“Off you go now, Dandelion,” Dudley said.
“Bye, Grandpa,” she replied, giving him a tight hug. Will I ever see him again? she wondered. She forced the thought out of her head. Her grandfather might be acting strangely with this whole magic business, but he still would know better than to put her in harm’s way… right?
Twenty minutes later, Dandelion was reconsidering her reassurances to herself about Grandpa Dudley's interest in her safety. She, along with five other children, were sitting in the backseat of a shiny black Sedan. Nobody was wearing seatbelts; in fact, there were no seatbelts in sight. “Uncle” Harry had mentioned some utter nonsense about the car being uncrashable when she inquired.
Normally, Dandelion was like most children. She didn’t care too much about seatbelts, and probably wouldn’t wear one if adults didn’t insist. Harry’s driving made her want one, though. He seemed to be awfully fond of making the car go through tight spaces, spaces that appeared to be too small for a car half of its width. He also seemed to have no concern for red lights. Several times the car had approached a yellow light, only to suddenly be on the other side of the intersection impossibly fast.
Harry’s driving was not the only nerve-wracking part of the ride. Dandelion would have thought that six years of school would have easily prepared her for the experience of being in the car with five other kids, but the sheer cacophony of voices in the vehicle was both remarkable and stressful. Almost everyone seemed to be speaking at once, and didn’t seem to care about the fact that they were interrupting others or that nobody was paying attention to what they themselves were saying. Dandelion marveled at the sight of the black-haired boy on the other side of the car, totally immersed in his book despite the noise.
Suddenly, the car came to a screeching halt “ or what should have been a screeching halt. It didn’t make a noise, though. Dandelion looked out the window to see some very normal-looking shops. Out of the corner of her eye, she thought she saw something odd. She wasn’t sure what, but there was a flicker of something that just didn’t seem to fit. When she tried to look and find what it was, she saw nothing out of the ordinary.
“Here we are!” Harry announced. “Everyone out!”
The other children were out almost in the blink of an eye, and Dandelion followed. The woman from the front seat then stepped out.
“Honestly, Harry, you’re worse than Ron!” she exclaimed. “At least he pretends to follow Muggle traffic laws when I’m in the car!”
“You know it’s a Ministry-style vehicle, one of the first to be released to the wizarding public,” Harry replied. “There’s no need to drive the Muggle way.”
“You and high speed,” she said, shaking her head. “First the Firebolt, now this.”
To Dandelion’s surprise, Harry just laughed. “We’re not all about crossing our i’s and dotting our t’s, Hermione,” he said. “Some of us just like to skip to the doing whatever we please part.”
The woman “ Hermione “ blushed. “Oh goodness, Harry, why do you have to bring up those embarrassing homework planners?” she asked.
“To see you flustered,” Harry quipped. “I never would otherwise.”
“Come on, Mum,” interupted the elder girl. “I told Scorpius I’d be at Flourish and Blott’s five minutes from now.”
“Rose, you shouldn’t be going out with a Slytherin,” said what appeared to be the eldest boy. He was tall and rather striking, with black hair and blue eyes. “The house has turned out nothing but Dark wizards for the past four centuries.”
Rose rolled her eyes. “You’ve been spending way too much time listening to my dad, James. Besides, Scorpius and I aren’t going out.”
“I’ve seen the way he looks at you,” James observed darkly. “He wants there to be a lot more going on than friendship, Rosy, and I don’t like it when a guy looks at my baby cousin like that.”
“Baby cousin? You’re only ten months older than me, you git!” Rose actually shoved James. “As for ominous predictions regarding Scorpius, James, the job has already been taken by my dad.”
Dandelion was feeling rather… left out. Despite their mild bickering, this family was obviously close-knit. It was something she’d never experienced. She hated her visits, though infrequent, with her great-grandparents, and she had no cousins. Despite their love for her, even her granddad and mum were often too tired after work to devote much time to her.
As she watched these people interact, Dandelion began to realise more than ever what she had been missing out on for so many years. It made her feel rather sad, a feeling only made worse by the understanding that her family probably was as close as it would ever get. She’d missed the only chance she’d get at the friendly and loving extended family experience.
Of course, at least some of these people were her relatives, if her grandfather was to be believed. They were strangers, and rather strange ones at that, with all their magic nonsense. Besides, they were only distant relatives. Why would they want to try to include her?
Eyes Wide Open by sorrow_of_severus
Chapter Notes: As you've heard from me before, I don't own most of the characters in this story or the world they live in. That honor belongs to J.K. Rowling.
Chapter Endnotes: I'm sorry for the shortness of this chapter, but any update, however short, is better than none, right? That's how I think about it, at least.
As always, I appreciate the hard work of Becca (twilightHPgirl18), my beta.