DECEMBER 01, 2018

It's a snowy night in England. Every building in town is covered in inches of white, fresh snow. Violet is curled up in her favorite grey, plush blanket by the fireplace in her living room. She has a warm cup of fresh coffee in her hand and she's staring at the stars outside through the icy window on the other side of the room. However, not even all the warm things she has on her aren't keeping her warm enough. Violet used to love the snow back when she lived in France. She loved the way it covered Beauxbatons and made everything even more beautiful than it already is. The horse rides with her friends, early in the morning; the cold wind flushing their cheeks as they had warm, blue capes on that flowed behind them when they rode faster. Now that's all gone.

Hogwarts sent students and professors home yesterday morning for winter vacation. It brought Violet some sort of sense of relief that she doesn't have to sit alone everywhere she goes because Cressida and Thomas won't speak to her. Sure, Scorpius will greet her whenever they pass each other but he'd rather stick with the other two than lose them to go with Violet. So, being alone in her flat with a coffee in hand is all she desires at this moment. At least until her friends forgive her and talk to her again.

Violet looks away from the window and to her side when she hears her phones ringtone, muffled under her blanket. She sets her coffee aside and answers the phone, only to her an automated voice saying. "This is a collect call from the Metropolitan Police Service. To accept this call please say accept."

"Uhm- accept."

"Violet!" Theo's slurred voice shouts into the speaker. "You answered. Yay! So, I have a couple seconds to speak and I was wondering. Shh! I'm on the phone. Violet I was wondering if you can come bail us out at-" Theo hums as he stops speaking. "- Draco where are we so I can tell V-"

"Hello?" Violet shouts after Theo's sentence cuts off. She tosses her phone aside and grips her hair angrily. "These idiots!"

Violet groans angrily as she gets up from the ground with her blanket still tightly wrapped around her body. She walks into her bedroom and sets aside her blanket before opening her wardrobe and sorting through her clothes. For the cold, she grabs a fur jumper and leggings with snow boots and leg warmers. The clothes warms her up – as she puts them on – better than the pajamas she previously had on.

Once she's fully dressed, Violet adds on a beanie with gloves as she's walking towards the door. She grabs the keys to the new car she recently bought and walks out of the flat with her wand in her other hand. The walk down to the parking lot is long and tiring. It's thirty past eleven and the neighborhood is empty with thick snow everywhere besides the street where a couple of cars are passing.

Violet hugs her torso to warm herself up as she unlocks her car and quickly gets in to turn on the heater. It took her almost a month to learn how to drive this thing and this is her first time doing it alone. The worst part is she's doing it alone, on her way to bail people out of jail. With a shaky hand, she sets the car on drive and steps on the gas before going onto the street. Just getting on the street is accomplishment enough so she lets out a sigh of relief and continues driving. She's going to murder Theo when she sees him.

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As Violet arrives in the parking lot of the Metropolitan Police Service, she steps out of the car and walks out with her wallet in hand. Her wallet which is stacked with muggle money after just making a stop at a muggle bank. She angrily slams open the glass doors and walks up to the front desk where a policeman is sitting with a coffee in hand and a newspaper in the other. He looks up as Violet approaches him but he says nothing and instead looks at her with a straight face.

"I'm here to bail out two people." Violet sighs and opens her wallet on the counter. "Uhm, how much? The bail is for Theodore Nott and Draco Malfoy?"

"Ah the two drunks." The man responds with a chuckle and reaches under his desk to pull out a box with their belongings. He pulls out their wands and furrows his eyebrows at Violet. "I'm not sure what these are and I wouldn't like to find out." He sighs and slides the box to Violet. "Their bail is thirty thousand euros."

"Merde!" Violet curses under her breath as she grabs her stack of money and begins to count it, setting it into different piles on the counter. She hands the policeman the money and says, "Thirty thousand. All there."

"Follow me."

Violet closes her wallet and follows the man as he walks with a circle of keys in his hand and a cigarette in the other. Violet is holding onto the box of belongings close to her body as they walk through cells filled with people. Many who are sleeping or shouting to be let out.

