-When The Party's Over-
-don't you know i'm no good for you-
-i've learned to lose you can't afford to-
Vena didn't want to go to the party. She would be seeing Harry, but they couldn't do the things they would want to do in public. Both of them knew this of course, that if they were to start doing whatever they were doing, they would have to keep it a secret.
And while at times it was incredibly fun, it sucked that they had to always be on edge when with each other in public.
Nonetheless, Vena wanted to look good. Not just so she could make Harry speechless; she wanted to look pretty.
She put on a short, black dress, that hung off the shoulders with mesh, long sleeves. The bodice cinched at the waist, and flowed out to give her a nice figure. It left just the right amount of cleavage, and hung just above mid thigh.
Vena smiled to herself as she looked in the mirror. She never was one to dwell too much on her looks, as she didn't want to draw that much attention to herself. But Vena felt pretty.
And it felt nice to feel pretty.
Her and Harry decidedly did not walk in together, as it would be extremely suspicious.
Hermione left a while ago, saying she had to meet up with her date, that Vena nor Harry knew who it may be. She tried to get it out of Hermione during Transfiguration, but the girl wouldn't budge.
It was incredibly frustrating, and reminded Vena when she would try and get Blaise to spill the details of his crush. Trying to get either of them to spill their secrets was useless, which Vena did not appreciate.
Vena curled her hair, wrapping each lock around her wand and casting a warming charm so the curl would hold. She put on makeup, and put on her heels, which were also black. She took her time with things, as she had decided to attend the party a few minutes late, so it gave her time to calm her nerves.
It was also to make sure she was not alone in the room with just Professor Slughorn.
She didn't want to look him in the eye after knowing her might get blamed for Dumbledore's death. She couldn't look him in the eye knowing that on Christmas day, he will give the poisoned oak mead to Dumbledore, killing him.
She just hoped that a bystander won't be in harm's way because of her and Draco. She didn't want somebody to be hurt like Katie Bell was.
A few days ago, the poison had completed. Vena and Draco snuck through the portrait, and into Three Broomsticks. They delivered the poison, and watched Madam Rosmerta mix it in with a mulled Oak Mead, and was given explicit instructions on what to do.
The next time Madam Rosmerta was to see Professor Slughorn, which for him would most likely be the next day, she was to convince him that he should purchase the wine for a Christmas present.
The reason why the twins chose him as their middle man was simply because he was a bit clueless. He was the type to not check things, and to trust people that seemed trustworthy.
He and Dumbledore were very good friends, so it wouldn't be strange for Slughorn to gift him the wine. Hopefully, everything would go according to plan. Hopefully, no one would get hurt.
She made her way to Slughorn's office, which was filled with Christmas decorations and had a multitude of influential people. She recognized a few of them from the Ministry, as her dad would have to take her and Draco there sometimes.
As she took notice of the Ministry workers, Vena realized that she hasn't got a clue what her father's job was. He was at the Ministry quite often, but he always seemed to above for the government worker type. She wondered what his boring, day time job was in comparison to being a Death Eater.
She looked around, wondering where her... where Harry was. The two had still not defined what they were, and it confused Vena to no end.
He hadn't come yet, which frustrated Vena because she was the one who was supposed to be late, and not him. Her frustration calmed down slightly when she saw Blaise on the other side of the room.
He could occupy her time while she waited for Harry to get here, and to make sure that she didn't look like a pathetic git with no friends.
She walked over to him, a look of amusement on her face when she saw that he seemed to be watching someone. He hadn't seemed to notice her yet, too entranced by whoever he was watching.
Vena frowned, and looked over her shoulder to try and see who he was looking at. He was looking straight ahead, which happened to be the refreshments table. And currently, there was only one person there.
No.
There was no way.
She turned back to look at Blaise, who was still watching the girl at the table.
Vena's jaw dropped. She couldn't believe that the girl Blaise has fancied for over a year, and the girl at the refreshments table, was Ginny Weasley.
She walked over to Blaise, only needing three strides to make her way over. She grabbed Blaise by his sleeve, pulling him over to the side of the room.
"Don't wrinkle it!" He complained.
Vena stared at him. She looked at him, then looked back at Ginny. She turned back to face him, and Vena doesn't think that she had blinked at all during those moments. She opened her mouth, then closed it.
Blaise frowned, and narrowed his eyes. "Are you going to say something?"
"I can't believe you fancy Ginny Weasley!" Vena blurted out.
Blaise widened his eyes, then covered her mouth with his hand. "Shut up you git!"
She ripped his hand off of her mouth. "You shut up! I can't believe how I never noticed it before."
"Will. You. Shut. Up," he punctuated, pinching the bridge of his nose.
Vena tapped a finger against her face, pondering out loud. "You know, maybe that's why Slytherin lost against Gryffindor. Because you were too busy staring at your opponent to catch the Quaffle."
"I hate you."
"No you don't," she said, patting his cheek.
Blaise rolled his eyes, and Vena took the time to stare around the room hopelessly.
She ignored the stares she got from the adults in the room, most likely terrified that the daughter of a Death Eater was in their presence. She looked to the right of the room, and saw Harry get pulled behind the curtains in the side of the room.
"Hey, Blaise, I'll be right back."
He looked at her oddly, but nodded. "See you later."
She nodded, her attention already focused on Harry from behind the curtain. "Harry, what the hell are you-"
His hand grabbed her, and she was too, pulled behind the curtain. She looked at him strangely, before looking to the side to see Hermione.
"Don't worry, I already know about you two," Hermione dismissed, looking around the room concerned.
Vena turned to Harry raising an eyebrow, who rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "I told her. And Ron."
Vena glared at him, although she wasn't really mad. Harry seemed to understand that she wasn't serious, and winked at her. She glared at him again.
