Chapter Twenty-One
Confronting the Faceless 💀 CompleteJanuary 6-9, 1998
"The world isn't split into good people and Deatheaters"
Venus Burke quite likes school, thank you very much. She needs the lessons and study time to improve her knowledge in order to maximize her chances of being accepted into the Department of Mysteries as early as possible. The fact that this vital education is being interrupted on an hourly basis is, to her mind, a perfectly legitimate reason to be rather annoyed.
Dumbledore's Army doesn't seem to understand that if they all would just sit down and stop making a fuss over a war that doesn't impact them yet, this year would be just like every other school year. But no, a bunch of seventeen year olds hit legal age and suddenly think they hold the world on their shoulders.
Venus is getting really sick of it. To top it off, the people interrupting the classes are usually the ones not doing very well (Venus knows full well who the top students in her year are - she has to if she wants to stay ahead of them and retain her place as the number one ranked student), so they have even less claim to being intelligent enough to actually know how to handle a war.
The only faint silver lining is that it's mainly Defense Against the Dark Arts and Muggle Studies which are being interrupted - the rest of the classes mostly go on as normal. It's a small lining though - Venus could self-teach most of the other classes, but Defense and Muggle Studies don't have textbooks this year, so the in-class work is all she's getting in terms of preparation for exams.
She had been hopeful that the holiday break might calm things down, or at least that some of the worst offenders just wouldn't come back to school and she'd finally be able to buckle down and prepare for her NEWTs (yes they're still a year away, but if she wants to get into the Department of Mysteries then she needs to start preparing now). While some people certainly hadn't come back - Luna Lovegood among them, though she'd known about that one - the loudest interruptors are unfortunately still around.
"How can you say Muggles steal magic? If there was a way to do that how come Squibs don't?" Ginny Weasley demands not ten minutes into their first Tuesday Muggle Studies lecture of the new year.
Venus presses a palm between her eyes to ward of an oncoming headache. It's always Weasley who starts it, but her friend Phipps usually pipes up just after and-
"Yeah, and are you implying fetuses can steal from other fetuses? Their brains aren't even formed yet." Ah yes, there he is. Weirdly smart, that one, usually makes top five every year grade-wise despite acting like an utter fool a majority of the time.
Alecto splutters angrily. "Are you sayin' that you think Muggles just get magic? No, it's clearly the parents stealing it for their children! Muggles are less, um," She flounders for a word, and Venus sighs.
"Evolved, ma'am?" She suggests. The quicker Alecto gets her rant out of her system the faster they can go back to the material.
"Yes! Yes thank you Ms. Burke, they's less evolved than us." Alecto says triumphantly.
"Well that just means we came from them at some point." Phipps says proudly, while Weasley flashes Venus a dirty look that the Slytherin deftly ignores. Honestly the entire thing is childish, and something tells her she'll be staying after to request another private session with the teacher. On the first day back, too.
Venus sighs and takes a few notes as the argument continues, culminating in the expected detention for both Weasley and Phipps, as well as another Gryffindor who had joined in partway through (Becker maybe?), and the class time being completely wasted.
While the rest of the students file out to head to lunch, Venus stays back to speak with Alecto.
"Professor Carrow?" She asks politely after a few minutes of the stout woman not noticing her continued presence.
Alecto startles, then grins. "Ah Ms. Burke, my favorite student. What can I do for you today?"
"I was hoping I might be able to come by your office later this evening to hear the rest of today's intended lecture? As you were rudely interrupted again." She asks primly, and Alecto glowers.
"Rotten little snots, that lot. They're all of a bad breed I tell you. But oh, yes indeed, of course you stop by whenever you need Ms. Burke." She adds, and Venus smiles politely.
"It's greatly appreciated Professor." She says before finally excusing herself to lunch.
She sits by herself, as she often does - she's one of only two female Slytherins in her year, the other - Mabel Travers - of whom she's never gotten along with, and the boys are all idiots who got into the House by virtue of their last name rather than any actual skill or ability so Venus rarely gives them the time of day (not that it's stopped them from attempting courtships time and time again in the past couple years). As she eats she pulls out her notes for her next class to review.
