When she entered the kitchen her eyes fell on a bouquet of lilies, a vast variety of pink, purple and orange ones, littered with Calla lilies.
She wasn't quite sure where they suddenly came from but she had to admit they were quite beautiful and therefore just smiled a little before going about her morning ritual.
To her surprise not Fon but Reborn was the first one to come.
The hitman mustered her for a few seconds "The shirt's colour really makes your eyes shine today."
She paused and waited for him to say anything else, but only the radio kept on making sounds "What? No comment on how your bedsheets would make the colour pop even more?"
He just smiled "I just wanted to tell you that you're beautiful today splendore. Nothing more."
She did send a wary glance at him but instead focused on making breakfast again.
Breakfast was actually calm for once besides the fact that all of Colonnellos shoelaces had disappeared overnight.
Currently Yuni was gushing about the book on magical creatures she had read last night.
Colonnello did put his pouting aside for that "So how much would I have to pay to have a dragon as a pet?"
"They're illegal to keep. Their danger level is way too high. Like trust me Colonnello you wouldn't want to deal with a dragon and it would probably eat you." Violet answered.
"Oh come on. You tell me you never saw a dragon either, kora?"
"I saw dragons on three occasions. That's another reason why I tell you it will eat you."
"So you're scared of them?."
She just raised an eyebrow "No, just no."
"You just don't want to admit it, kora."
"I literally outflew one once. I'm definitely not scared of them."
"Sure sure."
"I've got pictures."
He did stop at that "Show them or it didn't happen."
She just pulled her piercing off, tapped the rune and after enlarging her moleskine pouch she fished one of her photo albums out of it. She did earn a few interesting looks when she stuck her whole arm into the small pouch and pulled the way too big item out.
Not that anyone commented on it, they had already started to expect the unexpected from her.
The photo album was actually one of her most treasured ones. It had been an invention from George. It was reminiscent of a pensieve but way more limited. You could put a small memory on the paper and it actually showed the scenes as they had happened. Once you put a memory on it it would stay like this forever and couldn't be changed but it still was amazing for having a special place and the possibility to indulge in treasured memories without actually having to spend the huge amounts of money for one of the rare pensieves.
She quickly went to the desired page and turned the book around.
It showed her in her first triwizard tournament, still being her small scrawny teenage self that wore glasses, clutching the golden egg while she manoeuvred around to get away from the enraged mother dragon behind her.
She hadn't even looked scared then, just completely focused, determined and concentrated on the task.
Colonnello did grab the book from her and leaned over it with the rest of the arcobalenos "How did you even get into that situation?"
"Well I had to steal that egg from it in a tournament I had been participating in. I did use my broom for that… well no one actually thought the Horntail would break free from the chain and that's how I ended up in that mess." she shrugged her shoulders.
Fon was intently staring at it "How old were you then?"
"14."
"...didn't you say dragons were dangerous? Why would they do that in a tournament with 14 year olds?"
"Oh no you got that wrong. It was a tournament for wizards and witches of age. It's just that I was 14."
"You know that doesnt make any sense."
"Yeah." She just pulled the album to her again, ready to pack it away.
Yuni immediately started to pout "I want to see more."
"You want to see my old photos?"
"Yes." She made grabby hands.
Violet just sighed "Only after you finished breakfast."
As a reply Yuni just started shovelling the food in her mouth and she wasn't even the only one.
Violet just sighed again but she couldn help herself from ruffling Yunis' hair.
She made her way to the living room after charming the dishes to wash themself, everyone already sitting and looking up expectantly at her. She just placed the photo album on the table and opened the first page revealing the only memory she had been able to gather from herself with her parents. Poppy had been Lily's midwife and her birth had been in Hogwarts. The memory was straight after her birth, her mother still lying on the bed with baby Violet in her arms and her father just staring adoringly down at her with glistening eyes, while he had one of his arms around Lily.
"You look insanely like your parents, kora."
"I know."
