September 1994

Venus tried to scurry off to Gryffindor Tower straight after the feast, but Ginny and Mali were keen to drag their feet and discuss the unfairness of the age restriction on the tournament.

This meant that Professor McGonagall was able to ambush Venus as she left the hall.

"Miss Black," said the Professor. "Can I have a word in my office?"

"I'm tired, Professor," Venus grumbled. "Can't it wait?"

"You never submitted your additional courses for this year," said McGonagall.

"Oh, I'll do um... Gin, what are you taking?" Venus asked.

"Muggle Studies and Care of Magical Creatures," Ginny offered. "Mali too."

"I'll do those then," Venus turned back to the Transfiguration Professor and plastered a grin onto her face.

"Even so, you will need to come with me to complete the form," McGonagall said curtly.

"I'm tired-"

"I'm going to have to insist, Miss Black."

Venus huffed and mumbled a 'see you later' to Ginny and Mali before following McGonagall up the stairs to her office. Venus dragged her feet. She had a horrible feeling that McGonagall wanted to discuss more than just her course selection and had hoped she would be able to avoid the conversation for as long as possible.

She was proved right when they arrived in the office and McGonagall closed the door tightly, casting a silencing charm before settling herself down behind her desk.

McGonagall fixed Venus with the familiar pitying look that she had seen every time she looked at her parents.

"Miss Black, the headmaster has asked me to discuss with you the procedures we will be following to help you handle your condition," McGonagall said.

"I figured," Venus said. "Going to lock me up in the Shrieking Shack once a month?"

McGonagall looked taken aback for a moment, but quickly regained her composure. "It's for your safety Miss Black."

"You mean for the safety of everyone else."

"Yes."

"You know Dumbledore's already told me I have to take Wolfsbane anyway," Venus pointed out. "Wouldn't it be easier to just lock me up in an empty classroom?"

McGonagall pursed her lips. "After the unfortunate incident with Professor Lupin last term, the headmaster has decided that multiple levels of security will be needed to ensure the safety of the students."

"Will someone be checking that I take my potion every morning as well?" Venus asked snidely. "Perhaps Professor Snape has volunteered to tie me down and force-feed it to me?"

"This attitude will not get you far, Miss Black," McGonagall snapped. "I had hoped that in light of recent events, you may have grown past it."

"Shouldn't expect so, Professor," Venus replied. "Werewolves are vicious and dangerous creatures, aren't we?"

"Hm," said McGonagall. "Well, I assure you that all of the faculty, including Professor Snape, just want to help you in any way we can. You will report to the hospital wing an hour and a half before moonrise on the day of the full moon, and Madam Pomfrey will escort you down to the Whomping Willow. You are not to leave until she comes and retrieves you the next morning. If she sees fit to keep you off of lessons the next day you are permitted to miss class. All of the faculty have been alerted, and you will see some leniency around the full moon. This is not an excuse for you to slack off; your grades were greatly improved last year, and I expect to see that continue."

*

Venus was thankful that the first full moon of the school year took place in the first week back to school on Thursday evening, meaning she would be able to skip Double History of Magic on Friday morning. She was less thankful that it was happening at all, but she supposed she would take her wins while she could and elected to play a game of exploding snap with the Weasley twins whilst Mali and Ginny slaved away on the essay for that lesson.

Despite her attitude toward Professor McGonagall, Venus did drink her wolfsbane potion every morning before breakfast without complaint. She even laid the groundwork that she wasn't feeling well on Thursday so that Ginny and Mali wouldn't be too surprised when her bed was untouched on Thursday night.

She hardly slept again, finding herself lying in bed staring at the hangings above her with her mind completely awake. She didn't feel tired at all, though, and seemed to be able to function with very little sleep that week.

In fact, she was feeling invigorated. As Thursday wore on, she became fidgety and struggled to focus in her classes. She went for a run at lunchtime, which did nothing to work off the excess energy. She expected she would have had house points deducted by Flitwick in Charms (the last lesson of the day) for being incredibly disruptive and distracting Ginny the entire class, if it hadn't been the Full Moon. He gave her a knowing, apologetic look as he told her off.

