Harry Potter belongs to J. K. Rowling, I am just playing in her world

Bottoming Out

Previously

Mistress Black, please will you let me take you to Grimmauld Place and then punish me for the bad things, so I can keep Mistress safe?"

The bulging eyes of Kreacher stared pleadingly at his Mistress while he pulled on his long floppy ears in nervous worry.

"Kreacher," Hermione said carefully. "Someone could have shared the secret of Grimmauld Place with bad wizards. So it might not be safe for my sister to go to Grimmauld Place."

Kreacher whirled on Hermione. "Kreacher be keeping Mistress Black safe! Grimmauld Place, lockdown! Wards here be not lockdown!"

"Kreacher what are lockdown wards?" Heather asked hoping to calm the agitated house elf.

"Lockdown wards are lockdown wards." Then obviously seeing this didn't seem to help his mistress he tried, "Nothing in, nothing out, only Mistress Black."

"Then how did you get out of Grimmauld Place?"

"Mistress Black called Kreacher." Kreacher replied now looking at Heather as if she was stupid.

"Kreacher are you saying that the wards will only allow Mistress Black and who she expressly states she wants to enter or leave Grimmauld Place to cross them?" Hermione tried.

"Kreacher said that! Wards are lockdown to protect Mistress Black!"

"OK but the bad wizards know where Grimmauld Place is, and could be waiting around the house. When she arrives they could hurt Mistress Black before she enters the house." Hermione pointed out.

Kreacher thought for a moment obviously quite angry that there could be anything unsafe associated with Grimmauld Place and his mistress's safety. "Kreacher pop Mistress Black!"

"What! Now hang on. I am not a balloon." Heather looked nervously at Kreacher.

Kreacher stared exasperatedly at his mistress and said, "pop," vanishing and appearing on the other side of the table. He then proceeded to disappear and re-appear all over the room. "That be popping. Kreacher pop Mistress Black into Grimmauld Place. No bad wizard can hurt Mistress Black."

"And I can do that?" Heather asked incredulously.

"No, Kreacher do popping." Kreacher said.

"You can pop my family straight inside the house and back here too?" Heather asked.

"Mistress Black must say name, then Kreacher pop."

It took some time but eventually they were able to piece together that Kreacher used Heather's magic. So he could pop multiple people as long as Heather was with the group being popped and not low on magic, and stated their exact name plus the one direction, in or out of the ward. Otherwise he could only pop two at most, as long as not too far, before needing to fill up from Heather if she wasn't present to draw from during the trip. Heather was fairly put out with dad's expression that she was 'the Kreacher's energy bunny who could keep popping and popping and popping'. Thankfully her sister and mum put dad in his place for that analogy. She also managed to get Kreacher to accept returning without her currently. On the promise they would visit within a few days, and to not punish himself. However, she would like him to tidy up the house, so it was clean and pest free when she arrived. A glare to both dad, and Hermione ensured they didn't say what she was sure they almost did.

It was then decided that shopping was the most important next topic, and the others would be addressed after they got back home if enough time, otherwise wind up on tomorrow's pow-wow list. A knock at the door though derailed the plans. After getting her wand out, Hermione got up from the breakfast table to answer it. Heather jumped up and covered her sister with her own wand and requested Kreacher to come back.

Bill Weasley and Mad-eye Moody were the arrivals so they relaxed.

"Don't put your wands away lasses! Ask a security question!" Moody demanded.

"Bill what happened when the delivery arrived last night?" Hermione asked after seeing Heather deferring the problem to her.

"Two owls arrived and the delivery man dropped the food, but Mr. Granger caught it. Nice reflexes by the way."

Moody grunted then asked Heather, "With yesterday's accident what did I say would have been a better result?"

"You said that if the hair had been from Ginevra or Luna instead of Hermione it would have been better because they are pure bloods, and all muggleborns are targets of the death eaters." Heather replied. "Can you come in now?"

"You haven't asked a question of me yet lass."

"Fine, why did you need to come into the house yesterday?" Heather requested.

