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 10:
Violet carefully observed her sleeping mother, trying to judge what the chances of her waking up might be.
After the massage was over, Nick had kept watch over Lily for the couple of minutes Violet needed to take a very quick shower to rinse off. He'd actually done all the massaging this time, including around her... Most private area.
She'd been so focused on her mother that she'd not even noticed until the towel over her pelvis had been removed and his hands were already on her inner thighs and vulva.
She'd quickly snapped her head around and was about to ask him what the hell he thought he was doing, perhaps lay a haymaker of epic proportions on him if he failed to produce an answer she could be satisfied with and which succeeded in appeasing her quickly rising fury. But she had fallen silent at his dazed expression and droopy eyelids. He hadn't seemed aware of what he was doing, just mechanically working away on her body and Magic Burns. Her mouth had worked soundlessly for a few moments as her irate anger just melted away, but she hadn't said a word and instead turned her head back to observe her mother, albeit with a furious blush on her face. The clearly out-of-it look on his face did appease her enough to just try and do her best to just try and ignore what was happening downstairs.
Lily s eyes had narrowed and her lips thinned as she observed just where Nicks hands were, but she hadn't said anything either. But the sheer indignation and fury that was simmering below the seemingly calm surface was pretty evident by the angry shimmer in her eyes.
After Violet was back from a quick shower during which Nick had sat tiredly at the foot of her bed keeping an eye on Lily in complete silence, Nick had just waved distractedly and then staggered out of the room without a parting word, leaving the two Potters by themselves.
Violet hadn't been all that physically tired, though her mind had certainly seen better days, so she'd hesitantly gotten into bed, burrowing under the sheets and laying herself to rest on her side, facing her mother.
The two of them had spoken quietly for perhaps an hour or so, or well, it had been mostly Violet speaking in response to Lily's questions about her life. Both of them had spent a fair amount of that time in tears and near the end of that hour, Lily had been tired enough that she just couldn't stay awake any longer.
Returning from death apparently took a great deal of energy or something.
When Lily fell asleep, Violet had just silently observed her mother for perhaps another hour or so, she wasn't quite sure exactly how long it had been before she eventually closed her own eyes. It had taken a while to actually fall asleep and she had reopened her eyes multiple times, just to reassure herself with her own eyes that her mother was really there, right in front of her. Having her mother right there in front of her, right in her bed, had made it hard to fall asleep.
Well, that and being so fucking horny that it felt as if she was going insane!
The quick shower had left no time for relief and to be honest, she'd been too eager to see her mother again that she hadn't even wanted to 'waste' any time in order to get herself off in spite of her horniness. Lying in bed and talking with her mother with her pussy gushing, while trying to appear normal, had been one of the hardest things she'd ever had to do in her entire life. Once she was reassured that her mother was truly there, the temptation to touch herself to relieve herself had been immense, but not as immense as the fear about what the hell her mother would think of her daughter if Violet started pleasuring herself during their talk and Lily noticed it!
She'd been tempted to sneak off to the bathroom when her mother fell asleep, but hadn't wanted to leave her. She had been tempted to touch herself in spite of her mother sleeping next to her, but hadn't dared in case Lily woke up. So she'd been squirming in discomfort, cursing her stupidly aroused body and the way Nick even half-way dead on his feet apparently managed to make her feel.
Sleep had cleared her mind and she was no longer as incredibly intensely horny as she had been, now it was a mostly normal low simmer. Perhaps a little randier then normal, but that happened with some regularity since she hit puberty and wasn't anything unusual. She could feel the evidence of just how bad it had been last night though, her panties clung to her skin and the whole area felt muggy. She wanted to clean herself a bit and switch to a fresh pair of panties.
She also badly needed to take a piss.
Those were the main reasons why she was pondering if her mother might be close to waking up. She didn't want to risk being in the bathroom when her mother woke. She did appear to be sleeping peacefully and there was nothing obviously wrong with her, her breathing was calm and regular, her sleep appeared deep and peaceful and besides being gaunt, truly appeared to be fully healthy.
But trying to convince herself that there was nothing wrong with her mother, now when she actually had a mother in her life again, seemed like a loosing fight. She just couldn't help but to fret, worry and squirm in concern.
Eventually she couldn't come to a conclusion if Lily was about to wake up or not, instead it was her body that closed the deal. She really needed that piss and she needed it right away or her mother would wake up to Violet having wet the bed. She gingerly made her way out from underneath the covers and padded over to fetch a fresh pair of panties, then tip-toed out of the room before speed-walking to the bathroom, putting her faith in the alarm charm to notify her if something was wrong with her mother.
After getting some relief by emptying her bladder, rinsing herself off downstairs with water from the sink, drying off with toilet paper, getting a fresh pair of panties on and quickly brushing her teeth, she left the bathroom and noted the open door to Nicks room.
She hesitated for a few moments, then padded over and peeked inside.
Nick was face-down on his bed, still dressed in the jeans from yesterday. He'd apparently torn his t-shirt apart when helping her mother in the bathroom yesterday while she fixed something to eat, so he was still topless. It looked as if he had just staggered into his room and fallen asleep at the foot of the bed, just collapsing mostly on top of the bed, but with his feet and lower legs hanging off the edge. She could hear muffled snoring and smiled a bit as she quietly observed his sleeping form.
She put her right hand on top of the upmost part of her left breast, feeling her heart pounding away as she observed him.
When he'd made a magical oath to her yesterday in the old nursery at Godric's Hollow, her heart truly had felt like it was about to burst. The unquestioning support he had offered had pretty much made him into one of the most important people in her life, in spite of it being just weeks since their first meeting and only days since she'd truly started to get to know him as something other then a guy across the street from her summer prison, a getting-to-know process that was still on-going.
Then he'd went ahead and fucking raised her mother from the dead!
"Thank you. Thank you very much, Nick." she murmured towards the sleeping man in the bed.
She'd tell him again when he was awake to hear it. She'd tell him over and over again.
She quietly closed the door to his room, then padded back to her bedroom, intending to keep on watching her mother until she woke up again.
