dursley [h. g.]

••dursley•• || professor mcgonagall

Eventually, the train stopped and once again, Kendra was at the Ravenclaw table, although this time, a stout woman with a wide smile and dressed head to toe in pink stared back at her. Lisa almost choked on her spit.

"Merlin's balls, I hate her already," Lisa gagged as she stared at the pink fluffy cardigan.

"I kind of like her sweater," Kendra whispered biting her lip to hold in her giggles. "Though I don't like that she's assigned us a textbook I read in first year."

"Textbook, shmextbook," Lisa rolled her eyes. Lisa didn't enjoy school work, famously so, particularly since she was a Ravenclaw. But Lisa had always been witty in a different way, having a very sharp tongue and a unique ability to use her surroundings to solve any problem being the main components of it. No one ever questioned her presence in Ravenclaw anymore- people had accepted that not every Ravenclaw was a nerd. "I'm not reading it whatever it is."

"Suit yourself," Kendra said haughtily. "I'm not helping you with your homework this year."

"Are you and Granger still doing the sessions?" Lisa asked, smirking.

"Yes, I think they're on again. We spoke over the summer and she wouldn't even speak to me until she was sure I didn't have a boyfriend," Kendra rolled her eyes slightly. "She certainly helped my get my schoolwork done, so I hope we do them."

Dinner passed with a vibrant conversation between Kendra, Luna, Lisa, and occasionally Mabel, who in between her glares at Terry Boot, one of the Ravenclaw prefect in Kendra's year, would chip in. And when Dumbledore stepped up to the podium, Kendra didn't even bother to listen. She was fully checked out, picking bits off fluff off the ends of her jumper and sneaking glances at Hermione, who looked particularly nice in the candlelight. She had a headband in her hair, which had gotten more curly and less bushy since first year, though no one else else seemed to have noticed but Kendra.

Her thoughts were cut off by a sickly sweet 'hem, hem' from the front of the Great Hall. All eyes slid from wherever their prior attention was to the stout woman in all pink. She smiled widely at the attention she was getting and giggled a little.

"Well," she said breathily, giggling again, "isn't it nice to see so many smiling faces staring back at me!"

Kendra looked around, doubtfully. The only person who was smiling was Astoria Greengrass, but she was passing notes with Emelia Thimbleton, who was staring at her reflection in the bronze plate rather than listening in between note swaps.

Kendra was glad she had paid attention when Professor Umbridge finished. Because the woman was a lot more than she appeared at first sight, and her presence was troubling. "That woman is here to get Dumbledore out," she murmured to Lisa as they made their way up the stairs.

"What?" Lisa asked, her tone dark but surprised.

"She's a Ministry employee, first of all, and did you see the look she was giving him? Not to mention the speech she gave about pruning practices and traditions. She's going to steal his power and then his position, mark my words," Kendra shook her head. Lisa sighed.

"I'm glad I've got you to tell me about all the shite I don't pay attention to, I was right about to nod off and I would have if I hadn't started counting all the facial hairs that Travis had grown," Lisa sighed. Kendra shook her head, laughing.

"I don't think I want to know, and I would have thought you would already know, seeing as you were sniffing each other's faces off on the train," Kendra snorted, amused. They turned the corner and saw Professor McGonagall, slightly out of breath running down the corridor towards her. "Hello, Professor."

"Hello, Professor," Lisa said, politely, though she turned to Kendra to grin mercilessly at her.

"Miss Dursley, may I speak to you a moment?" Professor McGonagall said, catching her breath still. Kendra's eyebrows raised, nodding. She didn't know what was important enough for her to run halfway across the castle to get to Kendra. Lisa waved goodbye to Kendra as Professor McGonagall lead her into a classroom.

"What is it, Professor?" Kendra asked. Professor McGonagall smiled at her student.

"I wanted to make sure you were well, after your trip to the hospital last term," McGonagall said. "I'm terribly sorry you had to get surgery, but unfortunately, wizards are not as open minded as they like to think they are."

Kendra shrugged. "I'm alright, I've got my strength back now almost completely, but I'm still supposed to keep my stress levels low."

"Which is why I would rather not have to tell you this, but foresight is better than hindsight in this situation. I assume you know why Professor Umbridge is here?" McGonagall raised an eyebrow at Kendra. She nodded gravely and McGonagall pursed her lips. "She will be looking for an excuse to hate you. It's no secret that she isn't exactly friendly to people... like you and me, not to mention muggle-borns. And there is also your cousin, who has seemed to get the entire Ministry of Magic against him."

"And knowing him, he'll probably find a way to make her hate him more," Kendra shook her head. "Thank you for the warning, Professor, I'll do my best to stay on her good side."

"Lie if you must, Kendra," McGonagall said severely. "I mean it, Miss Dursley, I do not know what her tactics will be to try and silence Potter, but I do not want you involved in them. I have no doubt she will use your weaknesses against you to get what she wants."

"I will," Kendra said, her throat dry. "Goodnight, Professor."

"Goodnight, Miss Dursley," Professor McGonagall said, the corners of her lips twitching slightly. "I will see you in class."

Kendra made her way to Ravenclaw tower as swift as she could and answered the riddle to get in. She climbed the stairs, said good night to Parma and Cho, who she passed on the way up, and turned to Lisa as she sat down on her bed, her breaths ragged.

"Umbridge might just be worse than we thought," Kendra said, grabbing a glass and filling with with a quiet spell. She reached onto her bedside table and took out her pills, taking them with the water.

"McGonagall was trying to warn you?" Lisa said, brushing her hair with Euphenia on her lap. "Blimey."

"We might have to lie, about Voldemort," Kendra said. Lisa swallowed thickly at the mention of the name and nodded.

"Goodnight, Kendra," Lisa said. She shifted Euphenia, who  abandoned her to run under Kendra's covers, to get into bed.

"Goodnight, Lis," Kendra said, pulling on her pajamas and crawling to bed as well. And just before she went to sleep, the woman with the green cloak flashed through her mind, smiling at Kendra mysteriously.

a/n: this chapter was kind of rushed but that's cause i wanna get to the next one ASAP (you'll understand when you read the title 😏). so yeah at school now, and McGonagall wants to protect her gaybie like she is an English teacher or something.

also I swear this green cloak lady is gonna be important in the story lol just not yet.

M E M E

this cause the student loans are very real to me rn haha