White Heather for Protection

A Mile a Minute

"Rian!"

Hadrian turned around at the sound of his name. His sister was making her way to him, a look of determination on her face. What was she up to now?

"Are you headed to the library too? Good thinking. We should really be preparing for the first task," she said, tugging his arm down the hallway.

Oh no. He shifted uncomfortably. "Err, Heather, I have this thing. Yeah. With..." Seeing Neville ahead of them, he thought quickly. "Neville! Next time?" Extricating himself with an apologetic look, he jogged up to Neville. "Play along, okay?" he whispered to his friend. Louder, he said, "Let's go! You agreed to teach me about magical water plants from that book Professor Moody lent you, remember?"

"Hadrian?" Heather asked in confusion at his abruptness.

Pretending not to hear, he walked faster, Neville in tow.

~~~

Fred and George popped their heads around the door. That was odd. They had never come into his dorm room before.

"Hadrian, your-" one of them (Fred?) began.

"-sister's looking-" the other (George?) continued.

"-for you," they chorused together. He could only differentiate them about half the time. Heather was much better at it than he was.

Speaking of his sister... "Err," he hummed nervously, "could you tell her I'm not here?"

They exchanged a look. "If you say so."

"Why are you avoiding-"

"-her anyway?"

"I'm not!" he denied loudly. "I'm just...busy. Yeah."

They took in his current state - sprawled across his bed, holding a book about advanced defensive spells. "Riiggghhht."

When the two finally left, Hadrian made a silent apology to his sister and buried his face in the bedding.

~~~

Walking out of the HoM classroom, he spied his sister in the corridor. Damn, how did she know his schedule? Oh, who was he kidding, that didn't surprise him at all. Professor McGonagall might even have given it to her herself. Merlin knew she had all the teachers wrapped around her fingers, even Professor Snape. Especially Professor Snape.

Heather caught sight of him and started walking over. Oh no. Need an excuse...

"Err, hi there Heather! Nice seeing you. I've got...something right now. Gottagobye!" Clutching his bookbag, he turned tail and ran back to Gryffindor Tower.

~~~

Seeing Heather down the corridor, Hadrian promptly turned around and walked the way he came.

~~~

She had had enough. Hadrian had evaded her for the last time. Storming into the Great Hall, she saw him already seated for dinner. Heather headed straight for him and grabbed his arm to prevent him from running away. She wouldn't put it past him to try.

"Hadrian," she said sweetly.

Her brother laughed nervously. "H-heather. How are you?"

"Oh, just marvellous. My brother has been running away from me every time I try to talk to him. Even going so far as to lie to me to avoid me." She felt him wince slightly. "Why don't we have a chat, Hadrian?"

"Umm..." Before he could finish his sentence, she dragged him out of the hall and into an empty alcove.

"Talk."