dursley [h. g.]

••dursley•• || granger danger

"Did you hear what she just said," Ron said, elbowing Hermione, grinning, much more invested in the "friendly" competition between the two than Hermione or Kendra ever had been. Hermione stared after Kendra's retreating figure, watching as she sat next to her friends and smiled wearily. "She's pretty much out of it! You can be the best in our year for sure, now."

"Why do you care so much, Ron?" Harry asked, grinning at his friend suggestively. As far as dating went, Harry's ball was far from the court, nor did he want Ron and his cousin to get together–Ron wouldn't understand half of her vocabulary. He did know, or at the very least he could guess with decent accuracy, how to make a joke.

"What?" Ron said, shrugging, not missing what Harry's tone was implying but feeling more proud that his friend had made the joke than upset with his teasing. "I can't root for my best friend in some healthy competition?"

"I appreciate your support, Ron," Hermione said, still staring after Kendra, having missed the entire exchange between Harry and Ron, which ended in a grin shared between the two boys, "but I don't think this is a coincidence. Something's up."

"I can't say much," Harry said after a moment, trying to decide what he could and couldn't tell his friends,"but Kendra's been sick her whole life. I can't remember a time when she was healthy. I guess it's just finally taken its toll on her."

"I feel bad for her," Hermione replied, her fingers reaching down to pick at the sleeve of her robes with an absent mind. "I wouldn't be able to go from being one of the top students to being forced to find someone willing to tutor her–as if being the top of the class wasn't social suicide enough. I'm sure the Ravenclaws won't take too kindly to that either, they're not exactly supportive of tutoring." Hermione hardly spoke to any Ravenclaws, but she knew from her own experiences in muggle schools that being seen with a tutor was synonymous with stupidity.

"You could always tutor her," Ron pointed out, taking a bite of chicken, his mouth still full of potatoes. Hermione resisted a deep sigh at his inconsiderateness, succeeding but only due to her mind's absent state. "That way you can keep your eye on her and if she starts to get too good again, you've got her right where you want her."

As much guilt as Hermione felt towards forcing the competition onto Kendra, though Kendra had been just as eager in the years prior, she knew that Ron's idea was a good one, even though it was for all the wrong reasons. There was no other student in their year that she could think of that would be willing to tutor Kendra in secret. Hermione convinced herself that because she was Harry's cousin, though most of the school didn't know that, she had some loyalty towards the girl that she had found herself strangely fascinated with since the end of third year.

"That's not a bad idea," Hermione smiled slightly as she disclosed her thoughts to her friends. Harry smiled in return.

"You know, she might be Dudley's sister, but she's really quite nice," Harry said, trying to think of something to comment about, grinning bashfully at his awkwardness. Hermione smiled vaguely, her eyes turning back to Kendra, who was now trying to teach Luna how to do origami. Her lips twitched upwards as she stared at the Dursley girl, a twinge of curiosity piercing her heart.

Kendra Dursley had a lot of secrets, Hermione had discovered in the past couple of days. Some of them were better kept than others, but Hermione realized that she wanted to be trusted enough to know all of them. It was no secret, on the other hand, that Hermione Granger craved the validation of other people. And lately, she had found herself craving the validation of Kendra Dursley. After all, she was Harry's cousin, his saving grace while he was at home–she had the Boy Who Lived on her side, she had to be someone who Hermione would like.

It couldn't mean anything more than that.

Right?

a/n: this is a shit chapter but it's been almost a year since I posted this story whoops better go write something else vaguely interesting for the next year or so.

word count 740

edited 10/31

hey lol *memes depressedly*