✓ Heavenly

016. Life and Death, Good and Evil

Part One / Chapter Sixteen

Ted always told Venus that if a boy was mean to her it meant he liked her and Andromeda always smacked him in the head after he said that.

"That's rubbish, Ted." Andromeda scolded, Ted painfully rubbed with back of his head with a frown. "If a boy likes you, he won't be mean to you. He'd be nervous. Nervous whenever you're around, nervous whenever you talk to him. In fear that he'd say something stupid."

She eyed Ted.

"But never mean."

Venus took Andromeda's word for it, and hadn't uttered a word to Harry since their fight. She'd barely spoken since Constance showed her what was written in the newsletter. After reading that article on the Daily Prophet, she waited with bated breath for anyone to sneak an attack on her. She'd break out in a cold sweat everytime the portrait hole opened or anytime someone laughed.

       "Okay, write that down," Venus said to Ron, pushing his essay and a sheet covered in her own writing back to Ron, "and then copy out these sentence starters that I've written for you."

       "You are a life-saver, Venus," Ron said weakly, beginning to scribble down what Venus had written.

       Harry grumbled from where he was sitting with Hermione.

       "Don't mention it," she said, overlooking as he wrote. "You spelled 'because' wrong."

       Hermione was sitting on the other side of the common room table helping Harry with his essay. It'd been hours since their public dispute in the Great Hall. They refused to speak, or even look in each other's direction. Venus having to answer Harry's questions through Ron. She was mad— no— infuriated with Harry. In truth, Venus didn't feel much like talking about what the Daily Prophet had written about her. She would either go into a hysterical frenzy or find and murder whoever sold her out. Gladly, Dumbledore stopped them from spreading it out any further, but if the Slytherins already knew, Venus was done for.

       "Harry, yours is okay except for this bit at the end, I think you must have misheard Professor Sinistra, Europa's covered in ice, not mice — Harry?" Harry had slid off his chair onto his knees and was now crouching on the singed and threadbare hearthrug, gazing into the flames.

       "Er — Harry?" said Ron uncertainly. "Why are you down there?"

       "Because I've just seen Sirius's head in the fire," said Harry.

       "Has he gone mental?" Venus whispered to Ron.

       "Sirius's head?" Hermione repeated. "You mean like when he wanted to talk to you during the Triwizard Tournament? But he wouldn't do that now, it would be too — Sirius!" She gasped, gazing at the fire; Ron dropped his quill. There in the middle of the dancing flames sat Sirius's head, long dark hair falling around his grinning face.