Raised Better

8 - Growing Regret

Draco turned out to be a far from perfect house guest. Upon becoming a ginger, he lost all manners and was sulky and waspish for several days after, obviously not happy about the change. Vernon didn't blame him for that, so much as he blamed Harry for inflicting him and the rest of their family with Draco's sour presence. He knew it was wrong to fault Harry for helping someone out of a hard spot, but even so, could not help the resentment he felt.

It made Vernon recall how it had been Harry once foisted on him. At the time, though, Harry felt more like a consolation gift for his dead wife and child rather than an unwanted burden. Harry was lucky Vernon had felt so, otherwise he probably would have had Marge drop Harry off at a police station or hospital and never gave him a second thought. Unluckily for Vernon now, he couldn't do such a thing to Draco. Loraine would never stand for it.

Loraine wouldn't stand for much of anything that was less than polite or kind. Except from Draco, it seemed. Draco had been allowed to sneer and scoff and insult them without check.

Vernon didn't understand why they were letting him any more than he did the strange, tender looks she gave the boy when he said something terribly ignorant and insulting. Even just this morning Loraine had smiled at Draco after he said how "brilliant" muggles were to be able to create airplanes with their limited intelligence. Vernon knew, from sharing a look with his son and stepdaughter, he wasn't the only one insulted by the jab at their unmagical natures.

The kids were gone now, exploring the stores and restaurants near their hotel, Vernon turned to where Lorraine was busy unpacking their things into a wardrobe and said, "We can't let him keep talking like that."

Fingering a dress of Samantha's before putting it on a hanger in the closet, Loraine remarked, "You know, he reminds me a lot of myself before I got to know Allen."

Vernon furrowed his brow and murmured, "Huh?"

Smiling as she closed the wardrobe, Loraine walked over to the window that overlooked the street in front of the hotel. "My father was a horrible xenophobe. Not in public, of course, but behind the doors of our home he was always cursing out foreigners. It didn't matter if they were Irish or Bangladeshi, he thought they were all ruining our country. Stealing jobs, bringing crime to our streets, etcetera, etcetera. I believed everything he said. I was a girl, what did I know? I trusted him."

"But that changed," Vernon said, recalling what Loraine had told him about her first husband, how he'd been born in the West Indies.

Hand still resting on the windowsill as she turned to face Vernon, Loraine nodded. "Yes, but that wasn't until Allen and his parents moved into the home across the street from my family when I was fourteen. My father almost had a heart attack from that one. Being a silly girl, though, I decided to watch Allen and follow him around. I can't remember why I decided that was a good idea, maybe I was just curious or excited at the prospect of them doing things my father always said they did.

"Allen noticed, of course. I think he was amused by it at first. When Allen finally got me to tell him why I was following him around and learned it was because I was a little twit with racist notions I know his pride took a bit of hit. Allen told me later, after we married, that at first, he thought I was following him around because I liked him and was too shy to be the first one to talk. To say the least, once he knew the truth, he avoided me at all costs for a couple days. Then, don't ask me why Allen decided he was going to change my opinion of him and all foreigners by teaching me all about himself and his family."

Bringing a finger to her mouth, she gnawed on her nail thoughtfully before she said, "I was skeptical at first. However, once I just let go of what I thought I knew in favor of taking in what he trying to show me, it all became so much fun. I started to love the music he had introduced me to and I couldn't get enough of trying all the vast dishes that made up his people's food. Later, Allen introduced me to his cousins. Talking about makeup and boys with the girl ones was just a brilliant experience because it taught me they truly weren't any different from my English-born self."