Cherry on Top

Early the next morning they arrived at platform 9 ¾'s. And unlike the times before this time, they were apparated to Kings Cross by Reginald and Tadbey from the outskirts of the manor grounds. On the other hand, the three boys had dark circles on their eyes, while Rowan's face gleamed with a night full of rest. Reginald noticed the dramatic difference between the children but chose wisely not to comment on the subject since the three boys kept shooting his granddaughter dark glares and fierce scowls.

Halting at the enchanted wall, Reginald turns to face the children. "Severus and Regulus, you will pass through first. As for Sirius, Rowan, and myself, we shall be right behind you." The two boys firmly hold onto their trolleys and roll straight ahead vanishing through the wall and appearing on the noisy platform of Hogwarts.

Right after Reginald follows accompanied by Rowan and Sirius Black. At the edge of platform 9 ¾'s, the scarlet engine of the Hogwarts Express can be seen smoking. The crowd surges past the wrought-iron archway and onto the platform. The chatter of parents with their children bustled all around.

Leading them expertly to the crowd, Reginald halts near the edge of the platform. He solemnly gazes at the children including the Black children. "Behave yourselves but remember to enjoy yourselves. Until the winter holidays," he briskly said.

Reginald gives his grandchildren a hug, before noticing the wistful gazes of the Black children. He gently tussles the hair of the two children after a moment of hesitation. Sirius raises his hand to touch the top of his head in awe. He had been touched by his idol; he was never going to wash his hair again! On the other hand, Regulus shyly smiles up at Reginald earning himself another pat on the head which is exactly what Regulus wanted.

Still excited at having been touched by his idol, Sirius breathlessly squeaks, "Thank you for signing my textbooks, sir!"

"It was my pleasure," Reginald solemnly replied.

Regulus instead innocently widens his eyes in an innocent expression of gratitude as well. Reginald is unable to resist and pats the younger boy's head for a third time earning an envious glare from Sirius. "Yes, sir, we'll be good," Regulus innocently answered.

Seeing Sirius's jealousy and Regulus purposefully tweaking his brother's tail, Rowan and Severus hastily say their goodbyes to their grandfather. Severus grabs Sirius, while Rowan keeps a firm hand on Regulus and makes their way to the train.

As they wait in line to board, Severus cranes his neck this way and that. "Do you see, Lily?" Severus asked as his eyes kept glancing about.

"Knowing Lily, she's probably already on the train," Rowan responded only to be over shouted by a loud shout from Sirius. "Remus!"

Sirius without saying goodbye shoves his trolley in excitement toward his friend, Remus Lupin. Seeing that they are abandoned without so much as a goodbye, Rowan glances at Regulus, who shrugs as if to say, "I am already used to it."

Turning to glance in the direction of Sirius and Remus, Rowan can even at a distance spot the dark circles under Lupin's eyes. Remus looked tired as always, but he is accompanied by his parents. The Lupin couple doesn't seem quite as weary as one would expect. Then again, the monster that had infected their only child, Fenrir Greyback is dead.

It was the only consolation Rowan had that Fenrir Greyback would not be infecting anyone else ever again. But still, the price had been much too high, it had cost Sara Vinovich her life. And though she was aware that Fenrir Greyback had not been Vinovich's killer, he was still half responsible for Vinovich's death. If Sara Vinovich remained with Percius Clements, the chances of her death would have been rather slim to none.

Levitating Regulus's trunk on board, Regulus flushes sheepishly in thanks having forgotten he could technically now perform magic. The two of them quickly made their way down the compartments before spotting the three friends of Regulus. "Hello, Prince!" Loudly greeted the squared-jawed witch, Letitia Bones.

"Hello Miss Bones," Rowan returned the greeting with a twitch of a smile on her lips. "And hello to you both as well, Mr. Crouch and Mr. Cresswell." The two boys greeted her back with a smile.

Letitia pouts and says, "It's Letitia! There's no Miss or Mr.'s here!"

"My bad," Rowan teased. "Well, have fun you, four, I still have to find my own compartment."

"Goodbye, Rowan!" All of them called out to her with cheeky smiles as Rowan shakes her head and mutters something about cheeky juniors under her breath.

Opening one compartment after another with no success, Rowan slams the next one open. She startles in surprise at finding the compartment full of 7th-year Slytherins. Among them is Mavis Nott, the short spiky-haired Quidditch Captain for Slytherin, who is chatting with the furry-eyebrowed boy with a squashed nose that is one of the quidditch cult BELIEVERS.

