Violet had stayed awake all night by her sister's side. Evangeline had been given many potions and pills, and she stopped puking. Her body had stopped shaking, but she was now on a bed, sweat pouring from her forehead, gasping for breath. But she wasn't awake.
Dumbledore was called down from his office and he had come to look at Evangeline. The nurse had been puzzled.
"It's unlike anything I've ever seen before!" she had said dabbing Evangeline's forehead with a wet towel. "I have no idea what it could have been."
Dumbledore's face was grave.
"She was fine until she drank some tea," Violet said desperately. "But I drank some, and I was fine. I-I got it from the kitchen after hours."
"I highly doubt the house elves would have slipped anything in Evangeline's drink though," Madam Pomfrey stated, "I mean, nothing this severe! It's just out of House Elf nature."
Dumbledore nodded.
"Violet, you need to start classes," he said kindly. "I will try to find out what happened to your sister."
Violet nodded and reluctantly left the room.
Nothing was the same without Evangeline. Violet found herself sulking around being snippier than usual. She, Ron, Hermione, Neville, and Harry all visited Evangeline in the hospital, but nothing had changed. Violet was sitting up in a tree staring up at the blue sky wishing her sister would get better.
She saw movement out of the corner of her eye and saw Michael climbing up the three. He smiled at her, and she allowed herself only a small movement of her lips. Michael plopped down next to her and sighed.
"I heard what happened to your sister," he said. "I'm sorry she's not improving."
Violet sighed.
"Well thanks anyway. I just can't seem to figure out why this would happen to her of all people; and how it even happened."
Michael nodded. Violet thought of how nice it was to be up here with Michael. She looked at him and he smiled. How did Ginny get a guy like that? She felt tears run down her cheeks and Michael wiped them away.
"Don't cry," he said. "You look so pretty when you smile."
She laughed and he wrapped her in a tight hug.
"MICHAEL!" a voice yelled. Violet looked down and saw Ginny standing under the tree, hands on her hips, her foot tapping.
"Yes?" he called back.
"What are you doing with her? I thought we were supposed to be in a relationship!"
"She's my friend Ginny, I just wanted to comfort her."
"Looks like a lot more to me!" she huffed then stomped away.
"I'd better go check on her," said Michael. "Are you going to be alright?"
Violet nodded and wiped away a few tears that had escaped. Michael smiled at her, jumped down from the tree, and chased after Ginny.
Violet kept up with Evangeline's work for her. Evangeline always ended up copying anyway. Hermione was becoming frantic and stressed about the upcoming O.W.L.S and keeping Ron and Harry up to date with their work. She thought about Michael as she walked down the hallway to visit her sister. He was always so confusing; did he like her or not? She huffed to herself. If he didn't like her, he needed to stop saying she was beautiful and claiming the rose in the sky was theirs. It meant nothing.
She was taken aback when she came into the hospital wing and saw everyone was gone except for a familiar looking man adjusting the cloth on Evangeline's forehead.
"Mr. J?" she asked. "What are you doing here?" he looked up and smiled at Violet.
"I heard the news about your sister," he said. "I wanted to come and visit her."
"How'd you even get on school campus?"
"That's for me to know, and you to find out," He chortled. "Your sister has finally stopped breathing so heavily; that's an improvement."
Evangeline groaned.
"Ev?" Violet cried and ran to her sister's side. "Ev, are you awake?" Evangeline's eyes slowly fluttered open.
"D-dark arts," she stuttered weakly. "I-I saw flashes, a voice." She groaned.
"Of what?" Violet pressed. "Evangeline, what did you see?"
"I s-s-saw you, Vi. Men in masks and cloaks; a book of Dark Arts." She closed her eyes and fell silent.
"I see." Mr. J whispered. Violet looked at him incredulously.
"What do you see?"
