𝗖𝗢𝗥𝗡𝗘𝗟𝗜𝗔 𝗦𝗧𝗥𝗘𝗘𝗧

ACT ONE, CHAPTER SIX
quidditch tryouts.

MUCH TO HERMIONE'S dismay, Ron's annoyance, and Venus and Charlotte not really caring, Harry continued to follow the added on instructions made by what was written the Half-Blood Prince. This resulted in Slughorn raving on about Harry's abilities by their fourth lesson, saying that he had rarely taught anyone so talented. Venus didn't really care — she was still able to brew her potions adequately with the normal instructions. Hermione, on the other hand, was getting poor results because she was so ill-tempered on Harry using the book.

So there the group sat on that Saturday evening, doing homework at one of the tables in the Gryffindor common room. Venus had her chin placed in the palm of her hand as she wrote an essay for Defense Against the Dark Arts. Harry was next to her, his arm around the back of her chair as he sat back and showed Ron some pages in his Potions book that had directions for spells that seemed to have been made up by the Prince himself.

"Or herself," Hermione countered irritably. "It might have been a girl. I think the handwriting looks more like a girl's than a boy's."

"The Half-Blood Prince, he was called," Harry replied. "How many girls have been Princes?"

Hermione, seeming to have no answer to this, merely scowled and moved her essay on The Principles of Dematerialization away from Ron, who was currently trying to read it upside down. Harry then lifted his hand that was on Venus' chair to look at his watch, and he suddenly started to put his things away in his bag.

"It's five to eight, I'd better go, I'll be late for Dumbledore," Harry announced.

Hermione gasped and looked up at nce. "Ooooh! Good luck! We'll wait up, we want to hear what he teaches you!"

"Hope it goes okay," Ron addded.

Venus looked up from her essay to see him already standing up looking down at her with his pretty green eyes, and her heart started to race. "Have fun, good luck."

Harry leaned down and kissed her quickly. "Thanks. Love you, Star."

"Love you too."

Venus then watched her boyfriend leave through the portrait hole with what she could only guess was a love-struck expression on her face. She let out a little sigh and turned back to her essay. Boy, did he manage to make her feel some sort of way.

Ron let out a small noise of disgust. "You guys are gross."

"Says you," Hermione argued. "Look at you and Penelope."

He immediately frowned. "Well, yeah, it would help if she actually talked to me."

Venus glanced up at him. "What do you mean? You guys talk all the time."

Ron shook his head. "She hasn't talked to me in days."

"Oh God, what'd you do now?"

"Nothing!" Ron protested. He then glanced in between the disbelieving looks from Hermione and Venus. "No, seriously, I haven't done anything . . . I don't think. Okay, listen — she got weird after a Potions lesson and has been kind of avoiding me. I've tried to talk to her, but she won't budge."

"Huh," Venus let out. "Strange."

She had an inkling as to why Penelope was avoiding Ron after a Potions lesson, but she decided to keep it to herself — after all, that wasn't her secret to tell.

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JUST AS HERMIONE had predicted, the free periods for the sixth years were used for attempting to keep up with the vast amount of homework they were receiving instead of blissful relaxation like Ron had anticipated. Not only were they studying like they had exams every single day, but the lessons became extremely demanding. Venus was left wondering if the words coming out of McGonagall's mouth were actually English — even Hermione had to ask her to repeat instructions once or twice. Nonverbal spells were now expected in Defense Against the Dark Arts, Charms, and Transfiguration, which was incredibly difficult. It was a relief to get outside to the greenhouses, even if they were dealing with more dangerous plants than ever in Herbology.

As a result of the enormous workload and frantic hours of practicing nonverbal spells, Venus, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Charlotte, and Elijah found themselves having no time to visit Hagrid. He had stopped coming to meals at the staff table, which was an ominous side. Hagrid also seemed to be ignoring their greetings when they passed him in the corridors or out in the grounds.

"We've got to go and explain," Hermione voiced, looking up at Hagrid's huge empty chair at the staff table the following Saturday at breakfast.

"We've got Quidditch tryouts this morning!" Ron exclaimed. "And we're supposed to be practicing that Aguamenti Charm from Flitwick! Anyway, explain what? How are we going to tell him we hated his stupid subject?"

