Chapter 6
Progression
The gray clouds outside only accented the mood
inside of the castle. Harry had concluded something was
going to happen soon whether his team was ready or not.
"It always does." Harry confided in his sister and his
cousin as they strolled the grounds with the two of them.
Ron was on patrol and Hermione was in her healer
training class with Madame Pomfrey, so both Harry and
Heather took the time with their cousin.
"Kind of like the time where my gang and I was
racing after you?"
"Which time?" Harry scoffed.
"The week you turned your teacher's hair blue."
"It wasn't her hair. It was her wig."
"You turned your teacher's wig blue?" Heather
as she chuckled. "That's hysterical!"
"Not so hysterical when I got home." Harry
offered and then he changed the topic. "How is
Aunt Petunia's treatment going?"
"Its going well. Mum is in America at the moment.
The healer at Saint Mungo's sent her to a specialist in
Salem. Dad wanted to go, but couldn't because of school
being in session and he wasn't going to allow me to miss
either. We'll leave to join her at the clinic once school lets
out."
"Speaking of America, have you received your
letter yet from Mika and India?" Harry asked as casually
as he could so Dudley wouldn't suspect anything unusual.
"Not yet. I was hoping it would come today at lunch."
Heather mentioned as she chuckled. "At least its not like
what happened at my de-crowning."
"De-crowning?" Dudley inquired.
"Heather was Ms. Junior United States, remember?
She had to give up her title earlier this summer." Harry filled
Dudley in. "She was suppose to be the epitome of beauty,
grace, elegance, and taste. Instead she gave the winner a
gesture that was exactly the opposite."
"At least I had enough taste not to start it. That fucking
bitch kept stepping on my toes." Heather defended. "I was
rooting for the Miss Congeniality, Marianne Brown from
Toledo, OH. At least she didn't call me a bitch behind my
back."
"That girl from California was nice." Harry offered.
"She'd also been sniffing a bit too much of that bleach
she used to dye her hair if you know what I mean."
Harry chuckled. "Yeah, I know what you mean."
Suddenly a pair of arms wrapped around Heather
and caught her off guard. "Hey." Ron breathed into her
ear.
"Hey." Heather smiled as she turned to face him.
"I thought you were on patrol."
"I am," Ron grinned as he held her, "but I wanted to
come over and say hello."
"Better not let Sergeant Duckhorn see you." Harry
ordered.
"Yes, sir." Ron saluted mockingly.
"I'm serious, Ron. You're on duty."
"Okay, Okay. Don't get your knickers in a twist."
Ron rolled his eyes. "I won't."
"You want to meet me in our lobby later?"
Heather asked.
"Lobby?"
"The common room. That's what we call the
common room in the states, remember? How often
do we have to go over this?"
"All the time." Ron smiled playfully. "When?"
"After lunch?"
"Can do." Ron kissed her on the forehead.
"I'll see you then. "
"Yeah." Heather smiled once Ron walked
back toward the school. "I'll see you then."
*****
Chaos,
It's a negative on MacNeal. According to
Mika (after she hacked into the A.A. files) she
hopped a plane to the U.K. We're still trying to
figure out why. Her cell phone files are one of
the next few things Mika is going to get into
to figure it out unless you know what she is
up to. Le me know so I can give Mika the go.
-India Jade
"Mika hacked into the A.A.'s files?" Sarah
exclaimed. "Maybe we should be investigating her."
"Mika's harmless. Its not like she has a
large active Interpol file. Its also not her to do
anything other than access files to read them."
Heather offered as she folded the letter to put
inside of her cloak. "You know, I'd bet you she's with
Malfoy. They were dating at the end of last year
and he's the son of a known Death Eater. The
sour apple never falls too far from the tree you know.
Not to mention it wouldn't be beyond those two to
plot something to get back at Harry and I."
"The big question is how and what." Hermione
suggested to the group as she stood up and began
pacing the floor.