At the end of the class, Venus mumbled something relatively incoherent to Ginny and Mali about going to the Hospital Wing and darted off before they could say anything in response.

She skidded to a halt before the Matron, who was checking her watch, clearly waiting for Venus.

"Steady on there, Miss Black," the Matron gripped her shoulders to keep her from falling over. "No need to run, you're not late."

"Sorry," Venus muttered. "Just a bit pent up."

"It's understandable, dear," Pomfrey smiled sadly. "You have been taking your potion, correct?"

Venus wrinkled her nose but nodded.

"Very well, let's head down now, then, should we?" Venus said nothing, but followed Pomfrey through the castle. She was thankful that the Matron seemed to opt to use back corridors and took her out of a side entrance that she hadn't known existed, rather than marching straight through the Entrance Hall, where all of the students would be congregating for dinner.

Pomfrey levitated a stick to press the knot on the base of the Whomping Willow that froze the tree in place. Venus hoped that she would be left to her own devices once she was in the passageway, but Pomfrey accompanied her the whole way to the shack.

"I have left some emergency first aid supplies here," the Matron said, gesturing to a small box in the corner of the room beside the armchair with chunks ripped out of it. "I'll be placing barrier charms on this exit, which will not come down until I return to remove them in the morning."

"Afraid I'll escape?" Venus asked.

The Matron didn't answer, but gave Venus another small pitying smile. Then she left.

Venus set her school bag down beside the entrance to the shack. She wasn't keen on the idea of undressing in the dusty old building, so she had the foresight to pack an extra pair of clothes in her bag that morning without her dormmates noticing.

She ventured further into the shack and found herself in the upstairs room where she had met Sirius the previous year. The awning over the bed, which had collapsed when Snape was blasted back into it, had been cleared away, and the bed looked as though it had fresh sheets on it. She sighed and sat down on the bed, thankful for the singular comfort in the dusty shack.

A floorboard creaked outside, and Venus' head whipped up in time to see Sirius Black tentatively walk into the room.

Her mouth fell open, and for a moment, she wondered if the last few months had all been a dream. He looked just the same as she had last seen him, down to the ripped robes and filthy hair. The only difference was that he looked as if he had eaten several good meals since then; his face was no longer as gaunt.

"What are you doing here?" She demanded. "I thought you were on the run?"

"You never wrote back to me." He said simply, hovering tentatively in the door as if he expected to have to duck behind the wall to dodge a curse.

"I didn't feel like it," Venus sniffed, the dust she had disturbed whilst walking through the shack was irritating her nose.

"I'm back in the country," said Sirius.

"I can see that."

"Harry wrote to me and said his scar was hurting. I couldn't stay away. I have a bad feeling," he shuddered slightly.

"That doesn't explain what you're doing here ," Venus pointed out. Her transformation was still a little ways off; she could feel the prickling in the back of her neck, though, which did nothing for her irritable mood.

"I was in the area."

"So you thought you'd drop by and watch as my bones reset themselves?"

"I thought I'd keep you company. It always seemed to help Moony." Venus could see that this was Sirius's attempt at extending an olive branch, at trying to make up for his mistake, but she wasn't really the forgiving type. She hated him her whole life and had no intention of changing her opinion now.

"I'm not him."

"I know that."

"Do you?" Venus raised an eyebrow. "Did you not get the idea from the ignored letter that I didn't want to speak to you?"

"We don't have to speak," offered Sirius.

"You're a persistent bastard, you know that?"

"I pride myself on it," Sirius said proudly.

"It's a shit trait," Venus remarked harshly.

"Can I come in?" Sirius asked.

"Doesn't sound like I can stop you," said Venus. Sirius walked into the room and tentatively sat down on the bed beside Venus.

"I'm still sorry," Sirius said after a few moments of quiet.

