16 Diagon Alley Ⅲ

The Eeylops Owl Emporium is bustling with customers as several other parents bring their 1st-year children to select an owl. The owls hoot from their cages, while others tuck their heads under their wings to nap. Lily and Severus eagerly dart forward peeking at the owl cages all over the shop. There are small and large owls, light and dark feathered owls, some with strange markings, and others with almost pointy tufts. The owls ranged from all over the world from the Great Horned Owl of North America to the African Owl of the plains of Africa.

The two of them excitedly debate on what owl they should get. However, Rowan doesn't show the last bit of interest in the owls. She had seen plenty of owls before in their home by the woods and tended a few broken wings. She sniffs at a falling feather and brushes it off her sleeve muttering something about an unsanitary pet shop.

Seeing Lily and Severus excitedly browsing the cages, Reginald turns to his bored-looking granddaughter. "Are you certain that you do not want an owl, Rowan?"

"No, I am fine, thank you, grandfather," Rowan politely replied wanting to leave the shop. "There is no need for two owls, I can always use Sev's."

Standing nearby Severus overheard Rowan's remark. "No, I'm not!" He loudly argued back.

A smug smile appears on Rowan's face. "Oh, yes, you will." Severus blusters at Rowan's response, before pointedly turning away. He had better things than to worry about his twin sister!

The tips of Reginald's lips twitch, but he suppresses a smile. Shaking his head, he says, "In that case, how about a toad or cat?"

"No, I am fine," Rowan flatly responded. The frogspawn, they had collected from the pond proved to be far more trouble than they were worth. And though she liked cats, she had learned to never bring home a kitten after their father broke the small kitten's neck in a drunken fit. She learned to never become too attached to a pet. It was one less weakness to have and be used against her.

Seeing the solemn expression on his granddaughter's face, Reginald no longer persists. "In that instance, is there something that you would like?"

"There is something," Rowan sincerely answered. After all, this was exactly what Rowan had been waiting for and planning the entire summer. "Grandfather being the Head of the Prince household, you naturally have many connections. I would be very pleased if you were to arrange a private introduction with Auror Alastor Moody."

Reginald narrows his eyes in surprise and shock. Didn't girls normally want feminine things? Why did his granddaughter wish to meet with a grizzled Auror? After composing himself, he suspiciously inquires, "Is there a reason for such interest?"

"I would like to investigate all career avenues available to me. The Auror path is a possibility," Rowan acknowledged not knowing where the future might take her. It was best to be prepared for any eventualities. "I thought it would be best to get a head start and hear the information directly from the source itself."

"Very well," Reginald relented. It was important to encourage his grandchildren's interests. However, he was unable to shake the feeling that there was something more to the innocent request. "I shall arrange for a short visit at the manor, before your departure to Hogwarts."

"Thank you, grandfather," Rowan gratefully gave her grandfather a hug.

A soft expression flashes across Reginald's face. He gently touches the top of her head, before Rowan releases him. Turning to check on the two children, Reginald sees Lily and Severus return with the cages of two Great Horned Owls. He swiftly moves forward to the counter to pay for the two owls, their food and supplies, and their cages.

The two owl cages are rather large as Lily and Severus are able to hold up the large brown owls. "So, two Great Horned owls, huh? An excellent choice," Rowan remarked, knowing full well that Severus had purposefully selected the same owl as Lily's.

"Thanks. Her name is Nibby," Lily happily said, while the female owl named Nibby gently rubbed her break against Lily's finger.

"Hmm, that certainly explains why she's bigger than Severus's owl," Rowan thought to herself. After all, female Great Horned Owls tend to be much larger than male Greater Horned Owls.

Seeing Lily name her owl, Severus opens his mouth to name his own owl, but Rowan interrupts him. "His name is Owyn. Spelled O-W-Y-N."

Severus glares at Rowan about to snarl something back, when Lily says, "That is rather sweet, I like the name."

