Chapter 695 - Halloween Arrangements Ⅱ

After lunch, Rowan found herself in the Great Hall having been excused from her afternoon classes. A prefect from each house had been assigned to aid with the preparations for the Halloween Feast and unluckily, Rowan was assigned first. Normally, Prefects switched between holidays, tragically, not for the Christmas Feast. Even though neither Severus nor Rowan would be present as they would be gone from Hogwarts for the holidays, they still had to aid in the holiday decorating before their departure. Life was simply not fair...

Tilting her head to the side, Rowan sees the other three Prefects make their way into the hall. From Ravenclaw, the male prefect, David Goldstein, a fair youth with straight blond hair that nearly reached his shoulders and light brown-colored eyes. He looked more than a fair bit like the yet unborn Anthony Goldstein. He possibly was his father or near relative such as an uncle and was ironically also distantly related to the wife of Newt Scamander, Tina Goldstein. Very distantly related, but purebloods tended to be related in some form or another to each other.

Rowan's lips soften for a moment at the sight of her cheerful, round-faced friend, Andrew Abbott. Andrew's face perks up at spotting his friend and openly grins at her. Things were going well for him and Petunia despite maintaining a long-distance relationship via letters. At least according to Petunia's letter if they were an indication. But then again not that Petunia would ever admit to Andrew, but she found it terribly Romanic in its own fashion exchanging letters with her far-off boyfriend.

Rowan returns the greeting of Andrew with the faintest of smiles before she turns her gaze to the last Prefect from Gryffindor, Lily. The emerald eyes of Lily meet with the pitch, black, indigo-colored eyes of Rowan. Sadness and loneliness can be seen in the depths of Lily's eyes, but something else that was new, a startling realization. Lily flushes in embarrassment and looks away as her crimson hair sways lazily around her.

Rowan's eyes widen at Lily's actions as a thought slowly creeps into her mind. No, it's impossible! But then again. Maybe, just maybe, Lily had never paused to truly consider her own feelings before…And just maybe, Severus still had one final shot left.

Left with that startling thought in mind, Rowan is a bit dazed when she starts at the voice of Professor McGonagall. "Good now that all of the prefects have gathered, we shall begin preparing the Great Hall for tonight's feast. Prefect Abbott and Prefect Evans shall aid me in transfiguring these stones into bats. And as for Prefect Goldstein and Prefect Prince to aid Hagrid with carving the jack-o-lanterns at the entrance of the Great Hall."

"Yes, Professor McGonagall," the four Prefects chimed as they each respectively moved to their respective duties towards the opposite end of the Great Hall.

Wearing a fitted lumberjack shirt and trousers with a warm coat, Hagrid's muscled body was quite the sight to see. Combined with his continued Hygiene regimen and neatly trimmed hair and beard, Hagrid's hut had become a daily visited destination by droves of teenage girls, who openly sighed at the sight of the rugged, muscled groundskeeper. It had become a daily problem that the Prefects including Rowan had regularly found themselves marching onto the cold, frozen, muddy grounds to drag gaggles of female students back into the castle.

Hagrid happily beams at them, while he waves his wand behind him as magical giant pumpkins large enough for three grown men to sit trail obediently after him. It was a sight that would have been unthinkable once but now filled Rowan with a tinge of joy at seeing the groundskeeper of Hogwarts so very proud as he openly performed magic.

Behind the giant pumpkins follow smaller pumpkins which neatly begin to line up in a row in the Great Hall. In a booming, cheerful voice, Hagrid says, "Well, we all best jus' git to it now. Prefect Goldstein and Row-, er, I mean, Prefect Prince, y'all carve dem smaller pumpkins, whilst I carve 'em big ones."

"And thanks for me, ma-," Hagrid begins to say, but a stern pointed look from Rowan quells the words in Hagrid's throat.

"I shall stop by later for tea within the next week or two, Hagrid," Rowan firmly interjected causing Hagrid to sheepishly smile back.

"Er, dat will be alright, Rowan," Hagrid cheerfully boomed, before turning around with an excited gleam in his eyes. He simply never got tired of using magic! And with a whirl of his wand, he began to carve the giant pumpkins. Inspired this year, he carved all manners of faces including rather detailed portraits of magical creatures such as Dragons, Hippogriffs, Abraxans, and countless other creatures.

Rowan and David Goldstein approach the smaller pumpkins and dutifully begin to cut the pumpkins open, before vanishing the innards and carving a face onto the pumpkins. David's sleek blond hair sways lightly with his movements as he quietly says, "Prefect Prince, I must admit that you are certainly full of surprises. Who would have thought that you would be on such friendly terms with the groundskeeper?"

Rowan eyes David Goldstein briefly for a moment, before replying, "Mm, quite a few of us became friends with him in our first year. We still take turns visiting him. Although I will admit with Prefect Duties and preparing for our O.W.L.'s, we have rarely visited him, if at all this year."

David's brown eyes cautiously eye the Slytherin, before murmuring, "Well, it happens even to the best of us," he added with a grimace. "My own studies this year have become increasingly heavy burdens that I have even lost some points on assignments and essays, which I normally would have never had incorrect."

"Same," Rowan muttered under her breath, before asking, "Have you already completed Professor Vector's assignment?" Interestingly enough, Goldstein was in the same Arithmancy class as her, but the two of them had never truly conversed beyond in classroom assignments and discussions. This was actually the most they had ever conversed outside of the classroom.

"Yes, although the calculations were a bit more difficult to complete without an exact point of reference," David replied making a wary face at that.

"Yes, I found that as well," Rowan acknowledged with a frown of her own. "I had to check my work thrice as I calculated two vastly different responses the first two times."

"Same," David admitted with a glimpse of a smile in his gaze, before saying, "It is a constant wonder and tragedy to the rest of us in our house, Prince, how you and your brother ended up in Slytherin. The two of you are definitely Ravenclaw material considering your yearly marks, and apprenticeship."

"Mm, we have been told that more than once," Rowan replied with a bit of humor heard in her voice. "But apparently, we have a bit of ruthless streak or, so I have been told."

"Who does not?" David loftily argued. "Pureblood or not, anyone who wishes to enter the Ministry of Magic in any department must possess a hint ruthlessness and especially for those interested in politics. It would be foolish to remiss otherwise."

"So, it is," Rowan murmured in agreement.

The two of them continue to converse for the rest of the afternoon as they fulfill their duties. To Rowan's shock and pleasant surprise, she very much found herself enjoying the company of David Goldstein. He was intelligent with a clever, witty streak about him. And she would not mind conversing with him again. Perchance, she should cultivate a tentative friendship with him for the future. It would certainly be remiss of her to ignore such an opportunity.