Harry Potter doesn't belong to me and never will, I'm just borrowing her for a bit.

Chapter Thirteen

For several days after the Quidditch match, Hermione's cold shoulder towards Ron also extended to Heather. When she finally called her out on it, Hermione stiffly told her that pretending to give someone an illegal potion was just as bad as actually doing it. Somehow Heather felt that her mood had more to do with what Ron had said to her in the changing tent, but wasn't in the right frame of mind to push the issue.

Without Hermione to talk too, Heather tried to get Ginny to help her decide what to do about Justin's request, but Ginny wasn't any help either. It seemed that she and Dean had a heated row the day after the match, something about him not thinking she could fend for herself. Because of this her opinion of boys was pretty low, and the advice she gave Heather was to give up on them entirely.

Spirits sinking by the day, Heather decided to push her luck and ask Ron's opinion. The rift that she had sensed in their friendship seemed bridged, at least for the moment, in the after glow of the match. Heather's belief in his keeping abilities coupled with his excellent performance had done much for Ron's mood. Thursday night, He and Heather were up late, so late that the common room was practically empty, finishing their transfiguration homework.

"Ron?" Heather asked, breaking the silence that had been in place for over an hour. She had been steeling herself for this, but still wasn't entirely sure it was the smartest idea.

"Wha?" Ron asked, his attention still clearly on copying a sentence from his book onto his parchment.

"I need your advice on something."

Ron looked up quizzically. "Uhh, sure."

"It's about Justin," Heather whispered, just incase anyone could hear them.

"Oh." Ron said simply. His tone was neutral, so Heather continued hesitantly. She told him about their last date, and Justin's request. About halfway through Heather realized that Ron wasn't going to be any help. He listened, but she could see his eyes glass over and his mouth set in a way that told her he was uncomfortable.

"Blimey, Harry. I really don't think you should."

"Why not?" Heather asked, and for the first time I rankled slightly at Ron's continued use of her old name. Before she was fine with it, preferring him to not get confused and mix them up around people, but here when they were alone, it almost hurt.

"Cause, everyone's gonna be staring at you." Ron said.

"And that's anything new?" Heather asked.

"No, I guess not."

"But you still think I shouldn't do it?" Heather pressed.

"Listen, it's late Harry. I need to get to bed."

Without waiting for her to answer, he dumped his homework into his bag and climbed the staircase to their dormitory. Heather watched him leave, her heart dropping. She didn't follow him immediately, still wanting to finish the assignment before she went to sleep. Blankly she stared at the parchment for almost half an hour before going upstairs herself. Ron was already snoring when she came in, but they weren't his usual snores. She knew he was faking sleep, and that hurt more than anything.

When she awoke the next morning, her galleon was warm, Justin was asking her out for tonight. She didn't answer but instead dressed for breakfast. When she back the curtains of her four-poster bed, she saw Ron leaving the bathroom. At the sight of her his face went a very embarrassed pink, but he didn't say anything or wait for her. Coming down to breakfast alone, Heather saw Hermione sitting alone and with a surge of irritation, slid into the bench opposite her.

"Alright, lets have this out. Yes, I tricked Ron into thinking he took Felix Felicis to win a Quidditch match. Yes, he took some cheap shots at you afterwards. But if you're upset with him that he's with Lavender and not with you, stop taking it out on me." She all this in a rushed whisper before Hermione could cut her off.

This caught Hermione completely off guard. "I do not want Ron to be with me!" she whispered back.

"Whatever you want to tell yourself, Hermione, just stop coming after me about it. I've got enough going on without that, thank you very much." With that she grabbed her bag, and without eating walked purposefully from the hall.

Their first lesson that morning was Potions, to which Heather arrived first. Rather than waiting to queue up outside, she flung open the door to the dungeon and slumped into her seat. Slughorn hadn't arrived yet, she had seen him enjoying his breakfast when she left. Feeling another burst from heat in her pocket, she pulled out her coin to see another request for a date tonight. Dreading that Justin was going to press going public, she accepted. It was either that or ignore it, and she didn't feel like having that conversation with him right now.

