Harry Potter - Gamer Neighbour
Summary: The new neighbour over the street at Privet Drive number five seems pretty normal, but not Privet Drive normal. But is anyone with the power of the gamer ever even remotely normal? No fucking way.
Disclaimer: I do own some shit, but not any recognizable characters, places or settings in this particular fanfiction.
Chapter 5:
She probably spent nearly five minutes psyching herself up and gathered her courage before she unlocked the bathroom door, but in spite of that it actually took another three deep inhales and exhales before she actually opened it.
A quick look around revealed that the transfigured massage table had been restored and was now once again a footstool, which Nick had his feet resting on as he reclined in the small sofa while reading from a thick tome of some sort. The wireless speaker she'd seen out in the yard whenever he worked there was playing a slow rock ballad on a pretty low volume, adding some background noise to the otherwise quiet house. He glanced up and offered her a small smile.
"Sprite and Pepsi in the refrigerator, water in the tap if you want it." he hinted and she nodded. Her mouth now felt incredibly dry and she still felt awfully off her game, so a few extra seconds before any further interaction with him sounded just great to her. She never knew it was possible to feel simultaneously extremely relaxed and extremely tense.
Did he know what she'd done in the bathroom?
She poured herself a glass of Sprite, then made her way over. She glanced at a wall-mounted clock. Fifteen minutes past nine in the evening. A bit too early to scurry off to the guest bedroom, though that did feel awfully tempting. She glanced around what appeared to be a corner of the room set aside for books and reading. The small couch did look pretty comfy, but it was just a small two-seater. There weren't any other seats nearby.
She bit the bullet and kept on walking, then slowly eased herself down into the available seat to the right of Nick, swinging her feet up on the second footrest.
"Feeling better?" he asked, putting the open book down on his lap to give her his full attention and she blushed while leaning back in the supremely comfortable seat.
He's asking about the marks, not teasing her about having just jilled herself! Or at least she fervently hoped so.
"Stiff, but nothing is hurting at the moment." she managed to get out in what she hoped was a normal tone of voice.
"Great. How thick and dark those marks appeared was a bit concerning." he admitted and gestured at the book. "Tried to do a bit of reading, but you are a bit of a special case as far as I can tell. The amount of magic you can sling around without effort is quite frankly astonishing. It usually takes decades and decades before a Witch or Wizard has access to that much magic and by that time, magic going wild like it did for you is pretty rare. So while Magic Burns by themselves aren't that unusual, yours are more severe then any others I seen described so far." he explained and she felt the butterflies in her stomach settle down a bit.
"Oh, I'm not that powerful. My friend Hermione is much better at magic then I am." she deflected and got to observe his right eyebrow going as far up as it could while a wry smile plastered itself on his lips.
"Colour me sceptical." he snorted. "Now granted, I've never met Dumbledore, Voldemort or any other among the small handfuls of people scattered around the world who are at that level, nor have I to my knowledge ever met your friend Hermione. But I have met a lot of other Witches and Wizards. The most powerful one I've ever met in person before is Tonks. You're at least twice as powerful as she is, probably a bit more. That might not quite be enough to measure up to Dumbledore or Voldemort, but you're a damn sight closer than most Witches and Wizards ever will be and you're not even out of your teens yet!" he continued and shook his head. "I'll also grant that pure power isn't everything either. Power without knowledge and skills is power wasted and a devilishly quick dueller will win four out of five fights against one with slow casting speed. I might be able to accept that your friend Hermione is a skilled Witch who knows more then you do, but I have a hard time believing that she has anywhere near your power levels. Two such giants in one generation in this little corner of the world? The odds of that happening are... Tiny to zero."
"Perhaps." she reluctantly admitted after a few moments. It was true that Hermione often learned stuff faster then Violet did, but once they both knew something, Violet often had the edge in power. Violet wasn't a stranger to acting confident and assured of herself, she could even be vocal about some of her superiorities. She'd admit, at least in the privacy of her own mind, that she could even be a tiny slight bit boastful at times. But it was usually about minor things, stuff that wasn't that important in the grand scheme of things, Quidditch related or in front of assholes like Draco. She wasn't used to thinking of herself as something special where it truly mattered and it felt odd to have someone who spoke about her as if she was someone as incredibly special as Nick seemed to think she was. It did warm her heart though.
Other parts too.
She squirmed a bit in her seat and mentally cursed her traitorous body, which still seemed stuck on 'Horny as hell', despite her earlier actions.
She needed a distraction before she had to run off to the bathroom or the guest bedroom. Ruddy hormones.
Guest bedroom.
The Dursley's were gone and she was locked out of number four.
"Five weeks." she breathed. "The Dursley's are gone for five weeks!" she squeaked and felt her heartrate going up, a blanket of panic starting to settle over her.
Only to be instantly dispelled as she suddenly had something much more interesting and fully unexpected to focus on.
"Easy now, shorty. No worries." Nick said after he'd wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her into his body. Once she was settled up against him, his hand fell onto the top of her head and he gave her head a quick rub. "That guestroom I put you in? It would have continued to be empty and collect dust if I hadn't put you in there. It's yours for as long as you need or want it. You can reach out to your friends tomorrow and see if they want to take you in. But until they do or you go off to Hogwarts if they won't or can't take you in, you have a place to stay right here. I won't kick you out and based on what I've seen and suspect, I strongly suspect that you'll find me a better host then Vernon and Petunia Dursley. Same thing applies in the future, even with the Dursleys back. If you need a place to kick back, someone to listen to your rants and feed you something other then chocolate, that door will always be open for you and the bedroom available for your use." he promised with a wave at the front door and another in the general direction of the room upstairs.
The earlier wild panic was now replaced with a frozen panic. Instead of not knowing what to do, but knowing that she wanted to do something and fast, she now found herself unable to do anything. She was completely immobile and her mind felt like it had stalled mid-thought, rendering her completely motionless.
Both Hermione and Mrs Weasley were serial huggers of the first degree, so she had grown accustomed to the occasional hug since she was first introduced to the Wizarding World. Before that, she couldn't really recall any hugs, other then bear hugs during fights. Adults reaching down and patting her head wasn't really anything new either, something about her size seemed to bring it out in them. But the hugs she was used to from Hermione and Mrs Weasley weren't like this. Both of them hugged like it was going out of style, almost manhandling her up against them and then wrapping their arms around her hard enough that she sometimes feared for her spine and ribs. Hagrid who was the worst serial head patter she knew had almost knocked her off her feet more then once and sometimes made her fear a possible concussion or spinal injuries.
