Yo! A few quick things it seems I need to address. I update slowly. No update for a few months doesn't mean the fic has been abandoned. I delete things if I no longer want to continue them. Life sucks and it's hard to write sometimes. If you don't like slow updates, wait until it's complete to read it. Sauron the snake is not Voldy or his horcrux. He's just a snake that's been named after the Dark Lord Sauron from the Lord of the Rings. It's just a fun reference. I'm not bashing Sirius, Remus, or Severus. I don't care if you don't like them. I do and this is my story.

Anyway, thank you to all readers so far!

Violet woke slowly the next morning. She felt very groggy, her body heavy, and it took her a few minutes before she was actually able to drag herself out of bed. This wasn't normal for her, and she was sure it had something to do with the dementor from yesterday. Regardless, with Sauron staying behind (still fast asleep curled up on the bed), Violet freshened up, dressed, then met Theodore in the common room. With quiet greetings, they headed off together, making their way down to the Great Hall-a couple of seventh years, Marcus Flint included, following them dutifully.

"Hey, Theo?" said Violet softly, not wanting the two behind them to hear her.

"Hmm?"

"I know I don't always pay attention to these things, but I swear Flint was in seventh year last year. Why's he still here?"

"Huh? Oh, apparently he failed all of his NEWTs and had to repeat his last year," said Theodore equally quietly, definitely not wanting to be overheard, especially not by Flint.

"All of them?"

"All of them."

"...Wow."

Theodore stifled a laugh.

It was oddly quiet inside the Great Hall, especially considering it was their first day back for classes. Violet and Theodore exchanged a glance, both of them having noticed the same thing, but neither of them said anything and joined the other third years at Slytherin Table. Their year mates were awfully quiet as well and it didn't take Violet long to understand that she wasn't the only one who had been negatively affected by the dementors from yesterday, even if she was the only who'd fainted.

They all ate in silence, none of them saying more than a couple of words at a time-even Malfoy, who was usually rather talkative. Professor Snape was quiet too as he came around to pass out their schedules, his eyes seeming darker than they normally were. Though he didn't speak to anyone other than the sixth years (and Flint), he still paused when he handed Violet her timetable, eyes scanning her face.

"Miss Potter."

Understanding what he wasn't saying, Violet smiled tentatively. "I'm alright now, Professor. The chocolate helped."

Seemingly satisfied, Snape inclined his head and walked off, continuing down the table. Malfoy, who was sitting beside Violet, turned to her, a brow raised in question.

"The dementors affected you that badly?"

Violet didn't hear any sort of mocking or scorn in his voice, but she still only shrugged and returned her attention to her breakfast as she scanned over her schedule curiously. With it being a Thursday, her first class for the day appeared to be ancient runes. Huh, well that was bound to be interesting. After that was going to be transfiguration, then potions, then defence, and then care of magical creatures. ...Oh dear.

The first thing Violet noticed was that if there weren't many students taking it, these elective classes took place with members of all four Houses. Ancient Runes was one of those, which Violet quite liked, because she had both Theodore and Hermione with her.

With today's class being merely an introductory lesson, they didn't do more than take notes, but Violet didn't mind it yet. From what Professor Babbling told them so far, this class sounded pretty promising, so that was good. Maybe it would tell her what her rune was too.

Transfiguration next period was filled with more note taking, McGonagall warning them that things were no doubt going to be much more difficult this year. But there was a bonus in that they were beginning to learn about Animagi, which Violet thought to be beyond fascinating.

After that was Potions, the Slytherins and Gryffindors still together, unfortunately. Malfoy did most of the Lion goading there, so the only interaction Violet had with her twin sister was to ignore the glares that were shot in her direction. Professor Snape however, seemed to be a little more irritable than usual, which everyone noticed but no one questioned out loud. At least not near the man.

They weren't suicidal, after all.

And when potions came to an end, the Slytherins soon found themselves entering the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom where the Ravenclaws were already waiting along with their new professor.

