Part One / Chapter Three
The Hogwarts Express made its stop at King Cross Station.
Venus fumbled with her trolley and her cat, Snowflake, nuzzling her white fur into her owners sweater. Venus placed her cat on top of the trolley, brushing its shedded fur off her sweater. Snowflake purred softly and curled up on top of her trunks, her tail swaying happily in the air.
"Are you alright, darling?" Andromeda asked her; for the billionth time since what happened two weeks prior.
Her finger brushing against the scar on Venus' lip. When Ted heard about what Sirius had done he looked like he was ready to duel and he could rarely kill insects, "It's okay if you're not."
"I'm splendid, Auntie." Venus smiled, her Aunt cupping her cheeks so hard it made her eyes squeeze shut. She pulled her into one last motherly embrace before letting her go to the train.
"Vee, wait!" A distant voice shouted. Tonks pushed through a number of parents, who all of them looking at her irritably. Venus stopped her trolley and waited for Tonks for arrive saving her the time (and the embarrassment.) "Happy fifth year, cousin." She wheezed, "and you're Prefect. There is no year better than this. Okay, go off!"
Venus embraced her cousin as the last of the Hogwarts students boarded the train. Their arms clasped around each other and pressed their cheeks together, as warm tears flowed down Venus' cheeks. Neither wanted to let go, but the final horn of the Hogwarts Express forced them apart. Tonks wiped the tears from Venus' cheeks and urged her onto the train.
Venus held Snowflake in her arms carefully, she was now Head Girl. She didn't want to be unprofessional and take Snowflake with her, so she needed to find Constance. She usually sat with her cousin Cho Chang, but when she opened their compartment, the confused frowns of the Ravenclaws met her gaze. She quickly apologized and shut the door. She searched every single compartment until she opened one, with Harry Potter inside. Constance was smushed in between Ginny Weasley, a fourth year in her house, and Luna Lovegood, a fourth-year Ravenclaw student that everyone teased. Loony Lovegood being the name she was referred to amongst most kids at Hogwarts, Venus never did. But she never made attempts at becoming her friend either.
"Venus!" Constance embraced Venus with such intensity she feared she was going to smack her head on the compartment door. "I can't believe you're a prefect now, I'm so proud of you. Wait— why aren't you in the Prefects carriage?"
"I needed to ask if you can hold onto Snowflake while I went," said Venus, holding up her cat whos blue eyes were piercing into Neville Longbottom's face viciously.
"Yeah, of course. Give her to me and go now! Love you, see you soon!" Venus smiled, she couldn't have asked for a better best friend.
Constance shoved her toward the direction of the Prefects carriage with a thumbs up, "You'll do great!"
Venus made sure she had her Prefects badge, her robes straightened out and that her braid wasn't wonky. The Prefects carriage had already been occupied with several other students, Prefects from other houses. From Hufflepuff it was Ernie Macmillan and Hannah Abbott. From Ravenclaw, Padma Patil and Anthony Goldstein. Unfortunately, from Slytherin, it was Pansy Parkinson and Draco Malfoy. Ron Weasley stood uncomfortably at the edge, his owl fluttering happily inside the cage.
"Ah— Ms. Rosario, so happy that you joined us." said Professor McGonagall with a truck at her side, "this will be a short meeting to instruct you all on your duties as your House's Prefects."
Venus stood next to Ron, his shoulders dropped when Venus had entered the carriage. The sight of another Gryffindor calmed his nerves, even though they've never spoken a word to eachother. She watched McGonagall respectfully as she detailed everything a Prefect was given the privilege to do and what tasks they were permitted to complete. She opened the trunk beside her with a tap of her wand. Red threads like with golden attire were folded neatly beside six other pairs, that were all red, green, blue and yellow, two of each.
The apparel hung in the air and moved gently toward each student. It was a shawl-like garment that added itself over their school robes. McGonagall admired the students contently, tapping the trunk thrice with her wand to lock it shut again.
