White Heather for Protection

Teacup Tempest

And so peace returned to Hogwarts. With Umbridge detained in a Ministry holding cell awaiting trial, all previous mandates and decrees instated by her were suspended by the Board. Moody was taken on as the permanent DADA teacher, to the extreme relief of the NEWT and OWL students.

Heather could finally relax and enjoy school again. Well, except that her brother still wasn't talking to her. She'd thought for sure that with Umbridge leaving, the thundercloud on his brow would disappear, but he was still as surly as ever.

Even consulting with Cedric had yielded no clues. Hadrian was quiet and withdrawn around his boyfriend as well.

If this kept up, Heather was going to corner him and force the problem out of him whether he liked it or not. And she wouldn't care if he screamed in her face that she was a nosy, overbearing mother hen either.

~~~

"Heather!"

"Heather!"

"HEATHER!"

"Okay, okay, what is it?" Heather gave in, shooting them both frowns for making a ruckus in the library. She could already feel Madam Pince's glare burning into the back of her head.

"Come on, let's-"

"-ditch this place!"

The burning turned up a notch. The words had clearly been heard by the uptight librarian. Sighing, she excused herself from the study group and packed up her stuff.

"Now will you tell me why you dragged me away?" she asked as they tugged her along.

"Have you looked out a window in the past few hours?" Fred said.

She shook her head. "You know I haven't." She'd been in the library since finishing breakfast today. It was a Saturday, but the mock NEWTs were rapidly approaching and she was taking the time to revise her work.

"Well, listen!" George urged.

Confused, Heather shut her mouth and strained her ears for whatever they wanted her to hear. After a few moments, a grumble of thunder shook the castle. Realisation hit her as the three of them reached the Den. She threw the door open and ran up to the large window. Rolling dark clouds gathered in the distance, but they were travelling with great speed. Another round of thunder cracked the air, and this time she could see the flash of lightning that followed soon after.

"A storm's approaching!" Heather exclaimed. She turned to her friends, bouncing up and down eagerly. It was the first in a long time. The Hogwarts wards were sometimes able to prevent dangerous weather, but only if they weren't too strong. Every once in a while, a very strong storm would hit.

"It should start within the hour," Fred said, plopping himself down on a plush couch with George.

"Have you told the others?" she asked as she joined them.

"Couldn't find them, so we're guessing-"

"- they already found a room to hole up in."

She glanced out the window again. It looked as dark as night out there. It was shaping up to be a terrible storm. Well, it didn't really matter how big it was. The animagus ritual just needed any kind of lightning storm.

Her fingers tapped on a cushion rhythmically, impatiently waiting for it to start. She couldn't believe that this was the first storm of the school year. It had been a whole year of mild weather, but fortunately it was finally here.

"Quit it, Heather!" George reached out and stopped her hand from its restless movements.

"Yeah, you're making us antsy too!" Fred said.