"At least we now know where your beauty comes from." Reborn spoke out, still fascinated from the moving picture.
She just went to the next page, skipping straight to her first train ride to the moment when Hermione had come in and had repaired her glasses.
"This is from my first trip to Hogwarts and how I met Ron and Hermione for the first time"
Fon actually had to control his breathing. From the way Violet was smiling it was a memory she was fond of but all he could think about was how his conclusions had been proven. Violet had been tiny as an eleven year old, way tinier than a normal child and she had been far too thin. He was sure that he could have counted every last one of her ribs. The broken glasses she had worn before Hermione fixed them did not help the image. While Violet was still petite it was now completely clear where it stemmed from. He would have been able to snap her wrist if he would have just touched her a bit too careless. It was disturbing.
All he could do was lean closer to the cloud. He wasn't even sure if he truly wanted to see more pictures… but in the end he had to know.
The next picture showed Violet lifting up on a broom following a blonde guy and catching a small item out of the air.
Violet grinned at that"That was my first time on a broom."
"...You weren't lying when you said you always flew recklessly," Lal uttered.
"I mean I made it into the Quidditch team because of that. Youngest seeker in a 100 years" Violet grinned proudly before going to the next page.
You could see Hermione uttering a spell and lighting Snape on fire "Oh yeah. That was glorious. I mean he was innocent but still Hermione, our rule abiding Hermione just setting the dungeonbat's robe on fire. She's just the best."
"Dungeonbat?"
"Yeah Snape, our old potion professor. Worst teacher you could ever imagine and he hated me with a passion."
Before anyone could even ask more questions she had already flipped the page again and a longer scene was displayed.
Tiny Violet in a dive, constantly clashing with a significant taller male student on brooms. The boy pulled up and she barely got her broom to lift up again only to stand up on it and fall off it. Just to weasel herself out of the dirt puking out a tiny golden ball.
The Chinese man stared at the picture "...what even was that?"
"My first quidditch match! I mean sure I didn't catch the snitch with my hands but catching it with my mouth was good enough." she grinned at that.
Reborn sighed "You're telling me that in your first quidditch match you fell off your broom and swallowed the ball?"
"Yeah. My broom even got cursed before. So like a minute before that I was literally getting thrown around in the air… but I was able to stay on!"
"...You still want to tell me brooms are a good idea?"
"The best obviously."
The page got turned and it showed Ron throwing a christmas present at Violet who just stared at it in awe before carefully opening it.
"It was amazing. I had never ever gotten a christmas present before. I mean my first birthday gift was when Hagrid gave me a cake and my owl Hedwig at my eleventh birthday when he picked me up to take me to my School shopping. But Ron just wrote his mother about me and she made me my first Weasley Sweater."
The whole group realised that they had to put way more effort into Skulls' birthday from now on.
The next photograph showed the trio in a wooden hut with Hagrid, staring at a dragon hatching.
Violet had to laugh at that "That was actually my first time meeting a dragon… Hagrid always had a way too big love for dangerous creatures and he wanted to raise a dragon in a wooden hut. We actually smuggled it out of Hogwarts so that Charlie could take Norberta to the dragon reserve he works at."
"Charlie works with dragons?"
"Yeah, I actually hadn't had the chance yet to really visit it… being toddler sized isn't a good idea in that kind of environment."
The scene on the next page was actually tame in comparison. Violet was horribly losing against Ron in chess while Hermione was sitting next to them, completely entranced in a book. Violet only smiled at it before turning the page again.
She was seen in her bedroom at the Dursleys. Ron, Fred and George in the flying car ripping out the bars in front of her window before they hurriedly collected her stuff. Just to have Vernon burst into the room trying to pull her back into the room by her foot.
Violet smiled fondly at the memory. It had meant so much to her when Ron and the twins had actually come to rescue her.
