Violet woke up slowly, taking in the quiet chirping of the birds outside. They had forgotten to close the window the previous night so the sound was guaranteed to be their wake up call. She sat up in her bed in order to get a glance around her room.

From her spot on the bottom bunk, the wooden closets, dressers, and desks that made up their shared room were very easy for her to look at. Many of the things that usually propagated various surfaces across the room were now packed into two large trunks that were situated close to the door.

The sight of the trunks of all of the things that they were taking to Hogwarts made excitement spur in Violet's chest. She glanced at the calendar and saw that it remembered that they had just turned the month over yesterday. Her legs began to shake with excitement and her heartbeat increased.

Today was the day that they were going to Hogwarts.

She threw the covers off of her and got up out of her bed, only to look up and see that Emily was already floating around above her. She had a book held close to her face and was reading very intently. She hadn't even noticed that Violet had woken up yet. Violet sent out a tiny push of force from her finger to push against Emily's arm. The magical equivalent of pinching her lightly on the arm.

That got her attention, and in response Emily sent a gust of wind against her face, causing her hair to get into her mouth.

Before their greeting evolved into a full on war, Violet turned her attention to getting dressed for the day. She levitated her clothes around and pulled them onto her with practiced ease. The only new addition she put on was the witch hat that she had bought at Diagon Alley.

Professor Longbottom had told them that the hats had begun to go out of fashion, but she had fallen in love with the hat at first glance and had insisted that she get it. She had only taken the hat off to sleep since then, making it a permanent fixture on her head.

Violet left the room, leaving Emily to finish reading and get dressed, and made her way downstairs. She greeted Gabe and Amy who were talking by the stairs and went down the two flights of stairs that led to the kitchen. Madam Burgess was already preparing breakfast.

"Good morning, madam," Violet said in greeting as she grabbed a hold of a pan with some scrambled eggs in it.

"Good morning Violet," Burgess said warmly. "Are you excited for your big day?"

The way that she said that made Violet pause in what she was doing. Burgess was smiling sadly. Her eyes were red as if she had been crying earlier.

"Yes," Violet said. "I'm very excited. But are you sure that you are going to be able to handle everything when me and Emily are gone? If you don't think you can I'm sure we can tell Hog-"

"Oh stop that," Burgess chided. "I will be fine. I've been running this place long before either of you showed up. It will be different, but it's not like the place is going to be burned down if you're not here. I'm more worried about you."

"About me?" Violet asked.

"Yes, you," Burgess said. "Are you going fine with being away from everybody. I know how much you are going to miss everybody. Especially Owen."

Violet took a large breath. "I am going to miss them so much. But I also feel so much excitement. Every few minutes it feels like one of those emotions is going to win out, but then I remember that Toby won't eat toast unless it has crust or that the school is going to have moving staircases and I change my mind again."

"I know how you feel," Burgess said with a nostalgic smile. "When I left here to go to school it was the hardest thing to do. I was a lot like you, but I would say I was a little more involved in taking care of people here than you were."

"Well that hasn't changed at all then," Violet joked which caused the both of them to laugh.

"You didn't answer my question fully though," Burgess said. "What about Owen?"

Violet felt her chest tighten a little at the reminder. "I'm going to see it as us scouting out the school for him. We'll find out all of the secrets and tell them to him so he's able to wow everybody with his knowledge."

"Let's hope so," Burgess smiled. "And don't forget that if you are ever too homesick or don't like it, you can always come back here. This is your home, so don't you forget that."

"Thank you," Violet smiled and moved over to hug her.

"Foooooooooood," Emily groaned out as she floated over to them with her arms and legs dangling below her.

"Emily what have I told you about floating in the kitchen!" Burgess scolded.

Emily grumbled and slowly lowered herself to the ground as she rubbed at her eyes. Knowing her, she had actually been reading for a few hours, and hadn't actually gotten that much sleep last night.

As Emily grumbled at the dining table, more and more children came down the stairs. Violet gave each of them their favorites as they entered the kitchen and they thanked her in kind. Eventually Owen came down whining.