They finally stop at the end of the hall and Violet sees Draco and Theo holding onto the bars of cell with their backs facing Violet. The policeman knocks on the bars with his fist and it causes both of them to turn around and smile when they see Violet and the policeman opening the door.

"You two are free to go."

"Finally!" Theo chuckles and runs towards Violet in a drunken manner before he throws his arm around her shoulders. He turns to Draco who's walking slowly and waves him over. "Hurry up Malfoy! Geez let's get out of this dump and away from these muggles!"

Violet holds onto Theo, helping him hoist himself up as they walk back towards the exit with Draco dragging his feet behind them. She's holding it together for now but inside, she's dying to scream and cry because of how upset and scared she is.

This is the first time she'll have talked to Draco since the day after her birthday. They've been ignoring each other and have been very successful at it besides the stares they give each other during Apparition class. But now, he's here with her and she's has to take him to her place because Merlin forbid Astoria finds out they called Violet instead of her. Violet has enough on her plate, the last thing she needs is an angry wife stirring up drama.

As they reach Violet's car, Violet helps Theo into the passenger's seat while Draco struggles to get into the back by himself. Theo buckles himself in while Violet goes around to get in the drivers seat. She closes the door and lets out a really loud sigh before slamming her head onto the steering wheel and crying.

"You made me drive alone!" Violet cries as she turns to Theo who's shocked and is looking at Violet like she's dying. He reaches forward and rubs her shoulder awkwardly but she just continues crying even louder. "I drove thirty minutes to come get you! Alone! I'm scared Theo! And I spent thirty fucking thousand euros to bail you two idiots out!"

"I'm sorry Violet. I just didn't know who else to call." He replies and turns to Draco who's now asleep with drool on his cheek. "I mean we're in the muggle world. I couldn't call anyone else."

"Just shut up."

Violet shushes him and starts the engine before speeding out of the parking lot in desperate need to get home. Theo's starting to sober up because he feels guilty that Violet is crying because of him and the thought of him being a fool in front of her is making the alcohol wear off. Meanwhile, Draco is still sleeping in the back, not caring about what is going on because he's too drunk to acknowledge anything.

"We were trying to find you, you know?" Theo breaks the silence and he grabs Violets shaking hand from off her lap. "The reason we got arrested in the first place is because your neighbor called the police on us. We got lost trying to find which flat was yours so we accidently knocked on hers and she got upset."

"I don't care Theo." Violet sighs and snatches her hand out of his grip. "If you knew you were going to be drinking, you could've called and asked for me to call you a cab to my place."

Again, they both stay silent and just look ahead at the icy road in front of them. Being alone in her flat was the worst for Violet but now that's all she wants. Instead, she has to deal with having two drunks in her place, one of them which she's trying to avoid because she's madly in love with him. She thought December was supposed to be better.

****************

"Come on Draco."

Violet groans as her and Theo are pulling him out of the backseat. They've arrived in the parking lot of Violets building and still Draco is blacked out, forcing Theo and Violet to carry him into the elevator because dragging someone up a flight of stairs to the top floor. That just doesn't sound right.

As they near the entrance, Violet let's go of her hold on Draco and types in the code to open the new doors the manager installed last month. It's a bit hard for Violet to get used to costume muggle tech but it's no impossible. However, she's never taken the elevator because in all honesty, she's never been in one. She and Theo continuing walking towards the metal doors of the elevator but they both awkwardly stop in front of them, furrowing their eyebrows.

Theo scratches his head and slowly turns his eyes to look at her. "Do something, make it move." He nods towards the doors but Violet does nothing.

"Well don't look at me. This is my first time using one."

"Try those things!" Theo points at the buttons in between the two different elevators.

Violet sighs and uses her empty hand to push it and they both flinch when the metal doors start to slide open. With Draco still being held up by them both, they shyly step inside and Violet looks at the many buttons in front of them. She presses the one with her floor number and the elevator jolts before beginning to move up.

"Just like magic." Violet giggles and looks around the room full of mirrors. She pulls out her phone and opens the camera, facing it to the mirror before Theo turns and they both lift up Draco to get him in the picture. "Got it!"

