Violet gave a slight smile and murmured "No...of course not..." She envied the easy camaraderie between Atlas and Remy. Of course, they were close in age. She was probably too old to be trying to strike up a conversation with Atlas. That was always how it seemed to be to Violet--either she was older or younger than the other kids she found herself among. She should never have skipped her second year, because things had been off-kilter ever since.

All those years before Hogwarts, learning about everything under the sun from Miss Howard and her uncles, but she hadn't learned how to make friends, and it showed, because she was pathetic at it. But even so, Violet was determined this year to change that, or fail trying--she would talk to everyone, join in everything, try to figure out how other people talked to each other and do a better job at it. Because Violet Blackthorne did not just quit, not at anything.