Nick had pulled her up against him with a bit of force, but much gentler then either Hermione or Mrs Weasley would have and almost immediately eased up once she was in motion, just gently kept his hand on her shoulder for the last stretch rather then pulling her. His hand on her head was now slowly and gently stroking her hair from the top down to the back of her head before it repeated the motion over and over again. His arm was behind her shoulders but not hemming her in, leaving her an open escape route if she so desired. His other hand was resting on top of the book on his legs, holding that down from the earlier jostling. All she had to do in order to get away was just lean sideways a bit away from him.
She remained where she was and he kept stroking her hair.
She exhaled and relaxed, actually leaning up against him and resting her cheek against his chest, the frozen panic vanishing only to be replaced with a sensation of peace and safety.
"Thank you." she murmured, her gaze locked onto his right hand which tapped a beat along to the music in the background. She heard his heartbeat, slow and powerful, through his chest as it moved slightly up and down along with his relaxed breathing. She kind of wanted to curl up a bit against him, but didn't think she'd get her legs and knees to cooperate with that. Instead she moved her legs from the second footrest and moved them over to his, then just rested up against him and allowing her breathing and heartbeat to slow down, until she was close to matching his.
She wasn't the most touchy-feely of people, but Hermione and the other Gryffingirls had sort of gotten her used to it. Cuddling up against a guy, especially with her body stuck in horny mode, was something new however. But it wasn't bad.
Would probably be better if she wasn't feeling kind of weird, tired from a strange day and not smelling...
Her expression wrinkled and her nose scrounged up.
"You smell like cigarettes." she suddenly announced and then her head bounced a bit as he chuckled at her unexpected statement.
"No doubt." he agreed unapologetically, then let out another brief chuckle.
It was not her favourite scent in the world, that had to be stated. But she remained where she was and that scent was soon filtered out of her conscious mind. She had more important things for her mind to work on.
Like why the hell she was resting half on top of a guy she barely knew. A guy who had ran his hands pretty much all over her not that long ago. A guy who was kinda attractiveish, but oh so much older than she was.
A guy who made her feel safe in a way she'd never experienced before.
Her brow furrowed and while she wanted to tilt her head back to observe him from up close, she refrained from it. This situation was weird enough without her looking up at him from barely any distance at all. She had first guessed he was somewhere around mid-twenties but didn't know for sure.
"How old are you?" her mouth suddenly asked, without her mind having consciously directed it to.
"24. I'll be 25 in October." he replied after a few seconds of silence.
Nine years. He was nine years older than she was.
He probably just looked at her like a silly little girl.
Why did it matter if he was nine years older then her? Why did it matter how he saw her? Why had she asked about his age? Why had her heart started beating faster again?
She forced a few deep breaths and was silent for a bit as her heartbeat once again started coming close to match up with his, which she could still hear thudding away inside his chest.
Fecking bloody hell.
Hermione sometimes accused both Ron and Violet of acting first, reacting second, acting again third and thinking last. But once she did think, there was nothing wrong with her brain, thank you very much! Hermione had also accused her two mates of being somewhat emotionally stunted, though Violet was nowhere near as bad off as Ron, so she wasn't completely fucking inept when it came to emotions either. So she was self-aware enough to figure out at least some things without Hermione outright telling her what was going on, like she sometimes had to do for Ron.
It was a crush! She had her first crush. She had her first crush on a nine year older guy. Hermione would read her the riot act once she found out.
She glanced over at the bookshelf to distract herself from that realization, noting row after row of tightly packed books. Some books resting sideways on top of the rows, apparently not able to fit anywhere else. She couldn't read any titles from where she was, but it seemed to be a varied mix of what looked like brand new books as well as more well-worn older volumes.
Well, perhaps she'd tell Hermione when she was seated where Violet was now and Violet was in Nicks seat. Or in the Hogwarts library. Hermione would be too distracted by the books to read her any sort of act.
Or Violet could just not tell her anything. She could take the story of her first crush to her grave, surely?
But she kinda sorta nearly almost wished that it wouldn't just be a story of a first crush, later replaced by other crushes and eventually a life-long love, or however this kind of thing worked. She hadn't really devoted any major amount of time thinking about romance or what the future might bring for her in that area.
She gave herself a mental shrug and deliberately shoved those thoughts aside. For now she'd just take what she could get and keep resting her head against his chest, listening to his heart pounding on as all her worries slowly faded away.
It had been somewhat of an exhausting day in many aspects and this felt too nice to waste on fretting, worrying and deliberating shit that could be put off for later.
"What do you want for breakfast tomorrow?" Nick murmured.
"Full English." she replied in a muted whisper.
"Dear lord, my poor stomach." he chuckled and she could feel him shaking her head above her. "I'll improvise something." he promised.
"Make it happen." she primly ordered and then let out a yawn, closing her eyes, just for a tiny bit.
Just to enjoy this feeling for a bit longer.
Not very long after, she let out a soft snore and Nick chuckled softly again.
Violet Alyssa Potter, Friend+(Houseguest). Respect:90/100, Affection:51/100, Obedience:45/100
Respect had gone up again after the massage, Affection had received a decent boost and Obedience had climbed just as much. A quick look at the log revealed that Respect and Affection both had taken a small -2 hit when he spread her cheeks to show where that one marking had blazed a trail, but increases both before and after that still ensured an overall increase in all three.
He personally felt that grabbing someone s bare ass and pulling the cheeks apart so shortly after their first meeting should come with a greater penalty then a mere double -2 decrease, but perhaps it had something to do with her personality and upbringing. Could also have something to do with the Harmless perk he'd picked earlier in the summer when he'd first spent a few points, before deciding to save any future ones in case he ran across a situation where he urgently needed some sort of edge.
Harmless, Runes Prodigy and Mind Arts Prodigy was the three he had picked out. He'd been tempted by a few others, but those were the only Perks he'd picked up so far.
Perk: Harmless Effect: People tend to think you have good intentions, no matter what you do. You just seem so harmless that your actions couldn't possibly be bad, evil or selfish. Greatly reduces relationship demerits if your actions could somehow be interpreted as having good intentions behind them. Highly reduced to no effect with those who don't already know you.
Perk: Mind Arts Prodigy Effect: Your Mind Arts gets a +5 modifier. This modifier can break the 20 max skill ceiling.
Perk: Runes Prodigy Effect: Your Runes gets a +5 modifier. This modifier can break the 20 max skill ceiling.
