Part Two / Chapter Forty-Nine
Multiple Gryffindor students hoisted Venus, Ron, Ginny and the rest of the Quidditch team over their shoulders. Hoots of cheer and enthusiasm filled the common room, making Venus' thoughts barely audible to herself. Dean carried Ginny on his shoulders, dropped her down and leaned in for a kiss, which Ginny gladly returned.
The Keeper and the Beater were placed on top of a table while their housemates celebrated below. A squeal came from behind and Constance was being hauled up to the table alongside them.
"Congratulations you guys!" she cheered, pulling them both into a hug. The whiff of Firewhiskey coming from her breath. Ron's ears reddened like they did when Constance spoke to him in sixth year.
"You did a great job commentating," said Venus elatedly. Constance took another swig of a drink that was in her cup.
"Thanks," she smiled. "I wish I could give you both a present," she added, frowning down at the ground. Then her face drunkenly light up. "I think I have one for you, Ron."
Ron gave Venus a wide-eyed, quizzical look. Until Constance pressed her lips on his, now Ron was only wide-eyed. Venus put her hand over her mouth in such a state of shock, she didn't notice Harry enter the common room. Constance pulled away. Ron stood there with his eyes glued shut and his hands still placed on her waist.
"You're welcome." Constance said, patting Ron on the side of his face. "Goodnight," then she passed out into Venus' arms.
"Ginny, Ginny!" Venus shouted, trying to hold Constance up in her arms. The redhead seperated from her boyfriend and grabbed Constance's arm. They both carried Constance up to the girl's dormitories.
After Venus blew the candles out for a sleeping Constance, her and Ginny re-entered the Gryffindor party. More girls carrying their drunken friends up to their own dormitories. Then Venus realized someone's absence.
"Ginny, have you seen Hermione?"
"No actually," the redhead responded, before running back into the arms of Dean Thomas. Then, looking in the center of the room in revulsion.
There, in full view of the entire room, stood Ron, wrapped so closely around Lavender Brown it was hard to tell who's hands were whose. As the portrait opened and closed, Venus caught a glimpse of Maria Glossop doing the same to Harry outside. Watching him kiss someone else made her stomach churn, she grabbed a drink from the snack table and chugged it so quickly she couldn't feel the burning in her throat. A mixture of fire whiskey and guilt making her nauseous.
"Disgusting, isn't it?" Ginny asked, motioning toward Lavender and Ron.
"Very," Venus said, her eyes glued on the portrait into the common room, until Harry and Maria entered, she turned back to Ginny and pet the Pygmy Puff that was perched on her shoulder.
Much to her dismay, the couple walked toward the two girls. It was like Ginny telepathically knew why Harry was walking near them.
"Looking for Ron?" she asked, smirking. "He's over there, the filthy hypocrite."
Harry looked into the corner she was indicating. Venus found herself staring into his eyes, watching them and making sure the green tint didn't evaporate like it had in the changing room earlier. She quickly looked away when his head turned down toward her.
"It looks like he's eating her face, doesn't it?" said Ginny dispassionately. "But I suppose he's got to refine his technique somehow. Good game, Harry."
She patted him on the arm, then she walked off to help herself to more firewhiskey.
"Looking for Hermione?" Venus asked as she took a sip of the firewhiskey left in her cup.
"Yeah, haven't seen her anywhere," he said, scanning the room again and then jumping at the empty space beside him. "Where did Maria go?"
Venus shrugged, the thought of how quickly she left went over her head. Her eyes accidentally landed on Ron and Lavender again, as she turned away from her friend, who did not look like he would be surfacing soon, saw a mane of brown, bushing hair leave the common room just as the portrait hole was closing.
Her and Harry exchanged a knowing glanced before darting forward, sidestepping Romilda Vane, who grumbled angrily and pushing open the portrait of the Fat Lady. The corridor outside seemed to be deserted.
"Hermione?" Harry called out. Venus pointed at a classroom door that was slightly cracked open.
