𝗟𝗢𝗡𝗗𝗢𝗡 𝗕𝗢𝗬

ACT TWO, CHAPTER TWO
neville longbottom deserves better.

TO SAY VENUS was worried about Harry would be an understatement.

Ever since that revelation at the Ministry, Harry had locked himself up in one of the rooms at Grimmauld Place. Presumably the one he was sharing with Ron — he hadn't come down for dinner the previous night, and no one but Ron had seen him since. Venus couldn't even imagine what he was going through right now. Suddenly finding out that Voldemort could be possessing him . . . that would cause anyone to shut themselves away for a while.

She was so distracted by it that she didn't even notice how long she had been attempting to put up the same ornament. It seemed like she had just been staring at it on the tree — so, that's when Penelope Lestrange suggested that she try and find Harry, and in her words, knock some sense into him.

Venus climbed the stairs. She checked all the rooms on the floors except one, which had a door closed. Automatically she knew that was where Harry was hiding. Her heart beating against her chest, Venus rose her hand up and knocked on the door three times.

"Harry?" she began softly. "Hey, it's me . . . um, you haven't been around all day and haven't eaten, so I — I thought I'd come check on you . . . it's obvious you're scared, and I don't blame you, but — but you're not alone, okay? Um, I'll be out here if you want to talk . . . it's okay if you don't, but l—"

The door suddenly swung open. It revealed Harry standing there on the other side of the door. He seemed to be really tired — Venus could only assume he hadn't gotten much sleep. Dark circles were staining his undereyes on his pale skin and he was shaking — from the cold or from being scared, Venus didn't know.

"Hi," Venus greeted.

"Hi, Venus," Harry replied. "You can come in."

He stepped aside to let her in. However, once she walked inside, she noticed a huge winged creature on some straw surrounded by dead rats. She stopped in her tracks and turned back to face Harry again.

Venus blinked. "There's a Hippogriff in here."

"Yeah, that's Buckbeak," Harry told her casually. "So, uh . . . what's up?"

"I'm worried about you," Venus admitted. "We all are. I just . . . I just thought that if you had somebody to talk to, maybe it wouldn't seem so scary dealing with it all by yourself." She offered him a small smile and spread her arms out slightly. "Well, here I am."

Harry shook his head. "Star, this whole thing, everything . . . it's my fault. Voldemort possessed me, and — and Mr. Weasley got hurt from it, and now I'm a danger to everyone else. It's probably just better if I leave."

Venus instantly frowned. "Harry, do you really believe that?"

"I tried to leave Grimmauld Place last night." He then noticed Venus' shocked expression. "Yeah. I was going to go back to Privet Drive. However, Dumbledore told Phineas Nigellus to order me to stay here." He let out an exasperated sigh. "I'm just so frustrated. Dumbledore's keeping in the dark and I don't understand what's happening to me."

"You don't deserve any of this, Harry. But please believe me when I say that you're truly not alone in this. You've got Ron, you've got Hermione, you've got Charlie and Eli . . ." She shrugged, her face suddenly feeling very hot. "You've got me."

"What did I ever do to deserve you?" Harry asked.

She laughed slightly. "It's just you being you."

"I meant what I said the other night, Venus," Harry suddenly voiced. "In the corridor outside the Room of Requirement. We haven't talked about it much, but Venus, I truly do fancy you."

Venus grinned. "I really like you too, Harry." She held out her hand to him. "Come on, love. We should probably go find the others."

"Love?" Harry repeated, raising an eyebrow slightly as he took her hand. "Using British terms now, are we, darling?"

Her face burned even hotter. "Okay, listen. I'm not in America anymore — leave me alone."

The doorbell then rang. Venus sighed — every time there was a loud noise, the portrait of Sirius' mother would awake and scream something about blood traitors and how her house was being ruined by filth. She assumed that it was only another Order member, but then she remembered — Ginny had told them earlier that Hermione was coming as well. There was then knocking at the door.

"I know you're in there," Hermione's voice called. "Will you please come out? I want to talk to you."

Venus tugged Harry over to the door and opened it, smiling brightly at the girl. "Hey, Hermione."

"Hi, V."

"What are you doing here?" Harry questioned. "I thought you were skiing with your mum and dad."

"Well, to tell the truth, skiing's not really my thing," Hermione revealed. "So I've come for Christmas." Snowflakes sparkled on her hair and her face was slightly pink from the cold. "But don't tell Ron that, I told him it's really good because he kept laughing so much. Anyway, Mum and Dad are a bit disappointed, but I've told them that everyone who's serious about the exams is staying at Hogwarts to study. They want me to do well, they'll understand. Anyway, let's go to your bedroom, Ron's mum's lit a fire in there and she's sent up sandwiches."

Venus and Harry followed Hermione back down to the second floor. When she entered the room, she saw Ron, Ginny, and Penelope (who had her legs laying across Ron's lap) sitting on Ron's bed. The three of them were eating sandwiches and a fire was crackling in the corner.

"I came on the Knight Bus," Hermione stated while pulling off her jacket. Venus had no idea what that was, but she decided now wasn't the time to ask. "Dumbledore told me what had happened first thing this morning, but I had to wait for term to end officially before setting off. Umbridge is already livid that you lot disappeared right under her nose, even though Dumbledore told her Mr. Weasley was in St. Mungo's, and he'd given you all permission to visit. So . . ." She sat down next to Ginny on the bed. Venus followed in suit, squeezing Harry's hand quickly before settling herself down. "How're you feeling?"

"Fine," Harry answered stiffly, making Venus raise her eyebrows incredulously.

Hermione apparently saw right through him as well. "Oh, don't lie, Harry. Ron, Ginny, and Penelope say you've been hiding from everyone since you got back from St. Mungo's."

