Violet had woken to a terrible headache that left her gasping for breath. The nightmare had appeared to her various times throughout the summer and the same cloaked figure in her dream always reached out to grab her throat before she would awake covered in sweat.
Her brother Victor was peacefully snoring in his bed across from hers as the moonlight made his soft black hair glow silver. The entire house was sleeping quietly as Violet rubbed her eyes and tossed the blankets aside. The floor croaked beneath her feet as she slipped on a robe and grabbed her wand from the desk before she made her way downstairs. The door to her mother's room was closed as she passed by quietly into the kitchen where she saw her Niffler, Kress, staring at a large cake sitting inside a glass case. Stuffing her wand in her pocket, she picked up the extremely fat Niffler and held him upside down as goodies from all over the kitchen and their neighbor's garden came pouring out from his pouch.
"I teach you to steal food instead of jewels and you gain more weight than Victor!" She hissed at her Niffler before tucking him under her arm. Kress only whined sadly as Violet opened the back door and walked outside. The sky was becoming slightly light as grey clouds moved in to signal rain for the day. She paid no mind to the skies as she unlocked the shed door and hid Kress in the pocket of her robe. The door opened to her mother's dingy research lab. Buckets filled with meat, vegetables, and dead bugs scattered the desks. Violet grabbed one of each before stuffing a few small bottles of strange potions into her pocket before opening the small floor door.
Hundreds of creatures roamed freely in the magical climate change area. Violet hopped off the ladder and turned to see a few approach her including her mother's Chinese firebolt, Drake.
"Good morning, everyone." Violet walked past petting various creatures towards the frozen wasteland where her mother's dementor stood watching the snow fall. Violet pulled out a bottle containing a happy memory from a deceased no-maj she stole the other day. The dementor turned and felt the presence of food as she uncorked the vile. "Unless you want to make friends, Rio, let's keep to freezing and stealing happy memories to ourselves?" She tipped the vile as the memory slowly dripped out and sucked into Rio's empty body.
Violet turned and walked away after the dementor lost interest in her and turned to watch the snow fall once again. She felt something jump onto her back as the Demiguise appeared and tossed his arms around her neck. "Be a dear and help me feed the others? Mother has been pretty sick the past few days and you know I'm not an expert on the new arrivals yet." She gave the Demiguise a bucket of carved meat and leafy greens before turning onto a path that led into the forest. The Demiguise hopped off Violet's back and took the path to the right as he helped her feed the hungry creatures waiting. Violet stopped and stared at the blue Pygmy Puff sitting in a flower bed.
The small creature looked up in awe as Violet approached him and reached out to stroke his fluffy hair. He purred as Violet's hand covered the entire top of his head. "Sweet little thing, aren't you? I'll call you Pig if you don't mind?" The creature looked up and nodded his head before erupting into soft cries of joy. Violet picked him up and cuddle him into her chest. "Pig it is then!" She carried him through the forest path as they neared a small cottage. Creatures in various sizes watched her walk to the cottage and open the door, their curious eyes pepping into the windows. From far off in the distant she noticed the Erumpet rolling in the mud caking its body in a mess of mud and grass. She made a mental note to herself that mating season was upon a few of them including the erractic Erumpet that has caused nothing but loud complants and destroyed trees.
A small figure approached her as it smacked his lips and gave an evil grin at the bucket full of insects Violet was carrying. "Good morning, Miss. Violet. I do hope you brought breakfast?" The creature sneered. Violet rolled her eyes and handed Gavin, the Imp, the bucket.
"Any word on the sick merpeople?" Violet asked him while he munched away on a cockroach.
"Master Victor's antidote did the trick it seems. They're singing the awful song again. Where did you get these juicy bugs?"
"Pipe it. You're not here for just bugs what do you want, Gavin?"
"Have you thought about my proposal? A lady imp?" Gavin asked quietly as he gave her a small smile.
"We're looking into it. We were lucky enough to find you," Violet replied. She felt a small pain in her heart as Gavin frowned slightly. Its been two years since they found him hanging from a tree left for dead by his tribe. His mother taught him to speak and later on read as she looked for a companion for him.
Gavin chewed on another large beetle before handing her the bucket of bugs. "Keep it. Share it with the pixies and give a few to the occamy." She waved at him and unlocked the cottage door before petting the few creatures that greeted her kindly.
Inside the cottage stood Violet and Victor's lab. The messy area was covered in notes, old potion ingredients, and various dirty goblets, cauldrons, and flasks. Violet's eyes wandered through the room as she thought carefully. The walls were covered in measurement posters, old potion brews, and numerous messy notes containing both Violet and Victor's handwriting. The faint smell of burning rat tails and lionfish made her gag slightly as she raised her wand and turned to grab new ingredients. Dirty cauldrons, bottles, bowls, and measurements whisked themselves to the sink while old notes and used ingredients tossed themselves into the trash or fireplace that alit itself with a small cozy fire.
The door opened and closed as the Demiguise appeared and sat on the table waiting to help Violet. Kress picked up Pig and jumped off Violet's shoulder to the nearby desk and watched in amazement as the lab cleaned itself. "We're so close to…" Violet muttered away to herself as she paced the room tossing various ingredients into a new cauldron. She placed the cauldron on the table and pulled her very long black hair into a tight bun before putting on her gloves and goggles. Peering at her recent notes she arranged all the ingredients in order as the creatures watched her profusely. "Stand back you three," She warned.
"You're seriously going to let Diggle, Kress, and that fur ball watch you make a vampire bite antidote?" A voice said behind her. She turned and pulled her goggles off to see her sneering brother, Victor, throw on his gloves, his goggles on his head.
"Since my original lab assistant was snoring away, I could you use a few extra hands."
