Another Year at Hogwarts

“I have to talk to him, Hermione!” I exclaimed to Hermione, who was sitting on my bed.

“Like Remus said to Ron and me yesterday, we have to give him space, Violet,” Hermione explained to me. “He’s having a real difficult time—”

“In the day and a half that I’ve been here, have you even talked to him?” I asked as I stopped my pacing.

“I—um…just a little bit,” Hermione confessed. “But that’s not the point—”

“He’s isolating himself, Hermione. Plus, I want to explain things before I have to leave tomorrow.”

She sighed heavily. “Must you really leave?”

“I have to. If I’m gone for too long and then just magically appear, they’ll be suspicious,” I explained. “They probably already are.”

“I guess you’re right,” Hermione agreed. “But…I don’t know if it will be wise to talk to Harry…”

“Why not?” I snapped. “Should I just leave again—without him knowing?”

“I—I don’t know!” Hermione replied as she quickly stood and began walking around the room.

“Just examine the scenarios: if you end up talking to Harry and the two of you patch things up, he’ll be devastated when you leave—even if you tell him you’re leaving. Either that or he will try to stop you with whatever means he can! The second scenario is that you just leave without saying anything to him again. He—” Hermione stopped. “He will be… Um…”

“Devastated either way!” I finished. “Whether I leave after fixing things between the two of us or not, it will still leave him devastated!”

“But if you do talk to Harry and the two of you can figure things out, are you really going to be able to leave knowing how worried we are?”

“One thing I’ve learned from Snape is that it doesn’t matter how you feel when it comes to doing something you know you have to do. Whatever it is—if it has to be done, you have to do it.”

“That’s rubbish,” Hermione commented.

“No, it’s not!” I calmly said. “Harry, for example, has to kill You-Know-Who, and it doesn’t matter if he’s scared out of his wits because he HAS to do it.”

“That’s different, Violet. You-Know-Who is the bad guy here!” Hermione reminded.

“No, that’s all a matter of opinion,” I corrected. “In your opinion You-Know-Who is the bad guy and Harry’s the hero. And to those who share your opinion, this is true. But to those who oppose you, You-Know-Who could be the hero—the person brave enough to rid the wizardry world of its impurities and it restore it!”

Hermione stared at me with a horrified expression. “What is the world are you saying, Violet? Are you all of a suddenly agreeing with You-Know-Who?”

“NO!” I replied. “I’m just—I’m just trying to show you that not everything is black and white through that last example. You can’t label everything ‘good’ and ‘bad’ because your version of ‘good’ may be someone else’s definition of ‘bad’!

“But we’re getting off topic here. The MAIN point is that Harry has to kill Voldemort no matter what. It doesn’t matter if he doesn’t want to because he is the only who can. Similar to how I have to leave tomorrow, whether I want to or not.”

Hermione groaned as she brought her hands up and rubbed the temples of her head. “I—I…I understand what you’re saying Violet. It’s just—hard to look at both sides of the situation and try to be understanding when…when…I’m so against you leaving!” Hermione’s hands dropped to her side and she looked at me with tearful eyes. “I’m scared for you, Violet. We’re at the peak of the Second Wizardry War. We finally discover that you’re alive and found a safe place for you, only to have to send you back to the enemy’s territory.”

“I know,” I sighed. “And, I mean, it’s not as though I’m not scared to have to go back. I mean…every time I woke up terrified that I would be discovered. But that didn’t stop me, similar to how you guys continue to hunt down You-Know-Who’s horcruxes.”

A sad smile feel upon Hermione’s face as she said, “There’s no point in arguing with you, is there?”

“Of course not,” I grinned.

She smiled to herself before glancing out the window. She immediately turned back to me and said, “Well, if you want to talk to Harry, he’s heading out into the garden.”

“He is? O—okay!” I exclaimed. “If anyone asks, I’ll be out in the garden then!” I said before rushing out of the room.

Just as Hermione had said, I found Harry at the far end of the garden. He was sitting in front of Dobby’s grave, picking at the grass.

“I really wish I would have known him,” I said as I stood a couple feet behind Harry, looking at Dobby’s grave.

Hearing my voice, Harry jumped to his feet and spun to face me. I could see his face immediately tense up as he stared back at me.

“I—I’ll let you have a moment,” Harry said as he quickly walked passed me.

“You’re running away again,” I whispered without turning back to look at Harry.

He sighed heavily as he stopped. “What do you want from me, Violet?” Harry demanded.

“I want you to stop running away from me every time you see me!” I shouted as I turned around. “And…I…I want to talk, Harry. Explain things—”

“Hermione and Ron already told me everything you said to them!” Harry snapped as he turned and faced me.

