𝗖𝗢𝗥𝗡𝗘𝗟𝗜𝗔 𝗦𝗧𝗥𝗘𝗘𝗧

ACT ONE, CHAPTER ELEVEN
what goes around comes around.

"SO, ALL IN all, not one of Ron's better birthdays?" Fred began.

Basically everything had gone wrong.

Harry had taken Ron down to Slughorn's office to fix the whole situation with the love potion. However, Ron had drank some poisoned mead Slughorn gave him, and Harry had to save him using a bezoar. Venus had found out about everything through McGonagall, who had rushed up to Venus and Hermione during their Apparition lesson.

It was now evening time. The hospital wing was quiet, the curtains were shut, the lamps were lit. Ron's bed was the only occupied one. Venus, Harry, Hermione, Ginny, Charlotte, and Elijah were all sitting around while Penelope sat closest to him (obviously), holding his hand. All of them had spent all day waiting outside the double doors, trying to peer inside whenever somebody went in or out. Madam Pomfrey had only let them enter at eight o'clock, and Fred and George had arrived at ten past.

"This isn't how we imagined handing over our present," George said grimly, placing down a large wrapped gift on Ron's bedside cabinet and taking a seat beside Ginny.

"Yeah, when we pictured the scene, he was conscious," Fred agreed.

"There we were in Hogsmeade, waiting to surprise him—"

"You were in Hogsmeade?" Ginny asked, looking up.

"We were thinking of buying Zonko's," Fred explained gloomily. "A Hogsmeade branch, you know, but a fat lot of good it'll do us if you lot aren't allowed out at weekends to buy our stuff anymore . . . but never mind that now." He pulled up a chair and sat besides Harry, looking down at Ron's pale face. "How exactly did it happen, Harry?"

Harry told his story again (Venus could only imagine how many times he had to say it), absentmindedly rubbing his thumb on Venus' knuckles. ". . . and then I got the bezoar down his throat and his breathing eased up a bit, Slughorn ran for help, McGonagall and Madam Pomfrey turned up, and they brought Ron up here. They reckon he'll be all right. Madam Pomfrey says he'll have to stay here a week or so . . . keep taking essence of rue . . ."

"Blimey, it was lucky you thought of a bezoar," George replied in a low voice.

Harry squeezed Venus' hand a little tighter. "Lucky there was one in the room."

Venus heard Penelope's breath hitch in her throat. She slightly frowned. Seeing the usually composed Slytherin be so caught up with the fact that Ron potentially couldn't have made it . . . it really gave her insight to how much Penelope loved Ron. Not to mention that she had kept fighting Madam Pomfrey to go inside and didn't even participate in the discussion the rest of them were having.

"Do Mum and Dad know?" Fred questioned to Ginny.

"They've already seen him, they arrived an hour ago — they're in Dumbledore's office now, but they'll be back soon. . . ." Ginny responded.

There was a pause while they all watched Ron mumble a little in his sleep.

"So the poison was in the drink?" Fred inquired quietly.

"Yes," Harry answered at once. "Slughorn poured it out—"

"Would he have been able to slip something into Ron's glass without you seeing?"

"Probably, but why would Slughorn want to poison Ron?"

Fred frowned at that. "No idea. You don't think he could have mixed up the glasses by mistake? Meaning to get you?"

"Why would Slughorn want to poison Harry?" Ginny asked.

"I dunno, but there must be loads of people who'd like to poison Harry, mustn't there? The Chosen One and all that?"

Venus felt sick at that. The thought of Harry being poisoned . . . God, she could only imagine what Penelope was going through right now. Speaking of the girl, she spoke up for the first time, asking Fred if Slughorn would join the Death Eater ranks with Bellatrix.

"Anything's possible," Fred answered darkly.

"He could be under the Imperius Curse," George offered.

"Or he could be innocent," Ginny countered. "The poison could have been in the bottle, in which case it was probably meant for Slughorn himself."