Moody let out a laugh, "I like you lass. Great question, I never came into the house last night." Still laughing they both entered. On seeing Kreacher Moody's wand was drawn and he was back on high alert. "You are the Grimmauld Place house elf, which is under lockdown. What are you doing here elf?"

"Mistress Black called me."

"The lockdown is for you?" Mad-eye's extra eye swung wildly back onto Heather pinning her in place.

Worried about the light glowing from Moody's wand that was pointed straight at her she cursed on having put her wand hand down at her side. "Yes," she said staring at the glowing sickly yellow light at the end of Moody's wand. She could feel the hostile intent of the spell fairly dripping off it and knew that it wasn't a minor hex or jinx, but an extremely nasty curse that was armed and aimed right at her. Could she raise her wand fast enough, was the entrance to the study close enough? If she knocked the vase on the table just to the side of her would it get in the line of fire in time to save her?

Lowering his wand, "You dropped your guard didn't you?" Heather nodded, "At least I could see you realize and think of what you could do about it. It wasn't a nice feeling was it lass, and that's why you need, constant vigilance!" Moody yelled the ending. "Now can you tell me why in the blazin' hell you are still here if you have a house available to you with lockdown wards?"

"Why don't we all sit down? Would you like a cup of coffee?" Mrs. Granger asked.

"All-seeing-one-eye, they not understand lockdown. They not listen here is bad wards. They say Grimmauld Place surrounded by evil wizards. I am good elf. I say I will pop them into Grimmauld Place. They say later after place clean. I can clean place after they safe."

"Wait, you can pop wizards and witches?" Moody asked surprised.

Violently nodding his head, "Good Master Reggie asked me to pop him often." Kreacher let a sob then loudly blew his nose on the grimy rag tied around him.

"Why don't we have the coffee at Grimmauld Place? Then we can talk and I don't have to keep my eye on the guard's outside all the time. Heather you'll need to clearly tell your elf the full name of each of us and that you want us all there inside the wards. The elf can come back for coffee or anything you fancy after we are safe."

"I'll let the guards know." Bill started.

"No, they need the practice and it is a good cover. We will be back after checking over Grimmauld Place.

So minutes later the Granger pow-wow was being conducted in a rather filthy Grimmauld Place kitchen. Mrs. Granger looked rather put out with the new digs and looked at both her daughters, "You both stayed here last year, didn't you try to clean the place?"

"Mistress Black, and mistress's sister good witches, they clean hard but shouldn't. I house elf, I was bad elf. I did not clean. I listened to not-mistress-in-painting and made dirty. Now I clean." Kreacher clicked his fingers at the table that Mrs. Granger had been eyeing with distrust of placing the coffee cup she had popped over holding, down on. What had appeared years of caked on dirt vanished from the table that looked as it had the day it was made. Kreacher then went to the chairs one after the next and Mrs. Granger finally felt willing to sit down.

Mr. Granger pulling out a chair followed in sitting after his wife. The two of them had been stood along with the elf while the others had sat as if they were fine living in squalor. In the background he witnessed the room quickly being cleaned, item by item, from filthy to pristine at the literal flick of a pair of elf fingers. "So lockdown wards. What is the big deal? Why does it sound like they are the holy-grail? How come the wards you happily let us sleep under last night are now today, 'bad wards'?"

Bill looked to Hermione and Heather and murmured, "Holy-grail?"

Heather shrugged, as she hadn't a clue and Hermione sighed, "Muggle thing, take it as meaning the impossible best ward that leaves all other wards inadequate but can't be achieved."

"Actually almost spot on description for lockdown wards. I build and break wards and curses for a living, and I could spend all my life trying to build a lockdown ward and never achieve it. However, an inferior ward thrown together by luck and mismatched warding practices could go lockdown. If it did it wouldn't be a good one, but for a while it would be better than anything I had perfectly built. These wards are ancient; one generation of wizard building upon the next, top of the line, as the Black's always had money and never went cheap on their wards. With these having gone lockdown, well, you have the holy-grail ward.