"They slipped some sort of potion in her drink. I'm not sure whether they took control over a House Elf or not, but they got it in her tea. I can't seem to remember the name of the potion, but it plants visions into ones brain to send a message, or warning. But it has nasty side effects." He cleared his throat. "It seems like someone really wants you to get into the Dark Arts, Violet."
And with a swish of his cloak, he was gone.
Evangeline felt someone brushing her hair back from her forehead and planting a cold towel on her. She groaned and felt her eyelids slowly open and saw Neville standing over her; she felt her face flush red.
"You're finally awake," he smiled. "I was worried about you."
Evangeline felt a smile spread across her face.
"Ev!" screeched her sister's voice. Evangeline was tackled in a hug.
"Ow," Evangeline muttered, but Violet didn't pull away.
"I just got the news you woke up! How are you feeling?"
"Okay, I guess," Evangeline muttered. "My head really hurts though." Violet's eyes shifted towards Neville.
"Could we have some privacy?" she asked. "I need to tell my sister something."
Neville's face went slightly pink, but he nodded and left the room.
Violet explained to Evangeline about Mr. J being in Hogwarts, and Evangeline relaying the message when she was really weak.
"Apparently, someone wants me involved in the Dark Arts." said Violet darkly. "Or maybe something's hidden in the Dark Arts for your potion; maybe someone knows about Snape."
Evangeline coughed, and for a split second Violet thought she was going to retch up blood again.
"If someone really wanted me to help, they wouldn't have put your life in danger," said Violet. "I think it's some sort of warning; I don't want anything like this to happen to you again."
"So what are you going to do?"
"Get into the Dark Arts of course; I don't want anyone else getting hurt. And who knows," Violet chuckled. "Maybe I'll end up liking it."
A few days past, and Evangeline was finally back on her feet. Violet gave her the finished work, but told her she hadn't done any Herbology so she could ask Neville for help. Evangeline was welcomed back with hugs from the gang and Neville had no problem helping her catch up with her work.
The two were walking down the hallway, Violet chattering away about what she had missed when she saw Ginny with an angry expression on her face yelling at Michael.
"Oh, that poor boy; he doesn't deserve a girl like Ginny," said Violet moving closer so she could hear what was going on. Evangeline followed close behind.
"I can't believe you would cheat on me! I love you so much Michael!"
"I wasn't cheating on you! Luna had a question, and I merely answered it. You have guy friends, you don't see me getting offended when you hang with Potter."
"That's different!"
"How so?"
"Because you lie to me all the time Michael! You're worthless; you feed off of girl's attention-"
"That's enough!" Violet yelled. Ginny raised an eyebrow.
"Stay out of this. Listen I-"
"No you listen!" said Violet shoving Ginny against the wall.
"Woo, cat fight!" Evangeline cried. Many boy students stopped walking to stare to see if such a thing was going to take place.
"No. No fighting now, just a warning."
The boys continued walking.
"You don't deserve a boy like Michael," Violet snarled. "So you better watch it! There are many girls in this school who would kill to date him. And you're mistreating him." She took a step back clenching her fists. "You just better watch your back. Michael is a- good friend of mine, and if you're being mean, then there will be consequences."
She cracked her knuckles and turned away, Evangeline laughing behind her.
Violet sat at the school bench hunched over her parchment trying to make up a dream for her dream journal for Professor Trelawney. She wasn't going to write down her normal dreams; it wouldn't be a smart idea to expose them. She came up with some story about her being in a flaming tree house.
"Is this seat taken?" Violet looked up and saw Michael standing next to the bench. She shook her head, and he plopped down next to her.
"Where's Ginny?" Violet asked bitterly.
"Chatting with Potter; I think she fancies him." he glanced at her. "That was a really nice thing you did for me to today, I really appreciate it."
Violet felt herself blush.
Michael stood up.
"Come on, let's go inside; it's freezing out here! We can go up to the Ravenclaw tower; you're sort of an honorary member of our house."
He bowed slightly and extended his arm out and Violet giggled and took his hand.