"Violet…" he said tearfully. "Please don't go…"

"Owen, you know that's not fair." Burgess scolded.

"But I don't want her to go…" he whined. Violet smiled and knelt down to be eye level with him.

"It's alright Owen," Violet said. "Before you know it you'll be going to the same school as we are."

"But that's not for years!" he moaned. "I'm only 8! It's going to be forever until I'm going to be old enough to go."

"Don't think about it like you are waiting for something," Violet advised. "Think of it like you are preparing to be good enough by the time you are ready for school. By the time we get back for Christmas you better be just as good as us, or I'll know that you've been slacking in practicing."

Owen smiled. "But what if I don't want to practice?"

"Then I'll come home and sting you until you start running laps around the house!" she exclaimed as she started to tickle him all over. He laughed and ran away from her. "You get back here! You little scamp!"

All too soon Violet found herself sitting next to Emily in the car as Burgess drove them away. Looking back at all of the kids waving was going to make her cry. Especially Owen at the front waving as hard as he could without falling over. When they pulled out of the eyesight of the crowd, Violet let a few tears fall quietly down her cheeks.

For some reason, her thoughts were drawn to her and Emily's bedroom. The thought of the room empty of all of their things was going to make her cry in earnest again if she wasn't careful about it. Almost all of their belongings had been crammed into the trunks in the back of the car they were in.

Speaking of Emily, she was currently passed out to the left of her. It turns out staying up to read had actually paid a price which was currently being paid.

The drive to King's Cross was quiet, Violet not wanting to start her incessant crying again, so she just let the drive pass her by.

All too soon or perhaps way too long, they finally arrived. She shook Emily awake and pulled her back down when she tried to float outside of the car. They pulled their trunks out of the car and entered the station alongside Madam Burgess.

The station was bustling with activity, but Violet realized that they couldn't just walk up to someone and ask them where they were supposed to go.

How is there even a platform 9 ¾ anyways?

"We really should have asked about this while we could," Emily remarked after they had walked up and down the station a few times. They sat down in front of the signs that signalled platforms nine and ten.

"This seems like something they would have to explain to you," Burgess complained as she rubbed her forehead.

"I can't believe this is happening," Violet complained. "What are we supposed to just divine from the damn cosmics where the entrance is?"

"Language," Burgess said absentmindedly.

"Excuse me," a man said. Violet turned her head to get a look at him. He looked to be at least fifty or sixty years old and wore the uniform of a train station worker. "I couldn't help but overhear your conversation. Are you perhaps looking for platform 9 ¾?"

"Yes!" Emily said excitedly. "We can't quite find it and we have been looking for it for a while."

"Well do you see that wall over there?" The man pointed off to a wall far away from them. You can get to the platform by going through that wall over there. Just give yourself a little bit of a running start and you'll be on the other side."

"Thank you, sir!" Emily said before running off to the wall, not even stopping to consider if she would faceplant against the brick.

Violet watched as Emily ran up to the wall and passed through it unharmed. It wasn't the most magnificent piece of magic she had ever seen but it was novel nonetheless.

"Thank you for helping," Burgess said. "I don't know how long I would have been running around trying to find the platform for the girls."

"Oh, it's alright," the man said. "It's always fun watching all the kids go through the wall this day every year. It's quite magnificent when you think about it."

Burgess gave the man a smile before she started to walk over to where Emily went through the wall. She didn't quite run through the wall, but did look suspiciously at it before resting a hand against it, then going through.

Violet made to follow her but a thought occurred to her.

"Sir?" Violet asked.

"Yes, miss?"

"Why do you know about the platform?" Violet asked. "Are you magical?"

"Magical you say?" The man said deep in thought. "I always knew that it was strange but I've never had a name for it."

"Wait. How do you know about the platform then?" Violet asked.

"Well I've been working here for 40 years," the man said. "And every day on September 1st, there's always dozens of people wearing robes and children walking aimlessly on this platform more than usual. After as many years as I've been doing this I've put a few things together."

