On Saturdays Rowan would lie in bed and run through all the activities of the day, thoughts swirling through her brain like a swarm of buzzing hornets, streaming out of her skull and winding themselves through her quill, which scribbled furiously against crisp parchment. With each delicate scritch, ink slid over paper and a new thought would present itself. By the end of each day, Rowan could relax, mind cleared, and reference all her jumbled ideas. A typical list might include the following-
What had happened in class that day
You-Know-Who and the Order
James Potter
James unfortunately liking Lily
The possible love connection between toast and the Giant Squid
Though these lists were incredibly pointless, the ramblings of a love-struck adolescent girl, they had a calming effect on Rowan. Years later, when the baby was put to sleep and she had a moment to herself, she'd take the papers from the shoe box beneath her bed and laugh over how serious everything seemed, from her horrible new haircut to the possibility that James had not been smiling at her in the corridor, but in fact had been grinning over the Cockroach Clusters caught in her teeth. Oh, the horror.
Yet whenever Rowan made a list, it had a point. Things she did always had to have a point- she simply wasn't the type of person to do work that wasn't needed. (She was much too lazy for that) No, Rowan was a doer, a paranoid young woman with her feet anywhere but the ground and a cheerful disposition. What Rowan wanted to be done usually got done, she made sure of that, and it was on this Saturday afternoon that Rowan had settled herself on a cushion in the Gryffindor girl's dormitory, a fresh list propped up against her knees and quill clenched in teeth. Just as she moved to put pen to paper, however, someone popped up from beneath the bed cushions, right in Rowan's face, causing her to drop the inkwell all over herself in shock.
"Dammit Lily, watch where you're poking that nose of yours, you could take a person out!" Rowan cried, using her want to siphon away the ink.
Lily laughed, her green eyes sparkling. "You know you loved it. Whatcha' working on, another list?"
The girls had been friends for too long not to know the other's smallest tendencies. Rowan sometimes would get sentimental and remember the first day they met, long haired and wild on the Hogwarts Express. Of course, things had been slightly different then, with Snivellus tagging around, wiping his nose on his frayed sleeves and his beady black eyes always hidden by that oily curtain of jet black hair. Funny how when Rowan found herself in that compartment with Lily, Snape, and the now semi-famous Mauraders she had felt anything but love for the whole lot of them. Lily seemed too bossy, James too arrogant, Sirius too demanding, Remus too dull, and Snape...he'd always and still did seem off. But when given the choice between staying to have a lovely chat with four boys or sitting with one bossy redhead and her brooding friend, well...Rowan always chose the thing most familiar, and Lily's company was just that. Despite not getting on very well at all (the first day in Potions Rowan delivered the first attack, purposely causing a cauldron to explode in Lily's face, while Lily sought revenge the next morning by contaminating Rowan's eggs with bobotuber pus) the other now knew each other so well it was like having a second self. Snapping out of her reflection, Rowan crumpled up the parchment and lazily tossed it over Lily and into the rubbish bin by her feet, where it crumpled into a heap on the floor, missing the target.
"Nice one." Lily said, smirking. Rowan laughed.
"Oh, shut it, you."
The sun was dazzling, high and bright against a warm September sky not yet plagued by heavy gray clouds and the dainty V formations of southbound geese. Unusually warm for the season, the balmy weather was perfect for a trip out to the lakeside. As the girls strolled down to the shore, Rowan marveled at the beauty of the grounds and the health of the Whomping Willow, while Lily blabbered on about the idiocy of James Potter, who was spending the afternoon cooling his feet at the water's edge with his friends in tow. Every few seconds or so, he'd turn back and throw Lily furtive glances with every ruffle of his mussy hair.
"Great, stupid prat. Who does he think he is, anyway?" Lily growled, staring moodily back at James, who grinned and waved. Rowan, who had only been half listening, smiled at this and popped a shimmering cube of Coconut Ice into her mouth, letting the gooey texture melt against her tongue.
"I don't know. The fan-fuckingtastic King of Hogwarts, perhaps?"
Lily laughed, eying her reflection in the cool ripples of water. "Thank god I can count on you to tell it like it is...and get that thing out of your mouth; you've already had ten this morning."