"Who'd want to kill Slughorn?"

"Dumbledore reckons Voldemort wanted Slughorn on his side," Harry revealed. "Slughorn was in hiding for a year before he came to Hogwarts. And . . . and maybe Voldemort wants him out of the way, maybe he thinks he could be valuable to Dumbledore."

"But you said Slughorn had been planning to give that bottle to Dumbledore for Christmas," Ginny voiced. "So the poisoner could just as easily have been after Dumbledore."

"Then the poisoner didn't know Slughorn very well," Hermione stated from her place next to Elijah. "Anyone who knew Slughorn would have known there was a good chance he'd keep something that tasty for himself."

"Pen-nel-pe," Ron then croaked unexpectedly.

All of them immediately fell silent. They all watched him anxiously, but after muttering incomprehensibly for a moment, he merely started snoring.

The dormitory doors flew open, making all of them jump in surprise. Hagrid came striding towards them. His hair was flecked with rain, his bearskin coat was flapping behind him, and he was holding a crossbow. As he entered, he left a trail of muddy dolphin-sized footprints all over the floor.

"Bin in the forest all day!" Hagrid told them. "Aragog's worse, I bin readin' to him — didn' get up ter dinner till jus' now an' then Professor Sprout told me abou' Ron! How is he?"

"Not bad," Harry replied. "They say he'll be okay."

"No more than ten visitors at a time!" Madam Pomfrey exclaimed, hurrying out of her office.

"Hagrid makes ten," George announced.

"Oh . . . yes . . ."

Presumably, she seemed to have counted Hagrid as several people due to his vastness. To cover her confusion, she hurried off to clear up his muddy footprints with her wand.

"I don' believe this," Hagrid admitted hoarsely, shaking his head as he stared down at Ron. "Jus' don' believe it . . . look at him lyin' there . . . who'd want ter hurt him, eh?"

"That's just what we were discussing," Harry said. "We don't know."

"Someone couldn' have a grudge against the Gryffindor Quidditch team, could they? Firs' Katie, now Ron . . ."

"I can't see anyone trying to bump off a Quidditch team," George replied

"Wood might've done the Slytherins if he could've got away with it," Fred voiced.

Charlotte shrugged at that, not looking bothered. "Fair point."

"Well, I don't think it's Quidditch, but I think there's a connection between the attacks," Hermione stated quietly.

"How d'you work that out?" Fred questioned.

"Well, for one thing, they both ought to have been fatal and weren't, although that was pure luck. And for another, neither the poison nor the necklace seems to have reached the person who was supposed to be killed. Of course, that makes the person behind this even more dangerous in a way, because they don't seem to care how many people they finish off before they actually reach their victim."

Before any one of them could respond to that ominous revelation, the dormitory doors opened again, and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley hurried up the ward. Mrs. Weasley immediately swept up Harry in a hug, forcing his hand to let go of Venus'. She slightly laughed at how awkward her boyfriend was — it was quite endearing.

Madam Pomfrey then reminded them there were only supposed to be ten visitors around Ron's bed. Venus stood up at once, offering Harry a small smile as he reached out for her hand. Hermione, Charlotte, and Elijah all followed her lead, and Hagrid decided to go with them so that Ron could be alone with his family and his girlfriend.

"It's terrible," Hagrid growled into his beard as the six of them walked back along the corridor to the marble staircase. "All this new security, an' kids are still gettin' hurt . . . dumbledore's worried sick . . . he don' say much, but I can tell . . ."

"Hasn't he got any ideas, Hagrid?" Hermione inquired desperately.

"I 'spect he's got hundreds of ideas, brain like his. But he doesn' know who sent that necklace nor put poison in that wine, or they'd've bin caught, wouldn' they? Wha' worries me—" Hagrid lowered his voice and glanced over his shoulder "—is how long Hogwarts can stay open if kids are bein' attacked. Chamber o' Secrets all over again, isn' it? There'll be panic, more parents takin' their kids outta school, an' nex' thing yeh know the board o' governors . . ." Hagrid stopped talking as the ghost of a long-haired woman drifted serenely past them and then resumed in a hoarse whisper, ". . . the board o' governors'll be talkin' about shuttin' us up fer good."