Colonnello stiffened when he saw the memory. Already taking in all the locks on the door, the bars on the window and the cat flap. Violet had been imprisoned. He could barely contain his rage from slipping out when he saw how the walrus of a person manhandled her. This proved way too many theories he had imagined.
He had formed theories about her childhood and even while the memory only showed a small part of it he could get so much information from this small moment. Even Violet's body, which had gained a more healthy weight over the other pictures, was almost at a worse stage than it had been on the train ride. All he could do was ingrain the face of the man in his mind.
Violet could only grin when she saw Ginny sticking her elbow in the butter dish on the table, still staring at twelve year old Violet and brightly red. Her younger self didnt even notice it, too busy trying to get away from the huge amounts of food Molly was piling up on her plate
The next memory did make her laugh. It was in Lockhart's class, Violet had been forced to perform as the big, scary monster again. She stared demotivated and annoyed at the teacher, hands formed into small claws. She literally looked less intimidating than a wet kitten. Lockhart tried to be as heroic as possible, Ron was laughing his butt off at seeing Violet like that and Hermione just stared adoringly at Lockhart.
"That was the fraud who vanished my bone by the way. Worst wizard I had ever seen… All he could do was perform memory charms and smile for the camera. Even his books were horrible… you know the first test he gave us only included questions about his favourite colours and secret ambitions. But Hermione had been crushing so hard."
Turning the page revealed Violet spending time with Hedwig, the owl nibbling on her ear while Violet took out bacon for her. The owl fluttered with her wings demonstrating how her wingspan was wider than Violet was even tall.
"That was Hedwig, my snowy owl. Hagrid got her for me and she was the best."
She knew there weren't any more pictures of her second year and it jumped straight ahead to her third year, picturing Hermione and her sitting on Violet's bed in the dormitories and having an obvious sleepover in the same bed.
Luna being Luna was the next memory shown. She and the blonde had been sitting by the lake, Luna wearing a fabulous headpiece made out of butterbeer korks, donning radish earrings and naturally being barefoot.
She was braiding Violet's hair in a truly unique style, having placed her glasses on the older witches face. Violet had been reading the Quibbler.
Violet grinned "Yuni? This is Luna. Luna is actually a seer too. I really hope I can introduce you at one point. She is a bit special but I think you could learn a few things from her."
"If you call her special…. then I really worry what she's like, kora."
Violet did cast a nonverbal stinging hex on the rain, who cursed out before rubbing the spot.
The page she had opened showed Neville standing fearful in front of a cupboard, a whole class surrounding him and suddenly Snape stepped out of the cupboard just to have Neville cast a spell at him and the teacher suddenly donning a very different attire.
Violet laughed at that "Just for your information. That isn't Snape, that's a boggart."
Yuni, still fascinated by the picture, spoke out "What exactly is a boggart?"
"A boggart is your greatest fear. There has never been a case where anyone has been able to look at a bogarts true form. It immediately takes on the form of what you're afraid of when you encounter it. Laughter is one way to weaken it. Neville's greatest fear was actually Snape at that point."
"What is yours?" Fon asked.
"My greatest fear?"
"Yes."
"Dementors."
"You mentioned them before."
"Correct. A dementor is one of the worst magical creatures that exist. Just being around them pulls out the happiness of one. They feed off human emotion and when they kiss you they suck out your soul. You relieve your worst memories just by being near them. They guard the wizarding prison."
"Have you met one?"
"Yeah in that year they were around the school on ministries orders… I always had a harsh reaction to them."
She shook her head, getting rid of the feelings that rose up. A lot of better memories were coming up after all.
The next memory was definitely one of her favourites and the reason she would always be grateful for George inventing these photo albums… after all you could never watch Malfoy getting punched by Hermione enough.
"I thought Hermione was this good and studious rule honouring student?"
"Well… we have rules against magic in the corridors… no one ever said anything about physical violence. But well, she was brilliant that day and Malfoy was the biggest git in existence while in school. Literally can't put into words how much of a prat he was."
"You know Reborn." Colonnello threw in.
