Finding Heather

Year 6 Chapter 17

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Chapter Seventeen

Looking back later, Heather was astonished at how quickly January and February flew by. Her first week back to Hogwarts, large signs went up announcing Apparition lessons for sixth-years. These would take place for the next twelve Saturdays for any student who already was seventeen, or would be before the start of the next school year. On top of these, her assignment from Dumbledore, trying to figure out what Snape and Malfoy were up to, and quidditch practice, Heather hardly for her homework, let alone sleep.

This match in particular had her and the team practicing more intensely then ever. It was perhaps unfair to take her emotions against Justin out on the Hufflepuff Quidditch team, but she was determined that her team would not just win, but crush Hufflepuff. After one practice session, Ron compared her to Oliver Wood, which she took as a compliment whether he meant it that way or not.

She made one attempt to retrieve the horcrux memory from Slughorn during her first week back to school. To call it an absolute failure would be an understatement, thought Heather as she watched Slughorn dash from the dungeon. It didn't help that Hermione wasn't feeling too inclined to be sympathetic. Heather had avoided doing any work during that lesson, mostly for lack of understanding Golpalott's Third Law, and had instead handed in a bezoar stone, something Slughorn had found highly amusing rather than impertinent.

Deciding it would be best to let Slughorn think she had dropped the subject, Heather kept her head down, focusing on Malfoy. At least once a day she opened the Marauder's Map to track his small black dot. She noticed that Crabbe and Goyle, who she had heard arguing with Malfoy during the first apparition lesson, could be found off on their own more than she could ever remember them doing before. Perhaps, like Hermione and Ron, they were simply growing apart.

 In the middle of all of this, Heather started to notice the changes to her body. For months now her body hair had been softer than it had before, which made shaving much easier, but that was the only marked change she's seen so far. One evening in early February, she was standing in the shower under the scorching hot water, and took the time to examine her body. Her hips had started to widen while her stomach flattened. On her chest two small round bumps were forming nicely, and her body tingled when she touched them. Running her hands over her changing body gave her immense chills of pleasure, which intensified on closer inspection of her face over the sink when she got out.

She knew that Mrs. Weasley had been able to tell over the Christmas holidays that her face was becoming more feminine, but this was the first time that Heather herself had really noticed. Framed by her shoulder length hair, Heather had a hard time seeing a boy looking back at her. Amazingly, the features she had known for her whole life had softened and smoothed. Last summer she had seen the beginnings of hair growing on her chin, but that was gone now. Instead, the skin was soft and unblemished. She had been religiously using the pimple remover she had brought from Fred and George's shop over the summer, and it had worked like a charm. Her joy at finally becoming the girl she was shifted in an instant to fear as she realized again that soon this wouldn't be able to be hidden, certainly not by the beginning of the next school year.

By the end of January, Heather had long since given up on ever hearing from Justin, even going so far as to throw away her enchanted galleon. In a way she was glad to not be in a relationship anymore, as it seemed that all of her friend's pairings were stressful enough. Ginny and Dean were on the outs again, and as the middle of February arrived, so were Ron and Lavender. During a girl's session, Ginny spent most of the time ranting about Dean, saying he treated her like she was helpless. Both Hermione and Heather were sympathetic but didn't have any good advice on what she should do.