dursley [h. g.]

••dursley•• || reality

By some miracle, Kendra managed to catch her cousin, her girlfriend, and Ron before they got inside their common room. "Hey," she panted, slightly out of breath. Worried, Harry approached her cautiously.

"Are you alright?" he asked. "You didn't run here, did you?"

"Of course I didn't," Kendra shook her head. "I don't think... I could if I tried. Walking is hard." Harry stared at her for a moment longer.

"Wanna come in and sit?" he asked, jerking his head towards the portrait. Wordlessly, Kendra nodded. 

Once they had all sat in the still mostly empty common room and Kendra had caught her breath, the stitch in her side subsiding greatly, Harry asked the question that was clearly on the trio's minds. "Why'd you come in with McGonagall?"

"Hmm?" Kendra asked, not looking at Harry. It took her a second to try and decipher what he had said. "Oh, I was in Dumbledore's office and she came looking for him. When she came in, I figured it had something to do with you and I just wanted to make sure that you three were alright."

"Oh," Harry said, understanding momentarily before a new question blossomed across his face and burst forth from between his lips. "Why were you in Dumbledore's office?"

Kendra's face turned grave. "You're not the only one he's got little private meetings with," she said, unintentionally dramatic. "I was in there this morning, I didn't realize how long I stayed in there after he left, I guess."

"You've got meetings with Dumbledore?" Hermione asked, finally speaking up.

"Wicked," Ron commented, silenced by Hermione's glare. Kendra bit back a smile before nodding in response. 

"Not usually, but there were some... additional circumstances this week," Kendra shrugged.

"And I'm assuming you can't tell me what those were," Hermione replied, her tone slightly dry. 

"I can't tell you what it means," Kendra began. "But Dumbeldore essentially told me about a major event in my life that changes what my purpose is that I have no memory of."

"Join the club," Harry muttered under his breath, and Kendra snorted. "Does that have anything to do with why you were with Draco Malfoy?"

"I passed him in the hallway," Kendra lied smoothly, though she felt a crack in her heart form as she said it. At worst, she would have to betray these people to accomplish her task and at best, she would return them to the same state of worry that they had been in the past summer. Guilt and dread knotted together and sank like iron to the pit of her stomach. "It's not like we were enjoying a cup of tea. Besides, as much as I'm sure it hurts you to say, he saved my life."

Harry looked as though he had just had an epiphany. "He was there, over the summer, wasn't he?" he said, accusation lacig every word, though Kendra was not sure if it was meant for her or for Draco.

"His family was in charge of me, if that's what you want to call it," Kendra shrugged. "He found out and he might be a royal prick-" even being friends with him, Kendra could not deny that this was true- "but he finds no joy in watching people starve or bleed to death. I did him a favor, and he thought he was paying me back. He's not  a Death Eater, Harry."

Hermione turned to Harry. "I told you so, there's no way he's a Death Eater," Hermione said, slightly smugly.

"Then why else was he acting like that, on the train, in the shop?" Harry asked again.

"Dunno, because he's a pompus git?" Ron asked incredulously. "Honestly, Harry, just drop it."

Harry said nothing else on the subject but was clearly unconvinced by his friends. Kendra couldn't help but smile at him. How infuriating that the one time he was spot on about something was the one time that he couldn't meddle in the plans already set in motion. Kendra took the lull in conversation to change the subject. "It feels like it's been ages since I've seen all of you at once. Normally I see you one at a time, this is a nice change."