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Hannah Abbot was not the only student to be withdrawn from school in the following days.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.
"Well, would you like to go to Hogsmeade with me?" Justin asked.
It took Heather several moments of stunned silence to realize she hadn't dreamed the words. "What?" she asked, not daring to believe it.
Justin grinned at what Heather could only imagine was a look of complete incredulity on her face. "I asked you if you'd like to go to Hogsmeade with me. The first trip of the year is in a few weeks."
"Y-you mean like as a date?" Heather asked
"If you'd like, yeah." Justin said, grinning even more.
"But, uh-" she cut off, not wanting to reveal what Hannah had told her a few weeks beforehand.
"-won't that be weird?"
"Maybe a little, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try it anyway." Justin said reassuringly.
Heather could only nod slowly, resisting the urge to pinch her arm.
"Great, see you around then." Justin said before heading off towards the stairs down to the first floor. Ernie, who must have known what Justin was doing, smiled at Heather as he joined his friend.
Heather stood there numbly, not quite trusting her legs to support her if she attempted to move. Emotions were bursting inside of like firecrackers at the prospect of going on a date. Hermione reached out a hand to touch her and Heather jumped almost a foot in the air, she hadn't seen her approach.
"Is what just happened what I think just happened?" she asked Heather.
"He wants to go on a date with me" Heather said, the words not seeming real even after saying them.
"Heather!" Hermione whispered excitedly, "That's fantastic."
Their lessons being over for the day, the two girls grabbed Ginny as she was coming down to dinner after History of Magic and informed her of this latest development. After a hurried dinner in which Heather ate very little, she ran back up to Gryffindor tower and retrieved a bag of clothes. Unlike last time she had tried, the Room of Requirement let her into her haven, and she, Hermione, and Ginny settled in. Ginny wanted details about everything.
"I can't really believe he actually asked me" admitted Heater, then told them about her conversation with Hannah.
"Well, either she was able to convince him before she left, or he came around on his own." Suggested Ginny. "Now, here's the real question. What are you doing to tell him about Heather?"
Heather hadn't even considered this. So remote had the possibility of actually being asked out by him been, she hadn't taken the time to decide how she would handle this.
"For right now he'll date Harry" she said, "If things go well maybe I'll tell him. But Hannah said he doesn't like girls so maybe I shouldn't say anything."
"I'd say take it one step at a time" added Hermione.
"So, you won't be wearing a cute dress or anything for him?" suggested Ginny, grinning with her mischievous smile.
"Definitely not" grinned Heather, allowing herself a moment to imagine that particular image.
The subject of clothes having been brought up; Ginny dragged her into the large walk in closet to find anything she could wear in there. As most of those clothes were obviously feminine, they attempted to find the least girly outfit, that was still cute, and modify them. Over her bra and knickers, Heather pulled on the outfit that had been selected. After several rounds of options had been discarded, the winning set was a pair of jeans that Ginny swore did not look like they were for a girl, but that still did a job of showing off every curve of her bottom, topped with a close-fitting t shirt and jumper. When she pulled the jumper over her head and into place, heather was concerned that her bra would be felt through it if Justin went to touch her, but Ginny tested it and said she felt nothing.
Lost in the enjoyment of getting Heather ready for her first date, even if it was as Harry, Ginny lost no time in helping her decide on how she would do her hair. The idea was suggested of some jewelry, but Heather ended that at once. As a consolation, Ginny got her to agree to a light dash of make up, nothing that anyone would notice unless they were looking for it.
When the three girls finally left the Room of Requirement that night and returned to the common room it was almost curfew. Neatly folded in her bag was the outfit that they had set up for her date. As they walked, she kept sliding her hand into it, feeling the softness of the jumper, relishing in her excitement. As they entered the portrait hole, all three of them stopped dead. There, in full view of the common room, arms tightly entwined around each other, were Ron and Lavender. Heather had seen people snogging before, but what Ron and Lavender were doing looked more like each one attempting to suck the face off the other person. Ginny let out a sound of disgust and moved to go sit with some friends from her year. Hermione stormed across the room and up the staircase to her dormitory without another word.
Heather looked around the crowded room. Everyone she looked like they were doing their best to ignore the ongoing activities, with the exception of a group of first year boys who were watching enthralled. The only other person who looked how she felt was Pavarti, who was sitting a few feet away from her best friend. On a whim Heather walked over and took the empty seat next to her.
"Do I even want to know how that started?" she asked bemused.
"Probably best if you don't" Pavarti replied. "How are they managing to breathe?" she asked.
"I think I'm better off not knowing that either" replied Heather, making Pavarti laugh. It had been a while since Heather had talked to her, but she hadn't forgotten the conversation they had had two years ago at the Yule Ball. That had been the first night that Heather had ever done something with a boy, even though he was at the dance with her. She hadn't minded however, but had instead given her some very good advice.
"Should I be taking notes?" Heather asked as a joke, not wanting the conversation to end.
"No way. Why, do you have someone to snog?" Pavarti asked, also trying to joke. Heather tried to keep the blush from reaching her cheek, but as usual her face betrayed her. In whispered tones, she told Pavarti about her upcoming date, asking her to keep it to herself.
"Of course!" she said.
Every time Heather saw Justin over the next few days a small thrill would race up and down her spine. She found that her hands had lost some of their ability to hold things correctly around him, and even knocked over her cauldron once in a fit of nerves.
"Oh, you've got it bad" whispered Hermione as she helped her clean up the mess. Heather could only blush in response and try not look at Justin.