The tainted windows of the hogwarts express due to the frost reminded Venus of her own life. Seemed perfect from outside, covered in the soft sheet of snow but from inside, the outer world is blurred. She stole a glance at Teddy who was engrossed in a muggle book his best friend had gifted him in advance for the christmas holidays. 

She insisted on sitting with him just so that she could find a chance and apologize properly to him. Teddy mostly ignored her presence, trying hard to focus and concentrate on the book lying in his lap but somehow his thoughts keep on trailing off to venus and the words she said to him. He literally wanted to kick her out of the compartment but he didn't had the heart and the guts to do so. You could have just left the compartment, one can say but Teddy had no idea what made him stay back.

 "Are you excited for christmas ?" Venus tried to start a conversation but it went down when all she received was silence and ignorance. "I have literally apologized like millions of times." She frowned, glaring at the boy sat in front of her.

"I didn't ask for an apology." Teddy scoffed, sparing a glance at her before going back to reading the book called Pride and Prejudice.

"Edward─"

"Shut up." He snapped.

Venus sighed, slouching down her shoulders and kept her gaze fixed on the hufflepuff who glanced at her once to find her staring right back at him. He rolled his eyes and made an irritated face before reading the line he had left off at. 

The compartment door slid open earning the attention of Venus and Teddy sat inside. Victoire stood at the door, mentally cursing herself for randomly opening any door to look for her friends.

 Teddy and Venus shared a look before they lowered their eyes as the tension came running inside. Only when Victoire shut the door and went away did Venus let out her breath she was holding for too long.

 "Awkward." She mumbled, fiddling with her thumbs. When Teddy showed no sign of cooperation, Venus got up on her feet and exited the compartment to go and look for her best friends whom she won't be seeing for about two weeks. 

"Hey." She forced a smile and plopped down in front of her two best friends who were playing a game of chess with the board kept on the seat. "Hi Van." The two of them chorused, their attention fixed on the going match.

"Is he still upset?" Elphias questioned, sparing a glance to Venus who played with the hem of her sweater gifted by molly weasley. "Yes." Venus dryly responded. 

"Don't worry. He'll come around." Andrew assured as he passed a small smile to her before focusing on the chess match. 

"It's not only about Teddy." Venus admitted, lowering her eyes to her black shoes,"I don't know how I am going to face Victoire after everything happened." 

"Why are you going to visit her in the first place?" Andrew asked, raising one of her eyebrows at Venus who gave him a look of pure surprise. 

"Mrs. Weasley throws a christmas supper every year." Venus reminded them,"And there's no way I can escape it which means that I will have to face Teddy and Victoire." 

"Sad." He commented, scratching the back of his neck to think of a way to save his queen as he was on the stake of loosing the game. 

"I thought Weasley was over it." Elphias spoke up, glancing at Venus who laid back down and stretched her legs. 

"How are you so sure?" Venus asked, amusement clear in her voice. 

"I heard few hufflepuffs talking about how Weasley maybe kissed this one boy from her house after your whole drunken mistake." Elphias responded while air quoting the words 'drunken mistake.' 

"What the fuck?" Venus frowned as she sat up straight and stared at Elphias in shock,"No way." 

"I'm not sure either." The dark skinned girl smirked and clapped when her queen destroyed Andrew's horse,"Aha I'm gonna win this." 

Sighing, Venus laid down and kept her arms above her head as she stared at the world outside through the window. For the rest of the ride her thoughts were filled with everything she had wanted to do for the coming christmas but she knew it wasn't going to turn out that way.

 As the train came to a halt, Venus shuffled on her feet and followed her friends out of the train while her eyes roamed around to catch a glimpse of her father. When she was unable to find him, her eyes searched for Teddy who, unknowingly was standing just next to her looking for Andromeda who couldn't be spotted either. 

"Venus!" The two of them whipped their head to their right to find Harry waving at them from a distance, gesturing them to come over. 

Both of them shared a confused look before they reached Harry who had his arm around a smiley James. "Hey." Venus approached, hugging him sideway as a wide smile made it's way on his lips. 

"Hi Harry." Teddy forced a smile on his face and waited for Venus to step aside so that he could hug him.

 "Dad? He didn't come?" Disappointment dripped down her voice as Venus gulped the lump forming in her throat.

"Actually Ginny wanted to throw a small get together and so I wrote to theodore to let him know that I'll be picking you up and of course Teddy." Harry explained, patting lightly on her back to make sure that she didn't look dejected or anything.

 "Wow, I am excited!" James grinned.

Venus forced a smile, finding it hard to believe if the reason Harry gave was true or he was lying just so that she feels better. She had no interest to attend the get together even though she wanted to everyone as Teddy would be around her which would just keep her reminding of the hurtful words she spoke. 

"Uncle Harold?" Venus cleared her throat as she followed him out of the king's cross station to the car Harry had decided to buy.

 "Yes Venus?" He asked, rolling his eyes at Venus' choice of addressing him as harold. 

"I don't feel well. Can you just drop me home? Tell aunt ginny I said sorry that I couldn't make it." Venus pleaded, fumbling with the hem of her sweater as she watched Harry dropping their luggage in the car's trunk. 

"Whats wrong Venus?" Harry asked but after getting silence as a response his gaze meddled between her and Teddy who pretended to be busy looking at everyone else around him.

 "I just wanna go home." Venus asserted. Harry took a deep breath and nodded, gesturing her to get inside the car. Venus kept quiet for the rest of the ride which was very odd as she always managed to get on Harry's nerves with her loud behavior. 

