Violine Thomas | First year | Gryffindor

House: Gryffindor
School Year: First Year
Birthday: October 27^th

As her mother was a librarian, Violine grew up with books and she began to read before she started to speak. Or at least, it is what Violine loves to recount, when others ask her about her childhood. The truth is not as extravagant: she started reading on her own at a very young age, but that does not make her a particularly gifted child. Don’t be mistaken, she is clever, and she has a very vivid imagination. Let’s say that she could use it in other ways.

Violine’s life started with the alphabet. It is one of her first memories: she was sitting on her mother’s lap, and letters were flying in front of her eyes. Alicia had invented a little story to help her daughter recognise and learn the letters and it was fun and interesting and mysterious and would open a wonderful world of adventures, for her eyes to decipher.

It could, and should have been, only a detail of her small existence, but letters appeared to be very decisive. And Violine started learning the alphabet of her life at too young an age.

"to cease to be, to pass out of existence or notice."

Dear Mrs Thomas,

I am writing to you on behalf of the Department of International Magical Cooperation and regret that I must inform you of the disappearance of your husband, Joshua Thomas. I extend to you and your family the deepest sympathies of our entire department for your loss.

Your husband disappeared on February 7th. He was last seen on this day, in the company of his research colleague Jean Oldman, as they were on their way to meet the Yukultji nomadic tribe, in the heart of the Gibson Desert in Western Australia.

Contacting him has been unsuccessful since this date, and the Yukultji tribe is nowhere to be found.
In order to ensure that all of your questions are answered, please feel free to contact Alan Williams or Jodie Collins at the Australian Ministry of Magic.

In the name of the Department of International Magical Cooperation, we extend to you our sincere support and ask you to accept our expression of profound respect.

Sincerely,
Edward Scot,
Lead Liaison Minister

When her mother received this letter, Violine was dealing with an ordeal of her own. She just couldn’t grab that book, and it was driving her insane. She was four and a half and she was no more than ninety-five centimetres. Which was seven centimetres too small, arms raised, to reach THE shelf, on which was her target: two very shiny books. Violine’s face turned red and she started whining (or uttering some smart spells, as she likes to say, although it’s far from true) and every book in the book shop started to fly above her head. Or at least that’s what Violine likes to tell. Her mother, who arrived at this very moment, would qualify the story, saying the shelf magically ejected a few books which levitated for a moment before falling on the ground. But Alicia had just read the terrible letter, and she was already quite different.

"mental illness especially limited in expression to one idea or area of thought; excessive concentration on a single object of idea."

The next few months were blurry. Violine went to live for a while with her father’s parents, as her mother was an orphan. She did not realise what the letter implied, what it meant. When someone disappears, he ends up reappearing one day or the other, or the word “reappear” would not exist at all. Her mother thought the exact same thing, but whereas Violine’s only strategy was to wait, Alicia decided to develop monomania, but to each his own, right?

When Alicia came back from Australia, Violine moved back to the bookshop. But from this point, she felt like both of her parents had disappeared: her mother was like a ghost, barely eating or drinking, going through her father’s journals, over and over again, reading his notes until she knew them by heart, trying to find clues where there were only ink spots… And crying. Sometimes, she seemed to remember she had a daughter, and she hugged Violine, told her everything would be okay and made a great dinner and apologised. Most of the time, Violine had to take care of her own little self, feeding herself with toasts and peanut butter, and some dishes some loyal customers brought them.

In the end, a loyal customer, and friend of Alicia, warned the magical social services. Alicia earned a short stay in St Mungo’s Hospital, the first one out of many more to come, and Violine went to her grandparents again. This would be the last time, as they would die shortly after Alicia went out of the hospital.

"a situation in which for a period of time a child lives with and is cared for by people who are not the child’s parents."

The second time, the same customer brought Alicia to St Mungo and took care of Violine for a few days, until social services found her a good home to stay. The first foster family was actually not that bad: the parents were very gentle and caring and they had two small kids, just a few years younger than Violine. Although she spent most of her time reading, she sometimes played with the other kids, which was nice. Her favourite time was dinner: she would appreciate every mouthful, eating slowly and carefully, as if it was her last meal. She would never waste any of it, and her foster parents thought she was very well-mannered.

When Violine went to live back with her mother, she told her everything: how she had played with her foster brothers and sisters, how well she had eaten and what books she had read, and the places she had been to. Alicia listened to her intently, and she felt happy and ashamed at the same time. The next few days, she tried to pull herself together and she cooked delicious meals and cakes, she took Violine to museums and parks, and they were cheerful. But she soon started to fade again and returned to her delusions.

"to make an untrue statement, with intent to deceive; to create a false or misleading impression."

And this cycle repeated over and over again. And Violine started lying. At first, she wanted to try comforting her mother: if she didn’t say how happy she was with her foster family, her mother would not feel guilty anymore. So she recounted how bored she had been, how dull the family was and how happy she was that her mother was out again. But of course, Alicia felt guilty to let her daughter in such a despicable family. Violine tried harder and harder, trying everything, but nothing seemed to make her mother better when she was out.

She started telling lies to her foster families too: she got tired of introducing herself again and again, and tried embellishing her story, or sometimes making it worse. She created herself brothers and sisters, a long-forgotten twin who had been kidnapped at birth and she had met a few months sooner, before he died suddenly of a rare disease… She would make friends in the neighbourhoods where she stayed and once or twice she ran away with them to do some silly things or just mess about.

On her file, she went from “well-mannered” to “restless” and “out of control”, even if she was only ten and that she had never done anything really wrong or serious. Just some stupid mischiefs.

"British School of Magic."
"desire accompanied by expectation of or belief in fulfilment."
"to make free from injury or disease: to make sound or whole; to cause an undesirable condition to be overcome."

When Violine received her letter of acceptance to Hogwarts, she was actually being grounded for having played as an intermediary between two friends, using love potions, ending up creating, not a love triangle, but a love octagon. Nothing really tragic, but enough to get on the parents’ nerves, as they were not prepared to deal with their children’s heartaches.

At first, it was set that she would go to Diagon Alley with her foster family, but to everyone’s relief, she ended up going with her mother. Alicia had asked to go out of the hospital the day she heard the news and she had decided to enjoy her last summer with her beloved daughter. She behaved very well until it was time for them to go to King’s Cross. She shed a few tears when the train departed, but Violine hoped that her mother was on her way to recovery.

(And quick sort of physical description.)

Violine has long messy red hair, even when she tries to do something with it. It’s just as wild as her imagination. Her rather pale complexion doesn’t do justice to the countless times she spent trying to escape or playing outside with her host brothers and sisters.