Venus slid in her sky blue flats while aimlessly braiding her hair when she heard a loud squeal near her ears.

"You're so pretty van!" Elphias grinned when she saw Venus giving her a look pure of amusement and confusion,"look at yourself."

As said, Venus looked at herself in the mirror, the white skirt perfectly fitting her curves. The sparkling silver sequins on the shirt looked like the reflection of stars in the blue, estuarine water. 

"Meh." Venus said inarticulately and tied her hair at the end. 

"What's wrong?" Elphias smile fell as she got up from her bed in her dorm. Her other two dorm mates were in the common room downstairs having left the two girls alone to get ready. 

"I have endeavoured to feel comfortable whenever professor Slughorn holds his usual meetings but I fail everytime." Venus sighed, slouching her shoulders,"I just don't feel like being there."

"Is it because he kinds of loathe your father?" Elphias guessed having seen the way Venus' eyes lowered down whenever Slughorn tries to include her father's side of family in the conversation.  

"I don't really know." Venus muttered lowly, turning to face Elphias who needles to say looked breath taking in her emerald shirt and purple skirt. 

"Just ditch it then." Elphias advised. 

"I can't." Venus chuckled lightly,"Dad told me not to for it would be very immature and disrespectful. He just advised me let his words go through my left and right ear."

"Right. Let's go then." Elphias shrugged earning a nod from Venus who was the first to walk out of the dorm. The girls made their way inside the common room getting occasional stares from boys and girls. 

"You two look lovely." Andrew said approaching both of them with his potions book secured between his right arm. 

"Thank you rew." Venus and Elphias chorused. 

"We'll see you later." Venus smiled, patting him on his shoulder before making her way out. The walk to Slughorn's office was just filled with silence as neither Venus nor Elphias had anything to say to each other. Elphias kept quiet just because she didn't want to annoy her best friend further more when she was already in such a sore mood. 

"Ah Miss Nott." Slughorn chortled in his usual cheerful tone once the two slytherins stepped inside his office,"And Miss Zabini. I'm glad you two could make it. Come in."

Venus forced a smile and made her way to the usual circular table which was kept at a corner with chairs lined around them. She proceeded to greet the other two ravenclaws with a smile who were already seated around the table. Once nearly everyone had arrived Slughorn started his usual conversation about the student's relatives and gestured them to start with their desert. Venus completely zoned out while lazily eating the cold ice cream until Elphias nudged her in the shoulder. 

Venus gave her a confusing look and when she saw Elphias motioning towards Slughorn with her eyes, she faced Slughorn with a bright smile on her face. 

"How are you doing Miss Nott?" 

"Great." Venus gave a nod before adding,"sir."

"Do you visit your uncle harry frequently?" Venus was about to speak but he beat her to it,"a bright, really brilliant boy. He certainly possessed his mother's mind blowing talent in potions."

"He speaks highly of you Sir." Venus remarked. 

"Oh." Slughorn laughed like Venus had just cracked a joke,"Tell him I'm grateful. I suppose he's the one you encouraged you to try out for seeker. I knew your mother but she wasn't fond of quidditch unlike Harry."

There he goes again. Venus mentally groaned refraining the urge to walk out.
"He did." Venus smiled, masking the bitterness,"He has always supported me but I wasn't really confident to try out until my father encouraged me to."

"Ah your father." Slughorn nodded, the bright smile fading from his aged and wrinkled face,"He was really bright in potions as well. 

I express the sympathy for the poor boy for having his father connected in dark stuffs. If you know what I mean." Slughorn chuckled again before sighing,"Anyway, we don't talk about that now. Those were the old days."

"Yes Sir." Venus gave a tight-lip smile. 

"Moving on, Miss Zabini." Slughorn's usual cheerful voice was back once again as he picked up the glass of red wine in his hand,"Heard your brother just started his first year?"

"Yes professor."

And for the rest of the time Venus zoned out, the frustration bottling up inside her body just as again and again Slughorn's words pricked her heart. Once she was out of his office, Venus let out a exasperated sigh, her eyebrows still furrowed together. 

"Van are you alright?" Elphias worriedly asked, placing her hand on Venus' shoulder. 

"No I'm not." Venus exclaimed quickly lowering her voice as they were still standing in front of Slughorn's office,"Why does he has to bring my mum over and over again?" Getting the silence in response, Venus cleared her throat,"Anyway, I'm used to it. I'll see you tomorrow Elphi."

"Wait you aren't coming with me to the common room?" Elphias frowned jogging next to Venus who was taking large steps to get away. 

"No. I just want to have some fresh air right now. And anyway, I'm the head girl now. I've nothing to worry about." Venus smirked, shooting a wink towards Elphias who just nodded in response. 

"Alright. Good night Van." Elphias smiled, giving a side hug to her best friend before she took the corridor leading to the dungeons. 

"Why are you out of bed?" Filch's voice made Venus stop in her tracks. She turned around to face him and immediately pulled up an innocent face. 

"Just had to visit Professor Slughorn for his usual meetings you know?" Filch frowned in response earning a scoff from Venus,"Slug club?"

"You still don't have the permission to roam around." Filch sternly said, walking towards her and shoved the lamp in Venus' face who stumbled back due to the intensity of the light nearly blinding her eyes. 