"Reborns favorit sentence was probably never 'my father will hear about it' though. At least Reborn actually has the skill to back it off. Malfoy was just a snobbish coward that had too much money. But you know it's time to introduce you to the 'Amazing Bouncing Ferret'"
With that she turned the page and she could see her 14 year old self pushing Malfoy angrily before turning her back to him. Before Malfoy could cast his spell at her he had been turned into a ferret by Fake-Moody and getting bounced around.
Lal stared at it "...that was a teacher?"
"Yeah I mean if he hadn't been an imposter and in reality a blood fanatic he would have been one of my favourite teachers. I mean thanks to him I was able to withstand the imperio."
"Okay, hold on… there is so much to unpack right now… First of all a teacher turning a student into a ferret and bouncing him off the walls… the teacher being an imposter and… what the hell is an imperio?"
"One of the unforgivable curses. The use of them gives you an instant ticket to Azkaban, the wizarding prison. The imperio itself is plain old mind control. The only way to free oneself of it is with an exceptionally strong will. Even the first time it got cast on me it didn't really work." Violet grinned proudly.
"Why was it even cast on you?" Lal asked incredulously.
"Ah Moody got permission to help us defend ourselves against it. Without that practice I would definitely be caught off guard later on."
"So it got cast on you multiple times?"
Violet just ignored the question and flipped to the next page which showed the dragon scene she had already shown them and therefore skipped to the one after which displayed the yule ball.
Ron and her stumbling in the middle, stepping on each others feet and laughing at each other while the rest of the triwizard champions were dancing gracefully around them,
"Violet, are you ignoring me?"
Yeah she was and to prove that point she started to explain the scene "That memory is from the Yule ball. It took place because of the tournament. Going with Ron was definitely the obvious choice" not like she would tell them how the both of them had gotten rejected.
Not really wanting to show their horrible dancing for much longer she switched to the next picture.
Neville and her were sitting in the greenhouse, the Longbottom heir explaining a few things to her before she actually got attacked by one of the wilder plants. Neville immediately jumping to her aide.
The page after showing her cuddling into Sirius while the Black dramatically gestured into the air, one arm around her while he told her some of the marauders adventures at Hogwarts. Moony had been sitting on Violet's other side, just horribly amused at Sirius' antics. Violet herself had just enjoyed the cuddling and stared up with adoring eyes at him.
A slightly bittersweet smile made its way on her lips. She still missed Sirius but she had come to terms with it. It was one of the reasons why she used every chance to make his favourite jokes about his name. She wanted to honour him and the amazing time she had with him. "That was my godfather and Moony… or professor Lupin. he had been my teacher in my third year and he and Sirius had been best friends with my father. The greatest pranksters ever in existance, they even called themselves the Marauders."
Viper was actually thinking hard. They didn't know from where but the haggard man in the picture reminded them of someone. They were sure they had seen Sirius before. But Viper's question got answered as soon as Violet turned the page again. Showing Sirius posing next to a wanted poster.
"...Violet care to explain why you spend your time with a mass murderer that broke out of prison?"
"He was innocent."
"And you know that how?"
"He told me when we first met."
Actually Viper didn't know what to say to that.
Violet did though and she spoke while staring Viper down, daring the mist to talk back "Really his crimes had been magically and I know for sure he was innocent. I even knew the real killer… Sirius broke out of prison to keep me safe. He might have not been with me for a long time but he was the greatest godfather I could have ever had."
The miser stayed quiet, not wanting to anger a possessive cloud.
Violet turned the page again and it showed Tonks and her, practising her Metamorphmagus talent. Sirius had crashed into her afterwards, lifting her in the air and spinning her around so proud he had been of her for finally achieving to change her hair colour..
"Tonks had been teaching me about my ability and how to use it… It was the first time I actually was able to change something at will. Sirius had celebrated it with me by having ice cream for dinner." She smiled softly at the memory. Already forgotten the miser's comments. "And the next day he taught me how to ride a motorcycle because of it. I still have his."