Severus's entire demeanor instantly changes as he enthusiastically agrees. "Of course, Owyn is an excellent name!" Rowan smirks at Severus, who shoots her a warning glare. Rowan tactfully decides to keep her comments to herself and stop ruffling Severus's feathers.

The crisp footsteps of their grandfather announced his presence. Reginald returned with food and supplies in hand carefully handing the items to the Evans couple with a concise explanation of the items. Feeling tired, Reginald earnestly escorts them out of Diagon Alley. The Evans couple sincerely thank Reginald Prince and promise to return the favor.

Politely Reginald accepts while Severus and Lily sadly say their goodbyes knowing they won't see each other until the start of the school year. Seeing the two of them so forlorn, Rowan finally snaps. "For heaven's sake you two, the both of you have bloody owls. Just write to each other until September 1st!"

"You're right, Rowan," Lily and Severus excitedly grinned.

The three children say their goodbyes before Lily trots after her parents, and Rowan and Severus return to the enchanted vehicle. In the backseat of the car, Severus grips onto the backseat and his owl for dear life. He wasn't the only one as Rowan did the same thing.

Reginald slams the car trank shut and enters the driver's seat. He puts on black leather gloves and revs up the engine. The car roars like an eager wile beast about to be unleashed upon the unsuspecting population.

Without any word or warning or signaling, Reginald slams on the gas pedal and peels onto the street nearly hitting another car. He drives through the traffic violating every traffic law known to man and even a few that frankly were impossible. By the time, they pulled up at the Prince manor, Rowan had finished mentally singing the entire lyrics of Abide with Me several times, while Severus may or may have not lost consciousness several times.

The two of them emerged rather green in the face, while poor Owyn lay on his side with his legs sticking up in the owl cage. Rowan privately congratulated herself on surviving the death ride from hell as death-defying rollercoasters had nothing on her grandfather. The two of them somehow staggered up the front steps, while Reginald called out to them, "I will have Dawn take your belonging up to your room."

Rowan and Severus both turn even more sickly at the proclamation. Tragically, enough for them, they would need to ride the vehicle in order to get to Platform 9 ¾'s. The true and utter horror.

Feeling a second wind, Severus reaches the front door first to show his new owl to their grandmother. He impatiently waits for Rowan to arrive and open the front door since his hands were full. The second Rowan opens the front door loud voices can be heard from inside. Severus's eagerness is instantly dampened.

Cautious, both Rowan and Severus linger at the door, before stepping inside. This was an atmosphere they were both used to. They only just crept inside the doorway to listen and be ready to rush out of the nearest exit, the door at their backs.

"Why don't you understand mother?!" Eileen screamed. "I couldn't leave I was afraid! I couldn't breathe! I barely could get up every morning! I barely could do magic somedays!"

"You are an adult, Eileen," Sirsa coldly countered. "What you need or want ceased to matter the moment you had children."

Despair fills Eileen's eyes at her mother's word. It was just like when she was younger. No matter, what she said, her mother understood how she felt inside. The tiredness, the emptiness...

Unable to handle much more, Eileen darted up the stairs. "You cannot keep running away, Eileen Snape! You no longer have that luxury! Your children need you!" Sirsa shouted in frustration before her hands fall to her side in discouragement. She never understood her quiet withdrawn daughter.

Eileen had always been wrapped up in her imagination or her books. For a time, she had been the Captain of the Gobstones team at Hogwarts and she seemed to finally come out of her shell. But then in her last year, they began to make plans for Eileen to betrothed. Eileen was vehemently against the idea and became withdrawn again and one day she simply left without so much as a word or a goodbye.

Sighing Sirsa turns away from the staircase only to finally notice her grandchildren. Her face twists with mixed feelings at being caught in such an unruly state. "How long have the two of you been here?" She stiffly asked. No matter how much Eileen made her wring her hands, she did not desire to humiliate her daughter in front of her children.

"A while," Rowan drily responded.

