All Alone?
Chapter 5
Well, the fifth chapter, eh? Wow. I try not to take to long on my stories like some of my favorite authors do. Not being rude but I hate waiting for people to update! Ah well, I'm preoccupied with my story for now anyway. I got some ideas from the story Angels Do Have Claws. To any fans (are you out there?) if you have any ideas for the training with Remus, name some ideas of what he should teach her and describe them. Please? Thanks.
Disclaimers: Hey, J.K. never you worry! I'm not getting credit for your characters! All righty then?
Well, here I am arguing with Sirius over the bottle of firewhisky he won't let me have--
Sirius: And I'm quite right not to let you have it, young lady. Just because your dad doesn't give a damn about you doesn't mean I don't.
Cierra: Yeah, the ONE time he has to be a responsible adult, it's at my expense!
Sirius: You watch your mouth and respect your elders.
Cierra: You know? I think I liked you better when you were destroying my cieling fan!
Sirius: Bleh. Now give me that firewhiskey. You can't have any.
Cierra: (mutters swearwords under breath)
Sirius: What was that? You want me to get Loony Loopy Lupin in here? He's better with lectures than I am.
Cierra: Oh, okay. *I guess I'll have to get into it later* I mean, you're right, Sirius. I'm wayyyy too young to have firewhisky. Just don't make Loony Loopy Lupin lecture me. He always guilts me.
Sirius: I'm always right...
Lupin: Who do you think you're calling Loony Loopy Lupin?
Cierra: Oh crap... Well I'll at least spare the readers the lecture so... Here we go!!!
Chapter 5
It was almost eight o' clock in the morning in the training room. At the moment, Remus was holding a knife to Violet's throat. "You know what to do..." he said quietly.
Violet knew, all right. She raised her left arm and brought it backwards, smashing the back of her fist into Remus's nose at the same time hooking her right arm around the arm holding the knife and placed her hand on the back of her head. After he yelped in surprise when Violet smashed his face in, she grabbed his wrist with her left hand and pushed down on his elbow with her right hand while pulling her head out from his lock. Once she did, she twisted his arm behind his back and wrenched the knife from his grip and pulled him to the ground, instead holding the knife to his throat. After a second, she grinned, "Was that good?"
"Wow." He didn't know what else to say. "I know I wasn't expecting that."
Violet extended her hand and helped Remus up.
"Thanks. I think you're ready to start sword fighting and throwing knives. But, we'll have to wait to start that until tomorrow. We're gonna be late."
"Oh, by the way. Thanks for that letter and the album." Violet said softly.
"I wasn't sure whether you would like it or not." He said honestly. "I wondered if it would upset you, but I figured you'd kill me if you knew I had it and didn't show it to you."
Violet paused. "You're right. I would have." With that, she grinned and headed for the bathroom.
Once they'd gotten into the kitchen, instead of a huge breakfast waiting on the table, they saw Mrs. Weasley bustling around the kitchen, shoving toast into people's hands. "Oh, THERE you two are!" She said impatiently, shoving toast into their hands as well.. "I've been looking all over for you!"
Remus smacked himself on the forehead. "Oh, damn! I'm so sorry, Molly! I forgot all about going to Diagon Alley today!"
"Oh, never mind." she said, shoving an envelope into Violet's hand. "You've gotten your O.W.L scores! Hurry and open them, dear. We've got to go! Fred Weasley, you'd better turn your sister's hair right before we leave or I'll--"
She was drowned out by Ginny's scream when she noticed her hair turning white and falling out.
"Oh, come here, you!" She snatched up the bottle of Hair Regrowth potion and shoved it into Ginny's hand. "Well, drink it up! Don't just stand there like a bump on a log!"
Violet ripped open her scores and read in stunned silence. "No way!" she screeched. "FOURTEEN O.W.L's?!! There's got to be some kind of mistake!"
"Good job, Vi." Remus gave her a one-armed hug.
"No mistake, Violet." Ron said. "I got twelve O.W.L's."
"And I'm very, very proud of you!" Mrs. Weasley hugged him.
"How many did you get, Hermione?" Violet said, bracing herself.
Hermione tried to look modest, and failed dismally. "Seventeen."
"Seventeen?! No way!"
Mrs. Weasley tapped Violet's shoulder. "I hate to interrupt, dear, but we've got to get going." She turned back to Fred about to finish yelling at him, then sighed. "Oh, just get on to Diagon Alley then! You've got the keys to the vaults, right?"
When they nodded, she handed Fred some Floo Powder and everyone, one by one, filed into the fireplace after yelling, "Diagon Alley!"
Remus ushered Violet to the fireplace. "Go on. I'll be there in a minute. I'm Apparating."
