Violet sat stunned for a minute at Claudine's last statement. Oh Merlin, was she going to have to be the older kid looking out for the younger ones now? At seventeen, she was afraid so. How had this happened so fast?!? (She would have been even more stunned to know that Claudine considered her sweet, which no one else ever had, and which she probably was not.) "Uh, yes, sure," she muttered in reply. "Sure, I'll write. And I just wanted to thank you before you left, for encouraging me to draw. I had stopped doing art because people had told me I wasn't any good at it, but I like to, and ever since that day in the Butterfly Garden, I draw and stuff all the time. I'm still not much good at it, but I like to do it." It was a big step for Violet to embark on something that she wasn't good at.

Violet turned to Darius and realized in surprise that she had no idea what she was doing this summer. This was the first year since she'd been back that hadn't ended in some sort of disaster that sent her or someone else to the hospital. "You know, I really don't know," she replied. "I don't really want to just sit around the house this summer, either." For a change. "But hey, maybe something exciting will turn up.: She made an attempt at an amusing smile, and hoped she didn't look ridiculous.

Violet stared over Claudine's head at the sudden appearance of Ashley at her table. Hadn't she just said good bye to her? But no, she had come to say goodbye to Claudine, and...to give her something. Bother, why hadn't Violet thought of doing that?! And now Ash was openly crying, bringing all those disorganized Ravenclaw feels over to the Slytherin table.