Sirius' death was bad enough.
The prophecy was the last straw.
After leaving Dumbledore's office, she briefly stopped in the hospital wing to check on her friends. Then she left 'for the summer.'
Heather visited Gringotts, handled the Potter and Black Estates and went to the airport where she took the first flight out of the country.
SIX MONTHS LATER
Heather idly hummed as she did her homework.
She was in a small 1-bedroom apartment. It had a galley kitchen, a small dining room space, her lounge, a bedroom and bathroom… and it was all hers.
Most believed she was 18 so they didn't question her living alone.
It was weird. If she was with a group of sixteen years old, she looked their age. If she was alone, she looked anywhere between 18 and 20.
For this reason, she had her own car and driver's license and her own apartment; yet she was a Junior in high school.
She was also a paid tutor.
She tutored groups of 15 students and charged 10 dollars per student. This was 150 dollars for 45 minutes.
She did 4 sessions of 45 minutes and had full rosters for each session. This meant that every evening after school, she was earning 600 dollars, 3000 dollars a week.
She tutored at the local library.
By 7 PM, she was at home enjoying her relaxing 'me' time.
Sure, she knew certain individuals were looking for her. But while they might expect her to run and keep running, or travel to see the world, none of them would ever expect her to settle in the first town she arrived in.
Ronald would expect her to go to quidditch games.
Hermione would expect her to go to museums or theme parks or summer camps.
None of them would expect her to go to school.
And if it crossed their minds for even a second, they would expect her to go to a private boarding school or another school of magic. Not a public non-magical school.
And they sure as heck would never expect her to be a tutor. Not with her grades as mediocre as they were.
No, being an anonymous, if highly intelligent, tutor in a city of 8 million people would definitely not be expected. Not by even a whisker.
Heather got up and entered her kitchen and made herself a cup of tea.
No more hiding who she was.
No more hiding her intelligence.
No more hiding her skills.
No more hiding away like she was a dirty secret.
No more hiding from bullies.
She had to hide who she was when she was growing up. If she didn't, she was beaten bloody.
That was one of her more brilliant solutions.
She signed up for Kindergarten when she was 4, completely bypassing Pre-school. But the grading system, she figured out that if she was there each day and she did excellently on her quizzes and tests, she would just scrape a passing grade. High enough to let her pass but low enough that nobody would think twice about her attending summer school. And yet just high enough that when she attended summer school, they couldn't force her to use those summer classes to repeat previous classes and they had to let her continue forward. In this way, she steadily moved ahead, it guaranteed 3 meals and 2 snacks a day and she was able to use the gym showers since the Dursleys wouldn't let her take hot showers in Privet Drive.
Well, she had no problem doing the same at Hogwarts.
The class grades were worthless. It was only the end of year exams that counted. So, she appeared mediocre in class while studying what interested her. Then in December and April, she did end of year exams and moved forward in her studies. Then just before third year, she started taking exams in August.
This is why, at the end of the previous year, her fifth year, she completed her Level 13 exams and she was able to leave Britain and move to the US without any hassle from the magical governments.
Returning to her desk, she resumed her homework though she had long since finished her A-Levels in Britain.
Oh, she kept an eye on the magical world. She knew Dumbledore, the Ministry and Voldemort were all looking for her but she had no intention of announcing herself.
They must have really thought she was stupid. She knew there was a war coming down the pike since the end of her first year at Hogwarts. Voldemort was possessing Quirrell and trying to get his body back. He also made it abundantly clear that she was his primary target.
Uh hello! What did Dumbledore expect her to do? Go about her merry way and pretend she wasn't in any danger? Dumbass.
She studied, she learned, she trained, she researched, she prepared.
She spent that first summer researching the previous blood war at the London City Hall and Library of Magic. She researched attacks, disappearances, names, heritage, death eaters, trials, so on and so forth. She mapped out the attacks and triangulated the locations and unearthed 30 safe houses that Voldemort had used during the war. 30 safehouses which were gutted of everything: Money, potions, medical supplies, food, tracking equipment; and were then warded. Anti-Appration, Portkey and floo wards were reversed. Anybody with the dark mark could get in but they couldn't get out by any magical means. If they tried to manually leave (heaven forbid they use the front door like a human being) they were instantly stripped of their magic and their memories.
The second summer, after dealing with the Diary possessing Ginevra Weasley, she took it to Gringotts and asked them how to track and deal with any similar items. She went on a 1-month curse breaking expedition as a helper. She learned firsthand how to identify, track, contain and destroy the possessing entities. The one her forehead was also dealt with. After the expedition, she handled the one hidden Diagon Alley.
During fourth year, she discovered the Room of Requirements, where she trained for the tournament and ended up discovering the Diadem piece.
During the fiasco after the third task, Heather identified another piece in Gaunt Shack in Little Hangleton.
The summer before fifth year, in Grimmauld Place, she found one in Black Manor and handled that one.
She had done what she could.
And now, known 'innocent' Death Eaters were dropping dead like flies or disappearing altogether.
She suspected Dumbledore had wanted her to martyr herself 'for the greater good' but 'the greater good' was not 'her greater good.'
She also suspected that if she did 'finish the job' one of two things would happen. 1 is she would be considered 'too dangerous' and she would be put in Azkaban for trumped up charges of war crimes. The second is she would be forced into a marriage to Ronald Weasley.
Yeck!
Hence, she had absolutely no problem vacating the country.
She also had no problem sending notices to all muggleborns and half-bloods that lived in the non-magical world and telling them to evacuate the British Isles and Europe in it's entirety. They were all in danger. She even put a minor compulsion on the letters she mailed out and watched there be a mass exodus during that summer.
Heather finished her tea with a smile. All was good in her world.
TWO YEARS LATER
Heather stood proudly in her hideous graduation robes. Valedictorian. It was amazing what one could do when they didn't have a leash around their neck.
THE END