Hermione was sitting on the teacher's desk, alone except for a small ring of twittering yellow birds circling her head, which she had clearly just conjured out of midair. Venus gazed at how wonderful they were, and admired how bright she truly was. "Oh, hi guys," she said in a brittle voice. "I was just practicing."
"Yeah . . . they're — er — really good. . . ." said Harry.
"They're wonderful, Hermione," Venus said softly.
"Ron seems to be enjoying the celebrations." She said in an unnaturally high-pitched voice.
"Er . . . does he?" said Harry. Venus smacked his arm, telling him to stop talking.
"Harry, darling?" said a voice from the door. Maria Glossop stood at the entrance, her eyes glowering at Venus and immediately softening when they landed on Harry. Venus felt uneasy, not sure if she should feel guilty or threatened. "Where've you been? C'mon you're missing the party."
Harry hesitated before Venus said lowly, "go on, I've got Hermione."
Harry didn't get the chance to answer before Maria yanked him out of the classroom by his sleeve. Venus ignored the bubbling rage that boiled inside her and returned to comfort an obviously upset Hermione.
"Was it him and Lavender?" Venus asked, placing a supportive hand on her back.
"It was him and Constance."
"Oh, him and Constance aren't —"
"No, I know. It's pretty obvious Constance doesn't fancy him, but I was still jealous," said Hermione, looking at Venus nervously. "of both of them. . ."
The lines on Venus' forehead creased as her eyebrows knitted together. "What do you mean?" she asked. Hermione drew a long breath.
"When Ron was gushing over Constance last year, I wasn't jealous of her. . . and I was jealous of Ron."
Venus thought of what she could mean.
"I was jealous of how Ron was able to openly... openly fawn over her," she continued. "Because I—"
"— had a crush on her as well," said Venus, who'd finally put the pieces of the puzzle together in her mind.
Hermione gave a reluctant nod. "You hate me now, don't you?" She asked, now dawning a sulken expression on her face.
"I could never hate you, Hermione," Venus said disbelievingly, shocked at how she could even think that. "I thought you were the brightest witch of our age."
Hermione smiled, but her happiness was short-lived when the door behind them burst open. To Venus' horror, Ron came in, laughing, pulling Lavender by the hand. "Oh," he said, drawing up short breath at the sight of Venus and Hermione.
"Oops!" said Lavender, "looks like this room's taken." and she backed out of the room, giggling. The door swung shut behind her.
There was a horrible, swelling, billowing silence. Hermione was staring at Ron, who refused to look at her, but said with an odd mixture of bravado and awkwardness, "Hi, Venus! Wondered where you'd got to! Where's Harry?"
Hermione slid off the desk. The little flock of golden birds continued to twitter in circles around her head so that she looked like a strange, feathery model of the solar system. "You shouldn't leave Lavender waiting outside," she said quietly. "She'll wonder where you've gone." She walked very slowly and erectly toward the door. Venus glanced at Ron, who was looking relieved that nothing worse had happened.
"Oppugno!" came a shriek from the doorway.
Venus spun around to see Hermione pointing her wand at Ron, her expression wild: The little flock of birds was speeding like a hail of fat golden bullets toward Ron, who yelped and covered his face with his hands, but the birds attacked, pecking and clawing at every bit of flesh they could reach.
"Gerremoffme!" he yelled, but with one last look of vindictive fury, Hermione wrenched open the door and disappeared through it. Venus shouted a counter-curse at the golden birds before fleeing the room searching for Hermione.
She could hear soft sobs from a deserted corridor where Venus found her standing, hugging herself. Venus immediately walked up to her, and her friend ran into her arms. As Hermione cried into her shoulder, Venus felt the tears roll down her cheeks at her own deepening heartbreak. She stumbled back to her dorm at around midnight. Lavender was absent, Parvarti hadn't returned either. Constance was tangled between her sheets, fast asleep. Venus' pink Pygmy Puff sitting on top of her face, squeaking wildly when Venus entered the room.
Constance hiccuped in her sleep. Venus tried to get Harry and Maria Glossop off of her mind. She dreamed about a wedding, her wedding. Tonks, her bridesmaid wore a different colored dress and Constance, Ginny, Luna, and Hermione wore matching ones. Venus looked down at her dress, it was a beautiful, like stars were trapped inside the sequins that laced her neckline.