Bill continued, "We were worried that with Snape being a secret keeper after Dumbledore's death and having shown his true colours, that an heir of the Black family on the death eaters side got into Grimmauld Place and achieved the lockdown wards. That meant they would have access to the elf and any of our secrets the elf had overheard. Obviously now we know that it was due to the portrait of Sirius's mum that caused the elf to be on their side. Now not only do we have lockdown wards but also the elf is firmly on your side Heather, so we don't have that security breach plus answers on how Sirius's mum did it."

Mr. Granger interrupted Bill, "Can you go back to lockdown wards and why the ones you built at our house are bad ones."

"Sure just got side tracked solving a puzzle. Fine, I said I could only get temporary wards up and we would need money to put up better ones. If I had a few months to get top of the line wards up then I would only have to buy the raw materials that would be several hundred galleons. That cost is if I couldn't wait for materials. If I could wait for when there was a large supply it would be still around a couple of hundred. You needed wards up in hours that would mean a team of warders and they wouldn't be pro-bono. Further, you would be charged the sky for the materials, as you obviously couldn't wait for availability. Now temporary wards are obviously better than nothing but consider them the lowest wards, or as your elf nicely labeled them, bad wards.

"Next are poorly made permanent wards. This type of ward is the cobbled together set, or inferior schemes, of wards with known weaknesses. Or possibly wards with weaknesses that can be found easily and exploited. These are the prevalent wards found in our world because most wizards splash all they have for the best materials they can afford, but then try to build their own wards with little to no experience.

"After that are the good wards like we have at the Burrow. Carefully developed over several years, they are well built, but I didn't use the most expensive materials. So better quality of material would be a severe upgrade on the wards and that would enable them to then be in the third best tier. Wards in the third highest tier are known as wards of top quality or also top of the line wards. The type I hoped to work a way out in installing somehow around your house later, if I could work out the financing issue."

"How were you planning on financing it?" Mrs. Granger asked, considering the costs sound prohibitive.

"Though, I had said Heather likely couldn't access her vault until twenty-five. My first hope was finding an ally able and willing to foot the cost. Next was getting the goblins to agree that due to the war installing the best wards were a smart investment. Failing that was to have them or a secondary investor agree that the Potter's vaults were good to pay the cost plus interest eight years from now.

"Now carrying on with the types of wards, above top quality wards are the wards of ancient estates. Like the Black wards were until last night's upgrade. This is the normally achievable, best grade of ward. Multiple generations of wizards have expanded upon a solid foundation with the best materials to create one of a kind unique schemes that take top curse and ward breakers potentially days to take down. They have lots of nasty lethal traps built in the most obscure places to take out the unwary curse breaker. They also have established weight in years so sort of have their own built in magic awareness allowing them sometimes to do things no one that made them, planned them to do. Then again others have argued it was something built in previously, but forgotten to the current thoughts on the ward scheme. I can tell you it is the biggest worry in my career of pulling down wards, and most people in my field believe in the first interpretation of how the odd things happen.

"Then we have the lockdown ward that can be born from any of the previous wards and is truly believed born of magical intent as they have never been built. They are always formed when an owner of a house with wards or the heir of the house with wards is threatened enough for something to trigger them. It is highly believed that magic itself decides what it thinks should trigger them. Lockdown wards having triggered can stay active for several generations. At a minimum they stay active until the death of the one causing them to trigger.

"The criteria needed to trigger is where it gets tricky discussing the how of lockdown wards, because it has been completely different threats that have caused them to go lockdown. Further, similar events have not triggered others that were expected would be triggered."

"So during the last war several ward schemes would go lockdown?" Hermione queried wondering why it wasn't mentioned in the details of the war.

"No, a single wizard, no matter how powerful is usually not enough for magic to cause wards to go lockdown. In fact in magical Britain it has been nearly two hundred years since the last set of lockdown wards were active."

"But he killed so many and had an army of death eaters behind him."

"To magic he was an upstart with follows. Lockdowns don't form due to duels and feuds, which is how it would consider you-know-who. It would think if he was targeting you then you should duel and the best wizard, or witch win. If he amasses follows then so should you. Nope, now knowing the lockdown is for you Heather, except for the timing of it going lockdown last night, verses yesterday morning or the early evening. When I heard my mother tore into you, I would think it was due to the polyjuice accident.