The face of Sirsa falls as this had not been her intention all along. "Your mother has always suffered from Melancholia. I am afraid her time away from home has worsened her condition."

Rowan and Severus are quiet at their grandmother's words. They knew as much without being told. Their mother became more withdrawn and irritable the older they became.

Seeing that neither of the twins reacts or responds, Sirsa's lips move to speak, before she brings her hands forward to grasp them. It had not been her intent to make her grandchildren feel ill at ease. She just worried about Eileen, but nothing she said seemed to ever reach Eileen.

Under this awkward atmosphere, Reginald enters the front hall. Seeing the twins at one side and his wife on the other, he furrows his brow. "Have you already shown, your grandmother, your wands?"

"Not yet," Severus said carefully setting down the cage of Owyn on the carpeted floor. Still wary, he holds up a simple, elegant wand. "Blackthorn with a silver dragon heartstring. 13 1/2 inches."

"A good wand," Sirsa approvingly said trying to set her grandchildren at ease again. She glances over at her granddaughter expectantly.

"Elder with a Thestral core. 13 inches," Rowan held out a gray, blackish wand for her grandmother to see.

Sirsa's eyes flicker as the wandlore phrase taught to all wizard children echoes in her mind, "Wand of elder, never prosper." But she tactfully remains silent on the subject. "An excellent wand as well," she murmured glancing sideways at her husband. "Go on and take your things upstairs. I'm sure the both of you are famished and Dawn simply outdid herself tonight in celebration."

Years of instincts are hard to suppress as Rowan and Severus's backs are rigid, they keep to the walls and dart across the hall and the stairs. It was a habit they had formed in times of trouble. It's hard to be surprised by an abrupt movement from the side if a physical wall is already in place.

The instant the twins are gone, Reginald's face turns cold. "I thought we had agreed, Sirsa, that the children were not to witness your and Eileen's arguments!"

"I didn't intend for them to overhear," Sirsa bristled at her husband's words. "I-," her voice faltered. "Eileen just shuts herself in her room. I know she was hurt by that brute, Reginald, I am not blind!" Her voice breaks in pain. "I want him dead as much as you, but that will not mend the rift between us."

"I-," Sirsa pressed her lips tightly together to control herself. "I know Eileen is hurting, Reginald, but she has her children to think of. She cannot simply ignore them. They still need her."

Reginald comforts his wife and places his hand on her waist. "Give Eileen some time to cool off. She is hurt like a wounded kneazle. She needs time to lick her wounds in peace."

Sirsa numbly nods her head in agreement and leans against her husband to rest. The two of them stand there in the hall resting against each other, before finally moving towards the dining hall. The twins would be down soon and now was not the time for them, but rather to celebrate the new wands of their grandchildren.

Upstairs Rowan washes her hands after carefully having put her wand and purchases away. She dries her hand with a fluffy soft hand towel, before striding across the hall. She leans in the doorway and watches Severus carefully pet the poor traumatized owl.

"So, do you want to talk about it?" Rowan ventured to ask.

"I," Severus's hand drops down into his lap. "I don't know why I even bothered, but I thought that maybe that mum would get better when we got here."

"Mm, magic or not, people are the same wherever they go," Rowan wisely replied, before sitting down next to Severus and leaning against him.

"I know," Severus quietly mumbled leaning back against Rowan.

The two of them sit there in silence until Rowan wraps her arm around Severus. "Sev, you know, that you're stuck with me forever and ever, right?" Rowan brazenly declared.

Severus's face begins to turn light pink and grumbling shoved Rowan's arm off his shoulder. "Who would want to be stuck with you for all eternity?!"

"Oh, ho," Rowan snickered. "Too bad for you, you're stuck with me."

"As if," Severus snapped back.

Seeing the color on Severus's face, Rowans stands up and says, "I'm hungry, aren't you?"

Severus doesn't respond as his stomach answers loudly for him. Rowan chuckles causing Severus to flush even more. The two of them head down the stairs feeling a little lighter than before.