Part Two / Chapter Fifty-Three
Castiel and Corinne were at the scene seconds after Venus prayed for their help. To keep their privacy, Castiel had placed his fingers on Harry's head, knocking him into unconsciousness. Venus watched Corinne hover over Maria's body. She hated the feeling: the numbness. She didn't regret killing Maria, not one bit. The one thing she wished she could have left unheard was Maria unraveling step by step, how the angels ruined her life. In the end, even under compulsion, he tried being a good father. They just didn't have enough time.
Castiel snapped Venus out of her thoughts. "Your headmaster has been informed of the incident," he said, beginning to heal Venus' wounds.
A small shuffling sound came from the storage cupboard in the room. Madam Pomfrey came stumbling out of the room, a black eye beginning to form on her face. Corinne quickly pelted toward her and put her to sleep, carrying her and placing her on a bed.
"I don't understand," said Corinne, pacing back and forth nervously. Venus had never seen her this anxious before. "The sigils to ward off the angels, we covered every inch of Hogwarts with them."
"It could have been Metatron," Castiel explained, healing Venus' final wound, the laceration in her stomach.
Corinne shook her head.
"No," she groaned. "They were archangel wardings as well."
"It was me," said a voice from the entrance of the Hospital Wing. A man, tall and bruised limped toward them. Venus immediately became defensive, but couldn't move because of Castiel. "They forced me."
"God," said Corinne in disbelief, running over to catch the man as he fell over. "Where have you been?"
"Held captive by Metatron and her army," God grunted, holding their stomach tightly.
"But you're God—" Venus began, wincing slightly as Castiel continued to heal her. "— you of all people should be able to stop them."
"Not without my grace," God coughed, bloody escaping and trailing down their ripped shirt.
"They took your grace?" Corinne said, attempting to attend to their injuries. God stopped them.
"Without my grace, I'm just an element. If Metatron uses my grace..." God wheezed, as it became harder and harder for them to breathe.
"She will become God," stated Castiel, horror laced between his words.
"Venus Rosario," said God, looking at her proudly. "I loved your mother, and I know she loved you. I—" they coughed, "— I have a task I need you to complete. Before I part ways with you all."
God weakly reached into their jacket pocket and pulled out a golden dagger. The same golden dagger the woman in her nightmares held. "I need you to go... to go to where Metatron is staying and steal my grace back. You should look for a gold-rimmed vial with golden grace inside," God was losing more and more breath as they spoke. "I trust you to hold on to it."
God slid the golden dagger at Venus' feet just as Castiel successfully healed her wound. She knelt forward and picked it up.
"But— I don't know where Metatron is," said Venus.
"I saw how quickly you found your sister that Christmas evening," God smiled. "Yes, I saw you Venus. How powerful you are, the potential you hold. You just haven't unlocked it yet."
Venus shut her eyes tight, almost as if her mind were creating a brain map, she saw a dark Manor. Without any prior knowledge, Venus not only knew Metatron had stationed there, she felt it.
"I found her," she said, opening her eyes. God didn't respond. They laid limp in a crying Corinne's lap. She looked over at Castiel, who for the first time, had begun to tear up.
As if reality were just kicking in, Venus saw Harry and Ron laid neatly in their hospital beds. She looked down at the golden dagger in her hands and stashed it inside her boots. Without a goodbye, Venus flew directly toward the manor she saw. She quietly teleported her way inside, no one seemed to be there.
Venus dashed up the steps and tore threw every bedroom in the Manor at top speed looking for a gold-rimmed vial. Finally, in one of the farthest rooms inside the Manor, Venus saw it. A vial that resembled the contents of Felix Felicis sat in front of her.
This was too easy, she thought, looking over her shoulder and back at the vial.
Instead of physically going to grab the vial, Venus held her hand up.
Come to me.
Her mind was burning, the vial shook slightly on the countertop it was placed on. But, it still didn't fly into her palm. Venus repeated the thought over and over again in her mind, until she felt tears fall down face. Finally, the vial swiftly launched itself into Venus' hands, and almost instantly, a ring of fire circled the spot where she would have stood if she walked toward the gold-rimmed vial.
A thrashing sound of wings could be heard to the left of Venus. A man stood before her, arms glued to his sides. "Go," he stated firmly. Venus recognized his voice. "I said, Go!"
Before anyone else showed up, Venus was back in the Hospital Wing. The golden grace clutched in her palm. Castiel and Corinne had already disposed of God's body before she arrived, going to hand it over, they stopped her.
"God said you were to be trusted," Castiel said at once, pushing the vial back toward her.
Venus clicked her tongue. "Where am I supposed to keep this?"
"Here," said Corinne, circling her hand around the vial and securing it over Venus' neck. "That way you'll know you haven't lost it."
"Will he remember?" Venus asked, her eyes lingering on Harry.
"Yes," answered Corinne. "Only bits and pieces unfortunately."
"I can't believe I didn't realize he was under her control," Venus felt her voice crack. "I mean, I'm supposed to see this sort of thing, right?"
Corinne placed her hands over the girls shoulders. "You are still young, naive and have a lot to learn about your powers," she said in a motherly tone. "Don't blame yourself, I'm sure he wouldn't blame you either."
"I will inform him about what occurred in the morning," said Castiel with a small smile.
