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?"

"Well, how would you feel telling him about Heather?" Hermione asked tentatively.

"I think he's going to dump me and tell everyone." Heather answered morosely.

"Listen, here's what I think you should do. Take this one step at a time. I mean, you said it yourself you've pretty much dressed like a girl both times you have gone out, and he hasn't minded, so maybe he's ok with you being feminine. Why not keep doing that for the next few dates and see how he reacts. If you get the feeling that he would accept you for who you are, then tell him. If he won't, then you don't really want to be with him anyway."

Heather considered her friends words. It was as good advice as she was probably going to get, and it made sense. By now the sun had come out over the mountains but so far it had done little to warm the grounds. Heather realized that her body was stiff and almost frozen to the wooden board she was sitting on. Wishing again for her cloak, she and Hermione made their way back up to school.

Quidditch practice went far better than Heather had been willing to hope. The team had finally found its rhythm, even with the addition of Dean Thomas who was filling in for Katie Bell. Ron's goal keeping had improved significantly as his confidence from the previous season returned, although his concentration would sometimes slip if he made a mistake. It was only two weeks until their first match, and Heather thought that they might just squeeze out a victory.

That evening as she was eating dinner, Justin caught her eye from the Hufflepuff table. Subtly he gestured with his head at the Entrance Hall and held up five fingers, which Heather took to mean meet him out there in five minutes. Excitedly she excused herself from a conversation with Ron about the upcoming match and left the hall. The Entrance Hall wasn't crowded, there were several groups of friends from separate houses milling about as Heather took up a position near the large house point hourglasses. Five minutes later Justin and Ernie emerged from the hall, Ernie giving Heather a wry grin before disappearing down the steps to the dungeons. Knowing that they were in full view of everyone around them Heather couldn't kiss him the way she wanted to but stood there while he leaned against the Slytherin Hourglass. He and Ernie were planning a study session the following afternoon to try and make sense of Snape's latest assignment on complex defensive spells, and he wanted Heather to join them. "Of course, you can invite Hermione and Ron if you'd like, I figure it's a good idea for our friends to get to really know each other." He added amiably.

When Heather returned to Gryffindor Common Room, loud voices assaulted her ears as she climbed through the portrait hole. It seemed that Ron and Hermione had finished dinner and come upstairs since she had left the table, and were having a rather heated row with each other. With a cry of exasperation, Hermione stormed off up the staircase to her dormitory as Ron slumped into a chair next to the fire. Deciding she better get at least some information about what was going on, Heather took the armchair next to him.

"What in blazes was that about?" she asked.

"What-oh" Ron had apparently not noticed her approach. "Well, Hermione's just a bit upset I'm with Lavender." He said this with a straight face, but his tone hinted that there was more to it than just that.

"Ok, and what else?" asked Heather, clearly not willing to let it go at that.

"Uhh, she may have found out how Lavender and I got together." Ron admitted, turning slightly pink.

"I think everyone saw how that happened. I mean you two weren't exactly discrete." Heather commented, "And that was weeks ago, so why is she bent out of shape about it now?"

Ron's face went an even deeper pink, and his eyes definitely didn't meet Heather's. "Now, don't get upset Harry, but…blimey, Lavender may have slipped me a love potion."

"She WHAT?" Heather gasped, looking around quickly to see if anyone else had overheard.

"Yeah" was all Ron could say.

"But, that's horrible!" Heather said.

"Well, it really wasn't. I mean, yeah, I wasn't too thrilled when it first wore off but then, I dunno she's really pretty and I found out that we really do get along well."

"So that makes what she did ok?" Heather asked, now completely understanding why Hermione had been screaming earlier.

"Uhh, no not really. But she's promised not to do it again."

Heather couldn't believe her ears. Ron had been dosed against his will to fall in love with this girl, and now he was defending her. Heather looked closely into his eyes, when he finally raised them to meet hers, hoping she could see some sign of bewitchment in them.

"So you're just going to keep going out with her?" She asked incredulously.

"Yeah, I think I am." said Ron, starting to sound defiant now.

"Well, I hope you two are happy together." Heather said, and in a passable imitation of Hermione, stormed off towards her own dormitory.

The next day Heather and Hermione joined Justin and Ernie in the library after lunch to tackle Snape's homework. Grudgingly, Heather had to admit that Snape made a good Defense teacher, even if he carried over his old prejudice against Gryffindors. Their homework had been to describe exactly how the Cave Inimicum charm worked, including diagrams. It was difficult work, leaving little time for idle chatter between them. Somehow, Justin's foot found Heather's under the table a rather suspicious number of times, causing her to grin at seemingly random moments. If Ernie and Hermione noticed any of this, neither of them said anything.

After they were finally finished, the group seemed reluctant to break up. So they sat and talked, getting comfortable with each other. Just as they were getting up to leave, Professor Slughorn emerged from behind a row, carrying several books on magical water plants.

"Harry!" he cried on spotting Heather, "I was hoping I would run into you here. Now, I know you have been quite adept at missing my little dinner parties up until now but enough is enough dear boy. I am throwing a party just before Christmas and I am determined for you to be there. I haven't set an exact date yet, as I know you are extremely busy, but I'm hoping that Ms. Granger," at this he turned and nodded to Hermione, "can assist me by keeping me informed on when you will have a free evening before we break for the holidays."

Feeling as though she had been neatly backed into a corner, and remembering Dumbledore's favor that she had agreed to, Heather sighed quietly and said, "I would love to come Professor, please let me know when it is and I will clear my schedule."

"Excellent!" cried Slughorn, the stack of books teetering slightly as he shouted, resulting in a very loud SHHH! from across the library. "And of course, you are welcome to bring someone with you, a special someone I hope." With a chuckle at this statement, he ambled off towards Madam Pince's desk.

The study group broke up quickly after this, with Justin briefly kissing Heather behind a bookcase out of sight. Heather and Hermione made their way back to Gryffindor tower, Hermione commenting on how cute Heather was around her new boyfriend. The jovial air ended as they entered the portrait hole and saw Ron making out with Lavender. At the sight of them, Hermione turned cold and silently crossed to her dormitory stairs.

Things had rarely been frostier between the three of them over the following days, even including the weeks when Ron had been convinced that Hermione's cat had eaten his pet rat. Heather wasn't quite as upset by Ron's revelation as Hermione was, probably because she didn't secretly have a crush on him, but she still couldn't believe that Ron was still dating Lavender. Hermione, on the other hand, had stopped talking to Ron entirely, and during Charms she moved over to take Hannah's empty seat at the table with Heather.

That week Justin asked her out to dinner again at their table in the kitchens. Dobby was ecstatic to see them and quickly set it up. Following Hermione's advice, Heather decided to wear the jeans from her previous date with one of her Weasley Christmas sweaters from two years before. She had outgrown it slightly, but with a few simple modifications it fit her tightly, but well. Once again unwilling to divulge the existence of her cloak, their date ended at the door with a good night kiss. As she watched him walk away, Heather decided to ask Hermione if there was an easier way for them to be able to plan dates than whispered conversations away from prying ears.

Her idea was both simple and genius. From a pouch in her trunk, she retrieved two of the old D.A. galleons she had charmed last year and modified them. The D.A. coins had all been set up to receive dates and times from a master coin that Heather possessed. These new coins would both be able to send out a date or time, and an acceptance or rejection of the same. This way Heather and Justin could either agree to or counter a proposed time in order to accommodate their schedules, without having to risk being caught planning a date. When she explained them to him after Potions the next day, he caught on immediately, and promptly used the coin to ask her out for that night.

"Just had to be sure it worked" he grinned at her amused expression.