"The hairs on Diggle would make the antidote unreliable from freezing the vampire poison in the bloodstream. No offense, Diggle," Victor replied as he looked over at the hurt Demiguise. Violet gave her brother a cold look and gave Diggle a piece of chocolate to cheer him up.
"They can understand you, Victor."
"We are potion makers, Violet. Not magizoologists like mom. Remember you want to be an Auror not a beast whisperer like our great grandpa."
"Careful what you say, Victor. Those beasts you refer to speak highly of Newt's name."
Diggle smirked and stared at Victor as he heard various growls from outside. "Alright fine. Let's just work on this stupid antidote." He fixed the goggles over his eyes and poured a silver liquid into the cauldron.
The two worked for hours as their 'assistants' fell asleep on the neighboring table. New notes littered the table as Victor tossed the horn of a Graphorn into the cauldron and was gifted with a burning smell before the bowl exploded green slim all over his robe. He cursed as he tossed the ruin cauldron into a pile of already burned away cauldrons. Victoria noted that the horn was not appropriate before pulling her goggles off and rubbing her eyes.
"I made you both coffee if you would like some?" Their mother appeared as she closed the door behind the nosy creatures, a tray in her hands. She looked around the room and sighed as she set the tray down. "How many cauldrons could you two possibly go through?"
"The same amount as lab coats you use with the slugs," Victor muttered as he grabbed a cup of coffee.
"I need to head into the city for some ingredients and medicine, would you two like to tag along?" She smiled at her two children before looking over at Kress who was reaching for a muffin on the tray. Grabbing the muffin, she gave him a celery stick and tossed the bread to Violet. "I rather he steal food than jewels but he really needs to lose weight before you two go back to school."
Violet looked over at the calendar and noticed it was nearing September quickly. It was only a matter of time before her and her brother would return to Ilvermorny one last time for their seventh year. "MASCUA only has to wait one more year," Victor sighed and closed his advance potions book.
Their mother smiled and motioned for them to follow her as she picked up Diggle. The three left the lab each carrying one of the creatures and placing them back into their habitats except for Kress that Violet held onto with caution as he eyed the remaining muffins on her mother's tray.
"Just remember, we have company tonight and your great grandpa would like to see the shed. Let's keep our creatures… tamed tonight. Right, Violet?" Her mother warned as she looked at Kress.
"He'll be fine, Mom. Besides, he's just a harmless food stealing Niffler," Violet replied as they left the shed and headed back to the house.
"I know but this is very important to me. I need his approval before I write the update to his book. Anyway hurry up and get dress the both of you, we leave in ten minutes!"
Violet went upstairs and grabbed a pair of jeans and a nice red top before finding her favorite boots and locking the bathroom door behind her. She dressed quickly and stared at herself in the mirror. Her bright brown eyes stared back as she brushed her long black hair and covered the bags under her eyes with cover up. Her lips were torn and bloody from hours of biting them in the lab. With a layer of lipstick, her lips looked full and healthy as she smiled. A small nightmare couldn't ruin a trip to the city now could it?
The room that she shared with her brother was rather large for a bedroom. Although her family was consider wealthy, the mutual agreement to share a room was made in order to build the cottage two years ago after the thought of becoming an auror invaded her brother's brain. Since they were eleven, the room has been covered with posters and scarves of their house, Wampus. Posters of popular Aurors lined Victor's side of the room while Violet's had pictures of creatures she considered her own in the lab. Kress' picture sat on her desk of him munching away on a berries.
She opened her school chest and took out a small bag that contained coins from her Great-Grandpa for new potion materials or perhaps a new pet? She looked over at Kress who was stuffing left over grapes into his pouch. He looked up at her and cocked his head to the side as she thought about purchasing a cat or owl instead of bringing her useless Niffler to school. It was then that she realized Grandpa Newt would be more upset at her abandoning Kress for another creature than spending the money on books and clothes. She gave Kress a pat on the head and kissed him on the cheek before giving him a chocolate frog and leaving him in the room.
Her mother was waiting patiently in the kitchen with a cup of strong coffee while she read Witches! The cover had her mother's recent crush Gilbert Janko, the 'dragon whisperer', plastered with his smug face winking at the readers. Violet rolled her eyes as her mother giggled while reading his article. On the table was the newspaper with the leading article screaming the headlines: Terror Rises as Scourers Kill Seven.
Violet's stomach lurched at the mention of the Scourers. The group had murdered countless creatures and both magical blood and no-majs since they made an apperance fifteen years ago. MACUSA members were able to track and capture three members since then but the amount of those in the group remained unknown. It would only be a matter of time before the group would travel into the area of Chicago where many witches and wizards lived.
"Alright let's head out! I need a new tie for school and it would be great to get one with a Wampus on it," Victor sneered as he stuffed his list into his pocket causing Violet to jump from her deep thinking. Their mother closed the magazine and tossed it on the table, grabbed her purse and headed out the back door with her wand ready.
Their mother turned, "We'll need to go to the bank first so everyone meet up there in five minutes!" She turned and vanished from sight. Violet turned to her brother and smiled before vanishing from sight and leaving him behind as she appeared in front of an alley in Chicago. She turned and waited for others to pass her by before heading into the alley where others were meeting by a poster of a Thunderbird.
"Quiet down! You'll cause the No-Majs to notice us!" An older man hissed at the group behind him. Violet made her way towards the group and weaved through them before standing next to the older man. "Oh! Good to see you, Violet! Summer been good?"
She turned and smiled at her Defense Against the Darks Arts professor, "The antidote will be ready before the term, Professor Higgins."
"Right! Good for you. Now lets see… any second now…" He looked down at his watch and peered at the poster. The clock struck eleven as bells chimed above and before their eyes, the walls vanished and revealed the busy Main street of the wizarding community, Kingsley.