dursley [h. g.]

••dursley•• || fighting words

"Draco, you can't complain to me and then tell me you don't want y help," Kendra sighed, sinking down onto the couch next to the vanishing cabinet. Draco scowled and gripped the green apple in his hand tighter. 

"Complaining and asking for help are two different things," Draco retorted, clearly grumpy. "This isn't your problem."

"We already had this fight," Kendra sighed. "And if you recall, I won it."

"Fine," Draco sighed. "Do you even know anything about vanishing cabinets?"

"God, aren't you pissing on my good mood," Kendra grumbled. Ever since Hermione and she had made up and they had slowly been easing back into their relationship, Kendra had felt the best that she had in months, only adding to her sentiment that she had made the right decision when it came to the Gryffindor witch. But she had recognized her other responsibilities, the most important of which being (if she listened to Dumbledore, which was a stretch on a good day) was protecting Draco and Theodore. And Draco was as far from Kendra's good mood as it got. "Of course I know about vanishing cabinets, I spend 80 percent of my time in the library."

"Right," Draco replied, sounding guilty, but not apologetic. Kendra rolled her eyes. 

"Unless the cabinet is physically broken, then the damage has to do with the spell that links it with its sister cabinet," Kendra recited, her eyes turning to the mahogany behemoth that sat in the towers of rubbish. "I'm sure that you could figure that out by yourself though."

"Yes, surprisingly," Draco replied, his usual sulky snark edging back into his tone. 

"There's got to be a book somewhere in the library that tells you what sort of spell it is," Kendra said, ignoring his tone and forgetting her annoyance in an attempt to try and help Draco. "And if you can at least figure out the kind of spell, you should be able to figure out the actually incantation. From there, you just have to do the spell right."

"Hmm," Draco said, not hiding that he was impressed. "If you're adamant about helping, I suppose I don't mind the extra hands. And if you look in the library, you're not too involved."

"Great," Kendra replied. She smiled at Draco. "You helped me once, you know? I'm just returning the favor."

"You didn't have to," Draco pursde his lips together. "I owe you enough already."

"Fine," Kendra said, holding her hands up in defeat. "Not a favor."

"If you want to do me a favor, make sure no one sees us together," Draco said. "And don't tell anyone what you're doing."

"Alright," Kendra replied with a sigh. "I'll meet you back here next week with whatever you've found." Offering him one last smile, Kendra stood from the couch with a smile.

Draco sighed as the door shut behind Kendra. Off all of the years that life could have caught up to him, this year was not the time. All of the boasting he had done for his family, all of the mean things he had said to people- particularly Potter, of all people- he was paying his dues for all of it. And of course, Kendra Dursley had once again managed to end up in the middle of it all.

Draco didn't know if Kendra was aware of her particular knack for trouble making, or if she just blindly wandered into situations and then did her best to try and get out of them once she was in. Either way, this was the third- maybe fouth, maybe fifth- situation that Draco had found himself in the past few years where he was entangled with Kendra Dursley.