Chapter 31
After being in the Hospital Wing for more than two weeks, Draco finally had recovered and was allowed to leave. His mind was flooded with so many thoughts of all of his problems. He thought about everything as he walked to History of Magic.
What are McArthur and I supposed to do now that we know that the necklace of hers is actually the key to this scepter that Voldemort is after? The only reason that we can't go to Dumbledore about it is that my family would be in so much trouble for our involvement with Voldemort. My father definitely deserves what's coming to him, but I don't want my mother to pay for my father's actions. Draco thought, feeling quite helpless, And what will I do about my problems with Violet? It's obvious that she doesn't love Weasely, but what can she do? I don't want her to lose all of her friends just for me…
But he knew he couldn't stand seeing her with Ron. He had heard about the upcoming Hogsmede visit that was to be on this Saturday, and he decided he would talk to her there. Just as he was about to walk into Professor Binn's classroom, he saw Sophia walking out of one of the other classrooms just down the hall.
He discreetly walked up to her and said, "McArthur, we need to talk."
Sophia told Cho to go on without her. Cho gave her a slightly weird look, but continued on her way. Then Sophia faced Draco.
She looked at him in annoyance and replied, "I don't think there's anything else to talk about. I don't know why I told you anything in the first place. You obviously don't want to help, so just leave me alone."
As she began to walk away, Draco grabbed her arm and stopped her.
"Don't be ridiculous!" Draco hissed quietly, "I want my father to pay for his actions as much as you do."
"Then why didn't you come with me to Dumbledore about it right away?" Sophia said, looking at him with burning eyes.
"I…" Draco started.
He abruptly stopped when he saw that Sylia was coming down the hall, and would spot them any second.
"We'll continue this conversation later. At Hogsmede." he quickly said, glancing at Sylia and hurrying off to the History of Magic classroom down the hall.
Sophia barely had a chance to react when Sylia came up to her.
"Hey, Sophia!" Sylia said.
"Hey." Sophia said, looking in the direction that Draco walked off.
"Where you just talking to someone? I could have sworn I saw someone else here." Sylia asked.
"Umm…no. Let's just get back to the Common Room, okay?" Sophia said, taking the same direction Cho did.
"Hey, wait up!" Sylia said, walking quickly to catch up.
Finally the last Hogsmede visit of the year had come. Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Violet once again packed food to bring for Sirius. Harry re-read the reply he got back from Sirius.
"I wonder what he has for us exactly…" Harry said curiously.
Ron and Hermione expressed about the same amount of curiosity as Harry about what Sirius could possibly have for them, but Violet was somewhat detatched from the conversation due to her worries about her and Ron. She didn't know exactly how much time she had before Ginny told Harry, Ron, and Hermione about Draco.
But when I tell them, they'll hate me. I really don't know what they'll do…especially Ron…The only way I could get out of this is if I forgot about Draco, but I already figured out that I could never do that. I can't stand being with Ron and always be thinking about someone else…even if I can't be his girlfriend, I still do want to be his friend. But that's a lot to ask for after I tell him this…I don't even think he'd want to be in the same House with me anymore let alone be my friend. And what about Harry and Hermione? I know they would automatically take Ron's side. They hate Draco as much as Ron does. I can't believe that so much rides on this decision! Why did I have to fall for Draco of all people! Violet thought somewhat dejectedly, knowing there was no way out of what she now had to do.
Hermione insisted that they leave the Common Room then so that they would not miss the carriages out to Hogsmede. When they got out of the school, she and Harry hurried to find a carriage for them while Ron and Violet waited for them. Ron looked over at Violet and saw that she had a worried expression on her face.
Ron touched Violet softly on the shoulder and asked, "Hey, Violet, is there anything wrong?"
Violet looked at him as though she was startled and quickly said, "No. Nothing's wrong."
Ron crinkled his eyebrows and said, "Are you sure? Because if you want to tell me what's up, I'll listen. I know it helps me when I'm in a bad mood to talk to Harry or Hermione."
Violet looked at Ron and saw that he was giving her a cute and encouraging smile. It just broke her heart that she would have to hurt someone as sweet as him.
Violet braced herself and said, "Ron, I think I have to tell you something…"
"Yeah?" Ron said, looking at her questioningly.
She just didn't know where to start or what to say.
"Well…I…" she faltered.