"Any suggestions, Hermione?" Harry asked as
he claimed one of the cushions on the sofa. The seven
decided to meet for a private lunch when Heather's letter
arrived in the mail.
"Not anything specific yet, but I do have a hunch.
What do you think, Ron?"
"Same here. Nothing concrete. As what they'd
be willing to try, I wouldn't put it past it beyond either
one of them to want to kill us." The team strategist
suggested. "I would suggest when, not if, we have a
confrontation we'd be ready to kill if we have to."
"I'd rather not have it come to that, Ron." Harry
commanded. "I'd rather let the duo rot in Azkaban, but
if it's a matter of one of you and either one of them, I
would rather let it be one of them."
"And on that note." Kamal looked at his watch.
"Anthony and I have weaponry class."
"We'd better be going too, Harry." Hermione
glanced at her watch. "You have your wand-less
magic training and I need to get to the library before
you me, and Ron have our command course after
dinner."
"I'll see you later." Ron waved at them as he
sprawled out on the couch once Harry stood up.
Heather took Kamal's seat at the end of the couch.
Sensing the duo wanted to be alone, Sarah
Campbell went into one of the conjoining rooms. "I'll
be studying if you need me."
Heather and Ron only nodded as they were
too busy eyeing each other. Once Sarah firmly shut
the door, Heather claimed Ron's embrace. "How are
you doing?" Ron asked. "You haven't been feeling
well since we got here. Have you been to see
Madame Pomfrey like I asked you to?"
"Traveling like we did usually throws my system
for a loop."
"But you seemed fine last year when your school
was attacked."
"Why do you think I went to see Madame Pomfrey
first thing?" Heather chuckled. ""I am helping the nurse"
that ended up to be my signal to Professor Gaddis that I
needed to see the nurse about not feeling well."
"I take it that happened often?"
"Well think about it. All the competitions I was in
made me travel quite a lot. Motion sickness and I don't
get along."
"What about plane rides? You always enjoy flying."
"Especially when I remember to take my ginger
pill before we go." Heather agreed, then noticed the
confused look on his face. "Ginger pills are the natural
cure for motion sickness. I saw it once on a muggle
television program. You probably haven't heard of it.
Its called Mythbusters."
"Ah." Ron nodded in comprehending and the
duo grew silent for a few moments.
"Ron, can I ask you something." Heather
asked breaking the moment.
"You know you can."
"Its serious."
"Okay."
"What do you think about children? Do you want
to have some?"
Ron was unusually quiet for a moment, which to
Heather meant it wasn't a good sign. "Like right now?
Heather, I don't think I'm ready. You're not ready. We're
both still in training, and we're not even married…"
"Not right now, but eventually."
"Ron thought about it for what seemed like another
eternity. "Honestly, I don't know. I've never really thought
about it. Right now, all I want to do is focus on finishing
training."
Heather wanted to scream out. "You'd better get
Use to the idea, Ron, because you're going to be a daddy,"
but she couldn't. She knew what the handbook said about
pregnant aurors. She knew Ron would make her leave
training if he knew. Thus silence continued on the topic at
hand. Heather wanted to tell him the truth. She wanted to
stop lying to him, but she couldn't. Maybe once the mission
was over…
"Why do you want to know, Heather?" Ron asked
as he chuckled. "Is there something you haven't told me?"
"No," Heather lied as he head claimed his chest
since she wasn't able to tell him that eye to eye, "there isn't
anything."
Ron kissed the top of her head as the duo continued
to lay there until the clock tower chimed the hour. "Do you
have patrol tonight?" Ron asked once the doors to the common
room opened for Harry and Hermione's entrance.
"Yeah, its my turn tonight." Heather stood up to yawn
as she stretched. "So I will see you later on this evening then?"
"I'll wait up then." Ron offered as he stood up as well.
"No you have the morning shift tomorrow, remember?
You'll need your sleep."
"If you're sure.
"I'm sure." Heather confirmed as the four of them exited
their common room to head down to dinner.
