The Story of Venice Evans

London Station

It was four days later after Cedric died. Venice and Draco attended the funeral, alongside the other Slytherins. It came as quite a shock when everyone found out it was Lord Voldemort who killed Cedric. The Dark Lord, as it seems, has come back.

Back in the Slytherin common room, people were arguing about how Harry and Dumbledore must be barking mad. They were saying stuff like, "Yeah, right! He can't be back, how is it possible?" "No way, not in a million years would I believe them!" "There are a million ways they could have told us he died, and they picked that excuse?" Venice was sick and tired of all these people disagreeing with Harry. "Would you all shut up? Does it really matter how he died? It just matters that somebody is actually dead, you people are absolutely arrogant!" She said, and stormed off out of the common room. She ran up to the hospital wing and opened the big oak doors, and sure enough, there was Harry surrounded by Ron and Hermione. "Oh, Harry! How are you doing? I'm so sorry about everything. I can't imagine what it's like," Venice said, sitting in a chair beside his hospital bed. "You're going to ask me what happened, aren't you," Harry said, not amused. "No, I wasn't actually," "Well then you're probably going to say you don't believe me!" Harry said with a bit of anger in his voice. He took a look at Venice's face and said "I'm sorry, it's just, everybody refuses to believe me," he said, shaking his head. "Well, I do believe you Harry. Out of all people this could happen to, why would I believe you're lying?" Venice said to him. He smiled. Madam Pomfrey came rushing toward Harry with some sort of medicine, and told everyone to leave.

The day the Hogwarts Express would take them back to London had finally come. Venice was fully packed and prepared, and got dressed as soon as she got up. Draco on the other hand, wasn't. His bed was a mess, and had not yet organized his trunks. No matter, he thought. He could just throw everything in there very quickly. He got dressed, and went down to eat breakfast before actually cleaning. Venice was to Draco's surprise, not alone at breakfast. She was sitting with one of the absurd Hufflepuffs. Although Draco didn't know her name, he had seen her around before. "Evans, are you sitting with anybody on the train?" Draco asked Venice as he approached her. "No, I am not, Malfoy. And to answer your question, yes, I would absolutely love to sit with you on the train," she said with a smile. "Great, well, I'll let you get back to talking to your friend," he said indicating the girl Venice was talking to. He left and went to sit with Crabbe and Goyle.

"So, that's the guy you were talking about? Draco Malfoy? He seems pretty mean, you know," Philly said once Draco was a safe distance away. Philadelphia Howell was a Hufflepuff in the same year as Venice and the others, and had been one of Venice's acquaintances since the beginning of the year. Their friendship had blossomed into something bigger in the last few weeks, having spent more time together. "Yes," Venice said with a sigh, "I suppose it is. But, he's one of the only people I get along with really well. And, he's not that bad," Venice stated. "Easy for you to say, Slytherin," Philly said.
"Says you, Dan is a Slytherin and I don't hear you complain about how mean he is!" said Venice. "That's because he isn't mean!" Philly protested, laughing.

The time had come when they had to hop back onto the Hogswarts Express. Venice gathered her trunks and brought them down to the common room to wait for Draco. It was about fifteen minutes later when she heard a familiar voice trudging down the stairs from the boys dorms. "Evans, I'm here!" Draco said, emerging from the stairs. "Alright then, Malfoy. Let's go!" Venice said as she started walking. They walked down to the front of the grounds, and got on one of the carriages that would take them to Hogsmeade station. Once they got there, they stepped onto the train and searched for an empty compartment. Venice couldn't believe it was already time to leave. She remembered vividly what it was like when she was coming to Hogwarts for the first time. It was, pun intended, almost magical. The train started to move as they heard the whistle. They looked out the window and stared outside until the train turned, and Hogwarts was out of view.

"Draco, I'm tired," Venice said, walking to the side of the compartment Draco was sitting on. "You always seem tired, Evans. You work yourself too much." Draco said. Venice smiled and rested her head against Draco's shoulder, falling into a light daze. Draco rested his head against hers and fell into a deep thought. How was their summer going to turn out? What were they going to do? Were they going to get sick of seeing each other 24/7 ? Draco told himself to stop worrying, and to just see how things would unfold. After all, how could somebody get sick of Venice Evans?

The train came to a sudden halt, and Draco looked out to see Platform 9 and three quarters. He gently started brushing the hair out of Venice's eyes, hoping his touch would wake her up. He saw her eyes flutter open, and she looked up, looking very confused. "Are we here already?" She asked. "Yes we are. Come on, my mother and father are probably waiting for us." Draco said, standing up. He put out his hand to help Venice out of her seat. She took it and pulled herself up. They pulled their trunks off the rack and proceeded out of their compartment and off the train. Immediately, Draco saw his parents amidst the crowd of students. "Come on!" Draco called as he looked behind to see Venice following him. She smiled at him as he turned back around. "Ah, Draco dear!" Mrs. Malfoy said pulling her son into a hug. "Venice! Good to see you," Mr. Malfoy said, shaking Venice's hand as she put down her trunk. "Venice, we can't tell you enough how honoured we are to have you stay in our home!" Mrs. Malfoy said as she turned to look at her. She then hugged Venice, too. "Shall we go, then?" Mr. Malfoy asked, leading them out of the station. "Venice, we have a separate car for you, because I'm sure you have possessions at your Aunt's that you would like to take. So, after you are finished gathering them, you will be driven to our manor." Mrs. Malfoy said, indicating a pitch black car with a very serious and professional looking driver in the front. "Thank you so much, Mr. And Mrs. Malfoy," Venice said. "I'll see you in a bit, Draco," she said, swinging her arms around Draco's neck in a very tight embrace. He put his arms around her waist and hugged her back. Venice stepped into the car, and was driven off and out of sight from the Malfoys.