"Really, Charlie, I don't want to boot you out of your room-"

"Violet, you're a guest here. You're not sharing with Percy," Charlie told her as he lugged her suitcase up the stairs. She was following behind him cautiously with Astra in her cage, her brow knotted with worry and her cheeks pink from embarrassment. "Besides, it's pretty obvious you have a crush on Bill anyway…"

"I - I do not!" she spluttered, clutching Astra's cage more tightly and the pink in her face switching to bright crimson. All Charlie did was laugh when they came to a stop outside the right bedroom door. He knocked a couple of times before Bill called them in.

She actively avoided looking at Bill who was lounging on his bed in nothing but a pair of joggers and reading a book. She placed Astra at the foot of the empty bed and kept her eyes firmly on Charlie.

"Trust me, Vi, it's better if I share with Perce. Have fun…" He placed the suitcase next to Astra, threw a wink at Violet, and shut the door.

"Is it just a Weasley thing to call me 'Vi?'" she muttered to herself as she went rooting about in her trunk for some pyjamas.

"Yep," Bill said from the other side of the room. Violet jolted rather violently - not expecting him to answer - and smacked her head on the wall. "Oh, god, are you alright?"

"Peachy keen," she said with tears stinging her eyes. Pyjamas in hand, she rushed to the bathroom to go change, as well as splash some cold water on her face. That did absolutely nothing to help with the heat that was in her face, and she suddenly became self conscious of the fact Bill was going to notice she currently resembled a tomato.

Violet pulled her hair out of the pony tail it was in and combed her fingers through the thick mass until it draped around her shoulders in a less awkward way. There: ready for bed.

What she didn't expect when getting back to Bill's room, was him to be in bed but still awake. He was watching her curiously as she got into Charlie's bed, as if he couldn't quite figure her out.

"What?" Violet queried, with a raised eyebrow.

"Nothing." Bill shrugged. "You're very quiet."

"This is just my normal state," she replied, her face returning to its normal colour. "And…" Violet bit her lip, not sure if she should explain. Bill was now propped up on his elbow looking at her expectantly: she barely knew him but was sleeping in his room, him with that ruggedly handsome face and cool, long hair, and it helped he had a calm, welcoming aura about him too.

Plus he was a Curse Breaker, he could keep a secret, right?

"I'm worried about my mum," she then said so quietly she wasn't sure if Bill heard. Tears were back in her eyes again, but for a different reason. She sniffed, trying to hold them back, and that prompted Bill.

"It's okay," he said quickly. "She's been an Auror for a long time, she'll be fine."

"It's not that-"

"Vi, I'm old enough to know about names of Death Eaters from the First Wizarding War," his voice was gentle. "So I know that she's up against her particularly nasty siblings. You've not told your friends, have you?"

"No," she said after a moment of hesitation.

"You should," Bill paused. "Sleep on that. You don't have to tell them right away, but they're your friends and they'll be a damn sight better at talking to you about this than me."

She nodded. "Good night, Bill."

"Night, Vi."

Violet heard him mutter Nox and all the lights went out. She rolled onto her side so that she was facing the wall, wondering why she still struggled to tell her friends the more minute details about her life. She wondered why her trust in people was still somewhat shaky.

She fell into a troubled sleep, waking up in a cold sweat every couple of hours after having a bad dream that she didn't recall in the slightest. By the time Violet woke up properly the next morning, she was the only one in the room. Bill's bed had been neatly made and she could hear voices outside the room. The voices of her friends, that she didn't particularly want to talk to right now. Bill and Charlie had been enough the previous night.

Violet faced the wall and pretended to be asleep again when the quiet knocking started and then someone poked their head in.

"D'you think we should wake her?" Harry mumbled.

"No - leave her…" came a whisper from Hermione. "She looked worried when getting here last night…"

Eventually the door shut with a click, and Violet sat up in bed when she was sure they weren't going to come back. She felt drained and sick with worry, but didn't really have any intentions of sharing too much too soon. She didn't want to think about the fact her parents had to leave her here last minute, and she certainly didn't want to think about who her mum was going to be on the chase for.

Violet was already tentative enough when it came to outright talking about her relatives. She wasn't sure if she wanted to go in depth yet. The thought of it exhausted her even more than she already was, and she hadn't even got out of bed.

She sighed, rubbing her eyes and finding some fresh clothes and a towel, before heading to the bathroom to get ready. Admittedly that process made her feel somewhat better, but it didn't stop her from bringing a book downstairs and then reading it over the breakfast Mrs Weasley had kept warm for her. Violet muttered a thank you to her host and silently ate and read in the kitchen. The odd glance out the window told her that her friends were all outside trying to enjoy the last week of their summer.

Eventually Violet put down her book and stared, catching glimpses of them here and there. They all looked so at home, so free and it made her think that perhaps she was the odd one out. She was still the new one to their group after all, and as much as they had made her feel welcome and at home as best as possible, there was always the little voice at the back of her mind telling her she was too quiet to fit in with them. Too secretive to have friends.