Harry glared at the three of them. "They do, do they?"

Ron stared down at his lap at the denim of Penelope's jeans. Ginny looked like she didn't care at all, and Penelope was completely unbothered. She was actually the one to speak up and say to Harry that all he was doing was locking himself in random rooms and how it was hard to reassure him that they all cared about him when he wouldn't even look at them.

"It's you lot who won't look at me!" Harry responded angrily.

"Maybe you're taking it in turns to look and keep missing each other," Hermione joked, the corners of her mouth twitching as she threatened to smile.

Harry turned away. "Very funny."

"Oh, stop feeling all misunderstood. Look, the others have told me what you overheard last night on the Extendable Ears—"

"Yeah? All been talking about me, have you? Well, I'm getting used to it . . ."

"We wanted to talk to you, Harry, but as you've been hiding ever since we got back—" Ginny voiced.

"I didn't want anyone to talk to me," Harry insisted.

Venus' eyebrows knit in confusion. "But you let me talk to you."

"Yeah, but that's because you're Venus."

Ginny scoffed. "Well, that was a bit stupid of you, seeing as you don't know anyone but me who's been possessed by You-Know-Who, and I can tell you how it feels."

Harry froze for a moment as the words hit him before turning to face her. "I forgot."

"Lucky you."

"I'm sorry," Harry told her sincerely. "So . . . so do you think I'm being possessed, then?"

"Well, can you remember everything you've been doing?" Ginny inquired. "Are there big blank periods where you don't know what you've been up to?"

Harry thought it over for a moment. "No."

"Then You-Know-Who hasn't ever possessed you. When he did it to me, I couldn't remember what I'd been doing for hours at a time. I'd find myself somewhere and not know how I got there."

"That dream I had about your dad and the snake, though—"

"Harry, you've had these dreams before," Hermione interrupted. "You had flashes of what Voldemort was up to last year."

"This was different," Harry replied while shaking his head. "I was inside that snake. It was like I was the snake . . . what if Voldemort somehow transported me to London—?"

"One day, you'll read Hogwarts, A History, and perhaps that will remind you that you can't Apparate or Disapparate inside Hogwarts. Even Voldemort couldn't just make you fly out of your dormitory, Harry."

"You didn't leave your bed, mate," Ron agreed. "I saw you thrashing around in your sleep about a minute before we could wake you up . . ."

Harry then began to pace up and down the room again. Venus watched as he did so. A soft smile appeared on her face upon noticing that he took a sandwich from the bed and ate it. She could practically see the relief spreading throughout his body.

Finally, Christmas morning arrived. Venus awoke to a pile of presents at the foot of her bed — it was kind of strange being away from her parents for Christmas, but then again, she had just seen them yesterday. Venus had gotten some new clothes from her parents (which she knew mostly her mother picked out — Mary Black had impeccable fashion sense), a pack of Chocolate Frogs from Ron, a homework planner from Hermione, a maroon sweater with a gold V on it from Mrs. Weasley, and from Harry (which made her smile like a complete fool), a gold chain bracelet that had a circle with the symbol of Venus on it. She grinned to herself and put it on.

Venus got up from her bed and got dressed in black plaid pants, a white sweater, and her white sneakers. Her, Hermione, and Penelope (who had gotten a gold necklace with a crown charm that had three red gems by the points from an anonymous person — they all told her it was from a secret admirer, but Venus had an inkling it was Ron) then met Harry, Ron, and the twins on the stairs. Venus grinned at Harry and immediately extended his outstretched hand to her. They exchanged their Merry Christmas', and Harry complimented Penelope on her necklace. Ron blushed after that, basically confirming Venus' assumption.

Ron then nodded to the neatly wrapped present Hermione had in her hands. "Who's that for anyway?"

"Kreacher," Hermione answered brightly.

"It had better not be clothes!" Ron said warningly. "You know what Sirius said, Kreacher knows too much, we can't set him free!"

"It isn't clothes, although if I had my way I'd certainly give him something to wear other than that filthy old rag. No, it's a patchwork quilt, I thought it would brighten up his bedroom."

"What bedroom?" Harry asked, dropping his voice to a whisper as they passed the portrait of Sirius' mother that was covered by moth-eaten curtains.

"Well, Sirius says it's not so much a bedroom, more a kind of — den," Hermione responded. "Apparently he sleeps under the boiler in that cupboard off the kitchen."

When they arrived in the basement, Mrs. Weasley was the only one there. Venus instantly frowned at her state. Ginny had told them that she had been crying all morning because Percy had sent back his sweater. When she wished them all a Merry Christmas, it sounded like she had a bad head cold.

Ro then strolled over to a dingy door in the corner that was opposite the pantry. "So, this is Kreacher's bedroom?"

"Yes," Hermione replied nervously. "Er . . . I think we'd better knock . . ."

Ron knocked on the door, but there was no reply. "He must be sneaking around upstairs." He pulled the door open. "Urgh."

Venus peered around inside. A very large and old-fashioned boiler was taking up most of the cupboard, but Kreacher made himself something that looked like a nest in the foot's space underneath the pipes. A jumble of assorted rags and blankets were piled on the floor with a small dent in the middle, presumably where Kreacher slept every night. Stale bread crusts and moldy bits of cheese were placed here and there among the material. In a far corner glinted small objects and coins, and Kreacher had silver-framed photographs in there as well. The glass on them were shattered, but all of the small black and white people stared up at Venus.

She recognized one. It was at the very front and the glass was mended clumsily with Spellotape, telling Venus that it was Kreacher's favorite photograph. The only reason Venus recognized it was because Penelope looked so much like her. Venus watched as Penelope picked up the picture frame and looked down at it. The pieces finally began to settle in her mind — if this woman looked so much like Penelope, it must've been her mother, Bellatrix Lestrange.

