Part Two / Chapter Forty-Eight
Where were Castiel and Corinne when you needed them?
Venus sat inside the Prefects bathroom frantically wiping her nose that continued to drip with blood. She mindlessly prayed that the angels would appear. Behind her, the flutter of wings could be heard and when she spun around Castiel and Corinne were there, standing like warriors.
"I need you guys," said Venus earnestly.
"We know. That's why we came, we heard you," said Castiel.
"You heard me?"
"All angels can hear prayers and we heard yours ," Corinne spoke. "So we are here."
Another stream of blood flowed from Venus' nose. She ran to grab a towel and stop the bleeding. "Well, as you can see, my nose won't stop bleeding." she said, her voice muffled by the towel over her nose that covered her mouth.
Castiel stepped forward and placed a hand on her head. Venus screwed her face as the Angel closed his eyes. She wanted to recoil until a horrible migraine struck her. "Did you hit your head?" He asked, taking his hand off the top of her head.
"Er— I don't..." Venus stopped. "Yeah, when that Angel tried to— y'know— murder me."
"You had a concussion causing your nosebleeds, I healed it for you. You're welcome." said Castiel indignantly, forgetting that Venus had to say 'thank you' before he said 'you're welcome.'
"Shouldn't I be able to heal myself by now?" Venus asked worryingly, wiping the excess blood from above her mouth. "If you two can, why can't I?"
"We aren't sure, Venus. Yes, angels and nephilims share similarities but we have our share of differences," Corinne explained, bringing her hands in front of her.
"And can you tell me what those differences are—" Corinne and Castiel had already flown away before Venus could finish her sentence. She looked around and huffed angrily through her nose. "Goodbye to you too."
Early the next morning, Venus was stopped on her way to first period by a concerned Hermione.
"Where were you last night?" she asked.
"Er— in my dorm?" Venus lied, trying her best to forget her unhealed concussion from the previous night.
"You missed Slughorn's party," she said, her frizzy hair covering parts of her eyes. She hastily pushed it back into a ponytail and tried keeping up with Venus who was walking quite fast. "We met Gwenog Jones."
"Oh really?" said Venus unenthusiastically.
"You don't know who that is, do you?" she sighed, a frown tugging her lips. Venus shook her head. "Some stuck-up Quidditch player, anyways, Slughorn's going to have a Christmas party and he will make sure you're present."
Venus groaned. The last thing she needed was a middle-aged man asking her about her dead father.
"You can bring a guest." Hermione added. Venus warmed up to the idea of bringing Constance along for the journey, but immediately frowned when she realized Harry would be bringing Maria Glossop.
After classes were finished, Venus met with Ginny to walk to tryouts; as she did help her go over the requirements for Beater the night before tryouts. The girls had grown exceptionally close. They arrived to the changing rooms and quickly changed into their uniform, meeting the rest of the team on the pitch.
Dean Thomas, Ginny's boyfriend had been chosen as Katie's substitute chaser and as Venus predicted, the eccentric redhead was ecstatic to have extra time to spend with her boyfriend. She watched the three chasers fly fast, in sync and gracefully together. When it came her turn to practice with Richie Coote, the other elected beater, she was surprised at how good they played together. She was positive she'd be able to knock a few Slytherin's off their brooms in the next match.
Next came Ron, who wore the same expression he had at his try outs. This time, all of the players were in the air. Ginny flew and scored nearly a dozen goals past Ron and into the goalposts. The one time he'd actually kicked a Quaffle it flew straight at Demelza Robin's mouth.
"It was an accident, I'm sorry, Demelza, really sorry!" Ron shouted after her as she zigzagged back to the ground, dripping blood everywhere. "I just —"
"Panicked," Ginny said angrily, landing next to Demelza and examining her fat lip. "You prat, Ron, look at the state of her!"
"I can fix that," said Harry prominently, landing beside the two girls, pointing his wand at Demelza's mouth, and saying "Episkey." "And Ginny, don't call Ron a prat, you're not the Captain of this team —"
While Ginny and Harry were arguing on the ground, Venus flew toward Ron, who looked disenchanted. "Hey," she said softly, Ron sighed. "Don't listen to Ginny. You're not a prat, it's just nerves. They are completely normal—"
"I'm sick of being such a disappointment, Venus," said Ron, looking down at his sister on the ground wiping the excess blood from Demelza Robins mouth.
"Ronald Weasley!" Venus said in a shrill voice eerily resembling his mother, making Ron go wide-eyed. "You are not a disappointment, if I ever here you say that again, I will thump you."
It seemed as Ron tried to hold in a laugh.