"Are you alright, dear?" Mrs Weasley asked as she came to collect Violet's plate. The girl jumped, but nodded all the same with the faintest of smiles.

"Thank you for having me for the whole week," she replied.

"It's no bother at all!" The woman paused. "Try not to worry though. Bill mentioned you were out of sorts last night…"

Violet sighed and closed her book. "Right…"

"Go and enjoy the sun. It might help."

As Violet closed her book and got up, she wondered if that was Mrs Weasley's way of coaxing her into talking to her friends. They weren't really up to much outside, but they'd grabbed broomsticks and looked to be heading somewhere with them. Even Hermione had a broom too. Violet followed at a slower pace behind her friends and the rest of the Weasleys up to an orchard that was far away from the prying eye to allow the eight of them to play Quidditch.

She sat in the shade of a tree and watched her friends play for some time before getting back to her book. Eventually, she was joined by Harry and Hermione, who appeared to be very concerned.

"You alright?" Harry asked, as he and Hermione sat down on either side of Violet. She gave a very nonchalant shrug as a response.

"Violet…" Hermione was gentle. "Last year when you told us about your family not being nice… did you mean…?"

"That they were Death Eaters? Yes."

"All of them?"

"Yeah. Dexter and Willmott are heading that way too."

She went quiet again for a moment. Harry and Hermione waited patiently for her to start speaking again.

"The Oaks family was always about blood purity," she began. "That much I know about my ancestors. For the specific immediate family? We have Fletcher Oaks, my uncle; Virginia Oaks, my aunt who married Fletcher; their children Dexter and Willmot; Lamia Oaks, my other aunt; then there's my mother: Genevive. The one who married a Muggleborn and was disowned for it. They all know about Lupin as well. That day Dexter and Willmot found me in the library last year - they had a couple of crude comments to make about that too..."

"I'm so sorry," Hermione said.

"Mum has to fight her own siblings when it gets down to it… they raised Dexter and Willmot. They're going to be ten times worse than them. Not to mention they're actually Death Eaters…"

"Why didn't you tell us this before?" Harry questioned, his brow knotted.

Violet bit her lip. "I… I don't know. I feel like the odd one out sometimes. This would have made it worse… I'm their blood."

"We're your friends," Hermione reminded her firmly. "This wouldn't have made a difference to how we feel about you at all. Mr and Mrs Weasley probably knew about this from the First Wizarding War and they opened their home to you the minute your parents had to go and help with the mess caused last night. You being the Oaks' blood doesn't matter at all to us."

"You're a good person, Violet. Really," Harry said. "Don't hide from us."

Hermione shot him a look. "But by all means, if you would prefer to be alone with your thoughts, that's fine too. We're not too far away."

"Yeah. That too," Harry swiftly agreed, on realising that Hermione was trying not to pressure Violet into actively spending time with them.

"Thanks," VIolet said. "Look, you two go back to Quidditch. I'm fine here. Promise."

The rest of the week passed like that.

Violet was slow in joining her friends after breakfast, opting for spending most of her mornings reading quietly or offering to help Mrs Weasley around the house where she could so that she could occupy her mind. Her heart wasn't in talking to anyone, but she did wonder if Harry and Hermione had at least passed on what she told them to Ron. They must have done, because he was erring on the side of caution when trying to get her involved in games of chess, Exploding Snap, or anything, really.

Halfway through the week she found herself opening back up to Harry and Hermione a little more at the very least, managing to at least engage in some sort of meaningless conversation with the pair of them. It helped ease her troubled mind, but it didn't settle it entirely - it didn't stop her from feeling embarrassed and ashamed of being related to such awful people who had probably taken delight in ruining the Quidditch World Cup.

Then two nights before they were all due back at Hogwarts, something Violet hadn't realised she so desperately needed to happen, happened.

It must have been about eleven o'clock at night, both her and Bill had been sleeping soundly, when there was a constant tapping on the window. It woke both of them up, Bill grabbing his wand flicking it so that the lights turned on. Groggy, they found an owl with a letter in its beak at the window.

"Virgil!" Violet was suddenly more awake as she let in the owl. She took the letter from him and opened up Astra's cage so he could go camp in there.

"Virgil?" Bill was still groggy.

"My dad's owl!"

Violet tore open the letter as she sat back down on her bed, Bill heading over to join her.

Dearest Violet,

Mum and I are fine. Work is just really busy for the both of us which is why we've not said anything for the past few days. We'll be able to come and see you off on the 1st September, because we're not going to let you go back to school without a proper goodbye.

We both know what you're like - stop worrying, and enjoy your last few days of freedom. Play some Quidditch with Harry for your old dad, eh?

Love,
Mum and Dad x

"Hey - you're smiling!" Bill ruffled her hair and grinned at her. "Better?"

"Yeah - I think so," she said, trying to smooth out her hair. She handed the letter to him and he skimmed through it.

"Get the uncertainty out of your voice, Vi, you're feeling better and you know it," he told her, handing the letter back. He stood up and went to put on a t-shirt before heading over to the door. "You coming?"

"What?" she set down the letter, a little confused.