Violet was just glad to see all those Lockhart posters had been replaced with things that were far more interesting to look at. That was nice. She took her seat, Theodore at her side and Hermione not too far away, and examined the man who stood before them.

Lupin still looked very tired, she noted, and wondered if he hadn't managed to sleep last night. Surely he would have looked better rested if he did. At least a little bit, right?

Still, Professor Lupin smiled at them all gently and greeted them kindly, which caused a few in the room to exchange surprised glances. Violet had a feeling she knew why. She could vaguely recall someone in the common room last night mentioning Lupin had been a Gryffindor when he'd attended Hogwarts himself, and since even McGonagall treated the Slytherins somewhat coolly, it was rather odd to them that this man wasn't. Odd, and a little suspicious.

"We'll be having a practical lesson today," said Lupin when he had everyone's attention again. "Could you all take up your wands and follow me? Good."

Practical lessons in this particular course were a rarity. In fact, they'd only had one before, but no one counted that, because Lockhart. Either way, everyone made sure they had their wands and then followed Professor Lupin out of the classroom and all the way to...the staff room? Their confusion and curiosity only grew at that but still no one really spoke.

The room was empty save for a bunch of tables and mismatched chairs, and the students all filed inside, wondering why they'd been brought here of all places. Lupin shut the door behind them and then moved to the front of the room, coming to stand beside a large wardrobe that appeared to be shaking for some reason. Some of the students were clearly startled by that, and looked downright terrified when they were told the shaking was being caused by something called a boggart.

Violet frowned. She knew what those were-she'd read about them in one textbook or another, but she wasn't quite sure what to expect. And when they were told they were going to face the boggart themselves, she began to grow a little apprehensive. What would it turn into for her? What was her worst fear?

If she'd been younger, she would have said the Matron, but Violet wasn't scared of the woman any more. Most would probably expect her to be afraid of Voldemort, but that wasn't quite it either. She was nervous around him somewhat, but certainly not scared. The basilisk from a few months ago had been pretty scary, but even that didn't seem like it would be her worst fear. What scared her so much it left her feeling cold and clammy and trembling?

"It is always best," Lupin was in the middle of saying, "to have company while attempting to face a boggart. Does anyone know why?" He ignored Hermione's hand when it shot up, probably because she'd already answered two questions, and instead- "Violet?"

"Because it won't know what to turn into?" said Violet, only half guessing because she'd been so focused on her thoughts that she hadn't really even been listening.

Lupin smiled. "That's exactly right. The boggart will attempt to change into what frightens however many are near it and more often than not, that isn't all too effective." He went on to explain that the creatures were best countered with laughter, and he taught them the incantation that would help them, and then had them stand in single file so that they could all face the boggart one after another.

Violet noticed that the vast majority of her classmates seemed to be pretty excited about it, with only a handful of exceptions. There were a couple of Ravenclaws whose names she couldn't remember on the spot who looked rather nervous, Tracy Davis looked terrified, and Theodore's brow was pinched-Violet wouldn't be surprised if his biggest fear turned out to be his father. Violet herself wasn't really sure what she was feeling.

She stood somewhere in the middle of the line, too busy thinking to pay much attention to what the boggart was turning into for those in front of her (a giant spider, a giant snake, a giant rat, a giant black dog, a classic grim reaper), and even though she hadn't made up her mind yet, Violet was already feeling cold.

And then it was her turn.

Shivering and sweating at once, Violet, wand gripped tightly, stepped forward, green eyes locked on the clown reaper (which, in her opinion, was even scarier than the actual grim reaper). And then the boggart changed and it wasn't the Matron, or the basilisk, or Voldemort.

Violet's breath caught in her chest and her blood ran cold. It was a dementor, as she had already, deep inside, realized it was going to be. Barely a second after the creature took form, Violet found herself staring at their professor's back instead. He'd moved in front of her, blocking her from the boggart, and when she leaned out to look under his arm, she saw that the dark creature had changed into the moon.

"Riddikulus!" Lupin intoned calmly and firmly. The boggart changed again and then it was gone, vanished back in the wardrobe it had come out of earlier.

