sixteen. the hogsmeade disaster

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-CHAPTER SIXTEEN-
~the hogsmeade disaster~

-CHAPTER SIXTEEN-~the hogsmeade disaster~

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VIOLA HATED PITY. When someone peered at you like a feeble thing, something fragile, a bomb that would explode at any second if not handled with extreme caution. She hated the careful wording and tiptoeing around conversations. Pity drove her crazy more than hatred ever could, and fogged up her brain with unrivalled chagrin.

Viola knew pity. From the barely covered looks of her parents when Edwin outdid her in some way, to the end of last year when students seemed too afraid to gaze in her direction lest she broke.

Yet pity knew and hated Viola too. It had grown up with her, remaining throughout school years as she'd had no friends, through the Triwizard Tournament and classes and the escape of Xavier. It was firmly rooted by her side; Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.

And so, as Viola sat with Harry, Hermione and Ron in the Gryffindor common room, she decided that maybe the reason she had grown so fond of them was the absence of pity in their eyes. She wasn't a small thing for them to feel bad for, not a fly trapped in a web, but an equal who had problems they wished to solve.

Harry hadn't made her tell Ron and Hermione anything she told him— he even tried to divert the topic once Ron started questioning her— but what use was there in holding it back? Her last name was printed on the cover of every edition of the day's Daily Prophet, right beside an obvious picture of her uncle and under the heading of an Azkaban breakout.

Hermione was the first to say something when Viola told them.

"Oh Viola, that's awful!"

Ron looked considerably pale as he slowly shook his head. "But does— does that mean You-Know-who broke him out too?"

"I don't get why he would," said Viola quietly. "Xavier wasn't a Death Eater, as far as I'm aware."

"Maybe he broke him out because he has some kind of connection to you," suggested Ron darkly.

Viola could do nothing to stop the frown that tugged at her features, but Hermione seemed to notice and whacked Ron's knee with a reprimanding look.

Harry jumped in when Ron looked ready to start an argument. "So Xavier wasn't a Death Eater because he and your dad hated each other?"

Viola nodded. "I always assumed it was because Xavier killed their parents, but... I was never allowed to ask about it. My father would always send me to my room if I did."

"Do you know why?" asked Harry. "Why he killed them, I mean."

"No idea. I only ever heard them mentioned once when I was about nine. My parents hate talking about anything from before when Edwin was born. It took years to piece together everything I know now."

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