It was perhaps two hours later when she heard Nick emerge from his bedroom, then make a beeline for the bathroom judging from the sounds he made and the direction they were coming from. Two minutes later, he peeked through the open doorway to her bedroom with wet hands dragging his hair into some semblance of semi-order. His hair was a lot shorter than hers and distinctly less messy, so for him that actually worked and she felt a twinge of envy, wishing that her own was easier to deal with.
Petunia had once cut Violets hair that short, but it had been restored to normal the day after. She'd had friends at Hogwarts cut her hair as well for easier maintenance and less of a total mess after flying, but the same thing had happened. After a night of sleep, her hair was back to its old length and just as unruly as ever. Didn't seem to matter if they just trimmed it a bit or cut off a lot, one night of sleep and everything was restored to normal.
His gaze was intently focused on Lily for nearly a full minute from where he was standing in the doorway, before he seemed to relax a bit and exhale with relief, then his gaze shifted to Violet and he slowly moved over closer to her bed.
"She's been asleep all night?" he murmured in a quiet whisper and silently waved his wand which jumped into his hand from his holster. A slew of little magical displays popped into existence floating in mid-air and her mothers entire body got a bit of a glow around it.
"Yeah." Violet whispered just as quietly as his gaze flitted between the various displays and Lily's faintly glowing body. "Is she alright?"
"Magic reserves are still pretty low, but increasing. Her body is generating magic again, but the body is probably more focused on rebuilding and recovering rather then making magic, so it is a fairly small amount of magic. She's dangerously underweight, her body fat is nearly zero and her immune system is shot to hell. But that is all. Food, exercise and rest is what she needs, but it certainly looks as if she'll be fit as a fiddle once she's had that for a while." he eventually replied with a big smile and shook his head in muted disbelief, apparently shocked that there weren't any big problems he could spot. "I'll go make some breakfast, she'll probably be ravenous when she wakes up." he finished and turned around, tiptoeing away without waiting for a response.
Violet carefully slipped out from underneath the covers and quickly padded after him, catching up with him just outside her room. She tapped his left arm and he spun around in surprise, then his surprise manifested in a gasp as she leapt up at him from below.
His back slammed against the wall to the other bedroom opposite of hers in the little hallway as she wrapped her arms around his neck to hold herself off the ground and at the proper height for what she intended to do.
"Wha-mghf?!" he started to question, but found himself silenced as she kissed him and wrapped her legs around his hips to aid in keeping herself off the ground.
There had been a bit of kissing practise going on in the dorm back at Hogwarts and once when she had admitted to that during a talk with Katie in the Quidditch locker rooms, the older witch had laughed and given her a right proper smooching as well. Just to make sure that the younger girl would know what a proper kiss was like in case the other girls hadn't taught her properly, or so Katie claimed.
But this was the first time she'd ever kissed someone outside of those instances and a few pecks with Hedwig, though those had all been mouth-to-feathers rather then lip-to-lip like now.
She opened her mouth and intensified the kiss, Nick pretty much just stood there with his back against the wall and took it while she claimed his mouth.
It took a few seconds, but eventually she felt his hands move up to her waist where they halted, holding her gently and assisting in keeping her off the ground. His mouth started responding to hers and he became a more active participant in the kiss. Her confidence bolstered by him not pushing her away, she hesitantly let her tongue move into his mouth. This was not something they had practised overly much in the dorms, but the smooch Katie had landed on her had involved a lot of tongue-work and Violet had enjoyed it a lot once she'd gotten over the shock of being unexpectedly kissed by the older more experienced Witch.
Nick seemed to like it as well, his grip on her waist increasing somewhat in strength. His tongue responded to hers, gently moving against each other for a while.
"What was that about?" he asked once she pulled back a bit and ended the kiss, but still let her cling to him.
"Thank you. Thank you for everything!" she told him. "I can't even... It's just so... You have done... You're incredible!" she stuttered, then went in for another kiss, trying to express with actions rather then words just how much what he'd done meant to her. He responded for a few seconds, but pulled her away again. "Did... What... Did I do something wrong?" she asked with a note of concern. "Oh, god! I did it wrong, didn't I? I messed up, you didn't enjoy it. You don't like me. Ohmygod, I'm such a creep! You must think I'm just a silly creepy lewd little girl." she rambled on, looking down at his chest as her face flushed something awful and she felt her eyes growing wet with unshed tears.
She should have known that a few practise kisses with some equally inexperienced girls wouldn't make her any sort of expert at it. As far as she knew, only Katie and Lavender had ever actually kissed someone other then for practise, Hermione and Parvati were on just as shaky ground as she was when it came to that sort of thing.
"No, you didn't mess up." he told her and moved his right hand up, gently grasping her jaw with two fingers and pulling her face up to face him. "I did enjoy kissing you." he assured her. "But that was not the kind of kiss you give someone in thanks. That was the kind of kiss you should save for a future boyfriend. Or girlfriend, if you're so inclined."
"No problem then." she quickly replied. "You've just been promoted from 'kidnapper' and 'food provider' to 'boyfriend'!" she explained with a big grin and he just looked at her for a few seconds, then let out a low chuckle.
"Is that how it works?" he asked in clear amusement, still chuckling away at her outrageous statement.
"That's how it fucking works." she declared, then went for another kiss and this time, he didn't stop her. In fact, he met her half-way and wasn't a mostly passive participant. Violet let out a low drawn-out moan as his tongue entered her mouth as he turned the two of them around half a lap. She felt her back meeting something solid and his chest pressed her against it. His fingers left her jaw and his hand moved to the back of her head, tilting her head somewhat to the side and then the already intense kiss intensified further.
She let out a brief whimper as her right shoulder twinged in pain and tried to make her face neutral as he instantly pulled back and looked at her in concern. He observed her quietly for a few seconds, then let out a sigh. He clenched his fist, punched the top of his own head and then bonked it down on top of her head, gently but quite demonstratively.
"You are hurting again." he declared and she averted her gaze guiltily.
It was better then previous mornings since they appeared, but one of her Burns had let her know that it did not like being pressed up against the wall like that after he had turned them around.
His gaze flitted across her face, neck and arms, quickly taking note of her physical condition.
"You don't seem as stiff as before and the Burns aren't quite as prominent, but you're certainly not fully recovered yet." he continued.