He looked at his Perks for a few moments before nodding to himself. Yeah, that in combination with Violets personality, upbringing and desires was probably responsible for it. If someone he barely knew had done that to him, he'd have torn their fucking hands clean off, not just hit them with a -2 to Respect and Affection. Was the brief amount of time she had known him enough for the Perk to kick in? Apparently so.
Or so he assumed at least, it wasn't like the game system came with a manual or anything. The Perk also had a somewhat ambiguous description, so it wasn't like he knew what exact effect it would have if and when it kicked in, just a general idea of it.
His status shifted back to his relationships. Violet was now 'Friend+'. He wasn't sure what that meant, but had some ideas. Both his Mind Arts and Runes had gotten a '+' after he'd maxed both them of them out at 20, so both now read as being '20+'. With his Perks, both of them should read as 25 rather then 20+. Perhaps his status couldn't display a higher value for some reason or it took something else to unlock a higher skill value.
Based on that, he guessed that 'Friend+' meant that it would take something else to unlock a higher status, some action or perhaps agreement between them before it would change to something else.
But he really wished there was a manual or help for all this shit. He'd tried all sort of things, but had never been able to find anything that explained anything. Some things he'd figured out, or at least hoped that had. But it'd really help if he knew what the relationship scores actually meant and how they affected each other.
In theory, high scores were better and that did indeed seem to be the case. But he'd visited his sister during his travels before heading for Privet Drive, she had a Sister(Little) 75/90/70 rating. That was pretty high scores in all three categories. But when asking if he could cook supper when he was there, she'd told him to fuck off, sit his arse down, relax and act like the guest he was. Such a minor request should surely have been granted with an Obedience rating of 70 and high scores in both Affection and Respect to boot, shouldn't it? Especially as it would have given her a chance to kick back and relax a bit. But it hadn't happened and instead she'd made supper while he had to sit and watch as she cooked.
In contrast, Tonks had a pretty low Obedience rating, but she usually did what he asked. Sometimes he barely had to ask and she still did him favours or offered him assistance without a request from him. Sometimes she'd ask for a favour in return, but not always.
So there was obviously more to it, some sort of hidden modifier and/or RNG element that he just wasn't aware of, perhaps some sort of mechanic he'd failed to discover or previous history that affected what he could get away with. He'd certainly seen shop clerks and the like with 0/0/0 ratings towards him that none the less acted very respectful, obedient and even affectionate, though that likely was just that, an act.
Unlike his Skills, Perks, Attributes and the like, he hadn't found out a way to raise/lower relationship scores using the game either, it was all done by real actions and behaviours with some mysterious modifiers. Raising Affection and/or Respect, seemed to sometimes give Obedience a bit of a boost as well, but not always. Sometimes Obedience got a boost when others followed his instructions, but that too didn't always happen, as was evident by Tonks pretty low Obedience score in spite of their regular interactions and frequently fulfilling some request or other.
When he'd visited his sister earlier this summer, her Obedience had gotten a +5 boost from her original 65 because something the log simply stated was due to 'Long time, no see'. But in spite of having been boosted to 70, she certainly wasn't hanging on to his every word and didn't grant even a fairly simple request. And why would not having seen each other for a while raise her Obedience? Shouldn't it be the other way around?
Respect and Affection were also weird. He and Tonks certainly had what he would categorize as a good relationship, their interactions were frequently positive and the easy camaraderie they shared had certainly led more then a few people to believe that the two of them were dating. But her Affection score wasn't that high and yet, she acted pretty darn affectionate and she certainly wasn't shy about showing it either. Her friend Hestia by contrast, was actually at a pretty high 70 Affection in spite of him having done little to earn it, but acted nowhere as affectionate as Tonks did.
Yeah, a manual or help function would be highly appreciated.
He dismissed his status screen and ever so carefully managed to move Violet into a princess carry, then brought her to the guest room. A bit of deft manoeuvring had her lying in bed and he tucked her in, then turned off the lights on his way out, but left the door open for now as he planned to return shortly.
After heading downstairs and picking up his wand, cigarettes and a lighter, he unlocked the back door, put on a pair of well-worn sneakers and stepped outside, lighting his cigarette as he walked around to the front of the house, heading for number four. The street was quiet, nobody out that he could see even if it wasn't that late in the evening. But he'd observed the same ever since he first moved in. When he popped out for his numerous smokes, it was pretty rare to see much activity outside in the evening. Flickering lights from televisions and computer screens inside the homes on the street through their windows tended to be the only signs that it wasn't some sort of ghost town he was living in, except for a car or two coming or going. His gaze still swept across the street looking for possible observers before he moved across it and into the number four yard.
He felt the Wards sweeping across him, but dismissing him as being harmless to Violet. He'd felt the same when he entered earlier in the day.
"Heh, apparently intending to go ahead with that Sub Quest doesn't count as harm." he snorted and shook his head. Granted, it would be pretty darn hard to make a Ward that could pick up on something like that, but he still found it somewhat amusing. He ignored the front door and instead made his way over to the tree outside Violets window, his eyes narrowing as he spotted the bars over her window.
He'd disliked that part intently when his mind had suddenly been filled with knowledge about Harry Potter and his dislike had only grown when he'd discovered that this world had no Harry Potter, instead having Violet Potter.
He shook it off. He could be hypocrite later. The Dursleys put bars on her window, Nick was grooming her. Who was the biggest bastard of them could be left for later musings. Instead he looked up at the branch in the tree where a snowy white owl was perched, looking down at him with judgemental eyes.
"Hey, Hedwig." he greeted the owl. "Violet got locked out, so I put her in my guest room." he started and pointed at his house across the street. "She's had a tough couple of hours or she'd probably come for you herself."
Hedwig kept glaring at him for a few moments, but did look over in the direction of his house for a few moments, before that quite frankly unnerving stare once again settled firmly on him.
"I'll just go inside and get her and your things, then I'll be back. You are of course welcome into my house as well." he continued, feeling a bit odd holding a one-sided conversation with an owl. But he knew the magic on post owls did make them somewhat sentient and based on his knowledge about Harry Potter, which still seemed mostly applicable for Violet as well, Hedwig was a cut above even normal post owls. "Back in a bit." he assured the owl, then walked around the back of his house and with an absent wave of his wand, unlocked the back door and put out the cigarette on the sole of his shoe before carelessly tossing it over his shoulder onto the back lawn. He despised people who littered, but felt pretty good about this particular petty spiteful act of littering.
If he had things his way, Violet would never go back to this place, so the Dursley's would have to deal with it on their own.
