Then I Met You [D.M.]

Year One: The Hufflepuff Entourage

Mid-April, 1992, Evening

Violet was tired of studying. The end of year exams weren't until mid-June, and yet most students had already begun studying for them, including Violet. 

She was confident she would do well on her Herbology, Transfiguration, Charms, and Defense Against the Dark Arts exams, but not so much for Potions, History of Magic, or Astronomy. Despite the study group the first-year Hufflepuffs had put together for each subject, she was struggling the most with Astronomy. She had come to learn that her school subjects would be starkly different than those in the muggle world, but why would she need to have star charts memorised? When would she ever need to know what star is where on any given night? 

Despite the growing frustration and exhaustion she, and the other students, felt, she remained in the library long after she was meant to be in bed. She never broke curfew, but she'd come dangerously close a few times. 

This night was no different. The study group for History of Magic had already departed, feeling more confused than ever after studying the dates for major events and names of historically significant wizards. 

It was nearing curfew when she finally packed up her belongings and left the library. It was a long walk from there to the Hufflepuff basement, but it was one she could make in her sleep now. 

She was used to the dark hallways, most lights having been put out to prevent students from breaking curfew, along with prefects wandering the halls. At first she'd duck her head and try to avoid the prefects, especially on nights she was nearly breaking curfew, but she'd gotten to know of them by name, so they were lenient with her being out late. They'd given her plenty of verbal warnings, though. Except for the Slytherin prefects, who remained right arses. She'd been lucky so far to not get anything worse than a verbal lashing from them, but she could tell they wanted to do worse.

The peace between her, her friends, and the Slytherins had finally seemed to break. Once she'd been seen hanging out with Harry Potter and his friends, they'd doubled down on their efforts to harass them. Draco and his two followers still left Violet alone, but that couldn't be said for the rest of the house. If a Slytherin saw Violet, they'd do whatever they could to disturb her day- jinxing her, usually, but they were quite fond of verbal harassment. And when they found out her parents were muggles? A whole new level of harassment began.

She maintained her "kill them with kindness" attitude, but it became more frequent for her to have a good cry at night, or in a bathroom stall, most days. She could handle bullies, she'd been around them her whole life, but it just felt worse somehow. It must be the use of magic, she'd determined one day. 

As she started down the last flight of steps towards the ground floor, she paused when she heard cackling. She peaked over the railing to see a group of students gathered around a boy. The ones laughing were casting spells at the boy as he lay on the floor, crying and begging them to stop. 

Violet took off down the stairs, dropping her schoolbag and pulling out her own wand. 

"That's enough!" She shouted, gaining the attention of the three boys. Slytherins, of course. And who else would be but Draco and his followers?

"You." Draco seethed, his wand now pointed at her. She glanced to the boy, a Ravenclaw first-year, and motioned for him to leave. He took off running, never looking back.

"Why can't you just leave people alone?!" She shouted, refusing to back down when Crabbe and Goyle took a step closer. Draco held up his free hand, motioning for them to back off. 

"Why can't you just mind your business, freak?" 

Before he'd even finished, she'd flicked her wand and shouted, "Flipendo!" Knocking Crabbe over. She'd meant it for Draco, but oh well.