𝗟𝗢𝗡𝗗𝗢𝗡 𝗕𝗢𝗬

ACT ONE, CHAPTER ONE
september first, 1995.

VENUS BLACK MISSED New York City.

She missed how all the buildings at night lit up the streets, giving her a sense of home and belonging. She missed the crazy taxi cab drivers and how they absolutely did not care about the pedestrians whatsoever. She missed Fifth Avenue and all the stores that lined it. She missed Times Square with its billboards. She missed her small apartment on West Forty-Second Street. She missed the upbeat and busy living. But most of all, she just missed her home.

Now, her New York accent was still slightly there (judging by the way she said coffee), but after being in London for about two months, it had faded significantly. Her parents still fit right in in England with their British accents — despite them being dimmed because of their years in America — yet Venus couldn't help but feel like a bit of an outcast.

Now, somebody's probably wondering — hey, if Venus grew up around people with British accents, wouldn't she have one too? Here's the answer — no. Venus was surrounded by American accents at school and basically everywhere else. She was around American accents more than British accents, so therefore, her accent is very much American (more geared to the New York side, as stated earlier.)

Anyways, London is cool enough. There's so many things to see and so many places to explore. It's just another awesome city, but it's just not . . . New York. Not to mention that it was cold and rainy most days. Normally, at this point, New York would be in the eighties and nineties (God, sorry, she's still used to using Fahrenheit — she means the twenty-six to the thirty-two kind of range in Celsius.) She would probably be out an about, exploring the labyrinth of streets and ducking into shops once in a while in effort to not get too hot.

Yet now, as she stood on Platform Nine and Three-Quarters on September first (she also had to run through a wall to get there . . . man, British people were weird) to ride the Hogwarts Express, the weather was a mild sixty-eight degrees (twenty Celsius, she really had to switch her brain over.) Venus wore a plaid skirt with a white t-shirt, trying to make a good first impression.

She glanced around at the platform around her. It was bustling with people, either coming from that strange wall they had to run through, apparition, or the Floo network. There were owl cages, multiple carts (trolleys?) carrying luggage, people chasing after cats, scrambling to get onto the scarlet steam train . . .

Basically, it was chaotic.

"You're going to be fine," Venus' mother, Mary Black, told her, making Venus look over at her. "Trust me, your father and I went to Hogwarts. It'll definitely be an adjustment from Ilvermorny, but you'll fit right in."

Venus anxiously tapped her wand against her thigh — one of silver lime wood about 10 inches long and a dragon heartstring core, decorated with gold designs and some flowers — and sighed in response to what her mother just said. "Mom, at this time, I would already be at Ilvermorny with all my friends. And now I'm here in a new school with people I literally don't know at all?"

Atlas Black, Venus' father, put his hands on his daughter's shoulders. "Listen. I know you're used to going to school in Massachusetts, but right now, I need you to get used to going to school in Scotland. You know how big this job is for your mother and I."

Venus nodded slowly. "Yeah, I know."

"Oh, by the way, a lot of Pureblood Slytherins will try and make friends with you because of your last name."

"But I don't care about blood purity," Venus complained. She scoffed quietly. "You know, Ilvermorny didn't have this problem."

"Venus," Mary said in a warning tone.

"Sorry. I'll try to avoid them."

Mary brushed some imaginary dust off of Venus' shoulders. "Now, in the letter Professor Dumbledore sent, he said you'd be sorted with the first years. So when you get off the train, find the person gathering the first years. It should be Hagrid. He's not hard to miss."

"Ah, Hagrid," Atlas commented, his eyes getting far away like he was reminiscing on something. "Man, I've missed the big guy."

"Me too," Mary agreed. The whistle on the train then sounded, and everyone began to hurry onto the train. "Venus, write to us weekly. I want you to update us on everything."

Venus pulled her parents into a tight group hug. She squeezed her eyes shut as she did so, willing herself not to cry. It was quite ridiculous — she was fifteen, crying over leaving her parents. But it was scary going to a new school with no friends to start with.

"Now go," Atlas urged, pushing his daughter away. "You don't want to miss a compartment. Good luck, Vennie."

Venus turned and faced the train. After tucking her wand into the waistband of her skirt and gathering her trunk and owl cage in her hands, she took a deep breath. And with her head held high, she walked straight towards the train.

Getting on the train was easy enough. Finding a compartment was not. Almost everyone was gathered with their friends and had settled down. Venus kept glancing back and forth between the compartments to try and see if one was empty. Finally, she found one that only had three people in it towards the back of the train.