Evangeline walked around school campus, humming to herself. Neville had mentioned some sort of plant that could help defend against poison, and Evangeline was looking around to see if maybe she could find one on school grounds.
"Why, hello!" said a familiar voice. Evangeline looked up and saw Luna Lovegood dangling from a tree, her bare feet swinging in the air.
"Hello Luna!" Evangeline called and Luna plopped down on the ground, sticking the landing.
"Aren't your feet frozen solid? It's freezing out here!" Luna twirled a string of hair around her finger thoughtfully.
"I suppose- slightly. I'm actually quite used to it by now. It's just a numbing feeling, really." Evangeline shivered in the cold air.
"Why aren't you wearing your shoes?"
"The Ravenclaws thought it would be funny to hide them from me. I suppose it was all in good fun, but I really liked those shoes."
She wriggled her toes in the dirt.
"Well that's not very nice." Evangeline said shaking her head. Luna shrugged.
"You can always come to the Gryffindor common room with me and Violet; we go there all the time." Luna giggled.
"So why are you out in the cold?" Evangeline asked.
"A sort of- calling you might say. Maybe the wrackspurts in my head beckoned me here." Evangeline laughed.
"Have you seen this kind of plant?" Evangeline asked opening up her book and showing it to Luna. She scanned the page for a long time.
"Yes," she replied. "Follow me."
Evangeline followed Luna to an area of the woods where she saw the threstrals chewing on grass.
"Can you see them?" Luna asked. Evangeline nodded and Luna accepted. Neither one of them asked about the deaths they had both seen. Luna plucked something out of the grass and handed it to Evangeline.
"The threstrals are led out here because this plant dwells here. They want to keep them living long healthy lives." Evangeline took the plant and put it in a flagon to show her sister later.
"Thanks a lot Luna." She smiled. Luna nodded and the girls walked back to Hogwarts.
"So this plant can really defend against poison?" Violet asked examining the plant through the clear flagon. Evangeline nodded.
"And if you mess up on your potion, I know where we can get more."
"Well thanks a lot sis, I hope this works." She said then tucked it into her pocket. Suddenly, there was a loud scream.
"What the hell was that?" Violet yelled. Feet clambered up the steps and a breathless Slytherin girl came to view.
"T-they've found a dead body on school grounds!" she shrieked. The twins looked at each other then rushed down the steps.
"Oh, I hope it's not anyone we know!" Evangeline cried.
The girls saw a crowd outside the school doors and pushed past teachers and students to get to the front. They saw a man on the ground, his eyes staring up at the sky. His shirt was soaked in blood.
"It's Mr. J!" Violet whispered. Dumbledore leaned over the man.
"Thankfully, none of our faculty or staff members have been injured. But I feel for the loss of this man."
He paused and noticed something jutting out of Mr. J's coat pocket. He slid it out carefully and studied it.
"Are Evangeline and Violet Willow present?" he asked. The girls stepped forward and Dumbledore handed them the letter. Their names were written in what looked like Mr. J's blood.
"Thank you." Evangeline whispered and the girls walked back into the school solemnly.
He had been their only connection to their parents, and now he was gone. Violet bit down on her lip; if only she had that potion done. Evangeline sniffed and wiped away a tear; she had quite liked Mr. J and his dog. They sat by the slab of rock and Violet opened the letter carefully and scanned it.
"It's from Voldemort." she whispered.
As you can see, running from me is not a wise decision. Anyone who disobeys me will be severely punished. Take this death into account and think of the many others I have killed before. And just because you are children, I am not going to think twice about killing you as well.
Violet, you saw how rather nasty things can get. The Dark Arts are trembling inside of you, waiting to be released from your wand. You will do many great things on my side.
Evangeline, there is something you still need to discover. Think of death, injuries. You girls are smart, I created you that way. I will give you girls a limited amount of time to obey me. If you do not, you will be killed and so will everyone you love. Think of how many lives you are putting in danger.
And the bottom of the page was stained with a red v.