Violet nodded, tossed her Floo Powder into the fire and yelled, "Diagon Alley!", spinning away in a whirl of green embers.
After a moment, Violet shot out of the fireplace on the corner of Diagon Alley. Ron helped her up, and she brushed herself off. Before anyone had time to gawk at Violet's scar, she headed for Flourish and Blotts to get her books, parchment, and quills. Hermione, of course, followed close behind. After picking up "Standard Book of Spells, Grade 6", "Charms for the Charming", "Advanced Transfiguration", "Advanced Potions", and "Defense Against the Dark Arts: What to do now that He's back", they wandered through the rest of the store. Hermione became absorbed in a giant Arithmancy book, but Violet was more fascinated by "So you want to be an Auror?". After flipping through several pages, she shoved it under her arm, and grabbed several more books entitled, "Train yourself: Hexes, Curses, and Countercurses", "Muggle martial arts for the magical", and "Everything you need to know about Ancient Egyptian Wizarding Life".
"Hermione, you've got to check out some of these books." Violet said, pushing one into Hermione's already loaded arms.
"Fascinating!" Hermione panted, trying not to drop all of her books. Violet grabbed an armful and looked at the titles.
"What do you need all these for?" Violet stared at "How to get people interested in a worthy cause", "Advanced Arithmancy", "A history of House-elf abuse", "Ancient Runes: Understanding them." and a few more.
"Hermione! These are about a foot thick each!" She gaped. "How are you going to carry all of these?"
"A simple shrinking spell, of course." Hermione said exasperatedly. "I see you've finally begun reading extra material."
"Yes, but mine will come to use in future."
"Excuse me, but my books will come to extreme use!" Hermione looked rather offended. "'How to get people interested in a worthy cause' and 'A history of House-elf abuse' will work wonders for S.P.E.W.! As for the rest, they're to help me in my classes."
"But, you've already read 'Hogwarts, A History' at least a dozen times! What do you need that one for?"
"That one's for you and Ron. Maybe you'll actually read it for a change!"
Violet shook her head and headed for the parchment. After picking up several rolls of ordinary parchment, as well as one that glowed in the dark (she couldn't resist), she grabbed some black quills (the case said they were raven feathers. "Excellent for the neatest, scariest handwriting!"). She then got several bottles of ink, black, blue, red, and glow in the dark.
"That will be 17 Galleons, 5 sickles, and 7 knuts." The owner of the store said, looking bored. Violet sighed, but paid. She overheard the manager say, "32 Galleons, 10 sickles." Hermione sighed, "It's a small price to pay for a worthy cause."
Violet stopped in front of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, and peeked past the crowd outside the door. Fred was demonstrating on Ron his latest invention. She laughed and headed for Florean Fortesque's Ice Cream Parlor. But something attracted her attention. It was a Muggle clothing store in the middle of Diagon Alley. She recognized the name, "Hot Topic", and entered.
She was surrounded by chains, spikes, baggy jeans, and concert tee shirts. A pretty, yet scary looking girl was sitting at the front desk reading a magazine featuring The Wierd Sisters. Violet was reminded of Tonks as she took in the girl's spiky violet hair, baggy jeans, chain wallet, tank top, and eyebrow ring. "Welcome to Hot Topic. How could I help you?"
"It's okay. I'm just looking around."
"Cool." she said, looking glad to return to her magazine.
Violet searched the store all over, finding awesome clothes at surprisingly low prices. The Muggle Hot Topic she'd been in had been unnessecarily expensive. She grabbed an armful of clothes, shoes, and accessories, and entered the dressing room. She tried on one outfit, a pair of stretchy, supertight, dirty-looking jeans that had been ripped at the knees, an enormous red West Coast Choppers shirt tucked into the jeans in the front; in the back it hung down to her hamstrings, a pair of combat boots, a bunch of black rubber bracelets, and two very dangerous looking spiky cuffs on her wrists. She looked critically at herself in the mirror and her reflection wolf whistled.
"Looking good, girl. Although you'd look good in anything." Her reflection said, spinning around and admiring herself.
As Violet started changing, her reflection added cheekily, "And I'd advise you to eat a few square meals. You're too skinny."
"Oh, shut up..." she muttered grumpily, pulling on a new outfit. This one consisted of enormous baggy black pants complete with spiky belt, a tight AFI T-shirt, huge skateboarding sneakers, a chain wallet, some more bracelets, a ball chain necklace, and a spiky choker. She looked expectantly at her reflection.
"What can I say? We look great!"
Violet pulled on a ton of other outfits, each getting praise from her reflection. "Oh what the hell?! It's cheap! I might as well get it all!" she grinned, pulling on Dudley's old jeans and a tee-shirt she'd gotten from a thrift store, and shoving all the clothes into a pile, and walking over to the counter.