"We didn't hate it!"

"Speak for yourself, I haven't forgotten the Skrewts. And I'm telling you now, we've had a narrow escape."

"He was talking about Grawp, too," Venus admitted, although very guiltily. "Hagrid would've had us keep teaching him if we stayed in the class."

Charlotte, who was sitting with them at the Gryffindor table along with Elijah so they could all watch the tryouts, let out a sad sigh. "I hate not speaking to Hagrid. I mean, I was his favorite student. He let me get away with so many things!"

"We'll go down after Quidditch," Harry stated. "But trials might take all morning, the number of people who have applied. I dunno why the team's this popular all of a sudden."

Charlotte blinked at him. "Dude, are you stupid?"

"Lottie," Elijah scolded.

"No, I'm serious. That was a genuine question."

"Do you seriously not know why?" Venus asked, and Harry shook his head. "Love, it's you that's popular, not Quidditch. I bet half of these people don't even care about Quidditch, they're just trying out for you. You're at peak interest, not to mention being more likeable."

Harry stared at her before smirking a little. "Are you calling me hot?"

Venus gave him a look. "I said that whole thing, and that's what you got out of it?"

Hermione rapped her knuckles on the table, gaining Harry's attention. "Everyone knows you've been telling the truth now, don't they? The whole Wizarding World has had to admit that you were right about Voldemort being back and that you really have fought him twice in the last two years and escaped both times. And now they're calling you the Chosen One — well, come on, can't you see why people are fascinated by you? And you've been through all that persecution from the Ministry when they were trying to make out you were unstable and a liar. You can still see the marks on the back of your hand where that evil woman made you write with your own blood, but you stuck to your story anyway . . ."

"It also doesn't help that you've gotten a lot taller," Charlotte added. "That'll make girls like you a lot more."

"But I don't care about girls liking me," Harry said. "I've got Venus."

Venus smiled gently at him. "Aw. Okay, that was cute."

The post owls then arrived, swooping down through the rain-flecked windows and scattering everyone with droplets of water. Most people were receiving more mail than usual. Anxious parents were always waiting to hear from their children and to reassure them in turn that all was well at home. Venus got her usual weekly letter from her parents from Aria and gave her a pet before her owl flew off. Hedwig then landed in front of Harry, carrying a large, square package. An identical package landed in front of Ron, crushing his small and exhausted owl Pigwidgeon under it.

"Ha!" Harry voiced, unwrapping the package to reveal a fresh new copy of Advanced Potion-Making from Flourish and Blotts.

"Oh good," Hermione replied, clearly delighted. "Now you can give that graffitied copy back."

"Are you mad? I'm keeping it! Look, I've thought it out—" He pulled out the old copy and tapped the cover with his wand. "Diffindo!" The cover fell off. He then did the same thing with the brand-new book before swapping the covers and tapping each. "Reparo!" This now made the Prince's copy look like a new book and the fresh copy look secondhand. "I'll give Slughorn back the new one, he can't complain, it cost nine Galleons."

Hermione pressed her lips together, looking both angry and disapproving. She then got distracted by a third owl landing in front of her that was carrying that day's copy of the Daily Prophet. Hermione hastily unfolded it and scanned the front page.

"Anyone we know dead?" Ron questioned in a determinedly casual voice — he had made a habit of asking it every time Hermione opened her paper.

"No, but there have been more Dementor attacks," Hermione answered. "And an arrest."

"Excellent, who?" Harry inquired.

"Stan Shunpike."

Harry looked startled. "What?"

"Stanley Shunpike, conductor on the popular Wizarding conveyance the Knight Bus, has been arrested on suspicion of Death Eater activity. Mr. Shunpike, 21, was taken into custody late last night after a raid on his Clapham home . . ." Hermione read.

"Huh," Elijah commented. "I met Stan, like, once. It didn't seem like he would ever become a Death Eater."

"He might have been put under the Imperius Curse," Ron suggested. "You never can tell."