Just a moment later the bell rang, signalling the end of the lesson. Lupin awarded those who had faced the boggart and answered his earlier questions points, and then assigned them all homework before dismissing them all.

And that was how their first Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson that year came to an end. The students all left the room chatting eagerly about the boggart, while Violet followed behind them in silence, still shivering...

Unfortunately for Violet, her day wasn't finished just yet. She still had one more class to go to, and she soon found herself standing outside Hagrid's hut with the other Slytherins who had chosen to take Care of Magical Creatures-a great number of them. Even worse, they were quickly joined by none other than the Gryffindors, which just so happened to include Rose and Ron.

Was Violet ever going to catch a break? She only had to see the hippogriffs to learn that the answer was a loud and resounding 'no'. She could already tell that this wasn't going to end well.

To Hagrid's credit, the hippogriffs were pretty interesting, even if the book he had assigned them was more on the dangerous side than anything else. Malfoy wasn't happy about any of this, but Violet hadn't expected otherwise and simply rolled her eyes at the typical, 'Wait until my father hears about this,' bit.

Violet wasn't surprised Rose was the one taking initiative to approach the hippogriff-Buckbeak, and frowned when Brown and Patil muttered something about tea leaves. So she watched silently and curiously as her sister cautiously neared the creature. But things went well, even though she thought letting Rose ride Buckbeak was a bit much. In fact, it wasn't until the rest of them had been split off in an attempt to get closer to the other hippogriffs that something went wrong. Unsurprisingly, Malfoy was behind it. Rose cared about Hagrid too much to screw things up in his first lesson.

The other Slytherins weren't very pleased Malfoy had been injured, but in Violet's opinion, it was his own fault. Hagrid had clearly told them not to insult hippogriffs. And what did Malfoy do? Insult the hippogriff. And now they were shocked and upset he'd been injured? How idiotic. Malfoy hadn't been maimed or anything. It was just a bad cut from the creature's talon-something Madam Pomfrey could mend in a snap. It was hardly the end of the world.

Parkinson didn't agree and ran off to check on Malfoy the moment they'd stepped back into the castle. The other Slytherins watched her go, then made their way back down to their dungeon common room to pass time before dinner.

Violet had only settled in an armchair near the hearth when she was joined by Sauron, who slithered through the room and up her leg to the chair.

"Have your classes finished today?" he asked once he'd joined her.

"Yes, they're done-thank Salazar. I'm already exhausted."

"Did something happen?"

Violet laughed lightly. "What didn't happen? Today was very...action packed, I guess you can say." So busy recounting her day to the snake, she didn't notice the silence that had fallen in the room, nor the many shocked pairs of eyes that were now focused on her. She didn't even notice that more students than usual had gathered closer to the hearth, listening to her speak, even though they couldn't understand her.

Though Violet didn't notice any of this, Theodore did. Seated in the chair across his friend, he watched the others approach in amusement. It was actually kind of funny, in his opinion, that Violet Potter of all people was having this sort of effect on all these students-all these Slytherins. But it didn't surprise him. She was speaking in Parseltongue. His father had warned him about that.

He'd told him how most of the Dark Lord's followers had a weak spot for the tongue of serpents, even back when the Lord had only been a student himself. They liked listening to him, his father had said. It made them feel like they were privileged, hearing him speak, whether he spoke to them or an actual snake.

Admittedly, Theodore didn't entirely understand, but just seeing the reaction in the room towards Violet speaking to her pet snake had his father's words making a lot more sense to him. And if he was being honest with himself, he kind of liked hearing it too. Something about the hissing was almost...hypnotic in a way, and calming as well.

Yes, as much as he hated to admit it, Theodore had to agree that his father had been right about this whole Parseltongue thing.

Malfoy returned to class half way through double potions the next morning, where Snape made Rose and Ron help him with his potion. Neither of the Gryffindors were happy about that. Violet thought their mutiny was hilarious. It was so easy to rile those two up.

