Please note that I do not own any of the content of the Harry Potter Universe.

There was little unusual about this morning, or at least, not by Violet's standards. Little but not nothing. Harry Potter would be coming to Hogwarts. Harry Potter, the boy she had always longed to see and yet dreaded laying eyes on. He wouldn't recognize her. And it would hurt to have him not know who she was. It would hurt to see his eyes pass over her like she was just another girl. She sighed and twisted her wand between her long, pale fingers. There was no point in dwelling on it. It would bring back the old pains that she did not want to face anymore. She had the faintest of memories of the night that haunted her dreams, though by now, it was hard to tell what was memory and what was a figment of her nighttime imagination.

She glanced over her shoulder at the great castle of Hogwarts. In there was the only life she knew, complete with lies and aches and pains.

Her eyes flicked back out to the village of Hogsmeade where the train station sat and then roamed over the wilderness beyond. Of course, she knew a lot about the wizarding world outside of Hogwarts. No one who spent as much time as she did around Albus Dumbledore wouldn't know all there was to know about the wizarding world. And the most recent news was that Harry Potter was going to school. And Violet was to meet him that very day when the train pulled into the station with the setting sun.

Violet turned around, her wide green eyes falling once more on the castle. This was home, she told herself. This was where she belonged. The people in there were her family. Not anyone else. Not people she'd never met who lived somewhere out in the wide world she'd never actually seen for herself. It was the people inside that cheerily lit stone fortress who had raised her and cared for her and loved her. She glanced once up at the place where she knew Dumbledore's office was and almost immediately turned away. There were lies spoken in abundance in that office. But that was not what bothered her. What bothered her was that that was where the truth had been spoken. It was wrong, she knew, to fear the truth as she did. But at the same time… well, when you stripped away all of the lies, Violet wasn't really sure who she was.

She resolutely placed one foot in front of the other and began a slow march back up to the castle doors, where the warmth and companionship of her family awaited her.

She was unaware that she was being watched from that office she had glanced up at. There, Albus Dumbledore looked down on the girl and his strikingly blue eyes mimicked her sadness. The girl would be put in the path of so much more pain than she deserved. No child should go through what she was about to feel. And she was so young besides.

"Severus, do keep an eye on her," said Dumbledore to the man behind him without once looking around at him.

"Of course. You forget that I care for her too, Dumbledore," said the man, his black eyes narrowing.

Dumbledore gave a small smile. "I do not forget." There was a moments' pause and then, "If she comes to you Severus, try to help her in any way you can. This will not be easy for her." Severus Snape's eyes narrowed even further, but Dumbledore seemed to ignore this. "And, if I am correct, it will be time for her potion just before the start of term feast. She will be looking for you any moment now."

Though the words themselves were not a dismissal, the way Dumbledore said them was. And added to the fact that he turned away from the window and headed to his desk, it made for as clear a dismissal as though Dumbledore had said the words outright. With a swish of his black robes and a sour expression on his face, Snape whisked out of the office.

Violet made her way across the deserted entrance hall and down the stairs that she knew led to the dungeons. She could have made this journey with her eyes closed if she wanted to, but she'd never tested her luck, especially since she usually made this trip to get her potion and when she need the potion, she was often weak or dizzy and in no state to descend stairs with her eyes closed.

She navigated the twisting passages with ease until she stood outside a sinister looking door at the end of a long hallway. She knocked without hesitation and a rather snide sounding voice answered her from within saying, "Come in."

Violet opened the door and stepped into a small office where a man with long, greasy black hair sat a desk with a steaming cauldron before him. He turned around as Violet entered and a small smile crossed his face. "Ah, I thought I'd be seeing you, dear," said Snape. The term of endearment didn't seem to fit on his lips or with his expression. Violet just smiled at him and slipped towards his desk where a steaming golden cauldron sat beside a goblet of matching material.

Snape lifted a ladle from his desk and dipped it into the cauldron, transferring some of the contents to the goblet which he then handed to Violet. She sat down on a stool in the corner of the room and took a sip, a shiver running through her as she did.

Snape's eyes narrowed. "How has it been this time?" he asked.

Apparently not needing clarification, Violet answered, "It has been no better and no worse than any other time. I just…"

"What?"

"Nothing."

"Violet."

"Nothing."

"Violet." A warning this time.

