White Heather for Protection

Heart-Stopping Revelations

Heather's eyes shot open sometime after 5 in the morning. She groaned and buried her face in her pillow, trying to fall asleep again. She knew it was in vain, however, and left her bed after more tossing and turning. Might as well get up and prepare for the day ahead.

She was jittery as she washed up and dressed in a set of casual robes. She deliberately spent too long brushing her hair and putting it up in a neat plait. The sun was just cresting over the horizon as she made her way to the kitchen for breakfast.

Dobby was quick to offer to prepare something for her, but she waved him off to his other duties. Cooking would take her mind off of everything that was buzzing through it.

Once she had cooked up enough food to feed an army, Hadrian stumbled in, yawning slightly. He was still in his nightclothes, likely woken up by the smell of food.

"Morning, Heather. You're up early." He eyed the table laden with food. "Excited for today?"

She grimaced at the spread of pancakes, scrambled eggs, bacon, muffins, sausages, roasted mushrooms and sundried tomatoes. She may have overdone it, considering all of this was just for them two, three if she included Dobby. Oh well, they could keep the leftovers for later using stasis charms.

"Good morning Rian," she said, as she loaded a plate with his favourites and passed it over. He made a pleased sound and dug into his food with gusto.

Heather did her best to follow suit, though the churning in her stomach made it difficult for her to. Still, she managed to choke down a sizeable meal. She knew she would need the energy for today. It wouldn't be very good to pass out halfway through her first day of apprenticeship.

"Don't worry so much, Heather! You'll do great. 'Sides, what makes today different from all those others when Professor Snape was teaching you privately?"

She sighed, knowing her brother was right. Still, it just felt like more was at stake. "It's just the waiting that's getting on my nerves. I'll be fine when I get to Hogwarts."

Hadrian snorted doubtfully. "Well, you still have a while yet. There's still an hour and a half till 9." He knew that if left to mull over it for that time, his sister would work herself into quite a sorry state. A worrywart, Heather was.

"It's fine, I can occupy myself till then with a book," Heather said, as she put all the dirty plates and utensils in the sink. Dobby allowed the compromise that if Heather or Hadrian cooked, he would clean up. There was only so much work the house elf felt the siblings could keep from him.

"You're kind of obsessed with his books, huh," Hadrian said knowingly.

She flushed at the implication. It wasn't like she had known that Severus was her Prince when she bought the books. And it wasn't her fault they were so fascinating.

"Shush, Hadrian, I'm going to start reading now." She picked up the book Severus had lent her and located the page she had left off at. The man was right when he'd said she wouldn't be able to finish in before August. She was barely halfway through, but she had already learnt so much! She definitely needed her own copy of it.

She didn't notice her brother sigh and shake his head at her as she got absorbed in complex potions theory.

It was only later, when an alarm rang out that she dragged her attention away from the old tome. She had set the time for quarter to nine, so she knew she could apparate to Hogwarts' gates now and arrive at Professor Snape's office right on time.

"Hadrian, I'll be leaving now!" she shouted to wherever her brother was in the house.

Hadrian appeared in the doorway, rushing up to see her off. "See you later, and good luck!"