White Heather for Protection

Seeking Happiness

'I'm quitting Quidditch.'

Heather had been thinking that the whole night. Sitting next to her brother who lay unconscious in a hospital bed, she had forced herself to recall every single torturous moment of the match.

Before the match had ended, before she had seen her Hadrian plummet to the ground, all she could remember was, 'Where's the snitch?'. She had been chasing after a useless ball while her brother fought for his life. What was wrong with her? How could she have...? Rian could have died! Had almost died. If not for his protective bracelet.

Heather squeezed harder on the accessory. She had spent every free moment she had working on it. Paging through every relevant book she could find. Imbuing spells and raw magic into the ruby – their birthstone. Chanting blessings as she weaved strips of leather to form a band. Stitching runes of health and healing into the bracelet to bind all the magic together.

The bracelet had been the only thing she'd gotten right that day. Without it slowing Hadrian's fall, he would have, would have...

Lost in her anguish, she didn't notice her brother open his eyes and look blurrily around the room.

"Where 'm I?" he slurred drowsily.

Jerking in surprise, Heather stared at her brother – her very much awake brother – before leaping off her chair and hugging him tightly.

"Heather, wha's goin' on?"

She buried her face in his hair and mumbled, "Someone cursed your broom. You f-fell."

He gasped in shock and stretched his body, this way and that. "I'm alright though. Not injured at all."

"The amulet. It saved you," Heather said, her voice wobbling slightly. She brought his wrist up and kissed the bracelet gratefully.

Unexpectedly, Rian smiled brightly. "Y'mean, you saved me. Again."

"Hadrian-" she tried to protest.

"Darn, I was really looking forward to our first match." He frowned, then shrugged. "At least we'll have the other games." Giving her a challenging look, he said, "You'd better not go easy on me because of this."

Heather wanted to tell her brother that she would be quitting, but seeing his earnestness... She couldn't do it! Taking a steadying breath, she said, "Well then, you'd better get out of her soon. You'll need all the practice you can get if you want to stand a chance against me!"

She'd just have to take more precautions in the following matches.

~~~

The subsequent weeks were blissfully uneventful. If Heather periodically activated the tracking spell on Rian's bracelet, then that was a big sister's prerogative. Even if her friends thought she was mad.

"Heather, you're doing it again?" George asked, exasperated.

"That's the fourth time in half as many hours!" Fred said in the exact same tone.

"Give it a rest!"

"Don't you have an alarm if-"

"-something happens to him?"

Heather bit her lip in worry. "But it might be too late by then! What if he's too far away for me to get to?"

"Obsessive."

"Paranoid."

"I'd rather be obsessive and paranoid than grieving," she said calmly.

They threw up their hands in exasperation. Then they pestered her to stop practising that defensive spell she'd been working on and help them charm the joke hats they had.