you doing here?" Rowan asked the minute she opened the front door.

"I came to say sorry, sneaky snake," James chuckled as the two of them walked over to sit on the porch.

"Sorry?" Rowan asked in confusion. "Whatever for James? You haven't tried to pull a prank on me since our first year, and much less on Severus after he gave you bat ears during our first year."

James pointed up at the sky that is rapidly starting to darken from the heavy moving clouds. "Things are getting far too messy, and you're going to need the help, Rowan. And besides, it really was all my own fault."

"What was your fault?" Rowan asked in obvious bewilderment.

"I shouldn't have been flying on my broom in the middle of the storm," James sheepishly said. "I fell off my broom and not only clonked my head hard enough to crack my skull, but I got a really bad fever too."

"Are you okay?" Rowan worriedly asked.

"I am now," James ruefully smiled. "But sorry in advance, it looks like I won't be able to keep my promise after all."

"About what?"

"About telling Lily, my feelings without any interference."

"Whatever are you talking about, Prongs? You are right here in Cokeworth. Lily only lives a fifteen-minute walk from here."

"I know, but I won't be me anymore."

"Whatever do you mean, James? You have been talking in nothing but riddles. And that is so unlike you, you're a Gryffindor for bloody sakes!"

"I know," James chuckled as he stared at the rapidly thickening sky with dark, heavy clouds. The sunlight suddenly vanished as the sky became all but dark. A storm was coming.

A rumble of thunder can be heard in the distance as the storm draws nearer. A cool, strong gust of wind begins to pick up as James rises to his feet and turns towards Rowan. "Thanks for being such a good friend, Rowan. I really was happy to have met you," James pulls her into a tight hug as Rowan in serious concern for her friend finds herself returning the hug.

Pulling back, James chuckles and impishly says, "You know, I just know that I'm always going to be shorter than you."

James paused with a wicked gleam in his eye. "I'm surprised you didn't even say anything when my face was almost buried in your chest, Rowan? You know, they're not that small anymore."

Rowan's ears turn bright pink as she hisses, "Perverted prick, you've got Lily! Get your mind out of the gutter!"

James flashes her a cheeky grin, before that quickly fades away. Turning away, he points at the clouds overhead that are threatening to rain down. "Stay safe, Rowan," James quietly said, before sending her a wistful, sad smile. "I really am sorry, Rowan. And please look out for Wormtail for me and the rest of the gang."

"Wait, what are you talking about?" Rowan loudly asked in confusion as she frowned at James's words. It was so unlike him. Whatever did he mean by his words? It was like he was going to leave.

Rowan unconsciously takes a step forward to reach out to stop him, but James had already stepped off the porch and out into the storm. Rowan opened her mouth to call out to him as he stepped into the middle of the road when James turned around to face her. An emotionally charged smile was on his face as he closed his eyes and pointed up at the sky.

Rowan raised her gaze to the heavily clouded gloomy sky but saw nothing. Suddenly, she sees something yellow, blue, purple rumble in the sky. In a horrified, slow motions she moves to shout as a bolt of lightning descended from the heavens and struck him.

Rowan woke up shouting and sat up straight in bed wildly gasping. With her heart pounding, and her mouth dry, she wildly glances all around to find that it was still dark outside. Glancing at the alarm clock at her side, the clock reads 5:15 in the morning. Wiping the cold sweat off her face with her sleeve, she mutters out loud, "What a strange dream."

Trying to put the unease out of sight and out of mind, Rowan climbs out of bed and decides to get ready early. A nice cool shower out to put her mind at rest. She probably just ate too much last night. That was probably just it. However, she had failed to notice that the moonstone pendant that she had gone to sleep with clutched in her hand had completely disappeared without a trace.