The secrets of Rowan Khanna (Y6 spoilers)

Valentine's day (Chapter 5)

"Are you doing anything for Valentine's day tomorrow, Row?" Nonie asked, while working on a present for Merula.
Rowan shrugged. She had nobody to gift something too... Of course she could make something for Barnaby, but she feared that it would be too forward...
So she'd rather focus on figuring out yet another way to give R new information...
Yes, they were asking for even more. And Rowan was officially out of information she could give them, so she was desperately looking for more.

Yes, Rowan really did have bigger problems then Valentine's day.
To try to get more information, she had started sneaking after Nonie everywhere she went, trying to find out as much as she could.
She had also gotten some information out of Penny, that was more in on it then she was.
Rowan felt pretty gross, stalking her best friend like this... but what other choice did she have..?
Some days, she wondered if she should just come clean to everyone.
If maybe, everybody would understand. Just maybe, they would understand why she did it.
They wouldn't judge, they would figure out a way out of this...

But that was only a dream, Rowan knew that... there was no way that her friends would just forgive over five years of betrayal...
So for now, the only person she could talk to was Myrtle.
And it wasn't like she could do much to help, because she was... well... dead. But it was nice to have someone to discuss it with, at least... Myrtle actually gave smart tips though, she was the one that had come up with the idea of stalking Nonie for info.
She was a Rawenclaw after all, so it made sense.
Rowan started to spend more time with her, wanting to keep her company.
Sometimes she brought her books from the library, even though Madam Pince lectured her about the books smelling mouldy every time she brought them back.

"Barnaby asked me to study with him tomorrow, so I'll be doing that." Rowan said.
Tonks, that was sprawled out on her bed, grinned. "Ah, "studying". Sure."
Rowan blushed, saying that they would really study. After all, Barnaby wasn't even interested in her. Nonie smiled. She wasn't too sure about that anymore.
A few weeks ago Barnaby had proudly told her that he wasn't in love with her anymore, and she strongly suspected that Rowan had something to do with that.
But she was glad. Barnaby liking her had just lead to a lot of heartbreak.

In a very inconspicuous way, Rowan asked Nonie what she was doing right now, with the vaults...
And completely oblivious to her intention, Nonie told her that she was making Amortentia with Penny later, to give to Jae. She needed to trade it with him for... something.
She still tried to keep stuff away from Rowan, just to keep her safe.
Rowan still thought that it was a start. She had gotten quite good at sneaking around, so she could find out what she was trading for it herself...
So she asked it she could help with the potion, in hopes of having an easier time following Nonie after. And to her surprise, her offer was happily accepted.

So later that day, Penny, Nonie and Rowan were hiding in the artefact room, to make the potion.
"Oh, it smells good..." Nonie said. "Like chocolate and coffee... And perfume..."
Penny shook her head, telling her not to smell the potion too much, because it made you feel hazy. Well, hazy and happy.
Rowan lent over the cauldron herself, curious what it would smell like.
To her it smelt like forest, old book pages, like the ones that were already a couple of decades old... and the last smell, well... it was the faint smell of creature food and mossy grass...
It smelled like Barnaby.
Slowly but surely, the smell of the potion started to fill up the room, making Penny woozy too.
Overwhelmed by all the different scents, she decided that the potion was done.
Nonie had just put it in the bottle, when the door opened.

All three of them jumped.
What they were doing right now wasn't really legal, they could get in a lot of trouble for this...
But luckily it was just Barnaby.
The lingering smell of the potion made him stop dead in his tracks. " It smells nice in here. What are you making?"
Nonie grinned, asking him what it smelt like.
Barnaby took a big sniff of the air, and then looked at Rowan that was standing next to him.
"Can you move aside, Rowan..? All I can smell is you."
Blushing, she moved aside.