The Story of Venice Evans

Super Secret

"Venice!" Draco called, when he saw her approaching the table. "Hey, sorry. I needed to talk to a few people," Venice explained why she wasn't there quicker. "And who may these people be? Does it include Potter and the mudblood?" He asked, irritated. "Don't call her that you irritable piece of-" "Welcome to our grand feast!" Dumbledore interrupted, with his booming voice that surrounded the halls. Venice sat down with a huff. "First Years, welcome! And to those who are returning, welcome back! Shall we begin the sorting?" Nervously, first years were called up to be put in their house. "Gryffindor!" Was a popular one, but so was "Hufflepuff!" Of course their were Ravenclaws and Slytherins, too. Soon "Zara, Emily!" was the last one to step up to the hat. It was an obvious decision for this girl, apparently, because as soon as the hat was placed on her head it yelled "Ravenclaw!". Everybody was clapping, and soon Dumbledore stood up and signalled for the feast to begin. The magical gold plates filled with food, and everybody ate until they barely could hold anymore. Venice looked toward the Gryffindor table and saw Ron filling himself with chicken. She laughed a little bit, and thought to herself "Boy, I think Hermione has some competition!". Draco saw her laughing and asked "What's up with you?". She stopped laughing and looked at Draco, "Oh, nothing. Can't I laugh?" "Of course. I was just asking, so maybe I can laugh too," he said, almost apologetically. Venice smiled. "Thank you everybody, for attending this wonderful feast! Please go back to your dormitories, I think everybody should have a good nights sleep!" Dumbledore said. Everybody stood up and left the great hall.

Venice was a little bit ahead of Draco in the crowd, so he dodged all the people to catch up with her. He grabbed her hand, and walked with her back to the common room. "Ah, feels good to be back!" He said, looking at Venice. "Yeah, it really does," she said, her voice trailing off. Once they got to the common room, they decided they were too tired to do anything else, so they just went to bed.

Today was the first day back to classes. Because of the incident with Professor "Imposter" Moody last year, they were supposed to have a new teacher. Venice wondered if it was going to be that hideous lady wearing the bright pink cloak at the feast. Her assumptions were correct, because when she walked into the Defence Against The Dark Arts classroom she was there behind a very solemn looking desk, sipping what looked like tea. The bell rang, and everybody rushed to find a seat. Venice quickly rushed to sit beside Hermione, as Zabini was already sitting beside Draco. "Ah, good morning everybody! I am Professor Umbridge, and I am your new Defence Against The Dark Arts teacher. I was sent to Hogwarts after the dreadful incident with Professor Moody, and because of the incidents after the Triwizard Tournament," she said, standing up. As she said that last part, she shot a very dirty smirk at Harry. What could that possible have anything to do with him? He witnessed Cedric's death! "As you all know, Cedric Diggory's death was a very tragic accident," "It wasn't an accident! He was killed by Voldemort!" Harry said, interrupting. The room grew so silent you could hear a pin drop. "Nonsense! His death was like I said, a tra-" "But Dumbledore himself said he was killed by Voldemort!" Harry butted in, once again. "Potter! No interrupting! Your hand must be in the air if you wish to speak! Cedric Diggory wasn't killed by He Who Must Not Be Named, these are all lies!" She boasted, now walking around the room, intently studying everybody in the classroom. "What, and you think Dumbledore is lying? Were you in that maze, and watched him die in front of your eyes?" Harry said once more, and standing up. The whole class was watching them. "Detention! My office, tonight Potter! How often do I have to remind you to raise-your-hand!" She snapped. Harry sat down slowly. "Now! We can begin!" She resumed, with a high pitched squeak she must call a laugh. "Open your textbooks to Page 1, and read that whole section,". Venice and Hermione shot a quick glance at each other, then proceeded to do what Umbridge told them too.

