Despite the peace and normalness of the past weeks, Heather was tense as she carried out her daily activities. Her teaching duties were going smoothly, as were her potion studies. Yet, she just couldn't help but feel that something was going to happen, and soon.
It was like the calm before the storm.
The news that Severus had shared with her about Hadrian had certainly not helped her state of mind. With the knowledge she now held, she was stuck in the spot. Should she tell Rian about what she'd learnt? Or would it be better to keep it from him until she and Severus had found a solution to the problem?
Her brother had enough to worry about without adding this to the list. She could only imagine how horrified he would feel to find out something like that. She had been utterly appalled herself, and it wasn't even her that was involved.
No, she didn't think Hadrian really needed to know yet. Not until the solution was found. And it would be found. The alternative was unacceptable. Between Severus and her, they would definitely be able to unearth something that Dumbledore hadn't. In fact, she doubted the old man had bothered trying. As long as he got the result he wanted, he would sacrifice anything. With him, the ends justified the means. It was why Dumbledore had tried to coerce them both into returning to the Dursleys, despite knowing about the abuse. It was why he had ordered Severus to kill him, despite his protests and reluctance. And it was why he was going to send Hadrian to his death.
Heather hated Dumbledore. The man professed to care for them, indeed, for all his students, and yet it seemed everything he did put them in danger. He pasted on that twinkle in his eyes, that benevolent smile, and everyone thought he was just a kindly old grandfather. It sickened, her, really.
Before this year, she hadn't really detested him this much, but now, with what he was doing to Severus and Hadrian, all she wanted to do was just wring his neck. She would gladly kill the man in Severus' stead, so angry she was.
She wanted to storm up to him in his office, give him a piece of her mind. Let him know exactly what she was thinking with regards to his manipulations and scheming. People were not pawns for him to move around, all for his own version of the Greater Good.
As much as she hated to admit, however, she knew that things needed to go according to plan for now. She couldn't let on that she knew about his plans for Severus, not when she wasn't sure what the detestable old man would try to do to interfere.
Dumbledore was dying, no two ways about it. But Severus needed to be the one to finish him off to secure his role as Voldemort's spy. Her mentor would hate himself for it, but she would be damned if she wasn't there afterwards to support him.
Heather had never made a secret of how little she liked Dumbledore, so if in the past few weeks she had been cold, bordering on rude, to the Headmaster, then no one paid any mind to it. Least of all the man himself. He had more important things on his mind, after all, such as plotting the sacrifice of her baby brother.
A subtle hand on her knee stopped the sneer that had been forming on her face. She faced Severus, dipping her head a little to show she understood. Turning her attention back to her breakfast, she berated herself for her slip in control. It was one thing to be flippant towards Dumbledore, and another entirely to be outrightly hostile. Especially considering that she was a Slytherin and that the other man was regarded as the leader of the Light side. It might send the wrong signals about her side in the war, and she definitely didn't need people questioning that.
The large flock of owls that came flying in through the large windows – built into the Great Hall for that very purpose – was always a sight to behold. Despite witnessing it countless times, the flurry of multicoloured feathers that fluttered in and spread throughout the hall never failed to bring her spirits up, at least a little. She wasn't surprised to see a spot of white separate from the group to dovetail towards her seat. She stretched her arm out just as Hedwig swooped by her, perfectly coordinated after years of practice. She didn't even flinch as sharp talons dug into her forearm, having placed a localised shield on the area.
She cooed at her owl, gladly feeding her bits of bacon and sausage. Hedwig, as always, gobbled them up eagerly, though neatly. Her owl was such a fussy bird, with better table manners than some of the students she'd seen.
"You pamper that bird too much," Severus remarked dryly, shaking his head a little.
Heather resisted the childish urge to stick her tongue out at the man. "I only pamper her as much as she deserves," she replied reaching up to stroke Hedwig's beautiful feathers, "Isn't that right, girl?"
Her owl gave a bark, looking smugly at Severus. Heather suppressed a giggle at the offence on Severus' face and rewarded her darling owl with another strip of bacon.