"Now that you six are all set, go and patrol the aisles," she proclaimed ushering them out of the carriage. Ernie Macmillan tripped over his school robes knocking over Pansy Parkinson, "oh! Macmillan it's always you, isn't it?" Pansy brought herself up from the floor looking furious. But she bit her tongue and left the carriage with Draco.
"Erm— excited to be a Prefect, Ron?" Venus asked brushing down her robes, "I know I am."
Ron's head shook and he looked down at Venus dazed, "I am terrified. I can't boss around brothers, those annoying twats, they'll just ignore everything I say."
It was silent between the two again. Venus helped lone first years who hadn't found a carriage yet.
"Hey, are you alright? Y'know—" Ron pointed at Venus' cut lip. She avoided his stare covering her scar with her hand.
"Yeah— yeah. What did I expect really... and well," said Venus. "There's a reason there are two Prefects, I'll find a way to keep your brothers in line."
Ron gave an appreciative nod. When Venus didn't depart to another compartment, his smile fell into a creeped-out frown. "My friend's in the carriage as yours, I promise I'm not stalking you."
He nodded opening the door to the carriage. "I'm starving," said Ron, stowing his owl next to Harry's, grabbing a Chocolate Frog from him and throwing himself into the seat next to him.
He ripped open the wrapper, bit off the Frog's head, and leaned back with his eyes closed as though he had had a very exhausting morning. Venus knew all he did was stand and breathe in that meeting. Harry's jaw locked and he looked at Venus blankly, staring back out the window without saying anything.
"Well, there are two fifth-year Prefects from each House," said Venus, looking thoroughly disgruntled as she took her seat next to Constance. "Boy and girl from each."
"And guess who's a Slytherin prefect?" said Ron, still with his eyes closed.
"Malfoy," replied Harry at once.
" 'Course," said Ron bitterly, stuffing the rest of the Frog into his mouth and taking another.
"And that vicious cow Pansy Parkinson," said Venus viciously. Her head was turned to Constance, but everyone in the carriage listened to what she was saying. "How she got to be a prefect when she's thicker than a concussed gremlin . . ."
"Who's Hufflepuff?" Harry asked.
"Ernie Macmillan and Hannah Abbott," said Ron thickly.
"And Anthony Goldstein and Padma Patil for Ravenclaw," added Venus looking at everyone but Harry.
"Ron went to the Yule Ball with Padma Patil," said a vague voice. Everyone turned to look at Luna Lovegood, who was gazing unblinkingly at Ron over the top of The Quibbler. He swallowed his mouthful of Frog. Constance edged away from the girl discreetly, weirded out but not wanting Luna to notice.
"Yeah, I know I did," he said, looking mildly surprised.
"She didn't enjoy it very much," Luna informed him. "She doesn't think you treated her very well, because you wouldn't dance with her. I don't think I'd have minded," she added thoughtfully, "I don't like dancing very much."
She retreated behind The Quibbler again. Ron stared at the cover with his mouth hanging open for a few seconds, then looked around at Ginny for some kind of explanation, but Ginny had stuffed her knuckles in her mouth to stop herself giggling. Ron shook his head, bemused, then checked his watch. Constance stared curiously at Luna and back at Venus. She shrugged petting Snowflake behind her ear.
"We're supposed to patrol the corridors every so often," he told Harry and Neville, "and we can give out punishments if people are misbehaving. I can't wait to get Crabbe and Goyle for something. . . ."
"You're not supposed to abuse your position, Ron!" said Hermione sharply.
"Yeah, right, because Malfoy won't abuse it at all," said Ron sarcastically.
"So you're going to descend to his level?" added Venus, fixing the added threads to her garments. Hermione looked back at Ron, a satisfied smile set on her face because of Venus' comment.
Ron gave Venus a really? look. "No, I'm just going to make sure I get his mates before he gets mine." Hermione scoffed. "For heaven's sake, Ron —"
"I'll make Goyle do lines, it'll kill him, he hates writing," said Ron happily. He lowered his voice to Goyle's low grunt and, screwing up his face in a look of pained concentration, mimed writing in midair. "I . . . must . . . not . . . look . . . like . . . a . . . baboon's . . . backside. . . ."
