Hearth II James Potter

Chapter 1- Not Your Usual Prison Break

This week was the worst in all of Y/N's life. She was currently sitting in a small cell with barred windows, head leaning against the hard metal frame of the bed. Everything surrounding her was a depressing shade of gray, even the bed was devoid of color. The ceiling was high and was dripping small droplets of water, into a small puddle on the brick floor. The floor was stone cold, and Y/N curled her legs into herself to keep warm. There was a small sink on her left side and a toilet across from the room. The damp room smelled horrible, making her scrunch up her nose in disgust. Outside of the door was an ugly police officer, snoring and drooling during his shift. He was probably used to misfit kids getting dragged here and released the next day. After all, what was Y/N supposed to do? Fighting a man that had a good forty-five kilograms on her wasn't something that she would look forward to. One push from him and she'd tumble down like a domino.

Truthfully, Y/N did not make an effort to end up in a juvenile detention center that day. Well, she never did make one, but somehow life just found a way to humble her. Right when she started feeling invincible as if she was omnipotent, was when she got caught. Y/N was miserable, nobody would be able to bail her out once she had a trial, nor did she have any hopes of escape.

That morning had been particularly normal for Y/N. She and her brother crawled out from their hiding hole in the underground and even agreed to meet back at around three in the afternoon. Leo was going to go to school normally and pretend that he hadn't spent the night in an uncomfortable hole in the wall at a train station; Y/N was going to run around Oxford Street and pickpocket some adults who were in too much of a rush to realize their pockets getting lighter. She would also take the few clothes they had and pack them into her bag to take to a launderette so that Leo would go to school with clean clothes. Then they would meet back in the train station and travel together to another alley or bridge for the night. Y/N never let them stay in one place for too long in fear of attracting too much attention. When they would finally find a suitable place for them to sleep the night she was going to share the scraps of food that she was able to buy. If they were lucky they would be able to spend the night in someone's backyard and maybe sneak in to freshen up. Usually, Leo would wash in one of the school bathrooms, but Y/N was going to have to go to a public bathroom and contort herself in a sink. She would then help Leo with his homework as much as she could before forcing him to go to sleep so that he wouldn't be tired the next day for school.

But what she didn't account for that morning was to run into Niyan Davies, a notorious lag from her old neighborhood. When he had recognized Y/N he stalked her the whole afternoon, pestering her continuously about not playing with his younger sister anymore. He was a nuisance but harmless. They knew each other practically from birth, and Y/N was very used to watching him run away from police in the streets after pulling on of his stupid stunts. Niyan, Ni for short, was a seventeen year old from the northern part of Kensington. He had shaggy brown hair and was extremely tall, even for his age. He wasn't very skinny like the last time Y/N saw him on her old street, rather he seemed to have grown more muscular. His brown eyes always shined with mischief, as if he was already planning on how to rob you before you could even get a good look at him. Most people steered clear of him.

" 'ell if it in't little Nutty," Niyan said when he first saw her. "B'n 'bout four months since ya b'n seen." He had put his arm on her shoulder to keep her from running and Y/N was getting frustrated.

Y/N just shrugged him off, "What ya on 'bout Davies?"

"How ya fancy livin' wit Auntie?" he asked, a knowing look in his eye.

"Wou'd't know," Y/N supplied, "got kicked 'bout the first night. Left with the pip three months ago."

Ni laughed, a loud type of laugh that made mothers pull their children away and have adults hold onto their wallets in fear. Even Y/N flinched at the aggressive tone in his laugh but unlike everyone else she stood her ground.