She looked through her letters, finding one from Bill which she had been expecting, and a monthly update from Gringotts. The third letter was strange, however. It bore no name but her own, so she didn't know the sender. She was slightly curious, but put it aside for later. She had stopped opening her mail at the table, preferring the privacy of her rooms to read her correspondence.
With one last pat to Hedwig, her owl flew off. She finished her breakfast soon after and started scanning the tables for a particular Gryffindor. Her eyes landed on the fifth year, Robin Hearth, who had been making trouble in class. Severus had been livid with him, giving him a weeks' worth of detention. Including the weekend.
Heather gave the boy a pointed look to remind him of his detention. Poor sucker, stuck doing drudge work on a Saturday. Even though it was half an hour before he was expected, he jumped out of his seat and scurried after her as she walked out of the hall.
Seemed like he was still cowed by the fierce dressing down Severus had rained down upon him. Good; he shouldn't have been aiming spells at his classmates' unsuspecting backs.
The Defence classroom was an utter mess, courtesy of the seventh years' mock duelling sessions. There was rubble everywhere, unidentifiable stains on the floor and walls and strange items like lampshades and doorknobs that some had conjured in creative attempts to throw off their opponents. She immediately set Hearth to clean up duty, warning against the use of magic to help him. She could get the room back to rights with a flick of her wand, maybe not even that. But what was the point in that? It wouldn't be a very effective punishment that way.
The groan that her student let out was not quite quiet enough to go by unnoticed and she had to hide a smile as she walked over to the teacher's desk at the front of the room. Becoming an assistant professor had made her a bit more sadistic, she realised.
Seeing that Hearth was doing fine on his own, she was about to start on some of her own work when she remembered the strange letter she'd gotten. Well, Hearth wasn't paying her any attention at the moment. In fact, he seemed to be cursing under his breath as he tried to scrub slime off the floor. As such, she got out the letter and flicked it open with ease.
What she read made her blood freeze in her veins.
DE INVASION 1200 HOURS
She hadn't realised she'd made a noise until Hearth spoke up.
"Um, Miss Potter? You okay?"
Blinking rapidly, she crushed the paper in her hands and stuffed it in her pocket. "Fine, fine. Mr Hearth, I need to step out for just a moment." Pinning the boy with a look, she warned, "If I see that you are slacking off when I get back, you will make up for it next weekend as well." Thatwas sure to keep the boy in line.
With as much poise as she could muster in her frazzled state, she strode out of the room and into the nearest empty classroom. Locking the door and putting up a privacy ward, she summoned Mipsy and Dobby. The two house elves responded quickly, popping into the room.
"Mistress Heather!" two high pitched voices cried.
She barely gave a twitch at that, giving them both nods of greeting. Her solemn expression was noted by the two elves, who promptly settled down to await her instructions.
"Mipsy, Dobby, do you two remember the evacuation procedures I taught you?"
Their large eyes widened even further, looking in real danger of popping out of their sockets. They bobbed their heads vigorously, even as they wringed their hands in nervousness.
"Is Hogwarts being attacked, Mistress Heather?" Dobby asked, worried. Even Mipsy, who would normally baulk at questioning her 'masters', looked to her for the answer.
Heather clenched her fists as she said, "Possibly, though I'm not entirely certain. But we need to err on the side of caution."
The two understood, of course, and with assurances that they would warn all the other house elves, disappeared again to prepare for their duties.
Well, that was one thing down. She wasn't done yet, however. She retrieved her DA coin from deep in her pockets and activated the evacuation signal, keying in the time for 12pm today. With that, she knew each and every member's coin would be buzzing and glowing red, showing the stipulated timing.
She and the others had started planning the moment it occurred to them that Voldemort would possibly try to invade Hogwarts. It was imperative that they keep the students safe in the event that it occurred. Hopefully, with all their efforts, none of the students would get hurt. It was about quarter past nine right now, so that gave them less than three hours to prepare.
