At five to 3, Harry and Ron made their way down the grounds to Hagrid's hut, having been invited there for tea by the giant man. Harry raised a hand to knock on the door, but before he made contact with the wood, heard the sound of laughter. A girl's laughter.
"He does remember that he invited us over right?" asked Ron.
Harry shrugged and knocked.
The laughter ceased so abruptly it was as though someone had turned off a recording. Then came the sound of a dog barking and Hagrid's loud voice shouting "Back Fang! Back!" And then the door opened to reveal Hagrid's bushed bearded face and crooked smile. "Hold on," he said. "Back Fang!" Hagrid stepped back a few paces, struggling to keep a hold on the collar of a great black boarhound who could only be Fang.
"Hagrid, are you expecting-" the voice that had issued from behind the huge man cut off as Harry and Ron stepped into the room. "I should be going," said Violet quickly, standing up and making for the door.
"No," said Hagrid. "You mi' not like it, Vi'let, but you gotta 'ave some frien's in yer year."
"You set me up!" said Violet, apparently torn between indignance and laughter.
"Well…" Hagrid pulled ansentmindedly at his beard. "'Oos this ye brought with ya, Harry?"
"This is Ron," said Harry quickly.
"Another Weasley, eh?" asked hagrid, now heading to the teapot that hung over the fire. "I spend half me life chasin' after yer older brothers."
Ron gave an uneasy smile as he and Harry sat down at the table across from Violet, who was studiously not meeting their eyes.
"Great trouble makers, those two. Course our Miss Dumbledore 'ere would disagree wouldn't ya." Hagrid turned around with the tea kettle in hand and a cheeky grin on his face.
"Hagrid!" Violet snapped, but there was a spark and a smile in her eyes that Harry hadn't seen there before. "I am not - we aren't- I don't-" She broke off in her attempts to deny the suggestion when she saw the laughter in Hagrid's beetle black eyes. "Ooh, if I ever get my hands on you! I'll-" she said, waving a spoon at the man.
"Ye'll what?" asked the man, looking down at her as he poured tea into Harry and Ron's mugs.
"I'll give you a pig's tail," she said firmly as Hagrid sat down. Harry, who had been sipping his tea, nearly choked and Hagrid stared dumbfounded at her. She smiled triumphantly.
Harry was prevented from asking just how she had gotten ahold of that piece of information by Ron demanding to know what was going on. The explanation took a little while and from there conversation turned to their classes. Hagrid was only too pleased to agree with their dislike of the caretaker, Filch, but when the subject of Snape came up, he, like Ron had before, dismissed the idea of Snape disliking Harry any more than anyone else.
"But Hagrid," Harry protested, "He seemed to truly hate me."
"Rubbish!" said Hagrid, waving the idea away with a trash bin lid sized hand. "Why should he!" Hagrid did not quite meet his eyes as he said this, but Violet jumped in.
"Harry, Sev- I mean, Professor Snape has always been extremely partial to his own house. He never likes Gryffindors," she said.
"Easy for you to say," Harry grumbled. "He likes you well enough."
"I would remind you that that can only be expected," she said, a little more sharply than she'd meant to.
"Oh?" asked Ron. "And why's that. Do you think he's sucking up to you because your Dumbledore's daughter?"
"Niece, Ron. And no. I grew up here. I grew up with him. I've known him long enough to have made a friend of him. And for houses not to matter," said Violet patiently.
Harry stared at her. He hadn't even thought of this. Being Dumbledore's niece, she would have grown up here. She would have known all the teachers for years. Which also explained why she knew Ron's older brothers. They would have known each other for two years already.
"How's your brother Charlie?" asked Hagrid suddenly, veering off topic. "I always liked him. Great with animals."
As Ron talked to Hagrid about Charlie and Violet stared at Harry for a moment before turning her eyes to Hagrid, Harry noticed a scrap of paper on the table under the tea cozy. It was a cutting from the newspaper, titled GRINGOTTS BREAK-IN LATEST. Harry read it through, frowning more and more as he read. There had been a break-in at Gringotts, the wizarding bank, on Harry's birthday, 31 July, the same day he and Hagrid had been there.
"Hagrid," said Harry, interrupting, "This break-in happened on my birthday! It might have been happening while we were there!"
Hagrid most definitely didn't meet Harry's eyes this time and Violet's strange green gaze pinned Harry again. "Rock cake?" asked Hagrid meekly.
Violet shook her head very slightly, but Harry wasn't paying attention. He was looking back down at the story. It said that the vault had been emptied earlier that same day. Hagrid had taken something out of a vault that day. That grubby little package. Where was it now, Harry wondered. And what was Hagrid hiding about Snape?
He was distracted by a hand landing on his arm. It was Violet. "Leave it, Harry," she said, a warning in her voice. "Just leave it."
Harry did so for the remainder of their tea with Hagrid, but when they started back up to the castle, Violet lagging almost uncertainly behind the others, Harry couldn't help himself. He turned around to look at her. "Do you know what it is?"
"What what is?" she asked, rather defensively.
"That package Hagrid got out of Gringotts."
"How would I know what Hagrid takes out of the bank," said Violet impatiently.
"He was on Dumbledore's orders," said Harry, certain by now that she too only wanted to hide it from him.
But a strange bitterness crossed Violet's face. "I may be his niece," she said, obviously annoyed. "But that doesn't mean he tells me much of anything at all. I am, of course, merely a child." She spoke the last three words with such acid that Harry didn't bring the subject up again as they marched back to the castle and into the common room. In Gryffindor tower, Violet went immediately to a back table and unpacked her books to begin her homework, letting her hair fall over her face to block out the chaos of the crowded room.
Harry already suspected. And he couldn't. Violet didn't know what was going on, but when she'd asked Snape why Dumbledore would want to remove something from Gringotts, the potions master had snapped at her more forcefully than he ever had before.
Violet knew better than to ask again. And besides, some things were better left alone. That much, Violet knew only too well.