"Lots better then the last two mornings, but yeah. Not completely." she admitted with a shaky smile.
"Okay. I'll whip up a quick breakfast and bring up to your room, then it's massage time for you." he announced and gave her a swift closed-mouthed peck on her lips, pulling back before she could turn it into something more. "And if you think the issue of my supposed 'promotion' is closed, think again. That discussion is merely postponed for now." he declared and stepped back from the wall, his right hand moving down to her waist again to assist her back down to the ground.
"But we can discuss it?" she asked in a faint tone of voice once she was standing on her own two feet again.
He offered her a wry smile and a head-pat.
"We can." he said and moved off, heading downstairs to get started on a late breakfast.
She waited until he was out of visible and hopefully audible range, then pumped her fist in the air.
"You're going down, buster." she muttered to herself, then schooled her expression and returned to her room, crawling into the bed again to resume her observation of her mother.
She was jittery as fuck, nervous as hell, frigging happy and bloody shaken up. She'd planned on saying thanks, the rest had been spur of the moment. She didn't regret it, not for a single second, but she just knew that she would have to make up something that sounded better then what had actually happened before she could tell anyone. Hermione especially would give her such a talk if she found out that Violet had just impulsively declared someone her boyfriend. The fact that she thought more with her stomach then her brain and sometimes just didn't think at all had been a frequent topic of conversation whenever Hermione felt like taking Violet to task for something.
She just knew that this would cement her image as a brainless reckless mess of impulses on two legs in Hermione's mind if the other girl ever found out about it.
"Whatever this shit is, at least it has got a sense of humour." Nick chuckled as he glanced at his status screen while preparing something quick, easily digested and filling for a late breakfast. He usually dragged his arse out of bed around seven at the latest, but it was now half past nine in the morning. But since yesterday had been so draining, he didn't mind having had a bit of a sleep in for once.
Violet Alyssa Potter, Friend++++++++++(Houseguest). Respect:100+/100, Affection:85/100, Obedience:65/100
Ten +'s after 'Friend', yeah, seemed about right based on what had just happened upstairs. His tomboyish houseguest certainly seemed ready to have that 'Friend' status changed. He had kind of figured that he'd see a significant improvement in their relationship based on yesterday, but he certainly hadn't expected her to jump into his arms and kiss him or for her Respect to have maxed out and then some.
He wasn't even sure why he hadn't immediately accepted when she had expressed an interest in him being her boyfriend. He'd been on his way to do so when he'd noted that she was in pain and after he was no longer thinking with his dick, he'd told her that they'd talk about it later.
He shook his head, once he was no longer on the clock and had some time, he'd have a think about it and see if he could figure out his own subconscious motivations for delaying his response. He didn't think it was guilt or shame, which was something he felt frequently whenever his thoughts drifted to Violet. This felt like something else, something he had yet to identify.
Lily Jasmine Potter, Patient(Hostage). Respect:25/100, Affection:-50/100, Obedience:25/100
What the hell was up with the Evans family and the dual flower names? It certainly didn't come from the Potter side of things, based on what he knew of their family tree.
But again, the 'game' proved both faintly humorous and oddly insightful. She was indeed a Patient of his and he certainly had no intention of letting her out of his sight anytime soon, so hostage was also somewhat appropriate. He had fucking resurrected her! Not only was he deeply concerned about her as the one responsible for making that happen, but he also felt like it was on him to ensure that it continued to work out and she didn't suffer any bad side effects.
He was also highly aware of just what a massive thing it was and how much chaos it would cause once the news about that spread further then to the three of them. He kind of regretted not having gotten Wards for his house right about now, because he could just imagine his house being stormed by desperate people with dead family, friends and lovers they wanted resurrected. And curious Healers wanting to check Lily out. And frantic Unspeakables wanting to cut her up to find out what made her tick. And annoying reporters wanting to splash this scoop across the front page of every publication in the world.
Hell, raising the dead was something that pretty much everyone would want to know all about and there were likely hordes of people who would just be itching to examine and experiment on Lily once they found out about it and have him resurrect every recently and not-so-recently deceased person in the world.
Over his fucking dead body, he decided with a fierce scowl.
Not only because he felt some kind of weird possessive protectiveness towards the younger/older woman. He was a bit confused on how to categorize her age. She had died young, so based on how old she was when she had died, he was actually older then her. Her Soul had been at least somewhat aware based on what she had said yesterday, she had seen parts of Violets life, so had her Soul actually aged? Was she a younger woman in her early twenties or an older woman in her late thirties? Somewhere in between? But ponderings about her age or not, his weird greedy possessiveness towards her aside, she was still connected to Violets protections.
Energy was still going towards her from the dome around number four, something happened to that energy inside her body and part of the incoming energy went back toward the dome. Nothing had really changed, other then the fact that she now had a more 'solid' connection then when she was still dead. Her connection was still more like Violets own then what the Dursleys had. He wasn't sure if that meant that she would also enjoy similar protections as Violet did or if it was just something to do with the fact that Lily was the one who had originally cast those protections and unlike the Dursleys actually had magic. He would have to sit down and have a little chat with her at some point about those protections, how she had made them and what had happened to them since they were first put up. Because at the moment, he didn't really know anything more about them then then he did yesterday.
He shrugged, he was intently curious about whatever mysterious trick of magic awesomeness Lily had pulled to create them and almost as curious about whatever Dumbledore must have done to somehow change them. He wasn't sure which was the more impressive accomplishment, but he was fairly certain that he'd truly enjoy talking to both Lily and Dumbledore about them. Learning new things was something he highly enjoyed. Granted, Lily seemed to hate his guts at the moment and Dumbledore likely wouldn't be all that fond of him either once the shitstorms he'd engineered to keep the old many busy broke out. But he hoped that he'd one day be able to sit down and have some pretty interesting discussions with both those two obviously intelligent, creative and knowledgeable people. For now though, he just settled with knowing that at least resurrecting Lily didn't seem to have had any negative effects on the protections, so he could just leave them as they were for a bit.
He checked over the relationship log for Lily and couldn't help but chuckle as he saw how her values had seen both massive gains and tremendous losses. Unlike Violet, who barely had any losses at all even when he figured there should have been, here he saw lots of losses, sometimes pretty massive losses for various things, like calling Lily a whiny bitch, mocking her, calling her tits barely there, getting fresh with her corpse, repeatedly kissing her during the Magic Infusions and fondling her daughter s cunny in front of her.