Her mind was racing as she thought frantically of what else she needed to do. Right, first, find the other DA members. Make sure they knew their roles. With great frustration, she remembered that Hearth was still having detention.
She marched right back to the Defence classroom and ordered Hearth to report to the Charms classroom where she knew Professor Flitwick was also holding a detention. She was sure the cheerful teacher wouldn't mind taking on an extra student for one session. She'd make it up to him later.
There was no time to waste! She was about to go look for Hadrian and his friends when his patronus found her first. She was relieved for all of one second, when she heard his message.
"No time to explain, Dumbledore took me out of the castle to hunt down a horcrux. Don't worry, I'll stay safe."
Hadrian was whispering hurriedly, as if trying to keep it from Dumbledore. Her heart dropped to her stomach, thinking of what she'd learnt about the man recently. She then shook her head. No, it wasn't time yet. Dumbledore wouldn't drag Hadrian to his death, not yet. She had to force herself to believe it, or she wouldn't be able to focus on what she was doing now.
She sent the patronus back with a message for Rian to check his coin. They couldn't afford for Dumbledore to be away during the invasion. The Headmaster needed to be here to help fend off the Deatheaters! Hopefully they would get back soon. The horcrux was important, but this was more urgent!
As she walked through the school, she passed a few of the DA recruits, who all looked at her with expressions of inquiry, worry, hesitation, disbelief. All she could do was nod grimly at them, confirming the message. She trusted them all to follow the protocol; it'd been drilled into them again and again during practice.
Hermione, Ron and Ginny were thankfully together when she finally found them.
"Hadrian's with Dumbledore," Hermione informed her when she walked up to them.
"Yes, I know. They're out of the school, but I sent a message to him to let him know what's going on."
"Were you the one who sounded off the alarm?" Ginny asked.
Heather nodded. "I received a tip off."
"A tip off?" Ron repeated, looking dubious. "How'd you know it's real?"
Privately, Heather had a suspicion on who it was. She wasn't going to reveal them, though, knowing the others wouldn't trust anything from her source.
"I'm fairly sure it's real," she stated. "Besides, I don't want to chance something like this."
"She's right, Ron," Hermione said, "Better safe than sorry."
"Yeah, we could always play it off as a prank or something if nothing happens," Ginny added, shrugging.
Heather agreed with her. Ron and Ginny were related to Fred and George, after all.
"Alright," Ron said, "The plan hasn't changed, right? The elves have been alerted?"
"Yeah, I did that before doing the coins. They know what to do."
"Good," Hermione said, "I'll go check on the Ravenclaws. We only have slightly more than two hours left."
"Hufflepuffs," Ginny volunteered.
"Okay, I'll do Gryffindors, then," Ron said.
Heather nodded, not needing to say that she would check on the Slytherins. They all separated to do their own tasks.
~~~
There was something in the air that made Severus uneasy. He had not survived this long as a spy without listening to his instincts, and his instincts were screaming. Something was about to happen, and whatever it was, it was serious. Dangerously so.
The damnable problem was, he did not know what itwas. If he had the slightest inkling, he could at least make some preparations. As it was, all he could do was stock up his emergency potions kit and don on his lightweight duelling robes. They looked exactly like his regular teaching ones, of course, down to the cut and colour. No need to tip off anyone who was paying attention. The type of attire one wore to battle could make all the difference in whether they survived or not.
Worse still, Severus hated waiting. Oh, there were certainly times when his duties called for patience. That did not mean he enjoyed it. In the quiet periods between bursts of action, he felt too restless, redundant. There was too much for him to do without wasting such time. It was why he was leaving his quarters for his office on a weekend such as this. Even grading inadequate essays was better than simply languishing in his room.
He was unsurprised to find the office already occupied when he arrived. His apprentice had made it a habit of utilising her space there even on Saturdays when no office hours were held. Unlike him, she did not mind it if students intruded on her off time to ask inane questions that they would have known the answers to had they bothered to read their assigned material.
What he was surprised by, was the distress exuding from the young woman.
