Part Two / Chapter Fifty-Four
Over the next week, Venus read book after book about angels, she could conduct a seminar solely on all of the information she was taking in. She was so consumed in her research that Constance could barely grasp her attention as she made a friendship bracelet. "Hey!" she said, snapping her fingers, at last, Venus looked up from her book. "You haven't started your bracelet."
"I just really have to finish this chapter," said Venus, flipping to the next page of her book.
"You said that two chapters ago," sighed Constance.
"I'm just not in the mood to make stupid friendship bracelets!" Venus snapped.
"Y'know Venus, this past week you've been so caught up in those bloody books, you don't even talk to me," Constance said angrily, shooting up from her chair. Venus did the same. "You're being so uptight and difficult, it's tiring!"
"Sorry I'm making my time useful," grumbled Venus, holding up her book.
Constance snatched the book out of her hands. "Oh get off it!" she shrieked.
"Just go if I'm so difficult to be around," she said lowly, taking the book back.
Constance's face softened. "Fine," she said softly, pushing past Venus and stomping up the stairs.
She crossed her arms and didn't turn around, but when she had, Constance was already gone. Regret swept over her like a tidal wave crashing onto land.
"Trouble in paradise?" asked Ron from across the common room.
"Not now, Ron," she said glumly, taking a seat next to Harry on the couch.
"Have you two got into a row?" he asked again, staring hard at his parchment.
"No," Venus said sarcastically, falling into a pillow. Harry patted her back, at attempt of trying to comfort her.
"How d'you spell 'belligerent'?" said Ron, shaking his quill very hard while staring at his parchment. "It can't be B — U — L —"
"No, it isn't," said Hermione, pulling Ron's essay toward her. "You are so tactless."
Ron didn't pay any mind.
"And 'augury' doesn't begin O — R — G either. What kind of quill are you using?" she continued.
"It's one of Fred and George's Spell-Check ones . . . but I think the charm must be wearing off. . . ."
"Yes, it must," said Hermione, pointing at the title of his essay, "because we were asked how we'd deal with dementors, not 'Dug-bogs,' and I don't remember you changing your name to 'Roonil Wazlib' either."
"Ah no!" said Ron, staring horror-struck at the parchment. "Don't say I'll have to write the whole thing out again!"
"I'll fix it later," said Hermione, turning her body toward Venus. "What did you two row about?"
"I guess I've been preoccupying myself too much," said Venus with an oblivious tone. "That I haven't been a very good friend," she now said in a softer voice.
Hermione opened her mouth to say something else when— Crack!
Hermione and Venus let out a little shrieks; Ron spilled ink all over his freshly completed essay, and Harry said, "Kreacher!"
The house-elf bowed low and addressed his own gnarled toes.
"Isn't that the elf from Grimmauld Place?" said Venus quietly, her arms tightly wrapped around Hermione's arms like a straitjacket. Hermione let out a small "mhm."
"Master said he wanted regular reports on what the Malfoy boy is doing, so Kreacher has come to give —"
Crack!
Another house-elf she recognized from last year in the Room of Requirement, Dobby, appeared alongside Kreacher, his tea-cozy hat askew.
"Dobby has been helping too, Harry Potter!" he squeaked, casting Kreacher a resentful look. "And Kreacher ought to tell Dobby when he is coming to see Harry Potter so they can make their reports together!"
"What is this?" asked Hermione, still looking shocked by these sudden appearances, Venus still wrapped securely around her arms. "What's going on, Harry?"
Harry hesitated before answering. "Well . . . they've been following Malfoy for me," he said.
"Night and day," croaked Kreacher.
"Dobby has not slept for a week, Harry Potter!" said Dobby proudly, swaying where he stood.
Hermione looked indignant, and stiff considering Venus hadn't let go of her. "You haven't slept, Dobby? But surely, Harry, you didn't tell him not to —"
"No, of course I didn't," said Harry quickly. "Dobby, you can sleep, all right? But has either of you found out anything?" he hastened to ask, before Hermione could intervene again, Venus finally let go and stood behind Harry.
"Master Malfoy moves with a nobility that befits his pure blood," croaked Kreacher at once. "His features recall the fine bones of my mistress and his manners are those of —"
"Draco Malfoy is a bad boy!" squeaked Dobby angrily. "A bad boy who — who —" He shuddered from the tassel of his tea cozy to the toes of his socks and then ran at the fire, as though about to dive into it; but before she was set aflame, Harry had caught him. "Thank you, Harry Potter," he panted. "Dobby still finds it difficult to speak ill of his old masters. . . ."
Harry released him; Dobby straightened his tea cozy and said defiantly to Kreacher, "But Kreacher should know that Draco Malfoy is not a good master to a house-elf!"
"Yeah, we don't need to hear about you being in love with Malfoy," Harry told Kreacher. "Let's fast forward to where he's actually been going."