He didn't truly remember that last one, but he had been pretty out of it yesterday. It was possible that he had done it during the massage, even if he seriously doubted it. Was an inaccurate perception of events enough to result in such a massive reputation loss? Apparently so, or he'd dazedly gotten up to something extremely fishy during that massage. But he supposed it was more likely that the inaccurate perception theory was correct. After all, the relationship values and their ups and downs were based on how Lily felt about him. So even if she was unknowingly wrong about something, the loss of Affection would still be based on what she believed.
There were also admittedly some massive gains for resurrecting her, healing her and the like, but while he now had some of her respect and she'd be likely to follow some instructions from him depending on their nature, she did not like him. Not at all.
None of his other relationships had ever seen a - in Affection, but she had a massive -50 in Affection for him. Seemed like he had his work cut out for him if he wanted to turn that around.
And he did want that.
But yeah, for now she was pretty much a hostage, just like the status screen claimed. He'd have to figure something out before he could let her go off on her own if she so desired or let the outside world find out about her.
With one possible exception.
Nymphadora Natalia Tonks, Friend(Co-conspirator). Respect:90/100, Affection:44/100, Obedience:19/100
Tonks had seen some slight improvement as well since last he looked at her values, both Respect and Affection having gone up a little bit. She was as independent and unruly as ever though, her Obedience lower then the other two, even Lily was higher than Tonks when it came to that. It did not lessen the amount of affection he felt for her though. Tonks truly was a hoot and a half, a real blast to be around and have in his life. And as he had reflected on in the past, in spite of her low Obedience, she actually took instructions much better than many others. That particular score was a lot weirder and made less sense then the other two. He chuckled as he wondered just what the hell Tonks would make of Lily and the events that brought her back.
Title:The Ressurector Effect:+5 to all actions related to death and rebirth
He'd also gotten a title, which was a first. It seemed to have a nicely powerful although badly defined effect. What the hell counted as an 'action related to death and rebirth' in the first place? Was it an either or both deal? Did it work if he tried to kill someone and intended for them to stay dead? Or just when he tried to resurrect what was already dead, something he had no intention of doing on any sort of regular basis?
He shrugged and decided not to worry about it. If it boosted his magic if he was in deadly combat, all well and good. If it boosted his skills if he ever tried to resurrect someone in the future, all well and good. If it did nothing, well, it wasn't like he hadn't managed without it in the past, so there was no point in fretting about it.
He'd also levelled up and was now a respectable level 75 Wizard. A glance at the log revealed a massive experience gain after successfully resurrecting Lily and a lesser but still significant gain after identifying and removing the shit in her body which would have killed her again if he hadn't dealt with it.
He had discovered in the past that it wasn't only dungeons and quests that gave experience, sometimes events and other actions in real life did as well.
He supposed that resurrecting the dead and saving the newly regained life of the one he'd just resurrected was worthy of a fair amount of experience, even if there hadn't been a quest or anything like that for it.
He had some unassigned points and really wanted to use them, but couldn't quite decide what felt most urgent at the moment, so he let them remain unassigned for now.
Blood Magic, Healing, Observation, Soul Magic and Wards were all skills that had yet to be maxed out and that he recently had regretted not maxing out before. But he didn't have enough to do it with all of them and wasn't sure which was the most important one. Probably Healing if he was honest, but Lily did seem unexpectedly healthy albeit weak at the moment. So he waited, perhaps he'd come across a situation when one of them was direly needed and then he'd have the points to instantly skill up. Or he'd find some time to run more dungeons and would get enough points to skill up all of them.
There was something else he noted, something he didn't quite know what to think about.
A new tab had appeared on his status screen. The tab in question didn't have a readable name however, it was just a series of letters, numbers and symbols that he couldn't make either head or tails out of. When he actually entered this tab, it was just filled with similar nonsense. He wasn't sure if he was looking at something encrypted or corrupted nor was he sure what had caused the new weird tab to appear in the first place. But it did raise several concerns. This weird game system was pretty darn odd in the first place and while he had figured some things out or at least hoped he had, there were so many other things that he was still mostly clueless about.
It was something that only he seemed to possess, something connected to both his mind, body and soul. It was also connected to the world and reality around him, capable of incredible insights into the people and objects around him. It could fucking ALTER reality, increase his skills and knowledge, store a seemingly infinite amounts of object in perfect stasis or at least he hadn't found any true limits to his inventory yet, implant new knowledge and abilities into him and perhaps even more things he had yet to discover. Whatever it was, it was so incredibly advanced and powerful that he couldn't truly imagine a way to create something even remotely similar to it. Who or what had made it?
He had never truly believed in God, Gods or similar beings, but in order to create this game system thing he could somehow access, it would probably take something along the line of those sort of beings. Why had something like that taken an interest in him and given him access to this game?
And what had caused that game, that weird unknowable system connected so intimately to him, to become either corrupted or partly encrypted? Why was it now changing? Why were new things suddenly becoming available? Was whatever or whomever that created the game still taking an interest in him, observing what he was doing?
He shuddered and decided to ignore it for now, despite or perhaps because of how afraid he was that the corruption/encryption would spread, possibly even crossing over from the weird game system to his actual mind and/or soul. The fear of some capricious deity-like being suddenly deciding to get further involved in his life was also a pretty terrifying prospect. He had been a big fan of mythology for a big part of his life and the thought of something along the lines of the Greek/Roman Gods deciding to mess with him was... Well... Horribly terrifying in the extreme was actually understating how he felt about that.
He closed down the status screen and turned all of his attention towards breakfast instead of stuff that made him fear for the future. Focusing on the two girls now under his care was significantly less terrifying, although not entirely worry-free.
Violet was likely starving, pretty much as usual.
Lily probably would be as well, once she woke up.
Hell, he was pretty darn hungry himself. Yesterday had used up a lot of energy and his body was now telling him that it was high time to compensate for that.