Arithmancy is far from her favorite subject, but it's a necessary one so she works hard to keep up her grades in the class. As it doesn't come as naturally as Potions or Charms, that means a lot of extra studying on her own time. The myth that being smart means you're naturally talented at Arithmancy can kiss her arse, thank you very much.
She's caught by her cousin just as she's leaving the Great Hall when lunch finishes. Honestly Venus quite likes Astoria Greengrass - she's just the right amount of curious and cunning that Venus can respect - but the company her cousin keeps is questionable at best.
She can feel Astoria's friend Ava glaring at them from a few feet away, but Venus ignores her with practiced ease. "Can I help you Astoria?"
"Could we move our OWL studying back by an hour today?" Her cousin asks nervously. "The Head Boy and Girl called a prefect meeting kind of last minute and-"
"That's fine, I'll be at the usual table." Venus says briskly. She needs to get to class after all, and it's not like she isn't aware Astoria has other obligations. Besides, more time to study for her own classes is never a bad thing.
Arithmancy is a small class - always has been, but it's shrunk even further post-OWLs - and so it's easy for Venus to find a seat away from the rest of the students where she can flip through her notes in peace before the teacher arrives to start the day's lecture.
Professor Vector is always five minutes early, and assuming the entire class has arrived she always starts five minutes early as well. And as there are only four of them still in the class, everyone is present when she sweeps into the room.
"Good afternoon, I hope you all reviewed the Aramaic charts like I asked because we're diving into the ancient Chaldean Predictive Theory today and I don't want any questions about numerical locations since you all should know that by now."
Venus sits up straight and quickly pulls out her quill, taking rapid-fire notes as Vector flies through the lesson, going past the end bell by ten minutes, as she often does now. Venus doesn't mind as she has no classes after Arithmancy, but the Ravenclaws obviously do as the two in the class always race out the door once Vector dismisses them. Which unfortunately leaves her alone with the one Gryffindor still in the class - Zachary Phipps.
He doesn't always speak, but if the Professor leaves quickly as well he's prone to making some mocking comments while they're packing their bags.
And today, unfortunately, Professor Vector is out the door only moments after the Ravenclaws.
"So Burke, you think we're more evolved than the Muggles?" Phipps says, sarcasm dripping from his words.
Venus huffs. She does not have time for this - she needs to go speak with Alecto Carrow, and then get her usual table in the library.
"Considering no one has done any in depth research on the topic, Phipps, I wouldn't know. Logically I can understand the argument, but so long as the Statute is in place I doubt we'll ever truly know the biological facts in detail. Things you'd know if you bothered to read." She adds irritably.
Phipps blinks, then rolls his eyes. "Typical Slytherin, wriggling out of giving an answer."
Venus just sighs - there's no reasoning with a Gryffindor. She finishes putting her things into her bag and slings it over her shoulder, resolutely ignoring Phipps as she finally leaves the room. Why she even engages with him in the first place is beyond her - maybe she's trying to figure out how his grades are as high as they are when he's clearly an absolute moron.
She heads towards the Professors' offices, hoping to find Alecto now and not have to return after the school day has officially ended. Luckily for her, the Muggle Studies professor doesn't have a class and so is in her office.
Venus knocks on the door lightly to announce her presence and waits for the woman to turn and acknowledge her before stepping onto the premises.
"I was hoping now wouldn't be a bad time to have that private session?" She asks politely, and Alecto hums.
"Of course not, now is fine. Sit down Burke." She waves vaguely and Venus summons a chair from one of the corners to settle herself on, pulling out her notes and waiting quietly.
The lecture is, as it usually is, more of the same, but there's enough variation that these private lessons are worth the time they take. Once Alecto has finish rambling, Venus thanks her and packs back up before heading across the school to her next destination.
The library is relatively quiet - Venus has a short day on Tuesdays so most people are still in class, meaning there's plenty of space available for her to set up in, including the table she's claimed as her own this year.