They both laugh and start walking out when the doors open again. Violet mumbles a spell under her breath to unlock the door and she closes it behind her with her foot as they walk inside. She picks her coffee from earlier up from the ground and removes pillows from the couch so Theo can comfortably lay Draco on there. As Theo puts a pillow under Draco's head, Violet grabs some blankets from her cabinet below her TV and lays them on Draco's body.

"Can I get you a coffee, to sober up?" Violet asks Theo in a hushed whisper as she walks towards the kitchen entrance with her old mug in hand.

"Yes, I'll go with you."

He follows Violet into the kitchen and sits at the dining table as he watches Violet put water into the French press. As the water boils, she turns and grabs her glass tower full of pastries and sets it on the table in front of Theo.

"I baked these this morning." She smiles and grabs small, porcelain plates for him to use. "Scones and biscuits. They're kind of my specialty when it comes to baking."

Theo grabs a chocolate chip biscuit and moans quietly when he bites into the soft, gooeyness. "Gosh! What is this made of? These are really good." He puts the rest in his mouth and pats his hands together to wipe the crumbs off.

"They are chocolate chip, peanut butter biscuits." Violet pours coffee into two separate mugs and brings them with her to the table. Setting one in front of Theo and the other in front of her. "My grandmother passed me the recipe for them before she passed away. I used to love going to her place and watching her bake for me."

She takes a sip of her coffee and looks around before awkwardly pushing her hair behind her ear and fiddling with her rings. Theo notices her nervousness and he puts his hand on hers, stopping her from shaking. His hand grips hers and he pulls her hand up to his lips before kissing every one of her knuckles while still staring deeply into her eyes.

Violets lips gap open and her body practically shivers at his touch. She gasps when he continues kissing the back of her hand, her wrist, and arm. Her body is fighting the thoughts in her head that are telling her to leave and stop this.

"T-Theo." Violet stutters. "I can't do this. I'm sorry."

She pulls away from him in a guilty manner, clenching her fist on her thigh as Theo clenches his jaw while staring her down. The thought that she doesn't want him makes him angry. He gives her everything and wants to give her more but even then, she wants the one who doesn't want her back. A always, Violet doesn't go for the obvious one in front of her.

Theo rubs his eyes as he speaks to Violet. "Draco, won't care. He had you and he gave you up. Choose the one who deserves you Violet!"

"Oh, and let me guess, that's you?" Violet grumbles as she gets up from the table and angrily tosses her mug in the sink behind her. "You don't like me Theo. You just like the chase. The feeling you get of me constantly rejecting you. You're a ladies man and that's not going to change. I can't be see as the evil one every time someone springs their god damn feelings on me!"

Violet leaves Theo with his jaw dropped as she storms out of the kitchen with loud footsteps, receding into the hallway. No matter what she tries to do or say, Violet always ends up as the bad person in the situation. Maybe she doesn't need to be alone in the same city as everyone she's running from. Just maybe, she needs to be with people that don't remind of her the reason she's running but instead of the reason she is who she is

As Violet walks into her room, she walks over the table by her bed and opens the top drawer. She scans the small items with tags on them, labeling their destinations and picks up the one that says France. Beauxbatons doesn't go on Christmas break. Instead, they bring Christmas to them, that's what Violet needs. She sets the portkey on the top of the table and grabs onto it before counting down and having the world start to spin in a way that makes her stomach churn.

In just seconds, Violet lands in the snow-covered pathway that leads to the front entrance of the white castle. She puts the portkey in the pocket of her coat and starts walking towards the front doors where two statue guards are, waiting for a password to walk in.

Violet approaches the statues and bows her head for courtesy before saying. "Bellefeuille est la maison pour moi."

The doors open and Violet sighs happily as she takes her coat off the second, she walks into the toasty room where hot chocolate mugs are floating for students. She takes a mug and inhales the amazing smell as she closes her eyes, letting memories of her later years sink in. As always, Beauxbatons makes Violet feel like her life is complete.

"Mon Dieu! Violet Blishen, quel spectacle pour les yeux endoloris."

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Hi! Just wanted to let you know there will be a lot of French in the next chapter because Violet is back in France. However, the sentences and words that are in French will have the translation in the comments.