But more than just that happened during the lesson. It was quiet in the dungeon classroom when Finnegan from Gryffindor moved to Rose and Ron's table to speak to them.

"Hey, did you hear? Black was sighted."

"Are you serious? Where?" In the silence in the room, their voices carried. It was hard to tell whether they realized everyone else was listening to them too.

"A Muggle saw him not far from here," said Finnegan, taking Rose's brass scales to his own table to use. "She doesn't know who he really is, obviously, so she called that telephone hotline thing they have set up. But by the time the Ministry got there he was already gone."

"Thinking of catching Black on your own, Potter?" Malfoy questioned, leaning into Rose and smiling maliciously. When Rose didn't answer, his smile widened. "I mean, if it was me, well I wouldn't want to wait either. But maybe you should just stay in school like a good girl. We wouldn't want you getting hurt now, would we?"

Frowning, Violet turned to Theodore. "Does Rose not know Black is her godfather?"

Theodore shrugged. "I guess not. Maybe her aunt and uncle didn't want to tell her her godfather's a convicted murderer?"

Violet bit her lip, but nodded. She supposed that made sense. If the Dursleys knew about Black, going by the way Rose was seemingly being raised, maybe they hadn't wanted to traumatize her or something. But going by what Rose and Malfoy were saying, it definitely did seem like Rose didn't know.

Either way, if Black had been sighted fairly close by, that couldn't be a good thing, could it? Especially if the reason he had broken out of prison in the first place was to kill one or both of them. Sure there were dementors stationed around the castle, but if Black had been able to get past them at Azkaban, well, why couldn't he just do the same here?

Were she and Rose really safe from him here? Hogwarts hadn't exactly proven itself to be the safest place so far, so honestly, she didn't have much confidence in any of this...

There was no further word on Black as the days went by. Violet was curious about the man of course, but the most suspicious thing, in her opinion, was Hermione's behaviour. She'd chosen to take every class available to the third years, which included all five electives. While that would be weird for most people, Hermione was, well, Hermione, so honestly, it should have been expected. So no, it wasn't that, that was odd.

Even though some of those classes took place at the same time as another class she was taking, Hermione had somehow been able to attend all of them. She hadn't missed a single lesson yet. Not even one. That made no sense to Violet at all. How could Hermione possibly be in two places at once?

Yet whenever she brought it up, asking Hermione about it, Hermione would simply brush it off or change the subject. It was clear that she had no inclination to elaborate on how she was doing this and while Violet supposed she understood they all had secrets they wanted to keep, it kind of hurt that Hermione was trying so hard to ensure she didn't find out something so...simple.

After a few attempts, Violet stopped asking. She was still curious of course, but if Hermione didn't want to explain, it wasn't as if she could force her to. So the days continued to pass.

Care of Magical Creatures very quickly became rather boring, the class made to look after flobberworms of all things, which didn't exactly need looking after in the first place. Hagrid had lost all his confidence after Malfoy's 'attack', not just because the boy had been hurt, but because Malfoy's father had gotten involved, and that apparently wasn't a good thing. Fortunately, as Quidditch season neared, Malfoy found himself too busy with practice to complain very much, so that was nice at least.

Being forced to listen to Malfoy blabber on always got kind of annoying after a few minutes...

Halloween day was a strange one for Violet. The first Hogsmeade trip was today, but since the Matron hadn't signed her form, she wasn't going to be able to go. It was, admittedly, a bit annoying, Violet thought as she bid farewell to Theodore and Hermione, both of who were going with their own housemates, but it was hardly the end of the world. There was going to be plenty of time to visit the village in later years, if she could find a way around the permission slip problem.

She wasn't surprised by the way Rose and Ron mocked her for staying behind, though she cracked a smile when Malfoy of all people came to her defence, mocking her twin in response. It was only morning and it was already a strange day.