"How do you reach that conclusion? I willingly drank the polyjuice." Heather replied.

"Heather, the wizard society is patriarchal. Wizards have significantly more legal power than witches. Regardless to how magically or intellectually powerful a witch is she will have a harder time. Being partially a creature removes even more legal power and rights from you. Magic could consider the accident as an attack on you by one of your friends, an attack that caused you to become substantially weaker within the whole of magic society than before. Before you jump in that you don't think of it as an attack from Hermione. I was saying magic could interpret it that way.

"Then I heard about what my mother did at the station. I also know Ginny and Ron and I could easily see them having lashed out at you in some way on the train trip down. Magic could consider that three more attacks from friends or parents of friends occurring. When you add that Ginny and my dad owe you a life debt, you know that magic would sit up and pay attention. My setting up temporary wards at the Grangers would not offset those attacks by a debtor. Next your current situation that you-know-who is after you, and you haven't had parents since fifteen months old because of the prior direct targeting from him. Another attack would be that your magical guardian Dumbledore is now dead and your status unclear with a potentially overrun ministry. Even with apparently your new guardians now being non-magical, and coming about indirectly from the first attack. Magic could consider it an attempt of extorting money from you."

"Would the potential marriage contract from Neville's grandmother last night be an attack too?" Heather's mum chimed in.

"What marriage contract?" demanded Moody.

"Oh the letters last night that startled the delivery driver were from Neville and Luna." Hermione answered. "Neville told us that his grandmother wanted to invite Heather to Neville's birthday party and wanted to know her last name. He warned us that he thought his grandmother wanted to set up a marriage contract between himself and Heather."

"Ah, and that is when the lockdown approximately happened. So I was right that it was the polyjuice and its knock on events that caused the lockdown to occur. It just took a few more events that I had not known of." Bill stated, "What did Luna's letter say? Could her letter also be construed an attack too?"

"No she didn't attack me." Heather quickly retaliated. "She wanted to visit Hermione and me this summer."

"So why didn't your temporary wards at our house go lockdown too?" Mr. Granger asked helping his daughter in covering the private parts of Luna's letter she obviously wanted hid.

"That I can't answer, I will say I am glad that it was these that did and not the others. I could hazard that these are her wards while the one's at the Granger house are the families, and Heather has spent far more time here than at your house, but that is guesswork.

"I am also happy on the other side effect of the polyjuice accident on Heather. I mean namely the effect removing the portrait's influence over the house elf. We could never work out how Sirius's mum did it. Now it seems so obvious, the loophole suddenly blatantly visible that Sirius's mum had used to maintain control of the house elf. Something she shouldn't have been able to. With her younger son having been killed and Sirius being the hound he was and then in prison she was fairly confident Sirius wouldn't get into a committed relationship and thus there would be no Mistress Black to usurp her power. A sneaky method that members of a patriarchal society are more blinkered to miss. It is also ironic that an espouser of the hardliners that are more conservative in restricting witches powers should come up with it." Bill Weasley added.

The kitchen the group was now sitting in, was spotless and looked like it had just been built. Sure there were no electrical appliances on the countertops and the oven looked like a brand new perfect replica of something designed at least a couple of hundred years ago. Kreature had obviously left the room to clean another in the house.

"Heather I would like to verify the main ward stone has no cracks or damage and the system is not in need of any repair if you would allow me too. Note that as house Weasley owes you two life debts, I am absolutely no threat to you or your ward scheme." Bill stated and looked at Heather calmly. Then seeing her confusion added. "I am not about to poke around lockdown wards without the person they are locked down on completely aware of what I want to do, and totally understanding that I am not a threat to them. I need to do that before going anywhere near the control of wards that could kill me faster than I blink."

"Sure, do you need me to do anything?" Heather asked.

"If you would come with me, Heather it would be best. I will teach you about them and how to do maintenance on them at the same time as we check them." Bill asked getting up and offering his arm to help Heather get up too.

