AU

19. Violet

Language, talking about crushes.

"I have a crush on Draco Malfoy."

I froze. Blaise and I made eye contact.
"You mean you really haven't been together this whole time?" I asked slowly. Harrison fixed me with a look.
"No." He said.
"Do you want to date him?" Blaise asked.
"I can't." Was the reply.
"But do you want to?" Blaise pressed on. Harrison was quiet. He fidgeted before sighing.
"Yes. I do."
"But he can't because of where we're from." I told Blaise.
"That does complicate things a bit."
I nodded and turned to face Harrison who was hunched over with his head in his hands. I scooted closer and laid my head on the back of his shoulder.
"I don't want to go home." he said.
"But you want to be with the Draco Malfoy you know." I finished the thought for him.
"Yes." He replied.
"You know," Blaise said. "This "being from another world" thing is really unfortunate, because Draco told Theo and I that he likes you too."
"Goddamnnit." Was all Harrison had to say to that.
Which, I thought, was fair.
-
Blaise, Harrison, and I walked down to the Great Hall at dinner time and took our seats by Draco, Theo, Crabbe, and Goyle. Across from me, beside Pansy, Hazel leaned in close.
"The muggleborns have been acting strange." She told me.
"Don't they always?" I asked. But I did notice the large number of muggleborn students bouncing around the room. They seemed antsy, like something was going to happen. Some sent looks at each other. There was some giggling from the younger students.
With a sigh, I stood up and walked over to the Hufflepuff table, clapping my hand on the back of a girl with a long red braid. She glanced back with a nervous look and attempted a watery smile.
"Hello?" She asked. Her voice was gentle and soft.
"What's going on?"
"I, uh... what?" She asked, confusion sparking in her eyes. I rolled my eyes.
"Why is everyone acting so weird?" I, of course, didn't mean everyone. It was an exaggeration.
"The purebloods have started using muggleborns as practice for charms. We're protesting." Said a girl with dark cropped hair.
"Ah." I said. I nodded and went back to my table.
"They're protesting being used for practice. Which explains the song choice, given that no one actually listens to that anymore." I explained to the boys plus Pansy and Hazel.
Draco and the other purebloods around us looked uncomfortable, but I didn't say anything. I was perfectly happy letting the muggleborns dish out their own punishments for the purebloods.
After dinner, I followed Pansy and Hazel in the direction of the dorms.
"Oh!" Hazel stopped in her tracks, staring down a hallway to our left. I peeked around the corner. Clara and several other girls were crowded around a kid who sniffed, eyes filled with tears. Their blonde hair was shaved on both sides but left choppy and chin-length in the middle.
Hazel and I made eye contact when Pansy scoffed. I stepped forward.
"Nearly curfew." I said casually. Clara looked up.
"Violet!" She greeted, far more cheerfully than should be appropriate.
The other girls looked wary or glared at me. The kid who was surrounded wiped their eyes and looked up at me. I shook my head with a sigh and plopped down on the stone bench they were all perched on.
"Violet Prince." I introduced myself to the blonde kid.
"Lex." They said.
"What's up?" I asked.
"It's nothing." The kid said quickly, standing up. I raised my eyebrows.
"Are you not able to go back to the dorms?" I asked.
"How'd you know?" Lex asked me, suddenly frozen in their steps.
"It happens. Non-binary people aren't girls or boys and so they can't be in the girls or boys dorms." I said. "Follow me." I told the group and stood, not checking to see if they followed before taking off in the direction of McGonagall's office.
I arrived with Lex, Clara, and a few of the girls that were there. Some of them must have gone back to their dorms.
McGonagall's door was open and I knocked on it. The professor looked up from her grading.
"Miss. Prince! Come in." She said, moving the parchment to the side. I stepped inside the room with the others.
"Professor, Lex here is non-binary and hasn't been able to get back into the girls dorms." I announced.
"Oh, of course not." McGonagall said. "There are gender-neutral dorms on the second floor. Follow me." McGonagall lead the group out. I hung back. There was a slight ringing in my ears and I winced. I dug the book out of my bag. It wasn't smart to carry it with me, but it was less smart to leave it in the dorms. The words had changed.