“Then why do you keep running away from me?” I questioned while taking a step towards him.

“Because to me you’re dead, Violet!” Harry shouted. “I’m sure Ron and Hermione had already told you how difficult it was for me getting over the news of your death. But I’ve come to accept the fact that you had died. You can’t just—come back and expect everything to be the same as it was last year!”

“You’re saying that as though I chose this!” I snapped.

“Well, you chose to leave, didn’t you?” Harry replied. “If you didn’t, none of this would have happened.”

I scoffed. “So is that what this is all about? You’re still angry about me leaving last year without saying anything to you?”

“Yes, I am angry about that Violet!” he shouted. “But I’m also angry over the fact that you could have saved Dumbledore! You knew what was going to happen. Why didn’t you save him Violet? And then instead of staying to help us, you ran home! How could you just leave us like that, Violet?”

“I did it because…” I paused, “…because they wanted me, Harry. You-Know-Who wanted me because I was the girl from the prophecy.”

“What prophecy?” Harry questioned.

“On the day Draco was branded, there was a prophet there. The prophet said that there would be a Gryffindor who was a Muggle. The Muggle would help you defeat Voldemort, and because of that, Bellatrix and the others wanted to capture me and take me back with them. I was cornered in the Great Hall, Harry. I had to make a choice: to stay here or go home and never return.”

“And yet here you stand,” Harry remarked. “What’s worse is that you—even everything that happened, you turned to Malfoy!”

“I turned to Snape—not Draco,” I angrily corrected.

“Who handed you over to Malfoy!” he snapped. “You knew where we would be, Violet. You should have just come to us.”

“No, I couldn’t have! Snape—” I immediately stopped before I said anything I shouldn’t. I had told Hermione and Ron that I ended up in Diagon Alley. I couldn’t change my story now and say that I actually ended up at Snape’s. So I added, “Snape, he unknowing provided me with the resource to find the three of you. I wouldn’t have been able to on my own.”

“Then why do you want to return, Violet?” Harry bellowed. “You found us, so stay with us. Don’t return!”

“I’m returning for your own protection, Harry. Why can’t you understand that?”

“BECAUSE YOU’RE GOING TO BE RETURNING TO DRACO!” Harry shouted.

My eyes widened. “So that’s what this is all about. It was and always will be about Draco, won’t it?”

Harry held his mouth shut and turned away from me angrily.

“This is ridicules, Harry,” I scolded. “I thought this was over.”

“No, it’s not!” Harry replied. “Why do you keep returning to him, Violet? After everything that he had done to you—to everyone, how can you still stand by his side? What makes him so special that you, after he betrayed you and killed innocent people, turn back to him again and again?”

“I’m not returning because of Draco. I’m going back because I care for you—Harry! YOU!” I bellowed with tears streaming down my cheeks. “I’m going back because I care for you safety! I’ve been here for over half a year, Harry. Everything that I’ve done, I’ve done for you! The only reason I stayed in this world was because I was scared for your safety. I was scared that if I left, something would go wrong and you, Ron and Hermione would die!”

“Violet—”

“Don’t, Harry!” I interrupted. “I really thought you knew me better than this, but I guess I was mistaken.” I then reached in my pocket and walked over to Harry. I sobbed as I placed Harry’s locket into his hands and said, “I kept this with me every day to remind me of what I’m suffering for. To remind myself why I put up with Bellatrix’s threats, to stop myself from going insane from seeing what You-Know-Who and his followers do to innocent people. This…it gave me hope—the hope that I would find you and fix the mistakes I made.” I sighed heavily as I looked up into Harry’s eyes and said, “I believe in you, Harry. I’ll continue to help you, no matter what. But, I have to return your locket.”

“Don’t do this, Violet,” Harry whispered.

“After what you just said to me Harry, it’s clear that you don’t believe in me. Looking at this locket, that’s all I’ll be reminded of. And because of that, I can’t keep this,” I explained. “You can give the locket back once your faith and trust in me have been restored.”

“Why do you make this sound like this is goodbye?” Harry asked. “You’re not leaving, are you?”

“It’s probably best if I do,” I said.

“But you’re not supposed to leave until tomorrow!” Harry objected as I began walking away.

“The sooner the better,” I simply replied.

“Violet!” Harry shouted as he chased after me. He then took hold of my arm and spun me around to face him. “Don’t leave.”

“Why?” I snapped. “Because you feel guilty? I’m not going to stay here just because you want to now rid yourself of your guilt, Harry.

“I’m going to change and say my goodbyes. Hopefully we’ll meet under better circumstances next time. Now,” I said as I slipped away from Harry, “goodbye, Harry. Until next time.”