The greatest concentration of magic belonging to Violet in the house seemed to come from the cupboard under the stairs and after unlocking the flap, he found what must be her Hogwarts trunk in there. He shuddered. If the Harry and Violet connection was true in this case too, this had once been her room and not just a place to store her trunk. He swiftly shrunk it down and placed it in one of his pockets, before continuing to track down all her stuff inside the house. Five minutes later, he was once again standing beneath the tree, looking up at Hedwig, her owl perch resting across his shoulder as his left hand held on to the base of it.
"You coming?" he inquired, but didn't wait for a response, instead made sure there were still nobody around to observe him, then made his way back across the street.
About half-way there, he heard feathers streaking through the air and felt a weight settle at the back of the owl perch across his shoulders. Once he made his way back around his house, he pointed upwards at a bit of an odd feature he'd added after moving in. There was a round perch sticking out of the wall above the back door and a noticeable square area on the wall that didn't match up with the rest. Or well, it was noticeable to him at least, as it was covered with a notice-me-not that would hide it from anyone who wasn't him or an owl.
"Owl flap is up there, so you can come and go as you want." he pointed out and heard an acknowledging bark from over his shoulder.
He soon had the perch with Hedwig seated on it situated in Violets room with newspapers placed on the floor underneath, her trunk unshrunk and placed at the foot of her bed and some other stuff he'd found were piled on top of a small desk up against one of the walls. A quick trip to the kitchen to refresh Hedwigs water bowl and place a few strips of raw beef into her food bowl later, he received what looked like a somewhat approving look from the owl.
"You're welcome." he murmured quietly as not to disturb the sleeping Violet. "I'll put in another owl flap for you here tomorrow, in the mean time I'll leave this door open in case you feel like going for a flight." he added with a gesture at the door and wall above it.
Hedwig nodded and then grabbed a strip of beef with one of her talons, then started tearing it into smaller chunks with her sharp-looking beak.
Hedwig, Acquaintance(Houseguest). Respect:5/100, Affection:1/100, Obedience:1/100
Huh, owls had relationship entries as well. Who knew? Granted, he had barely interacted with any other owls. He had none of his own, preferring to use public post owls and the owls who came with mail for him, he barely interacted with.
He wasn't even sure why he'd opened the status screen to briefly check that. It had just been an impulse that he'd followed.
He left the room and half-way closed the door as he walked out, then headed for his own bedroom. Time to enter a dungeon and get some more leveling done, perhaps spend some of the points he had saved up and have another look at the Perks available. The preparation phase was over and it felt like the 'game' was close to truly start now when he had reliable access to Violet for the near future.
Leveling, building their relationship, starting to prepare her for the upcoming school year and more preparations to deal with Voldemort, the Death Eaters and Dumbledore was the name of the game until Hogwarts started again on September 1st.
Some plans were already in place for parts of that, it wasn't like his time after his awakening but before today had been spent just laying about, but there was still a lot to be done in the weeks that remained.
"No! Not the Brussel sprouts!" Violet cried out as she jerked awake and sat up, wildly looking around for the Evil Bunny Brigade. She looked down at herself and exhaled with relief as she realized that she had not been kidnapped and tied up by asshole bunnies who shoved drugged Brussel sprout after drugged Brussel sprout into her mouth in order to break her spirit and brainwash her into wearing the bunny suit and bunny ears they had prepared for her as their prophesised leader and Evil Bunny Madame.
"BARK!" came an angry noise from her left and her eyes widened as she spotted a dazed-looking Hedwig on her perch, glaring angrily at her for apparently having woken her up.
"Heddy!" Violet happily cried out and jerkily got out of her bed, wincing as she noted that she was hurting and was stiff as hell once again. She still managed to make her way over to Hedwig and carefully stroked her beloved owl from top of the head to lower back just where her tail feathers sprouted. "Sorry for waking you up, Heddy. Ow! Sorry, sorry! Hedwig! Hedwig! Your name is Hedwig!"
Hedwigs wings had a surprising amount of power in them and the now darkening burns probably didn't help any, so once Hedwigs right wing slammed down on her arm, she quickly adapted her mode of address for the queenly owl.
Hedwig nodded imperiously and gracefully allowed Violet to keep on stroking her.
"Nick brought you over?" Violet asked and looked around the room, spotting her trunk at the foot of the bed and a pile of clothes, quills, parchment and other stuff on top of the desk up against one of the walls. Hedwig nodded again and Violet sported a shy smile as she looked over at the owl again. "He's pretty great, huh?" she asked and Hedwig tilted her head somewhat, then held out her right wing, giving it a brief tilt back and forth. "He's not so-so!" Violet protested.
"Bark." Hedwig snorted and looked her up and down, seeming to focus on the black Female Body Inspector t-shirt she was wearing for a few extra moments.
"It's soft and comfy, don't knock it." Violet groused, then clenched her legs together as the need for a toilet made itself known to her. She could also faintly pick up on the smell of something cooking and her stomach growled to indicate that more parts of her body then her bladder had needs. "Toilet, wash my face and see what's for breakfast, I think. You going to keep napping or tag along?" Violet asked and Hedwig scooted away from her hand, then put her wing over her head for a moment, then settled down on her perch and closed her eyes. "Alrightie then, have a nice nap." Violet bid her feathered friend, then headed for the bathroom.
After the call of nature had been answered, she froze in front of the mirror as she washed her face.
"How did I get to my bed?" she asked herself and frowned. The last she recalled, she had been downstairs relaxing next to Nick and then she'd woken up in her own bed. "I fell asleep downstairs and he carried me up, then got my stuff from number four?" she mused and absently nodded, that felt just about right. She had been pretty tired yesterday. She finished washing up and reached for the towel, wincing a bit as she had to bend her arms in order to bring it up to her face. She observed herself in the mirror and looked down at her own arms, then pulled the neck of the t-shirt out and looked at her body underneath it.
Her Magic Burns were darkening and hurting once again. None she saw looked quite as dark as they were yesterday or hurt quite as much, but the ones on her hands and arms were slowly getting there.
She let the t-shirt go and realized with equal amounts of anticipation and horror that there was another massage in her very near future.
If she hadn't picked up the smell of something cooking again, she likely would have remained frozen in front of the mirror for a bit longer.
She left the bathroom and headed downstairs, the need for food spurring her on.
Nick was standing at the stove, barefoot in a pair of faded blue jeans and a red t-shirt with black letters proclaiming 'Beer built this body' and a cartoon figure of a ridiculously obese man over the letters. She snorted in bemusement.