"I think I'll just leave his present here," Hermione suggested, placing the package neatly in the middle of the dent that was in the pile of rags and blankets before shutting the door quietly. "He'll find it later, that'll be fine . . ."

"Come to think of it, has anyone actually seen Kreacher lately?" Sirius questioned, emerging from the pantry while carrying a large turkey. Penelope then told him not since the night they came back, where he had been muttering something about blood traitors and then Sirius ordered him to get out of the kitchen. Sirius frowned at that. "Yeah . . . you know, I think that's the last time I saw him, too . . . he must be hiding upstairs somewhere . . ."

"He couldn't have left, could he?" Harry inquired. "I mean, when you said out, maybe he thought you meant, get out of the house?"

"No, no, House-Elves can't leave unless they're given clothes, they're tied to their family's house."

"They can leave the house if they really want to. Dobby did, he left the Malfoys' to give me warnings two years ago. He had to punish himself afterward, but he still managed it."

Sirius seemed to be a little concerned for a moment. "I'll look for him later, I expect I'll find him upstairs crying his eyes out over my mother's old bloomers or something . . . of course, he might have crawled into the airing cupboard and died . . . but I mustn't get my hopes up . . ."

Ron and the twins laughed at that. Hermione didn't look happy whatsoever.

They had a very large Christmas lunch before the Weasleys, Venus, Harry, Hermione, and Penelope were going to visit Mr. Weasley. This time they were to be escorted by Mad-Eye Moody and Remus Lupin, whom Venus met for the first time. Mundungus Fletcher, another member of the Order of the Phoenix, then turned up in time for Christmas pudding. He had managed to borrow a car to take them to London since the Underground didn't run on Christmas die. Harry whispered to Venus at the table that Mundungus was known for stealing things, so borrow probably wasn't exactly the right term. It had an Enlarging Spell on it so that twelve people with Mundungus driving were able to fit in it comfortably. Venus sat next to Harry, their interlocked hands resting on his lap.

Due to there being very little traffic on the roads, their journey to St. Mungo's was quite quick. There was a small trickle of witches and wizards creeping up the otherwise deserted street to visit the hospital. All of them got out of the car, and Mundungus drove around the corner to wait for them. They strolled casually to the window where the dummy in green nylon stood. One by one — forcing Venus and Harry to let go of each other for a moment — they stepped through the glass.

The reception area was pleasantly festive for the holiday. All of the crystal orbs that illuminated the hospital had been turned to red and gold so that they became gigantic, glowing Christmas baubles. Holly hung around every doorway and each corner held a shining white Christmas tree covered in magical snow and icicles topped with a gleaming gold star. It was a lot less crowded than the last time they went, but halfway across the room Harry and Venus were pushed aside by a witch with a walnut stuck up her nose.

"Family argument, eh?" the blonde witch behind the desk asked with a smirk. "You're the third I've seen today . . . Spell Damage, fourth floor . . ."

They found Mr. Weasley in his ward, propped up in bed with the remains of his turkey dinner on a tray in his lap. He also had a rather sheepish expression on his face, which kind of told Venus something was up.

"Everything all right, Arthur?" Mrs. Weasley questioned to her husband after they had all greeted him and gave him his presents.

"Fine, fine," Mr. Weasley answered, just a little too sincerely. "You — er — haven't seen Healer Smethwyck, have you?"

"No, why?"

"Nothing, nothing." Mr. Weasley then started to open his gifts. "Well, everyone had a good day? What did you all get for Christmas? Oh, Harry — this is absolutely wonderful—"

Harry had gotten him a fuse-wire and some screwdrivers. He had quickly explained to Venus the other day that Mr. Weasley was fascinated with Muggles and everything about them. However, Mrs. Weasley didn't seem satisfied at all by her husband's answer. As Mr. Weasley leaned over to shake Harry's free hand, she peered at the bandages on his skin under his nightshirt.

"Arthur, you've had your bandages changed," Mrs. Weasley said, a sort of snap to her voice. "Why have you had your bandages changed a day early, Arthur? They told me they wouldn't need doing until tomorrow."

"What?" Mr. Weasley responded, looking rather frightened and pulling the bed sheets higher up his chest to hide his bandages. "No, no — it's nothing — it's — I—" He then seemed to deflate under Mrs. Weasley's piercing gaze. "Well — now don't get upset, Molly, but Augustus Pye had an idea . . . he's the Trainee Healer, you know, lovely young chap and very interested in . . . um . . . complementary medicine . . . I mean, some of these old Muggle remedies . . . well, they're called stitches, Molly, and they work very well on — on Muggle wounds—"

Mrs. Weasley let out an ominous noise that was kind of a mix of a shriek and a snarl, making Venus' eyes widen. Lupin immediately walked away from the bed and over to the Werewolf, who didn't have anybody visiting him and was staring rather wistfully at the crowd around Mr. Weasley. Bill, the oldest Weasley child, muttered something about getting himself a cup of tea. Fred and George leaped up to accompany him with large grins on their faces. Venus was now feeling very awkward — this was obviously an issue, so she cast her gaze down onto her shoes.

"Do you mean to tell me that you have been messing about with Muggle remedies?" Mr. Weasley continued, her voice growing louder with every word — she was also completely unaware that the rest of them were scurrying for cover, Venus even moving closer to Harry nervously.

"Not messing about, Molly, dear," Mr. Weasley answered. "It was just — just something Pye and I thought we'd try — only, most unfortunately — well, with these particular kinds of wounds — it doesn't seem to work as well as we'd hoped—"

"Meaning?"

"Well . . . well, I don't know whether you know what — what stitches are?"