She settles down and spreads out in a clear show of "don't sit by me," a successful tactic as, even when classes let out and more student pile in, a wide berth is left around Venus and her table. She's nearly figured out what the heck Professor Vector had been going on about in class that day when Astoria joins her. Unfortunately, Ava Travers is with her.
"Alright, did you want to continue with Transfiguration today or move onto something else?" Venus asks briskly as she puts her own notes away and faces her cousin, pointedly ignoring Ava.
"Um, more Transfiguration?" Astoria says with an embarrassed grin. "It's really getting tough this year and I want to get to the NEWT level."
"There's a lot of math involved, it's normal to be lost." Venus says dismissively. "Alright, what questions do you have?"
Studying goes as well as can be expected with Ava around, rolling her eyes and muttering to herself as though everyone can't hear exactly what she's saying. She's absolutely infuriating to be around, a never ending ball of whining negativity, and Venus has no idea why Astoria keeps her around. Her cousin says Ava can be fun to talk to, but Venus hasn't seen it at all in recent years. Maybe when Ava was a firstie, but she's gotten bitter and petulant with age and Venus for one thinks Astoria ought to drop what has obviously become a charity case friendship.
"You know a Muggleborn discovered that formula." Ava says at one point, sounding irritatingly reminiscent of Phipps earlier in the day as she does.
Venus rolls her eyes. "I am aware of that and it has nothing to do with actually learning the formula, so do you have an actual question or are you just being irritating for the sake of it?"
"Vee." Astoria warns nervously as Ava rolls her eyes dramatically and sags back into her chair.
"Does too matter." She grumbles. "Of course you wouldn't think so."
Venus sighs and ignores it. "As I was saying..."
It's always like this with Ava. She complains endlessly about how terrible Slytherins are, and how she's better for not being like them, but Venus is yet to see her actually do a damn thing. All talk and no action - she's pretty sure Phipps tried to insult her with that once. Venus thinks it applies to Ava quite well - the other girl might be more Slytherin than she'd care to admit.
Astoria manages to finally grasp the concept by the time dinner rolls around, and Ava has thankfully spent most of the time reading her insipid werewolf mystery novel and not provided too many of her usual pointless interruptions.
"Thanks Vee, see you tomorrow!" Astoria smiles. "Come on Ava, I told Anwen we'd sit with her today."
Venus hears Ava groan something at that but she doesn't process it, too busy gathering her own things and checking that her notes are ordered properly in her bag. She hates having to dig around to find references, it wastes time that could be spent learning. When she looks up, the two fifth years are already gone.
She checks her bag again - never hurts to be thorough - and then finally joins the trickle of remaining students trudging out of the library and towards the Great Hall.
She hears noise coming from down the hallway leading to the dungeons, and a few of the younger years around her glance over nervously, but Venus just keeps walking. The sounds of detention are common - obviously some people had forgotten over the break but Venus prides herself on her memory and reasonability. She's not going to be shaken now by something so commonplace.
She can almost hear Ava's sarcastic remarks, or Phipps' dry comment, in her mind but she pushes them away. Clearly she's giving them both far too much attention in her day-to-day routines if their inanity is intruding into her private thoughts. She makes a mental note to keep an eye on that.
Dinner is standard fare, as is the rest of the night, and Venus is feeling refreshed in the morning, ready for the second day back - and her first Defense Against the Dark Arts class of the semester.
Luckily this class is with the Ravenclaws rather than the Gryffindors, and while there are some resistors in their ranks none of them ranks even close to Weasley or Phipps - even Lovegood, while she was present, hadn't been as loud and overdramatic as her Gryffindor friends. Honestly Venus is a bit disappointed the other girl's father had been such an idiot - she's almost certain Lovegood had been a balancing force for the more extreme members of the DA. Who knows what nonsense they'll start pulling now that Weasley is being left unchecked?
Professor Carrow waddles into the room a few minutes after class has officially started, which is annoying but not unexpected with him. Venus presses down an urge to smirk at a mental image of the Professor having to literally roll out of bed because of his bulk, resulting in his perpetual tardiness.
