White Heather for Protection

Sweet Revenge

He wasn't coming.

Heather looked out the expansive window sightlessly, for once not moved by the view of Hogwarts' grounds. It was currently day five since the argument with her brother and they had still not spoken a word to each other. It was killing her to be on the outs with Hadrian, but she was determined to respect his wishes to stay away. She had hoped that Hadrian would have changed his mind by now, but it wasn't to be.

It seemed he wasn't even coming for their Occlumency lessons today. It made her furious that he would risk his safety just because of their fight. What did he think they were doing with these lessons? It wasn't just for fun, they were trying to protect his mind from Voldemort! She caught herself midway through her mental rant.

Was this what Hadrian meant? Was she being too overprotective? To her, this threat was rather serious. Come on, sharing headspace with Voldemort? But she thought that way about all potential dangers to her brother. She didn't think it was too much of her to want to protect her brother from all that would harm him.

...But apparently, Hadrian did.

And that was the real kicker, wasn't it?

Her first instinct was to go look for him and drag him here. Force him to focus on Occlumency whether he liked it or not. However, Hadrian's previous words to her played mockingly in her mind.

'I'm perfectly capable of fighting my own battles, so why don't you just mind your own business and leave. Me. Alone!'

She flinched a little just at the memory of them.

"Heather?" Fred asked gently.

She turned to see her two best friends looking at her worriedly. They'd come to the Den this afternoon, ostensibly to work on some of their joke products, though they usually spent this time playing pranks on the unsuspecting masses. She knew they were really here for her. She had told them about the fight with her brother and they'd tried to spend as much time as they could with her (even more than they usually did) ever since.

"I don't think Hadrian's coming for lessons today," she tried to say uncaringly. She knew she wasn't fooling either of them.

"Well, lucky for us, then, eh Forge?" George declared, nudging his twin and winking roguishly.

"Sure is, Gred! So how about it, Heather-harp? Care to help your bestest friends in the whole world out with a prank?"

Despite her mood, she found herself smiling. "That depends, boys. Are you sure you'll be able to pull off what I have in mind?"

They leaned forward in interest, eyes glinting mischievously. "Oh, now this we have to hear."

Chuckling, she pulled them close and told them her plans. Let's just say it involved Umbitch, a few conjurations and certain potions.

~~~

A light knock preceded the sound of the door opening. Heather didn't pause in her movements over the cauldron. Any misstep was liable to cause a tiny explosion right now.

"Is the potion done?" George asked, reading the notes she left on the table.

"Yup." She watched keenly as the experimental potion turned a deep blue. Hopefully it would stay that way.

While she was in a lull in the brewing, she took a few short notes on her progress.

"Err, Heather," Fred said, alarmed.

She turned and muttered a curse. The liquid was quickly turning a mud brown and bubbling ominously. As quick as she could, she erected a protective dome around the cauldron. If this were just a normal potion, she would have simply banished the sludge. However, since she was experimenting with it, she had to keep it to examine what had gone wrong.