"We've got some Butterbeer," he said, as if that explained everything, leaving the room. Curious about what Bill wanted to clearly speak about over a Butterbeer, Violet cautiously followed him downstairs and sat on the sofa, waiting for him to get back with the two beverages. There was still a light on - a dim one - and it added a nice, comforting glow to the room that wasn't too hard on the eyes.

Bill settled in the armchair after he came back from the kitchen and handed one of the bottles to Violet.

"Do you wanna know why mum put you in my room? Instead of with the girls?"

"Actually, yes," Violet replied with her brow knotted. "I've been wondering about that."

"Harry's been talking about you a lot the past couple of weeks, and if my eavesdropping has been correct, I believe my sister likes him. Plus, she doesn't really know you too well…"

She shifted uncomfortably, taking a sip of the beverage. "I mean… that's fair enough about her not knowing me well enough to have me stay in her room along with Hermione, but… I'm just really good friends with Harry. It's not like I have a crush on him or anything."

"Right," Bill said, not quite believing her. "Are you sure?"

"Definitely. Even if I did, I wouldn't - I wouldn't want to act on it. I wouldn't want to risk my friendship with him, you know?" She hugged her knees to her chest with one arm, a little embarrassed that she was even having this conversation with Bill - and calmly at that, too.

He chuckled. "You're a good kid, Vi. I don't know you very well, but your friends are lucky to have you. I think even Ginny might grow to really like you, once she gets to know you a little better too. You could both get on really well."

"You've been waiting until I felt better to talk to me about this, haven't you?" Violet raised an eyebrow at him.

"Guilty as charged."

"You're like an annoying older brother."

"Correction: I am an annoying older brother. Anyway, I wouldn't let the others know I've told you this. It might make things a bit odd."

"Why did you tell me anyway?"

"Like I said: you're a good kid. I don't want to see any of you lot falling out over something stupid. And with how quiet you've been since the World Cup, it looked like you could use an older brother type of chat."

As sweet as the sentiment was, Violet felt weirded out considering how she'd reacted when they'd first met. Perhaps he really was pretty clueless about the whole thing. Either way, she definitely appreciated Bill talking to her, otherwise she wouldn't have known and could have said something stupid in front of Ginny or Harry.

They began to chat idly, slowly sipping away at the Butterbeer, until footsteps on the stairs caused them to freeze. Thankfully, it was only a rather bedraggled looking Harry.

"What are you two doing?" he said upon seeing them in the living room.

"Talking. Want to join?" Violet asked. Harry glanced between her and Bill, then decided there was no harm done in that, and sat next to Violet on the sofa.

"Feeling better then?" he then asked.

"Yeah… got a letter from my parents. All is well," she paused. "Then Bill decided to take on the older brother role for yet another dark haired stranger in his house and here we are."

Bill scoffed. "I'd hardly call Harry a dark haired stranger…"

"Only because he's been here longer than me this summer…"

The Weasley boy rolled his eyes and necked back the rest of his drink. "Whatever, I'm going back to bed. Night."

"Night," Harry and Violet chanted back at him.

The moment that Bill was definitely out of earshot, Violet turned to her friend. "How come you're awake?"

"Bad dream. I'll… talk about it on the way back to school. I don't want to think about it right now. You seem better."

"Yes! Um, my parents sent me a letter. They're coming to King's Cross to see me off," she told him with a shaky smile (as it occurred to her she had a secret to keep, now), before passing him the bottle. Harry took a couple of swigs from it gratefully before handing it back.

"This would be classed as underage drinking in the Muggle world, wouldn't it?" he joked.

Violet giggled. "Something like that, yes. It's hardly alcoholic though - it's just the name that would suggest it."

They fell silent for a few minutes, taking it in turns drinking from the bottle so as to finish off the Butterbeer. A strange way to spend the middle of the night instead of sleeping, but it was companionable and comforting to both friends.

"Did I ever tell you it was pretty cool seeing how you lived your life outside of school? That mix of magic and Muggle… it's great. Made me wonder if my life would have been like that…" Harry said, taking Violet quite aback. "I love it here as well - being surrounded by all of it."

"I can imagine, actually. It's like coming home for you, isn't it?"

Coming home… perhaps it was the way the words fell from Violet's lips that made Harry's heart skip a beat, or because he knew she had countless occasions to sit back and watch him from afar, but the words themselves showed that she had a weird, innate understanding of him. They'd only been true friends for just over a year.

"Yeah. It is."

The two friends went to bed in better spirits after that.

Violet very reluctantly got on a broom the next day for one Quidditch match too, before she went back to her usual of reading and watching her friends from afar. This time, without such a huge weight on her mind.

Not entirely sure how the Weasleys' house is laid out, but I'd imagine Bill/Charlie sharing, Fred/George sharing, then Percy, Ron, and Ginny having their own rooms. Idk, it just seemed to make sense to me, with the way the house is stacked. Cramped, but room for 6 bedrooms once you include Molly/Arthur in the mix. Hope you enjoyed! There's just certain characters I love writing Violet with, and I was surprised to find that Bill was one of them! They'll have a few "bro" moments down the line.

Comment?

-OL.