"Morning, shorty." Nick greeted her and looked up from his large frying pan, in which she saw what appeared to be fried bread with seasoned eggs of some sort held in place by a round circle cut out of the bread and what looked like skirts of fried cheese melting out from underneath the bread. "Oh, they're back." he said and narrowed his eyes as his gaze roamed across the exposed parts of her skin.
"Morning. Brekkie first, burns later." Violet said and licked her lips as she observed two plates already set out, apparently only missing the fried egg bread he was working on at the moment. She noted his concerned expression, but waved it off. "I got out of bed and to the bathroom before I really noted them. I am stiff and they have started hurting a bit, but it's not too bad. But I am much more hungry then I am in pain." she continued and her eyes narrowed. "Never eating fucking Brussel sprouts again!" she hissed under her breath, but Nick appeared to have heard her, blinking in surprise.
"Brussel sprouts? There's no Brussel sprouts here." he stated in a somewhat confused tone of voice, looking over at the two plates to confirm that indeed, there were no Brussel sprouts present.
"Don't worry about it, just a silly dream." she waved it off and looked over at the fried bread. "That about done?" she asked and licked her lips.
"Almost, shorty. Grab something for yourself to drink from the refrigerator if you want. Got some fruit and berry smoothie in a pitcher, freshly squeezed orange and lime juice in another or milk if you prefer that. Grab me a glass of the smoothie." he replied and returned his attention to the frying pan. "Want tea or coffee?" he asked and took a sip from a cup of coffee standing next to the burners.
"Nah, juice is fine." she replied and grabbed two glasses before heading for the refrigerator, spotting the two pitchers he'd spoken of. She poured him a glass of the smoothie and after taking a quick sniff from it, decided to give that one a go instead of the juice she'd first planned on drinking. She brought the two glasses over to the dining table, noting cutlery and napkins already placed there, so she added the two glasses to the prepared seats. Moments later, Nick arrived with the two plates of food, then he scurried back to fetch his coffee cup after refilling it from a pot of coffee puttering away underneath the kitchen window.
"Well, dig in. Couldn't quite manage a regular fry-up with what I had at home, so I improvised a bit. The sausage medallions are salcicca and chorizo, underneath those are scallion pancakes. No white beans, so instead you get soy beans in a coconut sauce. Bacon I did have, so plenty of that. Lightly devilled egg-toast with fried cheese. Fried tomatoes and a mix of fried mushrooms. No black pudding, but I had meatloaf leftovers in the fridge which I fried up. Then the last of the papaya salad from yesterday." he explained while pointing out the various items found on the plate in front of her.
"Don't worry, this looks just fine." Violet fervently responded, licking her lips again as she grasped her fork, prepared to completely annihilate everything on her plate.
"My poor heart and stomach..." Nick murmured as he looked down on his own loaded plate, used to a much lighter fare for breakfast then what currently sat in front of them.
"Aaaaaahhhhh." Violet moaned as she leaned back in her seat and drank the last of her third glass of smoothie, patting her stomach carefully and generally feeling pretty darn satisfied. Her limbs were even stiffer now and just the slight bending of her arm she had to do in order to drink and pat her stomach was a bit of a chore. Now that her hunger had been appeased, she also felt her burns bothering her more clearly than before when she'd been distracted by hunger.
"We should probably see to those burns." Nick said from over at the sink, where he was washing their plates. "I thought we'd go shopping later. I grabbed the least offensive-looking of your clothes from the Dursley's yesterday when I got your trunk and Hedwig, but even those offended me. A touch of makeup and a glamour to hide the burns once they're less eye-catching and we should be able to get whatever you need before they turn darker again and harder to conceal."
"Shopping? Whatever I need?" Violet asked, shifting her attention from the mix of satisfaction and discomfort she was experiencing at the moment.
"You can't keep wearing my clothes forever and I refuse to let you keep wearing what I found at number four. The guest room was fine for guests, but it's yours now for however long you want it. You'll probably want to decorate it a bit more to your taste. We should also pick up a few books. I have a good beginner level book for Occlumency, but you should probably have your own copy, possibly more then one copy in case you intend to tell any of your mates what is going on so that they can learn as well without hogging your book. This years Tri-Wizard tournament will also require a few things, I think. It will affect even non-participants. There's a big traditional Christmas ball thingy, among other things. A regular student who isn't one of the Champions may be able to get away from it, but I rather doubt the girl-who-lived will be able to stay away. You'll be kinda expected to turn up, eat the formal dinner, dance a bit and mingle with the guests."
"Dance? I can't dance!" Violet protested.
"So you'll need a primer for that and based on the table manners I've seen from you so far, you could probably also use one on formal etiquette as well. You eat like a starved barbarian, shorty." he responded with a wry grin.
"You should see Ron." she muttered, but didn't refute his statement.
"Relax, shorty. I'm not a big fan of formal dancing nor fancy stiff dinner parties, but I can handle them. By the time the ball rolls around, you'll be able to navigate it well enough." he assured her and she felt herself relaxing, no longer quite as intimidated by the thought of a ball as before. "And yeah, we should also pick up a nice dress and some accessories for that, along with the more basic stuff for day-to-day use."
Violet considered it, then slowly nodded.
"We need to stop at Gringotts first, I don't have much money on me and almost no Muggle currency." she admitted.
"Meh, think of it as an early birthday present." Nick waved it off. "A trunk of school stuff, some ratty clothes, a small handful of knickknacks and an owl is by no means the only possessions a young woman should have." he declared, then poured himself a half glass of water and made his way over to the dinner table, taking a seat and a small sip from his glass.
"I can pay for myself!" Violet protested, jerking upright in her seat. She could accept a place to sleep and some food, although she was planning on paying him back for that, but she was no fucking charity case!
"Lay it off, shorty. I'm invoking the Tall Person Privilege of 1789 here. Third subsection, fifth paragraph. 'In any difference of opinion between a wiser old man and a stubborn younger woman, the taller person is always right.', so there!" he snarked.
She just silently stared at him for several seconds with her mouth open in surprise, then started laughing.
"You're a bloody jackass. A nice one, but a bloody jackass none the less." she giggled, then made a wry face as her burns started acting up.
"Alright, shorty. Off to the bathroom you go, I'll set the table up and pull the blinds." Nick interjected and scratched his jaw. "May want to buy an actual massage table as well while we're out shopping." he mused out loud as a thought struck him.