"I'm half-angel," she said in a lower voice. "Don't test me."
Overall, it was one of the worst practices they had had all term, though Venus would never admit it out loud so close to their next match, she was glad she could say it in her mind.
"Good work, everyone, I think we'll flatten Slytherin," Harry said bracingly and the Chasers and Beaters left the changing room looking reasonably happy with themselves. As she left the room with the others, a wary glance occurred between her and Harry before the door shut behind her.
Venus hoped he could be able to boost Ron's confidence after their first practice but the redhead seemed angrier than usual. He'd yell at them, get irritated at the smallest things and the worst of it all, his skills plummeted during the next few days of practice. Venus didn't understand his sudden attitude change, finally understand what Ginny meant about him being a prat.
He'd just had a go at Demelza Robins, who'd fled the pitch in tears. Ginny looked simply infuriated at her brother.
"Ron, what is wrong with you?!" Venus called out from her position in the air, clinging onto her broom as bewitched Quaffles flew past her.
"Nothing that concerns you," he grumbled, missing another bewitched Quaffle.
"Well, acting like an arse won't make your quidditch skills any better now will they?" Venus retorted, feeling the same irritation from her argument with Harry during the summer wash over her.
"Just go and snog Zabini," said Ron.
"I am not snogging Zabini, Ron!" Venus shrieked, feeling her blood began to boil as it ran through her veins.
"Whatever you say," Ron said angrily, managing to successfully kick a Quaffle... that smacked Venus square in the face. The glower on Ron's face had immediately turned to regret when he saw the blood gushing from Venus' nose. "Oh, Venus I'm—"
"Don't," she said through gritted teeth, descending to the ground and stomping into the changing rooms. Rushing to a mirror, Venus examined her bruised nose. She brought a finger up to touch it and winced when it brushed against her nose bridge. "Stupid healing."
"Oh, look what that prat has done to your face," said Ginny as she ushered into the changing rooms, sounding exactly like Constance.
"I can fix it for you if you'd like," said a voice from behind Ginny. Harry popped out from behind the Chaser, twirling his wand in his left hand. "I know an incantation."
Ginny looked between Venus and Harry, smirking and left the changing rooms speedily.
He patted a spot next to him on the bench. Venus tried not to smile for two reasons: she wouldn't be able to stop and it'd make the throbbing pain in her nose worsen. She took the seat and faced Harry. He was staring brazenly into her eyes, then to her nose. His eyes were never still, but they always found a way to look at Venus'. She would admire his eyes that were like sapphires under the sun, but peer sightlessly at the wall when his eyes met hers.
"Episkey," he muttered. Her nose went from hot to cold in the matter of a millisecond. She could breathe better and when she felt her nose, no pain followed her touch. "Better?"
"Much better," she said breathlessly.
Venus turned to Harry, who seemed to be staring somewhere underneath her nose. She found herself gazing down at his lips. She closed her eyes as their lips met. She'd had her first kiss already and back then, there were no butterflies. She didn't have any at the moment either. When she looked back into his eyes, they weren't green anymore. They were a pale white for a split second before the door to the changing rooms opened and the two jumped away from eachother, Venus stumbled into the wall while Harry shuffled up from the floor. Dean Thomas stared at the two confusingly.
"Er— Ginny forced me to come in and see what you two were doing," he said stiffly. "It seems like nothing is going on, bye!" He waved at them and leaving as soon as he'd arrived.
"Well," Venus mumbled. "I have to go — er — walk my dog."
"Yeah, you should go do that," said Harry indignantly, not caring to correct Venus and inform her that she didn't own a dog.
Venus looked at his eyes again, they were green. She sloppily waved goodbye as she exited the changing rooms. She could not believe what she'd just done. In the span of five minutes, she'd had her first real kiss and became a mistress. She returned to the Gryffindor common room, dashing past an apologetic looking Ron and into the girl's dormitory where Constance was stretching on a yoga mat in the center of the room. Parvarti Patil had piles of study guides in front of her and Lavender Brown was giddily brushing her hair in the mirror, most likely getting ready to see Ron.
Venus fell on the bed and whimpered, but it was muffled by the mattress. She could hear Constance sigh to the left of her.
"What happened Venus?" She asked, switching her legs and bringing her arms forward. "C'mon tell Constance."
"Me-and-Harry-kissed." she said quickly, eyeing Parvarti Patil who's sister was good friends with Maria Glossop.
"You and—!" Constance said loudly, but was hastily shushed by Venus. Parvarti and Lavender looked at them. Venus gave a fake cheery smile and dragged her best friend into the bathroom, casting a Muffiato spell just in case Parvarti and Lavender decided to eavesdrop.
