Author's Notes: Hello to you all and welcome the Deathly Hallows. Part of me feels sad that the story I've enjoyed writing is coming to a close, but I do have some ideas for what will happen to Heather after her defeat of Voldemort (Gasp, Spoilers?) I hope enjoy. I'm currently more than halfway done with this section of the story and will be posting the remaining chapters once they are all completed.
Harry Potter doesn't belong to me, but to JK Rowling.
Chapter One
Heather Potter sat at the small desk in her bedroom at Number Four Privet Drive writing in her diary. It had been a long time since she had cracked open the small blue book, having not had time to write in it during her previous year at Hogwarts. She had only rediscovered it a few hours ago as she emptied the contents of her trunk in preparation for leaving. All around her closet sized room were stacks of books, robes, and other various items from her school years. Most of it would be left behind as it wouldn't be useful in her mission, with the exception of her clothes, Firebolt, Hedwig, and a few other odd items shoved into an overcrowded rucksack by the door.
As she went through her things, she had momentarily thought about leaving any of her boy clothes behind, as the time was coming where she could no longer hide that she was becoming a girl, mentally if not yet completely physically. Remembering Dumbledore's advice during their last lesson however, she had packed both sets of clothes, stretching the rucksack close to bursting.
She paused writing at the sound of the door slamming. Uncle Vernon was in the process of repacking the car for the tenth time in the past two weeks. He hadn't taken kindly to the news that he was expected to go into hiding with a pair of wizards, both for his family's protection as much as Heather's. Rolling her eyes at her uncle's implacable distrust of anything that wasn't, by his definition, "normal," Heather resumed writing.
Sunday, July 27, 1997
I'm writing what I hope will be my last entry in this diary before leaving Privet Drive behind for good. It's strange, knowing that in a few short hours I'll be leaving this place that I have hated my entire life. The Dursley's still aren't sure they're going to go with the Order when Dedalus Diggle and Hestia Jones arrive, but I'll do my best to convince them. It's not as though I wish them the best, but no one deserves what Voldemort will do if he captures them.
I'm currently sucking on a cut thumb. During my excavation of my school trunk, my hand found a shard of the mirror Sirius gave me two years ago hidden in the debris. Somehow it still works, or at least I think it does. While I was examining it I could have sworn that I saw Dumbledore's eye staring back at me.
Damn, there's Uncle Vernon calling for me. Here's goes nothing.
She was in no hurry; her fear of her uncle having faded years ago. Relocking the book, she stuffed it into her rucksack and took one more look around the room before opening the door. Uncle Vernon still barely spoke to her, except during his repetitive rants about not leaving. Downstairs, the living room looked bare without the dozens of pictures of Dudley hanging on the wall. That had been the most obvious concession towards leaving that Aunt Petunia had made, unable to bear the thought of losing pictures of "her baby Diddykins." Uncle Vernon was pacing back and forth in front of the window, his face the usual shade of purple.
At the sight of Heather, he went off. "It was all a plot to get the house" he shouted at her. It didn't take long to bring them around, again. Dudley was the deciding factor in the end. When Heather mentioned the dementors that had nearly stolen his soul two years ago, her cousin squeaked loudly, which was a surprising noise to come from so large a person, and declared his intention to go with the Order. Unwilling to bear the thought of being separated from their son, his parents surrendered any further arguments. Half an hour later, the Dursley's piled into Uncle Vernon's company car along with Dedalus and Hestia, bound for safety and out of Heather's life for good.
Slamming the door on their retreating shape, Heather retrieved her rucksack, broomstick, and Hedwig's cage from her bedroom, and set them by the front door. She wandered through the empty house, lost in memory. Most of them were bad, full of neglect by her family, but there had been some highlights. Coming back into the hallway, she pulled open the door to the cupboard under the stairs that used to be her bedroom, remembering how it was there that she had first felt the desire to be pretty like a girl all those years ago. It amazed her to realize that she had managed to make that dream to true.
An earsplitting roar from outside made her spin around, wand drawn and aimed at the closed front door. More noises from the back garden had her moving stealthily into the kitchen. Even though her mother's protection made it impossible for Voldemort or his followers to attack her here, it never hurt to be wary. Out in the murky evening blurred shapes were moving around the Dursley's pristine lawn. One by one the disillusionment charms faded away to reveal her friends climbing off broomsticks, descending from thestrals or clambering from astride a gigantic blue motorbike. Hermione and Ron were the first to reach the door, followed closely by Fred, George, Mr. Weasley, Remus Lupin, Tonks, her hair having returned to it's bubble gum pink shade, Kingsley, Bill, Fleur, Mundungus Fletcher, Mad-Eye Moody, and lastly, Hagrid.
Heather had not been expecting such a large group, the last she had heard it was just going to be Moody taking her with side-along apparition. She sprang to unlock the door and welcomed everyone inside with many cries of greeting and hugs.
"What are you all doing here?" she asked the group at large
"Well, we heard this place was empty and decided to throw a party" joked Fred from against the living room wall.
"Yeah," added George, peering at a rather horrible picture of Heather's family, "We've been thinking this place could use a bit of…redecoration."
"Nip it." Ordered Mad-Eye, dropping several large bags onto the kitchen table and staring around the room with both of his eyes.
The plan he laid out was simple, or so it seemed. The Order had given over a dozen houses the best protection they could in an attempt to trick the Death Eater's in where they were planning on hiding Heather. She, riding with Hagrid on Sirius's old motorbike, would be travelling to Tonk's parents house, then on to the Burrow by portkey. The goal was to keep the Death Eater's guessing until she was safely within the protective charms, assuming they even got wind of this happening tonight.