Kreacher bowed again, looking furious, and then said, "Master Malfoy eats in the Great Hall, he sleeps in a dormitory in the dungeons, he attends his classes in a variety of —"
"Dobby, you tell me," said Harry, cutting across Kreacher. "Has he been going anywhere he shouldn't have?"
"Harry Potter, sir," squeaked Dobby, his great orblike eyes shining in the firelight, "the Malfoy boy is breaking no rules that Dobby can discover, but he is still keen to avoid detection. He has been making regular visits to the seventh floor with a variety of other students, who keep watch for him while he enters —"
"The Room of Requirement!" said Harry, smacking himself hard on the forehead with Advanced Potion-Making. The girls and Ron stared at him. "That's where he's been sneaking off to! That's where he's doing . . . whatever he's doing! And I bet that's why he's been disappearing off the map — come to think of it, I've never seen the Room of Requirement on there!"
"Maybe the Marauders never knew the room was there," said Ron.
"I think it'll be part of the magic of the room," said Hermione. "If you need it to be Unplottable, it will be."
"Dobby, have you managed to get in to have a look at what Malfoy's doing?" said Harry eagerly.
"No, Harry Potter, that is impossible," said Dobby.
"No, it's not," said Harry at once. "Malfoy got into our headquarters there last year, so I'll be able to get in and spy on him, no problem."
"But I don't think you will, Harry," said Hermione slowly. "Malfoy already knew exactly how we were using the room, didn't he, because that stupid Marietta had blabbed. He needed the room to become the headquarters of the D.A., so it did. But you don't know what the room becomes when Malfoy goes in there, so you don't know what to ask it to transform into."
"There'll be a way around that," said Harry dismissively. "You've done brilliantly, Dobby."
"Kreacher's done well too," said Hermione kindly; but far from looking grateful, Kreacher averted his huge, bloodshot eyes and croaked at the ceiling, "The Mudblood is speaking to Kreacher, Kreacher will pretend he cannot hear —"
"Get out of it," Harry snapped at him, and Kreacher made one last deep bow and Disapparated. "You'd better go and get some sleep too, Dobby."
"Thank you, Harry Potter, sir!" squeaked Dobby happily, and he too vanished.
"How good's this?" said Harry enthusiastically, turning to Ron and Hermione the moment the room was elf-free again. "We know where Malfoy's going! We've got him cornered now!"
"That's really good news," said Venus with a half-smile. "I'm off to bed."
Before the trio could say their goodnights, Venus trudged up to her dormitory.
The next morning, Constance wasn't in bed, which was unlike her. She'd usually sleep in until Venus woke her up. She had no luck finding her in the Great Hall for breakfast either. Without further ado, Venus trudged to Defense Against the Dark Arts.
"Late again, Potter," said Snape coldly, as Harry hurried into the candlelit classroom. "Ten points from Gryffindor."
Venus turned toward the door at a scowling Harry, who flung himself into the seat beside Ron.
"Before we start, I want your dementor essays," said Snape, waving his wand carelessly, so that twenty-five scrolls of parchment soared into the air and landed in a neat pile on his desk. "And I hope for your sakes they are better than the tripe I had to endure on resisting the Imperius Curse. Now, if you will all open your books to page — what is it, Mr. Finnigan?"
"Sir," said Seamus, "I've been wondering, how do you tell the difference between an Inferius and a ghost? Because there was something in the paper about an Inferius —"
"No, there wasn't," said Snape in a bored voice.
"But sir, I heard people talking —"
"If you had actually read the article in question, Mr. Finnigan, you would have known that the so-called Inferius was nothing but a smelly sneak thief by the name of Mundungus Fletcher."
Venus and Parvarti, who she was sat beside, shared a puzzled glance.
"But Potter seems to have a lot to say on the subject," said Snape, pointing suddenly at the back of the room, his black eyes fixed on Harry, "Let us ask Potter how we would tell the difference between an Inferius and a ghost."
The whole class looked around at Harry, who hastily tried to recall what Dumbledore had told him the night that they had gone to visit Slughorn.
"Er — well — ghosts are transparent —" he said.
"Oh, very good," interrupted Snape, his lip curling. "Yes, it is easy to see that nearly six years of magical education have not been wasted on you, Potter. 'Ghosts are transparent.' "
Pansy Parkinson let out a high-pitched giggle, instantly silencing when Venus glared her way.
Harry took a deep breath and continued calmly, though his insides were boiling, "Yeah, ghosts are transparent, but Inferi are dead bodies, aren't they? So they'd be solid —"
"A five-year-old could have told us as much," sneered Snape. "The Inferius is a corpse that has been reanimated by a Dark wizard's spells. It is not alive, it is merely used like a puppet to do the wizard's bidding. A ghost, as I trust that you are all aware by now, is the imprint of a departed soul left upon the earth . . . and of course, as Potter so wisely tells us, transparent."