Violet forced down a fierce blush at what was coming, but nodded and walked off to the bathroom none the less.
Just five minutes later, she was back, sans shorts and briefs. Nick had just finished laying out a towel and setting up two extra ones on the newly transfigured massage table, he now looked oddly at her for a moment.
"No shower?" he inquired since she was back so quickly and she nodded.
"I'll need to wash off after anyway and can probably manage the... Lower bits without one." she replied after swallowing nervously. She gestured at her chest and winced, not just because her arms were stiff and achy. "Considering where else you rubbed me down yesterday and probably will have to today again, well. This doesn't seem quite so important to do myself anyway." she admitted and felt a twinge in her rear, mentally picturing that bloody burn in such an awkward place. Him doing her baps really felt quite mild in comparison to the thought of him looking down at her asshole as he rubbed away back there.
Nearly four minutes of the five she had spent in the bathroom had been spent sitting down and feeling grateful for the high-tech toilets with heated seats and built in bides, which had squirted water up against her rear in lieu of a shower, ensuring that she'd have a clean behind for the most embarrassing bit of the upcoming procedure.
He looked deep in thought for a few moments, then shrugged.
"Well, you know your own mind best, I suppose." was all he said, then turned around and stared at the other side of the room as she stripped out of the t-shirt and got onto the table, dragging the towels up over her torso and rear like yesterday.
He looked away for a few seconds longer, then turned around and uncorked a fresh vial, before he looked at her. She met his gaze for a few moments, then put her face down into the hole in the table.
"Same as yesterday, if I miss anything, just holler and I'll go back and deal with it." he reminded her and then got started.
"Morning." Nick greeted a female employee who was arranging some brassieres in the fancy lingerie shop he'd taken Violet to after a quick apparition to a shopping centre in London. The woman looked somewhat surprised to be confidently approached by the young man dragging a seemingly reluctant younger girl behind him. He glanced down at the employee tag, before returning his attention to her face. "Amy, we've got a situation. Short stuff here need the fricking works and from what I eventually got out of her between embarrassed spluttering, she's never been properly fitted for the shit brassiere's she has now by her former guardians." he said and pulled Violet up and used his hands on her shoulders to hold her stationary in front of the now affronted-looking employee who had narrowed her eyes and stood straighter at 'never been properly fitted'.
"So, Amy... Ignore any protests this tomboy makes, get her fitted with some proper underwear and keep 'em coming. Everyday, fancy, sports and swimwear. She needs the works and a lot of it. Don't let her escape until she has enough of everything to make it through a nuclear holocaust without having to double up. Based on what she stuttered out earlier between blushes and the fact that she is still wearing my silky man-briefs instead of her own stuff, I wouldn't listen to her if she tries to argue for something simple. Just keep throwing bright colours, comfortable cuts and fine materials at her until she shuts up." he instructed and got a business card out of his wallet which he handed over to the woman. "Give me a ring when you think she's got what she needs, not when she thinks she does and I'll swing back around to pay for it all."
Amy nodded and plastered a fiercely determined expression on her face.
"You seem to be in good hands, shorty." Nick declared and gave her a head pat after releasing her shoulders. "Have fun with Amy, I'll go look at some furniture and electronics while the two of you amuse yourselves in here." he finished and spun around on the spot, while Amy dragged Violet over towards the changing rooms.
"Traitor!" Violet cried out. "You'll rue the day you made an enemy out of me, you bastard! Rue it!" she promised over her shoulder as she was pushed into one of the rooms, quickly followed by Amy who whipped out a measuring tape. "No! No! Let go of my blouse!"
Nick chuckled as he exited the store, hearing Violets loud protests and frantic squawks from behind.
"I feel violated." Violet muttered while slowly turning around, looking at herself from different angles in the multitude of mirrors inside the changing room.
"Tish tosh, suck it up girl." Amy grinned, then reached out and adjusted the shoulder strap to the racing swimsuit she'd managed to finagle the younger woman into. "Your cousin was correct. You needed new underwear and if that bra was indicative of the sort of things you had, I shudder to think what sort of swimwear you own. You need a few swimsuits and some bikinis too, it's the summer after all. But I just had to see you in this one first."
Having endured a barrage of questions from the sales clerk who was the new bane of her existence, she could barely recall what she'd told her during the last two hours. She faintly recalled stating that Nick was her older cousin who took care of her while her foster family was abroad after having won a trip.
"Yeah, that one is another winner!" Amy declared and Violet found her reluctantly in agreement with the pushy woman. The red and gold swimsuit not only had Gryffindor colours, which she liked a lot and highly approved of, but there was no denying that it was a pretty damn perfect fit and comfortable to wear. She looked pretty damn great in it, pretty damn great indeed. She twisted and preened, looking at the various mirrors offering her different angles and viewpoints of herself. Her gaze locked onto her stiff nipples poking the fabric of the suit out from her body.
"Traitors." Violet muttered as she stared down at them.
The massage this morning had been just as simultaneously wonderful and embarrassing as the one yesterday. She had pretty much wanted to die and for it to never end at the same time, more acutely so when Nick had done her bum and her breasts. He'd just barely gotten done with her arms and started on her foot when she had felt herself heating up and getting horny again. Her nipples had perked up at that point and ever since his breast massage, they'd been doing impressions of diamonds. She was half-way concerned that they'd cut through everything she tried like razors, increasing what was looking to be an already truly massive final bill for Nick to pay once she was finally allowed to escape. She knew it was an irrational fear, but damn, her nipples had never acted up like this before.
Much to her shame, she'd jilled herself off in the bathroom again after the massage. But she'd still been horny, in spite of another glorious climax that she'd just barely managed to avoid crowning with a loud cry of pleasure. By the barest of margins, she'd managed to change it to a clenched-teeth groan instead of a loud yell at the last second. She'd even done it a second time in the shower, the second time just as pleasurable as the first.
She was turning into Lavender!
She paled for a moment at that realization. Lav was a great girl, but dear lord could she be shameless. Hermione had taught them all the silencing spell a couple of days into the first year at Hogwarts and Violet KNEW that Lavender could cast it. But did she use it? Hells no, that shameless slag would just masturbate in her bed, uncaring of who heard her or saw her through the curtains around her bed! That's why she knew who was the grand champion of self-pleasuring in the Gryffindor girls dorm for her year, but if this kept up, Violet may be able to challenge Lav for that title this year! The thought of it actually got her even hotter and hornier than before.
She was turning into a shameless slag!
"That cousin of yours... Is he single?" Amy inquired.