"Apparently we're not supposed to tell people about it," Violet said. "It's against some of their laws for some reason."

"I've figured that out," he said. "It would be crazy if a bunch of mutants just showed up out of nowhere."

"Wizards and witches," she corrected.

"Wizards and witches," he smiled. He looked out into the distance deep in thought.

"Well, I've got to go," she said before an idea came to her. She held out her hand and focussed on creating something. Soon enough, a small glass train was resting on her hand.

The man's eyes were wide as he watched her create the train. He held the train delicately as she gave it to her and smiled when she did. "Thank you, miss."

"It's Violet," she said. "I'll see you when I come back for Christmas, it should be say… December 16th?"

"I'll keep an eye out," he said and waved goodbye to her.

Violet left the man and ran up to the wall and passed through it. When she emerged she was shown a magnificent sight.

A large train stood in front of her surrounded by hundreds of witches and wizards. They were all gathered to say goodbye to their families and leave them for at least a few months.

Violet got a lot of joy in watching large collections of witches and wizards. The trip to Diagon Alley had been enjoyable, but here it was a more concentrated version of that. All of the people wore flowing robes that looked like they were straight out of the middle ages, owls were carried around in cages and broomsticks were carried over the shoulders of some of the older students.

Violet could have spent hours just staring at all of the marvelous sights in front of her, but Emily was calling her name off to the side.

"What took you so long?" Emily asked once Violet had finally come over.
"I was talking to the worker who helped us."

"Of course you were," Emily rolled her eyes. "Give it up to you to start talking to random train workers on the day that we are finally able to go to magic school. I can float around now, right? I want to get a look at things."

"At least wait until we get on the train you flight addict," Violet complained. "Then you can go crazy to your heart's content."

"Alright," Emily pouted.

"Madam, we're going to put our trunks on the train," Violet said. "We'll come back to you afterwards."

"Alright, don't take too long!"

Violet dragged Emily behind her so that she wouldn't get too distracted. They pushed their way past the crowds around them, and got onto the train. After searching for a little while they found an empty compartment to put their stuff down in.

Emily floated with her trunk to put it up on one of the shelves on top while Violet levitated hers so it was right next to Emily's.

"Hey guys," a girl said. Violet turned her head to see Abby standing in the doorway of the apartment. She was already wearing her school robes and was smiling kindly at them.

"Abby!" Emily exclaimed before floating over to her. She wrapped her in a hug and pulled her into the air.

"Ahhh!" Abby screamed as she was pulled off the ground. She struggled against Emily and tried to break free.

"Jeez, why are you so warm?" Emily asked. "Do you have a fever or something?"
"Let me go!"

"Emily! Let her go!" Violet yelled as she pulled on Abby's ankles until she was free.

"Ah, thanks… Violet," Abby said cautiously.

Violet didn't understand why Abby didn't like her. One moment they had been getting along just fine, and it seems like the moment after she got her Hogwarts letter, that feeling had turned on her. For some reason it felt like Abby was scared of her.

"Do you wanna come meet my family?" Abby asked the two, but mostly Emily.

"Sure," Emily said. "We just have to go get Madam Burgess first."

While Abby was dragging the two of them through the crowd, Violet saw Paul, the deaf boy they had met in Diagon Alley. She tried to free herself of Abby but couldn't escape her hot iron grip. He was surrounded by several younger children and was hugging them all goodbye one at a time.

The Abby train picked up Burgess and then they were brought over to where Abby's family were standing.

They met Hannah, her mother, Heather who was a sixth year Hufflepuff, Nick who was a third year slytherin, and August who wasn't going to be going to Hogwarts until next year.

"Mom, this is Emily and Violet," Abby said. Hannah's smile faltered when Abby said Violet's name and the confusion grew in Violet once again.

"It's nice to meet you, dears," Hanna said with a small smile.

"You already have some going to Hogwarts?" Burgess asked Hannah.

"Yeah, these two are already deep into their stay."

"I was just wondering because there's another kid at the home who has magic."