She granted that her best option. Venus took a deep breath to try and calm herself before sliding the door open. A boy with blonde hair and a girl with brown hair turned to look at her questioningly while the last girl, one with long blonde hair, kept her gaze on her upside-down magazine. Venus wondered if that was on purpose.

"I'm so sorry," Venus apologized. "Everywhere else is full, and . . ."

The brunette girl raised an eyebrow. "An American. Huh." She patted the seat next to her. "Come sit."

Venus shut the door behind her and put her luggage down. She sat down at the edge of the seat, giving the girl a gracious smile.

The girl stuck out her hand. "Charlotte. I'd prefer it if you could call me anything but that, though. Char, Charlie, whatever."

She shook her hand. "Venus."

Charlotte looked back at the blonde boy, who now had his head tucked into a book, and kicked him in the knee gently. "Eli, you going to welcome Venus or what?"

"I'm behind on work," the blonde boy fretted. "No time for introductions."

"The year hasn't even started. Put your book down."

He sighed and set his book off to the side. "Elijah, you can call me Eli. Sorry, my parents are expecting me to get all O's on my O.W.L.'s this year. Gotta live up to the Ravenclaw name, you know?"

"Ravenclaw . . ." Venus repeated quietly to herself before she remembered. "Oh, that's the House with the eagle, right? Intelligence and wisdom House?"

"That's the one."

"And I'm a Slytherin," Charlotte added. "Guess you can kind of call me an outcast there because my parents are Muggles."

"Muggles mean a non-magic person," Venus guessed, making Charlotte nod. "Oh, we call them No-Maj's."

"So, you're American, obviously," Charlotte continued. "Did you have a school for magic over there?"

Venus nodded. "Yeah, it's called Ilvermorny. I would've been there, but my parents got transferred from the Magical Congress of the United States to the Ministry of Magic, so . . . here I am. They actually both went here for school. My mom was a Ravenclaw and my dad was a Slytherin."

"I've read about Ilvermorny," Elijah admitted. "They have Houses too, right?"

"Four, just like here. I was in Thunderbird. They represent the soul of the wizard and favor adventurers."

Charlotte raised an eyebrow. "Adventurers, huh? Sounds a lot to me like you'll be a Gryffindor."

The door then slid open. Venus looked up to see a girl with flamingly red hair, a boy clutching a toad, and . . . God, who was that? Standing at the very back of the group was a boy with messy black hair and eyes the prettiest shade of green. Not to be dramatic or anything, but Venus' favorite color might've just changed to that specific shade of green. She felt her cheeks heat up, but she quickly averted her gaze to her lap. Nope. No. She would not be getting a crush this early on.

"Hey, Charlie," the girl with the red hair greeted. "Hi, Eli."

Elijah's cheeks flushed pink under her gaze. "Oh, um, hey, Ginny."

"Hi, Luna," the girl named Ginny continued. "Is it okay if we take these seats?"

Finally, the girl with the long blonde hair looked up. Her eyes seemed to make her look like she was permanently surprised. She gave off an aura of distinct dottiness, like she wasn't all there. Nevertheless, Venus smiled. She liked this girl already.

"Come in," Charlotte urged. "We were just welcoming our new American friend to Hogwarts."

"American?" the boy with the pretty green eyes repeated. Venus couldn't help the way her heart raced at his British accent. His gaze trailed over to Venus, who smiled at him shyly as he entered the compartment. "Must be you." He held out his hand for her to shake while sitting in the spot next to her. "Harry."

She forgot her own name for a second, but Venus snapped herself out of it, shaking his hand — she also couldn't help but notice how nice his hand felt in hers. "Uh, Venus."

He raised an eyebrow. "Definitely American."

Venus nodded while laughing slightly. "Definitely."

"Had a good summer, Luna?" Ginny questioned, pausing her catching up with Charlotte and Elijah.

"Yes," Luna answered dreamily, her eyes set on Harry. "Yes, it was quite enjoyable, you know. You're Harry Potter."

Venus suddenly froze in her seat. Harry Potter? God, of course she knew who he was. Her parents had told her countless stories of him. He was the Boy Who Lived, the one who defeated Voldemort all on his own when he was just a year old . . .

And, well, Venus had been reading up on the Daily Prophet. Harry, at the end of last year, had said he fought in a graveyard with Voldemort himself during the third task of the Triwizard Tournament. As a result, a boy named Cedric Diggory had died, and Harry had returned clutching Cedric's body. The Daily Prophet was basically painting Harry out to be this huge liar, but Venus wasn't buying it. Why would Harry make something like that up? If his greatest enemy was really back, shouldn't people be more worried?

She assumes it's the Ministry. They seemed to have a lot less common sense than MACUSA — which, honestly, was saying a lot.

