Another Year at Hogwarts

“Violet, please--!”

My heart pounded against my chest as I ran through the endless field before me. Run. Those were the only words going through my head.

Harry raced after me as I headed down the stairs in my attire Narcissa had given me.

“Hermione, you have to stop her!” Harry ordered as he looked to the top of the stairs where Hermione and Ron were both standing.

“Stop it, Harry!” I bellowed as I turned back to face him. “I’ve already been over this with Hermione. She’s not going to stop me from leaving.”

Harry looked at me in disbelief before turning to face Hermione. “You’re not going to stop her?”
Hermione sighed heavily. “I’ve tried, Harry. But if Violet doesn’t leave now and magically appear a few weeks from now, her cover will be blown. And…we…we need someone on the other side, Harry. We need all the help we can get.”

“Hermione’s right,” Ron agreed. “Violet’s been indirectly helping us all this time. We probably wouldn’t have gotten this far without her on the other side.”

“Please Harry,” I begged. “Don’t make this harder than it already is. I’m leaving because I want to help you, even if you don’t fully trust right now. This isn’t about getting back to Draco—I can assure you.”

“But you can do that here!” said Harry. “You can help by staying here!”

“No, I can’t. As I mentioned already, I can…control things if I’m with those Death Eaters. If I stay here, I can only guess at what they’re going to do. But seeing that things have a tendency to change, my guess won’t do you any good. And besides…” I added, “you need some time to digest everything that has happened these last few days…without me. I assure you that I’ll be doing the same.”

With that, I exhaled deeply and headed for the door.

Once I was in the cool shadows of a large forest, a stopped running to catch my breath. Panting, I turned around and looked back behind me.

Just as I was about to reach it, I was suddenly caught in Harry’s embrace. His arms were wrapped tightly around me, and he placed his head down onto my shoulder.

“Please don’t leave,” Harry begged. “I’ve been like a zombie these last few months. Even though I seemed angry and distant in these past days, I felt renewed. I felt alive again and even joy knowing that you are alive. Please…don’t leave again. If you do…I think I might actually die this time…”

“If you ever want to see me again,” I whispered while gently parting from Harry, “you have to keep fighting.” I then turned around and stared into Harry’s eyes. “If you want to ever see me again you have to keep fighting. Keep hunting down those Horcruxes, and when the time’s right, you’ll see me again. I promise you.”

I fought the tears in my eyes as I turned back around and headed into the forest before me. Behind me, the beach was no longer there. No Shell Cottage. No Hermione, Ron or Harry.

I had no idea where I was going, or even if I would find my way back to Malfoy Manor or Hogwarts. I had no clue if there was a town nearing, nor was I certain that I wasn’t heading towards a dead end. All I knew was that I had to get away before I changed my mind and went back to Hermione and the others.

Suddenly, I let out a yelp as I lost my footing and tumbled down a small slope. I groaned painfully as I stopped at the bottom and slowly pushed myself off the ground.

“Well, at least I’ll have some wounds to show,” I commented as I looked at the small scrapes on my legs. “Thank you very much, Twigs,” I sarcastically said while glaring at the small twigs scattered along the slope I had tumbled down.

After only a moment, I looked up to the sky. It was only then that I realized how late it was. Stars were already forming in the darkening sky as the soft rays of the sun disappeared.

Knowing I was too tired to continue, I quickly went around and gathered some twigs to create a fire. Thankfully, my mom and dad had enrolled Karen and I into summer camp once before, so I knew exactly what to look for. It was only after I cleared an area on the ground to place the twigs in a pile and found some rocks to place around it. After that, it simply took a flick of the wand to start a fire.

Just as night fell and I was slowly beginning to fall asleep, my eyes suddenly snapped open and I immediately stood up and looked around I didn’t know if it was just the lack of food and water along with the long tiresome day of traveling, but I swore I just heard someone calling my name.

“What the heck…?” I wondered as I looked around.

“Violet.”

I gasped as I spun around and looked behind me. “Elliot?” I whispered. “Elliot! Is that you?”

I jump when I felt something wrap around my right hand. I looked down at my hand as I raised it up and stared at it. Though there was nothing holding onto my hand, I could feel the warmth of someone’s hand around my own.

“Violet!” someone called from within the forest.

The warmth around my hand quickly disappeared just as someone called my name. Rustling was then heard from within the forest, and soon the black figure of a person appeared at the top of the slope.

“S—Snape?” I gasped with a smile. I quickly tried to climb up the hill, but my excitement made me lose my footing and I stumbled to the ground.
He hurried down the hill and helped me to my feet. As he did, he looked me up and down.

“Why are you like this?” he demanded. “Narcissa only said that you disappeared with Potter and them. Why are you in your true form? Where’s the charm I made for you?”

“It broke,” I replied. But the smile remained on my face. “I can’t tell you how glad I am to see you again. So much as had happened and there’s so much I have to tell you about.”

“We should return to Hogwarts, first,” Snape suggested.

“All right,” I nodded.

I took hold of Snape, and within a second, we were in the headmaster office. Once there, he immediately sat me down before reaching into his drawer. He pulled out another charm, and handed it to me.

“Always prepared, aren’t you?” I grinned while looking down at the necklace.

“Tell me everything that happened,” Snape said—quickly getting down to business.

“Of course,” I said before I told Snape everything that happened—staring from when Draco and I first left Hogwarts. I went on to tell about becoming a Death Eater, the events of Harry and the others arriving at Malfoy Manor and then to the events at Shell Cottage.

“Are you all right now?” Snape asked.

I nodded.

Snape paused for a moment before he demanded I give him my arm. I knew exactly what he wanted to look at, so I pulled my left sleeve up and handed it to Snape.

“Foolish girl,” Snape growled under his breath as he looked at the small remainder of the scars on my arm.

“It was a…emotional moment,” I commented.

“And your neck?” he asked.

“It’s healed…thanks to Hermione,” I replied.

“And speaking on Potter and his friends, do—”

“There shouldn’t be problem,” I quickly replied before Snape could finish. “Harry seems a little…reluctant. But he just needs time to take everything in. We won’t have to worry about him.” I then looked up at him and asked, “How about you? How have you been? You look a bit…stressed.”

“After you left…let’s just say the Carrows went on a torture spree,” Snape commented.

“What?” I shouted as I stood from the chair. “Those wicked—”

“Stop,” Snape said as I tried getting pass him. “You need to rest now.”

“No!” I argued. “Those siblings need to be put in their place again.”

“You’re a Death Eater now, Victoria!” Snape reminded. “You can’t simply go around standing up for students again. The best you can do is—”

“Send them to Hagrid?” I asked. “Must I remind you that Hagrid is no longer here?”

“I was going to say all you can do is protect them without actually protecting them,” Snape said.

“You mean—!”

“Don’t tell me,” Snape said as he put his hand up to stop me.

“Oh…right,” I nodded.

“Well…you should go get some rest now,” Snape said as he looked down at me. But before I could move, Snape slowly reached out and placed his hand on my head and gave me a soft pat on the head. “It’s good to see you as Violet again…Violet. You’ve done well.”

“Thank you,” I said as Snape withdrew his hand. “You too, okay? Get some rest.”

I then flashed Snape a smile before walking passed him while putting the charm necklace on.

“Good night,” I said before walking out.