"It doesn't look like it," Hermione cut in, still reading. "It says here he was arrested after he was overheard talking about the Death Eaters' secret plans in a pub." She looked up at them with a troubled expression on her face. "If he was under the Imperius Curse, he'd hardly stand around gossiping about their plans, would he?"

"It sounds like he was trying to make out he knew more than he did. Isn't he the one who claimed he was going to become Minister of Magic when he was trying to chat up those Veela?"

"Yeah, that's him," Harry confirmed. "I dunno what they're playing at, taking Stan seriously."

Hermione frowned. "They probably want to look as though they're doing something. People are terrified — you know the Patil twins' parents want them to go home? And Eloise Midgen has already been withdrawn. Her father picked her up last night."

"My parents almost didn't let me come back," Venus revealed, and they all stared at her incredulously. "They wanted to take me back to Ilvermorny, but I managed to convince them to stay."

"What!" Ron shouted. "But Hogwarts is safer than their homes, bound to be! We've got Aurors, and all those extra protective spells, and we've got Dumbledore!"

"I don't think we've got him all the time," Hermione voiced quietly, glancing at the staff table over the top of the Prophet. "Haven't you noticed? His seat's been empty as often as Hagrid's this past week." Venus looked up to see that Dumbledore's chair was indeed empty. "I think he's left the school to do something with the Order. I mean . . . it's all looking serious, isn't it?"

None of them answered, but Venus knew that they were all thinking the same thing. The day before, Hannah Abbott had been pulled out of Herbology only to be told that her mother was found dead. They had not seen Hannah since.

They then left the Gryffindor table five minutes later. However, when they got to the entrance hall, Penelope approached their group. Venus, Harry, Hermione, Charlotte, and Elijah allowed Penelope and Ron to talk while they appreciated the marble on the staircase. It seemed all was well a couple minutes later, and Penelope joined their group on heading down to the Quidditch pitch so she could watch Ron try out.

Venus turned towards Harry once they made it down to the Quidditch pitch. "You're nervous."

"Is it obvious?" Harry asked.

"No, I just know you well. But you're going to do great, Harry."

He gave her a small smile before kissing her forehead. "Thanks, darling."

They all wished Harry and Ron good luck before going up to the stands to find a place to watch. Trials took up most of the morning, which was expected. About half of Gryffindor House turned up, from first years who were nervously clutching a selection of old school brooms to seventh years who towered over the rest. Among them was Cormac McLaggen. Venus watched as him and Harry engaged in a conversation before Cormac moved to stand by where their group was sitting.

Harry began by asking all the applicants for the team to divide into groups of ten and fly once around the pitch. The first years were immediately eliminated, clearly not having any flying experience. On the other hand, the second group was consisted of ten girls, who fell and giggled while clutching one another when Harry blew his whistle. Romilda Vane was among them — typical. When Harry told them to leave the pitch, they did so quite cheerfully and went to sit in the stands. Romilda made sure to sent Venus a glare as she sat. The third group crashed halfway around the pitch. Most of the fourth group didn't have broomsticks, and the fifth group were Hufflepuffs.

"If there's anyone else here who's not from Gryffindor, leave now, please!" Harry ordered, and Venus could tell he was getting annoyed.

There was a pause before a couple of little Ravenclaws went sprinting off the pitch while laughing.

After about two hours, many complaints, and several tantrums, Harry managed to find himself three Chasers — Katie Bell, Demelza Robins, and Ginny (who Elijah could not stop staring at.) Ginny took her seat next to Elijah once she was finished and they immediately sparked up in conversation. Harry was not having as good of a time as them, though — he was battling with the rejected Chasers, and now Beaters, who he had chosen to be Jimmy Peakes and Ritchie Coote.

Harry had obviously left the Keeper trials until last so Ron wouldn't be so nervous, but an even larger crowd formed because of the rejected players and people coming to the stands from breakfast. As each Keeper went up to the goal hoops, the crowd roared and jeered in equal measure. Ron was a delicate shade of green.

None of the first five applicants saved more than two goals. Cormac McLaggen had saved four penalties out of five. However, on the last one, he shot off in completely the wrong direction. Venus could've sworn that she heard Hermione mutter under her breath before that, but she could've just been imagining it.