"You know, you're the first customer we've had for a week." the girl said boredly. "That's why we've lowered prices so much, in hopes we'd get more customers... 83 Galleons and 5 Sickles."
Violet dug into her bag and thanked her lucky stars that she'd taken out extra from Gringotts.
She left the store, lugging several bags full of clothing, as well as her books. She headed for Florean Fortesque's, where she found Remus, Hermione, and the Weasley's waiting.
"There you are!" Hermione said, looking annoyed. "I've been looking everywhere for you!"
Ron was hiding behind her, trying furiously to get rid of several large boils on his forehead. Violet laughed. "So, is Fred and George's new invention popular?"
"Yes." Ron said grouchily. "After seeing my face everyone bought about a dozen each. And Fred and George won't give me any of the profit! They say they need it to buy a flat in London. As if. They're too busy living off Dad!"
Remus tapped Violet on the shoulder. "Good news!" he was grinning. "I got a job! One of Dumbledore's friends said Dumbledore had a word with him and he'd be happy to hire me!"
"Oh Remus, that's fantastic!" Violet said, overjoyed. Her happiness was interrupted by a conversation between a two pretty young blonde witches.
"The Daily Prophet said Sirius Black has been sighted in the Ministry of Magic!" Said the witch in blue robes.
"You're kidding!" the other, in pink robes, said. "How on earth did he get in there!"
"No one knows. Chances are, he was helping You-know-who get in... The dementors are patrolling every street within ten miles of the Ministry!"
"Oh, I hope they get him! He, of all people deserves the Kiss."
Violet didn't realize it, but she'd strode over to the table, ignoring Remus calling out warningly, "Violet..." The witches looked surprised.
"Here's an idea." Violet said, glaring at them. The girls began to look apprehensive. "How about shutting your big fat mouths, if you like your noses the shape they are, anyway. Though I can't see why you would."
They looked offended and a little intimidated. Remus grabbed Violet's shoulder and pulled her back quickly. "Sorry," he said to the girls, choosing his words carefully. "She, er, had a bad experience reguarding Sirius Black. She doesn't like anyone talking about it."
The girls were still gaping, and Violet was still trembling with rage, so Remus thought it best that they leave early. "Hey," he said, touching Hermione's shoulder. "I'm going to take her home, maybe calm her down."
"Okay," Hermione nodded.
"Come on, Violet." said Remus, both his hands on her shoulders. "Let's go."
"As soon as these bitches learn to shut their fat mouths!" Violet almost screamed in rage. The blondes were beginning to look angry as well as offended.
"Violet, come. Now!" He said sharply, pulling her towards the fireplace at the corner.
"You can't talk to us like that!" said the girl in blue robes snottily.
Violet's eyes flashed dangerously. "I'd watch myself if I were you." she hissed.
"Yes, well, unfortunately for you, you're not me. Maybe then you wouldn't be orphaned white trash." The blonde hissed with as much venom as she could get in her voice.
Violet yanked herself from Remus's loosened grip and tackled the girl to the ground, who screamed shrilly. Violet forgot playing fair and mounted the girl, straddling her stomach, and punching her as hard as she could. The other girl started slashing at Violet with her inch-long nails. Violet turned and slugged her in the stomach, causing her to drop to her knees, gasping in pain. Violet then grabbed her by the collar and swung her head back and sent it smashing into the pink-robed girl's nose. She screamed and fell backwards, and Violet continued pounding the girl in blue robes who was slapping frantically at Violet. By that time, Remus had reached Violet again, grabbed her under the arms and jerked her backwards, sending her crashing into his chest. The girls were lying on the ground, moaning and wiping blood from their faces.
"Come on!" Remus ordered, angrier than he'd been in a long time. Leaving Violet's bags with the Weasleys, he dragged her roughly through the cheering crowd and down the street towards the fireplace. "I can't believe you would act like that, Violet Lily Potter! I've never been so disappointed with you!"
Violet knew he was angry but when he said he was disappointed, she felt her face dropping from angry to upset. It hurt so much worse when he said he was disappointed.
Remus saw this sink in and his anger slowly slipped away. "Violet. I know that what she said was uncalled for, but you had no right to behave like that. Now, come on back to the Burrow and calm down." He relaxed his grip on her shoulder.
Violet hung her head slightly, and allowed him to lead her to the machine issuing Floo Powder. After putting in five knuts, Remus pulled out a bag of powder and handed it to Violet. "Just go back to the Burrow and I'll be with you in a moment."
All happiness of the day drained from her, she said quietly, "The Burrow." and later came crashing into the Weasley's kitchen. She went back into the living room and sat down on the couch, letting her sleek black hair hang in front of her face. Soon enough, she heard the crack of Remus Apparating, and felt the sofa cushion shift under his weight.
"Hey." he said softly, tilting her chin up. "Look at me, Vi."
When she finally did, he could see that her bright green eyes shone even brighter with tears. "I'm sorry, Remus." she said shakily, a sudden wave of panic coming over her. Why, she didn't know.
"I'm not angry anymore," he sighed. "I don't know what came over you. You knew much better than to attack those girls."
"They started it." she said angrily, knowing full well she sounded like an immature little girl. "If those stupid wenches hadn't shot their mouths off, I wouldn't have hit them."
"Violet, listen to me." He said a bit sharper than he intended. He felt the anger overcoming him again. "The point is, no matter what they said, you had no right whatsoever to hit anyone. I didn't teach you all that so you could attack anyone who makes you mad!"
"Well, I'm not sorry for doing it. I'd do it again, given half the chance, so screw you." She regretted saying it.
Remus stood up quickly, his eyes flashing with fury and his fists clenched. While Violet stared up at Remus, she was forced to remember the pain she'd gone through a month ago.
***"Stupid!" Violet felt another hard kick. "Worthless whore!"
"Please stop!" Yet another rib cracking.
"SHUT UP!" The baseball bat connected with the side of her head, and she spat blood onto the carpet.
"I'm sorry!" She let out another scream of pain as the whip slashed across her back like lashes of fire. "Please stop it!"
"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" she saw Vernon's foot heading for her face, felt blinding pain, and knew no more.***
Violet started trembling worse than ever. Remus was going to hurt her, she wasn't safe with him, she'd been lied to again. She forgot everything; she forgot that she could defend herself, she forgot that in her right mind, she knew that Remus would never hurt her, no matter what, she forgot everything except that Remus was standing over her looking fit to kill someone.
When she accidentally whimpered, she shut her eyes, bracing herself for the beating that was sure to come.
Remus suddenly forgot his anger when she whimpered in fear and visibly flinched. "Violet?" he said, distracted. "What's wrong? Why are you shaking?"
When he reached out to touch her arm, she yanked back so quickly it startled him. Suddenly, it began to dawn on him. "Violet, look at me, please." He said, all anger gone. His voice had changed from angry to pleading. "I'm sorry. I'm not angry with you."
"Y-you said I was safe with you!" she said, still refusing to look at him.
"You are! You have to believe me." Once again he tried to to tip her chin up, but she jerked away and nearly got whiplash. "Violet." his voice grew soft and gentle again. "I'm not going to hurt you. I promise. Everyone gets angry sometimes; it's a fact of life. You've got to believe me. I would never hurt you."
Something about his voice was comforting and convincing. In spite of her fear, she felt herself beginning to trust him. His voice wasn't fake and sweet, it was scared and pleading, yet soft and gentle. She felt a hand on her head, stroking her hair, and she slowly looked up. Remus's eyes were worried and hurt and upset and begging at the same time. His voice was still compassionate as he convinced her he wasn't ever going to hurt you. "Please, believe me, Violet." he begged.
"I believe you." She said at last, moving nervously toward him, still a bit wary. When she felt arms around her, she nearly collapsed in relief. She buried her face into his shoulder, swallowing tears that burned her eyes. *Don't cry. Be strong. You can hold it in.* she told herself.
As for Remus, he was also struggling against tears that threatened to overflow in his eyes. He felt pain, of course, but it was mostly raw guilt that drove him to tears. How could he forget just what Violet had been through. How could he be so insensitive to her feelings? Wasn't it natural that she would fear him, after what had happened the last time someone was unnaturally angry with her? He closed his eyes and a single tear slid out. He didn't bother to brush it away, praying that Violet wouldn't find out. It hurt him worse than anything to know that he'd done this to the one thing he loved more than anything else. He held her in his arms, clinging to her, until he heard the Weasleys zooming into the kitchen. They both pulled back at the same time and left the room. Violet went to the bathroom and washed her face then slipped into Ginny's room. She saw her bags there and smiled slightly. Somehow, some way, this gesture was enough to overcome the pain she felt.
After a moment, she sighed, got up, and went downstairs to join the Weasleys in supper.
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Well that's all for now. If you noticed I said this Hot Topic had low prices, it's because I hate the prices at Hot Topic. It's so damn expensive!
By the way, Sirius has locked the firewhisky away, jinxed it so I can't open it with a hairpin, and it's more than my life's worth to try Alohomora. Oh well, like he said, even though my worthless father doesn't care about me, it's nice to know him and Moony, my lovely imaginary friends, do. Speaking of which, he's really gifted with the guilt trips. You should try doing something bad in front of him. Nah, I think you should spare yourself... LOL later.
Chapter 5
Well, the fifth chapter, eh? Wow. I try not to take to long on my stories like some of my favorite authors do. Not being rude but I hate waiting for people to update! Ah well, I'm preoccupied with my story for now anyway. I got some ideas from the story Angels Do Have Claws. To any fans (are you out there?) if you have any ideas for the training with Remus, name some ideas of what he should teach her and describe them. Please? Thanks.
Disclaimers: Hey, J.K. never you worry! I'm not getting credit for your characters! All righty then?
Well, here I am arguing with Sirius over the bottle of firewhisky he won't let me have--
Sirius: And I'm quite right not to let you have it, young lady. Just because your dad doesn't give a damn about you doesn't mean I don't.
Cierra: Yeah, the ONE time he has to be a responsible adult, it's at my expense!
Sirius: You watch your mouth and respect your elders.
Cierra: You know? I think I liked you better when you were destroying my cieling fan!
Sirius: Bleh. Now give me that firewhiskey. You can't have any.
Cierra: (mutters swearwords under breath)
Sirius: What was that? You want me to get Loony Loopy Lupin in here? He's better with lectures than I am.
Cierra: Oh, okay. *I guess I'll have to get into it later* I mean, you're right, Sirius. I'm wayyyy too young to have firewhisky. Just don't make Loony Loopy Lupin lecture me. He always guilts me.
Sirius: I'm always right...
Lupin: Who do you think you're calling Loony Loopy Lupin?
Cierra: Oh crap... Well I'll at least spare the readers the lecture so... Here we go!!!
Chapter 5
It was almost eight o' clock in the morning in the training room. At the moment, Remus was holding a knife to Violet's throat. "You know what to do..." he said quietly.
Violet knew, all right. She raised her left arm and brought it backwards, smashing the back of her fist into Remus's nose at the same time hooking her right arm around the arm holding the knife and placed her hand on the back of her head. After he yelped in surprise when Violet smashed his face in, she grabbed his wrist with her left hand and pushed down on his elbow with her right hand while pulling her head out from his lock. Once she did, she twisted his arm behind his back and wrenched the knife from his grip and pulled him to the ground, instead holding the knife to his throat. After a second, she grinned, "Was that good?"
"Wow." He didn't know what else to say. "I know I wasn't expecting that."
Violet extended her hand and helped Remus up.
"Thanks. I think you're ready to start sword fighting and throwing knives. But, we'll have to wait to start that until tomorrow. We're gonna be late."
"Oh, by the way. Thanks for that letter and the album." Violet said softly.
"I wasn't sure whether you would like it or not." He said honestly. "I wondered if it would upset you, but I figured you'd kill me if you knew I had it and didn't show it to you."
Violet paused. "You're right. I would have." With that, she grinned and headed for the bathroom.
Once they'd gotten into the kitchen, instead of a huge breakfast waiting on the table, they saw Mrs. Weasley bustling around the kitchen, shoving toast into people's hands. "Oh, THERE you two are!" She said impatiently, shoving toast into their hands as well.. "I've been looking all over for you!"
Remus smacked himself on the forehead. "Oh, damn! I'm so sorry, Molly! I forgot all about going to Diagon Alley today!"
"Oh, never mind." she said, shoving an envelope into Violet's hand. "You've gotten your O.W.L scores! Hurry and open them, dear. We've got to go! Fred Weasley, you'd better turn your sister's hair right before we leave or I'll--"
She was drowned out by Ginny's scream when she noticed her hair turning white and falling out.
"Oh, come here, you!" She snatched up the bottle of Hair Regrowth potion and shoved it into Ginny's hand. "Well, drink it up! Don't just stand there like a bump on a log!"
Violet ripped open her scores and read in stunned silence. "No way!" she screeched. "FOURTEEN O.W.L's?!! There's got to be some kind of mistake!"
"Good job, Vi." Remus gave her a one-armed hug.
"No mistake, Violet." Ron said. "I got twelve O.W.L's."
"And I'm very, very proud of you!" Mrs. Weasley hugged him.
"How many did you get, Hermione?" Violet said, bracing herself.
Hermione tried to look modest, and failed dismally. "Seventeen."
"Seventeen?! No way!"
Mrs. Weasley tapped Violet's shoulder. "I hate to interrupt, dear, but we've got to get going." She turned back to Fred about to finish yelling at him, then sighed. "Oh, just get on to Diagon Alley then! You've got the keys to the vaults, right?"
When they nodded, she handed Fred some Floo Powder and everyone, one by one, filed into the fireplace after yelling, "Diagon Alley!"
Remus ushered Violet to the fireplace. "Go on. I'll be there in a minute. I'm Apparating."
Violet nodded, tossed her Floo Powder into the fire and yelled, "Diagon Alley!", spinning away in a whirl of green embers.
After a moment, Violet shot out of the fireplace on the corner of Diagon Alley. Ron helped her up, and she brushed herself off. Before anyone had time to gawk at Violet's scar, she headed for Flourish and Blotts to get her books, parchment, and quills. Hermione, of course, followed close behind. After picking up "Standard Book of Spells, Grade 6", "Charms for the Charming", "Advanced Transfiguration", "Advanced Potions", and "Defense Against the Dark Arts: What to do now that He's back", they wandered through the rest of the store. Hermione became absorbed in a giant Arithmancy book, but Violet was more fascinated by "So you want to be an Auror?". After flipping through several pages, she shoved it under her arm, and grabbed several more books entitled, "Train yourself: Hexes, Curses, and Countercurses", "Muggle martial arts for the magical", and "Everything you need to know about Ancient Egyptian Wizarding Life".
"Hermione, you've got to check out some of these books." Violet said, pushing one into Hermione's already loaded arms.
"Fascinating!" Hermione panted, trying not to drop all of her books. Violet grabbed an armful and looked at the titles.
"What do you need all these for?" Violet stared at "How to get people interested in a worthy cause", "Advanced Arithmancy", "A history of House-elf abuse", "Ancient Runes: Understanding them." and a few more.
"Hermione! These are about a foot thick each!" She gaped. "How are you going to carry all of these?"
"A simple shrinking spell, of course." Hermione said exasperatedly. "I see you've finally begun reading extra material."
"Yes, but mine will come to use in future."
"Excuse me, but my books will come to extreme use!" Hermione looked rather offended. "'How to get people interested in a worthy cause' and 'A history of House-elf abuse' will work wonders for S.P.E.W.! As for the rest, they're to help me in my classes."
"But, you've already read 'Hogwarts, A History' at least a dozen times! What do you need that one for?"
"That one's for you and Ron. Maybe you'll actually read it for a change!"
Violet shook her head and headed for the parchment. After picking up several rolls of ordinary parchment, as well as one that glowed in the dark (she couldn't resist), she grabbed some black quills (the case said they were raven feathers. "Excellent for the neatest, scariest handwriting!"). She then got several bottles of ink, black, blue, red, and glow in the dark.
"That will be 17 Galleons, 5 sickles, and 7 knuts." The owner of the store said, looking bored. Violet sighed, but paid. She overheard the manager say, "32 Galleons, 10 sickles." Hermione sighed, "It's a small price to pay for a worthy cause."
Violet stopped in front of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, and peeked past the crowd outside the door. Fred was demonstrating on Ron his latest invention. She laughed and headed for Florean Fortesque's Ice Cream Parlor. But something attracted her attention. It was a Muggle clothing store in the middle of Diagon Alley. She recognized the name, "Hot Topic", and entered.
She was surrounded by chains, spikes, baggy jeans, and concert tee shirts. A pretty, yet scary looking girl was sitting at the front desk reading a magazine featuring The Wierd Sisters. Violet was reminded of Tonks as she took in the girl's spiky violet hair, baggy jeans, chain wallet, tank top, and eyebrow ring. "Welcome to Hot Topic. How could I help you?"
"It's okay. I'm just looking around."
"Cool." she said, looking glad to return to her magazine.
Violet searched the store all over, finding awesome clothes at surprisingly low prices. The Muggle Hot Topic she'd been in had been unnessecarily expensive. She grabbed an armful of clothes, shoes, and accessories, and entered the dressing room. She tried on one outfit, a pair of stretchy, supertight, dirty-looking jeans that had been ripped at the knees, an enormous red West Coast Choppers shirt tucked into the jeans in the front; in the back it hung down to her hamstrings, a pair of combat boots, a bunch of black rubber bracelets, and two very dangerous looking spiky cuffs on her wrists. She looked critically at herself in the mirror and her reflection wolf whistled.
"Looking good, girl. Although you'd look good in anything." Her reflection said, spinning around and admiring herself.
As Violet started changing, her reflection added cheekily, "And I'd advise you to eat a few square meals. You're too skinny."
"Oh, shut up..." she muttered grumpily, pulling on a new outfit. This one consisted of enormous baggy black pants complete with spiky belt, a tight AFI T-shirt, huge skateboarding sneakers, a chain wallet, some more bracelets, a ball chain necklace, and a spiky choker. She looked expectantly at her reflection.
"What can I say? We look great!"
Violet pulled on a ton of other outfits, each getting praise from her reflection. "Oh what the hell?! It's cheap! I might as well get it all!" she grinned, pulling on Dudley's old jeans and a tee-shirt she'd gotten from a thrift store, and shoving all the clothes into a pile, and walking over to the counter.
"You know, you're the first customer we've had for a week." the girl said boredly. "That's why we've lowered prices so much, in hopes we'd get more customers... 83 Galleons and 5 Sickles."
Violet dug into her bag and thanked her lucky stars that she'd taken out extra from Gringotts.
She left the store, lugging several bags full of clothing, as well as her books. She headed for Florean Fortesque's, where she found Remus, Hermione, and the Weasley's waiting.
"There you are!" Hermione said, looking annoyed. "I've been looking everywhere for you!"
Ron was hiding behind her, trying furiously to get rid of several large boils on his forehead. Violet laughed. "So, is Fred and George's new invention popular?"
"Yes." Ron said grouchily. "After seeing my face everyone bought about a dozen each. And Fred and George won't give me any of the profit! They say they need it to buy a flat in London. As if. They're too busy living off Dad!"
Remus tapped Violet on the shoulder. "Good news!" he was grinning. "I got a job! One of Dumbledore's friends said Dumbledore had a word with him and he'd be happy to hire me!"
"Oh Remus, that's fantastic!" Violet said, overjoyed. Her happiness was interrupted by a conversation between a two pretty young blonde witches.
"The Daily Prophet said Sirius Black has been sighted in the Ministry of Magic!" Said the witch in blue robes.
"You're kidding!" the other, in pink robes, said. "How on earth did he get in there!"
"No one knows. Chances are, he was helping You-know-who get in... The dementors are patrolling every street within ten miles of the Ministry!"
"Oh, I hope they get him! He, of all people deserves the Kiss."
Violet didn't realize it, but she'd strode over to the table, ignoring Remus calling out warningly, "Violet..." The witches looked surprised.
"Here's an idea." Violet said, glaring at them. The girls began to look apprehensive. "How about shutting your big fat mouths, if you like your noses the shape they are, anyway. Though I can't see why you would."
They looked offended and a little intimidated. Remus grabbed Violet's shoulder and pulled her back quickly. "Sorry," he said to the girls, choosing his words carefully. "She, er, had a bad experience reguarding Sirius Black. She doesn't like anyone talking about it."
The girls were still gaping, and Violet was still trembling with rage, so Remus thought it best that they leave early. "Hey," he said, touching Hermione's shoulder. "I'm going to take her home, maybe calm her down."
"Okay," Hermione nodded.
"Come on, Violet." said Remus, both his hands on her shoulders. "Let's go."
"As soon as these bitches learn to shut their fat mouths!" Violet almost screamed in rage. The blondes were beginning to look angry as well as offended.
"Violet, come. Now!" He said sharply, pulling her towards the fireplace at the corner.
"You can't talk to us like that!" said the girl in blue robes snottily.
Violet's eyes flashed dangerously. "I'd watch myself if I were you." she hissed.
"Yes, well, unfortunately for you, you're not me. Maybe then you wouldn't be orphaned white trash." The blonde hissed with as much venom as she could get in her voice.
Violet yanked herself from Remus's loosened grip and tackled the girl to the ground, who screamed shrilly. Violet forgot playing fair and mounted the girl, straddling her stomach, and punching her as hard as she could. The other girl started slashing at Violet with her inch-long nails. Violet turned and slugged her in the stomach, causing her to drop to her knees, gasping in pain. Violet then grabbed her by the collar and swung her head back and sent it smashing into the pink-robed girl's nose. She screamed and fell backwards, and Violet continued pounding the girl in blue robes who was slapping frantically at Violet. By that time, Remus had reached Violet again, grabbed her under the arms and jerked her backwards, sending her crashing into his chest. The girls were lying on the ground, moaning and wiping blood from their faces.
"Come on!" Remus ordered, angrier than he'd been in a long time. Leaving Violet's bags with the Weasleys, he dragged her roughly through the cheering crowd and down the street towards the fireplace. "I can't believe you would act like that, Violet Lily Potter! I've never been so disappointed with you!"
Violet knew he was angry but when he said he was disappointed, she felt her face dropping from angry to upset. It hurt so much worse when he said he was disappointed.
Remus saw this sink in and his anger slowly slipped away. "Violet. I know that what she said was uncalled for, but you had no right to behave like that. Now, come on back to the Burrow and calm down." He relaxed his grip on her shoulder.
Violet hung her head slightly, and allowed him to lead her to the machine issuing Floo Powder. After putting in five knuts, Remus pulled out a bag of powder and handed it to Violet. "Just go back to the Burrow and I'll be with you in a moment."
All happiness of the day drained from her, she said quietly, "The Burrow." and later came crashing into the Weasley's kitchen. She went back into the living room and sat down on the couch, letting her sleek black hair hang in front of her face. Soon enough, she heard the crack of Remus Apparating, and felt the sofa cushion shift under his weight.
"Hey." he said softly, tilting her chin up. "Look at me, Vi."
When she finally did, he could see that her bright green eyes shone even brighter with tears. "I'm sorry, Remus." she said shakily, a sudden wave of panic coming over her. Why, she didn't know.
"I'm not angry anymore," he sighed. "I don't know what came over you. You knew much better than to attack those girls."
"They started it." she said angrily, knowing full well she sounded like an immature little girl. "If those stupid wenches hadn't shot their mouths off, I wouldn't have hit them."
"Violet, listen to me." He said a bit sharper than he intended. He felt the anger overcoming him again. "The point is, no matter what they said, you had no right whatsoever to hit anyone. I didn't teach you all that so you could attack anyone who makes you mad!"
"Well, I'm not sorry for doing it. I'd do it again, given half the chance, so screw you." She regretted saying it.
Remus stood up quickly, his eyes flashing with fury and his fists clenched. While Violet stared up at Remus, she was forced to remember the pain she'd gone through a month ago.
***"Stupid!" Violet felt another hard kick. "Worthless whore!"
"Please stop!" Yet another rib cracking.
"SHUT UP!" The baseball bat connected with the side of her head, and she spat blood onto the carpet.
"I'm sorry!" She let out another scream of pain as the whip slashed across her back like lashes of fire. "Please stop it!"
"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" she saw Vernon's foot heading for her face, felt blinding pain, and knew no more.***
Violet started trembling worse than ever. Remus was going to hurt her, she wasn't safe with him, she'd been lied to again. She forgot everything; she forgot that she could defend herself, she forgot that in her right mind, she knew that Remus would never hurt her, no matter what, she forgot everything except that Remus was standing over her looking fit to kill someone.
When she accidentally whimpered, she shut her eyes, bracing herself for the beating that was sure to come.
Remus suddenly forgot his anger when she whimpered in fear and visibly flinched. "Violet?" he said, distracted. "What's wrong? Why are you shaking?"
When he reached out to touch her arm, she yanked back so quickly it startled him. Suddenly, it began to dawn on him. "Violet, look at me, please." He said, all anger gone. His voice had changed from angry to pleading. "I'm sorry. I'm not angry with you."
"Y-you said I was safe with you!" she said, still refusing to look at him.
"You are! You have to believe me." Once again he tried to to tip her chin up, but she jerked away and nearly got whiplash. "Violet." his voice grew soft and gentle again. "I'm not going to hurt you. I promise. Everyone gets angry sometimes; it's a fact of life. You've got to believe me. I would never hurt you."
Something about his voice was comforting and convincing. In spite of her fear, she felt herself beginning to trust him. His voice wasn't fake and sweet, it was scared and pleading, yet soft and gentle. She felt a hand on her head, stroking her hair, and she slowly looked up. Remus's eyes were worried and hurt and upset and begging at the same time. His voice was still compassionate as he convinced her he wasn't ever going to hurt you. "Please, believe me, Violet." he begged.
"I believe you." She said at last, moving nervously toward him, still a bit wary. When she felt arms around her, she nearly collapsed in relief. She buried her face into his shoulder, swallowing tears that burned her eyes. *Don't cry. Be strong. You can hold it in.* she told herself.
As for Remus, he was also struggling against tears that threatened to overflow in his eyes. He felt pain, of course, but it was mostly raw guilt that drove him to tears. How could he forget just what Violet had been through. How could he be so insensitive to her feelings? Wasn't it natural that she would fear him, after what had happened the last time someone was unnaturally angry with her? He closed his eyes and a single tear slid out. He didn't bother to brush it away, praying that Violet wouldn't find out. It hurt him worse than anything to know that he'd done this to the one thing he loved more than anything else. He held her in his arms, clinging to her, until he heard the Weasleys zooming into the kitchen. They both pulled back at the same time and left the room. Violet went to the bathroom and washed her face then slipped into Ginny's room. She saw her bags there and smiled slightly. Somehow, some way, this gesture was enough to overcome the pain she felt.
After a moment, she sighed, got up, and went downstairs to join the Weasleys in supper.
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Well that's all for now. If you noticed I said this Hot Topic had low prices, it's because I hate the prices at Hot Topic. It's so damn expensive!
By the way, Sirius has locked the firewhisky away, jinxed it so I can't open it with a hairpin, and it's more than my life's worth to try Alohomora. Oh well, like he said, even though my worthless father doesn't care about me, it's nice to know him and Moony, my lovely imaginary friends, do. Speaking of which, he's really gifted with the guilt trips. You should try doing something bad in front of him. Nah, I think you should spare yourself... LOL later.