Pros & Cons

21. The Truth

Violet swiftly made her way to the dorms and was fortunate enough to find all three of her friends conversing in the common room. They greeted her with smiles that were overshadowed by whatever their previous conversation had been about. All of them seemed uncomfortable and their eyes shifted between themselves and Violet awkwardly.

The image before her was ominous; the light from licks of flames lit half of their face and cast shadows over the other half.

"Can I talk to you?" she asked, glancing at between them.

Harry stood from his chair and started to grab some textbooks he'd tossed beside him "Of course, we'll leave you"

Violet quickly caught his arm and prevented him from stepping further "No. All of you"

She wasn't surprised Harry had been mistaken. The three of them had become much more reserved in the past few weeks. Talking in hurried whispers with nervous eyes darting around, making sure no one was eavesdropping. Violet didn't mind all that much as she had to deal with her own stuff. Having the trio distracted was actually more to her benefit.

"Right. What do you need?"

"Could we go to the dorm? This is––private" she'd rehearsed what she wanted to say a million times over in her head, but now her confidence faltered and her voice cracked.

They followed Violet up to her and Hermione's dorm. When they were inside she cast a muffliato and added several locking charms.

"You haven't brought us here to kill us have you?" Ron chuckled at the excessive precautions Violet took. She didn't respond and moved past them as they lingered in the center of the room. She perched on the edge of her bed, Hermione sat beside her and intertwined their fingers.

"Whatever it is you can tell us. We're your best friends"

Hermione's statement felt somewhat hollow. The term 'best friends' seemed to be casually flung within the group and Violet often wondered if they truly meant it. There was no doubting the bond between the three but she wasn't sure if the same unwavering loyalty was extended to her.

"I've been lying to you––but it's not what you think" She took a deep inhale as she ordered the words inside her head. This had to be perfectly worded or they might misunderstand. "I'm not muggleborn, I'm a pureblood"

Harry's mouth fell open but he caught himself and shut it promptly. Hermione's grip on her hand tightened as she was already aware of this information and started to understand where the talk was going. Ron huffed out a confused laugh and his brows furrowed.

"That's impossible. If you were a pureblood my family would know you. You'd either be part of the Sacred 28 or you'd be a known outcast. Plus, there's no pureblood families with the name Gardner."

"Not in this country, Ron. Gardner is my mother's maiden name––I believe it holds Irish roots but I'm not entirely sure. I know my fathers side was excluded from the Sacred 28 due to a muggle marriage, some distant relative bearing my fathers name. They never procreated keeping our lineage that of a pureblood"

She waited a moment for the shock on their faces to subside and one of them to break the deafening silence.

"Why did you lie?" Harry said as he mentally tried to puzzle together Violet's heritage.

"I didn't––It wasn't a conscious choice. When I joined Hogwarts my mother told me to take her maiden name, it wasn't well known and could easily be mistaken for a muggle surname. She thought it would spare me some harassment"

"Why would you be harassed? What's your name Violet" Ron's voice was harsh but his eyes were worse. She could feel them pricking at her temples.

Harry gave him a shove on the shoulder and crouched in front of Violet. He took her free hand and squeezed it tight. "It's okay. You can tell us anything"