"It sounds as though you've been trying to sew your skin back together, but even you, Arthur, wouldn't be that stupid—"

"I fancy a cup of tea too," Harry announced as he jumped to his feet.

He gripped onto Venus' hand tighter and instantly dragged her along with him. Ron, Penelope (who was being pulled by Ron), Hermione, and Ginny practically sprinted to the door with them. As the door swung closed behind them, they heard Mrs. Weasley shriek WHAT DO YOU MEAN, THAT'S THE GENERAL IDEA? Once out in the corridor, Venus looked back at the door while blinking in shock. Woah.

"Typical dad," Ginny stated, shaking her head as their group set off up the corridor. "Stitches . . . I ask you . . ."

"Well, you know, they do work well on non-magical wounds," Hermione revealed fairly. "I suppose something in that snake's venom dissolves them or something. . . . I wonder where the tearoom is?"

"Fifth floor," Harry replied.

The six of them walked the full length of the corridor before exiting out a set of double doors. They began to climb a rickety staircase that was lined with more portraits of brutal-looking Healers. The various Healers were calling out to them and diagnosing odd complaints while suggesting horrible remedies. Ron was seriously offended when one medieval wizard told him he clearly had a bad case of spattergroit.

"And what's that supposed to be?" Ron demanded angrily, the Healer pursuing him through six more portraits by shoving the original occupants out of the way.

"'Tis a most grievous affliction of the skin, young master, that will leave you pockmarked and more gruesome even than you are now—" the Healer began.

Ron's ears turned red from embarassment. "Watch who you're calling gruesome!"

"The only remedy is to take the liver of a toad, bind it tight about your throat, stand naked by the full moon in a barrel of eels' eyes—"

"I have not got spattergroit!"

"But the unsightly blemishes upon your visage, young master—"

"They're freckles! Now get back in your own picture and leave me alone!" He then looked down at Penelope, asking if this is what she really wanted to be. Penelope then teased him by telling him to go tie a toad liver around his neck, to which he responded that he would never go to her if she was a Healer. Ron finally looked at the rest of them, who were all trying not to laugh. "What floor's this?"

"I think it's the fifth," Hermione answered.

"Nah, it's the fourth, one more—" Harry revealed.

Harry suddenly came to an abrupt stop on the landing. He stared at the small window that was set into the double doors that marked the start of the SPELL DAMAGE corridor. A man with wavy blonde hair, bright blue eyes, dazzling white teeth, and a broad vacant smile was peering out at the group with his nose pressed up against the glass.

"Blimey!" Ron exclaimed, also staring at the man.

"Oh my goodness," Hermione said, sounding very breathless. "Professor Lockhart!"

Venus' eyes slightly widened and she looked up to Harry. "Lockhart? You mean that fraud of a Defense teacher you had in second year that had his memory wiped?"

Lockhart pushed the doors open and moved towards them, dressed in a long lilac dressing gown. "Well, hello there! I expect you'd like my autograph, would you?"

Harry nodded at his girlfriend. "That's the one. He obviously hasn't changed much."

"Er — how are you, Professor?" Ron inquired, sounding guilty — according to the story, his broken wand was the one who made Lockhart lose his memories.

"I'm very well indeed, thank you!" Lockhart responded, pulling a rather battered peacock-feather quill from his pocket. "Now, how many autographs would you like? I can do joined-up writing now, you know!"

"Er — we don't want any at the moment, thanks."

Ron raised his eyebrows at Harry. Apparently, it was now Harry's turn to talk.

"Professor, should you be wandering around the corridors?" Harry asked. "Shouldn't you be in a ward?"

Lockhart's smile faded from his face as he gazed intently at Harry. "Haven't we met?"

"Er . . . yeah, we have. You used to teach us at Hogwarts, remember?"

"Teach?" Lockhart repeated, looking faintly unsettled. "Me? Did I?" His smile instantly reappeared. "Taught you everything you know, I expect, did I? Well, how about those autographs, then? Shall we say a round dozen, you can give them to all your little friends then and nobody will be left out!"

A head then poked out of a door at the far end of the corridor. "Gilderoy, you naughty boy, where have you wandered off to?" A motherly looking Healer wearing a tinsel wreath in her hair came walking up the corridor, smiling warmly at the group. "Oh Gilderoy, you've got visitors! How lovely, and on Christmas Day too! Do you know, he never gets visitors, poor lamb, and I can't think why, he's such a sweetie, aren't you?"

"We're doing autographs!" Lockhart told the Healer with a very glittering smile. "They want loads of them, won't take no for an answer! I just hope we've got enough photographs!"

The Healer took Lockhart's arm in her hands and smiled fondly at him, like he was a toddler. "Listen to him. He was rather well known a few years ago; we very much hope that this liking for giving autographs is a sign that his memory might be coming back a little bit. Will you step this way? He's in a closed ward, you know, he must have slipped out while I was bringing in the Christmas presents, the door's usually kept locked . . . not that he's dangerous! But—" she lowered her voice to a whisper "—bit of a danger to himself, bless him . . . doesn't know who he is, you see, wanders off and can't remember how to get back. . . . it is nice of you to have come to see him—"

Ron gestured uselessly to the floor above them. "Er, actually, we were just — er—"

His mutter about them going to have a cup of tea trailed away into the air. Venus looked over at Harry, who looked hopeless. There was no way out of this one. They all followed Lockhart and his Healer along the corridor.

"Let's not stay long," Ron stated quietly, him and Penelope bickering a little about what the Healer told him to do to cure his spattergroit earlier.

