บท 594: Tutoring Ⅱ

Having locked the door, Rowan freezes upon turning around and seeing that the four Hufflepuffs were still waiting for her. The first-year Hufflepuff, Jacob awkwardly coughs and says, "Prefect Prince, Lockhart said you gave him a really good muggle book to read. Er, I was wondering if I could have a book to read too."

Rowan ponders the thought for a moment, before she says, "That will be fine, but I only request that you treat the book properly." She reaches into her pocket, and hands over a book for the boy to take.

"Thank you, Prefect Prince," Frederick excitedly said as he read the title, "Fantastic Mr. Fox," by Roald Dahl, before the four them trot to the Great Hall for dinner, and all the while Frederick carefully clutches the book to his chest.

Luckily or unluckily, they bump into the Marauders. Rowan watches Sirius cheerfully tease the brats and even made Glenda blush. All the while, Rowan dubiously eyes Sirius for flirting with an eleven-year-old girl. She had never put Sirius down as a pedo, but then again, the brat chased anything in a skirt.

Seeing Rowan's expression, Pettigrew smirks and says, "I know trust me; I thought the same thing."

"Wait, what?" Sirius said upon noticing Rowan staring at him and Pettigrew smirking at him. "What exactly are you two talking about?"

Lupin sighs and says, "Your tendencies to flirt with anything that is considered to be of the female gender, Sirius."

Sirius flushes, before proudly saying, "Well it's not my fault, I'm dastardly good looking."

Rowan's expression says it all, "You have a pit for a brain, don't you?"

James, who had been quietly watching at side interrupts, "Well, we best be going, dinner will be served any minute now."

The four of them begin to walk with Rowan trailing behind them. Making small talk, Sirius says, "So Rowan those muggle games that you introduced are really popular even with the older years. I've played a few rounds myself and I've enjoyed it especially the muggle adventure one called, Dungeon's and Dragons."

"I'm glad," Rowan drily said. She knew exactly how popular the three games were among the four Houses, because the most common seen package now arriving via Owls were board shaped packages from home or via friends. That and every single board game that she had placed in the Slytherin cupboard for the common use of the first years always seemed to be in use and not just by the first years.

"Well, I'm simply glad that the board games are keeping even our mischievous first years occupied," Lupin wearily sighed. "I never thought there would come a day I would curse being a Gryffindor until this year."

Rowan snickers loudly knowing exactly what he meant. If the Slytherin snakling's were all sneaky shadows and poised fangs, the Gryffindor first years would simply get into anything, and then just keep going. It was simply exhausting to be the Prefect for Gryffindor more than any other house at Hogwarts.

"Anyhow, Rowan, I expect you to come and see the Gryffindor try-outs," Sirius cheekily said. "Since I'm the Gryffindor Captain and all."

Rowan flatly replies, "Sadly, Severus will be in attending as one of us must be available at all times."

"C'mon Rowan, I'm the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain!" Sirius whined.

"May I point out that I am a Slytherin, and I am rooting for our seeker, your brother, Regulus to crush your team into the dust," Rowan smirked back.

"Traitor," Sirius crossly huffed.

"I like Regulus better too," Rowan snarked back. "He's cuter."

Sirius sniffs and points at himself. "Obviously, you don't have a good taste, to begin with. How dare you miss observing such a handsome specimen of manliness perform Quidditch?"

Rowan merely snickers loudly as Pettigrew and her share a grin. Lupin sighs as James merely blankly stares on. Despite seeing plenty of proof of a friendship between them and the Slytherin Prefect, he was shocked every time. It was still going to take some time to get used to the idea.

Seeing Sirius still a bit down and gloomy, Rowan reaches into her robe pocket and tossed two cassettes at him. Sirius easily catches the cassettes as Rowan says, "One is a rock band called, Queen, and the other's is a pop group called ABBA. I think you will enjoy them. Am I forgiven yet?"

Sirius instantly smiles and says, "Yup."

Lupin sighs and mutters, "That means we're about to learn the song as well by sheer proximity of living in the same dorm room. I never once thought I'd regret having roommates."

"I'll have you know I'm a great singer," Sirius arrogantly retorted.

They all roll their eyes as Lupin drily says, "I presume I'm supposed to supply the batteries again for your cassette player."

"Of course, Remy," Sirius happily said. "Your mom is a muggle and can easily mail them over to us."

Lupin mutters something rude under his breath, but Sirius pointedly ignores said remark. Turning to eye Rowan, he says, "Well, I still expect you to cheer for us at all the matches except when we go up against Slytherin. Even I understand that house loyalty must come first."

"Mm," Rowan merely hummed, before they arrive in the Great Hall.

They each separate towards their respective house tables as James mutters, "Is she always like that?"

"Like what?" Sirius blinked foolishly, before catching on as they sit down.

Running a hand through his hair, Sirius says, "Oh, well, Rowan is a bit stoic like that, Jamie. I know that you are still having trouble with that, but she's really not that bad. I mean, she's nice in her own way for a Slytherin. Not that she can't be downright devious, but Rowan is never mean nor outright cruel to anyone."

Seeing the somewhat still unconvinced look on James's face, Pettigrew who'd mostly been avoiding talking to James, cleared his throat. "Might I suggest you read your personal diary, James? There's bound to be something that will refresh your memories and if not, at least you can trust what you, yourself wrote about others," Pettigrew awkwardly said, before digging into his meal.

James slowly nods his head in acceptance of the words to his own shock. He had brought some of his-, the old diaries with him to Hogwarts. Maybe, it would be better to read what HE wrote about the past. And even if it did not, it would allow him to better understand the present world he was in.

Feeling calmer now that he had a lead to follow, James dug into his dinner and smiled in surprise. The food was not only delicious but nothing he had ever tasted before. The one thing that could be said about this mirror world is that the Hogwarts house elves had outdone themselves when it came time for meals.