His heartbeat was still slightly elevated considering that he wasn't doing anything special at the moment and had spent a night sleeping, but it wasn't dangerously high any longer. He'd hit himself with a few diagnostics before he started preparing breakfast, but thankfully it seemed he'd made it through yesterday without any permanent issues. He'd check himself again before going to bed in the evening, but it seemed as if his body had actually been strong enough to handle the overdosing and near magical exhaustion he had put himself through yesterday.
Violet perked up as Nick walked into her bedroom carrying a large tray containing three steaming cups, three empty glasses, three steaming bowls, a pitcher of smoothie and three substantial piles of grilled cheese, the scent of hot cheese, steaming ham and something else she couldn't quite identify causing her stomach to growl eagerly.
"Mmwafood?" Lily mumbled drowsily and opened her eyes accompanied by a stomach growl of her own, apparently she was of a like mind and eager to see her hunger satisfied, enough so that the scent of food had been enough to wake her up.
Nick grinned and put the tray down on Violet's desk, then made his way over to the bed.
"Good morning, Lily." he greeted her. "How are you feeling?"
"M'ning." Lily slurred, her eyes blearily looking around, sweeping across Violet and up to Nick, before her eyes opened wide and her gaze returned to Violet, freezing in place. "Violet..." she breathed. "I... It's you... My girl..."
"Hi, mom. Good morning." Violet managed to get out without choking, though it was a bit of a struggle. Her eyes were feeling wet again, which she normally hated. She had spent years supressing any sort of weak emotional displays, from as far back as she could remember. Show no weakness had pretty much been her mantra during her childhood at number four and it was something she had continued to adhere to at Hogwarts. Hermione, the other girls in the dorm and the older girls on the Quidditch team had helped her realize that it was okay to show emotions, but it was something she was still struggling with.
Except anger.
There was no struggle whatsoever when it came to showing if she was angry at something or someone.
But yesterday had been somewhat of an outlier. She'd probably spent more time in tears yesterday then she had during the rest of the year so far. She wasn't even sure how many times during that last talk with her mother before she fell asleep she had openly cried, but there had been a significant amount of crying for both of them involved.
"Mom..." Violet breathed and reached out with her hand, putting it on her mother s cheek. "I'm here, you're here." she said, partly to convince herself that it was actually true and party to reassure her mother who also seemed to have problems believing her eyes in spite of the evidence right in front of her.
The two shed a few tears in silence as they just kept staring at each other for a while, then Violet saw her mothers gaze move upwards, likely to Nick behind her.
"There wasn't really time to introduce myself properly yesterday, it was a bit hectic on top of me being both stressed and exhausted. My memory is a bit hazy, but I do remember being both abrupt, dictatorial and insulting with you. Sorry about that." Nick apologized. "My name is Nick Jones."
Lily quietly observed him for a few seconds, her expression shifting between many different extremes while she pondered his words.
"Lily Potter." she eventually replied. "I... Thank you. I have many questions and many concerns about whatever you did, but thank you."
"No big plans for today other then a more thorough examination of you then there was time for yesterday, getting you started on a rehabilitation regime and taking care of Violet's issues, so I'll be available for questioning and explanations all day." he assured her. "First things first however. I would imagine that you are both ravenous and in dire need of the bathroom. Which need is more urgent?" he asked.
"Ah... Bathroom, please." Lily replied in a heavily embarrassed tone of voice.
"Of course." Nick replied and moved around the bed, pulling the sheets back and then maneuvered her up into his arms.
Violet took the opportunity to get up and change into something other then t-shirt and panties which was all she had worn for sleep.
While that was going on, Lily had to suffer through the indignity of having Nick holding her seated upright on the toilet while she took a leak, then just stew in helplessness as he wiped her off and pulled the panties her daughter had lent her yesterday back up.
She felt like a small helpless baby as he then seated her on his lap, her back resting against his chest as he brushed her teeth for her.
She appreciated having it done, but sweet Maeve was it embarrassing!
Her face was bright red as he carried her back to Violets bedroom and placed her down near the headrest of Violets bed, propping her up into a seated position with a few pillows. Her head just wouldn't stay upright though, so she had to endure further helplessness as he sat down next to her and put his arm behind her neck, propping her head up against it and his shoulder. Then he and Violet had to feed her food and drink, occasionally taking a few bites for themselves.
He'd made plenty of grilled cheese sandwiches with ham and red bell peppers, which was simple to eat one-handedly. He'd also used some leftovers to make a quick chicken and vegetable soup.
Lily didn't know which was worse, Nick feeding her bites of grilled cheese or Violet offering her spoonful s of soup. It was so incredibly humiliating to not be able to even do something as simple as feed herself and she was the mother, her daughter wasn't supposed to be caring for her like this!
"There's no shame in accepting help, we all need it from time to time." Nick murmured from next to her.
That man was by far too perceptive for her peace of mind.
The frigging pervert!
Only the fact that she hadn't been able to move had silenced her yesterday evening. The angle hadn't allowed her to see exactly what he did, but this sleazebag who was taking care of her now had been rummaging around what she considered her daughters no-go zone yesterday. She had seen Violet jerk in surprise and stare at him when he removed the towel and started massaging her, but Violet hadn't said anything and once the surprise had passed, she had seemed oddly fine with what was happening. That and her inability to move was the only reason why Mount Lily hadn't erupted.
She had been tired afterwards, but had spent time talking with Violet, asking her questions about her life. The last ten minutes or so before Lily had been forced to end their talk so she could sleep had been pretty much all about Nick. The last couple of minutes or so were hazy, but she distinctly recalled Violet telling her that she first met Nick this summer and only really started to get to know him in the last couple of days!
And that pervert had put his hands all over her daughter!
And Lily herself!
And kissed her!
And threatened to Possess her daughter and have her own flesh and blood kiss her!
And seen her vomit, tinkle and shit! At the same time!
And called her a howling banshee! And whiny! Pointed out that her formerly wonderful round mounds were now reduced to flat barely-there flat shambles of their old selves! Told her to shut up, put a sock in it and zip it! Called her Wondergirl, Big Red, non-sleeping beauty and mocked her inability to move!
And admitted to having Crucioed AND electrocuted her!
And spanked her daughters rear to admonish her!
The list of his offenses and crimes against her and her daughter s dignity was a long and dire one indeed.