"Right then." Amycus says loudly. "You all might've just had a nice holiday break, but you're back in school now! And I'm not gonna go easy on you just because you might've let your brains go soggy over break!"
Venus mentally gives an eye roll. The class is full of Slytherins and Ravenclaws - none of them would have been slacking over the break. Amycus ought to save the speech for the Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs.
"We're going right back where we were. Does anyone here remember where that was?"
Venus's hand flies into the air immediately, a few other student's raising theirs more hesitantly a few moments later.
Amycus's face twists into something Venus thinks might be an attempt at a smile, but it's rather difficult to tell. "Ms. Burke, my favorite student. Do tell."
Venus nods primly, lowering her hand to the desk. "We had just completed our unit on the Imperious curse and you said during our last class we would be receiving a final assessment on our understanding of the topic before we moved on."
Amycus nods, probably pleased but Venus has long learned that his face isn't built to show positive emotions.
"Very good Ms. Burke. Now then, today we will be casting the Imperious curse on a very special volunteer." He waves his wand, glares when nothing happens, and then shakes it a few more times before something files in from the back of the room, nearly clobbering a few students on the way. It nearly takes off her Housemate Monroe Harper's head, and Venus thinks it unfortunate he'd ducked in time - a knock to the skull might've fixed his IQ and make him less of a massive embarrassment to their House.
When Amycus removes the cloth covering the item he'd summoned, it's revealed to be a large cage. And within the cage is a spitting Kneazle, clearly under a silencing charm.
"These little bastards are quite clever - they'll put up more of a fight than the rats we've been working with." Amycus says gleefully. "Of course, some of you should have no problem, if you've been coming to my extra credit Friday sessions!"
Venus has been to a few of them in the past few months, so she knows what Amycus means. In those sessions they practice on students who have been stupid enough to get detention, and obviously the human mind is more complex than a Kneazle's - if you've succeeded in the Friday sessions then this will be a breeze.
Venus, of course, has succeeded multiple times - it's why she hadn't been by the Defense classroom on Friday in quite a few weeks, even prior to the holiday break. There was simply nothing left to learn there until they moved on to the next spell. Perhaps that will change this week, since this lesson is finally concluding. Fascinating as the magical impact on the brain is, she's already mastered it as much as possible without access to the Department of Mysteries.
She has Defense again late Friday afternoon - she'll decide then, based on the new material, whether or not to go to the extra credit session or not. For now, she has an assessment to blow away.
Venus volunteers to go first, and has the Kneazle perform a few backflips before putting it back in it's cage and settling into her seat to take notes on the other students' performances - one can learn a lot from others' failures. Heck, Venus prefers it when she can do that: she'd rather not fail herself where possible, unavoidable as it is.
She gets some decent observations jotted down, particularly from watching the Ravenclaws, and folds the page to slip into the personal notebook she keeps in a side pocket of her bag at all times. It contains all her notes that she thinks might be useful once she's gotten into the Department of Mysteries and is able to put more time and resources into exploring them.
The rest of the day is standard fare, going to class, studying in her free time, and she even has some time to dive into her personal notebook to compare past observations and sketch out a few hypotheses she could propose in order to gain admittance into the Department of Mysteries once she's graduated. She knows from her uncle Greengrass that no one under thirty has ever gotten a job there, but there's a first time for everything. Personally, Venus likes her chances.
The next days proves equally typical, including Muggle Studies once again being interrupted by Weasley and her lot, though Venus forgoes getting a private overview this time. In the afternoon Ava again joins her tutoring session with Astoria which is annoying as ever, particularly as they're studying Defense Against the Dark Arts and Ava has opinions that she's only too happy to share.
"Can you really teach her anything other than Unforgivables?" Ava snipes, and Venus rolls her eyes with a sigh.
"Why are you here again?" She asks the other girl calmly (as calmly as she can, anyway. Some sarcasm might've slipped in there, Venus can't always tell).