Once everyone was gone and Violet was alone, she wandered through the castle, wondering what she should do for the next few hours. She'd already finished any immediate homework yesterday, and didn't really feel like doing the rest of it today. She could have just spent her time with Sauron, but the snake was in a foul mood today (he hated Halloween for some reason), so she figured it was best to give him some space until he calmed back down. Heading to the library was also an option, she supposed. Perhaps she could do some leisure reading for once. And if she found Ginny or Luna along the way, maybe she'd spend some time talking to them too.

Satisfied with that, Violet turned on her heel, needing to backtrack to be able to head to the library, and she'd only passed through two corridors when she heard someone call out her name in confusion. Pausing, she looked through the nearest doorway where the voice came from, only to realize she was standing outside Professor Lupin's office, just a door down from the Defence classroom.

"Professor?"

Moving to the door, Lupin smiled down at her. "Good morning, Violet. Where's Theodore? It's a bit odd that the two of you aren't together."

She shrugged. "He's probably in Hogsmeade by now."

Lupin frowned and when he spoke, his voice betrayed confusion. "Why aren't you there yourself?"

"No one signed my permission slip."

"The ah, the woman at the orphanage refused to sign it?"

Violet blinked, surprised he even knew about the Matron and the orphanage, and then just brushed it off, assuming someone else had told him about it. "I didn't even show it to her," she said instead. "The Matron doesn't know about magic or that I'm a witch. The form wasn't disguised or anything, and she never signs things without reading them. And since the Matron's my only guardian, there really isn't much I can do about-are you alright, sir?" As she had been saying that last sentence there, Lupin had sort of...twitched, suddenly looking rather upset, though the expression vanished almost instantly.

"Yes, just a bit tired." He glanced back behind him, then looked at her again and said, "Why don't you come in? You can help me with the grindylow that was just delivered."

"What's a grindylow?" Violet asked curiously, following the man inside the office.

"It's a water demon," Lupin explained, leading her to a large tank...

Following the professor's directions and explanations, they prepared a second, larger tank for the creature and moved it into its new home, setting this tank aside against one of the office walls where it would sit until their next lesson. Once that was done, the two settled at the man's desk for some tea.

It should have been awkward, sitting here alone and having tea with a professor. This wasn't something students ever liked to do, but Violet was actually enjoying herself. Professor Lupin was very kind to her, despite her being a Slytherin, and he was easy to get along with, not to mention talk to. He also clearly knew a whole lot about the subject he was teaching, and Violet was always eager to learn more.

"May I ask something?" said Violet abruptly.

Lupin blinked. "Of course. Anything."

Violet bit her lip, hesitating. "Why didn't you let me face the boggart?" It hadn't bothered her in the moment it had happened. If she was being honest, she was actually kind of glad he had intervened. But after her fear had died down and she'd had the chance to think, she'd realized that he hadn't even given her the chance to even try before cutting in, which was really strange, since he hadn't done the same for anyone else.

"I was under the impression that the boggart would change into Lord Voldemort," said Lupin calmly, "and I didn't want to induce panic by having him appear in the middle of the staff room. I did the same for your sister."

"O-oh." Violet frowned. "For Rose-did it really become Voldemort?"

Lupin inclined his head. "Yes, as she-as you both, rather, saw him in your first year. But it was only for a second, before I covered her. And your own..."

"Was a dementor," said Violet, "yeah."

For a moment, Lupin just looked at her, his eyes searching hers. "Did you think of Voldemort at all when wondering what the boggart would become?" he inquired.

"...I did," Violet admitted, eyes on the remaining tea in her cup. "I thought of him, but honestly, the dementors scare me way more than he ever has."

Slowly, Professor Lupin lowered his own cup back to his desk. "That's quite impressive."

Violet blinked. "It is?"

Lupin smiled gently. "It tells me that what you fear most of all is fear itself. That is a very wise fear to have, Violet, especially for one still so young."

Violet honestly had no idea how to answer that, and didn't have the chance to either, because there was a knock on the door before she could even open her mouth. Professor Snape was the one to enter the room, a goblet (which was smoking for some reason) in his hands. His dark eyes lingered on Violet as he approached, but when he spoke, it was to Lupin, informing him to drink the potion in the goblet immediately and that he would need to take more again tomorrow. Lupin thanked Snape and with an incline of his head, Snape left the room.