Ron looked like he was about to faint as he mounted his broom. Lavender Brown, for some reason, gave him a wish of good luck. However, it was ultimately Penelope's telling that he could do it that made him look more confident. She must have really encouraged him, because Ron saved all five penalties given to him.

Venus cautiously made her way down the stands since she could see him and McLaggen getting in an altercation, but McLaggen ultimately left Harry alone. She then approached Harry quicker, his face lighting up at the sight of her.

"You did amazing," Venus told him. "See, what'd I tell you?"

The team quickly fixed the time of their first full practice for the following Thursday. Venus, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Charlotte, and Elijah then left to go to Hagrid's. A watery sun was trying to break through the clouds and it had stopped drizzling.

"I thought I was going to miss that fourth penalty," Ron admitted happuly. "Tricky shot from Demelza, did you see, had a bit of spin on it—"

"Yes, yes, you were magnificent," Hermione responded, looking amused.

"I was better than that McLaggen anyway. Did you see him lumbering off in the wrong direction on his fifth? Looked like he'd been Confunded . . ."

Venus glanced over at Hermione, who turned a very deep shade of pink at those words. She raised an eyebrow before an expression of realization made its way across her face. So she hadn't imagined Hermione muttering under her breath! She had really heard Hermione Confunding McLaggen.

Buckbeak the Hippogriff was tethered in front of Hagrid's cabin. He clicked his razor-sharp beak at their approach and turned his huge head towards their group.

Charlotte gasped excitedly. "Buckbeak!" She stepped forwards and bowed low to the Hippogriff, not breaking any eye contact. Buckbeak sank into a bow after a few seconds. Charlotte moved towards him and pet his feathers. "Hi, buddy. Oh, I've missed you!"

"Can't believe you dropped Care of Magical Creatures," Elijah stated as Charlotte continued to pet Buckbeak. "You love them."

Charlotte shrugged. "It's just not what I want to do in life. Just had to drop the class."

"What exactly do you want to do?" Venus questioned.

"Become a member of the next ABBA."

"Fair enough."

"Oi!" a loud voice then yelled. Hagrid came striding around the corner of his cabin wearing a large flowery apron and carrying a sack of potatoes, Fang trailing behind him. Fang gave a booming bark and bounded straight towards Charlotte. "Git away from him! He'll have yer fingers — oh. It's yeh lot."

Charlotte was in the middle of trying to catch Fang in her arms. Hagrid stood and looked at their group for a split second before turning around. He strode into his cabin and slammed the door behind him.

Hermione looked stricken. "Oh dear!"

"Don't worry about it," Harry said grimly. He let go of Venus' hand and walked up to the door, knocking loudly. "Hagrid! Open up, we want to talk to you!" He then pulled out his wand. "If you don't open the door, we'll blast it open!"

"Harry! You can't possibly—"

"Yeah, I can! Stand back—"

Hagrid swung the door open, looking positively alarming despite the flowery apron. "I'm a teacher! A teacher, Potter! How dare yeh threaten ter break down my door!"

"I'm sorry, sir," Harry replied, emphasizing the last word as he put his wand back inside his robes.

Hagrid looked stunned. "Since when have yeh called me sir?"

"Since when have you called me Potter?"

Charlotte shook her head. "He got you there."

"Oh, very clever," Hagrid growled. "Very amusin'. That's me outsmarted, innit? All righ', come in then, yeh ungrateful little . . ."

He mumbled darkly and stood back to let them pass. All of them entered his cabin and sat around his enormous wooden table. Charlotte allowed Fang to rest his head on her lap and drool all over her robes as she scratched his ears.

"Well?" Hagrid began grumpily. "What's this? Feelin' sorry for me? Reckon I'm lonely or summat?"

"No," Harry stated at once. "We wanted to see you."

"We've missed you!" Hermione added.

"Missed me, have yeh?" Hagrid repeated. "Yeah. Righ'."

He stomped around his cabin, brewing tea while muttering to himself. Finally he slammed five bucket-sized mugs of mahogany-brown tea in front of them and a plate of what seemed to be rock cakes.

