THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT
CHAPTER TWO
January, Part Two
It was already the end of January, but the winter was just getting to its climax—its strongest snowstorm yet raging outside the Hogwarts castle, while roaring fires within the walls kept the cold away from the lethargic students dragging themselves from classroom to classroom.
However, Rose was far from the cozy warmth of the main castle grounds, huddled in the mess of ruffled hays in the Owlery. She wasn't shaking because of the howling blizzard storming through the arches that surrounded the Owlery walls.
It was the only place she could cry her heart out.
Drowned in her own sadness, she was unaware of someone approaching her secret sanctuary. Not like she could hear the footsteps of crunching snow above the deafening sound of the wind around her, anyway. She only looked up when she felt a shadow looming before her.
…Why is he here?
Rose merely continued to stare wide-eyed as she waited for James to catch his breath. "I knew I'd find you here," he began, loosening the thick Gryffindor scarf around his neck so he could project his voice better against the screeching wind. "Come on, you'll catch a cold if you stay here any longer."
"Why do you care?"
James sighed and ran a hand through his windswept dark hair. "You're like a little sister to me. Of course it's my responsibility to take care of you, whether we both like it or not."
Rose glanced away. "It's really weird when you're being nice to me. Almost like you've got an ulterior motive."
James frowned at her. "Why would I do that?"
A sniffle. "I don't know. Maybe you need a favor from me to cover up another one of your dirty pranks, for instance."
"Are you serious?" James chortled, clutching his sides. "You sure hate me a lot, huh?"
Rose threw a scathing glare at her cousin. "Well, because you're a jerk. And the worst kind."
James seemed unfazed by Rose's verbal attack. "Yeah, yeah, I heard you." He squatted down in front of her and wrapped his scarf around the trembling girl. "Let's get you back to the castle first."
Rose's face broke out a small smile as the warmth of the muffler touched her cold cheeks, very much glad that James wouldn't be able to catch the blushing chuckle under all the red and gold stripes.
"T-Thank you."
It took Rose three classes to finally catch up to James the very next day. She pushed his scarf back to her amused cousin before turning on her heels, marching out of his sight without a single word.
Half an hour later, she then realized she had returned the wrong muffler when she noticed James' initials on the underside of the scarf that she had been wearing the whole time.
She buried her face deeper into the muffler to hide her reddening cheeks. Oh well.