As Hermione, jumped up eyes eager in learning something new, Moody shot her down. "I want to discuss how you all plan to protect Heather from marriage contracts. I want you to stay here. Heather can show you what she learnt later, and it will show Bill how much Heather paid attention to him." Moody caused both witches to be upset for differing reasons.

For all the plan at the start of the day had been to eat out for lunch, they ended up eating in the newly cleaned kitchen instead. Kreacher rustled together a nice lunch using supplies from the Granger house. Luckily all topics aside clothing, magical supplies, the ministry and the war, were now covered. Unluckily for Heather it was clothing that was chosen to be the item to resolve in the afternoon. The less that was thought on the rest of the day the better as far as Heather was concerned. Today she had been on the other side of having to allow someone else to pay, and for all how awkward that was. It was nothing to other parts of the shopping trip. The dinner was a nice oasis of recovery from embarrassing hell. At least Bill or worse yet Moody hadn't demanded to accompany them on the trip. They had left right after lunch before finding out the Granger's were planning to go shopping next.


It was gone nine in the evening when they finally got back to Grimmauld Place and after everyone helped getting all of Heather's new clothes into the master bedroom, she was ready to just collapse on the bed and sleep for a week. Heather forced herself to use the bathroom and change knickers and get into a top, short enough that her tail was free to comfortably exit. It was a pastel, powder, blue lacy top, with frills to both sides of a line of three front buttons that were only for show. Both the bottom edge that was scooped and flared out, at navel and shorter length, and the loose v-neckline edge, providing relaxed comfort for sleeping, had a half inch wide satin trim that she loved feeling brushing against her skin. She liked it and the first of the two words of its name was a name she now liked because her dad had given it to her. She smiled as she closed her eyes to finally get some sleep.

Kreacher had got both of the two main living floors cleaned while they were out. He had got the master suite and Hermione's bedroom cleaned on the fourth floor, and one of the guest suites cleaned for her parents on the third. It was impressive how much he had achieved. When Kreacher had said it was because Mistress Black has so much magic available for him to use, in answer to how he got so much cleaned, she could just see the image her dad had forced on her this morning. She was too tired to even glare let alone do anything to prevent someone from saying anything, so was thankful no one did.

She was at the pleasant almost sleeping state where the mind wanders through memories in a haphazard fashion, when Hermione slipped into the room.

"You awake?"

"No."

"Budge over I want to talk."

"Your parents…

"Our parents are only worried about us losing our innocence to Luna." Hermione stated while getting into bed beside her.

"Your feet are cold."

"Then stop moving your legs away so I can warm them up on you. I like your warm furry legs. Oh, you're purring." Hermione moved her head closer to Heather's neck. "I'd forgotten about doing that when I slept."

"Are you here to talk or seduce me?"

"Can't I do both?"

"Hermione I am really tired and you know we will be having another early morning pow-wow tomorrow."

"I want to talk, and we likely won't get time tomorrow. Heather I was bitchy when I tried to hand Ron off to you and I am sorry, and if Luna chooses you I will still love you. Also magic is right, by me coming up with the whole polyjuice thing, I unknowingly attacked you."

After a few minutes had passed she added, "Heather, this is where you say something."

"I'm thinking."

"No you're not, your sleeping. I am being serious here."

"No you're not, Sirius was my godfather. We're actually sleeping where he last slept"

"Well there is a mood killer."

"Should I be worried you were in the mood?"

"So help me Heather I will tickle you. Did you hear what I said, and I mean my apology or must I repeat myself?"

"Hermione no matter what does or doesn't happen with Luna, I like having a big sister. I'm not losing you. I know that you will demand we talk through anything that risks us. Obviously when I want to sleep, but I want hold it against you or love you less for you being you. Further, I don't hold any of this as your fault. I haven't really had any time to decompress, but my gut feeling is that it is all for the better. So many good things have come of it, starting with escaping 'Duskaban'.

"Hermione, Ron was my first friend but you were not only my second friend, but also my first female friend, and then my first alive family member. Hermione you are my sister. Sure my uncle, aunt and cousin were relatives I had the displeasure of living with, but they never were family. You are, and because of you I have mum and dad. I also seem to have enough clothes to get from here to the moon and back. Not to mention the number of pairs of shoes that passed ludicrous while you and mum kept on shopping.