Right then, Harry ran up to them and told them that Hermione was waiting for them in the carriage they found to take them to Hogsmede. As the three walked toward the carriage, Violet then decided that the best thing to do would be to wait until they all returned from Hogsmede to tell Ron everything.
"Ron, we'll talk later, okay?" Violet said quietly, hoping Harry didn't hear her.
"Okay." Ron replied just as quietly, wondering what Violet was about to tell him.
During the ride to Hogsmede, Harry said, "So what do you guys think Sirius has for us?"
"I really can't guess what it might be...but what I'm wondering is, what news he'll bring us about...Voldemort..." Hermione said, whispering the word Voldemort, "I mean, we don't really know how much he knows about the Scepter, or where he may be."
"I really hope he's no where near here." Ron said, shuddering a little bit.
"Well, Harry, you haven't had anymore of those visions or your scar hasn't hurt in a while, right?" Hermione asked Harry while taking his hand and squeezing it lightly.
Harry just shook his head and said, "No, I didn't."
"At least that's encouraging." Hermione replied.
They all just sat in silence then as the carriage took them the rest of the way to Hogsmede. Finally when the carriages got there, Harry, Hermione, Ron and Violet carefully made their way up to the cave where they usually met Sirius, making sure no one followed them or saw where they were going. When they got to the top of the hill, they ducked their heads to get in the cave, and they saw that Sirius was already there waiting for them.
"Took you guys long enough!" Sirius said.
Even if Sirius was smiling, the dark circles under his eyes and wrinkles on his face were evidence of the stress that he was really under.
"Well, we brought you more food." Harry said, holding up the package they brought with them.
"Thanks guys, you always come through." Sirius said, digging into the food right away.
After a few moments of silence and of Sirius eating, Hermione finally said, "Do you have any news about…Voldemort?"
The smile that was on Sirius's face left when Hermione mentioned Voldemort.
He looked at all of them very seriously and said, "We still don't know anything of which student at Hogwarts may be Voldemort's spy or of Voldemort's whereabouts. Due to him not being up to his full strength, I think he's being extra careful. I doubt even most of the Death Eaters know where he is. As for the spy, I still think it is Lucius Malfoy's son, Draco, although there is no solid proof. I want all of you to be extremely careful about everything you say or do around the school. You never know who could be listening, or what information they can find out from something you think is inconsequential."
Sirius paused, seemingly to let the point really sink in.
Suddenly Sirius shook his head like he remembered something and said, "Oh, yeah! I almost forgot…"
He reached in his pocket and brought out a pouch. He then emptied the contents of the pouch in his hand. Harry, Hermione, Violet, and Ron saw eight different colored and highly polished stones in his hand. There were purple, red, blue, and green ones. Sirius handed one of the blue ones to Harry, one of the red ones to Ron, one of the green ones to Hermione, and one of the purple ones to Violet. They all expected the stones to feel like cool marble in their hands, but to their surprise, the stones were quite warm. Upon a closer examination, they saw their names were etched in each stone.
"You must have figured out by now that these are not just normal stones. When they have a person's name etched in them, they are forever connected to that person." Sirius said.
"So what do these stones do exactly?" asked Violet.
"Well, as you can see, all the stones are warm, unlike regular ones. They basically reflect in both of them how close to death the one who's name is etched in the stone is. Not to be morbid or anything, but given the times, I thought you four would be needing something like this." Sirius said, looking at them very seriously.
"Sirius…what do you know about Voldemort? Where is he, and how much does he know about the Scepter?" Harry asked, getting straight to the point.
"We still don't know any of those things." Sirius said, looking slightly angry, "And Snape, who was supposed to give us more information got himself found out before he could! If only Lupin or I were there…we wouldn't have gotten caught like him. And when he retold the whole story of his capture, he made himself sound like a bloody hero. I still question his motives, and Dumbledore trusting him."
"So Snape was on a mission for Dumbledore! That's why he wasn't our potions teacher this year." said Hermione.
"Yeah, that's right." Sirius replied, skepticism of Snape's heroism still obvious in his voice.
"Well, at least we haven't had to see him for a whole year. I hope he stays away next year too." Ron said slightly hopefully.
"I doubt that would happen, Ron." Hermione said, rolling her eyes.
"You guys think that being at school with him is bad. Try living with the guy!" Sirius suddenly interjected.
"What! You're living with Snape!" Harry said in surprise.
