When Violet saw the condition of the Common Room, she immediately ran to her dorm to check, and found everything had been ransacked. Even her magpie, Mack, was gone, the only thing remaining being a lone black feather on her bed. She felt a tear forming in one eye--she had just found her pet again last spring, after thinking he was gone forever, and now he was gone again. She only hoped he had done a bunk and left the castle, and not been harmed by those goons.

As she walked back to the Common Room, she furtively patted the small bulge in one pocket of her robes--thank heavens she had brought her journal with her! She had miniaturized it with a spell when the Feast was getting started so that she could store it out of the way and it was still there--at least they hadn't bothered to frisk the students--not yet. What should she do with it? She had always kept journals since she was little, and wrote nothing but the truth in them, as Miss Howard had always adivsed her, but now the truth could be dangerous. But hiding it in the forms was obviously not safe. She felt comforted to have it there with her, but she also felt as if she were carrying a time-bomb in her pocket.

She wanted to talk with someone about what was happening, but looking around the Common Room, it struck her that now she wasn't sure who to trust. She inwardly cursed her social awkwardness and the fact that she'd so far failed to form any close friendships. Now she felt really and truly alone, because she was afraid to speak her mind to anyone, not ever her classmates.