The Healer pointed her wand straight at the door of the Janus Thickey ward. "Alohomora." Once the door swung open, she led the way inside while keeping a firm grasp on Lockhart's arm until she had settled him into an armchair that was beside his bed. "This is our long-term resident ward. For permanent spell damage, you know. Of course, with intensive remedial potions and charms and a bit of luck, we can produce some improvement . . . Gilderoy does seem to be getting back some sense of himself, and we've seen a real improvement in Mr. Bode, he seems to be regaining the power of speech very well, though he isn't speaking any language we recognize yet . . . well, I must finish giving out the Christmas presents, I'll leave you all to chat . . ."

Venus looked around. This ward, unlike the other, bore unmistakable signs of this being a permanent home to its residents. There were more personal effects around their beds. For example, Lockhart had pictures of himself hung around his headboard. All of them were beaming toothily at the new arrivals. Many of them were autographed in disjointed, childish writing. Speaking of Lockhart, once he had been set down in his chair by the Healer, he had pulled out a fresh stack of photographs, grabbed a quill, and started to feverishly sign all of them.

"You can put them in envelopes," Lockhart instructed to Ginny as the threw the signed pictures into her lap one by one once he was finished. "I am not forgotten, you know, no, I still receive a very great deal of fan mail . . . Gladys Gudgeon writes weekly . . . I just wish I knew why . . ." He paused, looking faintly puzzled, then beamed and went back to signing. "I suspect it is simply my good looks . . ."

A wizard who had sallow skin and looked quite mournful was laying in the bed opposite of Lockhart. He was staring at the ceiling and mumbling to himself, making it seem like he was quite unaware of anything around him — which was definitely possible. Two beds along was a woman whose entire head was covered in fur. Two beds hidden behind flowery curtains to give the occupants and their visitors some privacy were placed at the far end of the ward.

"Here you are, Agnes," the Healer told the furry-faced woman brightly, handing her a small pile of Christmas presents. "See, not forgotten, are you? And your son's sent an owl to say he's visiting tonight, so that's nice, isn't it?"

Agnes let out several loud barks.

"And look, Broderick, you've been sent a potted plant and a lovely calendar with a different fancy Hippogriff for each month, they'll brighten things up, won't they?" The Healer went to the mumbling man, setting down a rather ugly plant with long, swaying tentacles on the bedside cabinet and fixing the calendar to the wall with her wand. "And — oh, Mrs. Longbottom, are you leaving already?"

Venus froze for a moment. Her head snapped over to the far end of the corridor, where the curtains had been drawn back. Two visitors were walking back down the aisle between the beds. It was a formidable-looking old witch who wore a long-green dress, moth-eaten fox fur, and a pointed hat that had a stuffed vulture on it. Trailing behind her, looking thoroughly depressed, was Neville. Harry looked down to Venus, seeming panicked. She didn't understand why. Neville was visiting someone here, and that wasn't anything to be embarrassed about.

"Neville!" Ron called, getting to his feet. Neville jumped and cowered as though a bullet had narrowly missed him. "It's us, Neville! Have you seen? Lockhart's here! Who've you been visiting?"

"Friends of yours, Neville, dear?" the older woman — obviously Neville's grandmother — inquired graciously, bearing down upon them all.

Neville looked like he would rather be anywhere on Earth but right there. He was blushing deeply and wouldn't make eye contact with any of them. Venus frowned. What was going on?

"Ah, yes," Mrs. Longbottom voiced, sticking a shriveled, clawlike hand out to Harry for him to shake. "Yes, yes, I know who you are, of course. Neville speaks most highly of you."

Harry shook her hand with the one that wasn't holding Venus'. "Er — thanks."

"And you two are clearly Weasleys." Mrs. Longbottom offered her hand out regally to Ron and Ginny. "Yes, I know your parents — not well, of course — but fine people, fine people . . . and you must be Hermione Granger?"

Hermione looked a little startled that Mrs. Longbottom knew her name, but she shook her hand nonetheless.

Mrs. Longbottom then turned to Venus. "And you . . ."

"Venus Black," Venus answered, shaking her hand as well. "I just transferred this year from Ilvermorny. It's really nice to meet you."

There was then a very strange interaction between Mrs. Longbottom and Penelope, where Mrs. Longbottom was telling Penelope that Neville shouldn't be hanging out with her at all.

Mrs. Longbottom then looked back to Hermione. "Yes, Neville's told me all about you. Helped him out of a few sticky spots, haven't you? He's a good boy—" she cast a stern, appraising look down her rather bony nose at Neville "—but he hasn't got his father's talent, I'm afraid to say . . ."

She nodded her her head in the direction of the two beds at the end of the ward, the stuffed vulture on her hat trembling alarmingly. Venus suddenly realized what was happening. Neville was visiting his parents in the Spell Damage ward.

"What?" Ron questioned, looking quite amazed. "Is that your dad down the end, Neville?"

"What's this?" Mrs. Longbottom demanded sharply. "Haven't you told your friends about your parents, Neville?" Neville took a deep breath, looked at the ceiling for a moment, and then shook his head. "Well, it's nothing to be ashamed of! You should be proud, Neville, proud! They didn't give their health and their sanity so their only son would be ashamed of them, you know!"

"I'm not ashamed," Neville muttered faintly, still looking anywhere but their group — he didn't even notice Ron standing on his toes to see the inhabitants of the two beds.

"Well, you've got a funny way of showing it!" Mrs. Longbottom shouted. "My son and his wife—" she turned to their group "—were tortured into insanity by You-Know-Who's followers."

Venus hand reached up to her mouth in shock. Her heart sunk to her stomach. Poor Neville, having to grow up without his parents . . . dear God, she felt awful.

"They were Aurors, you know, and very well respected within the Wizarding community," Mrs. Longbottom explained. "Highly gifted, the pair of them. I — yes, Alice dear, what is it?"

