dursley [h. g.]

••dursley•• || crystal tokens

Hermione,

I hope you can still love me. Even after what I've had to do to save myself. I never was a Gryffindor. I could never face the danger head-on, even when I knew it was the right thing to do. When Harry and I were in primary school, he got bullied a lot. I never stood up for him to their faces, I always went about the most roundabout, complex way to get them to leave him alone. I don't think I ever told him I was sorry. If you find this, Hermione, tell Harry I'm sorry for being a shit cousin, and that I still can't stand up to the bully without doing it in the most roundabout, complex way. I hope one day, I have a chance to properly explain myself to you. 

Yours in cowardice,
Kendra Dursley

{::}

"Here you go," Draco said, adding three books to the small stack next to Kendra. She jumped slightly, having not heard him open the secret door. "This was all I could find in there."

"Thanks, Draco," she muttered, eyes falling back to the page she was reading. The words seemed to float off the page and swim in front of her eyes, the ones that she managed to catch reading like gibberish anyway.

"Are you alright?" he asked, waiting next to her a moment longer. She stuck her finger in the book and closed it, saving her place while she looked up at him. "I mean, I heard what she made you do, and-"

"I don't want to talk about it," Kendra sighed. "Please."

"It's not good to bottle it up, Kendra," Draco sighed. "Trust me."

"I know," Kendra replied dismissively, opening the book again, having already forgotten what it was talking about. The events from the morning were still haunting her in a way nothing else ever had. It eased her slightly that Morgana had offered to be in control, but she had still watched. And when she had come back into control of her body, it was her hands that were stained deep crimson. She glanced at her hands again, just beyond the edges of the book. She still saw the sticky blood there, though the only red was from the irritation of her skin. A memory of burning hot water and an hour of scrubbing flitted across her mind, her hands raw and the skin split by the end of it. Even when the evidence was gone, nothing erased the memory of what had put it there.

'It does no good to linger on it,' Morgana chided harmlessly. 'I could make you forget, if that is what you really want.'

'No,' Kendra replied, even the voice of her own thoughts struggling to keep composure. 'I want to remember what happened. I don't know who he was, but he deserves to be remembered.'

Draco sighed. "I'm going to give you a hug," he announced, looking irked at the thought of it, though announcing it was his own strange form of asking for permission, as he waited for Kendra to sigh back at him and open her arms before he bent down and awkwardly wrapped his arms around her. "This stays between you and me."

"Who would I tell that would believe me?" Kendra replied, her tone dry and her twitching lips betraying her. Draco shrugged.

"I've got to go, make sure I'm all packed," Draco replied, sadness crossing across his face. "But I have something for you before." From his pocket, he pulled an unassuming clear crystal that was only the size of Kendra's smallest toe, attached to a long silver chain.

"Thanks," Kendra said as he handed her the necklace which she slipped easily over her head, letting it fall on her chest. "But you don't seem like the person to just give out jewelry."

Draco rolled his eyes, though he seemed slightly embarrassed. "I found stuff when I was in the library looking for books for you. The crystal is enchanted, I've got one and so does Theo. You just say one of our names into it and then you can use it to talk to one of us."