Venus stared at the bookshelves lined up in front of her eyes, her head on the table in the library while her thoughts roamed around Victoire and Teddy. That's what's been going around her head since past few days. When she would occasionally bump into Victoire or even have an accidental eye contact it  just took her back to her drunken mistake. She couldn't stop letting herself wander around to try and get her mind off everything that's been going crashing her life.

"Hey Van."

"Hey Rew." She muttered, blinking her eye for a moment before she stretched her hand and faced Andrew who had a sad, sympathetic smile on his face.

"You really need to stop thinking about Lupin and Weasley all the time." He sighed, resting his head on his hands.

"I try." Venus shrugged, flipping through the pages of her notes to escape the conversation.

"Anyway, are you excited for christmas?" Realizing that Venus didn't feel comfortable talking about her drunken mistake as she quoted it, Andrew changed the topic to christmas which was her favorite holiday.

"Very." A smile instantly appeared on her face,"I can't wait to get back home and have a hot chocolate night with dad and grandpa. This year has been hell for me."

"Right." Nodded Andrew as he got on his feet,"I promised to catch up with Jake so I gotta leave."

Venus gave a nod in acknowledgement, passing a small smile to him before she went back to writing down her notes. Her attention soon averted to the certain hufflepuff who greeted Madam Pince in his usual polite tone before letting his eyes wander around to look for an empty table. 

His eyes caught up with Venus who immediately lowered her eyes to her books, too embarrassed to face him. She didn't remember much about how the two of them ended on same bed and kissed each other but somewhere she wanted to reminisce how it must have felt while kissing him. Her heart acquired a roller-coaster pace when she heard the voice of chair being pulled back accompanied by the smell of the cologne she was well familiar with.

"I need your help." Teddy got straight to the point, expecting her to have an eye contact while talking.

"What help?" Venus pretended to be busy as she mindlessly flipped through the pages, holding the quill in her hand to make corrections if she could spot any mistake.

"I need you to talk to Victoire. Explain what happened that day ─"

"Funny of you to assume that I didn't try." Venus chuckled, lightly shaking her head,"She just isn't ready to listen. Too hurt I guess and I don't even blame her."

"She asked me if I love her." Teddy admitted, feeling the tension creeping up on his skin.

"What did you say?" Venus asked, stealing a glance at him to find him looking back at her. 

"Nothing." He shrugged maintaining the eye contact,"I don't know how it feels to be in love." 

The two of them stared at each other for a split second before Venus lowered her eyes and nodded,"I can't help you then." 

"Right." Venus heard his faint reply and glanced up to find him getting up from the chair, ready to leave. She had no idea why out of a sudden she felt nervous and anxious around Teddy. 

She didn't leave the library until it was around curfew as she really needed some time alone. Victoire's friend literally ignited a spark and the story about the drunken mistake spread like fire which was the reason Venus felt ashamed to face others with the looks they gave her.

Feeling the librarian's gaze upon herself, the slytherin collected all her belong she had sprawled all over the table and walked out of the library. As soon as she stepped out of the library, the first thought that popped in her head was to visit Hagrid but she didn't want to annoy him by frequently disturbing the gamekeeper at that time of the day. She decided to head back to the common room even though she had no motivation to endure everyone's bitter glances.

The hallways were almost empty with only few students heading back to their respected dorms.

Venus turned around a corner, accidentally walking on in someone's heated argument ; Teddy and Xavier. The former was pushed to the wall with blood trickling down his nose while the former had his hand balled up in a fist. It took her a second to comprehend the situation and when she did, she simply thought of walking away as the two of them hadn't acknowledged her presence.

"You should mind your own business Lupin! Instead of standing up for that whore." Xavier snarled, throwing a punch at the hufflepuff's already bleeding nose. Teddy let out a grunt and tried pushing him off but he felt his muscles giving up completely. Venus knew she had to help out teddy or he was gonna end up in a terrible condition.

"Alright, you two need to stop." She said, trying to pull them away by swatting Xavier's hands away from the collars of the shirt Teddy was wearing.

"Stay away!" Xavier glared at her, prying her hands off and rolled his shoulder back. Venus tried again but Xavier would just push her away which made her land on the floor. He almost tackled her but Teddy pulled him away from Venus, throwing a punch at him. The two of them wrestled each other, ready to rip each other's eyes off which got Venus all worried. She pulled out her wand and pointed it at Xavier.

"Fawley stop right now!" She threatened, gulping the lump forming in her throat,"Don't make me do something stupid! Stop right now! I said stop."

Xavier didn't stop ; he ignored Venus' threatening words and her heavy breathing. Without another thought, Venus swished her wand and casted a stinging hex on Xavier which made him pull away from Teddy. He fell on his fours, the burning sensation taking a toll on his mental understanding as his face started swelling.

"Miss Nott!"

Startled, Venus turned around to face McGonagall and backed away, coming to a stop next to Teddy. "Not again." Teddy mumbled stealing a glance at Venus who looked petrified knowing the consequences coming for her.

"Is that Mr. . ." McGonagall trailed off, finding it difficult to figure out his face after the scorch marks appeared all over his face.