Slughorn appeared ten minutes before class was due to begin, coming up short at the sight of Heather already seated. With a chuckle he got to work writing directions on the board and started telling her a story about her mother, completely unaware that she wasn't listening to a word. As everyone filed in for class, Heather ignored them until she felt a hand close on her shoulder. It was Hermione. As she sat down her eyes met Heather's, and the regret in them was clear. In a way that didn't take words, Heather knew she was sorry, and realized that she didn't need to hear her say anything.

They talked that evening about everything that was happening. Hermione was sympathetic, but didn't have any advice. "This is something you need to decide for yourself" she said. That night Heather went on her date, another dinner in the kitchens. She was afraid that he would repeat his request, but he made no mention of it. Their next several dates went exactly the same. They would meet in the usual spot, have dinner, and then kiss goodnight just inside the doorway. Three weeks passed without him making another mention of dating openly.

The first weekend in December, he asked Heather out again, promising a surprise. When she picked out the clothes she was going to wear, Heather abandoned any attempt at wearing something that would look vaguely male. Sliding on her favorite pair of tight jeans, she completed the look with a light blue V-neck t shirt and a purple zip up jumper. She was going to tell him tonight, regardless of what would happen. Reaching their meeting place five minutes early, she stashed the cloak and waited.

Without warning the portrait swung out behind her, making her jump almost a foot in the air. Wheeling around she saw Justin emerging carrying a basket with a Hufflepuff yellow blanket draped over his arm. He was dressed warmly in the same leather jacket he had worn on their first date.

"Sorry!" he cried, seeing the terror on Heather's face before his eyes darted downwards to take in her outfit. Her chest heaved slightly as she tried to relax, and he moved to hold her.

"I didn't mean to scare you, I just had to pick something up." He said, holding out his laden arm for her to see closer."

When she could finally breathe normally, Heather asked "What did you have in mind?"

"I was thinking a nighttime date on the astronomy tower? There aren't any classes up there tonight, and the weather is so clear."

Heather hesitated, the idea of walking through the school dressed how she was with Justin carrying a picnic basket giving her pause. "Sounds nice, but won't people see us?"

"I hadn't thought of that." He said, taking in her outfit again. He seemed to be enjoying what he saw, but he also looked the tiniest amount puzzled. With a flash Heather realized that he most likely had considered it, and was hoping she would agree anyway, and by extension agree to coming out. "I guess I just figured that we could go somewhere else other than the kitchens, but if you'd rather not…" he trailed off.

"No, it's a great idea. I just have one request."

"What is it?"

"Can we go under this?" She asked, retrieving the invisibility cloak from it's usual hiding spot and showing it to him.

"Wow, I've never seen one of these before! Sure." Justin said, setting down his burdens and touching it.

"Heather picked up the blanket and draped the cloak around them. Walking up seven floors under it was exciting, and they had to stay very close in order to not have their feet seen. When they reached the winding staircase up to the top of the tower, Heather pulled it off and followed him to the top.

Emerging onto the open parapet, the cold assaulted both of them. There was no wind and the air was perfectly clear. A quick warming charm over both of them and the food stopped the worst of the chill, allowing them both to take in the breathtaking view. They had both learned about the stars and constellations during five years of Astronomy lessons, but Heather had almost forgotten just how beautiful the night sky could be.

As she leaned against the battlements that ringed the open space, Justin spread the blanket on the flagstones and set out their dinner. "Dobby was a large part of this" he told her, showing everything he had brought. There was steak and kidney pie, mashed potatoes, peas, and treacle tart for dessert. "I know it's your favorite." Justin said when he saw her looking at it.

They sat there on the cold stone, eating quietly, enjoying the silence that pervaded the grounds. Occasionally the cry of an animal could be heard from the forest, or an owl would fly by on it's way to hunt, but beyond that everything was still and quiet.

"I love it up here" said Heather finally, setting down her second piece of tart.

"It is beautiful isn't it." Answered Justin, moving closer to her. She leaned against him, shivering slightly in the cold. Once again she noted that as cute as girl's sweaters were, they weren't exactly warm. Feeling this, Justin stripped off his jacket and set it around her shoulders. It was several sizes to big, but it smelled like him.