Though curious, Violet didn't ask about the potion and just watched as Lupin drank it down with a shudder of disgust. She couldn't blame him. Most potions were awfully nasty.

"Well," said Lupin, setting the empty, but still smoking goblet down. "Your friends should be returning any moment now. I'm sure they'll have much to tell you about their trip to the village." He smiled. "You should join me for tea again sometime."

Violet nodded, smiling herself. "I'd like that," she replied truthfully. She wasn't sure what it was about the man, but talking to him like this felt bizarrely natural. Still, she dismissed herself, leaving the office and making her way back down to the dungeon common room where she was soon joined by Theodore, who promptly dropped some very large chocolate bars on her lap.

"You like chocolate, right?" he said, squeezing into the armchair with her. "Honeydukes-the sweet shop, only recently started selling some new flavours. I thought you might like to try them."

Violet laughed, splaying the bars out like a deck of cards as she examined them. "Ha, thanks Theo. I can't wait to taste them."

They spent the rest of the time before the Halloween feast discussing where the boy had gone in the village and what he had done, and then made their way down to the Great Hall with everyone else, a number of sixth and seventh years, Flint in the lead, walking directly behind them.

The feast itself was just that, a feast, and passed without incident, with seemingly everyone enjoying themselves. Violet listened to those around her all talk about Hogsmeade while she ate, and hoped she'd have the chance to go next year. Perhaps she would talk to Professor Snape about it. Maybe he would know of some way the Matron could sign the permission slip without figuring out what exactly it was for...

Not long later, after everyone had returned to their common rooms, Violet had only just entered her room when she was startled suddenly by the sound of knocking on her door. When she opened it, she found she wasn't the only one who'd been disturbed, the other girls in her year standing in their own doorways as well, all of them looking just as confused as she felt. They could all hear some sort of commotion in the common room and before anyone knew what was happening, they (along with all the other Slytherins) were being shepherded back to the Great Hall, even though they'd only left from barely twenty minutes ago.

And the Snakes weren't the only ones. As soon as they got out of the dungeons, they realized all the other Houses were here too, everyone being sent back to the Hall. The professors were all there as well, trying to get everyone to fall silent.

They didn't receive much of an explanation to what was going on. The Headmaster told them a search of the castle needed to be conducted and for their safety, wanted them all to remain in the Great Hall until told otherwise. Then he moved the House Tables out of the way, summoned sleeping bags for everyone, and that seemed to be that.

But even as everyone chose a sleeping bag and settled down, the story began to spread throughout the Hall, being told by the Gryffindors, and it didn't take long for everyone, Violet included, to hear what happened.

Sirius Black had not only entered the castle, but had attacked the painting that stood outside Gryffindor's common room. Peeves had seen him himself, and it didn't sound like he was playing a prank this time.

In a corner together (Flint not too far away), Violet and Theodore exchanged a glance, no doubt thinking the same thing. It was alarming enough that Black had been able to get into the castle (though Violet honestly wasn't too surprised by it), but the fact that he'd tried to get into the Gryffindor common room proved he really was after Rose, right?

Professor Snape was clearly thinking the same thing, as Violet found out some hours later in the middle of the night when the man paused nearby to inform Dumbledore on how the search was going. No one had been able to find Black, though the Headmaster hadn't expected otherwise.

"Then you have no doubt that Black is after Potter-Rose Potter, rather?" Snape said quietly.

"It is Gryffindor Tower that he attempted to get into."

"And what of her twin?"

"Will Black go after Violet as well? It's difficult to say. We can't be sure of anything just yet, Severus."

But he wasn't denying it, Violet, listening closely, realized. Which made it a possibility, didn't it? Black had probably chosen to go after Rose first because he knew where her common room was, since he'd been in Gryffindor himself, and it was Rose who was his goddaughter. But where exactly did that leave Violet? How much danger was she in when it came to this man?

That's it for now. Looking forward to reviews! Laterz!