Venus's birthday of the 31st October was a fun day.
Ginny, Venus and Mali spent the day roaming around the castle and grounds, bothering anyone who cake too close to them.
Ginny was getting especially good at the bat bogy hex, which she didn't hesitate to use on Fred and George when they came barreling into the girls.
The Halloween feast was marvellous as usual, and Mali stuffed her face, whilst Venus watched with amazement at how much her friend could fit in her mouth at once.
The feast ended and everyone began to head off to bed.
The Gryffindors were stopped when a large crowd seemed to have missed outside their portrait hole.
"What's happening?" Venus frowned as she tried to see over the crowd.
"Everyone get back!" Percy Weasley was pushing through the crowd, "I'm the head boy! You can't have all forgotten the password!"
The crowd unwillingly parted for him, but Percy froze when he saw the fat lady's painting.
"Someone get Professor Dumbledore!" He commanded.
The professors soon arrived and herded all of the Gryffindor students to the great Hall. They were quickly joined by the rest of the students.
Sleeping bags were conjured up and they were ordered to sleep.
"I can't believe he managed to get into the castle!" Ginny whispered after checking that there were no prefects around, "with the dementors and everyone on lookout for him!"
"He's an evil genius alright," Mali nodded, "I wonder what he's after..."
"What do you think he's after dummy," Venus hit her friend's arm, "Harry Potter," she wiggled her fingers.
"Or he could be after you," Ginny added, "he might actually care about you."
Venus laughed, but the thought was a strange one. The thought that if confronted with Venus, Sirius Black might actually care about what happened to the girl.
"Girls be quiet!" McGonagall snapped as she walked past.
The three girls settled down to sleep, but Venus was restless.
The Gryffindors had mainly stayed together, meaning that Venus was quite close to where Dumbledore, Percy Weasley and Snape stopped close to Harry.
"We've searched everywhere professor," Percy said, "no sign of him."
"Has it occurred to you that someone inside the castle might be helping Black," Snape mused.
"Severus I won't hear a word against him." Dumbledore told the Potions master.
"Not just him Albus," Snape insisted, "you know full well who I am talking about," Snape glanced in Venus's direction. She squeezed her eyes shut and faked sleep.
"Are you insinuating that my sister may have something to do with all of this?" Percy demanded, Venus had never heard him use a tone like that with a teacher.
"That is for her to tell you about," Dumbledore patted Percy's back, "Severus I will not believe it of either of them. Black is a highly skilled wizard whom has many tricks up his sleeve to achieve his goals..." The group walked away leaving almost silence, the only sound that could be heard was light snoring and heavy breathing as students slept.
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The students awoke early as it is pretty hard to sleep through hundreds of students getting up and moving around.
Venus was one of the first people to awake, she dragged Ginny and Mali out of the hall and up to the dormatries.
The Fat Lady had refused to go back to her post, so early in the morning the portrait of Sir Cadogan had been placed guarding the Gryffindor tower.
"Whomple Warts." Venus told the small night.
"No you're a Whomple Wart!" He swung forwards, letting the three girls into the common room.
It was strange to see the common room so disserted and so quiet.
Venus walked straight through to their dorm room, with a yawning Mali and Ginny in her wake.
"How are you so awake so early?" Mali yawned.
"What the hell is that?" Venus stopped in the doorway of their room, seeing a long package on her bed.
She hurried over to the bed and picked up a note that was attached to the package.
'Happy 13th birthday' it read in a scrawled handwriting. The parchment was grubby and it looked very hurried.
"Well open it!" Mali insisted, suddenly wide awake.
Venus and Ginny ripped into the package.
"Wow!" The wrapping had revealed a sleek, shiny Firebolt broomstick.
"Who sent it?" Ginny was in utter awe, "is there a name?"
"No, just this," Venus handed her sister the note. "I don't like it," Venus said after looking at the broom for a while.
"It's just a broom," Mali frowned.
"Mali this is a Firebolt!" Ginny sounded offended that Mali would say such a thing, "it's the fastest broom in the world! You have no idea how expensive it is!"
"Exactly!" Venus continued to regarded the broom, "who would spend that much money on me!"
A look of realisation spread across Mali's face.
"What if its from Sirius Black?" Mali asked.
"Just what I was thinking," Venus mused, "I couldn't bear to think what will happen to the broom if I report it to the teachers, but what if Black did send it?"
Ginny was looking at the broom with a look of awe, "yeah..."
"I have to hand it in don't I." Venus picked the broom up, it was very light, it would be perfect for flying.
"Of course you do." Mali agreed.
"Yes," Ginny sighed, "I guess you do."
Another chapter for you lot?
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~Em xx