Elijah looked worried at that. "Are you joking?"

"Gotta see it from their point o' view," Hagrid responded heavily. "I mean, it's always bin a bit of a risk sendin' a kid ter Hogwarts, hasn' it? Yer expect accidents, don' yeh, with hundreds of underage wizards all locked up tergether, but attempted murder, tha's diff'rent. 'S'no wonder Dumbledore's angry with Sn—"

Hagrid immediately stopped in his tracks, a guilty expression on his face.

Charlotte raised an eyebrow at that. "Were you just about to say that Dumbledore is angry with Snape?"

"I never said tha'," Hagrid refused, though he looked panicked. "Look at the time, it's gettin' on fer midnight, I need ter—"

"Hagrid, why is Dumbledore angry with Snape?" Harry asked loudly.

"Shhhh!" Hagrid scolded, looking both nervous and angry. "Don' shout stuff like that, Harry, d'yeh wan' me ter lose me job? Mind, I don' suppose yeh'd care, would yeh, not now yeh've given up Care of Mag—"

"Don't try and make me feel guilty, it won't work! What's Snape done?"

"I dunno, Harry, I shouldn'ta heard it at all! I — well, I was comin' outta the forest the other evenin' an' I overheard 'em talking — well, arguin'. Didn't like ter draw attention to meself, so I sorta skulked an' tried not ter listen, but it was a — well, a heated discussion an' it wasn' easy ter block it out."

Venus shared a quick look with Harry for a moment as Hagrid shuffled his enormous feet uneasily. "Hagrid, what'd you hear?"

"Well — I jus' heard Snape sayin' Dumbledore took too much fer granted an' maybe he — Snape — didn' wan' ter do it anymore—" Hagrid began.

"Do what?" Harry demanded.

"I dunno, Harry, it sounded like Snape was feelin' a bit overworked, tha's all — anyway, Dumbledore told him flat out he'd agreed ter do it an' that was all there was to it. Pretty firm with him. An' then he said summat abou' Snape makin' investigations in his House, in Slytherin. Well, there's nothin' strange abou' that!" Hagrid added hastily as they all exchanged a look. "All the Heads o' Houses were asked ter look inter that necklace business—"

Charlotte crossed her arms. "I can bet that Dumbledore's not getting in arguments with the rest of them. Look, my House doesn't have the best reputation. All of us know that."

Harry nodded. "Charlotte's right."

Hagrid twisted his crossbow uncomfortably hands, making it snap in two with a loud splintering sound. "Look. I know what yeh're like abou' Snape, Harry, an' I don' want yeh ter go readin' more inter this than there is."

"Guys, watch out," Elijah then warned.

All of them turned just in time to see the shadow of Argus Filch looming over the wall behind them. Filch then turned around the corner, his back hunched like normal and his jowls aquiver.

"Oho!" Filch wheezed. "Out of bed so late, this'll mean detention!"

"No it won', Filch," Hagrid refused shortly. "They're with me, aren' they?"

"And what difference does that make?"

"I'm a ruddy teacher, aren' I, yeh sneakin' Squib!"

There was a nasty hissing noise as Filch swelled with fury. Mrs. Norris was now here and was twisting herself around Filch's skinny ankles.

"Get goin'," Hagrid instructed out of the corner of his mouth.

Venus, Harry, Hermione, Charlotte, and Elijah didn't need to be told twice. The five of them hurried off, Hagrid's and Filch's raised voices echoing between them as they ran. The three Gryffindors said goodbye to Charlotte and Elijah before hurrying up the staircase. They passed Peeves near the turning to Gryffindor tower, but he was streaking happily toward the source of the yelling, cackling and calling out.