Neville's mother had come down edging down the ward in her nightdress. Venus' heart only broke even further upon noticing her state. Her face was thin and worn, her eyes seemed overlarge, and her white hair was wispy and dead-looking. She did not seem to want to speak, or maybe she wasn't able to, but she made timid motions towards Neville, holding something in her outstretched hand.

"Again?" Mrs. Longbottom inquired, sounding slightly weary. "Very well, Alice dear, very well — Neville, take it, whatever it is . . ."

Neville had already stretched out his hand. His mother dropped an empty Droobles Blowing Gum wrapper into it. Venus felt tears prick at the back of her eyes. She couldn't even imagine how hard this was for Neville . . .

"Very nice, dear," Mrs. Longbottom said in a falsely cheery voice, patting Neville's mother on the shoulder.

"Thanks, mum," Neville voiced quietly.

His mother tottered away back up the ward while humming to herself. Neville looked at their whole group with a defiant expression like he was daring them to laugh. They didn't. Venus didn't think she'd ever found anything less funny in her life.

Mrs. Longbottom sighed. "Well, we'd better get back." She drew on a pair of long green gloves. "Very nice to have met you all. Neville, put that wrapper in the bin, she must have given you enough of them to paper your bedroom by now . . ."

However, as they left, Venus was almost sure she saw Neville slip the wrapper into his pocket. The door then shut behind them.

"I never knew," Hermione admitted, looking tearful.

"Nor did I," Ron added rather hoarsely.

"Nor me," Ginny whispered.

All of them looked to Harry.

"I did," Harry revealed glumly. "Dumbledore told me but I promised I wouldn't mention it . . ."

Penelope then revealed that it was her mother who had did that. She looked pale and like she was about to be sick. Ron tried to tell her it wasn't her fault and didn't want her to leave the ward, but upon noticing how freaked out she was, he let her go after Neville. Venus frowned at that as well.

"Bellatrix Lestrange did that?" Hermione asked in horror. "That woman Kreacher's got a photo of in his den?"

There was a long silence.

"Look, I didn't learn joined-up writing for nothing, you know!" Lockhart's angry voice yelled, breaking the silence.

Venus sighed. It had already been a long day.

╞════════ ༺ ༻ ════════╡

IF VENUS IS going to be honest, she had so much fun at Grimmauld Place for the holidays.

Her and Harry had kissed again (which was just as magical at the first) and Ron and Penelope were finally dating. Venus also couldn't wait to get back to Hogwarts to tell Charlotte and Elijah everything that happened between her and Harry. She hated to admit it, but they were right — Harry did actually like her.

The morning after Snape had come to tell Harry he was giving him Occlumency lessons to block his mind from Voldemort (which Harry was not happy about) was the one they were returning to school. Tonks and Lupin were to escort them on the Knight Bus — the two of them had also went completely silent when all of them entered the kitchen for breakfast.

After eating a hurried breakfast and pulling on jackets and scarves to protect themselves against the chilly gray January morning, it was time to leave. Venus hugged Sirius goodbye — it was obvious he hated staying locked up in the house by himself. She then said goodbye to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, thanking them for their hospitality before rushing out the door into the icy air with Tonks and Lupin. All of them walked down the front steps with the door of number twelve slamming shut behind them.

"Come on, the quicker we get on the bus the better," Tonks urged, slight nervousness in the glance she threw around the square.

Lupin flung out his right harm. BANG. Venus slightly jumped in surprise as a violent purple, trickle-decker bus appeared out of thin air in front of them. It narrowly avoided the nearest lamppost, which jumped backwards out of its way.

A thin, young man in a purple uniform leaped down onto the pavement. "Welcome to the—"

"Yes, yes, we know, thank you," Tonks cut in swiftly. "On, on, get on—"

Tonks shoved Harry forwards. He suddenly grabbed Venus' hand, pulling her along as well.

The conductor goggles at Harry as he passed. "'Ere — it's 'Arry—!"

"If you shout his name I will curse you into oblivion," Tonks threatened as she pushed Ginny and Hermione forwards.

"I've always wanted to go on this thing," Ron admitted happily as he got on board.

The bus was three decks, crammed with an assortment of mismatched chairs grouped haphazardly around the windows. Some appeared to have fallen over when the bus stopped abruptly in Grimmauld Place. A few witches and wizards were still getting to their feet while grumbling in annoyance. Somebody's shopping bag had even slid the length of the bus, and an unpleasant mixture of frog spawn, coackroaches, and custard creams were scattered all over the floor.

"Looks like we'll have to split up," Tonks revealed as she looked around for empty chairs. "Fred, George, and Ginny, if you just take those seats at the back . . . Remus can stay with you . . ."

Her, Venus, Harry, Ron, Penelope, and Hermione proceeded to the very top deck, where there were three chairs at the very front and three at the back.

"You can go to the back with Harry, Venus," Penelope offered.

"Oh, are you sure?" Venus asked.

Ron frowned. "P—"

"Yeah, it's fine," Penelope reassured the two of them. "I'll sit with Nymphadora — don't give me that look, Ron. I can see you literally any time in the castle."

That was the end of that conversation. The conductor — who Harry quickly whispered to Venus was Stan Shunpike — followed them and Ron to the back. Heads turned to look at Harry when he passed, but they all looked away once he sat down.

Venus, Harry, and Ron all handed Stan eleven Sickles — which, after months of using England's currency, she still wasn't used to. The Dragot and Sprink back in America were a lot easier. However, she couldn't dwell on it, because the bus set off again. It swayed ominously as it rumbled around Grimmauld Square, weaving on and off the pavement. Then, with another BANG, all of them were flung backwards. Ron's chair literally toppled over and Pigwidgeon, who had been on his lap, burst out of his cage and flew wildly up to the front of the bus, where he fluttered down on Hermione's shoulder. Harry had narrowly avoided falling by holding onto a candle bracket, and Venus had held onto a nearby table that was there. She looked out the window to see them speeding down some kind of motorway.