He'd also brought her back to life, somehow.
He'd apparently taken in her daughter after she'd been abandoned by Tunia and the ruddy tub of lard she called a husband.
He took great care of her and was apparently a great cook in addition to a talented Healer. The toast was good, but nothing truly special. But both todays soup and yesterdays soup had been pretty darn amazing.
He'd... He'd given her another chance to be with her daughter.
Lily had missed so much, missed her little girl growing up into such a lovely young woman, but she'd been given a chance to be a part of her daughters life once again.
She had not missed the way Violet looked at him or spoke about him either. She didn't know if it was just a crush or something more serious, but her wonderful little girl really liked this bloody arsehole!
Lily was way too young for this kind of bullshit!
She wasn't entirely sure of what had taken place after HE had come to Godric's Hollow and killed both James and Lily herself. She didn't know where she had been and what she had seen or experienced, all she had was some faint hazy snapshots of Violets life. When the two of them had talked while lying in bed yesterday, those snapshots had gotten more context and confirmed that whatever Lily had been doing, she'd somehow managed to look in on Violets life, at least from time to time. A lot of what Violet told her about was completely unfamiliar, but some things felt familiar, as if she'd already known or partially known about it.
But in spite of time obviously having passed since, a lot of time in fact, it didn't really feel like it for her. It was as if she'd just closed her eyes and when she opened them again, nearly fifteen years had passed. Her little girl was no longer quite so little. Instead of having to change her diapers, now Lily apparently had to have a little talk with her about how inappropriate it was for her to crush on a much older rude sleezy man!
She felt like tearing her hair out in despair, she thought she'd have years to get used to the thought of her little girl becoming interested in boys and needing to have 'the talk' with her, instead felt as if it had come out of nowhere!
She turned pale. Violet had grown up with Petunia.
What were the chances that Petunia had given her the talk or supplied accurate and adequate information if she had?
Oh god, her teenaged daughter hadn't gotten the talk! She was operating on whatever knowledge she'd picked up from fairy tales and other girls her age, wasn't she?
She whimpered.
"Mom? You alright?" Violet asked anxiously.
"Please tell me that some responsible adult have given you 'the talk'? Even if you have to lie to me, please tell me that!" Lily shouted in a panicked tone of voice.
There was complete and utter silence for several seconds, Violet looked shocked beyond belief and just stared incomprehensibly at her.
"Oh sweet Maeve! Nobody has?!" Lily yelped. "Get me out of this bed! I need to kill Tunia! I'll skin her alive! I'm sure I can manage a wandless skinning curse, get me up and to Petunia!" she ranted and cursed her inability to move her limbs. She needed them! She needed her limbs to go kill her older sister!
"Mom! Mom! Calm down, please." Violet yelped. "I've... Uhm... I've had 'the talk'." she muttered, just barely audibly, then grew angry and glared. "Stop laughing!" she snapped and pointed at Nick, who was shaking with supressed laughter next to Lily.
"Sorry, sorry." he apologized. "It was just such an unexpected outburst. I couldn't help myself." he added and chortled.
Lily was still stewing angrily and struggling to keep herself from going into an angry insult-filled rant when Nick finally finished with his examination of her.
After breakfast, he'd given Violet another massage.
That creep had laid his dirty mitts on her daughter again!
Granted, he had left Violet's breasts and no-go area alone this time, instructing her to deal with them on her own before a shower to wash off the Potion he'd massaged into her. But he'd had his grubby paws everywhere else, including her bum. It had admittedly also seemed to help, Violet had looked a lot less strained after the massage and the blue marks that marred her skin had turned pale white. She knew that the Potion and massaging it in was the correct treatment for especially bad Magic Burns, which these certainly seemed to be, but she did NOT like that Nick was the one who administered the treatment.
Then when he turned around afterwards so that Violet could get up and put on a bathrobe, she had seen Violets rock-hard nipples and pronounced wetness downstairs, a small stream trickling down her inner thigh. Her daughter had gotten turned on by that massage! That made Lily even less keen on the notion of Nick doing the treatment.
Violet had darted off to finish up her treatment and take a shower, while Nick had turned his attention to her and given her an extensive examination, which had taken nearly thirty minutes and had required him to undress her for part of it. She was now back in the t-shirt and panties Violet had lent her, the girl in question having arrived back from the shower about fifteen minutes into the examination.
"Okay. I have good news and less good news, thankfully no really bad news. Which do you want first?" Nick announced after a few moments to consider his findings.
"Start with less good." Lily requested, pushing her anger aside for now in order to focus on the results of her examination.
"Your inability to move." he began and nodded at her body. "Your body is reacting to outside stimulus, both your legs and both arms moved when I gave you those electrical shocks earlier. So they work and your muscles are strong enough to do the job, once your brain relearns how to do it. I was a bit concerned about possible brain damage or something, but there's nothing wrong with your reasoning, you can talk and eat just fine, so I find that highly unlikely. I'm not quite sure why you remember how to do that, but not walk or move your arms, but I am confident that you can relearn how to. The question is just if you want to do it the fast or the slow way."
"What would be involved?" Lily asked.
"Slow way is basically just trial and error. We'll move your legs and arms for you, then you try to replicate it. Once you manage, then it's practise, practise and more practise, until it's something you do subconsciously without having to actively direct your body to move in certain ways." he started. "Can take days or it can take weeks, but it should be doable and your brain will eventually get the hang of it."
Lily made a displeased expression. That sounded pretty bad.
"Fast way is that I go into your head with Legimency and do it for you, reminding your brain how your body works." he said and held his right hand up, palm up, then tilted it back and forth as if weighing the two options. "You'd have to trust me not to implant the urge to pick your nose every time you hear pop music or something equally fun and embarrassing, but that should have you capable of movement before the day is over. It'll probably take a bit longer to become fully mobile, but much faster then just trial and error."
Lily glared angrily at him.
"You had better be capable of resurrecting yourself if you do anything of the sort." she announced in a deadly serious tone of voice. "I can hold a grudge and I always get my revenge for any slight against me and mine."
He chuckled.
"Well, it was just an example. But you would actually have to trust me with your mind and body for a bit, as I'd be Possessing you and moving your body on your behalf so your brain can pick up on how things work again." he added.