Everyone laughed, but nobody laughed harder than Luna Lovegood. She let out a scream of mirth that caused Harry's owl to wake up and flap her wings indignantly and Hermione's cat to leap up into the luggage rack, hissing. Snowflake didn't flinch in her deep sleep on Venus' lap. She laughed so hard that her magazine slipped out of her grasp, slid down her legs, and onto the floor.
"That was funny!"— Her prominent eyes swam with tears as she gasped for breath, staring at Ron. Utterly nonplussed, he looked around at the others, who were now laughing at the expression on Ron's face and at the ludicrously prolonged laughter of Luna Lovegood, who was rocking backward and forward, clutching her sides.
"Are you taking the mickey?" said Ron, frowning at her.
"Baboon's . . . backside!" she choked, holding her ribs.
Everyone else was watching Luna laughing, but Harry, glancing at the magazine on the floor, noticed something that made him dive for it. Venus took out a handkerchief handing it to Luna to wipe her tears from her eyes.
"Thank you, Venus. You're very kind," said Luna in her habitual, lulling voice. Constance gave her a look, no words came out of her mouth. But Venus knew if she had the free reign to say anything she'd spit out, "Really, you're being nice to Loony?"
"Anything good in there?" asked Ron as Harry closed the magazine, "Of course not," said Hermione scathingly, before Harry could answer, "The Quibbler's rubbish, everyone knows that."
"Excuse me," said Luna; her voice had suddenly lost its dreamy quality. "My father's the editor." Venus' eyes widened, Ginny bit on her knuckles with such force it looked as though she was trying to eat them. Constance nibbled on a licorice wand nervously. Venus agreed that the Quibbler wasn't the best newsletter, she was glad that she didn't voice her opinion out loud like Hermione had.
"I — oh," said Hermione, looking embarrassed. "Well . . . it's got some interesting . . . I mean, it's quite . . ."
"I'll have it back, thank you," said Luna coldly, and leaning forward to snatch it out of Harry's hands. Rifling through it to page fifty-seven, she turned it resolutely upside down again and disappeared behind it, just as the compartment door opened.
Venus looked around; Draco Malfoy smirked at Harry from between his minions Crabbe and Goyle.
"What?" Harry said aggressively, before Malfoy could open his mouth.
"Manners, Potter, or I'll have to give you a detention," drawled Malfoy. "You see, I, unlike you, have been made a prefect, which means that I, unlike you, have the power to hand out punishments."
"Yeah," said Harry, "but you, unlike me, are a git, so get out and leave us alone." Venus, Constance, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Neville laughed. Draco's lip curled. "Tell me, how does it feel being second-best to Weasley, Potter?" he asked.
"Shut up, Malfoy," said Hermione sharply.
"I seem to have touched a nerve," said Malfoy, smirking. "Well, just watch yourself, Potter, because I'll be dogging your footsteps in case you step out of line."
"Get out!" said Hermione, standing up.
Sniggering, Malfoy gave them a last malicious look and departed, Crabbe and Goyle lumbering in his wake. Hermione slammed the compartment door behind them and turned to look at Harry, unnerved by what Draco had said, but appeared too scared to disclose anything with everyone else in their presence.
"Chuck us another Frog," said Ron, who had clearly noticed nothing and didn't register his best friends nervous stares.
The weather remained undecided as they traveled farther and farther north. Rain spattered the windows in a halfhearted way, then the sun put in a feeble appearance before clouds drifted over it once more. Venus checked her watch time after time. She was already taking being a Prefect seriously while Ron, on the other hand, had snagged all of Ginny's chocolate frogs from her bag as she slept on Venus' shoulder. Venus was too scared to wake her, so she let her rest.