"A third one?" Hannah asked. "That's a lot of kids for just one home; there's not usually more than one muggleborn in one spot."

"Well we're just that lucky apparently," Burgess smiled.

The two adults continued to talk so Abby dragged them over to see some of her friends.

"Rose!" Abby yelled. A red haired girl looked over at them and smiled. She had a confused look on her face and was looking all around her as if she was missing someone. "You remember Emily and Violet, right?"

"Ah, yeah I saw you guys," Rose said as she looked around them.

"Are you looking for something?" Violet asked her.

"I just have a weird feeling right now," she said. "I don't know, it's like I'm watching myself right now. This usually doesn't happen."

"Usually?" Emily asked. "Does it happen sometimes?"

Rose shrugged. "I dunno magic?"

"Rose!" A man called. "Come over here!"

"Oh, that's my dad," Rose said. "Come follow me."

Rose brought them over to where a large collection of people were gathered. There had to be at least a dozen people with the same red hair as Rose. Violet guessed that this was her family, but she hadn't expected there to be so many people.

"Wow there's a lot of you," Emily said.

"Yeah, most of my family is here today to send us all to Hogwarts," Rose said. "There's a lot of us. This year there's going to be...hold on let me count. There's going to be 9 of us I think? Yeah, probably 9."

"Wow, that's a lot for one family," Violet said. "That kind of reminds me of home."

"You live with a lot of kids?" Rose asked.

"Yeah about 30 or so."

"That's a lot different than a dozen getting together every few weeks for dinner."

"You get used to it. It's going to be like that in Hogwarts too."

"Yeah I guess so."
"Sorry we're late!" A man called out. He had dark hair and green eyes and was followed by a collection of others. Violet recognized Albus, the boy that had talked to Abby in the alley. With them was another red haired woman, and another boy and girl. Behind them a family of three followed with a very large man, a regal looking woman with blonde hair, and a blonde haired girl. "We had to get the Dursley's first."

Violet watched as the family made greetings and conversation. It reminded her painfully of the dynamic she had with all of the kids back at the orphanage. Emily seemed to notice and pushed against her arm teasingly. "Don't tell me you're already homesick, we can't have been gone for more than six hours."

"Daphne," a woman with very bushy hair that reminded Violet of Rose said. "You know Scorpius is here."

Rose's head shot to the woman.

"Scorpius?" Daphne asked.

"Your nephew?" the woman said.

"Oh, Astoria's spawn," Daphne said. "I don't care whatever that wretched family has produced. I don't want to see him."

That made the collected family grow quiet suddenly. Violet reasoned that to them, it was unthinkable for someone to reject their family like that.

"Scorpius?" Rose said confusedly. She had a lost look on her face and started looking around wildly. "Scorpius."

Rose ran off then, much to the confusion of her family.

The awkward tension of the group made Violet want to leave and she subtly started to drag Emily off so they could return to Burgess. When they got back to her, she was just finishing talking to Hannah. Hannah went off to go find Abby and the Weasleys.

Then, a whistle blew from the train, signalling that the train was going to be leaving soon. Violet turned to Burgess, knowing that they were going to have to say goodbye now.

When looking at her, Violet couldn't find the words to say to her. Emily saved her though.

"I'm going to miss you madam," she said warmly and gave her a small hug.

"I'm going to miss you too Emily," she said. "Just try not to get into too much trouble while you're there. I don't want you expelled before even being there for a full week."

"Don't you worry," she said. "I won't do anything to get expelled for at least a month." Emily then took the opportunity to float away to the train a few inches off the ground.

"Please look after her," Burgess said. "God knows that she is going to need it."

Violet gave a small nod.

"Hey, don't be upset," Burgess said. "Today is a good day, go out and get those wizards for me."

"Are you sure that you don't need me back at the house?" Violet said again. "I can go back, really, I can!"

"Violet," Burgess said. "I've got it covered. But I need you to look after Emily for me. Make sure nothing happens to her there. Make sure she doesn't get herself into too much danger."

Violet gave a nod. Burgess leaned down and hugged her tightly for a long while.