She turned the page and it showed her sitting on the motorcycle, Sirius standing next to her, patiently explaining everything before she started the machine. Just to have Sirius cheer her on the whole time.
Fon spoke out "You seemed to have an amazing bond."
"We had… we only were in contact for two years and well I only got to spend a few weeks of my summer vacation and christmas with him but that didn't change anything…. I loved him. He was the closest thing I ever had to a parent and he … he died for me" Violet swallowed hard but took a deep breath to centre herself before firmly turning the page again.
The students of the DA were practising stunning while she walked around correcting them and demonstrating it a few times. Expertly ducking when Nevilles stunner flew astray hitting Padma.
Reborn did straighten up when he saw that "You were teaching?"
"Well in a sense we were a study group. So yeah."
"That's surprisingly tame, Wouldn't have taken you for that kind of person."
"Well if you consider that it was highly illegal at that point and when we were discovered we actually had problems with the ministry… it's a different matter."
"A study group was illegal?"
"Yeah the ministry had a few problems with us at that point and therefore they sent bloody Umbitch." Violet just shuddered at the thought.
"Was it really that bad?" Lal inquired.
Violet just lifted her hand up "You wanted to know how I got the writing on my hand, right? That was detention with her and she definitely didn't take it kindly when our group had been called Dumbledore's Army."
Violet just turned the picture to show another DA scene where she had demonstrated her Patronus and afterwards had her students show their progress with the charms.
Verde furrowed his forehead "Didn't you have a Chameleon?"
"Well it changed… my old Patronus had been a stag."
"Why did it change?"
"Because it did."
"Violet?"
"No."
She hastily grabbed the page again and landed on the picture of one of the few good moments that year. They had relaxed at the lake, Violet even wearing a bikini to suntan. Fred was shown who was putting sunscreen on her while George had been kneeling next to her, portraying a willing servant that lifted up a drink to her. She actually had laughed at them then just to end up with Fred pressing a kiss on her forehead when George had distracted her. 15 year old Violet had immediately jumped up, hunting after them across the whole meadow.
Reborn did lean forward at that picture, his eyes switching from his Violet to the 15 year old one. He knew he had to create that chance. Not that it would be hard.
Violet paused shortly, she knew what the next pictures would show. She hadn't added anything from her sixth year. The next two memories were more than just bittersweet. They hadn't been from happy times but they still had meant a lot to her.
The memory she showed them next was a short one. The golden trio sitting in their tent, visibly older. Ron was leaning against the wall, Violet lying with her head on his lap and Hermione leaning against his side. He had one arm around Hermione and his other hand playing with Violet's hair. All of them showcasing various bandages, not even a spark of happiness in them. All of them just looked beaten down, seeking comfort in each other. They didn't even move, the only sign that it was a memory was their visible breathing.
Reborn got thrown out of his former thought. This one was different, harshly different. Violet was way more skinny than ever before, hollow cheeks, various wounds and deep eye bags. She looked vulnerable and beaten down. His fist instinctively clenched.
"What happened?" he voiced out carefully.
"Just stuff… we were.. camping. It was our seventh year"
He knew she wasn't telling the truth but before he could even ask she turned the page, portraying an even more haggard looking Violet, copying the image form Sirius with his wanted poster but this time the poster displayed the words 'Undesirable No. 1' over Violet's face.
"What even…?" Fon wasn't sure what he wanted to say, just staring at the image.
Violet just shook her head again donning a more bitter than sweet smile "I mean I had to step into my godfathers shoes and overshadowing him was the way to go. I don't even think any of you achieved that, correct? Being undesirable no. 1 in a whole country?"
"But what did you do?" Lal pressed further.
"Existing." Violet said before turning the page, again blocking any other questions.
This time showcasing a majorly different scene. Violet still looked sickly thin and exhausted but she stared adoringly at the tiny bundle in her arm. A small baby head gazing at her and copying her hair colour.