*****
As Ron scribbled down notes in command class,
his thoughts were miles away from learning to make an
effective decision toward the group under his command.
Harry noticed this and slipped a note to his best friend,
a feat of no small accord considering there were only
three people attending this particular class other than
Sergeant Duckhorn.
"What is wrong, mate?"
"One word: Heather."
"What about her?"
"She's been acting really strange lately.
More so than usual I mean."
Harry chuckled softly as he read this. "How so?"
"She's sick and she's blaming it on motion
sickness. Then she asks me if I want to have children."
"Girls think about that sort of thing all the time.
I guess it got engrained into their brains a long time ago.
Along with weddings, girls are always thinking about it."
Harry noted. "Hermione mentioned something along the
lines a few weeks ago. Scared me for a while because I
honestly thought she was pregnant. All it ended up being
her curiosity about what I thought about the same ideas
and not that she was."
"Oh."
"So its probably nothing to worry about." Harry
offered. "Although you may want to consider thinking
about if you do or not. It may pop up again. So do you?"
"Do I what?"
"Want kids."
"Think about it, Harry. You know how much
family means to my family."
"But you want to focus on your career, right
now."
"All I want to think about right now is finishing
training at this point. The only longer term goals I
have right now is marry your sister."
Harry smiled at his friend and then slipped his
and Ron's conversation to the back of his notebook
as Sergeant Duckhorn continued to ramble on about
effective decision making and how important it was
in a survival situation. Suddenly, the doors to the
classroom burst open and Professor McGonagall
hurried inside. Her face was white with worry.
"Sergeant Duckhorn, Professor Dumbledore wishes
to speak with you immediately. I am afraid something
terrible has happened."
"What's going on, Professor." Harry asked as
he stood up.
"I'm afraid there has been an abduction."
"Who is it, Professor?" Hermione asked
while shutting her books.
When Ron heard the name, he turned ghostly
white. "Miss Potter."
Sergeant Duckhorn dismissed the three and
ordered the remaining members of the Red Squadron
to meet her in their common room. The squadron
waited for almost an hour before their squadron
sergeant appeared with a letter in hand. "We have a
letter from the abductors, but its addressed to Mister
Potter. The headmaster and I tried to open the letter
Ourselves, but there must be an enchantment so he
alone can only open the letter."
Harry opened the letter with caution and even
before he had finished reading it he exclaimed. "We
were right about MacNeal and Malfoy." Harry threw
the letter in the common room fire when he was
finished. "Malfoy manor is our target. Everyone suit
up. This mission is going to need stealth."
"Once you get there," Sergeant Duckhorn
ordered and everyone stopped in their tracks,
"remember this is a rescue mission only. DO NOT
and I repeat DO NOT take the Onyx Spell Book.
We don't want to endanger Cadet Potter's life.
We will take it another time. Anyone who disobeys
this will be disobeying a direct order and will be
served with immediate discharge papers especially
since all of you are skating on thin ice already."
"Yes, Ma'am." The group agreed, but Harry
smiled as the voice of his sister popped into his
head saying. "Only a moron would skate on thin
ice."
*****
End of Chapter.
S'Eleene's notes: Sorry this took so long to get out, but
This is what happens when I feel a lot of stress at once.
Something doesn't get done and obviously it was the
Story, but don't worry. The manuscript is finished, so
The next chapter will be up quicker than you think.
I have already informed Sableshuman not to allow me
To do an abduction or anything like that for the next one
So if you think I'm being a little predictable, well, may I
Suggest you to take a nice look at anything G.F. Handel
Composed. He usually did something similar the first
Couple of times, then to drive you crazy and make sure
You're paying attention he'd change it up on you. So in
The light of Handel, this is what is going to happen. I'm not
Going to say what, but you may be surprised. Please read
And review. I do enjoy hearing from people. If you hate it,
Please keep it to yourself unless you can figure a way to
Make it constructive.