When there's strife and when there's trouble
Call on Peevsie, he'll make double!

The Fat Lady was sleeping and wasn't exactly pleased to be woken, but she swung forward grumpily and allowed them to enter the peaceful and empty common room. It didn't seem like people knew about what Ron happened to Ron yet, which Venus was glad for. All she wanted was the best for Harry, and he had clearly been interrogated enough today. Hermione bade them goodnight and set off for the girls' dormitory.

Venus then looked over at Harry, smiling softly. "Do you want me to stay with you?"

He looked relieved at her question. "Would you?"

"Of course."

The two of them walked over to the seat beside the fire. Harry sat normally in the chair, pulling Venus to sit down on his lap. Letting out a sigh, Harry leaned his head on his girlfriend's as she wrapped her arms around him.

"Hero again, huh?" Venus teased.

Harry lightly chuckled. "This is getting exhausting, darling."

"I could imagine." Venus then started to run her fingers through his hair, making Harry shut his eyes in content. "You're thinking about what Hagrid said about Snape and Dumbledore, aren't you?"

"You know me too well."

"It's one of my specialties," Venus responded, laughing slightly. "But Harry, I don't want you to get too caught up in this. I can tell your mind's going into overdrive right now."

"No promises, Star." Harry then let out another sigh and lifted his head, looking at her. "Can we just sit here for a while, though? We haven't had much alone time, lately."

"Tell me about it."

Harry raised an eyebrow, a smirk on his face. "You know what that means?"

Venus felt her face heat up. "Oh, shut up."

Harry responded by closing the space between them. Venus allowed him to kiss her, placing one of her hands on the side of his face. He snaked his arms around her waist and pulled her in closer to him. Venus' mind went crazy, just like it did every time Harry kissed her.

"There you are, Potter!" a voice then shouted.

The two immediately broke apart. Venus jumped up from the chair, her heart racing and her face feeling very hot. Harry did so as well, pushing Venus behind his back with his wand at the ready. Both of them had been quite convinced that the common room was empty, and were definitely not prepared to see a large figure suddenly rise out of a distant chair. As the figure got closer, Venus saw it was Cormac McLaggen.

"I've been waiting for you to come back," McLaggen admitted, completely disregarding Harry's drawn wand and Venus behind him. "Must've fallen asleep. Look, I saw them taking Weasley up to the hospital wing earlier. Didn't look like he'll be fit for next week's match."

"Oh . . . right . . . Quidditch," Harry responded, putting his wand back into the belt of his jeans, grabbing Venus' hand, and running his free hand wearily through his hair. "Yeah . . . he might not make it."

"Well, then, I'll be playing Keeper, won't I?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I suppose so . . ."

"Excellent," McLaggen said in a satisfied voice. "So when's practice?"

Harry blinked. "What? Oh . . . there's one tomorrow evening."

"Good. Listen, Potter, we should have a talk beforehand. I've got some ideas on strategy you might find useful."

"Right. Well, I'll hear them tomorrow, then. I'm pretty tired now . . . see you . . . come on, Star . . ."

The news that Ron had been poisoned spread quickly the next day, but there wasn't much panic like what happened after Katie's attack. People seemed to think it was an accident considering that he had been in Slughorn's office at the time, and that since he had been given an antidote immediately there was no real harm done. In fact, the Gryffindors were more interested in the upcoming Quidditch match against Hufflepuff, due to the fact that they wanted to see Zacharias Smith get pummeled on the pitch for his commentary during the opening match against Slytherin.

Venus could tell that Harry was getting particularly annoyed with McLaggen and his constant hints that he would be a better permanent Keeper for the team than Ron. Whenever they were walking in the hallways and McLaggen would start to approach them, she always dragged Harry the other way. Speaking of Ron, he was doing a lot better, even though he was upset about the whole McLaggen situation.