"I know I am," Harry replied.

The boy with the toad chuckled at that. Luna then cast her pale eyes on him.

"And I don't know who you are," Luna admitted.

"I'm nobody," he rushed out.

"No you're not," Ginny said sharply. "Neville Longbottom — Luna Lovegood. Luna's in my year, but in Ravenclaw."

"Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure," Luna repeated in a singsong voice.

She raised her upside-down magazine high enough to hide her entire face and fell silent. Venus tilted her head curiously at the girl. Charlotte shrugged like this was normal. Elijah paid no attention to it and pulled his book back out. Harry and Neville exchanged a look with their eyebrows raised. Ginny suppressed a giggle.

Despite being new, Venus felt very comfortable in this compartment. She was extremely aware of the way her and Harry's shoulders were touching — just a small detail, but still important to her. From across the way, Charlotte was explaining the ways of Hogwarts to Venus.

"It's a big castle, but trust me, you'll get used to it," Charlotte reassured her. "Watch out for the moving staircases, don't listen to anything the portraits say to you, and keep an eye out for Snape. He's my Head of House, but even I don't like him." She paused for a moment. "Am I missing anything, Eli?"

Elijah merely flipped the page in his book. "Sounds good to me, Lottie."

Charlotte smiled brightly. "Perfect. Well, Eli and I are always there to show you around. Stick with us and you'll be good."

Venus nodded. "Got it. Thanks."

"Guess what I got for my birthday?" Neville, the other boy who came in with Ginny and Harry, began.

"Another Remembrall?" Harry guessed.

"No, I could do with one, though, I lost the old one ages ago . . . no, look at this . . ."

He dug the hand that wasn't holding his toad into his schoolbag. After a bit of rummaging, he pulled out a small gray plant in a pot that looked like a cactus covered with boils.

"Mumbulus mimbletonia," Venus announced. "We studied one back in the greenhouses at Ilvermorny."

Neville beamed at her. "It's really, really rare. I don't know if there's one in the greenhouse at Hogwarts, even. I can't wait to show it to Professor Sprout. My great-uncle Algie got it for me in Assyria. I'm going to see if I can breed from it."

"Does it — er — do anything?" Harry asked.

"Loads of stuff! It's got an amazing defensive mechanism — hold Trevor for me . . ."

He dumped the toad Trevor into Harry's lap. Venus chuckled quietly. She looked up, and her and Harry's pretty green eyes locked with hers. Venus almost got lost in them and her heart began to race. However, she snapped out of it and forced herself to look away. Neville had taken a quill from his schoolbag and was holding the Mimbulus mimbletonia up to his eyes. He chose his spot and gave the plant a sharp prod with the tip of his quill.

Instantly, liquid squirted from every boil on the plant. Thick, stinking, dark green jets of the liquid went everywhere — the ceiling, the windows, Luna's magazine, even Elijah's book. Venus gasped in surprise and ducked her head down. Once she deemed it safe, she slowly lifted her head back up. Ginny looked like she was wearing a slimy green hat, Elijah was smearing some off of his book, Charlotte was wiping some off of her face, and Harry had gotten a whole faceful.

Venus laughed and pointed to Harry's face. "Uh, I think you got a little something . . ."

"Hey, Venus, I know we met literally today, but respectfully, shut up," Harry told her, which only made her laugh harder.

Harry couldn't help but smile. He didn't know why enjoyed the sound so much.

"Neville, what did we say about showing your plants' cool tricks?" Charlotte questioned calmly as she flicked some of the rancid liquid onto the floor. "We wait until we're by the greenhouses."

"S-Sorry," Neville gasped. "I haven't tried that before . . . didn't realizeit would be quite so . . . don't worry, though, Stinksap's not poisonous."

The compartment door then slid open. Venus' eyes widened. Well, so much for making a good first impression.

"Oh . . . hello, Harry," a nervous voice began. "Um . . . bad time?"

Venus looked up. Standing in the doorway was a very pretty girl with long, shiny black hair. She was smiling at Harry in a way that made Venus' stomach churn — wait, what? Why was her stomach churning?

"Oh . . . hi," Harry said blankly.

"Um . . ." the girl continued. "Well . . . just thought I'd say hello . . . bye then."

With her face rather pink, she closed the door and departed. Harry slumped back in his seat from his place next to Venus and groaned. It was obvious to Venus that Harry had a crush on this girl. Her heart slightly sinking, she reached into the waistband of her skirt and pulled out her wand.

"Hey, don't worry about it," Venus stated. "It's not hard to get rid of. Look." She waved her wand. "Scourgify."

All of the Stinksap vanished. Venus smiled triumphantly and tucked her wand back into her skirt.

