Violet was wondering if she should say something else or just leave the other girls alone, and if she did speak, what she should say. She was tired of everybody making polite small talk all the time, like this was just an ordinary Leaving Feast and an ordinary train ride home, and that the whole, horrible past year just hadn't happened.

Suddenly the door to the compartment opened again and Aboli Song stuck her head in and called Mamie out into the corridor to talk. Violet realized she'd never really had much chance to talk with her fellow Slytherin and former prefect, and now the older girl was graduating and leaving Hogwarts, and Violet would never get the chance. That was the way life worked, Violet mused, if you passed up chances to meet people or do things, sometimes they were gone and you'd never get that chance again. Violet decided she needed to spend less time evaluating things and more time doing them. Maybe--she was a Slytherin, after all, she couldn't help holding back and planning before making her move.

In the meantime, Violet looked down at the Chocolate Frogs Aboli had thrown to them--as a consolation prize, maybe? Nevertheless, it was a nice one, and besides, Violet had always heard that chocolate was very good for your nerves. And it had been a long time since she'd had any. She meditatively opened one, caught the frog before it could hop away, and bit off its head.