Prompt: It's a pity... (#344)

June 1992

"He doesn't trust me. He's my twin, and he doesn't trust me," Violet spoke in whispered tones, her heart-break showing through as she sat at her brother's bed-side.

It was dark out now, and Madam Pomfrey had fetched Snape because Violet wouldn't leave her twin's side even though visiting hours had long been over. Short of using magic to kick her out, which Violet had told Madam Pomfrey it was what she would have to resort to if she wanted her to move, getting Snape had been the only viable option to the medi-witch.

"He went down there... he could have died... and he never said a thing to me about his intentions," Violet went on, trying to hold the tears of anger at bay. Because her brother had been unconscious for more than a day now... because Quirrel was dead... and that so easily could have been Harry!

He would've left me alone... how could he do that to me?

Violet still wasn't exactly sure what happened that night, even after grilling both Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley- going as far as to threaten them both with bodily harm when they seemed reluctant to say anything.

She simply couldn't understand what any of the three Gryffindors could possibly have been thinking- presuming to take on a full-grown wizard, not to mention dangerous enchantments set up by their Professor's to protect the stone. And worse yet... how could they have let her brother alone?!

Wasn't Granger supposed to be brilliant?

For her part, Violet had been in bed, trying to sleep in spite of the strange feeling that lingered about her all evening that something was wrong. She barely been on the cusp of sleep, when she'd been struck by a sort of terror that Harry was in great danger and in pain and in need of help.

Her twin. Her other half. Her better half.

Immediately, she'd gone to Snape and told him everything, hoping that he could do something for Harry, only to arrive too late.

Quirrel was dead... Harry was unconscious... Dumbledore had gotten to them first.

"You have to give trust, to earn it," Snape spoke coldly, causing Violet to turn to him and she couldn't help glaring even in spite of the tears clouding her vision.

Snape had been pissed that Violet hadn't come to him before, or told him her fears. And she understood that.

She had wanted to tell Snape... wanted to tell him her fear about what Harry might do.

But she hadn't. She'd felt too torn, feeling that by telling Snape she'd be betraying Harry. That she'd be tattling on him. And she hadn't been able to bring herself to do that.

And now here they were and she wondered if she'd been wrong. If she'd made a mistake. Clearly Harry hadn't really trusted her... a betrayal in it's own way while she'd kept his confidence by keeping his secret, and endangering his life in the process.

Violet didn't pause to consider, why she'd felt the need to tell Snape... only that he'd been the most consistent and reliable adult she'd ever met. She supposed there was something there... to the fact that she found it so much easier to trust Snape when he put all his negative aspects out in the open without apology or regard to what people might think. That he expended no energy at all, in making himself approachable, or in any way ingratiate himself to anyone.

It was... honesty- on a scale she'd never seen before.

"I'm supposed to protect him," Violet whispered, feeling like her chest was caving in, knowing that she'd so utterly failed as a sister because Snape was right too. Violet didn't trust people, Violet couldn't share her feelings, not even with Harry. So how could he let her in, when she shut him out too?

"It isn't up to you to protect him. You're-"

"Of course it's up to me! He's my brother! My twin! We ... we were always together... and I... I let him down. I should have been there with him, he shouldn't have been alone! It's my fault. Because I didn't want to-"

She couldn't breathe with the different emotion -anger, guilt, hurt, regret, grief- pressing on her chest- a chest too small to hold it all in.

"You didn't want to what?"

Violet looked up at that after a moment, as if realizing that Snape was there... that she was talking before quickly looking away and forcing herself to pull it all back in. Taking a deep and shuddering breath, and blinking several times, she straightened where she sat and shook her head.

"I don't know," she responded, when she was sure she could keep her voice from cracking. When she was sure she'd pushed everything else aside so that all she felt was a weary despondence.

"I just... I don't really understand why he would do it," Violet replied, staring at Harry... her twin, and failing to understand why he went after the stone himself... because as much as she understood the importance of keeping Voldy-thing from returning, she failed to understand how Harry could possibly think he could take on an adult.

It was a suicide mission, if Violet ever heard of one.

How could Harry be that reckless? That thoughtless.

"You should be going to bed."

Violet for a moment, thought of refusing. Of telling him that, there was nothing that could move her from her brother's side at that moment.

But she found as she stared at her sleeping brother that she couldn't really stand to be near him then. Not when he'd put his life in danger, not thinking for a moment about what that might mean for her.

With a nod of her head, Violet slowly rose, letting her hand drop Harry's and allowing Snape to lead her back to Slytherin.

XxX

Though she was upset with Harry, the following day Violet found her way back to her brother's bed-side. Her quiet, almost sullen presence quickly chasing off both Ron and Hermione who'd been wary of her since she'd threatened them both for information.

She wasn't sure how long she was sitting there, lost in thought, when she was pulled from her thoughts by the unexpected arrival of Professor Dumbledore.

"Violet, how lovely to see you again. Though, I do wish it was under better circumstances," Dumbledore spoke as he approached the bed.

Violet merely looked at Dumbledore and offered a weak smile before turning her worried green eyes back to her still sleeping brother.

"Madam Pomfrey says that he's not in danger, but his body needs time to recover, that he should wake any day now," Violet spoke, more from desire to fill in the silence and avoid awkwardness then from any actual desire to update Dumbledore about her brother's condition.