"You and Harry kissed!" Constance repeated.
Venus groaned and covered her face with her hands. She nodded her head and Constance let out a gasp. Venus had never felt so disappointed in herself in her life.
"Was it good?" she asked excitedly.
Venus' eyes widened in terror. "It was a disaster!"
"But Maria—" continued Constance.
"You don't think I know that!" Venus yelled knowingly. "Oh my god, Constance." she whined, holding onto her best friends shoulders.
"Calm down," whispered Constance, shaking Venus by her shoulders. "No one knows. You're fine."
"But I know!" Venus said apprehensively. "I have to tell her."
Constance held Venus' face in her hands to stop her from pacing around the bathroom. "Okay, Venus. I will say this and I will only say this once." Venus blinked at her. "You're going to listen to me and you better listen well."
Breakfast was a nerve-wracking affair the next morning. Constance had been repeating her three rules to Venus while she was nervously eating stick of bacon. Slytherins glares at her from left and right as she wore her Gryffindor Quidditch uniform. Blaise was the only who gave Venus a small smile, which she returned.
"After a kiss like that, it is likely Harry will come up to you and start asking if you're okay, if you thought it was a mistake, blah, blah, blah," said Constance ingeniously. "You remember my three rules, right?"
With her mouth full of bacon, Venus had to resort to nodding at everything her best friend said.
"Okay, breakfast is ending," Constance cautioned, watching students desert their plates and leave for the Quidditch game. She stood up from her own seat, but before leaving hugged Venus tightly and said, "Wait until you get to the pitch, something might surprise you. Oh—! and make sure you crush Slytherin."
The frosty grass crunched underfoot as Venus strode down to the stadium. "Venus!" shouted a voice from behind her. She waited for them to show up beside her and when they did, Harry's bright green eyes came into view.
"Hi." He said, clutching onto his Firebolt.
"Hi." Venus replied, not looking at the boy as they neared the Quidditch pitch.
"About yesterday. . ."
Venus remembered Constance's first rule: avoid it."Oh, we don't have to talk about it. Let's just forget it ever happened," she said jitterly. A moment of uncomfortable silence swept over them before Harry spoke up again.
"I mean, we kissed I think that's worth speaking about," he said, his cheeks reddening from the force of the wind that was hitting them.
Constance's second rule: if he keeps asking, play it cool. Venus put her hands on her hips. "I— Er— don't think it's that worth talking about. Quidditch! That's— that's something worth speaking about," she rambled, only being able to stop when Harry glanced in her direction with a quizzical look on his face.
"Are you feeling alright?" He said, putting a hand to her forehead checking for a fever. She quickly swatted his hand away when she caught a glimpse of Maria Glossop in the Ravenclaw stands.
Then the third rule popped up in her mind: always bring up the girlfriend. "I think Maria's waving to you," said Venus observantly. Harry's went wide like he'd forgotten he had a girlfriend and when he stared up at the Ravenclaw stands, Maria was in fact waving down at him. He waved back timidly and when he looked back to Venus, she wasn't in front of him anymore, catching the last glimpse of her curls before she disappeared into the changing rooms.
Once Venus had entered the changing rooms, Ron stepped in front of her with his hands behind his back. "I—" he stuttered, bringing a box with holes poked on top from behind his back and toward her. "I'm so sorry about what I did yesterday, Venus. I shouldn't have been so angry with you, you of all people. I'm so sorry."
"Do you admit that you were an arsehole?"
"Yes, a total arse, complete arsehole," said Ron, pushing the box into Venus' hands. She opened the lid and a small, pink ball of fire sat in the center. Venus was confident Ron had spray painted a cotton ball until it started to squeak. A small face looked up at her from the box.
"You got me a Pygmy puff?" Venus said cheerfully, taking the pink creature and holding it in her palms.
"Nicked it form Fred and George, please don't tell them," he whispered, making sure Ginny wasn't listening in.
Venus put the Pygmy Puff back into its box promising Ron she wouldn't tell anyone. They walked out onto the pitch to tumultuous cheers and boos. One end of the stadium was solid red and gold; the other, a sea of green and silver. Many Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws had taken sides too: Amidst all the yelling and clapping Venus could distinctly hear the roar of Luna Lovegood's famous lion-topped hat.
Venus and the rest of the team stepped up to Madam Hooch, the referee, who was standing ready to release the balls from the crate.
"Captains shake hands," she said, and Harry stepped up to the new, much larger, Slytherin Captain, Urquhart. She and Blaise sent small smiles to one another from opposite sides of the lineage. "Mount your brooms. On the whistle . . . three . . . two . . . one . . ."
