Violet blushed slightly and shifted uncomfortably in her chair. She had been excited about this when she first thought of it, but now she felt strangely shy. Maybe this gift hadn't been such a good idea. But Jane had brought it up and it was too late to back down now.

"Um, well, it's just something I've been working on the past few years. They started out as individual stories, but this year I was able to bring them all out together as a book." Violet held out a small, rectangular package wrapped in dark green tissue paper and tied with a silver and bright green bow. Inside was a book bound in light grey leather with the title, Thorns and the Shadow by Violet P. Blackthorne. Inside, just behind the title page, was the dedication: To my mother, Helena Keystone Hurst, who is always in my heart.

It was a collection of all the stories Violet had written about Hogwarts during the Neo-Alliance, including her very first short story, "Lost and Never Found." Now that she had had some success publishing science fiction in the Muggle world, she had finally been able to find a wizarding publisher with the guts to publish her stories, some of which were critical of the Ministry of Magic. Violet had never thought she would be able to show them to her mother, but now she was a little afraid Helena wouldn't like them, or think they were stupid. As a girl, Violet had daydreamed about being a famous author, but right now she didn't really care if other people liked and bought her book, as long as her mother thought well of it.