"Unfortunately. It's only because Dumbledore 'wanted him to be safe.' Well, all it did was make Remus and I more miserable and made everyone be more on edge." Sirius said slightly bitterly.
"Wow, I really hope he doesn't have to stay there with you guys too long…" said Violet, at a loss of what to say since she didn't ever meet Snape herself.
Wow, Snape seems like a really horrible guy if everyone here doesn't like him…I'm glad that he wasn't here to teach this year. I mean, Nightshade's class is no walk in the park, but it's nothing like the way class with Snape was described to me, Violet thought, but no one here likes Draco either, but I know he's not as bad as they think him to be, what if Snape is the same way?
But this thought brought her mind immediately to the thing that had been weighing on her mind since the beginning of this trip.
God, what am I going to do with both of them? I know Ron's going to hate me…I think all of them will hate me…I think the only thing that has kept Ginny from going straight to Ron about what she saw was the hope that the threat of her going to Ron, Harry, and Hermione would make me get over Draco quick. But all that it did was make me more sure that I can't be with Ron. Yeah, sure, I like him very much, but I just feel like something is missing there…I've never felt like that when I was with Draco…
Violet pushed all of these things out of her mind once Sirius spoke again.
"Well, I think I should head back already. The sooner we all find Voldemort and what he's up to, the sooner Remus and I can get out of that house. Now I want all of you to stay safe. Do not go looking for trouble. I know I sound like a huge hypocrite saying that after all the things I did with your father, Remus, and Peter, but so many things could have gone wrong with what we did and it sends a chill down my spine just thinking of all the times we could have died. Harry, James would have been an excellent father, and when my name is cleared, I just hope I can measure up." Sirius said, ending his statement with a smile.
Harry smiled back, feeling more happy and excited about the future then he had been in months.
Then Sirius turned to Violet and said, "And I just can't wait until we get to know each other, both you and your mom. I wish I could have always been there, but I guess I'll have to make up for all that lost time now."
Sirius then turned to talk to everyone.
"Now, all of you, be careful! Harry, Violet, I want you two to write to me if you guys have anything important to tell me."
He gave them a wave and apparated out of the cave.
As they walked down the hill and walked towards Hogsmede, Harry said, "Well, this is our last Hogsmede visit of the year…I think we should make the most of it."
"Yeah! Let's go to Honeydukes! I was running out of Chocolate Frogs. Last chance to get some before the summer." Ron said.
"No Bertie Botts?" Hermione asked, looking pretty amused.
Harry and Ron looked at each other and remembered the time at the beginning of the year they had some Bertie Botts on the Hogwarts Express.
"Umm…no." both of them said.
Hermione smiled. Violet said nothing since she wasn't there when that all happened, and she was much more worried about how Ron would react to what she had to tell him, and she hoped that she would be the one to tell him and not Ginny.
As they came up to Honeydukes, Violet thought, I think this will be the last fun time I'm going to have with everyone because when we get back, I'm going to have to tell him and they're all going to hate me…
Feeling quite depressed about the situation, she followed Harry, Hermione, and Ron into Honeydukes.
Sophia sat in the Three Broomsticks with Cho, Sylia, and a few other friends from Ravenclaw. While everyone happily chatted about the things they got at Honeydukes, Zonkos, and other Hogsmede shops, Sophia sat quietly thinking about her talks with Draco, and what she could possibly do about protecting her necklace from Voldemort. She reached down and fingered the necklace. After her first talk with Draco, she decided to keep it with her at all times since that was the only way she would know for sure it was safe. But she knew that if a Death Eater or Voldemort confronted her themselves, she wouldn't stand a chance. She was just hoping to give it to Dumbledore where she knew it wouldn't fall into the wrong hands.
I just don't know why I didn't already go to Dumbledore…I don't owe anything to Draco. I should have just gone straight to Dumbledore whether or not he approved. Sophia thought, feeling a bit of conflict in her feelings.
She still disliked Draco very much, but for some reason she felt that Draco would not have refused to go to Dumbledore without having a very good reason. She tried to fight against this feeling every morning and approach Dumbledore to talk to him, but she never could. She wanted to go with Draco and possibly even Violet to tell him everything she knew so that Dumbledore could get the whole story. As she silently fought with herself over what exactly she should do next, the rest of Sophia's friends wanted to go to a few more of the shops before they had to leave, so they got up from the table and left. Cho began to do the same when she realized that Sophia had not moved at all, or even noticed that everyone had left.
