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Part One / Chapter Twenty-Six
Andromeda always told Venus and Tonks that lying was wrong, and Ted said that the universe would give them hell if they ever decided to do so. The girls did it anyway, when they snuck out of the house to play in the garden, snatch some cauldron cakes from the cupboard or watch muggle television past their bedtime.
Venus could spot a lie from a mile away, everyone had a tell. She couldn't explain why Umbridge didn't. She pondered endlessly that evening about what the High Inquisitor said that afternoon. Maybe she didn't twitch her nose like Tonks did or have a glint in her eyes like Constance did.
Maybe she was trying to make Venus seem like she was going insane (and she was successful). Venus felt like she was going crazy. With no recollection from that Tuesday afternoon, she had no memory to reflect on. No evidence. No injuries. Umbridge refusing to admit anything didn't help either. Hermione, Constance and Venus sat in the common took together. Hermione and Venus both catching up on their homework, while Constance watched them silently, avoiding to do her own.
Venus shut her Herbology textbook in a fit of frustration. "D'you guys think Umbridge was lying?" Constance and Hermione gave her a look, and she said, "when we were trying to stop her from going to McGonagall's office."
"That toad was certainly lying," said Constance laying backwards in the couch with her head dangling from the cushions. Her eyes looking directly into the fire. "We saw you leave class with her."
"I'm sure that she obliviated your memory," Hermione cut in. "That's the only logical explanation."
"Is it possible that she could have obliviated herself too?" asked Constance tapping her shoes together.
"It is possible if she only wanted me to forget what happened that afternoon, and if she'd done it to herself she would forget that afternoon too," Venus sighed, "but she's skilled, ministry trained. She wouldn't obliviate herself unless it was on purpose."
Hermione opened her mouth, but closed it and gave a sympathetic look to someone behind them. Harry trudged down the spiral staircase. He looked at the three girls with a frown tugged at his lips. She was confident it was because a certain redhead hadn't arrived back to the common room.
"Have you seen Ron?" Hermione asked in a low voice, low enough so Harry couldn't hear.
Constance and Venus shook their heads.
"I think he's avoiding us," said Hermione. "Where do you think he — ?"
But at that precise moment, there was a creaking sound behind them as the Fat Lady swung forward and Ron came clambering through the portrait hole. He was very pale indeed and there was snow in his hair. When he saw them he stopped dead in his tracks.