Someone came from around the corner and placed a beautiful pendant around her neck. She turned to see them and it was her mom, looking ever so radiant. "Come on dear, everyone's waiting for you," she spoke softly, holding her daughters hand and guiding her out of the room. In front of them stood a tall, blue door and her mother opened it. Venus picked up her dress and stepped inside.
The familiar blue tiles made the heels on Venus' feet clack and the grand statues were crumpled to the ground. Venus turned and Harry was next to her, bleeding and watching Dumbledore and Voldemort duel.
She was back at the Department of Mysteries.
It was so distorted Venus could barely see anyone else besides Bellatrix Lestrange, who stood up and faced her. She wore the same crazed expression. "Oh what I would give to slap you again, Rosario," she repeated her vague words from that fatal night, but in a much calmer tone.
Bellatrix brought her hand back and slapped Venus hard across the cheek. It stung so much, Venus felt her eyes water.
Then, she looked around again. She was back at 12 Grimmauld Place the summer of 1994. When she'd forgotten her book. When Sirius slapped her. She looked in front of her and there stood her dead father. He wasn't wearing the blank expression from that day, he looked so distraught Venus could see the tears forming at the brims of his eyes.
As if he were being impersonated by Polyjuice Potion, Bellatrix formed in front of her, a wild expression on her face. She looked behind Venus. Voldemort and a woman stood there. Voldemort pointed his wand at Venus and the woman held up a golden dagger. They just stood there with sadistic smiles spread across their faces.
"Venus! VENUS!"
She looked at the golden dagger that eerily resembled an Angel blade.
"VENUS! WAKE UP!"
She opened her eyes. She wasn't in her bed anymore. She was sitting at a desk with a notebook in front of her and a ink-drenched quill in her left hand. She didn't write with her left hand.
"Venus, are you okay?" Constance asked, knelt down beside the desk. "When did you start sleepwalking?"
"I don't..." Venus looked at the notebook in front of her and began flipping the pages. She'd been writing. The splatter of black ink stained the pages and the tips of her fingers.
Constance stood up and craned her neck down to see.
"I don't think I've ever sleepwalked before," Venus finished her previous sentence, continued to flip the pages until one, soaked with ink, and filled with Venus' handwriting came up.
Constance read the page. "What does it mean?"
"I have no idea," Venus said quakingly, wondering why she would write 'Judgment Day is upon us' in her sleep.
Snow was swirling against the icy windows once more; Christmas was approaching fast. Hagrid had already single-handedly delivered the usual twelve Christmas trees for the Great Hall; garlands of holly and tinsel had been twisted around the banisters of the stairs. Venus supervised the first-years decorating the hall tiredly, giving the occasional yawn. She'd been having the same nightmare for over a week now, and the sleep-writing did not make her situation better, she was running out of parchment for class.
Ron's happier mood didn't go unnoticed by Venus, but she wished Lavender Brown had. Today was the one morning she wasn't attached to Ron like a tick. Venus was not in the mood, especially that morning. She and Constance found themselves switching off with Hermione and Ron now and then, as the two weren't speaking to each other at all. Venus would accompany Hermione to the library and Constance would go to the Great Hall with Ron and Harry; Venus would go to Quidditch practices with Ron and Harry and Constance would do her homework with Hermione. In all honesty, it was exhausting.
Ron, whose hands and forearms still bore scratches and cuts from Hermione's bird attack, was taking a defensive and resentful tone. "She can't complain," he told Venus. "She snogged Krum. So she's found out someone wants to snog me too. Well, it's a free country. I haven't done anything wrong."
Venus didn't answer. Not because she didn't want to take sides, but because she had fallen asleep.
"Oi, Venus," Ron said, shaking her awake. "Rough night?"
"More like rough nights," she said, using the back of her hands and rubbed her eyes raw. "I've been having this nightmare."
"Want to talk about it?"
Venus remembered Bellatrix. "No, not really." She said, dozing off against the stone pillar she was leaning on.