"Professor- I mean, Severus!" Heather said, stilling in her movements.
She had not made such a slip up with his name since the early weeks of her apprenticeship. It let him know just how frazzled her state of mind must be. As did the ruined quill in her hands, which bore obvious signs of nervous fiddling.
"I knew I forgot something!" Heather muttered under her breath, looking frustrated with herself.
"Is there a problem?" he ventured cautiously. He realised that it was likely related to his own bad feeling about today.
Heather finally dropped the quill and ran a shaky hand through her hair. "I received a letter today." She rummaged through her pockets and produced a crumpled-up ball of paper. One blink later and she seemed to have smoothed it out back to its pristine state with magic.
He was curious about what the contents of the note could possibly be, to evoke such a strong reaction in his normally unflappable Slytherin. When he summoned it from her and read it himself, he realised that Heather's reaction was rather tame in light of the information she had. In fact, someone with a lesser constitution may have fainted in response to such odious news. He closed his eyes, then opened them again to make sure. Indeed, he had read correctly the first time.
The words were obviously written with a Quick Quotes Quill or some other form of charmed stationery. No identifying flourishes in handwriting, just simple, perfectly regular block lettering. The paper was thin, but of fine quality. Something that a lady might use for an invitation to tea.
"Severus?"
Heather's voice snapped him out of his analysis of the letter. He looked back up into her worried gaze and immediately felt dread. "Excuse me, I need to go find Albus."
"Wait," her word stopped him in his tracks, "Dumbledore isn't in the school. He's taken Hadrian with him to find a horcrux." Immediately his thoughts flew to the worst, but logic soon cut in with its cold sharpness. Heather would not be sitting here should there be any danger to her brother's life at the moment. She looked unhappy with Albus' actions, but nowhere near devastated or furious. What was more important right now was the imminent invasion.
"The students!" Something very much like panic bubbled at the base of his abdomen. "We need to start evacuating." In his mind, he started planning how to get the students to cooperate without terrifying them. Minerva needed to be informed, as the next authority in charge when Albus was away. Pomona and Filius as well.
"Severus!" Heather snapped as she stood. She rounded her desk to stand directly in front of him. "Listen, calm down. The students will be safe. We've already anticipated an emergency evacuation might be needed and already made the necessary preparations."
He eyed her dubiously. "Who is this 'we' you are referring to?"
"Hadrian and I, Fred and George, Ron, Hermione and Ginny," she listed.
"Forgive me if I am not entirely confident in a plan created by a group consisting mostly children," he scoffed. "Tell me then, what is this plan of yours?"
Heather gave him a doleful look which he did not react to. There was no playing with the lives of all the children in the castle. He would damn well poke and prod at the plans to make sure there were no holes that could be taken advantage of.
"The house elves will be popping all the students back to their respective house rooms at the first sign of an attack. In each house there are a few students who have been entrusted with a set of wardstones that will bar further entry andexit through the common room doors."
Severus admitted reluctantly, if only to himself, that it was a more comprehensive strategy than the one currently in place. The use of house elves was creative, as many wizards underestimated their usefulness and often disregarded them in the grand scheme of things. He knew that the elves were capable of transporting up to three people with them at a time, and with the hundreds of elves in Hogwarts' employ, it would be more than enough for all the students.
There was one thing he was not quite so sure of, however.
"The wardstones you mentioned, how confident are you that they will be strong enough to withstand the concerted efforts of several Deatheaters?" He, more than most, knew the proficiency with which Heather wielded magic, runic magic in particular. However, she had no formal training in Ward Weaving nor the specialised instruction of an Ancient Runes Mastery. He did not know exactly which Deatheaters would be deployed for this attack, but he knew that there were some skilled wardsmiths in the Dark Lord's army.
