dursley [h. g.]

••dursley•• || the plot thickens

"Kendra," Mabel said with a grin as she stepped into the tent, a couple of mushrooms in her hand. "Didn't think you'd be up by now."

"I've done enough sleeping," Kendra said, offering the younger girl a smile. "How were the mushrooms?"

Mabel shrugged, unable to shake her grin. "Most of them were not the eating kind unless you wanted to lay on the floor for the next two hours and watch the sky dance."

"I'm not opposed," Damon noted. "Only so much to do here."

"So," Mabel began again, a much more serious tone to her voice, "I'm sure you already told Damon, but I'd like to know what happened to you as well."

Kendra sighed, knowing that she should have waited to tell Damon until Mabel was back. "The day Dumbledore died, I went to the hospital wing. Somehow Bellatrix knew I was there. I went with her, not that I think I had a choice. Erm... I mean, what else is there to know? I sat in a dark basement, I sat in some dusty room, I got tortured, they wanted me for something but realized I wasn't going to give it to them. I figured  I didn't have long before they killed me so I booked it. Turns out, apparating without a wand is really hard." Kendra smiled wryly and held up her hand. 

"You apparated without a wand?" Mabel asked, impressed. "You're lucky to have only lost a few fingers, then. There's a reason most people don't even try."

"Sucks that you lost your middle finger though," Damon sighed. "You'll never be able to give me the double bird again."

Kendra rolled her eyes. "I'll figure out how to flip you off with my toe," she decided.

"I'm surprised flipping people off is what you thought of," Mabel said very plainly. "I was thinking how much your girlfriend is going to miss that finger."

Kendra couldn't help but smile very smugly, despite the lingering fear in the back of her head that Hermione would take one look at her gnarled hand and run. "Oh, don't worry Mabel," she said, her tone light. "I use my other hand."

Realization spread across Damon's face as he put together what Kendra and Mabel were talking about. "Okay, wow, that's a detail that I wish I hadn't heard, really did not wake up thinking I would figure out with hand you use to f--"

"Damon, I've had to listen to you talk about your graphic sexual fantasies for the past three years," Kendra interrupted. "I had to listen to you talk about wanting a french boy to stick a stale baguette up your ass, you can handle me telling you which hand I use to finger my girlfriend."

Mabel burst into laughter and Damon grinned, slightly abashed. "He was hot," Damon said with a shrug as if that justified it. "You're telling me you wouldn't?"

"Yes," Kendra and Mabel said in unison before both of them burst into giggles. 

Damon rolled his eyes. "So, what's the plan?" he asked Kendra, leading the conversation away from the obscene thoughts he had voiced in his youth. 

Kendra shrugged. "Dunno," she replied. "I honestly did not think further ahead than get out of that god-awful place."

"You can stay here as long as you need to," Mabel offered. "It's not the greatest and we are sort of on the run. It's probably not the safest place, but..."

"It's my best option right now," Kendra sighed. "My parents are in hiding, Lisa better be in hiding, Luna is at school probably, Hermione is off with my cousin to save the world... This is probably as safe as it gets."

"Happy to help," Damon said with a smile. "We've got plenty of everything but food, and we're working on that. There's stuff in the woods."

"Thank you both," Kendra said genuinely. 

"Say, Kendra," Damon said suddenly. "When you were telling me earlier, you said you went to the Death Eaters consensually."

"I also said that wasn't the right word," Kendra rebutted, sighing slightly. She had hoped that detail would have passed over Damon's head, but evidently not. She really did not want to have to explain everything she was supposed to do to them. Damon kept staring at her, wanting an answer. "Fine. I let myself get captured because I need to save Theodore and Draco and I need to kill Bellatrix Lestrange."

"Save them?" Mabel asked curiously. 

"They're not really loyal to him," Kendra clarified. "They're just afraid, and eventually their fear is either going to run out of stop saving their asses. I was feeding Dumbledore information from them for almost a year." She scowled at the mention of Dumbledore, still thinking about how he had wanted her to fake her death. 

"So did I," Morgana mentioned, slightly sulky. "But I do love a bit of drama and what is more dramatic than faking your death?" Kendra silently told Morgana to shut up. 

"Sounds like you need a plan then," Damon said. "I'm an excellent planner."

"You wouldn't know what a plan was if it bent you over and poured you out," Mabel replied dryly. "Lucky for you I happen to be an excellent problem solver."

"Thank you, really," Kendra said once again, smiling at her friends. "You really don't have to help me with this. If it's ever too much, feel free to stop, this is my burden to bear."

"We're your friends, Kenz," Mabel replied with a smile. "You've helped me more times than I can count, and Damon definitely owes you one. It's our duty to help you out when you need it. Now, stop being the mom friend, and let's make a plan."

"I'll never stop being the mom friend," Kendra grinned. "Living with Lisa for six years burned that into my brain."

"Like she didn't wake you up every morning," Damon said rolling his eyes.

"Hush," Kendra said, opening her arms. "Give me a hug."

Damon and Mabel joined her in a group hug and for a moment, a part of her could forget that any of this had ever happened. She could close her eyes and she was back in her 4th year, teasing Damon about the French boys and trying to woo Hermione. She could forget about the pieces missing, both literally and metaphorically, from all three of them. She could forget about what lay under the stark white bandages on her left hand. She could forget about the scarred-over word on her arm, about the pain she had felt under Voldemort's cruciatus curse. She hoped her friends could forget about their troubles as well, about their father, about running away.

It was a taste of normal that made her miss life without the war all that much more when they finally pulled away. 

a/n: super filler chapter, also kind of a short one. hoping that I can get another one out today but I'm not sure how much longer I should drag out this part before the next major thing happens, it'll probably be a bit longer but maybe only one chapter. i just need some time to pass in the story and i have nothing planned as the time passes lol. but I'll figure it out.

since you'll bully me if i don't <3 

i made half of this one myself (can you guess which half 🤪)