"Sophia!" Cho said while shaking Sophia's shoulder a little, "Are you okay?"
Sophia shook her head and realized finally that everyone at her table was gone. She decided she could talk to Cho about everything because she could be trusted, and she felt like she needed someone else's opinion on this.
"Cho…I need to find Draco. He needs to come with me to Dumbledore to tell him everything we know. We can't stop Voldemort alone. You know that Cho." Sophia said with conviction.
Cho felt a pang as her mind quickly flashed back to Cedric. She knew she had to help Sophia because she couldn't let Voldemort do something like that again to someone else.
"Yes. We need to find him. You-know-who has to be stopped!" Cho replied in a similar tone.
Sophia gave Cho a nod and then they walked outside of the Three Broomsticks. At this moment, Fred, George, Lee and some others were walking in. George decided that this was as good a time as any to stop her to really apologize for everything. He motioned to the others to go on without him, and then he walked quickly after Sophia.
"Hey, Sophia, I really wanted to talk to you!" George said, tapping Sophia on the shoulder from behind.
Since George was the farthest thing from her mind at this moment, she gave a little start hearing his voice. She really did want to stay back and talk to him, but she had much more pressing issues to attend to.
Trying to be as nice as possible, she said, "Look, George, this really isn't the best time for this. We really need to talk about this another time, okay?"
"I know you wouldn't want to talk to me much after everything that happened, and I really don't blame you. But I really just wanted to tell you that I am sorry." George said, looking very apologetic.
Sophia was glad that George was going out of his way to apologize, but she didn't have time to think about him or anything of the sort in this moment. She had to focus on stopping Voldemort in any way that she could, and to do that she had to find Draco right away.
"I'm glad you came to me and apologized, really, but I have something that I need to take care of right now. I will talk to you later, I promise." Sophia said.
Then she just walked off before George could say another word.
I guess I deserved that…George thought dejectedly.
He walked into the Three Broomsticks to join everyone that was waiting for him.
At this same time, Harry, Hermione, Violet, and Ron were in Honeydukes getting the last sweets that they could before their last Hogsmede visit of the year was over. Harry, Hermione, and Ron were all having a good time, but Violet could not enjoy this visit since she was much too worried about how she was going to break the news to Ron about Draco. She just followed the other three around, lost in her thoughts, while they bustled around the store. But due to the large crowd in the store, Ron and Hermione got separated from Violet and Harry when they went to go look at some Chocolate Frogs and Harry went to go look at some chocolate éclairs. Violet stayed a bit back from Harry at the end of the aisle, feeling like she needed the space to think.
There is no way I could tell him this and have him not hate me. And not only that, Hermione and Harry would hate me too since they think Draco is just as bad as Ron does. Not that I really blame them, Draco was a real snot to them in the past…Violet thought in worry as she aimlessly looked at the different sweets on the shelf in front of her.
Violet scarcely had enough time to have another thought when someone from the neighboring aisle grabbed a hold of her arm and pulled her towards them.
"What! You!" Violet said in surprise.
Harry heard Violet's exclamation on the other side of the aisle and walked towards her to investigate. But as he tried turning into the next aisle, he found a large group of people and saw that Violet was not one of the people in front of him.
"Violet?" Harry said, hoping she would reply.
She didn't. As he looked for her in the crowd ahead of him, he thought he had lost her, but suddenly saw her maroon red hair flash in the crowd. If it wasn't for her hair, he would have lost her for sure. He noticed that it seemed like she was being pulled along by someone, but he could not make out who due to all of the other people around. Harry struggled to keep up with her and the other person, but he kept losing her in the crowd. Finally when he fought his way to the front of the store, he lost both of them completely.
What is going on here! I better find her and get to the bottom of this! Harry
thought a little frantically.
He quickly pushed his way outside of Honeydukes and began to search the crowds in front of the surrounding stores.
Finally when they reached the alley way behind Honeydukes and Zonkos and were away from the hustle and bustle of the shoppers in the stores, Violet finally yanked her arm back from her captor.
"I don't know what you were thinking back there, Draco, but a lot of people could have seen us! I mean, Harry was just in the next aisle, and who knows where Ron and Hermione could have been!" Violet said angrily.
"I'm sorry, but I couldn't just leave things the way they were left at the Hospital Wing. I decided from then that I would meet you today no matter what the risk and tell you everything that I feel and think." Draco said, the emotion raw in his tone.