"Now go wow everyone with how amazing you are," she said. "I know you can do it. I saw the way that Professor Longbottom was looking at you two. It was like he couldn't even believe what you were doing. I know that you are destined to do great things. Now go do them."

Violet wasn't fully cheered up, but she knew this was the best that she was going to feel. She ran off to the train and waved a final goodbye to Burgess.

Violet found her way to the compartment that she and Emily had picked out earlier. Emily was already inside, floating while looking out the window.
"Done with your tearful goodbye?" Emily teased.

Violet sent out a stinger onto her cheek.

"Oi!" Emily shouted. She sent out a gust of wind behind Violet and pushed her legs out from underneath her so she fell onto her behind.

Violet sent out a few more stingers and Emily flopped on top of her. She started to tickle her all over until Violet was screaming for mercy.

The door to the compartment opened and Abby came in. "Woah!" she exclaimed as the two almost collided with her.

"Sorry," Violet said through her hysterics. She banished Emily up into the air, where she started floating a few feet off of the ground. "This one was too busy being the worst."

Emily laughed wholeheartedly and Abby let out a nervous chuckle.

The train started to move and the three of them crowded at the windows in order to wave goodbye. For several long minutes they crowded around the window. Emily once tried to hang halfway out the window, but Violet pulled her back into the compartment.

The girls settled into seats when they were finally out of sight of the platform. Abby moved to start talking to Emily but Violet had a thought that she wanted to ask Abby about.

"Abby?" Violet asked. Abby looked at her cautiously after being addressed. "Sorry if it's rude for me to ask but have you been treating me differently recently. I don't know if I'm making it up but it feels like you've been treating me differently than you're treating Emily. I'm sorry if it's something that I've done but I really don't think it is."

Abby looked shocked to be asked this question but she got an annoyed look on her face immediately afterwards. "Well, your family did do a lot of harm against mine in the past. I think it's only fitting."

"What?!" Emily and Violet said in unison.

"Family?" Violet asked incredulously. "What are you talking about? You do realise I'm an orphan right?"

"The name on your Hogwarts letter!" Abby exclaimed. "It said your name was Bellatrix Black!"

"I didn't even know that was my name!" Violet yelled. "I've been Violet my whole life! I don't know who Bellatrix Black is but they are definitely not me!"

"Wait," Abby said confusedly. "You mean you don't know?"

"Know what!"

"That your family was magical."

Violet stopped there, completely confused. "What do you mean? How do you know who my family is? I don't even know who my family is."
"It's the name on your letter," Abby explained. "The name is always the right name of whoever is on it. So that means your given name is Bellatrix Black. Violet was in quotations because that's the name you use. And Bellatrix Black isn't exactly a common name. Bellatrix Black is a very famous wizarding name."

"Famous?" Violet asked numbly.

"Yeah," Abby said. "You remember that terrorist I told you about in Diagon Alley? Well Bellatrix Black? She was his right hand woman. She committed countless crimes. She killed countless people! She tortured my grandparents into insanity! How dare you sit her with her name and think that I'm not goin-"

"Get out," Emily said.

"What?" Abby said.

"I said Get. Out."

"Emily, this girl-"

Emily's eyes turned entirely purple. Her hair started to blow wildly behind her. "Don't make me repeat myself again, or I'm going to give you another show of a bolt of lightning. Except this time, it's going to be directed right into your face."

Abby turned very pale and exited the compartment as fast as she could. The door to the compartment slammed shut with a snap and Emily floated down to the ground.

Violet didn't know what to think. Her family?

Her family was at the orphanage.

Her family had committed countless crimes and murders.

Her family was at the orphanage.

Her mother? Her grandmother?

Her family was at the orphanage.

How dare she have that name?

Her name? Her name was Violet. Violet had not even thought about the name on the letter she had been given. It didn't matter what some person named her who had just abandoned her anyway. She had thought of it as a curiosity. Some people thought her name was Bellatrix. That's ridiculous, her name is Violet.

"My name is Violet," she said.

"I know," Emily said with anger in her tone.