AN: It's time for Violet to return! This is the last fic I planned on re-uploading for the time being. I just adored Vi too much. Enjoy.

First-time-readers: this fic contains graphic depictions of sex, smoking cigarettes and weed, drinking beer and other alcoholic beverages and a fem!Harry who has tats and piercings.

Middlesbrough at this time of year was a less than welcoming place.

It was cold, wet and the sky was kept a dreary grey by thick clouds. The streets were clogged with cars as people were on their way to work. Kids were chatting on the sidewalks with their friends as they were heading to school.

All of those things were happening as a pair of dull green eyes were forcing themselves to open up. A shiver ran through her body as she untangled herself from another body, her brain belatedly registering that they were both naked.

"Ah, shite," she muttered with a sigh as the memories slowly came back. She looked at her friend Jack, his sleeping form still kind of cute, even with his morning wood greeting her while his cheek was wet with his drool.

He had wanted to get in her knickers forever and sure, they had a couple or so drunken snogs. Sometimes they were high too. She definitely was no stranger when it came to the other sex, as she had had sex more than a few times with other guys.

Jack, however, was kind of a special case. She was the one who insisted on taking that street rat into their group of social misfits and outcasts, the kids that no one wanted.

She had been beaten black and blue by her uncle and aunt and ran away to save her own life. Jack was the son of a prostitute and ran away when he heard that her pimp wanted her to sell him to one of her Johns who expressed a...certain interest in him. Her best friend Mindy was a similar case to her – abused at home by her own family after a series of tragic events. Mindy hadn't been abused physically, but then, abuse had many shapes and forms. Jacob, the second guy in their group, was an orphan who ran away from his orphanage. Why he did he never explained, but they guessed he, too, had been abused in some way, like the rest of them.

In the end, all of them had their own stories and all of them ran away from their past lives.

They were unwanted by society, but they had found each other.

The girl looked through her makeshift drawer for a pair of fresh knickers before she headed to their bathroom.

Their group lived in an old apartment building in a poor part of the city, above a tattoo and piercing shop owned by a couple that allowed them to stay in one of the apartments. In return, they had to work and help in their shop for reduced pay.

Mr and Mrs Clarkson, the couple, had been in a similar situation as her friends and she had been, once upon a time, but the Clarksons pulled themselves out of it and made something out of themselves.

They earned good money, owned a building with several apartments and, while not rich, they certainly weren't doing badly for themselves, considering the cards life had handed to them back in their childhood.

"Morning, Vi," her best friend Mindy greeted her from under the shower with a sing-song voice, a knowing grin on her face.

"Shut up," was the only reply Violet Potter could come up with. She then pulled the mouldy curtain open and forced herself into the small shower next to her blonde friend.

Mindy was unfazed and simply handed her the showerhead while she shampooed her hair. "So, Jacky finally got to stick his dick in y-"

"You know, you could just say 'you shagged'."

"I could, but I don't want to."

Violet turned off the water with a sigh and held out a hand in which Mindy poured some shampoo. "Yep, we did it."

"So, how was it?" Mindy asked, eager for details. "It was his first time and he got to do it with his dream girl after all!"

Violet rolled her eyes at that. "What'd you think? Were you never some bloke's first time?"

"Uh-uh." Mindy shook her head no.

"It was kind of awkward because he was so tense and super excited, but he lasted longer than I thought he would. Less than five minutes if I had to take a guess."

"And? What now?"

Giving Mindy an unimpressed look, Violet let out another sigh. "If you are wondering about me getting together with Jack now, then no. That's the one line I absolutely refuse to cross with him. We snogged, we shagged, but I am not going to be his girlfriend. No bloody way. I enjoy my freedom too much to bind myself to one guy."

Mindy regarded Violet with a critical look before shaking her head. "Yeah, nah. Can't see you that way either. It'd be too weird."

They both chatted some more before they got out of the shower, Violet taking a towel before handing one over to her friend. After drying up and slipping into their knickers, they both shared the mirror to put on their make-up, which consisted of dark eyeliner for the both of them and they were lucky to have the luxury of an expensive brand because Mindy was really good at stealing things.

It wasn't like they needed those skills anymore, but when Mindy was younger it was a necessity so she could survive.

The Clarksons, while not paying them a lot since they basically got to live without rent, did pay them some for the work they did at the couple's shop. They did not offer them discounts for any tattoos or piercings, though. They needed to pay fully for those.