Venus' sleep deprivation had not been put to rest. The next morning she rushed down to the Hospital Wing. She explained to Madam Pomfrey her situation and the older woman rushed to her medicine rack. "Invigoration Potion," she said, handing Venus a vial. "and Dreamless Sleep Potion for tonight."
"Thank you Madam Pomfrey," Venus said. She immediately opened the vial and downed the potion.
Venus skipped to Transfiguration feeling rejuvenated. Her upbeat behavior was well-noticed by her peers and Professor McGonagall herself, watching Venus delightfully scribbled her name on a piece of parchment.
"Good day, Ms. Rosario?" Her Head of House said evidently.
"Oh, the best. Madam Pomfrey gave me this potion and I feel like I could run around the Quidditch Pitch a million times— make that one billion times, Professor."
Professor McGonagall looked at Constance who was sitting beside her jumpy friend. The student shrugged at her teacher. They had just embarked upon the immensely difficult topic of human Transfiguration; working in front of mirrors, they were supposed to be changing the color of their own eyebrows.
"Professor McGonagall?" Venus said, raising her hand.
"Are you going to ramble again, Ms. Rosario?" She asked, not turning her back to Venus.
"No," Venus said sternly. "May I use the restroom?"
Professor McGonagall gave a motion toward the door and Venus took it as permission to leave the classroom. She'd been washing her hands in the sink when Luna Lovegood popped out from another stall. The faint dazed expression on her face became a usual occurrence for Venus. "Oh hey, Luna." She greeted with a smile, whilst drying her hands.
"Hello Venus," the blonde said whimsically. "Your day has been nargle-free, hasn't it?"
Before Venus could answer her question, Hermione burst into to girls bathroom, crying her eyes out. Venus could hardly hear her own thoughts over Hermione's sobs. Luna wheeled around her and soothly patted her on the back.
"Hermione, what's wrong?" Venus spoke over her cries.
"Ron is what's wrong," she blubbered, wiping the tears that continuously came from her eyes.
"What did he do?" Venus said with an accusatory tone, now accustomed to Ron's mood swings around her.
"He made fun of me," she sniffled again. "In front of the entire class," another sniffle came from her nose.
"Oh, I'll kick his arse 'Mione," Venus said defensively.
"Constance might've beat you to it." She chuckled lightly through her sobs. "You could hear her screaming at Ron from half a mile away.
Luna turned her neck toward the door of the bathroom. "Oh, hello, Harry," she said. "Did you know one of your eyebrows is bright yellow?"
Harry was indeed at the entrance of the girls bathroom. "Hi, Luna. Hermione, you left your stuff. . . ." He held out Hermione's books.
"Oh yes," said Hermione in a choked voice, taking her things and turning away quickly to hide the fact that she was wiping her eyes on her pencil case. "Thank you, Harry. Well, I'd better get going. . . ." And she hurried off, without giving Harry any time to speak another word.
"Venus, I brought you your things," Harry said, holding out Venus' bag and book.
"Oh, thank you Harry," she smiled, taking her stuff from him. "Are you going to Slughorn's party?"
"Yeah, yeah," he said nonchalantly. "Er— who are you bringing?"
"Constance," Venus replied. "You?"
"No idea." He said, shrugging his shoulders.
"Oh, I thought you'd be bringing Maria with you," Venus said. "Y'know, your girlfriend."
"Something went wrong in Potions, and she won't be able to leave the Hospital Wing until tomorrow morning."
"Oh," said Venus, looking around the bathroom nervously. "Why don't you take Luna to Slughorn's party?"
Luna's eyes lit up. Harry's eyes widened. "Er— Luna," he said stepping closer to the blonde. "Would like to come with me to the party... I mean, just as friends."
Venus slipped out of the door as Luna brightly accepted his offer. Peeves flying through the walls shouting, "Loony! Potty luuuuurves Looooooony!" In no time, the entire school knew that Harry had asked Luna Lovegood to Slughorn's party.
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【 AUTHORS NOTE! 】:
Ron and Constance:🧑🏻🦰👩🏻
Hermione: