Chapter Ten

Violet froze for the briefest moment, then blew out a breath. "It's a bit of a long story, but-"

"Stop being so dramatic, Vi," Sherlock said snidely. "We all know you're going to tell them, so just get on with it." Clearly, he was still upset from their earlier argument.

She glared at him, not any more willing to let it go than he was, but she did start to speak. "For you to understand, I need to explain a bit more about Purebloods, and my family, so please be patient with me. See, there are families who have historically been rather fanatical supporters of the Dark Arts and Pureblood mania, like the LeStranges, the family I married into, while others, like the Holmeses, or Harry's father's family, the Potters, have always been avid defenders of Muggles and against the Dark Arts. And then there are a few families that have been very carefully neutral. Like the Greengrasses, my mother's family."

"How very Slytherin of you," Sherlock sneered.

"How would you know? You never went to Hogwarts," she shot back, then clarified for the bewildered Watsons. "Slytherin is a House at Hogwarts, the one most of my family has been Sorted into for generations. We value cunning and ambition, and staying neutral throughout all the various conflicts is an incredibly Slytherin trait," she admitted grudgingly. "But there have been outliers in the family, some going Dark, while others, like my Aunt Amelia, who have gone on to advocate for equality and justice. However, very few are willing to offend any member of our family, since we have a certain… pull with the way things work in the magical world.

"But I didn't know anything about that growing up," Violet continued, a nostalgic smile on her lips. "Dad was a botany professor at Cambridge, and the Holmeses quickly introduced themselves once they found out who my parents were. Even with the age difference, the four of them became very good friends. It helped that they were each someone with whom they could discuss the magical world freely. And then Mum had me, and Sherlock was born three months later, and we each instantly had a best friend."

"And it was all rainbows and butterflies from there," Sherlock said, sarcasm soaking through every syllable. He threw himself out of the chair to stand by the window, letting the lighting silhouette him dramatically.

"Shut it, you," John sighed. "Let her finish."

"They need to know about this to understand what comes later," Violet added.

Sherlock sighed, waving his hand in a dismissive manner. "Carry on."

Violet shook her head. "Anyway, when I was three, Mum died. Dad was devastated, but after about a year, he decided that I needed a new mum, someone to help him raise me."

"Enter Dahlia," Sherlock said, spitting out the name with derision.

"I feel like an evil stepmum story is coming," Mary said, looking from Sherlock to Violet.

Violet laughed. "Oh, she wasn't evil, just incredibly insipid. Somehow, she thought being a professor's wife would be romantic,or glamorous, and she saw Dad as an easy target, being the grieving widower that he was. So she charmed him, and I'm sure her name was part of it, since Dad loved anything to do with plants. But Dahlia was a Muggle, though her introduction to magic came fairly early on in their marriage, happened much like yours today. I threw a fit when she tried to pick me up from a play date with Sherlock and she found herself stuck to the doorframe. Cecelia, Sherlock's mum, had to unstick her, and then the Holmeses and Dad explained. She didn't take it well, so when Petunia was born, she was delighted that she didn't have magic. And then Lily was born with magic, and our household became even more awkward. Dahlia and Petunia hated that Lily and I had magic, though Petunia was more jealous than anything, and Dad simply tried to keep the peace."

"It's not like you could help having magic!" Mary cried in defense of her friend.

Sherlock snorted. "That didn't matter to Dahlia. She even tried to keep Vi from playing with me, hoping that lessening her exposure to a magical household would keep her magic away."

"And then when Lily found Severus, she tried the same thing. Severus was a boy Lily's age, from a half-and-half family as well, and Dahlia didn't want him around, either. Though in his case, I can't blame her. Severus was always so creepy, even as a boy." Violet shuddered for a moment. "But he doesn't matter now. So other than Dahlia hating magic, I had a fairly happy, sheltered childhood. I visited both sets of grandparents frequently, and my Aunt Amelia, Mum's younger sister, especially doted on me. So once I arrived at Hogwarts, I had a bit of a rude awakening. Because of my Greengrass blood, I was accepted by all the right families, but I could see how most of the Purebloods thought that Muggles were scum, and Muggleborns barely half a step above that. And since Lily was the daughter of a Half Blood Squib and a Muggle, she was considered a Muggleborn, and therefore scum, as well. And there were whispers of someone who would do something about the Muggle problem, wiping them out once and for all, to keep the magical blood pure, of course."

"That's disgusting," John said. "It's like Hitler, but with magic. Wipe out anything you don't like and recreate the world in your image."

"Exactly. And I knew my baby sister would be a target, but there was nothing I could do about it. At least not then. And that's when the beginnings of my plan started taking root, the one Sherlock mentioned earlier," Violet explained.

"Your insane plan," Sherlock added helpfully.

She glared at him. "You only say that because you didn't come up with it. If it had been your plan, you would have said it was genius."

"Because it would have been."

"Oh, shut up, Sherlock." Three voices rang in unison, and he looked rather offended, though he did as requested.