Violet was working on a sleeve on her left arm, which currently was almost reaching her elbow. She also had, in addition to her earlobe piercings, the helix of her right ear pierced a couple of times. A ring in her right nostril completed her look.

"Do you have a shift today?" Mindy asked her as she was taking the brush from her since her makeup was done.

"Yep," Violet replied, popping the p. Her dark hair was barely reaching below her chin and while she would love for it to be longer, it simply was impossible to handle. More than once had she found herself cursing the person from whom she had inherited her hair. "Got to work the desk today."

"Not gonna lie, I hate that. Every couple of minutes some asshole calls for an appointment or to reschedule or whatever. I'd rather just clean up after hours."

"I know you do. You complain every time you work at the desk. I'm fine with it though. Hey, do you think a lip piercing would look good on me?" Violet asked as she was eyeing herself critically in the mirror, imagining herself with a ring at the corner of her lower lip.

"Yeah, I think so. Should be black though. You just pull off that dark look too well."

Satisfied with the answer, Violet left the bathroom, carefully stepping over empty bottles of various alcoholic beverages, chuckling at the face drawn on Jacob's naked bum. Then, she made it to her room. A fond smile stole itself on her face at seeing Jack in her bed, snoring away, oblivious to her presence. Pushing the bong in front of her closet away with a foot, she put on a bra, a finger subconsciously tracing that weird scar right under her breast. She shook her head and put on a pair of black jeans and a thin sweater.

Violet checked her watch and, after seeing that she still had another hour, went into the kitchen. She poured herself a small bowl of Coco Pops and started eating, enjoying the chocolate-y goodness. A few moments later she was joined by Mindy, who, for reasons none of them understood, preferred Frosted Shreddies to the chocolate-y breakfast the rest of them liked.

"What are you doing today?" Violet asked after swallowing her mouthful of cereal.

"I don't know. Maybe I'll come down later and hang around the shop for a bit."

"You know Mrs. Clarkson doesn't like it when you do that," Violet commented idly.

Mindy gave her a deadpan look in return. "She also doesn't like us doing drugs and you still were high and drunk yesterday."

Violet laughed at that. "She doesn't mind alcohol and weed."

"Ugh. I'm going to be so bored."

"I'm sure you will survive," Violet said with a shrug while she was rummaging in her black leather jacket, which was hanging from the back of her chair, for her cigarette packet.

Mindy held out a hand and, with a roll of her eyes, Violet pulled one cigarette out and handed it to her friend. After lighting one for herself, she leaned back and inhaled the smoke deeply, filling her lungs, then letting the smoke escape slowly.

"Men's best invention, without a doubt," Violet said while eyeing her cigarette fondly.

"What about weed though?"

Violet blinked once, then corrected herself with a grin. "You got me there. Men's second-best invention, then. After weed."

It was afternoon and Violet had worked a few hours at the shop already. Most of the time, it was pretty relaxing and she could not understand what it was Mindy hated so much about sitting around, leafing through a magazine, taking the occasional phone call. She really didn't have all that much to do since Pearl Tattoo and Piercing wasn't really a big name in the scene.

"Vi, we have no more appointments after this one," Mrs Clarkson told her as she called in the nervous-looking bloke from the waiting area. "You can end your shift now. Be a dear and tell Jacob to come to help us clean up in about an hour."

"Will do. Bye, Mrs Clarkson," Violet replied as she typed in her working hours into the computer. Once done, she made her way out of the shop and immediately lit herself a cigarette.

She then pulled out her phone – a cheap prepaid since she didn't feel the need for fancy smartphones – and sent Jacob a message, telling him he needed to be ready in an hour for his job.

Moments later she got her answer, but not the one she was expecting. "We were gonna come to the shop cuz some old lady rly wants to c u and she says she knows u. Come up."

Her eyebrows rose up high at that. She re-read the message a couple of times, then shrugged.

Putting her phone back into her jeans' side pocket and finishing her smoke, Violet entered the apartment building and went up the several flights of stairs to reach their apartment's floor. She really hated that there was no lift in the building but, considering that it was quite an old building, it wasn't really surprising in the end.

Slightly out of breath, Violet unlocked their apartment door and entered, curious about that supposed old lady. Taking off her sneakers, she made her way into their living room slash kitchen and did a double-take at the sight before her.