When darkness fell and lamps came on inside the carriages, Luna rolled up The Quibbler, put it carefully away in her bag, and took to staring at everyone in the compartment instead. Harry was sitting with his forehead pressed against the train window, Venus was trying to get a first distant glimpse of Hogwarts, but the Ginny's weight anchored her in place.
"We'd better change," said Venus, looking at her watch again. Ron pinned his prefect badges carefully to his chest, checking how it looked in the black window.
At last the train began to slow down Ginny awoke with a jolt, her red hair entangled on the right side of her face. They heard the usual racket up and down the aislst as everybody scrambled to get their luggage and pets assembled, ready for departure. Ron and Venus were supposed to supervise all this; they disappeared from the carriage again, helping first years with directions (mostly Venus) and leading the way to Professor Grubbly-Plank, the short woman shouted, "Firs' years! Firs' years!" holding the lantern near the front of the Hogwarts Express.
"Move, you twats!" Draco ordered shoving a first year so hard she smacked her head on the cobblestone.
"What on earth is wrong with you, Malfoy?" Venus shrieked; the first year was tiny, so Venus picked her up and propped her on her hip. "She's a child—" That's when blood slowly dripped from a gash on her forehead, "—Look you've made her bleed!"
"And why should I care, dear cousin?" Crabbe and Goyle obnoxiously cackled at Draco's unamusing joke, harshly pulling a first year by his robes with a smug look on his face.
Venus smacked his hand from the boys robes, taking him into her other free arm. "You're such an insufferable little git. Just before you say it— NO!— I don't give a damn whether your father hears about this or not. Grow up, Draco!"
A look of great bitterness swept across his face. He balled his fingers into a fist and his mouth propped open, but no words came out. Venus stormed off before he could, taking the first year Draco had yanked to Professor Grubbly-Plank. She took the bleeding first year to the carriages with her to help clean her up properly. Meeting back with Constance and the others who surprisingly remained together.
"I don't mean for this to sound racist or anything, but white people in Muggle horror films are—" Constance stopped chattering with Ginny and Hermione when she spotted Venus. Then, her eyes darted to the bleeding first year. "— Merlin! What happened to her?"
Everyone had surrounded Venus, her jaw remained clenched since her scuffle with Draco. "Malfoy happened," she bleated. Taking another handkerchief and cleaning the first years bloodstained forehead, "Ugh! One day I'm going to drown him in Black Lake and let the squid eat him!"
"I like her." Ron said, watching Venus stomp off to the carriages. Constance jogging behind her, holding Snowflake in her arms. "Too much like Hermione—" "Ouch!" Hermione slapped him in the chest. "But she's nice, I guess."
"Both her and Constance are nice," Hermione said. "I like that we're alike, unlike some people." She added, stomping away from Ron.
"I think she's nice," said Harry in a strained voice.
"Too much like Hermione, right?"
"No— I don't think she likes me very much."
The carriages were now being pulled by Horses. Or creatures that looked like horses as Venus neared them. They were completely fleshless, their black coats clinging to their skeletons, of which every bone was visible. Their heads were dragonish, and their pupil-less eyes white and staring. Wings sprouted from each wither — vast, black leathery wings that looked as though they ought to belong to giant bats. Standing still and quiet in the gloom, the creatures looked eerie and sinister.
Venus didn't understand why these grotesque creatures were now pulling the carriages. They had been fully capable of pushing themselves to the castle before. Ron and Harry walked up behind Venus speaking about Hagrid, their former Care of Magical Creatures Professor. Harry's focus shifted away from Ron, his eyes transfixed on the horses.
"Cee, when did they put horses on the carriages?"
"What horses? Did Malfoy shove your head into the concrete?"
"I think both of our friends are going mental." Ron said in unamused force following Constance into the carriage.
"What do you—" Venus was met face to face with Harry Potter. His piercing blue eyes darted away from hers back to where the horses, if you could call them horses, who breathed deeply their ribs in essence of exposure. "Do you see them?"