"Is there something you want to tell us? You've already Possessed me and now you're suggesting Possessing my mother too. Did you want to be a red-haired girl when growing up or something?" Violet interjected and Nick chuckled again, shaking his head in wry dismay.
"Can't say I recall ever having had that desire. Could be something I've repressed, but I'm good enough at Occlumency that I should be able to pull that memory out even if I had." he responded with a big grin.
Lily frowned.
She didn't like either choice.
Slow way, her mind would remain her own, but her body would likely be out of her control for quite a while. Which meant depending on others for every single little thing and more embarrassment, something which she'd had quite enough of already since returning.
Fast way, this daughter-fondling jerk would be inside her head and able to completely screw her over if he felt like it, but she would have control over her own body back faster.
She sighed.
"Fine, you can poke around in my head. But if you screw me over or try to pull some foolish prank, I'll end you. I've had quite enough of pranks to last me a lifetime with Sirius and J..." she started to rant, only to trail off.
James...
She had heard HIM kill James downstairs, before that monster made his way upstairs. From their perspective it was more then a decade ago. For her, less then a day.
She closed her eyes and took several deep fast breaths, trying to hold her tears back.
No, Voldemort was no he or him. That monster didn't deserve that classification.
It.
It was a thing.
A horrible, horrible thing.
"That... Thing! That thing will pay for what it did!" she snarled. "That thing killed James! That thing killed me! That thing tried to kill my daughter!"
That thing having his body destroyed when it tried to kill Violet was in no way, shape or form enough of a punishment. It was apparently still somehow alive from what Violet had told her yesterday, so Lily actually had a shot at revenge.
And dear Lords of Magic, it would be a long, slow, horrible and painful revenge!
"Yeah... We'll make him pay." Violet agreed.
"Do it. Do it now! I have a thing to kill." Lily growled.
"Deep breaths, please. Being inside your head if you're spitting mad would be a thoroughly unpleasant experience." Nick explained. "But yeah, I'll do it. But I think we'll go with the good news first, to give you a chance to settle down a bit." he added and looked very thoughtful for a few moments. "I'm not sure how much Violet has told you about the circumstances behind your resurrection, but it wasn't planned, something we actually set out to do."
"How could I explain anything? I was downstairs in the bath while you were looking into something wonky you'd discovered involving my protection and my mothers body. Then I heard screaming in the middle of my bath and when I got upstairs I discovered you mucking about with Necromancy! I'm still waiting for an explanation myself!" Violet snapped and threw her hands up into the air in frustration.
"Ah, yes. That. I think using magic turns people insane with time, it would certainly explain all the weird shit in the Wizarding World. Got to try and figure out a way to shield myself against that. It would certainly explain why I did what I did yesterday, with no plan and no backup. I just acted on pure gut feeling and faint suspicions that what I attempted might be possible." Nick groused, looking faintly embarrassed. "Anyway, the good news. I remember reading about some of your exploits during Voldemorts rise to power and that you actually faced him in combat on multiple occasions, although to great cost for yourself. Your right leg was badly and permanently injured during your first confrontation and I seem to recall reading something about your left eye?"
"Yeah. That thing hit me with some rare dark eastern European Bone Breaker, the Healers did the best they could, but they couldn't set it quite right and the curse lingered, so they couldn't vanish and regrow my bones either. I got off without scars and could move on it, but it hurt something fierce at times and I couldn't run on it very well and even walking could be hard at times, especially stairs or really uneven ground. A kidney turned inert and I lost some liver function from another curse, nobody was ever really sure what that thing hit me with, but it was damned nasty. The Healers said it was more or less a miracle that I managed to both get pregnant in the first place and carry Violet to term, as they had assumed I was barren. The last time made my left eye start to rot from whatever weird spell it hit me with. Albus managed to slow it down somehow with some Phoenix tear-based Potion I'd never heard of before then, but I'll probably lose that eye in two or three years." Lily admitted after a while, her eyes blazing with fury and rage.
"Yeah, no worries on either front now." Nick commented flippantly. "Whatever lingering effects there were from the curses he managed to get you with ended when your body died or shortly after with no magic to latch on to, so the Potions I used to restore your body before I brought you back fixed those issues since there was no dark magic keeping them from healing properly. Your eye is fine, your leg is fine, you have all your kidneys working and your liver is fine. Other then being dangerously underfed and needing exercise to strengthen your body again, you're probably healthier now then you were before you died." he announced and Lily blinked.
Her eye did feel fine, she had to admit. It hadn't been painful before once Albus had given her that potion, but it did feel weird and itched sometimes, but she had felt none of that after she was brought back. She couldn't move her leg, but she certainly didn't feel that low-key pain that had been a more or less constant companion since she was eighteen. She had to take his word for the kidney and liver thing, it's not like there had been anything tangible about that other then some restrictions to her diet.
"That... That is good news." she admitted.
"Now then, feel like letting me inside your head so we can take care of the last little issue?" he asked, judging that she was now calm enough that he wouldn't wind up with the mother of all headaches after entering her mind.
"Remember, if you mess with me, I'll mess you up!" she warned him and sighed. "But yeah, do it."
Nick chuckled and turned to Violet.
"Well, at least there's no doubt from which side of the family you get your fiery temper and unrelenting spunk, shorty." he laughed and shook his head. "Big Red Wondergirl is just like you, only not as much of a midget!"
"Put a sock in it, you ruddy plonker! Fix my mother so I can give you the straight right you so rightly deserve, Jerkface McArsehole." Violet snarled.
Nick chuckled again and turned back to Lily. He just looked at her for a moment and then she felt him trickle inside her mind.
Occlumency wasn't something she'd worked a lot on over the years, but she had a decent defence and had been tested by friends when learning and actually full-on assaulted at times by various Death Eaters.
This wasn't an assault on her mind like she recalled from the war nor was it quite like the gentler attempts to breach her defences she'd experienced when learning Occlumency. She could feel him sidle up to her mental walls and almost caress them in a gentle manner. Then, before she could even lower her shields, he just slipped past them with an ease that was almost scary. They hadn't been at full power, but they should certainly have been able to repel most assaults. But here it wasn't even something to repel, it was as if he just noted that they were there and then somehow avoided them.
