dursley [h. g.]

••dursley•• || dragons

Damon and Kendra both decided not to tell anyone about the library, particularly about Damon's father. Mabel got terribly upset the last time he had been mentioned and everyone liked a happy Mabel, as she was like a personal pocket of sunshine, particularly with the triwizard tournament bringing the collective mood of the group down.

Kendra had been planning for a worst case scenario when it came to the tournament-although she hadn't actually puzzled out what exactly the worst case scenario was exactly. Harry told her very vaguely that he had written someone he trusted for help and he would get it soon. She did her best to try not to worry until Harry told her what he knew.

Her plan to get Hermione had been pushed to the back burner. She was still Kendra's tutor of course, but they were both too worried about Harry to study. Ulterior motives weren't on her mind at all, Kendra was simply glad she had a friend that she could worry about Harry with.

It during one of these sessions, the day after Harry claimed he would get some answers at long last, when Kendra was mostly trying to keep Hermione in focus, that the tournament finally seemed real. Her worries had only caused stress on her body and now her appendages felt like they were on fire anytime something touched them or she moved. She had taken something for the pain- more than something, she had gone to the Hospital Wing for a potion even after she had popped the little white pill reserved for her most painful days only that morning.

Harry had burst into the library, trying to be quiet but still earning himself a glare from Madam Pince. He sat down at the table with Kendra and Hermione, glancing over his shoulder to catch sight of Krum in the corner. Kendra shifted as delicately as she could to toss a halfhearted glare at him. He didn't even notice, too entranced by Hermione to catch Kendra's stare.

"Dragons," Harry said, sitting down, making Hermione jump. She turned to him, startled as Kendra stared wide eyed at her cousin.

"What?" Hermione asked, setting quill down after a large blotch had appeared on her parchment from her jumpiness.

"Dragons. That's the first task," Harry said. Kendra blinked.

"Dragons? Is Dumbledore mad?" Kendra asked, shutting her eyes.

"Most definitely," Hermione replied. "That's completely ridiculous! What on Earth was he thinking. Dragons!" She laughed, a little derisively.

"They're going to have children fight dragons. Ha!" Kendra laughed once. "Well, would you like carnations or lilies at your funeral?"

"There's got to be a way to fight it. I mean, Charlie-" Harry turned to Kendra and spotted her confusion instantly "Fred and George's brother, he works with dragons. There has to be a way to... I don't know, tame it?"

"The first task's in- what two weeks? And you're gonna learn to tame a dragon in that time?" Kendra said. She was letting her anger at Dumbledore, at the world, get the best of her, and it was coming out sarcastic, snappy jabs at Harry. She took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, Harry, you're probably just as angry as I am and me being pessimistic doesn't help."

"What do you have to do to the dragon?" Hermione asked, staring meaningfully at Harry. "Because killing a dragon is something different than taming a dragon."

The three sat in silence. Kendra's head pounded- a side effect from her medication. When she found out she was a witch, she had thought that there would be a magical cure to her illnesses, but she had quickly learned that wizard healers didn't care about muggle diseases most of the time, a lingering stigma from years and years of prejudice against muggles and muggleborns. She was stuck with muggle treatments aided by the occasional potion. A thought pierced through her mind and she lifted her head, which had slowly sunk into her hands during the silence.

"Last year, over the summer. We had to research about the witch trials, where the muggles burned witches. Wasn't there some sort of spell that made it so the fire only tickled them instead of burning them?" Kendra said, the words tumbling out of her mouth. Hermione beamed at Kendra.

"Yes! I'm sure it's difficult magic, and I don't know that you'll have enough time to practice it, but," Hermione paused, turning to Kendra with a brilliant smile on her face. Kendra couldn't help but smile back.

"One of us could learn it, put it on you before the task, just as an extra safety precaution. You'll have to figure something else out, of course, to complete the actual task, but I'm sure it'll be easier to focus if you don't have to worry about becoming a dust pile," Kendra said, her smile now matching Hermione's. "I'll see what I can do, ask Flitwick for some help. He's won't be suspicious of a Ravenclaw asking him for a new spell, probably. And if he is, he likes me well enough not to say anything."

"Thank you, Kendra, Hermione," Harry said, looking completely relaxed. "I'll let you two go back to studying, I heard that Fred and George were looking for me." Harry stood and left, Kendra watching him the whole way.

"He's a terrible liar," Kendra sighed, knowing that Harry didn't have anywhere to be, but felt too polite to stay or leave without an excuse. "I hope Ron sees sense soon."

"He's afraid Harry will be mad if he tries to come back at this point. So he stays mad," Hermione sighed. "I spoke to him yesterday."

"Men," Kendra sighed dramatically, eliciting a laugh from Hermione. She smiled at the response. It was nice being her friend, as much as she wanted to run off with her and live in a cottage with her. Friends was better than nothing.

But the pit of guilt still sighed uneasy on her. She kept too many secrets. There wasn't one person in the castle that knew everything about Kendra. She knew why she hid herself from the public's knowledge, but her secrets still scared her. So she turned to Hermione, in that moment, and blurted our the thing she hadn't told anyone other than Dumbledore.

a/n: justice for george floyd.

word count: 1057

edited 11/02

say their names.