"Just outside Birmingham," Stan suddenly announced as Ron struggled to get up from the floor. "You keepin' well, then, 'Arry? I seen your name in the paper loads over the summer, but it weren't never nuffink very nice . . . I said to Ern, I said, 'e didn't seem like a nutter when we met 'im, just goes to show, dunnit?"

He handed the three of them tickets and continued to gaze enthralled at Harry. It was obvious he didn't care how crazy someone was if they were famous enough to be in the paper. The Knight Bus continued to sway alarmingly, even overtaking a line of cars on the inside. Hermione was covering her eyes with her hands while Pigwidgeon swayed happily on her shoulder.

BANG.

The chairs, once again, slid backwards as the Knight Bus went from the Birmingham motorway to a quiet country lane that was filled with hairpin bends. Hedgerows on either side of the road leaped out of the way as they passed. They then moved to a main street in the middle of a busy town, then to a viaduct surrounded by tall hills, and then to a windswept road between high-rise flats — each time with the same loud BANG.

"I've changed my mind, I never want to ride on here again," Ron muttered as he picked himself up off the floor for the sixth time.

"Listen, it's 'Ogwarts stop after this," Stan told them brightly. "That bossy woman up front 'oo got on with you, she's given us a little tip to move you up the queue. We're just gonna let Madam Marsh off first, though—" There was more retching from downstairs that was followed by a horrible spattering sound. "She's not feeling 'er best."

A few minutes later, the Knight Bus screeched to a halt outside a small pub that squeezed itself out of the way to avoid a collision. They could hear Stan ushering a very sick Madam Marsh out of the bus and the relieved murmurings of her fellow passengers on the second deck. The bus moved on again, gathering speed, until — BANG. They were suddenly rolling through the snowy village of Hogsmeade, flecks of snow hitting the large window at the front of the bus. At last they rolled to a halt outside the gates of Hogwarts. Tonks and Lupin helped them get their luggage off the bus before getting off to say goodbye.

"You'll be safe once you're in the grounds," Tonks revealed, looking carefully around the deserted road. "Have a good term, okay?"

"Look after yourselves," Lupin added.

Everyone shook hands with Lupin and hugged Tonks (Penelope doing so the longest) before the eight of them struggled up the slippery towards the castle while dragging their trunks. Hermione was already talking about knitting a few Elf hats before bed time. Venus was relieved once they entered the oak front doors. They all said a quick goodbye to Penelope so she could go back to the Slytherin common room before the rest went back to the Gryffindor one.

The next morning, Venus had finally seen Charlotte and Elijah at breakfast. She sat with the two of them at the Ravenclaw table where they talked about their holiday. Venus told them what happened between her and Harry, and — in short — they had freaked out. Since Charlotte and Elijah were also in the loop about what was going on in Harry's life, she explained why they had to go to Grimmauld Place.

Venus decided to give Harry some space that day because she knew that he was dreading his first Occlumency lesson with Snape that night. It certainly didn't help that Snape was extremely unpleasant in their morning Potions lesson, or that members of the D.A. were constantly approaching him in the corridors between classes to ask hopefully if there would be a meeting that night.

"I'll let you know when the next one is, but I can't do it tonight, I've got to go to — er — Remedial Potions. . . ." Harry repeated, basically all day.

"You take Remedial Potions?" Zacharias Smith echoed arrogantly when he cornered Harry, Venus, Ron, Hermione, Charlotte, and Elijah in the entrance hall after lunch. "Good Lord, you must be terrible, Snape doesn't usually give extra lessons, does he?"

Charlotte glared at his retreating figure. "It's like he's asking for a death wish."

"The amount of times that I have to remind you that you'll go to Azkaban for killing someone is astronomical, Lottie," Elijah stated.

"Forget it," Harry interrupted gloomily. "It's what everyone's going to think, isn't it? That I'm really setup—"

"Hi, Harry," a voice suddenly said from behind them.

All of them turned. Standing there was none other than Cho Chang.

"Oh," Harry replied. "Hi."

"We'll be in the library, Harry," Hermione announced firmly, taking Ron and Charlotte's elbows in her hand to try and get them to come along.

"No, we won't," Charlotte cut in, staying right in her place. She elbowed Venus discreetly and lowered her voice. "This is about to be good."

"Had a good Christmas?" Cho questioned.

"Yeah, not bad," Harry answered.

"Mine was pretty quiet." For some reason, Cho looked rather embarassed. "Erm . . . there's another Hogsmeade trip next month, did you see the notice?"

"What? Oh no, I haven't checked the notice board since I got back . . ."

"Yes, it's on Valentine's Day . . ."

Venus' eyebrows slightly raised. It was obviously clear that Cho was trying to ask Harry out for Valentine's Day. An uncomfortable feeling of jealousy creeped up inside of Venus, but she quickly reminded herself that Cho probably had no idea that her and Harry were dating.

"Valentine's Day, you said?" Harry inquired. He looked down at Venus. "We should probably make plans, Star."

She froze. Oh. My. God. There was no way this was happening right now. Not only did Harry want to spend Valentine's Day with Venus, but he was doing it right in front of a girl who had a crush on him.

"Harry—" Venus began, glancing at Cho for a moment, who looked completely crestfallen.

"Thanks for the reminder, Cho," Harry continued. "We'll see you at the next D.A. meeting."

Cho looked like she was about to cry. "Yeah, see you."

She stalked off up the marble staircase, sniffling slightly as she went. Venus watched after her for a moment, feeling incredibly guilty — though she wasn't sure why, none of this was her fault . . .

Harry then noticed all of them staring at him incredulously — well, except for Ron. "What?"