Reaching her house, Venus wasted no time in getting out and opened the trunk to retrieve her luggage and her scrawny owl, Athena. "Venus─" Harry tried to ask about her sudden desire to get away from them but she didn't give him a chance to ask. 

"Tell aunt ginny I am sorry." She called over her shoulder and ran to the porch of her house when it suddenly struck her that she was hurrying for no reason. 

She waved at Harry and James with a sad smile on her face before she turned around to knock on the large wooden door where she had hung a name plate with her, her grandfather and her father's name.

 Weirdly, it made her smile widely as she would be meeting her grandfather after a long time and because she was finally home. She squatted down when her eyes fell on the flowers by the main door she had planted during the summer. 

The shuffling of the footsteps reached her ears, making her lips spread wide in a smile. She dusted her clothes off and got up on her feet just as the door flipped open, letting the sweet aroma of the pancakes the old man made, invade Venus' nose.

"Grandpa!" The dark haired witch squealed, dropping the luggage on the ground to hug him. The soft, fur robes her grandfather was wearing tickled her cheeks but it made her feel much better as he caressed her hair and patted on her back.

 "Venus." He smiled after the two of them pulled away and looked out in the dark, expecting to find his son but all he could perceive was silence and darkness.

"Weren't you supposed to be at the Potters?" The old man asked worriedly as he helped the girl put her luggage inside by the door.

"I didn't feel like going. I missed you and dad." Venus answered as she plopped down on the couch by the fireplace. Theodore Nott sr. gave her a small nod of acknowledgement as he sat next to her. 

"Theo is really upset." He started causing the smile on Venus' face to fade away,"He received a letter from Hogwarts─"

"Yeah that I hexed Fawley." Venus mumbled, lowering her eyes before quickly adding,"again."

"He's always worried for you Venus." Her grandfather sighed, placing his hand on Venus' shoulders,"And it just got him worried that there might be a possibility of you getting hurt. He doesn't admits it but he's really scared for you."

"I know that but I. . . just loose my patience and end up doing something stupid." Venus faced her grandfather,"And it wasn't even my fault grandpa! The boy was beating up Edward for no reason. So I just. . . hexed him." Venus mumbled the last part softly, leaving out the part where Fawley called her a slut as she felt uncomfortable talking about it. 

"You should have informed a professor or someone." Theodore Nott sr. frowned. 

"Yeah. . ." Venus trailed off but her lips quirked in a smile when the knock on the door interrupted their conversation. She leaped on her feet and ran to the door to find a very tired theodore, dressed up in his usual official clothes, standing in front of her. As much as Theodore wanted to give Venus a cold treatment, he couldn't help but feel happy to have her right in front of him. 

"Dad!" Venus exclaimed and hugged Theodore tightly. If it wouldn't have been the excitement to meet her father after months, Venus would have noticed that her father didn't hug her back nor did he look pleased. 

"I missed you so much!" She laughed, closing the door behind herself once theodore stepped inside. Her heart dropped when Theodore basically ignored her presence and took off the watch he had put on. Venus' eyebrows furrowed in confusion as she shared a glance with her grandfather who had an apologetic smile on his face. 

"Dad?" Venus approached again but once again all she received was deadly silence.

 "Dad!" She whined and stood in front of him with her hands crossed against her chest,"Dad? Look I know you're mad because I really fucked up─" Theodore crossed his arms across his chest and raised one of his eyebrows at her,"Oh no no! I am sorry. It just slipped out of my mouth. But moving on, dad I'm really sorry. I swear I tried to have my anger under my control but the boy pissed me off and I couldn't hold myself back. I know you're dying to talk to me but you need to be that cold father just to make sure that I won't repeat that again."

Venus placed her hands on his crossed arms and uncrossed them to held them in her hands,"I'm sorry dad. I'm so sorry. Ground me but please talk to me." Theodore shook his head in disappointment and unlatched his hands from Venus' grip before scampering upstairs.

"such a drama queen." Venus muttered, throwing her hands up in frustration.

"Don't worry. He'll eventually come around." Theodore Nott sr. assured and immediately changed the topic,"By the way, are you up for pancakes?"

"I'm up." Venus agreed just because she didn't want to upset her grandfather as well. She sat down on the dining chair and passed a thankful smile to the old man before savoring the delicious pancakes. 

Muttering a low goodnight, Venus dragged herself upstairs, carrying Athena's cage with herself and mindlessly wandered in the hallways for a while before entering her room which smelt of the perfume she always used. 

She hung the owl cage on the hook by the window and opened the door in case Athena wanted to stretch her wings. 

Kicking her shoes, she dropped on her bed and stared at the ceiling when her thoughts drifted to Teddy. She sat up straight at once and ran to the study table, rummaging through the doors to find some parchment as she had no energy left to get back downstairs and take them out from her luggage which would take her another hour to clear out everything. 

Successful in finding a rugged parchment, Venus got involved in the search for an ink pot and quill. When she couldn't find any spare ones, she rushed out of her room and to her father's study room which was on the other side of the hallway. She pushed the old stacks of newspaper aside and sat down on the table to write her letter after finding a quill and an ink pot.

Edward,

I just wanted to sorry again even though I know you're not going to forgive me. Moving on, dad is really upset with me and he literally ignored my presence which I should admit, tore my fucking heart. I just wanted to know about your situation. Tell Andy I said sorry and that I'll see her soon.

Lots of love to Andy.

Venus.

Ps: I swear if you don't reply to my letter, I'll visit you.

Satisfied with the letter, Venus held the parchment in her hand and got up on her feet to get back to her room. She made a mental note to send Teddy the letter next morning.