"Well, what Harry said is the most useful if we're trying to tell them apart!" said Ron. "When we come face-to-face with one down a dark alley, we're going to be having a shufti to see if it's solid, aren't we, we're not going to be asking, 'Excuse me, are you the imprint of a departed soul?' "
There was a ripple of laughter, instantly quelled by the look Snape gave the class.
"Another ten points from Gryffindor," said Snape. "I would expect nothing more sophisticated from you, Ronald Weasley, the boy so solid he cannot Apparate half an inch across a room."
"I won't miss him when I graduate from here," whispered Parvarti. Venus let out a chuckle.
"I don't think anyone will," she said, scowling at the back of Snape's greasy, shoulder length hair.
"Now open your books to page two hundred and thirteen," said Snape, smirking a little, "and read the first two paragraphs on the Cruciatus Curse. . . ."
The following Sunday morning, Constance simply left the dormitory without saying farewell to Venus. Saddened, she wished she could find a way to make Constance forgive her. She didn't even get to wish her good luck on her Apparition practice. With no homework to complete and no friends to keep her company, Venus set off toward the library.
"Wotcher Vee," said the small voice of Nymphadora Tonks, who much to Venus' dismay, looked sadder and thinner than when she last saw her.
"Hi," said Venus.
"What's wrong?" Tonks asked.
"Constance isn't really happy with me at the moment."
"Ah," said Tonks, nodding her head in understanding. "Trouble in paradise."
"Why does everyone keep saying that?"
"Grand gesture, Venus," Tonks half-smiled. "It always works."
"Grand gesture?" Venus repeated, racking her mind and thinking of what would make Constance go over the moon. "How am I going to get Paris Hilton here?"
Tonks sighed. "Something sentimental."
"That is sentimental."
"No," Tonks groaned, seizing Venus by her shoulders. "Something that has meaning."
The only other thing that came to mind was Princess Diana, until one other thing came to mind. Tonks smiled when she saw how Venus lit up like a lightbulb right in front of her, assumedly about her plan to get Constance to forgive her. "I've got it," she said, wrapping her arms around Tonks waist before shouting, "I'll write you!" And she turned abruptly and walked back down the corridor.
She was halfway toward Gryffindor Tower when she saw Draco, half-walking half-sprinting down the seventh floor corridor and down the staircase. She was so focused on Constance that Venus didn't think much of it, and continued pelting up to the common room.
Constance would be arriving back at Hogwarts from her Apparition class in a matter of minutes. Venus hastily threaded the bead into the string and held it up to the light, making sure it sparkled. The portrait door opened and Harry stumbled inside, limping.
"What's wrong with you?" asked Venus, glancing at him for a split second before looking back down at her gift for Constance.
"Slammed my foot," he said, linking into the seat beside her. "I think I broke it."
"You are so dramatic," Venus scoffed, tying the end of the elastic and holding it to her chest, letting out a sigh of relief before turning back to Harry. "Trust me, if your foot was broken— which it's not— you'd be crying like a baby."
Harry straightened his posture. "Maybe I just have high pain threshold," he said proudly, puffing his chest.
"Or maybe you just stubbed your toe," she replied slyly, shooting up from her seat when she saw the time. "They should be back from their class, c'mon!"
They found Ron, Constance and Hermione in the Great Hall, already halfway through an early lunch.
"I did it — well, kind of!" Ron told Venus and Harry enthusiastically when he caught sight of them. "I was supposed to be Apparating to outside Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop and I overshot it a bit, ended up near Scrivenshaft's, but at least I moved!"
"Good one," said Harry.
"That's great, Ron," Venus congratulated, hesitantly taking a seat next to Constance. She sat silent with her arms crossed her chest, avoiding eye contact with Venus. "How'd you do Cee?" she asked, fumbling with the sleeve of her robes.
Constance let out a small "hmph!" and turned her body even further away from Venus. This was the time for her gift, that Venus hoped, would help them reconcile. She pulled out to matching friendship bracelets, the sparkles caught her eyes immediately and she turned back to face Venus.
"You made me a bracelet?" she asked breathlessly, taking the bracelet gingerly in her hands.
Venus nodded. "I'm sorry I've been such a relentless arse this week, I should have spent time with you," she said.
Constance looked at her bracelet, gold sparkles that resembled small suns inhabiting the light blue sky illuminated her Constance's hand. Venus showed her own bracelet, that glowed like the night sky.
"Two halves of a whole," Venus smiled, putting the bracelet over her wrist.
Constance followed suit, throwing her arms around Venus' neck. What was only three days, felt like an eternity without her best friend. Venus held her shoulders and rocked Constance lightly. Out of the corner of her eye, she swore she saw Ron wipe a tear from his cheek and look away from them. Harry and Hermione grinning at an over sensitive Ron. Constance and Venus joining in on the silent mockery.
Ears now bright red, he scowled at them.
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【 AUTHORS NOTE! 】:
— I'm so sorry I didn't post a chapter last night, I was swamped with work and wasn't finished writing this chapter. Plus, I didn't spell-check so if the grammar or spelling is bad, I'm so sorry, again! 🤲