"I'm glad to hear it. Harry is a remarkable young person."

Violet didn't respond to that, other than to nod her head. She supposed, she could see it in that light... though to her, the heroics her brother was surely being praised for was not something she herself valued. After all, sometimes she wondered if bravery and heroics as most the world seemed to regard it, were not just mostly stupidity and thoughtlessness.

But... that wasn't what made Harry so special.

He was genuinely kind, and generous, and good- traits that Violet found so rare in the world.

He hadn't done any of it to hurt Violet... she knew that. But... she was sure she hadn't crossed his mind, even for a second... no more than his own safety.

He'd been thoughtless- even while being selfless and full of good intentions. But perhaps... Harry's occasional thoughtlessness might be for the best. After all, from what she'd understood... Harry was directly involved in Quirrel's death.

"How did... Quirrel die?" Violet asked quietly, turning to look at Dumbledore who was staring at her intently, causing her to jump slightly in surprise to find herself so intensely studied.

"With Voldemort inhabiting his body, he could not stand to be touched by Harry," at Violet's questioning frown, Dumbledore continued to explain. "You see, when Voldemort tried to kill Harry and you those many years ago... your mother sacrificed herself... that kind of sacrifice, left you both marked. Her love... it lives inside you, it runs in your veins... it keeps you protected. Quirrel, with Voldemort inside him, couldn't stand to be touched, by something that Voldemort could never understand."

Violet looked away at that and found herself staring at her brother, blinking away her tears at the thought of her parents. Whose selfless sacrifice had still left them alone in the world, fending for themselves.

Sometimes she was almost sure, she remembered that night in her most vivid nightmares.

"Everyone talks about Voldemort... and it doesn't sound like he's even a person. Just a monster," Violet spoke, trying to the life of her to understand what it was about this one, incredibly Dark Wizard that seemed to connect them. Trying to understand why he wanted to murder her whole family... why he would bother to murder a pair of babies. "But... I heard he was a Slytherin... that means he had to be a person. He was even a student. Didn't he have parents?"

"Why do you ask, Violet?"

Violet wasn't sure why it bothered her. Why she wanted to understand it... or him. But there was something there inside her... something that always made her look deeper into people, and understand them in a way that was visceral.

And Voldemort... she could feel herself hating him already... so deep-seeded that she wasn't sure she'd ever be free of it. But just the same... there was another side to that coin. And on the flip-side, she thought it just might be... pity or compassion.

"It's just... it's sad isn't it? He didn't understand love... probably because no on loved him when he was little and that's... it's sad. Maybe if someone had loved him, he wouldn't have turned out like he did."

"You're right, Violet, it is very sad."

Could that have been us? Violet wondered, as she continued to stare at Harry, wondering what life would have been like, if they hadn't had each other.

XxX

They were both sitting on the bed now, both sad and despondent, unsure what to say to one another, but both likely thinking the same thing even as they ignored the uncertainty they felt toward's each other.

We'll be going back... back to the Dursley's.

Dumbledore told them there was no other way. That they must return because it was home, and the safest place for them. Even in spite of Harry's gentle pleading, even in spite of Violet's questions about how they could be protected from magic by people who were so un-magical.

"I forget... that Aunt Petunia is mum's sister," Harry spoke softly and Violet understood perfectly, nodding her head along silently. Because it was a fact that she often forgot herself, even in spite of the moniker. Because... the word and Aunt and Uncle had never meant anything to her. Because it was impossible to believe that they could be related to the Dursley's.

Silence descended on them once more, while Violet sat at the foot of his bed, right on the edge, fidgeting with her hands. She had nothing to add to the subject at hand and felt too tired from the last several days to try to think anything up.

"You're mad at me," Harry says when he can't take the silence anymore.

Violet didn't lift her head to look at Harry, though she shakes it. But she's not refuting his words, and Harry knows that she isn't denying it. She's simply shaking it as she tries to sort out what to say.

"Things are different now... we both have friends. We're drifting apart... we'll probably continue to drift apart at this rate... and you're just accelerating things by pushing me away," Violet speaks quietly, speaking slowly and brokenly as she tries to put into her words her fears without making herself cry.

She looks up slowly and stares at Harry who is frowning.

"I'm not pushing you away..."

"You haven't really spoken to me for months, Harry."

Harry looked away, as if ashamed. "I was just... mad at you, at first," Harry replied, looking down at his hands. "You just... you always have to see the worst in everything. And then... I know you didn't mean to be hurtful, but it was hard... it felt like too much time had passed and I didn't know what to say to make up for it..."

"But I missed you," Violet whispered, looking away and staring at her hands, feelings tears well up at the admission and hiding her face behind her monstrous hair.

She was slightly surprised when she felt a pair of arms wrap around her.

"I missed you too... I'm so sorry Vi," Harry responded, holding tight to her and pressing his head against her own.

Violet shifted but didn't say anything, wrapping her own arms around her brother knowing even still that things between them were different; that damage had been done that might be irreparable and that perhaps, they would never fully trust each other as they once had. But for the time being, she didn't let herself think about it. And for the time being, she pushed the pain away and decided just to enjoy the moment. Enjoy the truce.

After all, they were about to go back. Back to the reality where they had no one but each other. Where it felt like it was them against the world... and no one cared about them.

TBC...

Review, please. :)