Rowan rolled her eyes, taking another cube from the bag and running her tongue slowly around its edges, licking down the sides. "Look Lily, another one!" She cried, swallowing the square whole and taking another from the bag. "And another! How DOES she do it?" Lily laughed, swatting at Rowan with her quill.
"Stop that, you're disgusting...and speaking of disgusting, does Potter keep looking over here? Distract me."
And so Rowan pulled a giant Arithmancy book from Lily's bag, opened it to the most difficult page she could find, and proceeded to quiz Lily on ever star in the galaxy until Peter dropped his shoes in the Lake and the gang retired to the castle early. So was the beginning of life at Hogwarts for seventh year Rowan Watkins.
The next morning at breakfast the ceiling was a deep, lustrous blue, shimmering stars still reflected from the dark sky outside. Under it chaos reigned, as Lily dissected their new schedules while Rowan fussed over her owl, who had crash landed into her cereal after skidding on stupid Longbottom's jelly. Why she of all people would be stuck with such a bird would puzzle Rowan for a lifetime, but at the moment she was in too bad of a mood to care as she tried to simultaneously mop a soggy owl and listen to Lily complain.
"Potions first thing in the morning! Wonderful, Slughorn might be in a better mood...but ugh, Potter breezed by this morning and told me, in that cocky little manner of his, that we've got Arithmancy and Ancient Runes together. Just when I thought I got rid of him!" She cried, stuffing her schedule into her bag. "That boy will follow me to my grave."
The owl was now screeching madly, greatly opposed to having its feathers siphoned off with a dish towel, but Rowan refused to give up.
"Gimme a hand with the rogue owl?" She grunted, as her bird squealed and made another bid for freedom. Lily raised a brow.
"That thing loathes you. Why don't you just use your wand?"
What help she could be.
"I don't trust myself with magic around owls. Last time I tried anything half her feathers fell out, d'you remember that?"
"That was years ago, when we were supposed to be turning animals into tea cups!" Lily cried, falling into a fit of giggles at the memory.
"Good times." Rowan said, smiling a bit herself as she wiped around her owl's eyes.
"What's gotten into that bird?"
It was none other than James Potter. Flanked on either side by the rest of his gang, hair perfectly tousled, he attracted the attention of a couple third years at the end of the table, who began giggling loudly at the sight of him. Lily, who had a very low tolerance for both James Potter and giggling, whirled around to face him, letting go of the owl's other leg. Upon realizing the release of one of its limbs, and a split second later that it's owner had notoriously poor reflexes, the owl let out a loud screech and took off for the Owlery, beating it's wings frantically and swooping low over people's heads, causing them to duck over their porridge.
"She's never going to come back." Rowan said, wiping away streaky jelly marks from her side of the table with the milk sodden napkin. Sirius Black slid into the seat next to her and helped himself to a piece of burnt toast, buttering it liberally before swallowing it whole.
"I wouldn't be too upset about that." He said pointedly, tossing his hair out of his eyes. "Last time you sent me a letter the fiend bit me. I wouldn't want a smelly old owl that bites my friends, but then again that's just my humble opinion." Rowan yawned.
"Thanks for that bit of thought, Sirius, but I think I'll keep my owl." Sirius shrugged, buttering another burnt piece of toast.
"Suit yourself mate, but I'm Sirius Black...I know things. And that bird is going to eat you in the night."
A seat down, James was yet again attempting to charm Lily.
"Going out for Quidditch again this year." He boasted, giving his hair another tousle. Down the table, the third years giggled madly.
"When do you NOT go out for the team, Potter?" Lily snapped, using the size of her Arithmancy book to distance herself and Potter.
"Why sit out when you're as good as I am?"
"Your confidence certainly is admirable."
"Well, I-"
"Sarcasm, Potter. I'm going to be late for Potions." And with a quick toss of hair she stood up, threw the giant Arithmancy text into her bag, and hurried down the aisleway towards the staircase. James bolted after her.
"That class is bobbins, we should have dropped it years ago!" He cried, skirting a couple first years. "...Hang on, don't look like that, I forgot it was your favorite! Listen, I like it a lot too! Slughorn's lovely, just...wait, we have it together, I'll walk you there!"