"Sorry," Neville repeated, his voice small.

Charlotte placed a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry about it, Nev. Let's just not do it again."

Venus knew that the train ride would be long, so she went to her trunk and pulled out one of the books she had brought. She settled back into her seat and opened Hogwarts: A History. Okay, it seems stupid, but she kind of wanted to know more about the school she was going to. She read that while everyone else did their own thing. They had all gotten food from the cart (oops, trolley) and Venus was munching on a Pumpkin Pasty.

"So . . . Venus," Harry began.

"Hmm?" she hummed in response, looking up from her book, trying to ignore the way her heart was beating against her chest from his accent.

"What brings you to England?"

"My parents' jobs. They got transferred to the Ministry from MACUSA." She then noticed his confused expression. "Oh, the Magical Congress of the United States of America. Basically the American version of the Ministry."

"Is your leader as awful as Fudge?" Elijah questioned, finally shutting his book.

Venus shrugged. "I mean, I'm not sure, but there's been a lot of tension with MACUSA lately. It's kind of hard being a wizard in America. Witchcraft is . . . looked down upon, per se. Its been that way since the Salem Witch Trials in the 1600's."

Suddenly, the compartment door slid open. Venus looked over to see a girl with bushy brown hair and a boy with red hair — just like Ginny's — enter the compartment, accompanied by a cat and a hooting owl in a cage. The girl took a seat next to Charlotte and began to talk to her while the boy threw himself on the seat next to Harry.

"I'm starving," the boy voiced. He took a Chocolate Frog from Harry and ripped open the wrapper, biting off its head. The boy leaned back and closed his eyes like he was exhausted. However, he stopped chewing for a moment and opened one eye, looking right over at Venus. "Who're you?"

"I'm Venus," Venus responded. "I'm a transfer student here from Ilvermorny."

"From where?"

"The American wizarding school, Ron," the girl who came in with him explained. However, she looked dissatisfied. "Sorry, my name's Hermione. Ron and I just came back from our Prefect meeting. Oh, get a load of this. Well, there are two fifth-year Prefects from each House. Boy and girl from each."

"And guess who's a Slytherin Prefect?" Ron asked.

Slytherin, Venus thought to herself. House with the snake. Ambition House. Dad's house. Got it.

"Malfoy," Harry answered at once.

"'Course."

Venus blinked. "Who?"

Charlotte groaned. "Oh, great. He'll just be even more on my case now. You're breathing, Thomas? Detention."

Elijah nodded in agreement, finally putting his book away. "You're wearing blue today, Rogers? Detention."

"And as you know, Penelope," Hermione added.

Venus' eyebrows knit. "Penelope?"

"Penelope Lestrange." Venus couldn't help but notice that Ron's cheeks turned pink at the mention of this girl's name. "She's actually very sweet for a Slytherin."

"Who's Hufflepuff?" Harry questioned.

Hufflepuff. House with the badger. Loyalty and hard work.

"Ernie Macmillan and Hannah Abott," Ron answered thickly.

"And Anthony Goldstein and Padma Patil for Ravenclaw," Hermione stated.

That just left Ron and Hermione as Gryffindor Prefects. House with the lion. Bravery and courage.

"You went to the Yule Ball with Padma Patil," Luna told Ron airily as she gazed at him over her magazine.

Ron swallowed his mouthful of Chocolate frog, looking mildly surprised. "Yeah, I know I did."

"She didn't enjoy it very much. She doesn't think you treated her very well, because you wouldn't dance with her. I don't think I'd have minded. I don't like dancing very much."

Luna retreated behind her magazine again. Ron stared at her with his mouth hanging open for a few seconds. Venus shrugged to herself. She liked this girl. Ron looked at Ginny for some kind of explanation, but Ginny was doing her best not to laugh.

Ron shook his head and checked his watch. "We're supposed to patrol the corridors every so often, and we can give out punishments if people are misbehaving. I can't wait to get Crabbe and Goyle for something . . ."

Venus shook her head. She had no idea who these people were.

"You're not supposed to abuse your position, Ron!" Hermione scolded.

"Yeah, right, because Malfoy won't abuse it at all," Ron replied sarcastically.

"So you're going to descend to his level?"

"No, I'm just going to make sure I get his mates before he gets mine."

"For heaven's sake, Ron—"

"I'll make Goyle do lines, it'll kill him, he hates writing," Ron said happily. He then lowered his voice to a low grunt, screwed up his face in a look of pained concentration, and mimed writing in midair. Venus stared at him weirdly. "I . . . must . . . not . . . look . . . like . . . a . . . baboon's . . . backside . . ."