It was now the day of the Quidditch match. Venus was sitting in the stands with Hermione, Charlotte, and Elijah. She cheered loudly for the Gryffindor as they walked out, although Venus couldn't help the feeling of worry inside. Venus didn't want Harry to get too caught up with McLaggen's arrogance. Apparently, McLaggen was playing Captain, even though he definitely wasn't.

Harry shook hands with the Hufflepuff Captain and both teams kicked off into the air on Madam Hooch's whistle. Each member of the team got into their respective positions, Harry circling around the pitch in search of the Snitch.

"And that's Smith of Hufflepuff with the Quaffle," a dreamy voice announced, echoing over the grounds. "He did the commentary last time, of course, and Ginny Weasley flew into him, I think probably on purpose, it looked like it. Smith was being quite rude about Gryffindor, I expect he regrets that now he's playing them — oh, look, he's lost the Quaffle, Ginny took it from him, I do like her, she's very nice . . ."

Elijah's jaw dropped. "No way."

Venus agreed. As she looked over at the commentator's podium, the familiar figure of Luna Lovegood was standing there, commentating the match. If the long dirty-blonde hair didn't give it away, the necklace of butterbeer corks definitely did. Beside Luna, McGonagall was looking slightly uncomfortable, but Venus loved it.

". . . but now that big Hufflepuff player's got the Quaffle from her, I can't remember his name, it's something like Bibble — no, Buggins—"

"It's Cadwallader!" McGonagall corrected loudly from beside Luna.

The crowd laughed, and Venus smiled. Moments later, Cadwallader scored. Apparently, McLaggen had been so upset with Ginny for letting the Quaffle out of her possession that he didn't notice the Quaffle soar past his ear.

Charlotte shook her head. "This guy's an idiot."

Hermione scoffed. "You could say that again."

"And Harry Potter's now having an argument with his Keeper," Luna continued, and Venus' head snapped up. Sure enough, Harry and McLaggen were shouting at each other. "I don't think that'll help him find the Snitch, but maybe it's a clever ruse . . ."

"Oh no," Venus muttered to herself.

Harry then spun around and set off around the pitch again, looking for the Snitch. Ginny and Demelza each scored a goal, giving the Gryffindor supporters something to cheer about. Cadwallader also scored again, making things level, but Luna didn't seem to notice. She seemed quite uninterested in the score of the match and kept attempting to draw the crowd's attention to things like interestingly shaped clouds and the possibility that Zacharias Smith, who couldn't hold possession of the Quaffle for longer than a minute, was suffering from something called Loser's Lurgy.

"Seventy-forty to Hufflepuff!" McGonagall yelled into the microphone.

"Is it, already?" Luna replied vaguely. "Oh, look! The Gryffindor Keeper's got hold of one of the Beater's bats."

Venus let out a heavy sigh. Sure enough, McLaggen was instructing Peakes on how to hit a Bludger with his own bat. Harry approached McLaggen, yelling something Venus couldn't quite hear, but McLaggen swung the bat at an upcoming Bludger. However, he missed, and he hit Harry straight in the head.

Her eyes widening, Venus let out a gasp and her hands flew to her mouth in shock as she watched her boyfriend fall. McGonagall pulled out her wand and suspended Harry, gently lowering him to the ground. Madam Hooch then blew the whistle, causing everything to stop. Apparently, the Hufflepuff Seeker had caught the Snitch. The Hufflepuff supporters cheered.

"Oh hell no," Venus stated angrily.

She stood up from the stands and began to descend down the stands. Venus ignored the calls of her friends behind her and walked onto the Quidditch pitch. The Gryffindor team was surrounding McLaggen, reprimanding him for doing everything he did on the pitch.

"McLaggen!" Venus shouted.

He looked around for a moment before his eyes set on her. "Black—"

McLaggen was ultimately cut off. Because before he could say anything else, Venus' arm pulled back, and not thinking of the consequences, she punched Cormac McLaggen right across the face.

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venus 🤝 harry
always holding hands

as they should