"Excuse me? I was doing my regular round ups." Venus asserted. She knew that she hardly did any round ups as the head boy from her house never complained about her but she could surely use it for her own advantage. 

Filch narrowed his pale eyes at Venus, probably trying to figure out whether she was lying or not but when he didn't succeed, he walked away. Venus sighed and jogged up to the entrance door and just as she had predicted, Filch had left it open.

 Smiling wide, Venus ran outside in the open as the cold air blew across her face. She took a walk to the hogwarts bridge and leaned on the railing, tapping her fingers on it. She glanced at the castle which was standing boastfully and was shimmering under the moonlight. A sudden wave of cold air went past her causing her to immediately look around in confusion. She just smelled something familiar ; her favorite sweets. 

The hair on her back stood up when she heard somebody's footsteps behind her but when she turned around, she found herself alone on the bridge. 

"Okay Edward I know it's you." Venus suppressed her smirk and turned around completely so that waist was touching the railing. 

"How the fuck—" Teddy took off the invisibility cloak and stared at Venus in disbelief,"did you know it was me?"

"It's pretty easy to figure out." Venus smirked,"Andy's sweets and that shitty cologne you use gave it all away. Hold on— Did you just ditch sluggy's meeting?"

Having caught, Teddy cleared his throat to try to sound confident,"Did I?"

Venus rolled her eyes before crossing her arms across her chest. 

"Oh yes I did." Teddy answered himself, using laughter as a way to mask up his sudden nervousness. 

"How did you do that?" Venus frowned,"What are you gonna tell him tomorrow morning when he asks you about your absence?"

"Oh he won't." Teddy answered confidently, coming to a stop next to Venus who turned sideways to face him. 

"Bitch, how are you so confident?" Venus laced her eyebrows together, an exasperated scoff leaving her mouth. 

"I already informed him beforehand."
"And what did you say?" 

"That I need to complete the essay on draught of living death which he had asked for. He wasn't satisfied with the excuse obviously." Teddy sighed dramatically,"So I just used up the head boy card about having loads of responsibilities and all. He still didn't seem convinced but surprisingly he didn't question further."

"Oh so you started lying?" Venus smirked, quirking her eyebrows at Teddy who couldn't fathom the sudden change in her expressions,"I should probably inform Andy."

"Sure. I would actually love to tell Mr. Nott that his pack of cigarettes didn't just disappear mysteriously but someone actually stole it." Teddy smiled bitterly. 

"I only did it because there was no other way to stop dad from smoking." Venus tried to make up a lie but failed miserably. 

"Come on Venus, I've seen you smoking. You stole them for yourself. " Teddy contradicted finding Venus look away in embarrassment,"And besides I lied just so that I could stand by my promise."

Venus stared at him for a fraction of seconds before asking,"What promise?"
"Spending the evening with my girlfriend." Teddy smirked, sighing dreamily while looking at the stars. 

"You seem really proud of your doing." Venus said in an unpleasant tone. 

"I want everyone to know about us." Teddy chuckled, finally turning his gaze to Venus who needless to say looked annoyed. 

"Oh please I was the first one to accidentally walk in when you two were literally eating each other's faces off. The day my eyes lost their virginity. I remember it very well. It was gross." Venus scrunched up her nose in disgust. 

"Oh right." Teddy stifled back a laugh before asking,"Well what are you doing out here?"

"I can ask you the same."

"I was just crashing around with this invisibility cloak." Teddy answered, holding up the rugged cloak for Venus to see. 

"I just needed some fresh air." Venus replied non chalantly, tucking the loose strands of her brown hair behind both of her ears. 

"Everything alright?"

"Nothing is alright ever." Venus sighed, twitching her mouth,"I hate going to Sluggy's meeting. "You already know how he always is." Venus muttered,"I don't know why he always brings up mum. I mean it's not that I'm embarrassed or anything, it just keeps stinging that I have literally no memories with her. Not even a single one. It feels like he's corroding my scars with his words." Teddy grew silent and listened intently to her,"And then he goes on and on about dad and grandpa. Like can you just shut up for a moment? You had no idea what they were going through, what bullshit they had to bear so it's better in keeping your opinion to yourself. Professor Slughorn just likes to bring them down. But you're lucky Edward, your parents were so brave. They died fighting for others. You should be really proud of them, aren't you?"

Teddy nodded timidly, perfectly feeling an unusual connection with Venus' life and his.
"I am." He timidly said, having nothing else to say.

He refrained from letting the tears fall but failed miserably and ended up shedding some.
"Merlin! are you crying?" Venus gasped, touching his arms lightly. 

"No." Teddy scoffed, quickly wiping his tears.

"No need to hide that Edward." Venus chuckled,"Not that I haven't seen you crying before." 

"You haven't." Teddy asserted, putting up a smile. 

"Oh really? Who was the one crying while reading a book called the fault in our stars." Venus quirked her eyebrows playfully. 

"I wasn't the only one Venus." Teddy reminded her,"You were crying too." Venus scrunched up her nose and shook her head as if to say no even though she did cry. The two of them weren't willing to let go of the book until they had finished it all. Hermione really regretted showing them the books she had when she had found them fighting over something while crying badly. 

"Whatever. Good night Edward." Venus waved, walking away from Teddy and towards the castle.