Violet continued. "Anyway, I began to act as all the other perfect Pureblood girls in my year did. I did passably well in classes, well enough to be thought clever, but not too clever. I stopped flying, except at home, and I took exceptional care of my appearance. I ingratiated myself with all the right families, mostly to keep myself from being a target. But it wasn't until I was fifteen that my plan really took shape. By this time, an idiot calling himself Lord Voldemort had really started collecting followers, and most of my classmates in Slytherin were at least agreeing with him, if not fully supporting him, in secret, in course. There were those in other houses, but Slytherin seemed to be the starting point for it all. And this was the time that boys really started noticing me."

"I guarantee that it didn't start in your Fifth Year," Sherlock grumbled, turning back to his dramatic pose in front of the window.

But Violet ignored him. "Thorfinn Rowle was my first boyfriend, and I heard quite a bit when we were with his friends. They didn't think anything of it, believing me to agree with their ideology, and so it was perfectly acceptable to discuss all the terrible things they would do once they joined Voldemort. Then I dated Alexander Selwyn, whose father was one of Voldemort's closest followers. I realized that I could make a huge difference with all that I would hear, if I kept up the pretence. So I discussed it with my Aunt Amelia, who was Deputy Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement at the time. She tried to talk me out of it, since I would most likely be killed if they discovered me, but I refused to budge."

"You've always been stubborn." Sherlock's statement almost sounded like a compliment, but she highly doubted it.

"Says the king of stubborn," John countered. "Go on, Violet."

She smiled at him. "Thank you, John. As I was saying, I wouldn't be swayed from my plan, so Auntie helped me to flesh it out. She introduced me to an Auror, um, magical policeman, named Alastor Moody, who was to be my contact for all of this. During breaks from school, they would teach me more defensive spells, practice dueling and Apparating, so that I could get out of any sticky situation that should arise. But none of us could have imagined the opportunity that nearly fell into my lap.

"While I was at school, one of my closest friends was Narcissa Black. We did nearly everything together, so when she invited me to her older sister's wedding, it came as no surprise. What did come as a surprise was Rabastan LeStrange, the groom's younger brother. He'd been four years above us at school, so he hadn't even known who I was. But he saw me at the wedding, and he flirted with me. I was flattered, of course, or at least pretended to be, since he was so much older than me, but I didn't think anything of it. Until he started to write to me. He would show up in the village next to the school on our free weekends to surprise me, send me little gifts. It was very flattering, but what made it even more enticing was the fact that I knew he was very close to Voldemort.

"We started dating towards the end of my Fifth Year, though I kept it from my family. Well, Auntie Amelia knew, but Dad didn't. Until Easter holiday of Sixth Year, when I told Dad and Lily my plan, and Sherlock, too. None of them were happy about it, but I didn't listen. And then, Rabastan visited as a surprise for me. He knew Dad was a Squib, but I hadn't told him about Dahlia being a Muggle, and he exploded. He accused me of lying to him, and deceiving him, and all sorts of nonsense. It took quite a bit of crying and apologizing and even renouncing my family to get him to accept me again. After that, I moved in with Auntie Amelia and her husband, and I didn't have any real contact with my family again. I even went by Greengrass instead of Evans. Rabastan proposed shortly after that, convinced of my loyalties. We married three weeks after I graduated, and I was able to carefully foil rather a lot of Voldemort's plans. Especially when he stayed in the LeStrange family manor for extended periods of time."

Silence greeted Violet when she finished her tale. Sherlock was still refusing to look in her direction, while John and Mary seemed unable to look away from her. Finally, Mary spoke. "Now I know why Sherlock said we had a lot in common. You were the perfect spy."

Violet laughed. "I merely used their own preconceived notions of what a Pureblood's wife should be against them. And it helps that I am a natural born Legilimens."

"That means she can read your mind," Sherlock stated blandly, still glaring out the window.

"But I keep it carefully under control," she hurried to add. "I don't use it on friends."

"So you didn't even need to overhear them making plans, you just had to hear their thoughts later," John said, sounding slightly awed. "That's brilliant."

"Thank you, John," she grinned at him.

"I still don't understand why you had to do it alone," Sherlock growled, whirling around to face her at last. "We could have done it so much better together."

"Yes, because my plan to infiltrate a Death Eater's family by marriage would have worked so much better if I had brought my very male best friend along with me," Violet said, rolling her eyes dramatically. "You know as well as I that while Pureblood men rarely practice fidelity in their marriages, the women are required to do so. And if I had brought you along, everyone would have thought it was so I could sleep with you on the side."

"She's got a fair point, mate," John said.

But Sherlock ignored him. "We could have acted as a couple, gone in as Death Eaters ourselves."

"And then we would have had to prove ourselves loyal to the cause," Violet countered. "We would have had to torture and kill and every sort of unimaginable horror just to be accepted."

Sherlock stubbornly shook his head. "I could have kept you safe!"

"I didn't need to be protected!" she yelled back. "I went through every Auror training exercise at the age of sixteen, for Merlin's sake! I can take care of myself!"

"From Rabastan?" Those two little words were spoken softly, but they pierced the space between them. "I would have protected you from him."

