dursley [h. g.]

••dursley•• || hermione

"I have a chronic illness that's going to kill me," Kendra said. Hermione froze, staring at Kendra in shock. When her senses came back to her, she sucked in a sharp breath.

"What?" she whispered, her wide eyes meeting Kendra's.

"Let me rephrase: I have Ehlers-Danlos syndrome," Kendra said. She bit her lip, not wanting to be dramatic but wanting to get it off her chest. Unfortunately, she was related to Harry and she didn't know how to go about these things without being dramatic. "And it'll be a miracle if I live to 40."

"Start at the beginning," Hermione asked, still staring at Kendra.

"Erm... it's a genetic condition, so I was born with it. I was a really sickly baby, always catching something or other. I was pretty young when I got diagnosed with lupus. I took a lot of pills. I ended up in A&E a lot. I have dislocated both of my arms, my knees, most of my fingers, the list goes on. Most of the doctors I saw were confused as to what I had. The lupus diagnosis explained some of my symptoms, but there were other things that didn't fit into that. Finally, I got the diagnosis. My parents were less than happy at this point. I wasn't their perfect little girl anymore, I was some disease ridden burden," Kendra said, sighing. "At any moment, I can stress the connective tissue in my heart out too much and have an artery explode and kil me. And the lupus gave me anemia, so that doesn't really help my case. My immune system could react to something negatively and send me into a seizure. I'm always living on the fence."

They sat in silence before Hermione leaned over and hugged Kendra as gently as she could. She smelled like the pages of a new book and a fresh bottle of ink, a hint of mint toothpaste mingling in with it all. Kendra felt lightheaded as she pulled way. She hated the pity that people gave her whenever they had found out. Whenever her parents, particularly her father, needed something from someone powerful, he would play the Kendra card, telling who ever it was that his daughter was chronically ill and he didn't want her to die without so and so. Otherwise, the whole ordeal was kept under tight wraps by the Dursleys.

"Harry knows?" Hermione asked.

"Harry knows that I'm sick. I don't know if he knows how sick I really am. These stairs certainly don't help it, at all," Kendra smiled back.

"Kendra, I'm so sorrry..." Hermione said, staring at the girl in front of her, who smiled and shrugged, as if it was nothing.

"Don't be. I was bedridden for a whole year when I was nine. I couldn't do anything," Kendra said, smiling. "My joints were in such a fragile state that I just had to lay there until they had healed to a point that I could move again. It hurt to lay there. I got migraines often because of the medication, so the room had to be dark. I went blind in my left eye because they were so bad. But I made up my mind that sitting around and moping about it wasn't going to solve any problems."

"You're blind in your left eye?" Hermione asked. Kendra shook her head.

"I've been ashamed of my body for a long time. My parents kept it like it was a dirty secret. When I found out about magic, I thought it was going to be my savior. I thought that someone was going to cure me just by waving their wand and saying a few magic words," Kendra sighed heavily. "In actuality, there's a lot of stigma in the magical community concerning muggle diseases. Most healers refuse to treat muggle diseases. There aren't many spells designed to cure muggle diseases, because those who get them aren't 'magical' enough to fight it off and not worth saving. It's only just now catching up.

"When I first met Madam Pomfrey, I went through everything that was wrong with me. I wanted her to wave her wand and fix me, and al she could do was restore my vision. And after that, I decided that even if there was a cure, I don't want it. Everything that's wrong with me is still part of me, and it took me a long time to realize that. I don't like telling people because I have never lived in a world where there wasn't some kind of stigma around illness. Just because I can embrace it doesn't mean the people around me will."

"Wow," Hermione breathed. "I never knew."

"There's lots of things people don't know about me," Kendra smiled, fighting to keep the joy of Hermione's outward acceptance. "For example, I could drink butterbeer until I died, which probably wouldn't take very long."

"Why did you tell me?" Hermione asked. It was Kendra's turn to freeze. She bit her lip, choosing her words carefully.

"I like to think we're friends," Kendra said at last. Hermione beamed, her eyes crinkling as she smiled.

"I'd like to think that too," she replied. "Thank you for trusting me." Kendra smiled.

"Next time I pass out in the hall, rub one of the suits of armor on me, yeah?" Kendra said, giggling now. Hermione chuckled.

"I don't think they'd like it very much, but for you, I'd do it."

Brown eyes met hazel. Silence washed over the their corner of the library. It was a miracle that they hadn't been kicked out yet. Kendra's eye flickered to Hermione's lips. They were right there, right in front of her. She could smell her minty breath from where she sat. The way the light caught of her brown hair made it look almost golden.

Hermione cleared her throat and stood. "Thank you again for telling me, Kendra," she said, smiling awkwardly at Kendra, who was flushed beet red, warmth spreading down her neck as the seconds ticked by. "And thank you for helping with S.P.E.W."

"Of course," Kendra replied, her voice only a whisper. Hermione stared at Kendra for a moment, a deer caught in head lights, before she rushed out of the library without another word.

Kendra sunk her head down into her hands, a low groan slipping through her lips. She had scared her off. She had stared for too long, said too much, not let Hermione speak enough.

"Excuse me." A deep, gruff, heavily accented voice made Kendra start to lift her head. "The girl you were with. You know her?"

Standing in front of her was Viktor Krum, his fanclub evaded for a moment, asking her about Hermione. Viktor Krum, the guy Lisa would die to even have conversation with, asking about Hermione Granger, the girl Kendra had been chasing after for years.

And without thinking about what she was doing, Kendra nodded her head slowly.

a/n: double update for everyone for pride month!!! And totally not because the drama is only just getting started >:)

word count : 1182

edited: 11/2

no meme again? is this what disappointment feels like?