"You should be," Venus replied, distinctly not looking at him and instead staring straight ahead at the peeling wallpaper on the opposite wall. "I thought you said we didn't have to speak?"

"We don't," said Sirius. "I just had to say it."

"I don't like the sound of your voice," Venus said snidely.

"You sound like my mother," Sirius said, humour evident in his voice. "She'd have hated you."

Venus sprang up from the bed like a cat, suddenly in motion, moving as far away from Sirius as she could. He was suddenly a dog, clearly thinking that the transformation had begun already, then when he saw her breathing heavily at staring at him in horror, he quickly turned back into a human, staring at her, looking confused.

"Something I said?" Sirius asked innocently, not understanding the reaction he had received.

"I do not sound like her!" Venus said, very stiffly. It felt like every bone in her body was tight. She felt like there were worms wiggling under her skin, and it had nothing to do with the upcoming transformation.

Sirius realised something in that moment, and his jaw hit the floor as he saw his thirteen-year-old self staring up at him. The child who had been wounded several too many times by Walburga Black's words, hands and spells.

"Take it back now," Venus snapped, still glaring at Sirius. Her nightmare, the thing that she knew her boggart would be, wasn't the big bad werewolf that had attacked her; it was the Grandmother who should have cared for her. It always had been and always would be. Walburga may be dead, but no one can kill the memories.

"I take it back," Sirius said stiffly. "I didn't mean it."

Venus didn't move, but stayed staring at Sirius, breathing slightly heavily. For several moments, they just stared at each other. Sirius was struggling for the words, but now knew exactly who had taken care of Venus when he was gone. He had always assumed that, as Remus wouldn't have taken her, it would have been Andromeda who would have had his little girl. But no, it was clear to him now that Walburga had not let that happen as long as she was alive.

The silence was uncomfortable. It would have been even without the oncoming moon, but it certainly made it worse. Sirius still searched for the words to say.

Venus seemed to relax very slightly as the second passed. When she finally spoke, it was with a continued stiffness.

"Maybe you should be a dog already?" Venus suggested her voice sounded slightly strained.

"Would you prefer that?"

Venus simply shrugged. "Got to happen sooner or later."

It was lucky that Sirius changed when he did; just a few minutes later, Venus' bones started breaking.

*

She came to, shivering on the floor beside the bed. She was already covered in a blanket, but she felt as though the cold wooden floor was sapping any bit of warmth from her.

" Aguamenti," someone said.

Her eyes fluttered open, and she saw Sirius crouching beside her.

"Drink this," He passed her a worn goblet he had likely scavenged up from somewhere in the house. Venus didn't care that the goblet didn't look particularly clean; she pushed herself into a sitting position and gulped the water down until the goblet was empty.

"Thanks," she said, wiping some droplets of escaped water from her chin.

"Feel okay?" Sirius asked, his face was concerned. Venus did a quick metal assessment; she didn't think anything was broken and, although her shoulder throbbed, it wasn't dislocated this time.

"Fine," Venus muttered. "Just tired."

She would never admit it to Sirius, but she had been glad he was there last night. When the haze of pain due to the transformation had passed and she was left panting on the floor, the dog had approached, and it seemed that even with her mind intact, as a werewolf, she was far more forgiving towards Sirus and was delighted to have a playmate. As a wolf, she had cared far less about complicated things like her grandmother and the fact that she was supposed to hate Sirius.

"Have a good sleep," Sirius patted her shoulder. "I'll see you next month." He transformed into the big black dog and quickly padded from the room to hide in another until Venus and Pomfrey were long gone.

"Much better this month, Miss Black!" Madam Pomfrey was surprised when she found Venus fully dressed and waiting beside the door when she arrived. She forced her to sit down and gave her a once-over for any injuries. When she found nothing but minor cuts and scrapes, she helped Venus back to the castle despite her protests that she could walk herself.

Whilst unhurt apart from a sore ache all across her body, which the transformation left behind, she very much appreciated it when she was finally allowed to crawl into the pristine white covers of the hospital wing bed and fell quickly to sleep.