Violet froze in place, then slowly turned around and just looked at Amy. She wasn't sure what her expression looked like, but Amy took a step backwards and held her hands palm-side up in a placating manner.
"Okay, okay. Forget I asked!" she squeaked out, then blinked and looked down at Violets still stiff nipples, then looked up at her with a grin on her face. "Incest is the best, put your cousin to the test, eh?" she laughed and gave Violet a hug as she blushed to the colour of a boiled lobster. "Just kidding, girl. Nothing wrong with a bit of a crush on a sexy older guy, even if nothing will come out of it. First of many crushes for you, I'm sure." she chirped happily, then stepped away and looked consideringly at Violet for a few moments. "Some more swimsuits and some bikinis, then perhaps something a bit more adult, hm? Perhaps you can let that cousin of yours get a little glimpse at some point, see if you can fluster him a bit, eh?" she sniggered and Violet kept on with her boiled lobster impression, but managed a stiff nod after a few moments of hesitation.
"Can we at least stop at Gringotts so I can pay my own way here in Diagon? It feels bad enough to have had you pay everything for me so far." Violet asked as the two of them stepped into Diagon Alley. Muggle shopping had eaten up nearly five hours and she'd long since lost count of how many shrunken bags Nick had stuffed into his pockets. The first stop alone had resulted in five bags worth of panties, brassieres, bikinis, swimsuits, sport bras, pantyhose, thighs, nightgowns, baby dolls and god knows what. She'd kind of lost track of everything Amy had picked out for her, but Violet felt like the woman had done her very best to adhere to Nicks instruction that Violet should leave the store only when she had enough undergarments to survive the apocalypse.
After that, had been three different clothing stores, a shoe store, a jewellery store, an accessory shop and a perfumery. They'd also made a quick pitstop at a gastro pub, where they'd gorged themselves on a burger and chips each along with a shared platter of different cheeses with various dried and smoked meats that Nick had been interested in trying. She certainly hadn't protested at him ordering it and had likely eaten over half the platter in half the time Nick took with what remained.
She was now dressed in a pair of dark blue trousers that hugged her legs and rear somewhat more then she was used to, but that were soft and felt very nice against her skin. Underneath she wore a pair of vibrant red panties that even blew Nicks briefs out of the water with how comfortable they felt. The matching brassiere she wore fit so well that she barely noticed she had it on, especially now when her nipples had finally decided that it was okay not to be constantly hard as rocks. She had a nice white blouse on with a weave so fine that it felt like she was being caressed by feathers as she moved, although that was currently hidden underneath a thin soft black hoodie which she used to conceal that her magic burns were slowly turning darker as the day went on. The last layer was a thin and airy black denim jacket with a brightly coloured logotype on the back that claimed that she had attended the University of Hard Knocks and graduated Summa Cum Badarsery. Her feet were now comfortably nestled inside a brand-new pair of black sneakers with red highlights and bright orange laces.
Nick had cast a glamour over her, but if anyone took a closer interest in her and especially if they were magical, there was a chance that they'd look through it and see her burns.
The hood was up, which helped to conceal her signature hair and the fact that it now had white and blue highlights in it due to her little magical mishap yesterday. It also served to cast a bit of shadow over her face, in case anyone took a close interest in her.
Nick was still in his well-worn jeans and red t-shirt from this morning, but he had thrown on a thin jacket which he kept zipped half-way up. The two of them probably looked like a pair of Muggleborns who had been out in London for the day and just decided on a quick stop in Diagon Alley before moving on to further adventures.
"We can. But remember, early birthday present. If you try to reimburse me, I'll sneak some of my stronger chilies into some part of every meal I cook from now on." he agreed easily with an evil smirk directed down at her.
She shivered. Both the salad and chicken dish he'd served after their meeting outside the supermarket had been very good, but in spite of him claiming to have made them extremely mild, she'd still broken out into a sweat and sipped from a glass of milk throughout the entire meal. Hadn't stopped her from having extra servings, but if that had been extremely mild, she dreaded to think what would happen to her if he snuck her a chili-stuffed mushroom in her morning fry-up or something.
"Jackass." she groused, but mentally resolved herself to try and accept everything he'd given her.
But come his own birthday, she'd have her revenge! She'd find him something nice to ease the guilt she felt over all the money he had spent on her without even batting an eye.
A short visit to Gringotts later, she now had a fresh supply of Galleons burning a hole in the money pouch he'd handed her before they entered. Sadly, their first stop was Flourish & Blotts. It wasn't that she disliked the book shop or hated books, but it was more of a Hermione-hangout rather then a Violet-hangout. She could basically hear the Galleons in the bag hanging from her belt scream at her to spend them all on Quidditch supplies and sweets, but she did want the book on Occlumency that Nick had spoken about.
He'd revealed that both Dumbledore and Snape knew Legimency, which had lit a fire under her.
There was no way in hell that she'd let Professor Severus effing Snape into her mind!
Or Dumbledore, now that Nick had painted him in a new light.
But Snape still felt like the most likely offender. That bipolar asshole!
She didn't quite know what the hell was wrong with the creepy Potions Professor. Sometimes he looked at her so fondly and intently that she felt like a long hot shower involving lots of soap and hard scrubbing was in order. Sometimes he'd be creepily insulting and nasty, only to look incredibly guilty shortly afterwards. Towards every other Gryffindor, he was a bloody menace 24/7. But it seemed like even he didn't know quite what to make of her, so he swung between multiple weird and often quite creepy behaviours around her.
She shuddered.
Yeah, that bastard wouldn't be getting inside her head anytime soon, if ever!
"Where's that book on Occlumency?" she asked after the two of them had made their way into the bookstore, eager to pick that up and then leave for more interesting stores.
"I borrowed Hedwig to put in an order for five copies while you were in the shower earlier this morning, so they should be waiting for me at the counter. So you can just browse a bit and see if anything catches your eye. I want to see if there's anything new in their Rune section and if they have anything good on Runic tattoos." he replied and rubbed his hands together eagerly.
She arched an eyebrow at his back, as he skipped like a little girl on his way to where he'd presumably be able to look at Rune books. She sighed and shrugged, then walked after him. She hadn't gotten her book list for next term yet and wasn't really a reader unless it was out of necessity, so she might just as well tag along, perhaps poke a bit of fun at Nicks obvious love of Runes.
Or the skipping.
Dear god, she needed to come up with something really good for that. It wasn't every day you saw a grown man skipping in public, so that deserved the tease of all teases to celebrate the occasion.
