A Darker Shade of Magic

V

Time: End of Violet's Third Year, When She is Sixteen

Violet hurried down the mostly deserted corridors leading to the Great Hall for breakfast, trying to adjust her messy, slightly wrinkled golden and scarlet robes, patting down her damp raven hair, still wet from her morning shower, that was sticking up in all directions in an uncontrollable manner, eerily reminiscent of Madam Hooch. She didn't stop as she would usually do, to glance out of the long, medieval windows that lined the stone walls, looking out on the castle grounds and admiring the soft emerald grass, or listening to the sound of the cheerfully chirping morning birds or the breeze in the branches of the oaks, nor did she bathe in the soft golden sunshine that kissed her lightly tanned skin, so warm and inviting in the slightly chilly northern morning. She didn't look at the dark, gloomy forest in wonder, nor did she look out at the grand, majestic Quidditch Pitch that looked so ethereal in the Scottish morning, like it had been possessed by the spirit of the Roman Colosseum, with its stone pillars and pavilions, the soaring flags fluttering in the wind and the tall, gleaming hoops peeking out from behind the stone.

Nope, not this time- Violet didn't lose herself to her light-headed Gryffindor nature to live in the moment, not when her heart was pounding painfully in her chest and she felt unsure on her feet, with a growing sense of dread gnawing at the edges of the consciousness, telling her to crawl back to Gryffindor tower and hide in her bed in the third year Gryffindor girls dorm till afternoon.

Her shoes were sharp on the cold stone floors of Hogwarts as she hurried as much as she could without sprinting outright, forcing herself forward and ignoring the few students, mostly of the bronze and navy of Ravenclaw, still lingering in the corridors, whispering to each other in low hushed voices, forming small groups of twos and threes as they went over books and several feet of manuscripts.

As if they hadn't done that enough. Fucking nerds- cowards and show-offs, the lot of them in Ravenclaw.

Violet resisted the urge to scoff as she brought out her faithful unicorn feather wand, tapping her wrist softly as she cast a silent Tempus to check the time.

Fuck, she was late for breakfast.

Not her fault, though, she mused as she forced her half-asleep self to move even faster, to the point that she was sure she looked comical to any onlooker. It wasn't as if she had overslept, or had stayed in bed for too long, or had forgotten herself contemplating life in the shower.

Nope.

She had been doing some last-minute revision since she had woken up uncharacteristically early, from nervousness or anticipation, she didn't know, going over all her notes and short summaries of all the chapters in their syllabus, one last time, going over all the short exercises she had been forced to do in class and trying to cram her short term memory with all the different terms and charts and obscure translations that she could never hope to comprehend in a hundred lifetimes.

Today was the last exam of the year, to signal the end of Violet's third, blissful year at Hogwarts. And today was Ancient Runes, the toughest subject of them all, at least to her. She just hoped she wouldn't blow herself up during the test by confusing one rune with the other- now, that would just be embarrassing.

Violet sighed, resisting the urge to stretch out in public to get rid of all the kinks accumulated in her bones from the two hours she had spent studying that morning, as she turned the corner, climbing down a flight of stairs, making sure to skip the sixth step. That one was the one that always gave way beneath your feet, only to repair itself the next moment, lying in wait for the next unwary person.