Violet was exhausted, and her new bed was soft and warm (the Black family may not have been the nicest bunch, but credit given where due—they had some comfortable furniture). Yet she tossed and turned all night until she finally woke up at 6 and simply lay awake in bed. By 8, there were sounds of movement in the kitchen, though everyone was quiet enough that she assumed the kids weren't up yet.

With a groan, she pulled herself out of bed. Time for her real first day with them. She wore a flowery sundress with a knit sweater over it and attempted to fix her hair magically (only one instance of singeing!). The circles under her eyes spoke of her sleepless night so she dug around for her makeup. As she dusted the brush across her forehead and cheeks, Violet felt herself breathe a little easier. Even if she was technically back to using magic, muggle makeup had always been a fun little ritual in the mornings. Also she wasn't totally confident enough in her skills to point her wand directly in her face for her makeup.

When she looked, if not well-rested then at least passable, she began the trek to the kitchen. Most of the adults were in various stages of leaving the house for work. Arthur and Remus were quietly talking while each nursing a cup of tea in the living room. Sirius carelessly lounged beside them, not paying attention to their conversation but instead frowning into his own cup.

"Violet," Arthur addressed her as she entered, a bit too loudly. Remus abruptly stopped speaking and Sirius's head jerked up, his grey eyes now focused. "How did you sleep?"

"Well, thanks," she lied. "I hope I'm not the last person down at breakfast."

Belatedly, she realized her plan to have breakfast alone would have worked better had she been the earliest one up rather than the latest. Nothing against anyone in the Order, but Violet preferred to have a quiet moment to gather herself in the mornings and eat her breakfast peacefully rather than socialize during that time. This rang especially true on her first full day of being thrown into a large group of people.

"I had Molly set aside some for you in the dining room." Sirius's rich voice cut in, his keen eyes still scanning her.

"Though, as we told Sirius, you are of course welcome to join us instead of being ostracized from the kitchen where we usually eat." Remus rolled his eyes good-naturedly.

"Oh no, this is actually perfect," Violet assured him, realizing she meant it as she said it. How convenient that they already planned on her sitting alone—oh. Her stomach turned at the knowing look in Sirius's eyes. "You know what, actually I'll just wait for the others," she said spitefully. She wasn't going to let him think he knew her—even if he might actually. Sirius just rolled his eyes. "Are any of the kids up?"

"Oy! We're officially men now, Vi." The twins clamored down the stairs with identical beams. Apparently the morning didn't diminish their energy.

"Though you're forgiven for not knowing our 17th birthday since you're new," the one she guessed was George added.

"Oh, of course. I should've known. Real men wear pajamas with kneazles on them." She bit back a smile and nodded solemnly instead. Their smiles only grew brighter as they chimed together, "of course."

"C'mon, Vi," Fred (maybe?) threw an arm around her shoulders and began steering her out of the room, waving off his father's warnings to take it easy on her. "We need to get you some food before Ron eats it all."


The seven of them—Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Fred, George, and herself—all sat in a sleepy silence until Ginny decided to speak up.

"So you're the mysterious Violet." Ginny had a mischievous look that was concerningly reminiscent of the twins. "We didn't get a chance to meet yesterday."

"Sorry about that," Violet said after a pause, needing a moment to register Ginny's words through the fog of operating on little sleep. "I thought it best not to disturb dinner too much last night."

"Sirius hasn't said a lot about you," Hermione spoke up. She was clearly trying to sound unconcerned, but her voice held just a bit too much tension to pull it off. "Not to us, at least."

"I imagine not." Violet helped herself to some toast and eggs. If it was anything like dinner last night, breakfast was bound to be delicious.

"Where're you from?" Ginny asked, eyes suspicious. Even Harry and Ron gave her curious looks at that.

"I grew up in London, but I just moved here from Greensborough. It's a small place an hour or so south of here."

"How'd you end up there?"

Violet paused to swallow a large bite of scrambled eggs, ignoring the concerned look Sirius shot her as he wandered into the kitchen. "My mother was from there."

Everyone seemed to accept this without a second thought. Not for the first time, Violet wondered what exactly had been told about her.

"Hmm. Cute skirt, by the way." said Ginny. That seemed to be all that it took to get her seal of approval.

"Thanks." Violet smiled brightly.

"How'd you end up in the Order?" Hermione pressed.

"Let's lay off the interrogation for now, eh, Hermione?" Sirius cut in. "The poor girl hasn't even been here for 24 hours."

Luckily, Mrs. Weasley came bustling in with Mr. Weasley and Remus in tow, successfully distracting everyone else from Hermione's reddening face by berating them all for waking up so late. ("Not you, Harry dear. Or Violet, of course." Harry and Violet exchanged amused looks. Violet was surprised by how much the Boy Who Lived was just… a boy.) The kids scrambled to finish breakfast to start cleaning Grimmauld Place as Mrs. Weasley apparently expected them to. Violet privately thought that was something of a Sisyphean task given the size of the manor and the various dark enchantments that were likely around, but she kept quiet. She deposited her dishes in the sink and was waved away by Mrs. Weasley who insisted she could clean them easily by magic.

"If you insist," Violet said with a grateful smile.

She turned and crashed straight into Sirius, spilling his hot tea all over his shirt. Sirius hissed in surprise or pain, she wasn't sure, but either way she was mortified.

"Sirius! I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to—I mean, I should've looked where I was going…" she babbled. Her hands hesitantly hovered around his chest, unsure of what to do. Sirius grimaced and set his mug down on the counter.

"No blood drawn, Blondie. Nothing to worry about." He pulled out his wand to clean up the mess.

"I can do it," she blurted out. They both froze at that statement, though no one else in the kitchen seemed to think anything of it. "I am a Healer after all," she added when he didn't say anything.

"Of course." He softened and gave her a tentative smile. "Go for it."

She drew her wand, adjusting her grip. It was a minor burn and required nothing more than a simple healing spell. It's what she was here to do.

"Enervate," she whispered. Violet preferred nonverbal spells but she didn't want to mess up on her first attempt at using magic on a person and injure Sirius more.

Sirius looked down at his now dry shirt. "Doesn't hurt at all. Well done," he said appreciatively.

"Thanks!" she said giddily, letting her excitement slip out. A quick scan of the room luckily still showed no response from anyone since the kids began to file out, except for Remus who gave her an encouraging nod.

"Any plans for the day, Violet?" he inquired.

"One of my friends is actually in London for the day for work so I'm meeting him for lunch."

"Matt?" Sirius interjected. She looked at him hesitantly, not wanting to engage.

"Yes."

"Brilliant. I'll come along if you don't mind. It's been a while."

Violet gaped at him as he casually tossed a grape in his mouth. "Excuse me, but I very much do mind. Why on earth would you come?"

Sirius had the audacity to look insulted. "They're my friends too. I'd like to catch up. Has Matt made any moves toward Harmony yet?"

"Catch up? How exactly do you want to explain to them that you were actually my dog the entire time they 'knew' you?"

"Don't be dense, I'd go as Snuffles obviously." Sirius seemed to realize his mistake as soon as the words left his mouth and looked immediately regretful. Remus visibly winced.

"Go as Snuff—" She cut herself off in disbelief and whirled away in a huff. Un-fucking-believable. Just when she thought he had shown an inkling of understanding, the rest of his arrogant personality had to come and ruin it.