dursley [h. g.]

••dursley•• || the hearing

Kendra woke up late on the day of her cousin's hearing. She had meant to go to sleep before her usual time and wake up early, but her and Hermione had stayed up late talking about S.P.E.W. causing her to sleep in late. Sun was already pouring in through the curtains when she woke up. The room was completely empty, which Kendra appreciated. She was trying to recall every detail of her dream as though her life depended on it. She had spotted the woman in the green cloak again, though this time her hood was down and Kendra could see the woman's short but shiny coiled black hair. It baffled Kendra, though she had yet to see the woman's face in one of her dreams, she didn't think she had ever seen her before. She always laughed just as Kendra woke up, and it only confused her more because Kendra couldn't place the woman's voice.

When Kendra finally got downstairs, Mrs. Weasley was just serving lunch. "Oh, hello Kendra," Hermione said pleasantly. Kendra felt herself blush as she sat down.

"Oh thank goodnees, Kendra, I was starting to get worried," Mrs. Weasley tittered, smiling at the blonde girl. Kendra blushed even deeper, embarrassed now that she had become the talk of the table.

"You don't have to worry about me, Mrs. Weasley," Kendra said quietly. She was used to people not coddling her and worrying about her every role. Sure, her mother worried for Kendra, but Dudley would always be Petunia's favorite. Even Dudley knew it. Petunia cared enough to pick her daughter up from hospital and take her to pick up her prescriptions when she ran out, to buy her clothes and feed her. That was where it stopped. She didn't get told that she had been worried about. She didn't get wrapped up in warm, bone crushing hugs. She didn't get her hair stroked when she was leaning over the toilet puking after she had eaten something that triggered her lupus. But she had always been grateful for what she did have, which was mostly long guilty looks in her general direction, because her cousin had none of it. Because she had sat and watched him be abused for eleven years only to get to what might be a safe place and be in more danger than if he had stayed.

Mrs. Weasley just smiled at her embarrassment and handed her a bowl of soup. The entire room felt as though it was on an edge of a knife. "Harry hasn't come back yet, has he?" Kendra asked, reading the tension in the room as anticipation for the results of his hearing. Sirius shook his head.

As though he had been summoned, the door down the hall shut and Harry appeared in the doorway, a grin on his face. Ron jumped up to face him. "I knew it!" he yelled, punching the air. "You always get away with stuff!"

"They were bound to clear you," Hermione said, finally removing the stubs of her fingernails from her mouth to hold her hand over her eyes. "There was no case, not at all..."

"Congratulations, Harry," Kendra said, smiling tiredly. "I'm glad you're not expelled." They met eyes and Harry's smile dropped a fraction. He looked away and restored his full grin.

"Everyone seems quite relieved considering they knew I'd get off," Harry replied, looking around the kitchen. In the corner, Fred, George and Ginny were holding hands and skipping in a circle as they chanted. "He got off, he got off, he got off-"

"That sounds terrible, I'd rather not hear about how my cousin got off," Kendra muttered under her breath, and Hermione stared at her in horror, though the corners of her lips were threatening a smile. Kendra just shrugged. Perhaps her time around Lisa was rubbing off on her.

"That's enough, settle down!" Mr. Weasley shouted at his dancing kids. He turned to Sirius. "Listen, Sirius, Lucius Malfoy was at the Ministry-"

"What?" Sirius asked sharply. Kendra sat up straighter in her seat, paying utmost attention. What was Lucius Malfoy doing at the Ministry of Magic, and more importantly what sort of implications did it have for those she cared about.