Hearing the response of her patient, Madam Pomfrey huffed in anger as she flounced forward. "That evil poltergeist! I told the Headmaster that Peeves could one day seriously harm a student! But did the headmaster listen? Of course not!" Madam Pomfrey grumbled under her breath loud enough that Rowan and the Hufflepuff Prefect could easily hear her.
"Don't mind me, dears," Madam Pomfrey said, before turning to the female Hufflepuff Prefect. "Now run along, my dear, and please let Professor Slughorn know that Miss Prince will be late in returning to the girl dorms." The Hufflepuff Prefect nods her head in thanks, before walking away.
Turning back towards her patient, Madam Pomfrey says, "Now just have a seat here, Miss Prince. I need to remove the splinters first before I can close those wounds shut. I'll have you drink a small dosage of pain-relieving potion in order to take away the pain and not have you feel the splinters coming out."
Rowan painfully took a seat on the edge of a white linen bed as Madam Pomfrey held out a vial for her to take. With a grimace, Rowan swallowed the terrible concoction but instantly began to feel its effect kick into place. Letting out a sigh of relief, she felt much better.
"Now that the analgesic has begun to take effect," Madam Pomfrey explained. "I'll begin immediately to remove them, Miss Prince."
Madam Pomfrey paused to add, "But it's best that you close your eyes, dear. Apparently, the act of watching tends to make most of my patients queasy."
Rowan doesn't hesitate to shut her eyes as she feels a slight pressure each time a splinter is removed. Thankfully it wasn't anything too bad. But still, it wasn't a very pleasant sensation.
Finally, after some minutes Madam Pomfrey says, "There all done now. I'll begin to cleanse the wounds, Miss Prince, you'll feel a bit of a strange tingle. Once I'm finished, I'll have you take another potion to ensure there are no scars left behind, and a small dosage of the blood replenishing potion."
"I'll also have you taken a low-level nutrition potion with added iron. Given that you're a young lady and all, my dear, females tend to need iron supplements when injured due to the nature of things," Madam Pomfrey hummed as she hid the twitching smile threatening to come out.
Rowan's ears turn pink as she naturally knows exactly what she is referring to. Sniffing, Rowan ignores Madam Pomfrey's good-natured chuckle as she begins to heal the wounds. With a loud sound of satisfaction, Madam Pomfrey says, "There good as new, you can open your eyes now dear. I'll be right back in a jiffy."
Opening her eyes, Rowan blinks as she glances down at her robes, before clearing the blood away. There was no use in scaring Severus and everyone else any more than they already were. There was little doubt that the rumors of her being covered in blood and sent to the infirmary had already made its way all the way down to the Slytherin common rooms. She'd be lucky after this if she wasn't followed by Severus or one of her friends at all times for a good while. It'd be rather annoying if that was to be indeed the case.
Shortly after Madam Pomfrey returned with vials in hand. Rowan sighed, before accepting both vials and downing them down the hatch. Grimacing at the foul taste, Rowan happily accepts the offered sweets held in Madam Pomfrey's hands to wash away the taste.
Madam Pomfrey says, "Well, you are good to go, Miss Prince. And don't you worry, my dear, later this evening I'll have a stern word with the Headmaster!"
Rowan gives Madam Pomfrey a stare that says, "Rather you than me."
Taking a few extra sweets for the walk down to the dungeons, Rowan nods her head in thanks, before leaving Madam Pomfrey to tend to one of her loudly coughing patients. Swiftly making her way down to the Slytherin quarters, Rowan mumbles the password to the common room, before rushing into the warm common room.
The common room should be desolate as it is already curfew, and everyone should be in bed. However, there are three figures in the common room area, the two Slytherin Prefects and Severus. Severus hurriedly rushes over to Rowan. Severus in a panic takes in the healing wounds on Rowan's face and the dried blood on her robes.
Worried and rather cross Severus growls, "Who was it!?"
"Peeves drooped a wardrobe on top of me," Rowan replied. "I had to blast the wardrobe apart, but I was covered in wooden splinters."
Prefect Travers visibly winces at hearing that, while Prefect Pizarro smirks, "I bet the Bloody Baron will wring Peeves neck right properly now. Peeves knows better than to touch the Baron's snakes."
"The Baron better," Severus growled.
"I'm alright. Really," Rowan promised as Severus reluctantly nodded in agreement.
"Fine then," Severus grumbled, before heading up towards the boy's quarters.
"Now off to bed with you as well, Prince," Prefect Pizarro firmly ordered.
"Yes, Prefect Pizarro," Rowan automatically replied, before heading towards the girl's dormitory.
Prefect Travers glances at his female counterpart and says, "I bet that her roommates are all still up waiting for her."
"They're good girls," Prefect Pizarro admitted. "They won't be loud and will go to bed once they're certain their friend is alright."
"Mm, perhaps," Prefect Travers mumbled not all that convinced.
Prefect Pizarro snorts and says, "Well, we best get to bed, Professor Slughorn wants to see us bright and early tomorrow."
Prefect Travers groans in frustration. "Not planning another one of his dinners again is it?"
"Apparently it's IMPORTANT," Prefect Pizarro smirked.
Prefect Travers rolls his eyes in annoyance. "I swear it better be," Prefect Travers threatened. "Or else, I swear I'll get to the headmaster and tell Slughorn to go to hell, to hell with our Slytherin pride!"
Prefect Pizarro grins and murmurs, "Well, just don't let Slughorn hear you say that."
"If only we would be so lucky," Prefect Travers mumbled, before the two of them each went to their own respective dorms. Unlike the Head Boy and Head Girl, who had their own dorm room, Prefect's still shared a room. Which was both a blessing and a curse.
I do believe that most of the Slytherin students suffered in silent annoyance at having Slughorn as their Head of House. He was not a very good Head of House at that if Severus' memories in HP are anything to go by.