Finding Heather

Year 6 Chapter 8

As much as I wish it were, Harry Potter does not belong to me but to JK Rowling, even if she would probably hate what I'm doing with her characters.

Chapter Eight

 Hannah Abbot was not the only student to be withdrawn from school in the following days. Eloise Midgen was taken away from the castle by her father early the next morning. Daily it seemed there was a new death or disappearance on the cover of the Daily Prophet, more often than not being someone related to a Hogwarts student. When the day came for Heather's second dose of potion, she drank it with far more trepidation than she had the first time around. Thankfully it seemed that whatever had happened last time was not going to repeat itself as strongly. Looking at herself in the mirror she still felt the same desire to cover up, but the aches and pains did not return.

 With her new insight on Justin, Heather didn't try as hard to get his attention for the first few days after Hannah left. Both he and Ernie seemed down with the loss of their friend and what she must be going through. Meanwhile, Lavender seemed determined to win Ron's affections. She was coming down to the pitch during practices to cheer him on and spending even more time near him. Hermione was still not taking this well and had even started giving Ron a chilly attitude. This forced Heather to resume her old role of the bridge between them that she'd had to play before, trying her best to hold their friendship together. She could see plain as day on Hermione's face that she liked Ron, though it was doubtful he was aware of it at all.

 In an effort to distract herself from her crush on Justin, Heather spent hours reading through the Half-Blood Prince's old textbook. Much more of a bookworm than she used to be, this didn't elicit much reaction from her friends, except for Hermione being absolutely unwilling to discuss anything about it. There were more than just potions notes scribbled in the margins. Apparently, the previous owner had dabbled in spell creation. On several pages there were scrawled hexes and charms, most without any notes on what exactly they did.

 Early in October Heather was sitting in Charms trying to ignore how freezing it was. Flitwick had lifted his usual warming charm on the room, as that was the spell they were attempting to master. Over at their table, Hermione had obviously mastered the charm, as she looked far more comfortable than Ron, Lavender, or Pavarti. Heather was having less success. Whenever she cast the charm on herself, it would heat her feet or her arms, but never her entire body.

 Frustrated and shaking with cold, she waved her wand in an overly aggressive arc, resulting in it flying out of her hand and across the table. Justin knelt down to pick it up and handed it back to her, making her fill with a warmth that had little to do with any charm she may have inadvertently cast. Her face must have shown her emotions because Justin quickly released her wand and turned away.

 Blushing furiously at what had just happened, Heather fled the room, grabbing Hermione, as the lesson ended. Contemplating skipping dinner so there was no chance of having to see Justin, she was halfway down the corridor before she felt Hermione tugging on her sleeve. Looking around her heart dropped as she saw Justin rushing to catch up with them.

"Hey, Harry. Can I uh- have a word?" Justin asked as he reached them.

Even though she really didn't want to compound her embarrassment, Heather nodded. She allowed Justin to lead her back towards the Charms classroom, away from prying ears. Heather turned to face him when he stopped, not quite able to bring herself to look him in the eyes.

"So, uh, I may be completely off base here, but I get the feeling you, uh, like me." Said Justin, stammering over his words a few times.

Heather's heart was pounding, waiting to be told off or worse, be called something extremely foul. "Yeah, I kinda do." She mumbled.