"It's just... I don't want to meet him, Severus! I don't want to see what he looks like and if he looks like them at all! I don't want to have a reminder and yet, as we speak, the Hogwarts express is pulling up to the station and he's in there, goggling up at the castle like every other first year. And here I am, waiting for the only reminder of my past to come marching into the Great Hall and haunt me for the next seven years." Violet took a deep, shaky breath and seemed to get herself under control. "Of course," she continued, her voice calm and even now, "He has no idea who I am. None of them do. I'll just have to pretend he's a stranger. I just have to be another girl. blend in with the crowd." She seemed to be talking more to herself than Snape now. "Blend in and no one will notice. That's how you keep safe."

Meanwhile, boats were passing across the dark water of the lake and the water's gentle surface carried the whispers of awe from the first years across to the shore. The boats landed easily and the students clambered out, their whispers now forming a haunting lull in the night air. They filed into a hall and were left there, in stony silence until a woman with her iron gray hair tied in a tight bun came up to them and told them to follow to be sorted into their houses. They obliged without second thought.

The students entered the room through the back, so they had to process down the tables to get to the front of the room where a battered a beaten hat sat on a rickety stool. There was a rip in the het's brim that , as soon as the first years had settled, opened wide and the hat began to sing.

When its song was finished, the woman who had led them into the hall, Professor McGonagall, began to read a list of names from a long, curling scroll she held. Each first year walked up to the stool, put the hat on their head and waited until the hat shouted a house out to the hall at large. There were four houses, Gryffindor for the brave, Ravenclaw, for the wise, Hufflepuff for the kind, and Slytherin for the ambitious. Everyone in the hall watched closely, but when the name Potter, Harry, was called, everyone snapped to focus and the black-haired, green-eyed boy approached the stool to dead silence. After several moments with the hat on his head, Harry Potter was sorted into Gryffindor house which gained much applause from that house and several unhappy glares from tje Slytherins..

Once every last one had been sorted, the doors to the Great Hall opened and a man in billowing black robes escorted a girl who wore her black school robes over a maroon dress. Professor McGonagall stood up a little straighter as the man left the girl where the first years had stood only moments ago.
Harry Potter, who was sitting at the Gryffindor table leaned over to his friend Ron and said in a whisper, "Who's that?" Ron just shrugged.

"Dumbledore, Violet," said Professor McGonagall crisply.

"What!?" said Ron, rather louder than a whisper. But he was not the only one. Murmurs spread across the hall and peoples' eyes flashed from the girl in the maroon dress to the bearded, white-haired headmaster at the staff table. The girl, for her part, ignored the whispers and approached the stool that held the sorting hat, just as every other had. She set it atop her head and waited. Silence fell across the hall.

The sorting hat opened the rip in its brim and said, "Sl-" but stopped as the girl's face scrunched. She took a deep breath and seemed to be reasoning with it in her head and Harry recalled how the hat had seemed to speak to him in his mind.

Finally, after what Harry could have sworn was a sigh from the hat, it called out, "Gryffindor!" Violet took the hat off and whispered to it what Harry thought sounded like "thanks," and then moved to the Gryffindor table, where she sat down next to a bushy haired girl named Hermione, right across from Harry. Dumbledore stood up and said, "Now, before we begin, I have a few words I would like to say. And here they are: Nitwit, Blubber, Oddment, Tweak. Thank you!"

Harry only had time to puzzle on these words for a moment as just as Dumbledore finished, food appeared on the table before them. There were platters of meat and salad and all sorts of delicacies. Harry and Ron both dug in with fervor, but when Harry reached for a drumstick, he noticed that a separate bowl had appeared in front of Violet, full of what looked like broth. Ron, however didn't seem to notice and Violet didn't seem bothered at all. In fact, she alternately took sips from a golden goblet and the broth, and each time she reached for the goblet, her hand trembled a little less. This made Harry wonder, but the food before him was more than distraction enough to keep him occupied.

Ron paused chewing for a moment and leaned into Harry, whispering, "I didn't know Dumbledore had daughter."

"Niece," said a voice from across the table.

"What?" asked Ron.

"I'm his niece." It was Violet speaking. Harry looked up at her. She was staring at him.

"Oh," said Ron.

Violet didn't respond except to continue to stare at Harry. She cocked her head slightly to the side and said, "I'm sorry about your parents, Harry Potter. No one should lose their parents so early in life."