Even if Violet was very worried about her situation, she went silent as Draco began to speak. As much as she wished her problems with Ron and Draco would go away, she could not deny the way she felt about Draco no matter how she tried. Suddenly, Draco pulled her closer and put his arms around her.
"I am sorry that you had to find out about Sophia the way that you did, and about my family. I just should have told you everything from the start. I just thought that you would hate me if I did…" Draco said.
"No, Draco, of course I don't hate you…" Violet said meaningfully.
"And with a family like mine, there would be no reason to trust me either. I know I don't deserve you…you are much too good for me. I know that you could easily be with someone else who would give you a whole lot less trouble than I do." Draco said, turning his face away from Violet and his lip curling at the thought of anyone one but himself making Violet happy.
Violet hated seeing Draco so unhappy. She forgot momentarily of Ron, and of everyone else, and concentrated only on the person in front of her.
Violet cupped her hand around his check and brought his eyes back to hers and said, "No, don't say that…"
"But whatever I am, I know what I feel. I know this is something special because no one has ever made me feel the way that you do. No one ever has cared about me in any way, not even my parents. And you…you are my only real friend. All the others are there only because they feel like they would get something out of it. I feel like my life is worthless and empty without you. You have shown me a whole new side of me that I never even knew exsisted." Draco said softly, his voice cracking with emotion.
Draco then held her close to him and whispered in her ear, "Violet…I love you…"
"Oh…I love you, too, Harry!" Violet started off whispering back, and then ending in surprise.
Draco, whose back was to the entrance of the alley, quickly pushed Violet away slightly and looked at her in confusion when she had said Harry's name instead of his. He noticed she was looking past him in surprise. He turned around to see who or what she was looking at. Then he saw Harry right behind them, and he looked both shocked and furious at the same time. Harry had ended his search for them when he decided to search the alley ways between the shops. He had heard voices here, and so he followed. He didn't know what would be happening when he got there, but this, for certain, was the last thing he could have expected. Harry just kept opening and closing his mouth trying to say something, but no words would come due to his shock. Draco just looked between both Violet and Harry, not knowing quite what to say either. After many minutes of awkward and tense silence, Harry finally seemed to have gathered his thoughts enough to make them coherent.
"Violet, how could you?" Harry said in a hurt voice that got angrier with every statement he made, "How could you lie like this to me and Hermione, and especially to Ron! It's bad enough that you were lying to Ron about there not being anyone else, but I thought you had better sense than this!"
Draco took this opportunity to speak up. He didn't like anyone talking to Violet like that, let alone Harry Potter.
"Look, Potter." Draco said disdainfully, "Did you actually think there would be a chance that Violet would choose Hand-Me-Down Weasley over me? I don't think so."
Draco ended his comment with a snide little smile. This totally set Harry off. He suddenly drew his wand and pointed it at Draco's chest.
"You had better be careful, Malfoy. Words are one thing, but actions are another. I am not afraid to duel you right here, right now. You have no Snape to hide behind and you have no teachers to run to. Now is the time to actually make good on your word…for once." Harry spat out.
Draco also drew his wand and was about to give Harry a biting reply that definitely would have made this situation burst into a wand fight, but Violet interrupted them.
"Harry, Draco, stop this!" Violet said slightly frantically, anxious to stop this before they ended up killing each other right in this alley way.
Then Harry suddenly turned to Violet.
"I don't know what Malfoy told you, but I am sure all of it is lies. There is not one Malfoy I know that isn't a slimy, underhanded, snake." Harry said, turning back to Draco as he described the Malfoys he knew and speaking in an extremely disgusted tone.
"Maybe you are right about the other Malfoys, but Draco isn't like them. I know he's different." Violet said with a slight edge.
Harry gave a little mirthless chuckle and said, "You are being so stupid and gullible! If you want to be like that, fine. Malfoy can have you. If your taste is in foul, scheming gits, then Ron is better off without you."
With that Harry just abruptly turned around and left Violet and Draco standing there.
"Oh, god, what am I going to do now?" Violet said more to herself than Draco, and put her head in her hands.
Draco gently put his arms around her and led her out of the alley way.
"Let's just go. Everyone will know now, and there's nothing much we can do…" Draco said, trying to be as comforting as possible.
Violet allowed herself to be led back into the busy streets of Hogsmede, knowing that things with Harry, Hermione, and Ron may never be the same.