Rowan is unable to suppress a shudder upon recalling the 1st year quidditch cult incident. Having turned away, her eyes unintentionally strayed to the couple on the other side of the compartment. The couple is not so suitably making out. A rather curved, luscious witch with dark hair and coco-colored skin sits on the lap of a certain dark-haired boy, S.R. Wilkes.

To Rowan's vast relief, she didn't feel a single thing in the pit of her stomach. Bowing quickly in apology, Rowan says, "My deepest apologies," before quickly closing the door shut and heading over to the next compartment. From behind her, she hears a loud muffled curse and a female's angry voice as the compartment slams open and closes behind her.

Whirling about rather wary, Rowan turns to face S.R. Wilkes. She had subtly reached for her wand in her sleeve. She did not automatically reach for it since S.R. Wilkes did not appear to be angry.

"Sorry that you had to see that, Rowan," a rather flushed Wilkes with red, swollen kissed lips sincerely apologized.

"It's alright," Rowan nonchalantly answered with a shrug. "I'm just looking for Severus and Terry. I have yet to find either of them."

"Oh," Wilkes lamely said, before offering a sheepish grin, "Well good luck then."

Rowan is slightly thrown off by the remark. This almost seemed like the S.R. Wilkes, she knew from her first year rather than the strange boy he had become afterward. It almost seemed like he was himself again. Had he resolved whatever had been bothering him?

"Thanks," Rowan kindly said, before sincerely adding, "Also congratulations on the cute girlfriend." Wilkes is still for a moment almost as if fighting something a change. He appears to be himself, yet there is a bit of strange light in his eyes again.

Rowan almost missed it, but for a moment it was the S.R. Wilkes that she had seen over the past years. Just as quickly, S.R. Wilkes' expression relaxes, and he smiles bitter-sweetly at Rowan like himself. Without another word, he returns to the train compartment.

Unsure of what to make of the changes in S.R. Wilkes's face, Rowan decides it's not her problem to solve. She continues down the train until at last, she finds the right door. Seated already inside are Lily, Severus, and Terry. "Finally," she huffed shoving her truck into the train compartment. She had been starting to get a bit desperate towards the end.

Not a moment too soon as the Hogwarts Express lets out a warning shriek. The last of the gaggle hurriedly board the train while students open their windows to shout and wave goodbye to their families. A few of the braver souls (lacking in self-preservation instincts) even stick half of their bodies out of the windows.

Tired Rowan slumps down into a seat, before raising her nose in the air. "I profusely dislike you all," she grumbled as the Hogwarts Express let out a shrill whistle and pulled away from the platform surging forward on its way.

Terry sniffs, while Lily giggles and Severus rolled in response to Rowan's words. The three of them chatter about the latest news and juicy gossip, while Rowan points out a book to read. Since she didn't much feel like talking at the moment.

"Do any of you know much about Hogsmeade?" Lily excitedly said. "I read it's the only non-muggle community in Britain-."

"Honeydukes!" Terry happily interrupted causing Lily to blankly stare at him. "It's only the greatest sweet shop in the world. There are Pepper Imps- that make you smoke at the mouth. Great fat Chocoballs that are full of strawberry mousse and clotted cream. Sugar quills that look just like quills only can be eaten!"

Before Terry rambles on the greatness of Honeydukes, Severus impatiently interjects, "Yes, Hogsmeade is rather interesting. It's one of the sites in Sites of Historical Sorcery as the inn was used as headquarters for the 1612 goblin rebellion."

Terry lets out a wonderous moan, "-And massive sherbet balls that make you levitate a few inches off the ground while you are sucking them!"

The three of them went on and on about Hogsmeade so much that Rowan was quite grateful when the lady with the cart came by to shut them up. But the peaceful silence did not last long as they continued their loud chatter about Hogsmeade.

Starting to get a headache, Rowan with a huff gets up and says, "I'm going to find a quieter place to read," before striding out to their surprised gazes.

Wandering down the corridor, Rowan searching an empty compartment, and she suddenly found herself pulled into one. "What the-!"

"Shh, it's just us, Rowan!" James Potter urgently whispered with his face only scant inches away from her own.

Rowan quickly stumbled back to glare at the three other boys. "And pray tell, why I have been forcefully graced with the presence of you four?"

Sirius shrugs as if to say, "I told you so," while Peter Pettigrew crosses his arms over his chest in as if to say, "Don't say I didn't warn you all!"

