Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

A/N: I've had this written for a while, originally it was going to be it's own multi-chapter fic, but my creative muse decided to change the way I tell this story. So this is just a short little story that I'm going to use as kind of a prequel to the chapter story. Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 1 – Peace Is A Miracle

"I don't want her tagging along with my friends!" Petunia complained to their mother.

"I used to hang out with you and your friends all the time, you never cared before!" Lily shot back, before their mother could get a word out.

"Exactly," Petunia replied haughtily. "Before. Before I knew what a freak you were."

Their mother opened her mouth to stop the argument before it escalated, but once again Lily spoke first.

"I'm not a freak!"

"Girls!" their mother said loudly, and firm. The two sisters stopped bickering and looked over at their mother, both had the grace to look slightly abashed for causing her to raise her voice. "Now, Lily, sweetie," she started softly. "If Petunia doesn't want you to go, then it would probably be better for both of you to take some time apart." Lily opened her mouth to retort, but a look from her mother caused her to rethink that and she nodded in compliance. "And Petunia," their mother continued, rounding on her oldest daughter. "You will not call your sister a freak. You two will be civil with each other, am I understood?"

"Yes ma'am," the girls nodded.

"Good."

A knock at the door signaled Petunia's friends were there, and she headed out to meet them, but not before throwing Lily a snobbish smirk while their mother wasn't looking.

Lily scowled, but turned back into the living room, and plopped down on the couch next to her younger sister. "Can you believe her?" Lily muttered incredulously. "Why can't she just be happy for me and quit being so mean?"

The blonde girl rolled her eyes just as their mother called from the kitchen, "Violet, can you come here for a minute?"

"I think you're both being prats," Violet told Lily as she got up to go into the kitchen, leaving Lily on the couch with her mouth hanging open in shock.

-0-

"So, how was your day sweetheart?" their father asked Lily while they were eating dinner.

"You see," Petunia whispered to Violet. "It's always about Lily, the freak," she finished, adding the last part with a pointed look at Lily. Violet sighed.

Lily heard her sister's comment, however, and looked down at her food. "It was rather uneventful," she answered her father. "Petunia had a more exciting day."

"Is that so?" he questioned, looking over at his eldest daughter, who beamed at the attention.

"Yes," Petunia nodded. "I went to the fair with Karen and Beth," she informed her father happily.

"That's nice sweetheart," he said as Petunia opened her mouth to go into detail about her outing. "You know, we should go to the fair," he added to his wife. "It would be a nice family outing," he stated, while all three of his girls looked almost horrified at the idea.

"That sounds like a lovely idea," their mother agreed. "Tomorrow night," she said with finality.

"You can even bring your friends if you want," their father added to the girls. "You could invite Beth and Karen," he told Petunia, who rolled her eyes and muttered "They've already been. Like me." "And you could invite that boy, Snape is his name?" he continued to Lily as though he had not heard his eldest.

"I don't think Severus would enjoy it," Lily half-mumbled in reply, not looking at Petunia, who muttered something like "Because it's normal" under her breath.

"Oh, well that's a shame," their father sighed. Then he turned to his youngest. "Is there anyone you would like to invite, Violet?"

Violet shook her head. "No."

"Well, looks like it'll just be the five of us," their mother stated.

"And it'll be wonderful," their father said with finality.

"Wonderful," the girls muttered, though their parents did not catch the sarcasm in their tones.

-0-

"So how did your 'family night at the fair' turn out?"

Violet sighed tiredly, glancing over at her friend. "It was a disaster, Jenny," she told her. "Mum and Dad were all excited and everything, but no one wanted to do anything. Tuney and Lily didn't want to be there, it was a bloody miracle they didn't kill each other in the car. I could think of a thousand places I would've rather been. It was pointless. I think Mum knew that, but Dad just kept on trying to get everyone to do something 'fun' together," she informed her friend, using air quotes around the word fun.

Jenny chuckled. "Well, at least maybe now he learned, yeah?"

"You don't know my dad," Violet retorted.

"That stinks mate," Jenny said sympathetically as they reached their block. "I'll see ya tomorrow?"

Violet nodded, and waved goodbye to her friend and headed to her house. She picked up the mail on her way inside, carelessly flipping through the assortment of letters. One caught her eye, however, it had her name on it.

But Violet was reluctant to open this letter. She recognized this parchment, the elegant scrawl, and the seal on the back.