There was a woman in robes and a pointy hat, looking so very out of place and uncomfortable. Meanwhile, Mindy, Jacob and Jack were playing Super Mario Kart on the newest Nintendo console they all paid for together, after saving up for a bit.

"Uh...hi?" Violet spoke up, drawing the attention of everyone to her.

"Ms Potter, I assume? I am Professor Minerva McGonagall," the lady spoke up first with a thick Scottish accent. "It took us quite the effort to finally track you down after you disappeared from your relatives' home."

"Fuckin' hell, Vi! You've got your own stalkers!" Jacob exclaimed and looked more excited than he should be.

"And that is a good thing how, you cock?!"

"I see we have to start from square one," the Professor interrupted them, showing no indication that she heard the cussing coming from Violet.

"Wait a minute," Violet began, her eyes suddenly widening. "McGonagall, you said? That's your name?"

"Yes, I did. I am pleasantly su-"

"You sent me that bloody letter about that stupid magic school, didn't you?"

"Miss Potter, I would prefer a priva-"

"Do you know what Vernon did to me after I read that shite and asked him about it?" Violet interrupted her again and didn't give her a chance to speak at all. "I'm almost blind on one eye because he smashed my face into the fucking staircase! He beat me into a bloody fucking pulp almost every day but not once did I actually fear for my life like I did after I read that fucking letter!"

McGonagall was seemingly at a loss and didn't know what to say and just as she was about to speak, Violet beat her to it again.

"I don't want to hear what you have to say. Get out of our apartment and don't come back. You and your kind, stay out of my life."

"Very well, Miss Potter," McGonagall spoke, her tone sounding more collected than she looked. "I will leave you for now. however, I will have to warn you that you may have to expect more visits like this. You are needed and have been absent from your des-"

Violet held out a hand to stop the old lady before she reached the point Violet assumed she was going for. "Seriously, I am about to call the fucking bobbies."

A sound of frantic scrambling on the floor drew everyone's attention to Jacob, just when he dashed into the kitchen. Before he left, Violet was sure she heard him say something along the lines of 'hide the weed'.

A look of distaste was barely visible on the Professor's face before she returned her gaze from Jacob to Violet. "I will take my leave then, Miss Potter."

"Yeah, you do that. You know where the exit is."

Violet watched McGonagall disappear in the corridor and the moment she turned around the corner and disappeared from sight, a loud bang sounded, surprising them all into a small jump.

"Was that a gunshot?" Mindy asked tentatively.

Jack shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know...should we check?"

Violet could only shrug her shoulders as well. "Might as well..."

The three of them were on their way towards the door as Jacob joined them, coming out of his room. "Is she gone? I hid the weed, just in case you need to call the bobbies."

"Well done, mate," Jack gave him a thumbs up.

Violet signalled for them to be quiet before she leaned around the wall and peeked into the corridor leading to their apartment door. "No one's there," Violet muttered.

She turned around to the others. "Did any of you hear the door open or close?"

"Nope." "Nah." "No."

"Weird," was all Violet could say.

"So, Vi," Mindy began as the four of them returned to the living room, while she made a small detour towards the fridge to get a beer for each of them. "How about you tell us about that magic letter you mentioned earlier?"

"Really?" Violet groaned as she plopped down onto their single and old sofa. Jack sat down next to her on the sofa, his arm already sneaking around her shoulders.

"Hands off, mate," she muttered, annoyed, and once he retracted his arm and she had opened her beer, she began. "Just before my eleventh birthday I got this really weird letter addressed exactly to where I lived, right down to that bloody cupboard." Violet took a sip from her beer and glanced at her friends, the three of them hanging onto her every word. "I obviously read it because no one ever gave a shit about me, so I was curious and it said all that crap about magic. So, stupid me, I went and asked Vernon about it. Next thing I know, he took the letter and tossed me across the kitchen. Then he gave me the worst beating ever. Rest is history."

Mindy looked thoughtful before she spoke up. "It's kind of scary though that these people seem so bloody obsessed with you..."

"Bloody tell me about it..." Violet muttered while trying not to think about all those unexplainable things that happened during her horrid childhood. She was glad when something else entirely came to her mind. She checked her phone for the time before turning to Jacob. "You needed to be down at the shop ten minutes ago, mate."

"Oh shite!"