"She has an essay, right Ava?" Astoria butts in nervously, her eyes begging the other girl to drop it, which Ava thankfully does, allowing Venus to go back to ignoring her in favor of outlining the main Dark Beasts her cousin will need to worry about revisiting for the OWL.
Finally Friday arrives, and Venus packs a few extra parchments in case she decides to attend the extra credit session that evening. Her morning classes are mostly electives - Ancient Runes and Divination followed by History of Magic just before lunch. They're either easy (History and Divination) or fun enough to make up for their difficulty (Ancient Runes) and Friday mornings are definitely Venus' favorite part of the week because of it.
Most people are surprised when they learn she finds Divination almost enjoyable as a class, and frankly if the teacher were better it would probably rank among her absolute favorites at school. The examination of future predictions is beyond fascinating and would fit right in at the Department of Mysteries, Venus is certain of that. But due to the subpar lectures she unfortunately hasn't been able to develop too many hypotheses in that particular direction.
She doesn't have a class immediately after lunch, so she studies in the library until it's time for Charms, which is luckily with the Ravenclaws just like Defense, so it's one of the less irritating classes.
However, today does end up grating at her nerves ever so slightly due to the fact they have to partner up to practice silent casting of the Bubble-Head Charm, and Venus ends up stuck with Monroe Harper. The downside of having not made any friends in her year, she supposes, though honestly it's worth not having to deal with all the teenage drama that seems to surround Travers (which she always complains about at night - as if Venus ever listens).
"I'll start." She tells Harper briskly, who nods quietly, eyes wide and blushing a bit. Venus holds back a sigh - the boy's crush on her is obvious and a bit disgusting, but he hasn't acted on it yet so she's had to tolerate it for the time being.
She succeeds with the spell on her first try, and she lets herself rest on her laurels for a minute or so before returning Harper's head to its proper size and bracing herself for his sure to be shoddy attempts.
Fourty minutes later she has a pounding headache that's only partially due to Monroe's utter failure as a wizard (probably due to the inbreeding his family has undoubtedly subjected itself to - most half-bloods who act like blood purists come from lines like that). She rapidly grabs her things and hurries out of the room as soon as Professor Flitwick dismisses them, not wanting to have to listen to Harper rattle off all his self-perceived "good qualities" for another moment longer. Hopefully Defense will go better than this disaster of the class.
Venus is the first to arrive at Professor Carrow's classroom since she'd been the first to leave charms, which gives her time to select the best seat in the room and get settled before the rest of the students arrive. As always, Amycus shows up a bit late but makes up for it by launching straight into the lesson, which is, unsurprisingly really, about the Cruciatus curse.
"The thing with this curse is that you really have to mean it." Carrow says gleefully, and Venus notes that a few of the Ravenclaws look ill - as does, surprisingly, Monroe Harper. "If you don't want to hurt the target, then you won't."
Venus raises her hand, and Carrow nods to her. "Is that similar to the Imperius curse? In order to maintain control you have to inflict your will over theirs. With this curse is the methodology similar to that or does it require a different sort of focus?"
The professor blinks at her vapidly for several seconds before replying. "It just takes a lot of focus."
Venus hears snickering behind her even as she nods. "Thank you professor." For not being helpful at all. Still, it's something she can research on her own time, and it was worth asking on the off chance Carrow would actually know.
She takes careful notes throughout class, at least when Carrow isn't cursing out one of the Ravenclaws for acting out or calling the Cruciatus inhumane and cruel, and by the end has concluded that popping into the extra credit session would likely be useful to do in order to get a more hands-on feel for the new curse. These sorts of high-level spells can only really be understood via practice.
"So are you coming to the extra credit session tonight?" Harper asks her as she's leaving, apparently having decided now that he's allowed to talk to her. Which he isn't.
"I don't see how that's any of your business Harper." She says sharply. Obviously ignoring his crush rather than shutting it down the moment she realized it existed had been a miscalculation on her part. She'll know for next time.
She leaves the disappointed boy in the doorway as she strides off, heading for the library to study until it's time for the session. On her way she passes by Amycus Carrow's office - and notices the door is slightly ajar.