"She doesn't teach! This is rubbish! She is rubbish!" Ron was saying, after classes one day. "Exactly! We don't even use our wands, and we are supposed to be learning spells!" Venice agreed. Ron, Hermione, Harry, and Venice were sitting under a tree. "I wish there was somebody who could actually teach us useful things," Hermione said, her voice trailing on. She was reading a book about different types of Skrewts for Care of Magical Creatures with Hagrid. "Yeah! If there was a way, that would be wicked!" Ron said, agreeing with Hermione. "Harry, you know a lot about that stuff!" Hermione suddenly said, looking up from her book. "What? No I don't," Harry said. "Yes, Harry! All those times you faced Voldemort, and you're still here!" She said. "Yeah, Harry!" Both Venice and Ron said. "I just got lucky, you guys! Do you guys really think I'm actually good enough? If it were an actual duel, I'd be dead in a minute!" Harry tried explaining. "What if there was a way that you could teach us the stuff you learned? Like, for instance if we created a special Defence Against The Dark Arts group that actually focused on using spells?" Hermione said, with the tone I'd what seemed like a lightbulb flickered on in her head. "Yeah, Harry! I think that would be amazing!" Venice agreed with Hermione. "But where would we do it? Wouldn't we get caught by Filch or Umbridge?" Harry asked. "The room of requirement," Hermione whispered to herself, barely audible. "What?" Ron asked. "The room of requirement, Harry! It's always there when you need it most!" She said. "But nobody believed me and what happened in that maze!" Harry argued. "Of course they do! Well, not everybody, but a lot of people do, Harry! We could meet up with all the people interested in joining at Hogsmeade!" Hermione said with a smile. "Oh, alright. But if we get caught, I swear!" Harry trailed on, laughing. "Perfect, so next Hogsmeade trip, meet at the Hogs Head! And make sure if you invite anybody, they are trustworthy enough that they won't tell! Cause, we don't want to get expelled, right?" She said with a nervous laugh. "Who are you, and what have you done with Hermione?" Ron asked, and they all laughed. They had successfully found a way to ditch their teacher and actually learn some useful stuff from the one and only Harry Potter.

The first Hogsmeade trip was in early December, which surprisingly came fast. They had to deal with Umbridge until then, but it was really quite easy as it was only reading and writing assignments which were quite small. Venice was going to go find Hermione, but then saw Draco coming toward her. "Evans!" He called, "Care to go to Hogsmeade with the Slytherin gang and I?" Draco asked her. Crabbe, Goyle, and a few other un- recognizable Slytherins were standing in a group behind him. The ones she had never seen before were staring at her, and Draco seemed to notice. He turned around to face them, and harshly pointed at them and whispered something to them that she couldn't hear. He spun back around and said, "So, what do you say?" "I'm sorry Draco, but I said I'd meet somebody to go," She responded. She felt bad, but she also couldn't wait to find out more about their secret group. "Oh, um, alrighty. Maybe next time?" He said, with a bit of a sad tone in his voice. "Yes, of course!" She said, and hugging him tightly. They let go, and Venice went off to find to find Hermione.

Instead, she found Luna. "Quite exciting, isn't it? Doing something like this behind teachers backs, it's really fun," she said, as her and Venice were going down the hill to the town of Hogsmeade. They walked through the village to the old pub where they were going to meet. They stepped inside, and turned to the right where they found Harry, Ron, and Hermione all sitting at a table. In front of them were about 15 other people, some of which Venice recognized. There was Neville, Seamus, Dean, Ginny, Fred, George, the Patil twins, and Cho Chang. "Welcome, you guys!" Hermione started, catching everybody's attention. "So, you all know why you're here. We need a name for our group, and a time for our first meeting," she said. "What about the place we are going to meet? Do you know that?" Dean Thomas asked. "Yes, of course! It's the room of requirement on the seventh floor. I assume you all know where that is? It's easy to find," Hermione answered, and got a bunch of head nods in return. "I think we should be called Dumbledore's Army. We never see him around much, and with the ministry taking over and everything, I think it's a bit of a tribute," Neville suggested. "That sounds perfect! Who agrees?" Hermione asked. Everybody nodded their heads in agreement. "Ok," she continued, writing on a piece of parchment. "Is 5:00pm on Tuesday evening good for all of you?" Hermione asked. Again, there was only head nods in agreement. "Perfect! I want you all to write your names on this piece of parchment, to signify that you are in our group! And, I want to make sure everyone agrees Harry is going to be our teacher." There was a bit of murmur after she said this, but everyone ended up agreeing in the end, and went to line up to sign the paper. On the top of the parchment, the heading read Dumbledore's Army, and everyone proceeded to write their names down.

After the meeting, Venice met up with Philly and her friend Isabella, a ravenclaw. They went to the Three Broomsticks for Butterbeer, Zonko's, and the candy shop. Not once did Venice mention the super secret meeting she just had. She couldn't wait until Tuesday.