White Heather for Protection

Devotion

It was with great reluctance that Heather parted ways with Severus. They each had pressing matters to deal with, however, so no matter how much she yearned to spend more time together after such a long time apart, she knew they couldn't.

No doubt the first thing Fred had done was to drag George to see Poppy. She sent off a Patronus message to them letting them know she would handle the house elves and they could go get the book from Minerva.

She made her way carefully towards the kitchens, taking care to not let herself be seen. Severus had said there weren't any other Deatheaters in the castle at the moment, but it never hurt to be too careful.

The moment she stepped through the painting that guarded the kitchens, hundreds of eyes shot towards her. It was slightly disconcerting to be on the receiving end of such attention. There was a moment of stunned silence before a cacophony of squeaky voices had her cringing.

A piercing whistle halted everyone in their tracks, and Heather shot a grateful look towards Mipsy, who had her hands on her hips, staring down her brethren with a disapproving look.

"Everyone! Please be quiet! We's be hurting Miss Heather's poor ears!"

That prompted a wave of self-recrimination in the house elves, who all tugged on their own ears sharply.

Heather was quick to put a stop to that.

"No, wait. Don't worry about it! Please, don't punish yourselves!" It took her a while to calm all of them down, but eventually she managed it.

Mipsy strong-armed her into a seat, setting down a variety of cakes and biscuits in front of her and a cup of tea. Heather wasn't able to dissuade her from it.

"Thank you all for your help during the attack on the castle. Your actions kept all the students safe," she said sincerely.

Then she had to take another fifteen minutes calming the elves down from their tearful gratitude at her gratitude.

"You are very welcome, Miss Heather!" Mipsy said on all the elves' behalf, wiping the corner of her eye. "If there is anything more us elfs can do, please say so! We be happy to help!" There was a sea of nodding heads behind her as she said so.

"Thank you," she said, then quickly hurried on to add before she could set them off again, "I actually do need your help with something."

The house elves bounced in excitement, eagerly awaiting her request. Heather smiled to herself. She really did need to find a way to repay them.

"There's possibly an object hidden in Hogwarts, a very dark object. Belonging to You-Know-Who. We need to find it, but we don't know where to start. If it's possible, could you all keep a lookout for it?"

"What is this object Miss Heather is looking for?" Mipsy asked. A few elves gasped, likely at her 'audacity' for questioning Heather.

She sighed. "That's part of the problem. I'm not sure. A few possibilities are a cup and a diadem," she said, conjuring up the items in question for them to see, "but it could also be anything else, really. If it's possible, could you just gather all the dark objects you can find in the castle and hide them in a safe room?" Then she and the others would just have to sort through that and find the horcrux.

Securing the help of the elves was easy, of course. They promised to do their best, though she assured them they shouldn't wear themselves out. She also made sure to tell them not to physically touch any of the objects, lest they suffer some sort of curse like the one on the Gaunt ring.

When she left the kitchen, it was with a basket of baked goodies in the crook of her arm, courtesy of the enthusiastic little beings. She had long since learnt never to argue against their hospitality. It wouldn't do much good.