Venus sighed. "Harry, you're so sweet for wanting to make Valentine's Day plans with me, but . . . in front of Cho?"

He blinked. "I don't understand."

"She likes you, Harry. Asking me what we're doing on Valentine's Day was probably like rubbing a wound in salt." Venus placed a hand on her shoulder and rose up onto her toes to kiss his cheek. "We'll make plans later, okay?"

Their day continued on. Finally, when Harry went to his Occlumency lesson, Venus, Ron, Hermione, Charlotte, and Elijah went to the library to work on Umbridge's Defense homework. It was mostly Hermione and Elijah's idea to come. Other people obviously had the same idea, because mostly fifth year students were sat at lamp-lit tables with their noses stuck into books and quills scratching feverishly. The sky grew darker outside, and the only other sound was the squeaking of Madam Pince's shoes as she walked around the aisles.

Somebody suddenly sat down in the empty chair next to Venus. She looked up to see it was Harry. Venus would've smiled, but worry overtook her instead — he was shivering, he was very pale, and his scar was more prominent than usual up on his forehead.

"Hey, how'd it go?" Venus whispered, staring at him in concern. "Harry, what's wrong?"

Charlotte nodded in agreement. "You look like you've just seen a ghost — wait, Muggle saying, you've actually seen ghosts before. Ignore me."

"Yeah . . . fine . . . I dunno," Harry answered impatiently, wincing — making Venus frown. "Listen . . . I've just realized something . . ."

Harry then told them he had seen a vision of Mr. Weasley leading him down the stairs to a black, windowless corridor that ultimately ended with a black door, one whom he had been dreaming about for months. He then revealed that it was the very same one he had run down with Mr. Weasley to get to his Ministry Hearing, and the door led to the Department of Mysteries. That had been where Mr. Weasley was when he was attacked by the snake, obviously guarding something.

"So . . . so, are you saying . . . that the weapon — the thing You-Know-Who's after — is in the Ministry of Magic?" Ron asked as Madam Pince swept past them.

"In the Department of Mysteries, it's got to be," Harry answered. "I saw that door when your dad took me down to the courtrooms for my hearing and it's definitely the same one he was guarding when the snake bit him."

"Of course," Hermione breathed out.

"Of course what?" Ron demanded rather impatiently.

"Ron, think about it . . . Sturgis Podmore was trying to get through a door at the Ministry of Magic . . . it must have been that one, it's too much of a coincidence!"

"But isn't Sturgis a part of the Order of the Phoenix?" Elijah questioned. "Why would he try to break in if he was on our side?"

"Well, I don't know. That is a bit odd . . ."

"So what's in the Department of Mysteries?" Harry inquired to both Venus and Ron. "Has your parents or your dad ever mentioned anything about it?"

Venus shook her head. "They don't tell me much about the Ministry. I used to hear everything about MACUSA, but ever since we moved, there's nothing."

"I know they call the people who work in there Unspeakables," Ron added with a frown. "Because no one really seems to know what they do in there . . . weird place to have a weapon . . ."

"It's not weird at all, it makes perfect sense," Hermione stated. "It will be something top secret that the Ministry has been developing, I expect. . . . Harry, are you sure you're all right?"

Venus looked over. Harry had just run both of his hands hard over his forehead like he was trying to iron it. Venus' frown deepened and she gently took his hands in hers. As she lowered them, she noticed they were trembling. Harry instantly laced their fingers together.

"Yeah . . . fine . . ." Harry trailed off. "I just feel a bit . . . I don't like Occlumency much . . ."

"I expect anyone would feel shaky if they'd had their mind attacked over and over again," Hermione responded sympathetically. "Look, let's get back to the common room, we'll be a bit more comfortable there . . ."

"We'll see you guys later," Elijah told them. "Feel better, Harry."

However, they were not more comfortable in the common room. It was packed and full of shrieks of laughter and excitement as Fred and George demonstrated their latest piece of joke shop merchandise.

"Headless Hats!" George shouted as Fred waved a pointed hat decorated with a fluffy pink feather at the watching students. "Two Galleons each — watch Fred, now!"

Fred placed the hat on his head with a beam. He looked rather stupid for a second before both the hat and his head vanished. Venus nodded, clearly impressed. Several of the girls screamed while everyone else roared with laughter.

"And off again!" George yelled.

Fred 's hand groped for a moment in what seemed to be thin air over his shoulder. His head then suddenly reappeared as he took off the pink-feathered hat.

"How do those hats work, then?" Hermione asked, distracted by her homework and watching Fred and George instead. "I mean, obviously it's some kind of Invisibility Spell, but it's rather clever to have extended the field of invisibility beyond the boundaries of the charmed object. . . I'd imagine the charm wouldn't have a very long life though . . ."

"I'm going to have to do this tomorrow," Harry muttered, still looking sick as he pushed the books he had just taken out his bag back inside it.

"Well, write it in your homework planner then!" Hermione said encouragingly. "So you don't forget!"

Venus shook her head. Harry withdrew the planner and opened it. As he scribbled down Umbridge's homework, it chidedDon't leave it till later, you big second-rater!

Harry stuffed the homework planner into his bag. "I think I'll go to bed."

"Feel better, okay?" Venus stated worryingly. "Goodnight."

"Night, Star."

He leaned down and pressed a kiss onto her lips. After a couple of moments, Harry pulled away and went up the steps to the boys' dormitories. Venus watched after him for a moment with her heart racing and butterflies fluttering around her stomach. There was really no one that made her feel the way Harry Potter did.

» • » ✧ « • «

LONG CHAPTER LET'S GOOOOOO

anyways

HARRY MAKING PLANS WITH VENUS FOR VALENTINE'S DAY IN FRONT OF CHO LMAO BYE