Albus was the only one who'd ever tested her defences that had done something similar, but she'd been able to at least fight him even if he had been a slippery bugger. Here, there was nothing to fight, nothing she could pit herself against. He just slipped right past her and was inside before there was anything she could do. It was scarily impressive how skilled he was at the Mind Arts, she'd never even heard of a Legimency attack like that.
She almost panicked at how defenceless she was, but then his presence expanded until he was everywhere inside her mind. She could feel herself not quite being pushed aside, more like regulated to the passenger seat inside her own head. She was fully aware, but otherwise disconnected from what was going on. She tried to keep a track on her entire mind, memories and emotions, keeping a close eye on things so she'd notice if he changed anything.
She DID NOT want to wind up going digging for boogers every time she heard pop music, as he had joked about earlier.
"Right arm, pay attention to what is happening. Remember the sensations and try to feel what I'm doing to it." she felt his voice booming inside her head and through her eyes she saw how her right arm shakily rose from the bed.
She instantly focused, trying to feel, trying to remember, trying to figure out how it was done.
Her arm lowered to the bed.
"Again." she heard his voice as if it came from a thousand loudspeakers all around her.
The arm rose again and she fully focused on what was happening.
This repeated itself multiple times, he raised and lowered her arm, clenched her fist, moved individual fingers, scratched her own nose which had indeed felt somewhat itchy.
"I'll leave you in charge for a while now. Try to move your arm." he instructed her and she felt herself sliding over into the mental drivers seat again, while he relaxed into the passenger seat.
She almost felt like crying in joy as she managed to replicate the feat, her arm ever so slowly going up. It was a chore to move it, she could feel the strain as recently restored but weak muscles tried to obey her instructions.
But she could move her arm!
She made a fist and raised it victoriously into the air, before she let it drop to her side.
Her gaze shifted to her left arm and perhaps a minute later, it twitched, then slowly moved up.
"Very good." Nick's approving voice boomed all throughout her head.
She let the left arm drop and shifted her attention to her legs, trying to make them move as well. She tried for several minutes, but nothing happened that she could see.
"One moment." Nick announced and she felt herself sliding into the passenger seat again.
Her right leg bent, then her left. Her feet moved back and forth. Her toes curled and stretched out. He spent perhaps two minutes moving her legs in all sort of ways.
"Now you." he hinted and stretched out her legs to their former position and then she was back in control.
It took a bit longer this time, but perhaps a minute after she was back in control, her right leg twitched into motion and shortly after that, so did her left.
Nick got back in control, then started moving her head around, twisting and turning, bending it up and down. Her torso twisted, bent and stretched back out. He lifted one buttock from the bed, then the other. Then her entire body moved all at once for a while and then she felt him slip out of her mind as gently as he had arrived, leaving her in full control and sans mental passenger.
She blinked and slowly turned her head to the left, then right. She raised her right arm, she bent her left leg and then she smiled.
"Yes!" she cheered.
"That's awesome, mom!" Violet approved.
"A word of warning before you try to run to the bathroom or something." Nick said. "You probably won't have the greatest control for a bit, may have issues correctly judging how much or how little force to use and I would assume that relearning how to balance yourself could be somewhat of a challenge. But the greatest issue is that your body just isn't used to being used at the moment, so you'll likely get tired very fast, possibly by something as seemingly easy as just walking across the room. Keep that in mind before you try to do something on your own." he warned her.
"I do feel tired already." she admitted reluctantly. "Just from moving my arms and legs a little bit."
"Yeah, the Potions healed your muscles, but it didn't rebuild them to what they were fifteen years ago, they're more like they were after fifteen years in the ground. So they're healthy, but weak and untrained. Your stamina is also likely pretty shitty, so you will have to work on your endurance quite a lot. I'll set up a diet, exercise regiment and brew some Potions to compliment them, that should have you back on your feet before long." Nick promised.
"How long?" she asked worriedly.
He looked consideringly at her in silence for a bit, appearing to be debating something with himself.
"Unless learning to rebalance yourself takes you longer than I expect, you'll probably be able to go to the bathroom and back by yourself in three days or so. In a week, you could probably handle a walk around the block. In two or three months, you'll likely be stronger than you were before your demise." he eventually replied. "If your initial recovery goes well, say after a week or so, we can revisit this discussion."
"You have an alternative?" Lily caught on, perking up a bit. Knowing that she eventually would be back in action and even healthier than before was great, but she did not like the time frame for it.
"I do, but you just don't have the strength for it at the moment and you probably won't like the requirements. Stick to the diet and exercises I give you. Once you're stronger, we can discuss the other option." he argued.
"The other option is?" Lily insisted.
Nick sighed and shook his head.
"Knowing you, it's probably something crazy." Violet mused. "But crazy or not, it'll work and mom will be better then ever. So? What is it?" she asked and Lily smiled approvingly in her direction, getting a boost of confidence knowing that her daughter was on her side in this.
Nick groaned.
"Merlin save me from stubborn redheads." he muttered. "In extremely simple terms... Building muscle is basically breaking them down with exercise, then having them rebuild themselves stronger then they were. The breaking down bit can be speeded up by overworking like crazy, then one of the Potions I can make would speed the rebuilding process up to a ridiculous degree. You'd be able to get multiple days work of progress done in a single day thanks to that. But doing so would also sap energy like crazy, both magic and from your body. You'd wind up eating like a competitive eater for every meal and probably need some major snackage in between those meals to satisfy your body. Your magic, well... You'd run out and need regular infusions over the course of a day to refill your reserves. I can help a bit, but the biggest magic battery around here is..." he explained and turned to look at Violet as he trailed off.
"Ah." Lily said and averted her gaze from the both of them, looking up at the roof.
"So not just crazy, but deranged and degenerate to boot." Violet groaned as she recalled the 'infusions' from yesterday. "Yeah, that sounds like one of your ideas alright!" she complained.
She was happy to have her mother back and did want to help her out in any way she could, but smooching her? Multiple times a day? Repeatedly? And wait, what had Nick said yesterday, he needed to Possess her to do it?
Yeah, that sure sounded crazy, deranged and degenerate to her all right!