From the Grave

Chapter Three

   "Who are you?" Neville asks me. He's standing with Luna and Cho. I glance at Luna, and our eyes meet. Lying on the floor, surrounded by my own puke, all I can see are her eyes. Pale blue, like the sky, with flecks of silver shimmering in them. Her golden hair floats softly around her face, framing her perfect features. "Ahem." Neville clears his throat, and I snap back to reality. "Oh, uh, sorry." I get out, my throat sore from my violent upchucking. "Um, I'm Venus."
   "What a lovely name," Luna says, and I blush.  What the hell's wrong with me? Since when do I blush?
"She just fell from the bloody ceiling, and you're complementing her name?"
I can just make out a head of blond hair before about ten different people jump on top of the speaker and bury him in a tangle of robes and hair. My blood is boiling. I do not tolerate being misgendered. I get up with some difficulty, march past Neville, Luna, and Cho, and up to the mass of people on top of Draco Malfoy. As I pass her, Luna quietly slips her wand into my hand and whispers some words in my ear. I jump into the brawl and point the wand at people, yelling the words Luna whispered to me. The affect is immediate. Several people go flying before the fighting stops and everyone turns to look at me. Suddenly, I feel stupid holding Luna's wand, so I turn and give it to her, as she's walked up quietly behind me. Draco's lying on the ground in front of me, his robes torn and his hair disheveled and dirty. I stand over him, panting with rage and my hands clenched into fists. I spit my words at him through gritted teeth. "Get up."
He stares at me. "All I meant was we don't even know who you are. You fell from the ceiling, for Merlin's sake!"
"You called me a girl. Get. Up!"
I reach down, grab him by the collar, and yank him to his feet. I look deceptively weak and unassuming, but when the beast in me gets angry, I can do some crazy shit. "I'm not a girl!" I scream at him. He looks taken aback, but then he smirks. "Whatcha gonna do about it then, Miss Not-a-Girl?" He asks. That's it. What little control I had is gone. Too many years of abuse, of being told my very existence is invalid, have damaged me. I never even got a chance to avenge myself- until now. I lunge forward and dig my knee into his crotch, while simultaneously bringing my open palm up and catching him in the throat with it. He doubles over in pain, and I swipe a foot behind his ankles and knock him off his feet. "That's what I'm gonna do about it," I snap at him.
   He groans, which quickly turns to anger when people start clapping. It's a half-hearted clap though, and when I look around me, I see why. I've landed in the aftermath of the big battle at Hogwarts.