"Okay, Hagrid, I'm not beating around the bush," Elijah voiced, watching as Hagrid peeling potatoes brutally. "None of us could take Care of Magical Creatures with the schedules we had. Trust us, we wanted to continue."

"Yeah," Hagrid said. "Righ'."

There was a funny squelching sound from inside the cabin and they all looked around. Venus' eyes widened, Hermione let out a tiny shriek, Charlotte laughed, Elijah backed up in his chair, and Ron leapt out of his seat. There was a large barrel standing in the corner full of what looked like foot-long maggots, all slimy, white, and writhing.

"What are they, Hagrid?" Harry inquired, clearly trying to sound interested rather than revolted.

"Jus' giant grubs," Hagrid answered.

"And they grow into . . . ?" Ron trailed off, looking apprehensive.

"They won' grow inter nuthin'. I got 'em ter feed ter Aragog."

And without warning, he burst into tears.

Venus squinted her eyes and leaned closer to Harry. "Is Aragog the giant spider?"

"That would be the one," Harry responded.

"Oh. Cool."

"Hagrid!" Hermione cried, hurrying around the table the long way to avoid the barrel and putting an arm around his shaking shoulders. "What is it?"

"It's . . . him . . ." Hagrid gulped, crying harder and mopping his face with his apron. "It's . . . Aragog . . . I think he's dyin' . . . he got ill over the summer an' he's not gettin' better . . . I don' know what I'll do if he . . . if he . . . we've bin tergether so long . . ."

Hermione patted Hagrid's shoulder, looking at a complete loss for words.

"Can we help in any way?" Charlotte asked sadly, ignoring Ron's frantic head shaking by continuing to pet Fang.

"I don' think there is, Charlie," Hagrid choked out. "See, the rest o' the tribe . . . Aragog's family . . . they're gettin' a bit funny now he's ill . . . bit restive . . ."

"Yeah, I think we saw a bit of that side of them," Ron mumbled.

". . . I don' reckon it'd be safe fer anyone but me ter go near the colony at the mo'. But thanks fer offerin', Charlie . . . it means a lot . . ."

The atmosphere lightened considerably after that. Hagrid started to become his usual self once more.

"Ar, I always knew yeh'd find it hard ter squeeze me inter yer timetables," Hagrid said, pouring them tea. "Even if yeh applied fer Time-Turners—"

"We couldn't have done," Hermione interjected. "We smashed the entire stock of Ministry Time-Turners when we were there last summer. It was in the Daily Prophet."

"Ar, well then. There's no way yeh could've done it . . . I'm sorry I've bin — yeh know — I've jus' bin worried abou' Aragog . . . an' I did wonder whether, if Professor Grubbly-Plank had bin teachin' yeh—"

All five of them then reassured Hagrid untruthfully that Grubbly-Plank, who had substituted for Hagrid, was a dreadful teacher. Hagrid looked quite cheerful as he waved them off the premises at dusk.

"I'm starving," Harry revealed once the door closed behind them and they hurried through the dark and deserted grounds. "And I've got that detention with Snape tonight, I haven't got much time for dinner . . ."

Once they got in the castle, they spotted Cormac McLaggen entering the Great Hall. It took him two attempts to get through the doors because he ricocheted off the frame on the first attempt. Ron continued on into the Hall after him, Charlotte heading to the Slytherin table and Elijah going to the Ravenclaw table. Venus, however, pulled Hermione back so she could talk to her with Harry.

"All right, 'fess up," Venus demanded.

Hermione blinked. "What?"

"If you ask me, McLaggen looks like he was Confunded this morning," Harry added. "And he was standing right in front of where you were sitting."

"And I heard you mutter under your breath," Venus continued.

Hermione's face turned pink. "Oh, all right then, I did it. But you should have heard the way he was talking about Ron and Ginny! Anyway, he's got a nasty temper, you saw how he reacted when he didn't get in — you wouldn't have wanted someone like that on the team."

"No," Harry agreed. "No, I suppose that's true. But wasn't that dishonest, Hermione? I mean, you're a Prefect, aren't you?"

"Oh, be quiet," Hermione snapped as Harry placed that infuriatingly attractive smirk on his face.

Venus matched Harry's smirk. "Hermione's been corrupted."