"Fawley." Teddy finished for her, immediately lowering his eyes when McGonagall shooted a glare his way.

"My office. Now." She said sternly and pointed at Xavier,"Help him out." Venus and Teddy hurried behind McGonagall with a half conscious Xavier's arms around their shoulders. McGonagall gestured them to drop Xavier on a chair once they stepped inside the headmistress' office as she took her own seat on the large chair.

"This is the second time you've hexed a student Miss Nott." She said, getting up from the high chair she was sitting on,"And it's again Mr. Fawley."

Venus lowered her eyes to her shoes, fumbling with her wand.

"Surprisingly somehow this time Mr. Lupin ended up being dragged in you two's rivalry." The headmistress continued,"Now who's gonna explain me what happened out there?"

Venus shared a worried look with Teddy and tilted her head to urge him to speak as she wished to know the reason as well.

"Professor. . ." The hufflepuff cleared his throat, averting his attention to the headmistress,"Fawley started the whole thing. He used a really nuisance word for Venus. He called her a. . . . slut."

"I didn't!" Xavier argued, glaring at Teddy. McGonagall looked over at Venus to hear her part of the story but the slytherin was busy processing Teddy's words.

He fought with Fawley because he called me a slut?

"Miss Nott." McGonagall exclaimed, startling Venus who was broken out of her thoughts and finally looked at the old lady,"What about you?"

"Fawley called me a slut." Venus said,"And I lost control over myself."

"As much as I despise the use of such insulting word in my school, that doesn't give you or Mr. Lupin the freedom to put up a fight." McGonagall said in her stern voice,"I'll be writing back to your homes." Venus' and Teddy's eyes went wide in terror as both of them shared a look before turning their attention back to the headmistress,"And as it's the last day of school before you lot will be off for christmas holidays, the three of you will be serving detention with Mr.Filch once the school reopens." By the time McGonagall finished speaking, she was running out of breath. 

"You can leave. Mr. Frawley, I suggest you to stay back till the time the swelling goes down." She said after regaining her breath,"And consider this a last warning or the consequences would lead you to be expelled out of the school."

Nodding, Venus and Teddy hurried out and sighed in relief once they were out in the hallway. "Dad's going to kill me!" Venus shrieked once reality struck her like lightning,"I'm gonna get grounded."

"They're going to be so upset." Teddy mumbled, wiping the blood with the tip of his thumb and wiped it in his robes.

"But I still don't get it? You put up a fight just because Fawley called me a slut?" Venus turned to look at him and stopped in her tracks.

"No." Teddy frowned, coming to a stop as well,"He accused me of cheating on Victoire. And somehow you had to make things worse."

"Excuse me?" Venus glared at him, crossing her arms across her chest,"I made things worse?"

"Yeah, you hexed him."

"Are you crazy?" Venus fake laughed,"Be thankful that I saved your ungrateful ass." 

"If only you knew how to have a control over your anger, maybe we wouldn't have landed here." Teddy accused her.

"I was just trying to help you." Venus claimed,"And moreover, I know how to control my anger even though I'm short tempered."

"Oh please." Teddy taunted,"You make a fool of yourself out in public. You act like a kid even though you're like seventeen. For god's sake grow up."

"Grow up? You don't tell me what to do Edward!" Venus hissed, pointing her finger at her,"I don't make a fool of myself, never!"

"Oh yeah my bad. You're already a fool!"

"Shut up! You act like a kid not me."

"Really? You're the one who cries in front of everyone when you leave for hogwarts every year! Dad! I'll miss you! Dad, I don't wanna go!" Teddy mimicked in a high pitched girly voice.

"You would cry too if you actually had a father!" Venus snapped,"But no you don't! You don't how I feel. You're such a─" Realizing what she just said, Venus stopped midway. 

She looked at Teddy with an expression of regret dawning upon her face. He looked away from, a hurtful expression residing on his face and aimlessly made his way away from Venus.

"Edward!" Venus mentally cursed herself for being so stupid and ran after the hufflepuff,"Edward! I'm sorry! I seriously didn't mean it! I was just mad."

"That you were." Teddy scoffed, his voice trembling and throat stinging. 

"Edward!" Venus begged for him to stop but he just fastened his pace. She grabbed his wrist and twirled him around to make him face her. "I am really sorry." She mumbled, looking at him in the eye,"You're right, I need to grow up. I always end up making things worse but I swear I didn't mean that."

"It's fine Venus." He forced a chuckle, trying to mask up his crying side as his laughter slowly died down and he sighed,"I might be an orphan Venus but I do have a family. I know how it feels to leave them behind. Even though mom and dad aren't here with me but andy is. Not only andy, I have Harold, Ginny, Mr. Nott, The weasleys, James, Albus, Lily and maybe, just maybe you."

 A tear rolled down Venus' cheek as she stared at the boy in front of him with regret clouding up her head. She had to make things worse. Teddy carefully removed Venus' hand from around his wrist and stepped back without any word before heading back to his common room. 

. . . . 

𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗿'𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗲

yeah yeah, she really went too far. but it's just a really important part of the story so i had to include it, sorry!