Finding Heather

Year 6 Chapter 11

Harry potter, his friends, places, etc. belong to JK Rowling, not to me.

Chapter Eleven

 Despite its past efficiency, the Hogwarts rumor mill somehow missed the fact that Justin Finch-Fletchley now had a boyfriend, let alone that his boyfriend was Harry Potter. Either it was too blind to notice the way the two of them looked at each other over the next few days or it just wasn't able to process the idea that two boys could be together. Nonetheless, the weekend came without any whispers following Heather. Try as she might over the past few days, but she hadn't been able to get Hermione alone in order to talk to her.

 She had of course seen Justin plenty during lessons, in which Heather had an even harder time concentrating than normal, but he hadn't asked her out for another date. A small part of Heather worried at this, wondering if he had been put off by her hesitation when he asked her to be his boyfriend. During lessons he was his normal, polite self, except now his face broke out into a grin anytime he looked at her.

 That Saturday morning, Heather got up early and waited at the bottom of the girl's staircase. Several minutes passed before Pavarti Patil emerged, and after asking why Heather was waiting, went to get Hermione. Looking slightly disheveled and none too pleased at being woken this early on a weekend, her annoyance vanished at the look on Heather's face. Quickly she returned to her dormitory to dress and was back downstairs, following Heather out of the portrait hole. Heather wasted no time in leading her towards the Room of Requirement, with Hermione having to almost run in order to keep up with her.

When they turned the corner into the section of corridor that hid the door, Heather came to an abrupt stop, Hermione just missing running into her. There, halfway along the passage was a small girl in Slytherin robes holding a pair of brass scales. She looked to be about first year and didn't look too pleased. At the sight of Heather and Hermione, the girl shrieked and threw the scales into the air. They hit the floor with a resounding clang! And broke into several pieces.

 Half vexed at being unable to get into the room, as the girl just happened to be standing right outside the door, Heather followed Hermione over to her. "There, there" said Hermione, attempting to soothe her. With a wave of her wand, she mended the scales and handed them back to the little girl. She didn't say anything, just stared with wide eyes up at them before scampering off in the opposite direction.

"That was strange" said Hermione when she had gone.

"Yeah" replied Heather absently. She had already started pacing back and forth in front of where the door was hidden. To her utter frustration, after her third pass the blank stretch of wall remained exactly that. Heather tried three more times to get the door to appear before giving up and storming off. With Hermione trailing in her wake again, she made her way through the castle, past their usual hideout, and out into the grounds.

 It was still dark, the sky a deep leaden gray overhead, and a brisk wind cutting through their robes. With everything she was feeling Heather barely noticed it, but she could hear Hermione shivering behind her as they walked. Hermione didn't say anything as she followed Heather towards the empty quidditch pitch, the two of them climbing up the steps to one of the tall towers that ringed the field. Up that high Heather was sure that no one would accidentally come across them, even if it was freezing cold. The upcoming match between Gryffindor and Slytherin was only a few weeks away and Gryffindor had booked the pitch for that afternoon.

In several short sentences, Heather explained what had been on her mind since Tuesday. As she spoke Hermione's face went from exhilarated, to pondering.

"So, what are you going to do?" she asked when Heather was done talking.

"That's what I need help with!" said Heather frantically, "I've got no idea. I mean I obviously like him, but is he going to like me when he finds out the truth?"