The whistle sounded, Venus and the others kicked off hard from the frozen ground, and they were away. Venus gripped onto the bat in her right hand and soared toward Ginny, knocking a hurdling Bludger away from her and at one of Slytherin's substitute chasers and knocking him off his broomstick. Then a voice that was jarringly different to the usual commentator's started up. A voice that sounded all too familiar.
"Well, there they go, and I don't think we're all surprised to see the Slytherin team filled with berks instead of brains this year. . . ."
These words were greeted with jeers and applause from the Gryffindor end of the pitch. Venus craned around on her broom to look toward the commentator's podium. A short, dark haired girl with heeled boots was standing there, talking into the magical megaphone. Constance sat in the podium, watching the game intently while clutching a sign that read: Go Venus! "Oh, and here comes Slytherin's first attempt on goal, it's Euro-quack— I mean— Urquhart streaking down the pitch and—"
Venus hastily knocked a Bludger that went lunging toward Ron.
"— Weasley saves it, yes! Go Gryffindor—! I mean, I'm totally neutral about this."
With half an hour of the game gone, Gryffindor were leading sixty points to zero, Ron having made some truly spectacular saves, some by the very tips of his gloves, if Venus didn't know any better, she'd think he'd drank an entire vial of Felix Fel
"Shame Malfoy isn't here so we could watch him throw a temper tantrum after we've won," said Constance loftily, "i mean, I'm against talking badly about other students. I'm sorry, Professor McGonagall but I can't lie about that—"
Venus watched Richie send a Bludger at Harper, who was just passing Harry in the opposite direction. Regretfully, she smacked a Bludger away from Demelza Robins and at Blaise, mouthing 'sorry' as he tumbled off his broom.
It seemed as though Gryffindor could do no wrong. Again and again they scored, and again and again, at the other end of the pitch, Ron saved goals with apparent ease. He was actually smiling now, and when the crowd greeted a particularly good save with a rousing chorus of the old favorite "Weasley Is Our King," he pretended to conduct them from on high. Venus smiled up at her friend, knocking a Bludger away as though it were an annoying fly zooming at her face.
"Don't know if Potter has poor taste or no one better came for Beater tryouts?" said a snide voice, and Venus was nearly knocked off his broom as Gregory Goyle collided with her hard and deliberately. "The filthy half-breed . . ."
"Smack him with a Bludger!" said Constance through his megaphone, earning a sly smirk from Professor McGonagall, but then a stern look when other teachers turned their heads. "I mean, I don't condone violence!"
Venus zoomed away from him, looking down at Coote who was smacking Bludgers left and right.
"Keep taking Goyle and I'll break your wrist again!" Venus yelled at the Slytherin Beater, who's face blanched at the memory of the painful encounter he had with her last year. Venus looked down at a Bludger.
Come.
The Bludger zoomed toward Venus and she smacked it with her bat. It collided with Goyle's stomach and he fell off his broomstick.
"That's my best friend witches and wizards!" gushed Constance over the megaphone, pressing her Go Venus! sign out of the commentator's podium. Then her eyes snapped toward the ground, and she began jumping up and down in excitement. "—and Harry Potter has caught the snitch, Gryffindor wins!"
Wheeling around on her broom, she saw Harry on the ground, the Snitch held high in his hand. As the crowd realized what had happened, a great shout went up that almost drowned the sound of the whistle that signaled the end of the game. Venus zoomed to the ground, but before she could celebrate, she saw Vincent Crabbe still elevated in the air, aiming a Bludger at Harry's head.
Venus hurtled herself in front of Harry, hitting the Bludger with all of her strength. It smacked Crabbe in his gut and sent him flying outside of the Quidditch Pitch. Laughing, Harry broke free of the rest of the team and hugged Venus, but let go very quickly at the memory of Maria Glossop. Avoiding her gaze, he clapped a cheering Ron on the back. Venus twirled around celebrated their win with Ginny instead as, all enmity forgotten, the Gryffindor team left the pitch arm in arm, punching the air and waving to their supporters.
The atmosphere in the changing room was jubilant.
"Party up in the common room, Seamus said!" yelled Dean exuberantly. "C'mon, Ginny, Demelza, Venus!"
And without warning, Venus and her new Pygmy Puff were dragged out of the changing rooms by Ginny and Dean. On their way to Gryffindor Common Room, laughs and giggles echoing throughout the corridors. The first time in months Venus felt like a normal fifteen year old girl.
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【 AUTHORS NOTE! 】:
I do not condone cheating 😤😤😤😤😤 but...