"No argument is ever going to be worth losing you." Turning her head she saw Hermione's open eyes staring at her, her lips were right there, mere centimeters from hers.

"I thought I was the smart one, Heather?"

"Identical twins," She stuck her tongue out to tease before recalling how close they were. She could feel Hermione's breath exhaling on her tongue. If either moved a merest jot she would be licking Hermione's lips. Blushing while her heart rate sped up she swiftly sucked her tongue back in then smiled cheekily as if it was her plan all along to have done what she accidently did.

Hermione was verifying if what nearly happened had. She had been a deer in the headlights of Heather's brown eyes, unable to move while her mirrored self had suddenly done something she would never have expected. What would she have done if they had touched? Hitting Heather's shoulder she called out to her, "Prat, that wasn't funny."

"I thought it was funny. You nearly went cross-eyed. Anyway, is there something else we must talk about right now, or can I go to sleep, please?" Heather actually puffed out her lower lip and fluttered her eyes at her.

"No; nothing else we must talk about right this second, except, do you mind if I stay with you, I don't want to sleep alone here. I have never been completely comfortable in this house and just because it is spotlessly clean now, doesn't erase prior memories of doxies attacking from the curtains. Can I just lie here; and maybe hug you tonight?"

"I would like that, but I really think we should get some sleep. I was drifting off to sleep just before you arrived."

"Best friends no matter what?"

"We'll always be best friends." Heather said and wrapped Hermione into a hug to let her know she really meant it.

Clinging to each other they fell to sleep.

Several hours later as the dawn's light began to pry its way in around the edges of the thick curtains. Hermione began to rouse. She heard the stairs creek and figured dad was coming to get them up for the early morning pow-wow but she was far too comfortable to completely awaken and get up to greet him. She hoped it would take him a while to recall which room she had been set up to sleep in.

"Is there something you two need to tell me?"

Hermione was startled awake at the unusual morning greeting and saw her dad looking down at her. She then noticed that Heather's baby doll top was bunched up thanks to her arm that had found its way up Heather's front while sleeping, and where her hand rested cupping the lower part of Heather's chest. Heather was clinging tightly to her, deep asleep one arm beneath and around her waist. While the other, passing over her had fallen a bit lower than her waist. It tightly squeezed her cheek.

Extricating herself from Heather, by first freeing her tightly clamped buttock from said clamp, she got out of bed and pulled the fallen off cover over Heather. "I came in last night to just talk and must have fallen asleep."

Her dad raised an eyebrow, "Do I need to get Kreature to clean out a bedroom in the attic?"

"Dad we just talked, get your mind out of the gutter."

"I don't want you to get hurt."

"Which is why I was in here last night talking with Heather, a lot has happened over the last two days. We needed to clear the air. Give me a few minutes and I'll be downstairs."

"Wake-up Heather before you come down. You sure she is a morning person? She is more out of it than mum."

"I am starting to think mum is right on the whole this body might not be the morning person the other body was. Otherwise due to her magic which was jumpstarting our temporary wards, these lockdown wards and a house elf with spring cleaning fever, even her bottomless battery has to, well… bottom out eventually."

Yawning and noticing her dad's raised eyebrow on her word choice she angrily waved him away and headed off to her room letting her dad head downstairs. If they went shopping today she needed to get an alarm clock. Blushing at that random thought, she batted it away too. This wasn't going to be repeated. They had just needed to talk and she'd never slept in Grimmauld Place without another sharing her room. Admittedly the sharing of a room had involved twin beds verses last night's sharing of a bed, and it had been a wonderful night's sleep. Hermione blushed recalling Heather's tongue millimeters from her lips.

Having used the bathroom she got dressed. Her bed didn't need making as she hadn't slept in it so she was quickly ready. Crossing the landing she wondered should she knock on her sister's bedroom door. Deciding it had taken far too long last time she just went and entered. Gently she shook Heather's shoulder. "Dad wants us up, Heather can you wake-up?" Having watched her sister stumble into the bathroom she decided she should make Heather's bed before heading downstairs.