Venus held back tears. "Why compel Harry if she was here to watch over Draco?"
Corinne sighed. "Maria... liked to play games, I'm sure Maria Glossop was only a cover up, but this... this was a sick game she liked playing to entertain herself."
"I'm glad I stabbed her in the heart," said Venus sternly, looking over at her body.
"Trust me," Castiel gruffly said. "We all are."
The following morning, Venus showed the vial to Hermione and Constance. Both girls looked at it in fascination, Hermione continuing to ask questions of its properties while Constance only admired the sparkles emitting through the glass vial. The girls were off to classes before Ron and Harry were discharged from the Hospital Wing by an unsuspecting Madam Pomfrey, healed and compelled to forget what happened the previous night.
Taking advantage of her free period, Venus made her way toward the library. A pale, blonde-headed boy flew past her. Draco Malfoy turned to her and glowered before disappearing down the corridor.
Venus didn't think anything of his behavior, he usually made those faces at her. She hated to admit it but Maria's words before she died resonated with Venus. She was weak. Maria flung that Angel blade from her hands effortlessly, Venus' head nearly exploded when she tried. With her hands holding five books surrounding angels, half-breeds and celestial beings, Venus carefully made her way toward a table in the Reference Section.
"Venus," said a voice but their face hidden behind Venus' stack of books. Harry poked his head out from under the stack and gave a small wave.
"Oh, Harry!" said Venus, immediately dropping her books when she saw him.
"I got that," he said, seizing his wand and muttering Locomotor, at once all of her books levitated and stacked neatly atop one another in front of her.
"Thanks," she said, nervously chuckling. "Did Castiel— er— tell you what happened last night?"
"Yeah, I got the gist," Harry said, closing his book shut. "Ron nearly fainted when he saw him appear out of nowhere, I thought he was going to have to stay in the Hospital Wing for another week."
"Castiel's rough around the edges, but he's just programmed that way." Venus set her books flat on the table in front of her and debated which one she should read first.
"History of Magic research?" Harry said curiously.
Venus looked up, almost forgetting he was sitting right there next to her, she felt her throat dry up. Why was she so nervous all of the sudden? "No," she said finally. "Researching about Angels."
Harry let out a shaky breath at the last word.
"Oh no," Venus said soulfully. "Has Maria traumatized you or something, because I can read elsewhere if you're not—"
Venus' hand was already on her book that was perched on her lap when a hand fell on top of hers.
"Are you alright, Venus?" he asked, enfolding his hand between hers.
Venus was thinking no, but what came out was, "Yeah, yeah, totally!"
"Okay," he said, turning back to his books, leaving his hand intertwined with hers. To afraid to move, Venus kept her hand still. "I just wanted to thank you."
"For what?"
"Are you kidding, Venus? For stopping that Maria Glossop!" he said heartingly. "You got really messed up to stop someone from helping a possible Death Eater."
"Thanks for hitting her in the head with a stool," Venus chuckled, Harry did as well. Their hands still held firmly together. "I believe you... about Draco."
"You do?" He said shockingly.
"Yes," she said. "I overheard her and Snape arguing about her watching over someone. Snape kept telling her she had a job to complete and they should have let her brother do it instead. They said no names, but I assumed it was Draco."
"When did this happen? Yesterday?" Harry asked.
"Around two days ago," said Venus timidly. "I thought you were actually in a relationship with her and I didn't want you to get mad at me, or Maria tell you to be mad at me."
"I could never be mad at you," he said.
Venus realized throughout their entire conversation, they never let go of each others hands. Harry looked down at her neck. "What's that?" he asked, pointing at the gold-rimmed vial.
"Gods grace," Venus answered plainly. Harry looked baffled.
"God? As in god?" he asked, looking between the vial and her face. "Why do you have God's grace?"
"Because God's dead—"
"—Gods dea—!"
Venus put her hand over Harry's mouth to shut him up.
"Will you be quiet?!" Venus ordered. "God trusted me to keep this safe and you can't draw attention to us in case another Angel managed to slip through."
Harry nodded and Venus let go. "So, you're holding it because?" he questioned, lowering his voice for Venus' expense.
"God trusted me to keep it safe, and that's what I'm going to do." Venus stated. "God was pretty vague about it, but they were bleeding out."
"Sounds like our headmaster," Harry said quickly, placing books back in their shelves. "Venus—"
"Damn, it's seven o'clock already?" Venus said abruptly, looking down at her watch. "I promise I'd meet Constance so we could make bracelets, or earrings or some type of jewelry."
Venus hastily shoved her books back onto the shelves, before she ran out, she turned back down toward Harry. "I'm sorry, were you going to say something?" she asked, ready to pelt toward the doors when he'd answered.
"Er—" he stopped himself. "No, it's nothing important, go meet Constance."
"Okay," Venus nodded. "I'll see you in the common room."
"See you..." he said, watching Venus zoom out from the library and her rapid footsteps seizing from the Library's corridor. The words I like you hanging from the tip of his tongue, Harry forced his thoughts to the back of his mind and left the library for his annual visit with Dumbledore.
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【 AUTHORS NOTE! 】:
ugh this chapter is so ass, i truly hate it. but yes harry was going to tell venus he liked her, but let her go be with constance. this was just a venusharry fluff chapter.