They talked for a while, and he snaked his arms around her waist as she leaned against him. Justin was trying his best to become a fan of Quidditch for her, and Heather explained some of the finer points of the game that he hadn't grasped yet. It felt so right to just sit here with him, but Heather couldn't keep out of her mind the fear that he was going to ask again to go public. After a while he said his back was starting to hurt, and asked if they could rest against the wall. Agreeing, Heather snuggled back into him when he was settled, resting the back of her head against his shoulder.

With a gentle hand he nudged her chin around to face him, and kissed her. It wasn't his usual polite but fervent kiss, this time he was assaulting her lips with almost unbridled emotion. Automatically her body reacted, responding in kind to his advances. His hand moved, sliding down to her tightly clad legs and gripping them tightly. All thought was driven from her head as they kissed, and she turned in his arms to face him. When one of his hands started to make it's way up her back, she broke away.

"Did I do something wrong?" Justin asked breathlessly

"No, it's just, we might be getting a bit carried away." Heather answered, trying to catch her own breath. It was time she decided, time to finally tell the truth. She stood and walked slightly away from him, tightly folding her arms over her chest, shivering.

"What's wrong, Harry?" Justin asked.

"I need to tell you something."

"Ok?" He said quizzically.

"My name isn't Harry Potter."

"What do you mean it's not?"

"I mean, that I changed it last year. It's Heather." She said.

"But that's a-" he cut off abruptly.

"A girl's name, yes." Heather finished for him.

"So what you're trying to tell me, is that you aren't a boy?" He asked slowly, as if trying to make sense of the words as he said them.

"No. It's hard to explain but I'm not a boy anymore, even though I look like one."

"That explains why you dress like one for our dates." Justin answered, and his voice didn't sound terribly pleased.

"Are you upset?" Heather asked quietly, already fearing the answer.

"Well, it does feel a bit like you lied to me. Here I thought you liked me but you haven't been telling me the truth since we started dating." He also crossed his arms, and it had nothing to do with the chill.

"I wanted to! I've wanted to tell you since you asked me to be your…"

"My boyfriend, yeah I remember. So that's why you hesitated."

"Yeah" Heather said quietly.

"Why did you agree then? I might not have understood but I would have tried to!" He said, his voice rising in anger.

"Because I was afraid this would happen!" Heather shouted in response, her voice breaking.

"And why you don't want to openly date me" Justin continued, ignoring her.

"Of course I want to be able to date you in front of everyone! I want a lot of things." She finished quietly, tears starting to fall.

"And yet you lied to me." He accused.

Heather's eyes snapped to his, "Yes, I lied to you. I lied to protect myself. Hannah told me that you saw what everyone in this castle did to me over the past few years, first for being different, then for thinking I'm a liar. For once since I came to this school I wasn't the object of everyone's gossip, I was just another Gryffindor. Forgive me if I didn't want to put myself back into the spotlight yet!" She ended with a scream, causing several owls to take off from the owlrey, hooting indignantly.

"That still doesn't explain why you didn't tell me." Justin answered coldly.

"Fine! Since all you want to focus on is me lying to you about being a girl, let me explain it. I wanted to tell you about Heather since our first date. It's been killing me keeping this hidden, keeping who I really am a secret. You of all people should understand how hard it is to have to pretend to be someone else. As much as I wanted to, I couldn't be sure that you wouldn't get angry, or worse."

She clenched her fists on the sleeves of his jacket that was still across her shoulders, before taking it off and throwing it at him. Somehow it made her feel colder than the weather did. He tried to catch it but missed, sending it spiraling over the battlement towards the courtyard below. With surprising agility, he whipped out his wand from his pants. For the slightest moment Heather thought h was going to attack her, but he only summoned his jacket and pulled it on.

"Good night Harry, I need to think about this." With that he brushed past her, brusquely picking up the blanket sending plates and glasses flying, and disappeared down the staircase. With him gone, the adrenaline that had been keeping her standing failed and Heather fell to her knees, not bothering to keep her sobs quiet.