The secrets of Rowan Khanna (Y6 spoilers)

Deception (Chapter 8)

Helpless, Rowan watched as the members of R put the finishing touches on their polyjuice potion. It was ready just in time to pull of their plan...
With a malicious grin, one of them walked over to her, and plucked a long black hair off Rowan's head. Rowan couldn't help but weep. There wasn't much she could do anyway... She had been here for five days. And those five days had been full of mental torture. Rakepick kept pressing Rowan for more and more information. The threats got harsher every time as well, and Rowan didn't know what to do... she had little to tell her by now, she was all out of information...
Every other day, Rowan had been kept in a sort of cellar that had nothing in it except for a chair, that she was being kept in day and night, except for a trip to the bathroom every now and then.
The other thing in the room was a tiny window, that Rowan could barely see through. She could only really tell the difference between day and night.
But today, they had brought her up here so she could see what they were doing. It was another one of Rakepick's ways to show Rowan that she was not in control. She would never be in control here.

That witch put Rowan's hair in the potion, and drank it immediately.
And Rowan watched her turn into an exact copy of herself, her clothes becoming too baggy due to Rowan's smaller statue.
Then she started to take Rowan's cloak off, to wear it herself.
"Why are you doing this..?" Rowan whispered. "Don't you want to live..?"
She just couldn't believe that someone would willingly die just to deceive others...
But the witch just shook her head, saying that Rowan wouldn't understand.
Then she took of her glasses, so that the the deception would be complete.
Rowan lowered her head. There was nothing she could do to stop this, could she..?

Nonie was getting ready to head to the forest grove, to spy on R's meeting. She was still devastated because of Rowan, but this needed to be done today... they couldn't miss this opportunity.
So Nonie, Merula and Ben headed deep into the forest, until they had arrived at the forest grove..
Nonie couldn't focus. She kept thinking of Rowan. It had been five days, and nobody had seen any trace of her. Nothing, it was like she had just... vanished. They did find Barnaby Jr. though, which had made Barnaby feel a tiny bit better. He had missed his pet, and had worried about him too. 

Nonie knew that she should probably not care what had happend to her former friend, the one that had betrayed her, but she couldn't help it. She wondered if Rowan was okay... Where she might have gone now. Had she run back to R like Merula had said? Nonie wondered if Rowan really had been blackmailed... and if her former friend might have actually genuinely been a nice person, just influenced and forced into being a traitor... 

Merula would scold Nonie for having thoughts like this, she would say that Khanna was just a horrible person and nothing else, Nonie should stop acting like the world was all rainbows and unicorns.
Suddenly, Nonie heard someone snap their fingers in front of her face.
"Focus Star! We're not here for fun! FOCUS!" It was Merula, of course.
Nonie sighed, and lowered her head. This was all so stupid... she just wanted to go back to her dorm room, and forget that R and Rakepick ever existed. Even though that was pretty hard, when there was the constant reminder of Rowan's empty bed...
Merula looked at Nonie. And with a huge sigh, she grabbed her hand. "Focus..."
Her former girlfriend looked at her, still seeming sad and far away...

"Why are you doing this..? I want to go home..." Rowan said, her voice cracking. "Please, I- I want to see my family..."
Rakepick didn't even flinch, as she tied her back to the chair in the basement. "Don't make so much noise. We've been over this. Nobody will hear you scream, so shut you mouth."
And Rowan obliged. Rakepick had slapped her across the face before, with so much force that her glasses had flown off. Even days later, she still had a red mark on her cheek.
And all the bruises from the way other members of R treated her, it was... No, Rowan didn't want to experience even more of it, if it was avoidable...