"Because I need YOUR protection from all those pickled animals in the Dungeons." Lily snapped, turning 'round to face him. "The fact I have a fully functional wand and seven years magical training doesn't mean a thing."
"No, thats not...I just...Wait! Evans!"
And with that they were off, playing their ever going game of cat and mouse Hogwarts had come to expect year after year from James Potter and Lily Evans. Sirius watched them go, his head cocked to the side, then let out his sharp bark like laugh and slung his bag over his shoulders.
"Guess we better be getting going too. Come along, m'lady?" He asked, bowing and offering his hand to Rowan. From the corner of her eye, Rowan observed Remus quickly duck his head behind his dog eared copy Ancient Runes. She could have sworn he was smiling.
"Why thank you, good sir." She said, taking his hand. Together they crossed the Hall to the staircase that led to the Dungeons, the raised voices of Lily and James soon telling them they had reached their destination.
"How can they be fighting again?" Sirius asked in astonishment, his thick eyebrows pinching together in the middle of his forehead. Rowan shrugged, squeezing past Sirius into the room.
"It's Lily and James. I like to think of it as bonding for them." Sirius laughed.
"You still like to think James got a chance, eh?"
Rowan paused before answering this question. Year after year this scenario played out, and year after year James Potter still never got the girl. She'd tried countless times to convince Lily that Potter wasn't so bad after all, but all that got her was an icy stare, a curse narrowly avoided, or some snippy remark along the lines of "Then why don't you date the arse?" Truthfully, Rowan was getting tired of trying, but she couldn't say no to James's puppy dog eyes or the friendly attitudes of the Mauraders when she agreed to do a little persuading. 'I have to start saying no,' Rowan thought, tugging at her curls.
"I honestly think they've got as much of a chance as you and me Black." Rowan said, pushing her finger into Black's chest to distance him from her. "But James can still try."
Black raised an eyebrow, and he looked momentarily confused before snickering and giving Rowan's hair an affectionate tousle.
"Ah, Watkins." He said, shaking his head. "You think we'll never be together? Wrong you are, mate. I can see the desire in your eyes. You can't keep away." Rowan snorted.
"I think it's the other way around kid. Those hands of yours, they can't control themselves when they see these curves."
"Right you are, m'lady." Sirius chortled. "How'd you know?"
"Just a lucky guess. Now get in here, we're gonna be late."
Night had fallen over the castle, and after a hectic schedule, during which Rowan fell prey to no less than four trick steps, had a potion bubble over her cauldron, forgot her quill, singed off part of her hair and had another conference with James Potter, she was feeling extremely worn out. Eyes glazing over the books and parchment spilled out onto Rowan's four poster and Lily's pushed next to it, Rowan finally set down her quill, pushed away a half-finished Transfiguration chart and rubbed her eyes.
"Blimey, McGonagall's working us to the bone already and term's barely started."
Lily came floating into view, illuminated by candlelight as she un-braided her thick hair.
"I don't know what you expected, Rowan. This is our last year before we're out in the real world, and McGonagall is only being realistic when she gives us this much work. When we're actually working it won't be all fun and games, you know."
She tossed her hair over her shoulder and settled herself on her bed, packing away her books and quills in perfect order. That was just the way of Lily Evans-order, order, and...well, more order.
"And we're aiming for Auror training," Lily continued, using her wand to summon stray quills and ink pots from the bed. "You shouldn't have taken Auror classes if that's not what you really are interested in doing." Rowan yawned, stretching her arms towards the ceiling.
"There's no way I'm skipping out now. We're joining the Order to do some good in this world, and hell, I say it'll work. It's just that I'm lazy, and a trip to the kitchens for a midnight glass of milk sounds pretty damn wonderful right now."
Lily sighed, then seized Rowan's hand and guided her towards the door to the common room.
"That sounds fantastic." She said. "I'm exhausted too. Do you remember how to get in there?" Rowan smirked.
"Like I ever would forget! Do you have the shoe?" Lily smiled, kneeling and rummaging around underneath her bed before procuring a chunky purple pump.
"Already one step ahead of you, Watkins." She said with a wink. "Let's hurry down there."