Harry didn't know how to respond. He'd been aware of the wizarding world for very little time, but in all that time, no one had said they were sorry. "Thanks, I guess," said Harry, but it seemed that Violet had not expected nor needed response for she had lifted her goblet and now held it almost possessively against her chest. Her eyes had a far away look in them as she said, "I lost my parents when I was young too. When I was still little, I hated you for it."

"Me?" asked Harry, utterly perplexed, but again, Violet seemed not to be listening.

"The Dark Lord believed my parents knew your whereabouts. He wanted to get to you so desperately. Your existence, I thought, ruined my life." She sniffed and took a breath. "And then I grew older. And I understood that it was no more your fault than mine or theirs. And I could not blame them. But I remember them." Her eyes were haunted and a shadow seemed to pass over her face. "I remember the screams. No one could forget."

She seemed to be finished and silence fell over them. None of them wanted to say anything to break the silence. It was Violet who finally did. She rose from her seat before anyone else had finished their meals and said, quite calmly, "Excuse me, but I must go."

She walked calmly up to the staff table, where she was greeted warmly and paused in front of the black robed man who had escorted her in. They exchanged a few short words and then Violet swept from the hall, the tiniest of smiles on her face.

Later, when Harry and Ron entered the common room with the other first years, they found Violet sitting in between two vibrantly red haired boys that Harry recognized as Ron's older brothers. "What're they doing with her?" asked Ron, sounding slightly disgusted. He marched over, Harry trailing in his wake. Just as they neared, Violet threw her head back in laughter and spotted them. The laughter died as quickly as it had started and Violet's eyes narrowed. The two boys looked at her and then looked where she was looking and sighed dramatically.

"You know," said one as Harry and Ron drew within easy earshot. "It's impossible to get a little privacy around here."

"I'd say so," said the other, still eyeing Harry and Ron.

"Let me handle this one," said Violet calmly and both boys stood up with her, grins widening.

"What, may I ask," said Violet to Harry and Ron, "Are you doing?"

"What're you doing?" asked Ron.
"Talking with friends," Violet responded, unfazed. "You haven't answered me."

"Nothing."

"Don't lie, Ronald." Ron blinked.

"I wanted to know what you were doing with Fred and George!" he blurted out.

"I'd have thought that was obvious. I was talking with them."

"Yeah, but why!?"

Violet cocked her head to the side. "Do you think I need answer that? Do you think I need a reason?"

"Yeah! They're nearly three years older than you!"

"Two, Ronald and for your information, I do not need a reason to talk to two people who, out of the god-forsaken lot of you actually understand and care!" snapped Violet. "You might be poor Ronald, but you have a family and it's nice for me to feel like I do too. And I do not need your permission to talk to your older brothers. But just this once, I'll give you a reason. Because seeing you," she jabbed a finger at Harry, "Has made me remember what it was like. And now more than ever, I need to feel like someone cares at all. And your brothers beat you to it Ronald. Now both of you, go to bed!"

"Violet, I didn't mean-" said Ron in a sloppy attempt at a save.

"I said go to bed Ronald." Her voice was calm again, as collected and complacent as though the conversation had never happened.

Harry and Ron obeyed, wondering at what a strange, slightly scary girl Violet Dumbledore was.

The next day, having all received their schedules, Harry, Ron, Violet and the girl named Hermione were walking down to their potions class. Everyone but Violet was peering at the dungeon walls and the covered windows with some apprehensive interest, but Violet seemed completely at home here. She walked briskly straight towards their classroom door and walked in and settled herself at a table in the center of the room. Harry, Ron and Hermione joined her as she unpacked her cauldron and various other supplies.

Snape swept into the dungeon, the door opening and closing with a bang that spread silence in its wake. Everyone looked around as Snape swept up to the front of the class and paused a while. He stared across the classroom until he spotted Harry and then a wicked grin carved itself into his features. "Harry Potter… our new… celebrity." Several Slytherins laughed including the blonde Draco Malfoy, whom Harry hated already and his thug-like friends Crabbe and Goyle. Snape let silence hang for a while, then said, "You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion making," he began. He spoke in a bare whisper, but everyone heard. They did not need to be told that this was a class where silence was expected. And enforced. "As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses... I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death - if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach!" Violet and Hermione bother turned aggravated faces to Harry who dropped the quill he had been taking notes with. " me, what would I get if I added asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"

Harry sat awkwardly in his seat as Hermione's hand flew into the air and Violet contemplated her lap. "I don't know, sir."