When Mad-Eye finished talking, Heather asked "That's all well and good, but won't it be pretty obvious where I'm going when we all go flying off in the same direction no matter how many different options there are for me to go?"
"Ahh, forgot to mention the key part" Mad-Eye grunted. He extracted a small hipflask from a pocket of his coat filled with a think, muddy grey liquid that Heather recognized instantly, having taken it twice in her life. Her protests that there was no way she would let her friends take the risk of looking like her died quickly as Hermione stepped up behind her and ripped several hairs from her head. Her objections had been planned for well in advance.
"Sorry" Hermione muttered as she dropped the hairs into the potion.
The contents of the flask glowed for a moment before turning pure gold. Hermione, Ron, Fred, George, Fleur, and Mundungus lined up next to the table and one by one took a swig of Polyjuice potion. With a thrill of fear, Heather watched them all transform into identical copies of her body, including the many changes it had gone through since starting her potions almost a year ago.
"Wow, we're identical!" exclaimed the twins at the same time.
Fleur was looking down at her chest quizzically. "'Arry, why do you have-"
Mad-Eye cut her off. "Those of you who need new clothes, here." He tossed one of the large sacks to the group of Heather's who began to change.
Mortified, Heather saw them all begin to strip down, having no regard for her privacy. She could see several of her doppelgangers looking down strangely at her body, clearly confused. Similar looks were passed by some of the guardians, but no one said anything. When all seven Heather's were dressed and had retrieved stuffed owls and fake luggage, Mad-Eye led them back into the garden. Heather slung her rucksack, Firebolt, and Hedwig's cage into the sidecar of Hagrid's motorbike, not realizing the irony of leaving Privet Drive in the same way she had arrived sixteen years previously.
As the fake Heather's paired up with their protectors and mounted brooms and thestrals, Mad-Eye Moody gave the command to leave. Heather, feeling somewhat childish stuffed into a sidecar that put her far below everyone else around her, stared around intently at the night sky as they rose in formation. As they rose and the wind whipped past her face, Heather regretted not taking the time to braid her hair down.
Without warning, hooded figures emerged from nothingness all around them astride brooms. Curses flew from Death Eater and Order member alike, and the group scattered. Pursued by four enemies, Hagrid redlined the throttle, shooting the bike into the night sky. Heather did her best to keep their pursuers off of them, but trying to aim while turned halfway around in the seat of a rattling and bumping sidecar proved to be next to impossible. Slowly the four Death Eater's gained despite her efforts and the various tricks that the motorbike had been outfitted with.
One of them fell to a solid brick wall that erupted from the tailpipe, causing another to fall behind and save their comrade. One closed close to Heather and cast a killing curse straight a Hagrid from above. Hagrid jerked the bike, throwing the sidecar unintentionally right into the path of the curse. With a flash of green light, Hedwig fell from her perch and lay still on the bottom of her cage. Heather paused in returning fire to scream her name.
Shouting a warning over the wind, Hagrid jammed another button, and the tailpipe spewed a stream of what could only be dragon fire, propelling them faster than Heather felt was safe. As if in answer to her silent concerns, the connections that held the sidecar onto the bike gave a wrenching noise. Before she could attempt it, Hagrid had his pink umbrella in hand and tried to repair the damage. The sidecar broke away completely, sending Heather plummeting towards earth.
Using a hover charm, she managed to arrest the fall, at least momentarily. The result of this was that she was a sitting target for the Death Eater's. They swooped down at her just as Hagrid pulled the bike around and snatched her up, setting her on the seat behind him. There wasn't much room and Heather held on tight in order to not fall off. With a heart wrenching pang, she blew up the sidecar, knocking two Death Eater's from their brooms.
Ignoring their fellows, the remaining two pursued them again. Without the sidecar dragging along, Hagrid was able to push the bike faster, but was still unable to outrun them. As they approached, the light from one of Heather's spells illuminated the face of Stan Shunpike under his hood.
"Expeliarmus!" she cried, and watched his wand go flying.
"That's him!" Stan cried, pointing at her, and instantly both of fell back, disappearing into the darkness.
Worried at those words, Heather shouted at Hagrid to use the dragon fire again and held on tight. Together they roared across the sky, which was momentarily clear of Death Eater's. For the briefest moment, Heather thought they had gotten away. Then, with a blinding flash of pain in her scar, Voldemort appeared next to them, flying without need of a broomstick, his wand aiming for Heather.
She was helpless, unable to focus well enough to even know where Voldemort was, let alone put up any resistance. The fact that Hagrid put the bike into a steep dive barely registered to her as they plummeted toward the ground. With a yell, Hagrid leapt clear of the motorbike, trying to knock one of the Death Eater's off his broomstick.
"Hagrid!" cried Heather as he disappeared into the night
"Mine!" cried Voldemort as green spells flew on all sides of Heather.
Sightless, completely unaware of her surroundings, Heather felt her wand pull her hand around without her willing it to. Through her tightly shut eyelids, she saw a blast of light and opened them just enough to see brilliant golden flames shooting at Voldemort, hear the crack of a wand, a scream, and nothing as the bike slammed into a muddy pool.
For a while she simply lay there, unable to comprehend what had just happened and struggling to get her chest to remember how to breathe properly. She gasped out, calling for Hagrid, who she could see was laying spread-eagle close by, but couldn't make her voice work. Dimly she heard a man and woman calling to them, and as two figures stood over her, she passed out again.