The Death Eater's meeting was much the same as any other. Draco sat at the table and said nothing, as everybody else around him discussed their new plans for stopping Harry Potter, the boy who lived. "I can find him, no problem, My Lord," one of the filthy death eaters said from the end of the table, smirking at the people sitting beside him. "I must be the one to kill the boy!" Voldemort scolded, wiping the smile off the death eater's face. "Any news, Lucius, about the where-abouts of him?" He asked Draco's father. "Um, no, My Lord," Lucius Malfoy responded uncomfortably. His wife grabbed his hand under the table. A sound of clashing came from the hall. "Bring our guest in, if she won't be quiet!" Voldemort yelled to the person in the hall. Peter Pettigrew waddled in the room, holding the ropes that were around the woman's hands. Draco thought it was Venice for a second- short black hair- but it was indeed not. Relieved, Draco got nervous for what he was about to witness. "Bring her in!" Voldemort said as he started to pet his snake. "Dinner, Nagini," he whispered to the snake. The giant snake slithered across the table and to the woman Pettigrew was holding captive. It opened its jaws wide, and attacked the wailing woman. "No! Stop!" She tried to scream, but it was no use. Soon she was lying on the floor in a pool of her own blood, acting as a meal for the giant snake. Draco shut his eyes tight and looked away at the scene in disgust.
"We have all the forces we need in Hogsmeade, Bellatrix. I can assure you he hasn't been spotted yet, but I value your loyalties," Voldemort was saying. "But what if the boy gets away?" Bellatrix asked. "He will not!" He scolded back. Bellatrix huffed and sat straighter in her chair, looking disappointed in herself. All of a sudden, Voldemort let out a loud groan of pain. He collapsed out of his chair at the end of the table. "My Lord!" The Death Eaters all said, rushing to his side. "He knows," he whispered to himself. "Knows what, my lord? Are you alright?" Lucius said, grabbing Voldemort's arm to help him up. "I don't need help Lucius!" He scoffed. Lucius backed away, and said "Sorry, my lord,". "I'm fine!" Voldemort reassured everyone, whisking them off. He took a seat back in his chair. Harry Potter knows about the Horcruxes.
Voldemort closed his eyes, and saw through the boy's eyes for a split second. Sure enough, what he saw was the unmistakable Gringott's dragon. Scared yet angry, Voldemort stood up out of his chair. "Bellatrix!" "Yes, my lord?" "Round up any Mudbloods you can! I'm feeling, powerful today,".
Venice woke up in the room of requirement early in the morning, to hear the sound of Neville's radio. "Reports tell us that there has been a massive theft in Gringott's Bank in Diagon Alley! The culprits are unknown, as they were suspected to be under the affects of polyjuice potion! New details in soon," And the radio shut off. "Well, I guess that was exciting," Neville said, as he got up and walked back to his hammock. Venice went back to sleep, as she was too tired to process anything at the moment.
The school day went by slow, as it usually did. Venice sat through Muggle Studies, Potions, Defence Against The Dark Arts (which was really just 'Dark Arts' at this point), and Charms. Venice ate lunch mainly in silence with Ginny and Luna, then they walked to the room of requirement to hang out with the rest of the D.A..
"HOGSMEADE, MY LORD!" Came the yell of a Death Eater at around 10:00 that night at Malfoy Manor. The Death Eaters were sitting around the big table like they usually did. Voldemort stood up abruptly. "Have the alarms been detected?" He asked. "Yes, my lord!" The Death Eater said, trying to catch his breath. It looked like he had been running for a while to deliver the news. "Then I should see that there is no problem here," Voldemort said, about to sit back down. "The problem is, my Lord, that they never found the boy. He was detected, but not found," The Death Eater explained. Voldemort gave the Death Eater a look of terror, then a soft expression. "Then I guess our time has come," Voldemort said, walking around the table. "We've rehearsed this, haven't we?" He continued, "Now is the time to put your loyalties to the test! To Hogsmeade, all of you!" He bellowed, apparating.
Soon, all the Death Eaters had apparated to the town of Hogsmeade.
It was about 11:00pm, and everybody in the room of requirement were sitting down, and having a loungy evening.
Until, the little girl in the wheat field painting spoke. "Mr. Longbottom, Aberforth wishes to see you. He has a- surprise," She said, in an angelic voice. Neville stood up from where he was sitting, and approached the painting slowly. It swung open, revealing the tunnel to the Hogs Head, the bar where Aberforth Dumbledore worked. "I'll be back in a minute," Neville said, disappearing into the tunnel. The painting closed, and all you could see were the backs of 2 people walking off into the distance.
