White Heather for Protection

New Beginnings

'Our home.' Yeah, she could get used to that.

~~~

It was a cosy little place. It didn't span a lot of the grounds. Heather had ordered it made according to Hadrian's specifications. Tall, he'd wanted, so it was built upwards instead of outwards.

The first floor had the kitchen, a dining room and the sitting room. Though she'd added a dining room, they would probably eat at the island in the kitchen most of the time.

The second floor held their bedrooms with en-suites and a study-cum-library. She had been hesitant to give them their own bedrooms, but she knew Hadrian wouldn't be comfortable sleeping together forever. The library was one of the biggest rooms in the house. She had foreseen that they would need all the space.

The third floor was actually a roomy attic with a loft and balcony that she'd left empty for Rian to decorate. She would let him have free reign of this space since he liked being high up. He'd been ecstatic about living in Gryffindor Tower. That was also why he enjoyed flying so much.

There was also a basement floor which she'd converted into a potions lab. It didn't have much yet since she was still restricted to basic ingredients. When she got her OWL next year, the lab would be much better stocked.

Outside the house was a decent-sized yard where Heather planned to plant an herb garden. Maybe some lilies as well. The forest surrounding them was rather dense. When she'd said 'walking distance from the Burrow', it was strictly in terms of distance. It wasn't safe enough for them to traverse through the forest. The goblins had really taken her seriously when she'd said somewhere difficult to get to. Only she and her brother were keyed into the wards here. Other people could only enter if they had express permission to, and only for that one time.

~~~

"Magnificent Hadrian Potter and Splendid Heather Potter, dinner is being served!"

Hadrian jerked in surprise at the sudden arrival of a familiar house elf. "Dobby!"

"Yes, Master Hadrian. Dobby is Potter elf now!"

Her brother turned to her in question. Heather nodded her head wearily. "He was very insistent. Somehow, Dobby knew that I'd bought a house for us. That was why he said that he wanted to serve us."

"Elfs know these things, Mistress Heather. Dinner awaits. You two need fattening!" he said disapprovingly.

"At least you got him to call us by our first names. Sort of," Rian muttered.

~~~

"Oh my!" Mrs Weasley exclaimed. "This is lovely!"

"Yeah, wicked!"

"Awesome place!"

"Brill'!"

The Weasleys made various sounds of approval and amazement when they stepped through the floo.

"How did you manage all this, Heather? You're not seventeen yet," Mr Weasley said.

Hadrian launched into an eager explanation of the process that had Heather rolling her eyes.

"Don't listen to him; he's exaggerating. What's important is that I'm considered of age now."

"Still, this is impressive," the man praised. "It must have been horribly tedious to jump through the Ministry's hoops." He would know, of course, working for the Ministry as he was.

"Actually, the goblins handled almost everything," she admitted.

"Who cares who-" George cut in,

"-did what? You're free!" Fred said.