Everyone laughed — well, except for Venus. She didn't get the joke, maybe because she hadn't met this Goyle guy. However, nobody laughed harder than Luna. She laughed so hard that her magazine slipped out of her legs and dropped to the floor.

"That was funny!" Luna exclaimed.

Her eyes were pooled with tears and she was gasping for breath. Venus now began to giggle to herself at the look on Ron's face and how Luna was absolutely losing it.

Ron frowned at Luna. "Are you taking the mickey?"

Venus, once again, blinked. "Huh?"

"Baboon's . . . backside!" Luna choked out, holding her ribs.

Venus placed a hand to her forehead, ignoring how Harry was picking Luna's magazine up off the floor. "I'm gonna need a couple lessons on British lingo."

Elijah looked to her. "He's basically asking her if she's mocking him."

"Oh. Good to know."

While Harry was reading The Quibbler, Venus was now caught up in a very intense discussion with Hermione. The girl seemed to be in a brighter mood and had demanded Venus tell her everything about her school. Venus had no problem with that. She loved talking about her home. However, it was reminding her of how much she missed it. Hopefully one day she could go back.

"Anything good in there?" Ron inquired, interrupting the conversation about Ilvermorny as Harry closed the magazine.

"Of course not," Hermione cut in. "The Quibbler's rubbish, everyone knows that."

"Excuse me," Luna stated, her voice suddenly losing its dreamy quality. "My father's the editor."

"I — oh. Well . . . it's got some interesting . . . I mean, it's quite . . ."

"I'll have it back, thank you."

Luna snatched the magazine out of Harry's hand. She flipped it upside down and hid behind it. And for the third time that day, the compartment door slid open. The air in the compartment turned tense once everyone realized who was there. There was a pale boy with platinum blonde hair, followed by two other boys behind him.

"What?" Harry demanded aggressively.

"Manners, Potter, or I'll have to give you a detention," the blonde boy scolded. Venus blinked at him. She already didn't like this boy very much. However, it seemed like him and Harry had a very malicious history. "You see, I, unlike you, have been made a Prefect, which means that I, unlike you, have the power to hand out punishments."

"Yeah, but you, unlike me, are a git, so get out and leave us alone."

"Git?" Venus repeatedly quietly to herself as Ron, Hermione, Neville, Charlotte, and Elijah laughed. "I really have to study some of these words."

The boy cast his eyes onto Charlotte. "You especially shouldn't be laughing, Thomas. A Muggle-born Slytherin? You're nothing but filth."

"Hey," Venus interrupted loudly, making him turn to her. "Leave her alone. Just because her parents are No-Maj's—" she paused, letting out a breath of frustration "—sorry, Muggles — isn't an excuse to be rude to her."

The blonde boy curled his lip. "An American. They really are letting anyone into Hogwarts at this point."

"Yeah, well, considering I'm magic, I sure hope they would accept me."

"Who even are you?'

"Venus," she answered simply with a raised eyebrow. "You?"

He stared at her curiously. "Draco. Draco Malfoy. You got a last name, Venus?"

"Black." The entire compartment went still, including Draco. "Huh. Guess that struck a nerve."

"A Pureblood . . . hanging around with this crowd," Draco drawled out.

"Blood purity is stupid, and frankly, you are too if you believe in it," Venus countered. "Are you done?"

Draco glared at her. "Watch your back, blood traitor."

He sent Harry one last malicious look before leaving the compartment. Venus shook her head incredulously. She crossed her arms and leaned back in her seat. Nobody spoke for a long time.

"You're a Black?" Hermione inquired at last.

"Hardly matters," Venus responded. "I mean, unless it does to y'all."

They all stared at her with blank expressions.

Venus sighed. "Oh my God. Sorry, I forgot you don't use y'all, either. But yes, I'm a Black. Both of my parents are Purebloods from the Sacred Twenty-Eight. I've never met any of the rest of my family — except for Draco now, I guess — but it's all garbage to me."

"So you're not going to call Hermione and I Mudbloods?" Charlotte asked timidly.

Venus' eyes widened. "God, no, Charlie. That's awful. Blood purity shouldn't matter. Seriously, those families are like a cult."

That earned a laugh from everyone in the compartment. Venus smiled to herself. For her first day, she thinks she already found a great group of friends to stick around.

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HEY WHAT UP WELCOME TO LONDON BOY

oh my god why am I doing this to myself BYE

anyways I thought this was a cool concept bc like I'm american reading these british books and I have no clue what's going on just like venus so basically I'm projecting myself onto her. cool awesome love that

also the day that I'm posting this is the day I'm graduating high school so . . . that's pretty swag I guess