Hindsight - Fred Weasley

Chapter 5

The next morning, Violet sent a letter to Fred and George as promised, before inviting Tonks to her house to spend Christmas with herself and her mother. Tonks agreed gratefully, and the two made their way to Hogsmeade chatting excitedly about their adventure last night. The fear and effects from the dementors had worn off now, and the girls couldn't wait to tell the group that they had found a vault.

The snow had fallen again during the night, blanketing Hogwarts and Hogsmeade in a glistening coat of snow. Violet loved how it would crunch under her feet. She found herself wishing Fred and George were here so they could have a good snowball fight. She had learnt a charm to make a snowman chase it's builder as well, and couldn't wait to prank the twins with it.

The day, like the rest of the holiday, went by fast. Sybill had been overjoyed that Violet had brought a friend home, she particularly liked Tonks as she had covered a few of her lessons in the past and always found her a lovely girl with a brilliant wit.

They enjoyed a Christmas lunch prepared by Sybill, followed by a treacle tart with custard. Violet had always hated Christmas cake, so they always had a treacle tart instead. Afterwards, Sybill gifted Violet with a beautiful hardback spell book on ancient runes along with a delicate silver watch. Violet thanked her mother gratefully, putting the dainty watch on her wrist. Violet had gotten her mother a salt lamp, which she knew her mother had been wanting for a while. Sybill was delighted, and cast lumos on it instantaneously before placing it gently in the middle of the kitchen table to "spread the healing energies around the cottage".

Tonks had bought Violet a pair of earrings, they were small dangly golden snitches and Violet put them in straight away, the gold complimenting her green eyes. She thanked Tonks incessantly throughout the rest of the day for such a kind gift.

Violet had gotten Tonks a necklace with a heart tag on it, with the word "sister" engraved on it. When Tonks opened the package, her eyes glossed over and a smile emerged on her lips. She had grown up an only child, as Violet had, and loved the connection the two of them had gotten in the short months they'd known one another. When the events unfolded in the secret crypt, Tonks and Violet had realised just how far they'd go to protect one another. Violet helped Tonks to put the necklace on, and Tonks thanked her with a sheepish smile.

At 5pm sharp, Sybill had fallen to sleep after having 8 too many glasses of fire whisky and lemonade, Violet assisted her mother from the sofa to her bed and tucked her in tightly, placing a soft kiss on her forehead.

"Does she do that a lot?" Tonks asks, after a couple minute silence upon Violet's return to the lounge. Violet's cheeks blushed as she chewed on her thumbnail, tearing off the tip.

"I guess, yeah." She said, sounding slightly defeated. "It's okay though! It's her visions, she drinks to dull them down but the drink sends her to sleep." She added, seeing the pity in Tonks' eyes.

"I understand Vi, I mean my family aren't saints, I'm not one to judge." Tonks reassured the girl, placing her hand on top of Violet's. "Does she drink often then?" Tonks asked,

"She does, she's normally in bed by 6 these days." Violet added with a small chuckle, trying to lighten the conversation. Tonks sighed, squeezing Violet's hand.

"Well I think you're really sweet to look after her like you do." Tonks told her. The room fell silent for a little while longer.

"You know, it's not all bad." Violet said quietly, a devilish grin spreading across her lips. "When she falls asleep, I get to finish her Fire whiskey."

"Violet!" Tonks gasped, "You're 11 years old you shouldn't be drinking Fire whiskey!"

Violet fell into fits of laughter as she raised the quarter full bottle to her lips and takes a swig. Her face doesn't grimace at all as she swallows the mouthful of whiskey.

"And I also shouldn't be putting my own mother to bed as 6pm every night. When life gives you lemons, make lemonade." Violet said, handing the bottle to Tonks. Everything in Tonks' body wanted to tell Violet off for drinking the alcohol so young, and lecture her on the damage it could do to a growing girl. Instead, she raised the bottle to her lips and took a large swig herself. Violet had trusted Tonks with a secret she had never trusted anyone with before, and Tonks didn't want to betray the young girls trust.

The girls spent the rest of the day chatting, giggling and watching muggle Christmas rom-coms on Sybill's battered old television. In the evening, they went for a walk in Hogsmeade through the snow before returning to the house to play some wizards chess with mugs of hot chocolate.

At 11pm, as the girls were beginning to drift off to sleep they were awoken abruptly by a tapping on living room window. Violet rose to her feet, her head feeling fizzy from the Firewhisky her and Tonks had drank, and rushed to the window, peering out of the snow-dusted glass. A smile rushed across her lips as she saw the Weasley family's owl, Errol, and she opened the window. Giving a grateful tweet Errol hopped onto Violet's extended arm, nuzzling against her for warmth. She chuckled, untying the small package from the owls leg and placing him gently onto the side of the sofa in front of the radiating open fire. He ruffled his feathers, making himself comfortable.

"From the twins?" Tonks grinned, her cheeks flushed and eyes sleepy.

"Yes." Violet replied softly, the corner of her lips curling. She sat down on the sofa, and opened the letter attached first.

Our Dearest Violet,

We are having a miserable Christmas without you. We've begged mum since we got back to come back to Hogwarts early to see you, but no luck. Ron has been bugging us non-stop about our first term at Hogwarts, and you. He saw the moving photo of the three of us on Halloween when we dressed up as cats, and he hasn't stopped asking about you since. We think you might have a little bit of an admirer when he starts Hogwarts next year. He's been quite annoying about it really, so we've decided to send the photo to you for safe keeping. Besides, now you have something to remember us by."

Violet chuckled as she read the letter, dipping her hand into the envelope. Sure enough, there was the photo of the three of them all in black spandex body suits sporting cat ears, whiskers and tails. She giggled some more, remembering the boys faces when they realised she'd charmed real cat whiskers onto their cheeks. The photo was taken in the Gryffindor common room, which had been decorated for the Halloween party the students had organised. Violet's smaller frame was wedged between Fred and George, their arms all snaked around one another's waists and huge grins plastered across their faces, it then followed the trio as they broke into laughter. She continued reading the letter.

"Ginny's asked a lot about you too, she was disappointed that you couldn't come home with us, said she was looking forward to having another girl in the house besides mum.

We hope your Christmas has been brilliant so far. We're hoping Errol manages to get this to you before New Year, but the old croney isn't what he use to be. The first present in the small box is from us, and the second bigger present is from mum, she makes one for all of us every year as tradition.

We have something very exciting to tell you when we get back, but until then we hope you enjoy your presents.

All of our love, Gred and Feorge.

P.s. that's our names now, mum gave us presents with the wrong initials on and we're running with it.

Violet rolled her eyes playfully, folding the letter back up and placing it gently in its envelope. She first unwrapped her present from Fred and George, or Gred and Feorge as they now claimed. The small box inside of the crimson wrapping paper held a silver necklace with a heart shaped locket in it. Her breathing hitched a little as she opened it, seeing hers, Fred's and George's photos inside. She wondered how the twins could have afforded something like this, she knew their family didn't have much money and the twins themselves were only 11.

"I guess they can be sweet, when they're not being little assholes." Tonks smiled, as Violet put her necklace on.

"They're always sweet to me." Violet replied, admiring the gift in her reflection on the dark window. She then opened her second gift, a beautiful emerald coloured knitted jumper from Mrs Weasley with the letter V embroidered in white across it.

Violet was taken back by the amount of effort Mrs Weasley had put into a gift for a girl she'd never met.

Violet Trelawney went to sleep that night with a smile on her lips, and she dreamt about all of the fun she would have with her best friends when they returned.