"I left Cormac under the mistletoe," Hermione said, peering through the curtains.
"McLaggen?" Vena said in disgust.
"That's who you invited?" Harry said, pulling a face.
"I thought it would annoy Ron the most," Hermione said, crossing her arms.
Ah. So she did like Ron. Vena made sure to make a note of that for later.
A waiter pulled the side of the curtains, holding a platter of gross looking food. "Dragon tartare?" he asked.
"Oh no thank you," Hermione said politely.
"Just as well," the waiter said, "they give you horribly bad breath."
"On second thought, they might keep Cormac at bay," Hermione said, grabbing the platter and shoving them down her throat. "Oh God, here he comes."
The girl shoved the platter in Harry's arms, and crawled away as McLaggen walked in.
"Where did Granger go?" McLaggen asked.
"You know, she just went to powder her nose," Vena lied easily.
"Sly minx, your friend. Nice to work out her mouth too, doesn't she," McLaggen said. He shoved the food into his mouth, before looking at it curiously. "What am I eating, by the way?"
"Dragon balls," Harry said.
The curtains opened, revealing Snape, and before he could scold them, McLaggen threw up all over Snape's shoes.
Sensing that he might hand out punishments, Vena ducked under Harry's arms, which were still holding the platter of food, and sneaked away from the curtain.
She walked away from the curtains, only to see everyone's attention turn towards the entrance.
"Get your hands off of me you filthy Squib!" Draco grumbled, his hands being held back by Filch.
"Professor Slughorn, I just discovered this boy lurking in an upstairs corridor. He claims to have been invited to your party," Filch grumbled.
"Okay, okay! I was gate crashing! Happy?" Draco said.
Professor Snape walked up to the duo. "I'll escort him out."
Draco jerked his shoulder away from Filch. "Certainly, Professor."
The two walked away, and Vena turned to Harry who had come up beside her at some point. "I should probably go see what they're doing. Hopefully stop my brother from throwing a tantrum."
Harry's eyes followed where Snape and Draco left, before turning back to Vena. "Yeah, okay. Go ahead."
Vena smiled and looked around the room, before squeezing his hand briefly. "I'll see you tonight, okay?"
Harry smiled, and Vena ran off to go follow her brother. She found them in a corridor, and went up to the pair.
"I was chosen for this!" She heard her brother say. "Out of all others, me! I won't fail him, I can't."
Vena stood beside her brother, and rubbed his arm sympathetically.
"I know what he threatened to do, Draco. Let me assist you," Snape said.
"No! I was chosen! This is my moment!"
"Draco," Vena said softly, "we can't take any chances with this. Perhaps it would be wise to let him help us. Please, Draco. Are you willing to risk your pride, for my life?"
Draco shook his head, and ran away. Vena tried to chase after him, but was stopped by Professor Snape. "I made the Unbreakable Vow to protect you as well, Vena. I will do everything I can to ensure that you will not die, if Draco fails his task."
She looked at him, stunned. "So you really did make the Unbreakable Vow. I thought mother was lying to make us feel better."
Snape shook his head. "You two are my god-children. I am supposed to protect you."
Vena nodded her head, before leaving to go to the Gryffindor Common room.
Perhaps if she weren't in such an emotional state, she would've smelt the comforting smell of pine trees when she rushed past a seemingly, empty corridor.
Perhaps if she weren't so emotional, she would've known that Harry was there, listening.
____________
She didn't know what to make of it. Vena tried to chase after her brother, but he had already headed to the Slytherin dungeons and it was nearing curfew. The last thing that Vena wanted was to run into Filch and Mrs. Norris.
Was her brother really going to refuse Snape's help? Was getting the glory, the satisfaction of completing the task more important than ensuring Vena will live?
Vena knew that the Dark Lord gave Draco this task as punishment. He isn't expecting Draco to follow through. In the Dark Lord's mind, Vena is already condemned. And with Draco's stubbornness and pride, Vena already has a foot in the grave.
She heard the portrait door open, and by hearing the footsteps Vena could hear it was Harry.
She felt the tears running down her face, and buried her face in her hands, not even acknowledging his presence.
He sat down next to her, and it took everything in Vena to not flinch. Harry has seen her cry more times than anyone else has besides her family, but that doesn't mean that Vena is fine with Harry seeing her.
She still has dignity, and crying in front of others isn't the most dignified thing in the world.
"You know," he said, wrapping an arm around her shoulder, pulling Vena closer. "I never got to tell you how beautiful you looked at the party."
Beautiful. Vena liked hearing that. She knew that Harry had called her beautiful before, but that was when she was crying and Vena thinks he only did that to make her feel better.
But she tried to look pretty at the party. And he thought she looked beautiful.
Vena sniffled, before turning to him, her bottom lip quivering. "You thought I looked beautiful?"
"Of course I did. You in your black dress, I couldn't take my eyes off of you. You looked stunning. Just like you do right now, with snot running down your nose."
Vena smiled, before wiping her face. "You know, when someone is crying, usually you don't point out how they look."
Harry smiled, and pulled her closer to his body. Vena snuggled her face into his neck, and kissed below his ear. He kissed the top of her head, and the two sat together on the sofa, until dawn.
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AN:
I had another song but it had no lyrics so I had to change it lmao. Anyway, my notifs have been popping off lately cuz so many new ppl have been reading and commenting!!! I'm so weird tho cuz when a person comments I literally click on it to see what they're reacting too and it makes me feel like I'm reading the book too cuz honestly I've like forgotten half of the things I've written. Also some of the comments don't show up where you guys are commenting in the story so like I can't read where u guys are at in the chapter and it makes me mad. And how the fuck do rankings work? Like one day I can go from being in the hundreds for everything and all of a sudden I'm in the top 10 like I just don't get it.
-M