"Come on, what harm could it do?" Harmony wheedled. "It'll be fun, I promise."

Harmony was a sweet friend. She also frequently made many well-intentioned promises that she had a convenient habit of forgetting to follow through with.

"I appreciate the offer but I think we both know that going to a club surrounded by drunk men with grabby hands is not my idea of fun," Violet said wryly.

"What else are you going to be doing?" Harmony crossed her arms, giving her a challenging look. "Spend your night alone watching Love Island?" (A/N: So we're just going to pretend that this show aired in the 90s or whenever Harry Potter took place because I'm too lazy to look up actual trashy shows from that time.)

"No!" Read: yes. She turned around again to finish filling out the patient discharge forms, ignoring Harmony's sigh.

"Look, I'm just a little worried about you. We all are." She heard Harmony's tone soften and felt a bit guilty over her defensiveness. "You've been keeping to yourself a lot lately. More than usual," she added when Violet turned around to argue.

When she didn't say anything after a moment, Harmony jumped in again. "I know you're still not over what happened and that's ok. But it's been months. You can't just shut everyone out forever. I really think that spending some time with everyone together again is going to help but I don't want to force you into doing anything you don't want to do."

She lapsed into silence. For several moments, there was nothing but the scratches of their pens as they continued filling out paperwork.

"I'm not staying out past 12." Violet finally said.

"Of course!" Harmony was quick to reassure her, Violet noting with some relief that she generously didn't mention that most of the places they would be headed to would only be opening at around 11. She could practically feel the force of Harmony's beaming even without directly facing her.

"And no trying to get me 'open up' or whatever," she warned. "I just want to hang out with you guys normally again."

"I'll try and hold Alice back," Harmony agreed with a smile. She stood up, neatly stacking her work, and squeezed Violet's shoulder. "I'm really happy you're doing this, Vi. It'll be worth it, I know it."

As she watched Harmony leave, Violet felt another wave of guilt at seeing her friends so worried about her. Perhaps she had been a bit overly reclusive lately. Maybe Harmony and the others were right. It was time to get back to enjoying life the way she used to, Violet thought with resolve. Starting tonight.


Standing in front of her bathroom mirror, she nervously eyed the array of makeup products scattered on the counter. It had been awhile since she had tried to look nice but Violet figured her friends deserved that effort from her.

The red lipsticks were all unceremoniously rounded up and dropped into a drawer. She started with several nude eyeshadows, finishing with the faintest touch of glitter around her eyes and a soft pink on her lips. It was a look probably associated more with 'coffeeshop' than 'nightclub,' but she was happy enough with it. She picked out a simple black dress with long sleeves but with a short enough skirt to not stand out in a club. A pair of reasonably-sized heels and a small purse were added to the outfit before looking over herself one last time.

The girl in the mirror had eyes that were too large in a face that was too thin. Her dull golden blonde hair was forced into curls, her cheeks unnaturally pink.

Well, this was about as good as it was going to get.

She filled a disposable plate with some leftovers and a bowl of water as had become routine over the past five days. Feeling a bit unsteady walking in the grass with her heels, she stooped down to place the dog's dinner a bit closer to her house than the forest for once. She was about to turn around and go to meet her friends when a pair of bright grey eyes staring from the edges of the forest caught her eye.

Violet was pretty sure the dog had been coming at night to eat the food she put out for it (the large paw prints and fully cleaned plates every night were pretty good signs that it wasn't just a stray raccoon) but she hadn't actually seen it since that first night it came to her yard. And even then she hadn't been outside alone with it.

One of Violet's more unfortunate traits was that she had never been particularly good under stressful situations. And so her brain nearly shut down as she and the dog stared at each other.

Oh Merlin, she thought faintly. Was she supposed to stare it down in a sign of dominance or was she supposed to forgo eye contact altogether to show that she wasn't a threat? The wilderness was not Violet's forte. Even if that wilderness just involved her backyard and a stray dog.

The second ticked by painfully. The only sound she could hear past her pounding heart and shallow breathing was the deep pants coming from the large animal not 20 feet from her.

The dog reached out a paw to step forward. Violet tensed up even more, which she didn't think was possible.

A pounding on her front door had her choke on a breath. The dog froze and silently retreated his paw.

"Vi?" She heard Alice call out. "Are you ready yet?"

"Coming," she wheezed out. Ok, Alice probably didn't hear that.

Violet took a shaky step back. Since she was in heels, her ankle rolled and she nearly fell over completely, instead landing on the side of her foot. Naturally.

Shuffling backwards inch by inch, she made it to her back door. Unwilling to turn her back on the dog still waiting in the shadows, she fumbled around for the door handle before finally making it inside.

"Violet?" That was Harmony. "Is everything ok?"

After making sure she locked the back door, she quickly went to meet her friends.

"I'm here!" She pasted on a smile. "Sorry, I was just finishing my makeup."

Alice, who was dressed in a short glittery number with neon pink eyeshadow and wild bouncy curls, gave her a dubious look but didn't say anything. Harmony's friendly smile stayed in place but her eyes widened.

"You look great," Harmony reassured her. "But, um, do you maybe want to try using a lipstick that's a bit brighter maybe?"

"Ooo, I have a new shade here that would look great on you-" Alice spoke up excitedly.

"Hey, woah, Violet doesn't need to change." Matt said easily, the only one unruffled by her shaking appearance. "We're just happy to see her, right everyone? Shall we head out?"

"Yes, of course," Violet said quickly, thankful that Matt was there to prevent Alice and Harmony from overwhelming her. The other two mumbled their agreement, looking a bit embarrassed.

"Sorry about that." Alice was apologetic as they walked to Matt's car. "I just wanted to help you get ready, like we usually all do together. But you do look good, you know."

"Thanks. I just want to get out a bit with everyone again. " she said, looking at the woods around her house and seeing absolutely nothing. Somehow, that made her more nervous to leave.