It was the first sentence she'd ever spoken to Harry, disregarding the fact they were in the same house. Each year, he put himself and his friends in path of death so Venus didn't risk befriending any of them. And after witnessing her father and Harry's moment, she'd grown jealous of the boy and slowly began resenting him. Venus was never one for confrontation or verbal bullying. Seeing her father hug Harry instead of her, infuriated her. So, the best she could do was give Harry the cold shoulder. It was impossible now, they were going insane together.
Harry let out a short breathed "Mhm".
Luna popped up from behind them, "I can see them too you know, you're just as sane as I am."
That didn't give Venus any reassurance, she only stepped inside the carriage taking a seat next to Constance. She didn't want to share that she was sharing hallucinations with Harry and Luna. She would never heard the end of it from her. She couldn't help but glance over at the creatures silhouettes, noticing Harry doing the same. She took the bloodied handkerchief off the first years head.
"Did everyone see that Grubbly-Plank woman?" asked Ginny. "What's she doing back here? Hagrid can't have left, can he?"
"I'll be quite glad if he has," said Luna. "He isn't a very good teacher, is he?"
"Yes, he is!" said Harry, Ron, and Ginny angrily.
Harry glared at Hermione; she cleared her throat and quickly said, "Erm . . . yes . . . he's very good." Constance and Venus stood silent, avoiding any involvement within their stiffening animosity.
"Well, we think he's a bit of a joke in Ravenclaw," said Luna, unfazed.
"You've got a rubbish sense of humor then," Ron snapped, as the wheels below them creaked into motion.
Luna did not seem perturbed by Ron's rudeness; on the contrary, she watched him like a television program. Her wide, silvery eyes following any slight motion before she took out her folded copy of the Quibbler. Her eyes disappearing behind the rotated newsletter.
"Does it hurt badly?" Venus asked the tiny girl; who merely shrugged.
"I could do a lot worse to him," Her and Ginny smiled down at the first years odd response.
"I bet you could," said Venus taking out her wand and muttering Ferula under her breathe. A bandage wrapped itself around the girls head, jerking the girls head to the side as it tightened. "There you go. . ."
"Cordelia."
"Cordelia... when you're in 3rd and Malfoy's in 7th, I except to see a smack down," Venus smiled handing an extra Pumpkin Pasty to her. Cordelia's grin was so wide, it was possible it reached past her ears. She took the treat and snapped for wrapper open.
"What do you think of Blaise Zabini?" said Constance, twirling a licorice wand in her mouth. "He's mysterious— quiet— ridiculously cute."
"Blaise Zabini, the Slytherin?" Venus enunciated the word Slytherin, in hopes Constance's brain will shift back into its place. "Slytherin?"
Constance smacked her teeth. "Oh, these stupid house rivalries! Not all Slytherins are bad and a lot of them are really good looking—"
Venus stuffed a Pumpkin Pasty in Constance's mouth to stop her blubbering. Hogwarts Castle loomed closer: a towering mass of turrets, jet-black against the dark sky, here and there a window blazing fiery bright above them. Constance still pouted about Blaise munching slowly on the pasty Venus had given her. The carriages jingled to a halt near the stone steps, Venus followed Harry out of the carriage before anyone else did, picking up the first year and sending her off with Professor Sprout, rather reluctantly.
Cordelia turned back to Venus, bringing her small hand up to wave goodbye before disappearing into the castle. Venus tried staying turned from the creatures, their rough panting ringing in her ears. She drew her lip between her teeth watching the horses. She soon realized the dreadful mistake in looking. Now, she couldn't take her eyes away. Constance tripped out of the carriage, cursing under her breathe.
"Come on, Vee. Stop looking at your imaginary horses, I'm starving." Constance tapped her foot impatiently.
"Er— yeah, I'm coming." She jested. Her eyes finally coming off the creatures and toward her best friend. Constance grabbed onto Venus' hand eagerly pulling her up the stairs of the castle. "Eager to see Blaise?"
Constance brushed off Venus' attempt at an insult, giddily nodding. "Obviously!"