Swallowing, she hesitantly opened up the envelope and took out the letter. She had been right, it was from Hogwarts. Except for the name, this letter was identical to the one Lily had received last year from the Headmaster himself, who had come to explain magic and the Wizarding world to their 'Muggle' family.

"Did I get anything?" Petunia asked as she came downstairs and noticed her sister with the mail. "Harriet said she would send me a postcard from her trip to Paris." When Violet did not reply, only remained standing there with her mouth hung open, did Petunia realize she was holding a letter. "What have you got there?" she questioned nosily, coming over by her sister. Petunia gasped when she saw the letter, though. Violet took a deep breath, looking up at her older sister.

Neither sister had the ability to speak for the moment, until Lily and their mother walked in.

"Girls?" their mother questioned, a worried edge to her voice as she saw her daughters standing there with shocked expressions.

Lily, on the other hand, had seen the letter in Violet's hand, and knew what was coming.

"You!" Petunia screeched, pointing a bony finger at Lily, who tried to back away slightly, but almost ran into the end table. "This is all your fault!"

"How is it my fault?" Lily yelled back, as their mother rolled her eyes at the two and walked over to see what Violet was holding.

"Oh Violet," their mother gushed, reading over the Hogwarts letter her youngest daughter had just received. "This is wonderful, sweetheart!"

Violet, however, just cringed.

Petunia rolled her eyes in disgust. "Oh yes, it's absolutely wonderful, we've got another freak in the family," she drawled, her words dripping with sarcasm. Violet sighed as she looked at her oldest sister apologetically. "And I thought you were normal," Petunia added faintly, sounding genuinely sad, before running back up the stairs to her room.

"I didn't ask for this, Tuney!" Violet yelled after her sister.

"Of course you didn't, sweetie," their mother tried to comfort her. "Your sister's just upset, that's all," she soothed. Then she wrapped her arms around her daughter tightly. "But this is wonderful, Violet. Oh, just wait until your father hears, he'll be so proud!"

-0-

"Hey," Lily said timidly as she entered the room she shared with Violet. Violet glanced up to look at her sister, but quickly returned to reading her book. "You didn't say much at dinner," Lily noted, sitting on her bed, but looking over at Violet.

"I rarely say much at dinner, sis," Violet pointed out, sounding slightly amused.

"But Mum and Dad kept talking -"

"About how proud they were, how wonderful it is to have another witch in the family," Violet finished tiredly for her sister. She threw down her book and turned to look at Lily. "Well, that's just it, Lily," Violet continued bitterly. "Until that letter came for me, no one took much notice, did they? I faded into the background, and that was fine with me. But the second that bloody letter came and told everyone I'm a witch it's 'Oh, congratulations Violet, we're so proud'. Where was that proudness when I won the spelling bee at school five years in a row, or when I scored the winning goal at my football tournament last season, or when I had the highest marks out of anyone in my year?" Lily just stared at her sister, slack jawed, she wasn't sure what to say to that. "But that's fine with me," Violet continued seriously. "I've never cared about attention. I like fading into the background. But now that everyone knows I'm a witch...I can't anymore."

"How long have you known?" Lily asked quietly.

Violet sighed. "A couple years," she answered. "You and Severus were always talking about it, but I just thought he was full of dung until I started noticing I was doing some of the same stuff you did."

"Why didn't you say anything?" Lily wondered bewilderedly. "I thought I was crazy, or...like Tuney says, a freak. That's why I was happy to meet Sev, he didn't make me feel abnormal."

"Lil," Violet sighed. "Don't you get it? I like going unnoticed. If I had said something, Tuney would've started picking on me too." Lily had to nod in agreement with that. "Besides, don't you realize how excited Mum and Dad were when Dumbledore came and told them you were a witch?" Violet continued. Lily looked at her sister curiously. "They were thrilled. They thought you being a witch was the best thing in the world. You're the star of the family."

"That's not true," Lily interjected defensively.

"Yes, it is, Lil," Violet replied calmly, but seriously. "You know it is."

Lily didn't know how to respond to that. "But now they know you're a witch too," she blurted out. "They're just as thrilled for you!"

Violet chuckled. "They're happy, yeah. But face it Lily, you're older, you're doing everything magical before me. It's not gonna be as amazing when I do it second," she told her sister bluntly, but nonchalantly.

Lily sighed. "Well, I'm still happy I get to have at least one sister with me at Hogwarts," she smiled. Violet smiled back.