Heather nodded, as if she had expected such a question. "I had Bill's help with the creation of the stones. The ones I gave you for Christmas were merely a few of my first attempts. He's taught me a lot about the intricacies of weaving multiple ward layers and even trap layers, which I implemented in the stones I gave to the students. I even had him, Fred and George test them after I was done to make sure nothing they did could break the barriers. Plus, the beauty of wardstones is that they are infinitely more difficult to break if you can't destroy the stones themselves. The way I designed the wards was such that intruders would have to get into the common rooms before they could get to the wardstones. But the wards would prevent that from happening in the first place."
Suddenly, Severus understood the genius of it all. "Usually, a ward that is shaped to cover all sides needs the ward stones to be placed on its external borders, thus leaving them vulnerable. However, as the common rooms were built to be the strongest and most indestructible parts of the castle to protect the students, the ward you designed need only be a straight wall that blocks off the entrance. Hence, you could place the stones on either side of the wall, as it is a two-way ward."
Smiling tightly, Heather nodded. "Exactly. Additionally, I've placed misdirection and repelling wards in the hallway near the common rooms to try and throw any enemies off track."
"How will the teachers be able to reach the students, then?"
"Ideally, via house elf or patronus message. The wards cannot be dismantled without certain signals from all the master stones that Fred, George and I hold. This way, the students inside also can't try to play the hero and rush out into danger."
Despite the gravity of the situation, Severus felt his mouth twitch in humour. There were certainly some students he could name that would do such a thing, most of them from a certain house of lions.
"I must admit," Severus said, "I am surprised that you and your friends had the forethought to do such detailed planning for such a scenario."
Heather looked rather pleased at the compliment, as she should. It was certainly a more useful contribution than what most of the Order members provided. Her expression soon turned pensive. "Do you think Draco will make his move today?" she asked.
His heart turned leaden at the change in topic. "There is a high probability that he will. Albus may be gone now, but there may yet be a confrontation between them when he returns with your brother." And soon, it would be Severus' turn to fulfil his vows.
Heather's lip thinned in concern. "Draco...Draco...he's very desperate. He cannot fail, but he does not want to succeed either, I don't think. I believe he may have been the one to send me the letter."
"Indeed. That silly boy." His heart was not in it, however. Had Draco not done so, no doubt countless more lives would be lost in the coming skirmish.
"Severus..."
He turned his gaze to her. The concern she felt for him was palpable.
"I need to do what is necessary," he said in response to her unasked question, "Worry not for me."
"Don't ask me not to worry!" she burst out, "I can't help butworry, because I care for you!"
He felt himself soften at the words. There were few people that genuinely cared about him, difficult as he was.
"And I thank you for that, but I do not wish for you to be distracted today. I know you will be right in the middle of the fighting – you wouldn't let anyone stop you from that – and you cannot afford to be anything less than completely focussed."
Heather shook her head. "Don't you know? People fight best when they're fighting for those they lo- care for." Her cheeks flushed crimson at the stutter, though she met his eyes head on.
If he did not know better, he would think that Heather had meant to say- No, that was not important at the moment. Such foolishness was not needed when there was an upcoming attack on the school.
In the next moment, Heather ducked her head and fished through her pockets. She brought out an object that looked very much like a galleon. It was glowing a faint yellow.
It must have meant something to her, for she clenched her jaw briefly before saying, "It's started."
He did not question how she came to such a conclusion. There was hardly enough time to waste on such pointless endeavours. As he turned to leave, a hand on his arm paused his movements.
"Wait," Heather said softly. He peered down at her somewhat impatiently. She was utterly immune to it, simply staring right back at him. After a second, she whispered, almost too low to hear, "Stay safe."
He did not reply, for he did not make promises he was not sure he could keep. For her sake, he managed a tightlipped smile. Heather nodded in understanding. He was probably not as surprised as he should have been when she leant up to brush a chaste kiss against the corner of his lips. If anything, he had almost hoped- expected it. His heart gave a jerk, but he refused to contemplate further on the matter.
Taking her hand off his arm, he squeezed it gently and let it fall. Then, he walked out without turning back.
The place where Heather's lips had touched him was still warm. It was almost enough to calm the frenetic staccato of his heart.