"What are you three doing?" Ron demanded, reappearing in the doorway to the Great Hall and looking suspicious.

"Nothing," all three of them chorused before hurrying after Ron.

They had barely taken three steps towards the Gryffindor table when Slughorn appeared in front of them and blocking their path.

"Harry, Harry, just the man I was hoping to see!" Slughorn exclaimed. "I was hoping to catch you before dinner! What do you say to a spot of supper tonight in my rooms instead? We're having a little party, just a few rising stars, I've got McLaggen coming and Zabini, the charming Melinda Bobbin — I don't know whether you know her? Her family owns a large chain of apothecaries — and, of course, I hope very much that Miss Granger and Miss Black will favor me by coming too."

"I can't come, Professor," Harry replied. "I've got a detention with Professor Snape."

Slughorn's face fell. "Oh dear! Dear, dear, I was counting on you, Harry! Well, now, I'll just have to have a word with Severus and explain the situation. I'm sure I'll be able to persuade him to postpone your detention. Yes, I'll see you both later!"

"He's got no chance of persuading Snape," Harry stated once Slughorn was out of earshot. "This detention's already been postponed once; Snape did it for Dumbledore, but he won't do it for anyone else."

Venus linked her arm in Hermione's. "Guess it's just you and me at the dinner, huh?"

"I doubt it'll just be you, Ginny'll probably be invited," Ron snapped, clearly not liking being ignored by Slughorn. "Probably P, too."

After dinner they went back to Gryffindor Tower. The common room was very crowded since most people had finished dinner. They still managed to find a free table and sat down. Ron, who had been in a bad mood since the encounter with Slughorn, crossed his arms and frowned at the ceiling. Venus tucked her knees into her chest while Harry put his arm around the back of her chair. Hermione reached out and took a copy of the Evening Prophet, which somebody had left abandoned on a chair.

"Anything new?" Harry asked.

"Not really . . ." Hermione voiced, opening the newspaper and scanning the inside pages. "Oh, look, your dad's in here, Ron — he's all right!" she added quickly since Ron had looked at her in alarm. It just says he's been to visit the Malfoys' house. This second search of the Death Eater's residence does not seem to have yielded any results. Arthur Weasley of the Office for the Detection and Confiscation of Counterfeit Defensive Spells and Protective Objects said that his team had been acting upon a confidential tip-off."

"Yeah, mine!" Harry admitted. "I told him at King's Cross about Malfoy and that thing he was trying to get Borgin to fix! Well, if it's not at their house, he must have brought whatever it is to Hogwarts with him—"

"How, though?" Venus interjected in confusion. "All of us were searched when we came in. You weren't because you were late, but Filch used Secrecy Sensors on us in the entrance hall. Literally any Dark object would've been found."

Harry stared at her intently, making her sent him a weird look. "Someone's sent it to him by owl, then. His mother or someone."

"All the owls are being checked too," Hermione revealed. "Filch told us so when he was jabbing those Secrecy Sensors everywhere he could reach."

Harry just continued to stare at Venus, who really wanted to wave a hand in front of his face. "Can you think of any way Malfoy—?"

"Oh, drop it, Harry," Ron said bitterly.

Harry fired up at once, making Venus blink in shock. "Listen, it's not my fault Slughorn invited Venus, Hermione, and me to his stupid party, neither of us wanted to go, you know!"

Ron stood up. "Well, as I'm not invited to any parties, I think I'll go to bed."

He stomped off towards the door to the boys' dormitories. Venus let out a small sigh and shook her head.

"Harry?" Demelza Robins, the new Chaser, began as he appeared at Harry's shoulder. "I've got a message for you."

He sat up hopefully. "From Professor Slughorn?"

"No . . . from Professor Snape. He says you're to come to his office at half past eight tonight to do your detention — er — no matter how many party invitations you've received. And he wanted you to know you'll be sorting out rotten Flobberworms from good ones, to use in Potions and — and he says there's no need to bring protective gloves."

"Right," Harry replied grimly, glaring at Venus as she let out a quiet laugh. "Thanks a lot, Demelza."

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charlotte my girlboss and animal lover <3