Violet's smile lightened up a bit "That's Teddy, my godson. It was actually the first time I was able to hold him.'' She focused on the picture pointedly ignoring the still questioning gazes form the Arcobalenos.
Violet turned the page again and for the first time in a long time they saw Skull again.
The stuntman proudly leaned against his motorcycle in front of a circus. It wouldn't have been so special if the smile Skull had worn wasn't wider, more bright and so heavily relieved and happy that it hit them harder than anything.
They had never seen such an expression on Violet's face in any of these pictures and they themself hadn't ever seen it on Violet herself or even on Skull.
Violet herself gave a last long look on the picture before she closed the book and stood up, already on her way to the kitchen to put the now clean dishes away when Verde spoke up
"Violet? You just said that you learned about your ability when you were fifteen, while Teddy is clearly showing them since he was a toddler."
"Yes."
"Were you a late bloomer? I haven't read anything about that."
"No, I always had the ability… like whenever my aunt shaved my hair off it grew back overnight. I just repressed it for the most part."
"Isn't that the early stages of an obscurial?"
"How do you even know about that? There should be barely any mention of it in the books you had."
"Don't underestimate me Violet. I might not have adequate resources but what I had was enough to come to conclusions about the whole matter."
"From what? Three small footnotes?"
Reborn leaned forward, hiding his eyes with his fedora while solely focusing on Violet's miniscule movements.
Her arms crossed, a bit tighter and higher than normally, covering her chest. The hand palms directly hidden and closed a tick more forcefully than necessary. Her legs slightly crossed, the posterior one balancing on her toe, that was firmly placed on the direct ground behind the other one, anchoring her in place and in this case definitely a sign of her forcing herself to stay instead of running away.
Her irises always straying a bit to the side, focused on Verde but evading his direct presence a few significant millimetres, not noticeable in a collected conversation. Her head movements were slightly more edged and sharper.
It was clear to him that she was uncomfortable, trying to evade the topic but far away from a cloud rage. She didn't try to make her presence known, even her flames rearing themself in a bit closer. More focused on keeping in itself than striking out and turning on the aggressor. She wasn't trying to protect her territory, claim or secrets.
She was vulnerable and tried to keep herself in a state of normalcy, not really registering the invasion of her privacy, too busy to keep her mask in place.
Violet was in a peculiar state, vulnerable while guarded, more fearful than her instincts should let her in this situation.
Reborn could feel Verdes' eyes twitching towards him and in response Reborn just tilted his Fedora a bit higher, letting him have a glance of his eyes and therefore signalling the lightning that it was still safe to push forward.
"Yes. So I take that as an admission that you were close to becoming an Obscurial?"
She stayed quiet.
"How did it change your magic afterward? You don't seem to struggle in matters of control."
She sighed "...my magic is more intuitive"
"So you are still prone to accidental magic?"
"Similarly, it reacts to high emotional moods and outbursts. I don't have to command it for it to follow my wishes." her hands were slightly fidgeting, repeating the motions over and over again. She was trying to distract and ground herself.
"Doesn't it take quite a few significant factors to turn a young witch to that late stage? It must have been before your school years, correct?"
Violet's hand flinched open abruptly, still in a rather small way but the way her handspan was now wider and riddled with tenseness was telling enough. Her abrupt setting down of her other foot and the slightly more upright way she held her head were enough warning signs.
Reborn leaned back on the couch, the noise alarming the scientist and Verde reacted instantly, taking a subtle step back to give the cloud more room.
Violet was still tense, her body now finally reaching more of a fight or flight response and leaning towards the former, but the small breathing room taking a bit of the edge out of it. Further agitation would lead to unwelcome results.
Reborn subtly rubbed his hands before lifting one up to his brim again.
Colonnello reacted to the signal immediately "So Violet… any chance we can get the embarassing teen pictures of you if we talk to your friends?"