She can't help peering into the office just to see if everything is in order - only to quickly realize it definitely isn't.
There are three people inside - Venus instantly recognizes Weasley, what with that hair of hers, but can't quite place the other two with her. They're definitely Gryffindors from their robe colors and both are male, but they aren't sixth years so Venus doesn't recognize either of them.
The three are systematically destroying a majority of Carrow's office - the brunette boy seems to be taking quite a bit of joy in burning something in the trash can. Venus grimaces - she can guess those are probably essays, and she hopes hers isn't among them. She'd worked hard on the last assignment, it would be a pity to lose it. Weasley is gleefully searing anti-Dark Lord slogans into the walls, and the last boy is mostly behind Carrow's desk, so Venus can't quite make out what he's doing. After a moment he glances up, and freezes when their eyes meet.
Venus tilts her head at him as his eyes widen in terror, his lips parting but no sound coming out. Huh, less loud and impulsive than she's come to expect from the lions. She raises a finger to her lips and gives a slight shrug before turning and continuing on her way.
She could go get Carrow - the three wouldn't have a chance to get away before he arrives. But honestly, she doesn't feel like it. Engaging with them is exhausting enough in class, the last thing she needs is them focused on her specifically, which will absolutely happen if she reports these three. And besides, she has some theories about the Cruciatus to outline and then test in a few hours, which is a much more productive use of her time.
So she sits in the library for a few hours before heading back toward the Defense room for the session, her notes on the curse tucked in a front pocket of her bag along with a self-inking quill for easy access.
The Head Boy and Girl are already present, and Venus nods to her cousin as she takes a seat a few rows back. Pansy Parkinson and her have a bit of an odd relationship - too close to be acquaintances, but not close enough to call it friendship. Though admittedly, that might be Venus's fault - she's pretty sure Pansy would be open to talking more now that Venus has made clear she has zero interest in dating Draco, who Pansy has been swooning after since third year. But her cousin has little more ambition than to become a house wife, which doesn't leave much incentive for Venus to want to speak with her. And thus, the odd relationship.
A couple other seventh years pile in shortly after Venus, as well as a handful of younger years, who she gives encouraging smiles. It's always good to see the next generations putting in some effort, especially considering she never sees it among her own yearmates.
Professor Carrow arrives late, and he looks absolutely furious.
Venus supposes he'd seen his office. She supposes she could mention that she knows who did it, and they probably wouldn't even link it to her, considering Weasley is the obvious suspect.
She stays silent.
Eventually Carrow gets over himself and quits ranting against "those damn ungrateful mudblood-lovers and blood traitors" and finally gets back to the point of the gathering. "Right then," He grunts, still obviously furious, "I've shown you the effect of the Cruciatus Curse on people before, but today you'll be practicing it yourself. We have a few volunteer assistants for this." He grins cruelly, and waves his wand at the door, which flies open to reveal his sister. Alecto's face is tilted sideways in the way Venus thinks means she's pleased, and she yanks on two chains she's holding in her hands, forcing the figures attached to them to stumble through the doorway.
One is a familiar face in these sessions - Seamus Finnigan almost seems like he's trying to get caught with how often it happens - but the other boy is new. And something in Venus shudders slightly at the thought she might have to curse him.
Zachary Phipps glares confidently out over the gathered Slytherins, and when his eyes fall on Venus he looks unsurprised. She supposes he wouldn't be - her coming to these isn't exactly a secret.
For the first time she doesn't volunteer to go first, letting Malfoy's flunkies Crabbe and Goyle take first shot, but eventually she steps forward, focusing her mind on her notes and theories as she raises her wand and points it directly at Zach's face, where he's kneeling on the floor. She takes a steady breath and closes her eyes. Focus on the theory.
"Crucio."
Zach screams.
Author's Note: :D I'm SO happy to finally have our first Venus chapter! ... It really must say something that these more disturbing chapters are my favorites OTL
So I'm thinking I might do a final 'afterwords' chapter to share my thoughts and feelings on writing this story, if that's something people would be interested in? I'm also open to answering any lingering questions people might have there as well!
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