章 1028: Unexpected Hogsmeade Patrol Ⅳ

By the time James made it down to the front entrance, he was panting. Rowan's carriage had yet to return up the hill back to the entrance. The cold morning air feels good on his hot face as he winces at the stitch in his side. He pants for a bit until the carriage slides to a creaky stop before him. The Thestral's paused to gaze at him, but James is too distracted to notice.

Breathless, James climbs into the carriage to catch his breath. With a loud creak, the carriage surges forward back towards Hogsmeade. As he catches his breath, James shivers and pulls his robes shut, and reaches into his pouch for his house scarf. He pulled it on before he remembered that he had never returned the scarf back to Rowan as promised.

A mix of emotions fills James until the carriage arrives at the ridge that overlooks Hogsmeade. In the town down below reside dozens of picturesque cottages with smoke trailing from their chimneys. He impatiently leans forward in his seat waiting for the carriage to come to a halt at the side of the road. He bolts from his seat and storms out of the carriage rather vexed into Hogsmeade.

Before James can storm off to find Rowan, he finds her patiently waiting on the side of the frozen road. "You promised last time, Rowan," he irritably snapped.

"I'm here, aren't I?" Rowan pointedly arched her brow at James.

There are simply no words to describe James's annoyance. He sighs and rubs a hand through his hair. "It's not about you waiting for me, we promised to come down together. It is about tradition."

"Fine," Rowan easily promised much to James' further vexation.

James is uncertain of even what to say before he suspiciously glares at her. "How did you know I would be coming?"

"You have the marauder's map," Rowan instantly replied. And when she double-checked her mindscape, she may have spotted him rushing towards Hogsmeade. "And besides it's your birthday."

James opens his mouth in a disgruntled manner before the statement dawns on him. "It's my birthday?" He almost said in disbelief.

"No, I lied, it's tomorrow," Rowan shrugged without any hint of regret. "I tricked you, didn't I?" She smugly smirked.

James didn't seem to hear her. Tomorrow was his birthday. He'd be 16 years old. At that moment, he feels a familiar pressure coil in his chest making it impossible for him to breathe. He had been taking Divination when he had been trigged by a seemingly innocent item. Professor Ronan had calmly stretched out his hand and helped him with some breathing exercises.

After his panic attack (or so Rowan called out), James had been doubly embarrassed, but his friends hadn't said anything about it. Even more importantly, Professor Ronan had requested to speak to him at the side. In a calm manner, the centaur had offered to teach him ways to ground himself. At first, James had been hesitant and even felt foolish doing the exercises, but soon he found that he could breathe through his panic episodes and even sleep better at night despite his nightmares.

Taking a shaky breath, James begins to breathe in through his nose, before slowly exhaling his breath. He repeated this exercise over and over until he could feel grounded again. He slowly can hear sounds again feel the cold air against his skin and the warm touch of a hand on his forearm.

His blurry vision refocuses until James can see what is in front of him. Rowan looked mildly concerned having reached out during his episode to hold him by the forearm. He reflexively glances down at her hand and Rowan quickly removes her hand.

James gives Rowan a shaky grin. "So, how is this part of my birthday," he feigned nonchalance.

"It's a surprise," Rowan answered with a straight face.

"Oh? And exactly just what I am going to get?" James wryly asked.

"It's a surprise," Rowan reiterated with a pleased smirk.

Refraining from rolling his eyes, James extends his arm for Rowan to take. Rowan almost declines but notices that James's hand trembles with the lingering effects of his anxiety attack. Gently she wraps her hand around his forearm and squeezes, "Step lively," she murmurs before moving forward.

James keeps up with Rowan's long strides despite the muddy road. He had grown taller again, but so had Rowan. (Unfortunately, she had begun to fall behind Severus's freakish growth. Not that she was envious!)

The two of them traverse the road to the cobbled streets of Hogsmeade in silence. The cries of birds can be heard in the air despite the looming gray clouds in the sky. The sleepy town of Hogsmeade is awake with glowing warm lights through the windowpanes. Soon enough, they arrive at the shop of Honeydukes.

The shop had barely opened as the bald-headed owner has yet to finish all his morning errands. From behind the counter, he beams at Rowan as they enter. "Always a pleasure, Prefect Prince, I have the orders ready for pick up."

"Thank you," Rowan sincerely replied. "It is always a pleasure to shop here. It will be just a minute" before moving away to select some personnel sweets for herself. The bald-headed owner already used to this response returns to counting the knuts, sickles, and galleons in the register.

Not in the mood for sweets, James watches Rowan seriously study the shelves upon shelves of the most succulent-looking sweets imaginable. Creamy chunks of nougat, shimmering pink squares of coconut ice, fat, honey-colored toffees; hundreds of different kinds of chocolate in neat rows; there was even a large barrel of Every Flavor Beans, and another of Fizzing Wizbees, the Levitating Sherbet Balls, and more.

Besides the barrels of sweets, there were the other "Special" sweets: Drooble's Best Blowing gum, (which filled a room with bluebell-colored bubbles that refuse to pop for days.) The strange, splintery Toothflossing Stringmints and tiny black Pepper Imps which caused one to become a fire hazard by being able to breathe fire. Ice Mice that made one's teeth chatter and squeak. Peppermint cream-shaped toads that hopped realistically in the stomach. Fragile sugar-spun quills and exploding bonbons and much more!

With her purchases already in mind, Rowan picks out a supply of chocolate bars, nougat, honey-colored toffees, Toothflossing Stringmints, and Ice Mice. She had to keep feeding her Ice Mice addition. And she would always blame Terry for that since he always kept feeding her the blasted things! She was still absolutely convinced that it had been all part of some sort of diabolic scheme on his part!

With her selections in hand, Rowan returns to the counter and waits to be rung up on an old-fashioned metal cash register. Although she had to admit that she was surprised that James had not purchased anything. It was rather unusual of him. Then again, he had another panic attack earlier that morning.

Trying to do her best to be casual, Rowan says, "C'mon," before intertwining their arms together and leading him to their next destination. The village begins to stir in preparation for the arrival of the ravenous hordes. The arrival of the ravenous hordes is imminent and some of the shops began to open in preparation for the battle swiftly approaching on the horizon.