"Tut, tut. Clearly, fame isn't everything." This drew more laughs from the Slytherins and Violet's head came up from her lap, lips pursed in apparent concentration. "Let's try again, shall we. Where would you look if I asked you to find a Bezoar?"

Hermione's hand hit the air again and Violet's lips drained of still more color. "I don't know, sir."

Snape snorted, his features contorting in a smirk. "Thought you wouldn't bother to open a book before coming, eh Potter?" asked Snape, still ignoring Hermione's hand and Violet's now slightly colorless face. "What is the difference between Monkshood and Wolfsbane?"

"I don't know, sir, but I think Hermione does. Why don't you try her?" Uneasy laughs echoed from the Gryffindors in the dungeon.

"A point from Gryffindor for your cheek Potter and-" he raised his voice over the mutters that this elicited, "-it might do you good to know that the girl sitting next to you could answer all of those questions." Harry turned to look at Hermione, who seemed both pleased and confused at this. And then Snape said with apparent relish, "Do tell him, Miss Dumbledore."

All across the room, heads swivelled to Violet who stood up at Snape's gesture and recited, "Asphodel and wormwood make a sleeping draught so powerful it is known as the Draught of Living Death. A Bezoar is a small stone found in a goat's stomach that will cure most poisons and Monkshood is the same as Wolfsbane which is also known as Aconite." Seeming to realize that all eyes were on her, Violet sat hurriedly down.

Snape smirked again, though Harry was perhaps more confused than ever, seeing as how Violet was Gryffindor and Dumbledore's niece. Though perhaps Snape felt the need to ingratiate himself to her and thus, to the Headmaster.

Snape then set them into pairs, leaving Violet on her own as there was an odd number and she made no move to make partners with anyone. Telling them to open their books and make a potion to cure boils, Snape began prowling around the room, criticizing everyone he passed.

Violet didn't even open her book, but instead began heating her cauldron and pulling out bottles of ingredients faster than Harry could keep track of. By the time Snape swept around to their area, Violet's potion looked exactly as the book described it and was sitting in a crystal phial beside her cauldron which was now sitting, completely empty, on the table before her. To Harry's surprise, Snape smiled at her and for the briefest of moments, rested his hand on her shoulder. Violet smiled back up at him and for that moment, it was like they were father and daughter, caught in some strange new world and bonded by the fact that they knew each other.

Harry shook the thought away. It was preposterous. Perhaps he was going insane. Of course, he had little time to ponder the situation as Snape swept next to his and Ron's cauldron, which Harry had thought wasn't so bad. Snape, however, disagreed and his snide comments and the Slytherin laughter was still echoing in Harry's mind as the bell rang for lunch.

Harry would have been more than happy to simply leave the class, but he couldn't help but notice that Violet hung back and curiosity got the better of Ron, who grabbed Harry by the sleeve and held him back, ignoring the disapproving glare from Hermione. He stopped just outside the open door, back pressed against the wall next to it so that he wouldn't be seen if Snape happened to glance out.

Inside the room, Violet spoke first.

"Why did you have to be so mean to him, Severus?" she asked in such a soft voice that Harry had to strain to listen. Ron nudged him sharply with an elbow and mouthed the name 'Severus' with what was unmistakably a suppressed giggle. Harry shushed him.

"The boy is just like his father," Snape said snidely.

"Because you won't give him the chance to be anything else. You've decided what you want to see."

"Stay out of it, Violet."

"How can I?" she asked, her voice slightly higher pitched. "How can I? I am caught, Severus and he looks so like… so like… and his eyes…"

There was a strangled noise from inside the room, though Harry wasn't sure who it came from. "Don't-" said Snape, a strange tone to his voice. "Don't."

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Severus. I shouldn't have said anything. I'll just- I'll go."

"That's not what I meant."

"I know," she whispered.

Snape murmured something Harry couldn't hear and then there was silence. Harry decided that now was the time to leave and, dragging a somewhat unwilling Ron with him, made for the Great Hall, trying to ignore the faint sound of what might have been sobs.