Suppression

Another Visit

"Dud, Hermione's coming over today," Harry tiredly called to his still snoozing cousin.

"Mmkay."

Harry shook his head tiredly and entered the washroom to clean himself off of the blood that dried on his scalp and face. He should have known better than to think he would be afforded two straight nights of dreamless sleep. There was another problem, however. His traitorous mind found a way to implement Hermione into his nightmares. Whereas he was haunted by the memory of Cedric's death, his mind replaced the boy's corpse with Hermione's.

"Fucking hell," he muttered as he caught a glance to himself in the mirror. He looked like absolute dragon dung. His eyes were tired, his hair was matted, and his entire face was tinted with dried blood. With his distress showing, Harry began his morning ablutions.

As he rinsed under the shower, Harry thought about his cousin. Yet again, Dudley was there to wake him up from his nightmare and helped him clean up last night. His behemoth of a cousin had truly grown into the beginnings of a wonderful and considerate boy and, while he didn't complain, Harry still felt guilty for bringing his cousin into his life.

With his shower finished, Harry quickly dried off and changed into regular clothes for the day. He felt much better but the dull ache in his scar still remained as he made his way downstairs to prepare breakfast for the day. He hoped, by drowning himself into the task of cooking, the ache would be gone.

Dudley arrived downstairs in the midst of Harry preparing a full English breakfast and made his presence known through the grumbling of his stomach.

"Morning to you too, Dud." Harry smirked before flipping the eggs and grunting when his cousin clapped him on the shoulder.

"How's your friend coming again? Wasn't she over here two days ago?" Dudley called from his position atop the counter.

"Does it bother you?" Harry asked in response, not looking at his cousin behind them.

"Nah, it's just...I wasn't expecting it. Though, I can see why you would want her to come though," the larger boy reasoned with a slight chuckle.

"What's that mean?"

Dudley, still chuckling, leaned over his cousin's shoulder and smirked at him. "I think you like her," he told him.

"I—I...don't," a flustered Harry replied without looking. He tried in vain to contain his blush before turning fully away from his cousin and ignoring him.

"Really, I think you like her. She's pretty cute too," Dudley called from behind Harry, hoping to bait his cousin into showing his true feelings.

Harry whipped his head around instinctively and looked to his smirking cousin. Before he could think, he angrily questioned, "what's that supposed to mean?" Dudley's resulting guffaw told him that he completely took the bait and displayed a bit of jealousy. He didn't know why, but he didn't like the thought of Dudley, or anyone for that matter, saying Hermione was cute. She was his...best friend, his mind reminded him.

"She likes my other friend, Dud," Harry finally told him after calming down. The thought of her liking Ron was still a foreign concept to him as he questioned what exactly she saw in Ron and what they had in common. She had told him that the ball was less than spectacular but didn't go into any details as to what her relationship with Ron was. He assumed they were at least more than friendly and resolved to accept it as best he could.

"What does that have to do with you?"

Harry raised his eyebrows incredulously at the blunt response from his cousin.

"Well, I mean I was asking if you liked her, not if she liked your friend."

Harry shook his head with a slight grin on his face before turning back to the stove. "You were TELLING me I liked her," he sardonically laughed.