The scorching heat fell against Yavone's skin in waves, so much so that even her insecurities were unable to stop her from showing as much skin as possible to stave off the ridiculous heat. Gardening alongside Harry, who had still yet to really speak to her despite her having been there for a full week, only added to her discomfort. With each strike against the dry earth, the heat doubled, with each second next to her essentially mute kind of cousin she felt more and more uncomfortable.
So essentially it was a crummy situation and she could not wait to get out of it.
'Well, I can only change one of these things.' Avoiding a sigh, mostly as she knew it would make her more tired, she turned to him and said. "Um, so is Herbology like Gardening? Professor Dumbledore mentioned it in the classes but didn't go into it."
Harry actually flinched at her sudden attempt at a conversation but slowly he managed to follow her conversation. "Yeah, it kind of is, just a lot more dangerous. There's this plant, Devil's snare, that will strangle you if you move around too much on it. It hates fire and light." He started to smile, a wistful sort of smile that made her realize that there was probably more that she couldn't get.
"Wow, so are they sentient or just reactionary?" Harry looked confused, probably at her word choice. "Can they think or do they just attack?"
His eyes widened for a second before shrugging. "I'm not really sure... Hermione would know, oh yeah you don't..." Finally he smiled at her and seemed to open up just a little. "She's my friend, one of my best friends. She's like you and my mum, a muggleborn." He leaned closer and started to whisper. "No other magical people in her family. But don't worry, she's the best student in our year. Being a muggleborn doesn't give you mean your not going to do well."
Genuinely reassured, she couldn't hold her smile back. She wanted to dig in and thank him for talking to her, but she was afraid that he would stop talking to her all together and so she bit her tongue. Instead she focused on looking at her cousin, feeling curious about him. He wasn't ugly, though he was so different looking then anyone she had met. His skin was dark, maybe from the sun and maybe from his heritage. His messy black hair looked really soft, but she could see some knots in it so she was sure he didn't brush his hair much. Then there was his clothes, ugly and old and definitely hand me downs. It hid the odd level of muscle around his frame, mostly she knew was born from him being forced to do so much manual labor. His forearms were incredibly well developed, but there were a variety of scars on them.
He looked nothing like Vernon, but there was definitely a few traits that resembled Petunia. A sort of smoothness in his skin, the shape of his jaw and a little of the shape around his eyes. She doubted that anyone else, especially the Dursleys, would ever notice it. There was even a sliver of similarity to Dudley, though Dudley's immense body hid most of the features. Namely the thickness of their hair and the shape of their ears.
It was almost funny, that people so hateful towards each other did in fact share a resemblance that was hidden by that hate and irrationality.
'I wonder if the Magical world is going to be like that? I hope not.'
"Promotion?" Yavone didn't really mean to speak up, but the shock was a bit much. Vernon Dursley wasn't that bright, and he had the personality of an angry walrus, so that he could possible competent enough to get a promotion seemed a bit farfetched to her. She knew that her tone definitely had too much surprise, so she pulled up a smile and hoped her similarity in appearance to Dudley would help mask her disrespect. "Where do you work, Uncle Vernon?"
The man sneered at her for a second, before pride seemed to take over. " Grunning's Drills, I am the Director."
'Wow... that's kind of impressive. You do not at all seem ready to be in charge of anyone.' She smiled some more. "So what promotion would you be getting?"
"Next up I would be in charge of regional offices." His chest puffed up, making Petunia fawn over him.
" Oh, Vernon, I am so proud." Dudley just rolled his eyes at his mother and stuffed his face with more of the stuffed pork that Harry had made for the family.
It was pretty good to be honest.
Speaking of Harry, Yavone saw the boy chowing down quietly, looking just as disgusted at Petunia's fawning. It made him resemble Dudley far more then he probably realized.
"That is very impressive Uncle Vernon, you should be very proud of that... speaking of proud, I have an idea that might help." She bit her lip, and focused on her bluff. Vernon looked at her, bloated on his victory, just as Petunia was. He nodded at her, willing to listen. "Well, as you know, I am like Harry in my... gifts." She carefully focused on the word, trying to be as subtle as possible. Still, Petunia turned green and Vernon started to redden. " Well, I know that you really want to impress those people. Mason, you said his name was right? Well, perhaps you can use us that your advantage. Telling Mason about your Orphan Nephew and Niece who you selflessly took in and put into a great school. Two orphans who are excelling and are so dedicated that they are studying right this very moment, eager to prove themselves further. " She bit her lip again, hoping it would work. Pride seemed to be a universal weakness for the Dursley clan, and Vernon seemed to have doubled down on it. "This way, Harry and I can actually lie on this, working together to have a realistic accurate statement to tell him. I mean you can't just shut us away, we are bound to make some noise, the floors creak a little. Why not take advantage and use us to make yourself seem better, more selfless. That should impress them, shouldn't it?"
Vernon started to swell, more and more angry before an oddly curious look crossed his face. He breathed deep and gave a wicked smile. "Perhaps... perhaps we can do that." He whipped his eyes over to Harry, who froze like a deer in headlights. " Boy, you are going to help Yavone, Tell her about your school and we are going to make a more impressive lie to tell."
