The first week back at Hogwarts was horrible, in Venice's opinion (and everyone else's, too). The Carrows were the new "rulers" of the school, as the Death Eaters had taken over. As punishment if you did something wrong or mildly upsetting to them, they would use the Cruciatus curse on you for about a minute.
Professor McGonagall was still there, and she was being pushed around by them too. Although all of the teachers were fed up, they kept their mouths shut. One of the Carrow siblings, Amycus Carrow, was the new DADA teacher, and forced them to use the Unforgivable curses on one another as "practice for the real world,".
Venice noticed that all of the Slytherins were ecstatic, however. The Carrows and Death Eaters inside Hogwarts seemed to treat them 10,000 times better than any other house. Because all Death Eaters were Slytherins, they treated them as their own, including Venice. They treated her well, because they did not know she was a Mudblood, as Snape had apparently not told them. But, he could decide to tell them any day, and they could turn their backs on her and kill her instantly, whether she was a Slytherin or not.
Rumours were being spread about Harry, Ron, and Hermione and what they were doing right now. Their excuses to their secret work was because of something Dumbledore told them to do before he died, but nobody knows why. Everybody was starting to have second thoughts about Dumbledore because of the new books and newspapers about him, and what lies he might have told about his life in his lifetime.
"Ms. Evans, I want to pair you up with Mr. Finnegan here! I want you to show him what a good Cruciatus curse looks like," The DADA professor Carrow said, with a huge smirk on his face. He loved to see the Slytherins torture the other houses, but Venice was fed up. "No," Venice said, confidently and boldly. Amycus looked at her with a bit of disbelieve on his face. "Excuse me?" He said, walking slowly toward Venice. "Did you just say, No?" Venice felt a lump on her chest, rising up to her throat. "That is exactly what I said, sir," She responded, getting a bit nervous at what she was doing. She had never stood up to a teacher before, and it felt weird. "YOU BETTER DO AS I SAY, EVANS!" Professor Carrow screamed at her, but Venice stood stiff as a rock. "CRUCIO!" Venice yelled, and pointed it at Amycus. Immediately he fell to the ground in agonizing pain, twitching and shivering. The Gryffindors clapped, and cheered. Neville even shouted, "Well done, Venice!" But Pansy Parkinson came stomping up to Venice, and forcefully pushed her, causing her to drop the curse, leaving Amycus on the ground, gasping for air. "How dare you, Mudblood! You think you're heroic, going for him, eh? Well I don't think so! Expelliarmus!" Pansy said, making Venice's wand fly right out of her hand and into Pansy's. The rest of the Slytherin's clapped, and Pansy looked back at them and smiled slyly.
Anger rose through Venice, so she stepped forward and sucker punched Pansy right in the nose, causing her to throw Venice's wand in the air. Venice caught it, and the Slytherins immediately stopped laughing. "What are you gits looking at?" Venice snapped, and stormed out of the DADA classroom, and straight for McGonagall's office.
"You what?" McGonagall said, in disbelief. "I performed the Cruciatus curse on Amycus Carrow, then I punched Pansy Parkinson in the face!" Venice was explaining, annoyed by the fact McGonagall couldn't seem to comprehend. "That is unexceptable, to hurt um, uh- a student in such a way! Punching is not tolerated!" She said to Venice, still shocked. "As for Professor Carrow, did you at least perform a satisfactory Cruciatus curse?" McGonagall asked. This time it was Venice who was shocked. "I, um- I guess so? I mean, he seemed pretty hurt, so-" "Very well then! I shall obliviate Amycus and none of this will have ever happened! Off you go now, to your dormitory!" McGonagall said, standing up and pointing to the door. Venice smiled and left, heading straight for the Slytherin Dungeons.
About a week after the incident, the Carrows were much more horrible toward the Gryffindors, and Venice. They didn't seem to care that she was a Slytherin anymore, so they treated her like the others that were not.
It was all extremely horrid, until one day at lunch Neville came to the table Venice, Ginny, and Luna were all sitting at. "Guys, you have to come see this!" Neville said, grabbing Luna's hands and pulling her up from the table. "Is it something exciting, Neville?" Luna asked in her loony voice. "Oh, it's more exciting than just exciting!" Neville said, and suddenly Luna got all jumpy and happy, skipping down the halls while following Neville. He led them to the seventh floor corridor, where in front of them were the familiar doors which led into the Room of Requirement. "Come on in!" Neville said, pushing the doors open.
Inside was a big room, covered in hammocks and lounge style pillows and blankets. It seemed to have prepared for about 20 people, as it were spacious enough and had enough places to sleep. "I guess it really knew we needed to get away from these bloody people," Neville said, with a sense of pride in his voice. "This is great!" Ginny said, awestruck. Luna skipped around the room, examining everything. "We can get the D.A. back together again, and bunk in this room!" Neville said, and smiled. "That's an amazing idea!" Ginny agreed, giddy with happiness. "What's this?" Suddenly Luna said from the other side of the room. Neville, Ginny, and Venice all walked over to where she was. On the wall there was a painting (moving, of course) of a little girl in a blue dress, standing in what appeared to be a wheat field. "How peculiar, I wonder why the room put this here?" Luna said, examining the painting's fine details. "Hello, can you talk?" Neville asked the painting wonderingly. The little girl shook her head as if to say 'No'.
Suddenly, the painting swung open, revealing a large, dark, tunnel. "Should we go in?" Venice asked, peering into the darkness. "I think so. The room obviously put this here for a reason!" Neville said, stepping into the tunnel. Luna, Ginny, and Venice all followed him, and walked for what seemed like a minute before they reached the end. Neville knocked on the end of the wall, to see if anything happened. Soon, it seemed like the stone wall teared itself apart, revealing what looked like the back of a painting. Neville pushed it open, revealing a stone room. It looked like the kitchen of a bar. "Merlin's beard! I never thought this day would come," Said a man, who looked strangely familiar. "Are you on the side of Harry Potter?" The man asked, lifting his wand in defence. "Yes uh- of course sir!" Neville said. "Ah, ok! I'm Aberforth Dumbledore, Albus's brother," The man explained, putting his hand out for all of them to shake. No wonder Venice recognized his features; he looked a lot like Dumbledore. Venice felt a surge of excitement flood through her. They had finally found hope that there were others out there on Harry's side.