Violet stared at him for a long time, not uttering a word. When she did finally speak, it wasn't what anyone thought she would say. "Harry's been sleeping for long enough. He won't sleep tonight if he sleeps any longer now. We should wake him, and then go home. We've taken enough of the Watsons' time."

Protests were made by both Watsons in question, but Violet didn't listen. So Mary went with her to collect the children, as they had previously discovered it did not do to try to take Harry without allowing him to say goodbye to his Rosemud. "Could you make that spell on Rosie's room permanent?" Mary asked as the women brought the sleepy children back into the lounge.

"Or at least work a bit longer?" John added hopefully.

Violet smiled, but all the adults saw it didn't reach her eyes. "It should last a few more days. I'll look into a more permanent solution for you."

"Thank you," the Watsons chorused in weary gratefulness.

Goodbyes were said, and the Baker Street trio left. The cab ride home was in near silence, even for having an extraordinarily chatty driver. And once home, Violet threw herself into playing with Harry, ignoring Sherlock at every turn. He, to be fair, was also ignoring her, scraping at his violin in the most obnoxious way possible, before finally settling into the most melancholy music Violet had ever heard.

The desolate music lasted through dinner and into the evening. It only paused when Harry hugged his Lock goodnight, though it started up again as Harry took Violet's hand to go up the stairs to his bedroom. Violet had to use the muffling spell just so Harry would be able to sleep.

"Auntie, why is Lock playing sad music? I don't like sad music," the little boy announced as she tucked the blankets up under his slightly quivering chin.

She sighed, trying to come up with an answer that a four year old could understand. "Well, love, Lock and I had an argument earlier, the one you heard, and we are both still rather upset."

"So why don't you just say sorry?" His question was so innocent, but incredibly profound.

"I'll go talk to him," she promised, "but it is time for you to sleep now, love. Goodnight, my darling."

Violet walked slowly down the stairs, trying to order her thoughts into something that made some semblance of sense. Once at the bottom, she simply stared at the back of the man who knew her better than anyone.

"I can feel you staring." Sherlock never stopped playing, but she could see his reflection in the window, where he was watching her, as well.

"I'm sorry," she said quietly.

That got his full attention. He turned around slowly, confusion and wonder warring across his face. After all, neither of them were prone to apologies.

"I'm sorry I left you," Violet said, continuing in a soft voice. "I was so sure of myself that I never stopped to think about how it would affect those I was leaving behind. I never wanted to hurt you. I won't apologize for going through with my plan, since I was able to help save so many. But I am sorry I left you, that I hurt you."

He was silent for a moment. "I missed you every day for sixteen years. You were my best friend. I didn't really know how to live without you, but somehow, eventually, I managed. I made a life for myself, even somehow found friends. And then you come waltzing in, and somehow it's like we've never been apart. But we have. We've both been through so much, me with Moriarty, and you with that hell that was being LeStrange's wife. Sometimes it's so easy to just fall back on our old ways. And other times, it's like I don't even know you anymore."

Violet smiled hollowly. "We do have sixteen years to make up for, if you'll forgive me."

Sherlock studied her for a long moment, and she felt like one of his experiments. "I missed you, Vi," he finally said, sounding younger and more vulnerable than she'd heard in years.

Looking back later, neither was sure who moved first, but they found themselves wrapped in each other's arms.

There was quite a bit of conversation that night, filling each other in on all they'd missed. Oh, of course there were things they glossed over, not quite ready to share that much. Not just yet, anyway. But Violet shared her final triumph over the Death Eaters, the night Rudolphus had been arrested and Rabastan and Bellatrix killed. And Sherlock told her about beating Moriarty, and the two years it had taken to pull down his network from around the world. She spoke about having to pretend to be upset about Voldemort's disappearance when she had really wanted to rage at the world for her sister's loss. He expressed his confusion when John had asked him to be his best man, and how nervous he'd been, and still was, when he'd been asked to be Rosie's godfather.

It was very late when, with Sherlock's head on her lap, Violet asked him about the song he'd been playing earlier in the day. "I've never heard it before," she said, carding her fingers through the curls she'd always envied.

"It's because I wrote it," he confessed, a little smile lurking for a moment at the corners of his lips. But then they turned down again. "I wrote it the day you left."

Her heart clenched just a tiny bit. "Well, I'm not going anywhere now, so no more sad songs. It was beautiful, but Harry didn't like it."

Sherlock let out a bark of laughter. "Harry didn't like it, hm? Then, from now on, I'll have to make sure to play happy songs."

"He'll appreciate that," she said, a happy, sleepy grin finally on her face.

AN: I know it's been nearly two weeks since the last chapter, which is an incredibly long time for this story, and I am dreadfully sorry. I got a bit of a cold, and I think my muse did, too, since I didn't write more than four hundred words since then. I'm so sorry, and I will try to do better. But, on the plus side, you got the rest of Violet's backstory! Or at least the majority of it. And the next chapter will feature one of my very favorite canon HP characters! I love him so much, so hopefully you'll enjoy his trip to Baker Street. He'll be cropping up fairly regularly from now on, too. Thanks for all the follows, and a huge thanks to all of my reviewers! This continues to be my most popular story ever, and it blows me away! I love you all!