Venice was playing a game of "Name that Mystical Creature," with Luna (Ginny wasn't in the room of requirement at the moment) at around 11:15. Neville had left around 10 minutes previously, and he still wasn't back. Nobody looked worried though, so Venice stuck with her gut to know that he was alright. "Maybe, er- a Grindylow?" Venice asked Luna, who was prancing around and waving her arms like a bird with broken wings. "No, you silly! It's a-" But Luna was cut off. The portrait of the little girl swung open, and out came Neville. "You guys might want to see this!" He announced. Seamus stood up and said, "Anymore of his food? Gosh that stuff is- Harry!" Shocked, everybody looked up at the portrait to see Harry Potter step out of the tunnel too. Just after came Ron and Hermione. Everybody in the room cheered and clapped. "Harry, you're back!" Venice said, and ran up to hug him. "Good to see you guys!" Harry said. Everybody had about a minute of a joyful time with the return of Harry, before Seamus spoke again. "Harry, why are you back? Do you know how dangerous it is for you to be here? You have to be barking mad! What do you need?" He asked. "I know," Said Harry, "But there is something I need to find here, in the castle. It's something small, but extremely important. It can help me defeat You-Know-Who. I think it has something to do with Ravenclaw," He explained. There was silence for a minute, before Luna spoke. "It could be Ravenclaw's lost Diadem," she explained, "but it's been lost for centuries, and nobody has ever seen it," As she said that, Cho Chang came to the front of the group and waved to Harry. Harry smiled, then turned back to Luna. But Cho butted in and said, "It's kind of like a crown, or a tiara," Harry looked back at her. "Harry?" Came a faint voice from the back of the crowd. It was Ginny, who had just entered the room. "Hello," Harry said, with a small wave and a smile. "I can show you the common room, Harry," Cho spoke again. "I think Luna can show him, right, Luna?" Ginny said, hoping Harry wouldn't go with Cho. Luna stood up with a beaming smile. "Of course!" She said, leading Harry out of the room. Cho gave Ginny a look of hatred, but Ginny pretended not to notice.
"Snape knows. He knows Harry was spotted in Hogsmeade," Ginny explained. "He wants everyone in their houses right now, and in formation," she finished. Everyone hurried to vacate the room, and ran to their common rooms. Venice ran as fast as she could to her common room to get her Slytherin Cloak on. When she came back downstairs from the dormatory, she saw Professor Slughorn in the common room, awaiting all the students. Venice went to the front of the line up. "Everyone in the formation we talked about, remember, 6 equal columns!" Slughorn said, obviously nervous. Unfortunately for Venice, Pansy Parkinson was to her right, and Blaise Zabini was to her left. "Off we go!" Slughorn announced, and everybody walked out of the common room in their formation.
It was silent, as no one dared to say a word. The Carrows were walking down the hallways, watching the houses like Hawks. They disliked Professor Slughorn, as he was the sort of Slytherin they weren't. "To the dining hall!" Amycus Carrow shouted, as the lines of students were walking down the halls.
There were no tables in the dining hall. There was just a large, empty space where all of the houses flooded into. If you were at the front of the room, the Gryffindors were to the back-left of the room. The Slytherins were to the front-right. The Hufflepuffs were to the front-left, and the Ravenclaws were to the back-right. Venice walked to the front of the room, then turned a sharp left. She looked up to see Snape standing at the front of the room, with his greasy black hair draped over his ears. The Carrows were standing behind him. The other staff didn't dare stand at the front with them. Even Professor McGonagall stood to the side, beside the Gryffindors. Venice bent her head down to look at her shoes, so she didn't have to look at Snape. Everyone else seemingly did the same.
When the room was dead silent, and all the houses were in their places (including all the D.A. Members) Snape finally spoke. "I have summoned you all down here for a very important matter. It has come to my attention that Harry Potter was spotted in Hogsmeade this evening," Everybody lifted their heads, and started to murmur around the room. Everybody couldn't believe it. But, the D.A. had to pretend like they didn't know. Venice kept her head down, trying not to look too suspicious. She was bad at lying to people, so it was best for people not to see her. "SILENCE!" Snape hollered, and immediately the room fell silent. "If anybody has any knowledge about Potter, and his whereabouts, I'd like you to come forward now," Snape instructed in a scarily gentle voice. Nobody made a sound, or stepped forward.
Snape began to walk silently from where he was standing. He walked in a straight line through the middle of the room, but then stopped in the dead centre. "Nobody?" He asked, turning around to go back to the front. "Well then. Anybody with knowledge about Mr.Potter's movements will be punished. Anybody who tries to aide Mr. Potter in his actions will be treated as equally as previously stated. Now, I ask again," Snape said, turning back to the middle of the room. "If you know anything, please step forward. Now,"
Nobody moved. Not a lot of people dared to breath ever so loudly.
A movement came from the back of the room.
Walking out from the middle of the Gryffindor columns, was Harry Potter.
He walked to the point in front of Snape where he stood a good 15 feet away.
Everybody turned to look at him, with looks of disbelief. "It seems, despite your exhaustive defensive strategies, you still have a bit of a security problem Headmaster," Harry said. The doors to the dining hall opened, and out came members of the Order of the Phoenix. Fred, George, Kingsley, Remus, Hermione, Ron, and the rest of the Weasley family stood there.
Everyone was silent for a minute, until Harry spoke again. "How dare you stand where he stood. Tell them how it happened that night! Tell them how you looked him in the eye, a man who trusted you, and killed him! Tell them!" He finished, with a tone of anger in his voice. Suddenly, Snape pulled out his wand and pointed it at Harry. Professor McGonagall pulled out hers as well, and stepped in front of Harry. All the students, including Venice, rushed to the side of the room. There was now an even bigger space in the middle of the room. The Carrows pulled out their wands in defence, and so did the Order. Professor McGonagall started firing curses toward Snape, but it seemed he had some sort of shield surrounding him, as he was not getting hit by them. But, the Carrows weren't so lucky. Right as they got hit by McGonagall's curses, they fell to the ground. She started firing more and more, until Snape transformed into a cloud of black smoke, and flew right out the window, breaking it. "Coward!" Professor McGonagall yelled after him. She turned around the face the students, who started jumping for joy and cheering. McGonagall lit the lanterns at the side of the room, and turned to Harry.