Kind to the point of doormat. (primlyrose) wrote in reduxpitch, @ 2016-03-15 14:51:00 |
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Entry tags: | !thread, character: primrose dursley |
WHO: Primrose Dursley, Arabella Figg, and Petunia Dursley
WHAT: Prim runs into her mother.
WHERE: Harrods' Tea Room
WHEN: Tuesday 15 March 2002, 2 PM
RATING: H, for heartbreaking (triggers: emotional abuse)
STATUS: Narrative
Once a month or so, on one of her days off, Primrose Dursley liked to get dressed up and go to Harrods for tea. It was her one true splurge, and the one time she acted on a whim. The weather was relatively nice, though she always carried an umbrella in case a storm popped up. She had woken up with the need to go for tea. She didn't have to work, and she did not have any other obligations that needed her attention.
Arriving at the store around one, Prim roamed the rooms. She liked looking at the displays and watching the people go about their shopping, or their touristing. She caught several conversations from American shoppers about Neverwhere and the night market scene set in Harrods. Those conversations made her smile to herself. She spent more time taking in the decor and the people than she did looking at the things for sale. She never bought anything on these trips, except for tea.
After drinking her fill visually, she made her way to the tea room and was led to a table quickly. It was always quick when she was on her own. She, like always, ordered the Chelsea with the Indian chai. As she waited for her tea, Prim took her notebook and pen out of her bag and continued writing the scene she had begun on the tube earlier. She lost herself to what she was writing (the farmer's daughter was about to meet her rancher in the barn's loft), and almost forgot to thank the server when she brought the tea things.
As she added cream to the chai, she caught a snippet of the conversation at the table next to her. She didn't, right away, understand why the voice made the hair on her arms stand up, but she shivered and almost splashed tea onto her saucer. Prim chided herself, mentally, for her lack of decorum and ignored the conversation until the first voice spoke again.
"Oh, Diddyums has a very nice girl. I expect he'll be seeking her father's permission for her hand any day now."
Prim froze, her tea forgotten and her appetite quite gone. Diddyums? Her heart pounded in her ears, and she didn't catch the response to that. She had to look, but she was afraid to. She hadn't seen her mother since she was twelve, and she felt sick to her stomach at the thought of seeing her now.
But she needed to put herself out of her misery. She had to look, had to know for sure it was her and not someone else who happened to use such a nonsense word. Turning slightly, pretending she had to get something out of her bag, she looked over her shoulder and felt the blood drain from her face. It was Petunia Dursley. There was no mistaking those features. Before she could notice Prim, she'd turned back around and was working on her breathing. Her ears were tuned to the conversation at the next table now, though.
"She's a sweet girl, but she can't cook to save her life. Diddy-do is having me teach her all his favourites. I can't let my baby starve."
"Of course not. How's your daughter?" The second voice was also familiar to Prim, but she couldn't see the other woman's face as they sat back to back.
"Marigold's just turned five, and she's already reading! She is the brightest child. So sweet and respectful." Prim nearly choked on her tea at that. She had a sister. She had a five-year-old sister who didn't know her. Her hand shook as she put the tea down. The server came over and asked if everything was okay, and she barely managed a nod and a whispered 'thank you'. Her parents had another daughter, and she wasn't told.
"And your other daughter?" There was a clank at the table behind her. "Come now, Petunia. It's been years. Surely you've had news from her."
"She is not my daughter," Petunia hissed, and Prim gripped her hands so tightly her knuckles turned white and her nails left impressions in her skin. "She made it very clear she preferred my sister to me years ago. But no matter. Marigold is a wonderful little girl who will make her mama and papa proud."
Tears pricked Primrose's eyes, and she caught the worried look from her server, who came over and quickly cleared away the tea, promising quietly to bring it back in to go containers. Prim put her notebook and pen back into her bag and stood. Her back was straight, and she wasn't sure why she was cold. She had a feeling she was angry, but she'd never been this angry before in her life.
She recognized the voice now. Arabella Figg. Mrs Figg had watched Prim when she was no longer welcome to do things with her parents and brother. She was a squib, as it turned out, and knew all about magic. Which was good, because without knowing she'd decided, Prim turned on her mother.
With a calm she did not feel, she stepped to the side of their table and looked down at the woman who had given birth to her. Mrs Figg let out a pleased sound and quickly hugged Primrose. When it was not returned, though, she searched the young woman's face and saw the storm there. Prim had always been a quiet child, and she wouldn't make a scene now. Still, there was something on Mrs Figg's face that made Prim pause. "Don't worry, Mrs Figg. I won't break the Statute."
She turned to her mother. "Hello, Mother."
Petunia blanched then turned pink. "How dare.." She began, but Prim cut her off. "How dare you, Mother? How dare you make it sound as if I had a choice. You gave me no choice. You didn't want me. You emotionally abused me for years, telling me I was wrong, I was bad, because of how I'd been born." Her tone was icy and her words were quiet, but she knew Petunia heard all of them. "I am certain you have not even told my sister about me, especially since this is the first I am learning of her."
Tears threatened to spill down her cheeks, and she had to pause to regain some of her composure. "If she has magic, Mother. If she is like me, since it is genetic, and I learn that you mistreat her in the way you did me, I will show you what I learned. I will show you how much I am like Aunt Lily. You, father, and Dudley have ruined me for love and happiness. You still hold so much power over me because you made me believe I was worthless. That I was unloveable. That I am unwanted. I live in constant fear that what family I have left will some day no longer want me because you are a terrible human being who made me, your own daughter feel that way."
She took a step away from the table. "Do not do it to my sister."
Before Petunia could respond, Prim turned on her heel and met the server at the register. She paid and took her things without a word, though she saw the worried looks. As soon as she left Harrods, she found a deserted spot in a nearby alley and was sick. With tears streaming down her face, she made sure there was no one around and no CCTV cameras that would see her, and she disapparated. It was risky to do so in such an emotional state, but she needed out of there without being seen. She managed to land in her room without splinching more than an inch off her hair. Once she knew she was safe, and she'd put her things down on her desk, Prim collapsed on her bed and cried until she fell asleep.