Yavone could barely hide her grin, and decided to go just a step further. "Well, it would do better if you could tell the Neighbors too, so we aren't caught on any lies. If anyone asks why you didn't share, say that you were waiting for the shoe to drop or something. But now that you've gotten a good report you can see Harry doing better and see him as a good role model for me."
She held her breathe, barely able to even move... and then, Petunia nodded. "I suppose that would be better then to tell everyone that your a hoodlum, several were making remarks about not trusting Dudley as if he was a hoodlum." She lifted her head up, looking disgusted at the mere mention that Dudley could be anything more then flawless. Despite the obvious fact that her son was duller then dirt and a total bully.
"According to Professor Dumbledore, there is a class based around gardening and plant work took, so you could justify us working in the garden on that. Say you are selflessly giving us practice on a subject we have to work on." She turned to Dudley, and fixed him with a look. The Fat Boy made a weird look, he still wasn't sure as to how to act around her. He couldn't bully her the way she saw him do to a few kids around the block, and he wasn't afraid of her like he was Harry ( she wasn't sure why that was, she knew there was a story there). It kept him at a distance that she both enjoyed and was annoyed by. "And if people ask why Dudley isn't there, you can say it is something like a Military School. I am not sure if you have schools like this in this country but in America they are a common threat to get misbehaving children to behave. Going through that school though can open a lot of doors, it is a form of tough love. You can say he didn't need the Military school so he went to that school my Father talked about, Melted, Smellins, something like that."
"Smeltings!" Vernon barked at her, pride a little wounded at her inability to remember that name. " It is a wonderful school that molded me into the man I am today."
" I am sure it did." She rolled her eyes internally, and knew it was time to pull back before she rocked the boat too much. "I am glad that you went to a school that made you wise enough to be willing to listen to my idea and improve on it too."
The Dursley adults continued their conversation, weighing loudly the pros and cons and fleshing out the plan in some pretty good ways. It was amazing how self serving the family was, but also how much they really seemed to care about each other. Her parents had never been like that... not even with each other.
It was an hour after dinner that had Vernon opening up the closet downstairs and allowing them to pull Harry's supplies to his room. His Trunk was too heavy for Harry himself to pull up, so Yavone had to do it herself. He seemed a little envious of her strength, but that was overshadowed by the massive smile on his face the moment the door was closed.
"How did you manage to convince them? I've been trying to do that for years!" He pulled out several of his old books and handed them to her.
She just shrugged even as she felt an overwhelming sense of pride at her actions. "Experience. My parents were a lot like Vernon. You need to stroke their egos to get anything out of them. It doesn't always go well..." She flinched a little, rubbing her right ear. The memory of how she had lost part of her hearing too close to the surface. " Which of these books should I read first?"
Harry shrugged for a moment before pulling out one specific book. "The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection. It's for Defense Against the Dark Arts... I guess the position is cursed, so we get a new teacher every year and they are not always great. Last Years was... a mess." Harry's voice hallowed out, he shivered a little and seemed haunted, so she didn't press back.
"I guess having some knowledge before school might help, some self study. Any other bad teachers?"
He frowned. "We call them Professors here, but yeah. There's Binns, he teaches History of Magic and he puts everyone to sleep. And then there Snape." Harry said the same with an odd level of annoyance and borderline hate. "He hates me, so... to be honest he'll probably hate you too. He is a horrible Professor, he teaches Potions but only kind of. He just writes it down. Potions can be really dangerous, we had a cauldron melt the first day and it gave Neville warts."
A gulp got stuck in her throat at that. "Of course, it's not enough to live with bullies...sigh, so, um... anything else I should know about school? You know, before we make up our lie?"
Harry nodded, looking oddly serious. "Yeah, there are four Houses. Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Their based on your personality, I'm in Gryffindor house of the Brave. Hufflepuff is about Loyalty and Hard work, Ravenclaw about being smart and Slytherin is ambition and cunning but honestly it is a house of Dark Wizards. Never heard of a Dark witch or Wizard not in Slytherin."
The Gulp finally came out. "Avoid Slytherin, I get it."
He sighed, and looked at his feet. "I guess I should tell you... but, the Man who murdered my Parents... he was a Slytherin. People don't say his name, he led a huge war before I was born. Actually it was because he died trying to kill me that I'm kind of famous. " His disgust only grew at this mention." His name is Lord Voldemort."
Chapter End, Tell me what you think in the Reviews.
I loved writing this. Yes she is manipulative. Kids abused take on different roles. Some please their parents like Regulus ( and Snape to Voldie/Dumbles), some rebel hatefully like Sirius, some take their pot shots verbally but overall hide like Harry, and some do whatever they can to survive. This last part is Yavone. She learned to win with Honey not vinegar, she won't make smart ass remarks that made Harry so sassy.
I am debatting on her skills but I know what she wants to be...
Love, your Ninja Overlord,
Mika.