"What's so good about Runes anyway?" she asked after having caught up with him, standing in front of shelves filled with thick boring-looking books where his eyes darted back and forth as he scanned the covers and backs of the books on offer.
"Runes are like the programming language of the universe." he absently replied. "It's usually slower then using a spell, but you can pretty much do anything with them, even stuff there isn't a specific spell for. If I wanted a sabretooth tiger that could switch colours to match its surroundings, turn completely invisible when needed, shoot lightening bolts from its tail when threatened and understand basic instructions, I could write down an admittedly fairly lengthy and complex Runic Assembly that would produce such a critter when charged with magic. Wouldn't even have to be me that charged the assembly, anyone with enough magic power could do it. It'd probably take me the better part of a week to figure out the Runes for that and a few more days to write them down, but it's doable if I don't focus too much on making it truly sentient." he continued and shrugged. "If I wanted to do the same with a spell, I'd have to create it and that would be a bitch and a half. It'd probably take a couple of years worth of work to work out the Arithmancy behind it, figure out the wand movements, calculating the proper word or most likely words and the language they have to be spoken in to get that behemoth of a spell working."
"Why would you even want with a magic sabretooth tiger in the first place?" Violet inquired with a completely baffled expression as she tried to imagine such a creature.
"Doesn't it sound much cooler then a regular boring tiger?" Nick absently countered and Violet found that statement pretty hard to refute.
It did sound pretty cool.
"Well okay, I'll grant you that. It does sounds hella cool. But still, a tiger?" she asked, but didn't get a reply due to an unexpected interruption.
"Vi? Is that you?" a very familiar voice inquired and Violet spun around, coming hooded-face-to-unhooded-face with Hermione Granger. "It is you!" Hermione exclaimed and quickly pressed an armload of books into the arms of her mother who was walking along in Hermione's wake, then darted forward and slammed into Violet, her arms latching around her like a vice.
"Ghhhrk!" Violet grunted and weakly patted Hermione's lower back, the only part she could reach with her arms locked to the side by Hermione's hug and the stiffness that was hampering her. "Need air! Ribs creaking! Spine breaking!" she managed to get out and Hermione did ease up a bit, but kept the hug going for a bit longer before Violet was finally allowed to breathe unimpeded again. "Gah, I swear! You and Mrs Weasley must exchange notes on how to hug as hard as possible or something." she groused.
"Never mind that, what are you doing here, Vi? Did the Dursley's finally let you go out over the summer? Are things better now? Are you getting enough to eat? I read that letter about the horrible grapefruit diet from hell, it must be absolutely horrid?!" she asked excitedly and Violet groaned, then reached out with her right hand and covered Hermione's mouth.
"We're in public, eager ears can overhear and I'd like not to attract a curious crowd." Violet told Hermione whose eyes widened and then she slowly nodded. "Great. You're going to be good now or should I keep on covering your mouth like this for a while longer?"
"I've got to remember that method of silencing her when she starts babbling away a mile a minute." Mrs Granger said with a little giggle. "It's good to see you again, dear."
"Nice to see you again too, Mrs Granger." Violet replied with a bright smile, then let Hermione's mouth go. Hermione opened her mouth to say something, but her mouth froze and she quickly darted forward, looking more carefully under Violets hood. "Do not yell out your questions, please." Violet sighed as she realized what Hermione had probably spotted.
"Did you get highlights? And facial tattoos?" Hermione whispered, her gaze flitting back and forth underneath the hood.
"Slight magical mishap. I'm fine and the marks will go away in a few days." she replied. She wasn't sure about her hair, Nick hadn't said and she hadn't asked if that would return to normal as well, but she did like her hair like this. The highlights kinda provided a bit of character and looked pretty snazzy. If they went away too, she might try to look into getting some done. There probably were magical hair saloons out there that could do that sort of thing. Heck, Lavender or Parvati might know how.
Hermione looked a bit dubious, but seemed to decide to trust Violet after a few seconds and her expression smoothed out into a friendly smile. Then Violet saw her gaze move away from her and instead to something behind her back. Or someone.
Oh.
Hermione's gaze moved back to Violet, an eyebrow slowly inching its way upwards in a silent inquiry.
"Hermione, Mrs Granger." she started and took a step back, turning slightly and gesturing towards where she'd left Nick. "This is Nick Jones. He also lives on Privet Drive. Nick, this is my friend Hermione and her mo..." she started, then froze as she saw Nick with at least ten thick books piled up in his left arm, crouched down and looking intently at something on a lower shelf.
Apparently, he hadn't even noticed the new arrivals or their brief conversation.
Violet stalked over and gave him a swift kick on his ass, causing him to topple forward and slam his face against the books he was so in love with.
"Huh? Wha? Whe? Why'd you do that, shorty?!" he demanded to know as he snapped into an upright position, his right hand slamming on top of the pile of books to keep them in place as he jumped up, then once he was settled moved it over to gingerly poke at his own nose as he glared angrily at her.
"Nick, this is my friend Hermione Granger and her mother, Jean Granger." she tried again, gesturing at the two new arrivals. Nicks gaze shifted to them, quickly sweeping across Hermione before his eyes locked onto Mrs Granger.
There was silence for a few seconds.
"Oooooh! Great work, short stuff." he approved and his right hand gave her an approving head pat over her hoodie, while she looked at him with bewilderment, wondering what the hell he was on about now. "Pointing out the gorgeous women in the surrounding area is the first step towards becoming a great wing man! ... Or wing midget in your case. You show great potential, my tiny young Padawan!"
"Prepare to hit the deck, mom. He just called her both short, midget and tiny. ... And she probably thinks Padawan is some sort of foreign insult." Hermione giggled and Violet spun around, gifting her with a betrayed expression and disapproving glare.
"Aw, no worries. The key is to keep confusing and distracting her. That way, you disarm the red-headed explosion before it can occur." Nick commented and another head pat did distract her for long enough that Nick managed to step past her and approach the Grangers. "Nick Jones, charmed." he told Hermione as he shook her hand, then moved on to Mrs Granger. "Nick Jones, very charmed indeed." he introduced himself while shaking her hand, taking a few extra seconds before he released it.
"Why do the gods insist on punishing me so with friends who keeps on teasing me and idiot neighbours that keep on annoying me?" Violet asked and looked up at the ceiling in a theatrical manner.
No answer was forthcoming.
"Karma." Nick stated authoritatively with a confident nod.
At least no answer she wanted to hear.
Hermione giggled again, this time joined by Mrs Granger.