Now.
My eyes widened. Whatever it had been telling me about was happening now. I stuffed it back in my bag and took off in a sprint toward the Slytherin dorms. I all but shouted the password and burst in.
"Harrison!" All noise stopped when I shouted and Harrison stood from his spot on the couch.
"Violet?"
"Come on!" I stumbled backward, motioning for him to follow.
"But- wait, what about curfew?" He asked.
"Fuck that!" And I ran again.
I didn't know where I was going exactly, but my feet seemed to know. Harrison followed me up several flights of stairs before we caught Clara on her way into the Gryffindor common room. I surged forward and caught slid into the open portrait hold before it shut, Harrison barely making it. Everyone stared and Clara stopped and turned.
"Violet? Harrison?" She asked.
"Get Snape. And Dumbledore. We're going home!" I announced.
"But, we can't!" Clara protested.
"I'm sorry about your friends, but if I have to deal with one more bullshit comment from my Not-Father about what a disappointment I am, or one more muggleborns-are-shit comment from a Slytherin, I'm going to commit a felony." I told her. The book began to glow in my hands.
"Wrap up your goodbyes, Potter." I turned on my heel and left the room, Harrison in tow.
"Are we really going home?" He asked me. I nodded. "But... what if Clara and I don't want to?"
I looked at him.
"Harrison, if we don't go home, who knows what horrible things will happen to us." I said.
"What if you went home and we stayed?" He asked then.
"Space time continuum stuff, I think. It could break the universe." I replied. "I know it sucks, but there's already a Harry here."
"Poor Clara."
"Yeah." I couldn't disagree with that. The poor girl barely got a taste of freedom and now we had to rip it away from her.
Clara emerged from the portrait hole, eyes red and cheeks tear streaked.
"I'm sorry, Clara." I said quietly.
"Shut up." She said angrily. I looked away. I began walking aimlessly again, led simply by instinct. Harrison and Clara ran off the get the professors I'd asked for and we met outside near the forest.
"You're going back?" Dumbledore asked. He'd brought McGonagall. I nodded.
"How?" McGonagall asked.
"I don't know yet." I said.
The book flew from my hands. It floated above our heads for a moment before flashing brilliantly. Two people appeared, translucent and floating a few inches above the ground.
The girl had long hair floating around her as if she was underwater and she had pointed ears. Her lips turned up at the corners and her nose was curved upward just slightly.
The boy had jaw-length hair that also floated. He was lanky and taller than the girl. He had tall horns that protruded from his forehead and curved up above his head.
"I am Soleil and this is Aster." The girl said, her voice a loud whisper. "We apologize for the inconvenience and are here to explain."
"When each of you was hot with a particularly powerful or dangerous spell or potion, you should have died. However, there was a wrinkle in the lining in space and you were instead taken to a new world." The boy said.
"You will now be returned to your world, with compensation for your time." The girl continued.
"Please take any questions you have to the book you carry." The boy told us.
"Do not fear the loss of any friends you've made, you will not be punished for something you cannot control." Soleil said. They both turned to the professors.
"Thank you for keeping an eye on them." Aster said.
The professors, in shock from the appearance of these two being, only nodded. Then the book flashed again.
"Goodbye, Violet Snape, Harrison Potter, Clara Potter."
Another flash. I felt my feet leave the ground. Then, nothing.

1477 words
8/9/20

So I almost didn't get it done again. I came out to my sister last night and she was really supportive and so we started watching Good Omens together because she wanted to see it and I have it on DVD. We only have like three more chapters. I didn't know I would finish it so soon until I realized it just felt right. I know parts of this are unfinished. But that's life. You never really know the answer to some things and you have to live wondering what it meant. I'll get on the next chapter. See you next week!