"Well, we need to talk about something in private," Remus Lupin nervously said as he clutched his robes in his hand.

Pointing her wand at the door, Rowan locks the door and murmurs Muffliato. "What was that last spell?" Remus asked with wide-eyed curiosity.

"Severus invented it," Rowan honestly confessed. "It makes anyone listening in or trying to listen in on the conversation only hear a buzzing sound."

"That's brilliant!" Remus said in awe as the other boys echoed the sentiment.

"So, what is it that you all deem so important to discuss in private?" Rowan asked with a frown.

"Well, I'm-," Remus started to say, before pausing again.

Impatient and somewhat ill-humored at this point, Rowan drily says, "You're a werewolf, Remus, I already know."

Everyone's mouth flops open as they all turn to gaze at Sirius. Sirius in a panic shouts in protest, "I swear I didn't tell her, Remy! I'm innocent!"

Remus in particular seems unconvinced until Rowan impatiently adds, "I have always known since our first year. We did study the basics of werewolves you know. And anyone who knows you, Remus, it is not a hard feat to put all the pieces together."

"Oh," Remus flushed in embarrassment. "But why didn't you say anything?"

"It wasn't my secret to tell," Rowan earnestly said with a casual shrug. "I wasn't about to pry into such a delicate and rather private subject unless you were willing to share it first."

"Huh, you're actually a caring friend, Rowan," Peter said in amazement earning a fierce scowl from Rowan.

"Well, that makes things so much easier," James confidently flashed Rowan his award-winning smile.

Getting a very bad feeling, Rowan says, "And what exactly is that?"

Remus sheepishly smiles at her as James grins warmly back. "In our independent research, we've at last come up with a feasible idea."

"Which is?" Rowan said with a distorting feeling in her stomach of knowing exactly what it was.

"We'll become animagus!" James proudly declared as Rowan rapidly paled at the reply. In all honesty, this was her fault really. She was the one who instigated them to study and learn they did. And now, they were more than an entire year ahead of the previous timeline.

"And how will that help, Remus?" Rowan faked her surprise, which wasn't a total exaggeration given that they had indeed sprung this neat little trap on her.

"While in Animagus form, wizards are immune to werewolf bites!" Sirius eagerly chirped. "But even better a werewolf won't attack them in that form either!"

"And you're going to what? Accompany Remus every full moon, while in an Animagus form?" Rowan sarcastically said.

"Exactly!" They all said in unison.

Resisting the urge to slam her head into the wall, Rowan says, "And how will you all, exactly go about accomplishing such a feat? Because need I remind you the process is incredibly difficult!" Rowan is about to list the exact steps as she freezes at seeing their identical Cheshire smiles.

"Oh, no!" Rowan said. "No, I'm not going to help you, four!"

"Pretty please with a cherry on top!" Sirius begged proudly having learned that muggle expression from Severus.

"No, I'm not listening! La, la, la!" Rowan said as she moved to plug her ears.

"Please Rowan," Remus desperately pleaded with a tired, hopeful gaze.

Cursing their hope-filled gaze, Rowan finally succumbs with great bitterness, "Fine, I'll help you."

"I knew you would!" James said as he pulled her into a hug as Rowan struggled to get away.

"I said, I would help! Now, let me go, James!" Rowan snarled only for James to smirk and plant a great big kiss right on her lips. Everyone freezes including James, who is unable to believe what had just occurred as he'd been aiming for Rowan's cheek.

They both instantly pull away as Rowan rather pale and hoarse says, "Let us never speak of this incident again."

"That's fine with me," James solemnly agreed as they both actively avoided looking at each other, violently shuddering, and trying not to gag.

Clearing her throat, Rowans says, "Before we start anything, you're going to need to convince Severus to help as well."

"Why?" Petter curiously piped in.

"Because I can't make the potion that is needed as it is far too complicated," Rowan snapped. "But Severus can. He helped my grandfather this summer to make potions all the way up to our seventh year. If anyone can do it, it'd be him."

"I'll handle that detail," Sirius proudly boasted as he thumped his chest in confidence.

"Then we'll see you in the library at our usual spot," Lupin said with a kind smile. "Thank you, Rowan, for doing this. You didn't have to, but still, thanks again."

"Right," Rowan murmured, before hastily unlocking the door and fleeing lest she is coerced into anything else. Not that she had forgotten that James Potter had stolen her first kiss, but it wasn't very important in the scheme of things. Nor did she like him in that manner. It was largely uncomfortable, to say the least.