Disclaimer: I don't own these characters or situations. This story is for fun, not profit.
Author's Note: I always felt a little bit sorry for Petunia and wondered about her relationship with her sister. This story sprang from that. There will be at least one more chapter. Also, this is my first HP fic. I hope you like it.
They hadn't been born Petunia and Lily. Their parents didn't have nearly enough imagination for that. No, they were christened Mildred and Anne, two very sensible names indeed. Petunia and Lily were names of their own creation, thought up at the tender ages of seven and five, as they played princesses in their mother's prize-winning garden. From that day forth, they would answer to no other names. Petunia probably would have gone back to Mildred at some point had it not been for Lily's insistence that nobody named Mildred had ever had an exciting life and she wouldn't allow any sister of hers to lead a dull one. Petunia just laughed, as she always did when Lily carried on with romantic notions such as these. But she stood her ground after that and refused to answer to Mildred ever again. By the time she was a teenager, nobody aside from her parents even remembered that she hadn't always been Petunia.
Most of the other children Petunia knew with younger siblings loathed and resented them. But Petunia could not bear the thought of life without Lily. Petunia had always followed their mother's passive example. She sat with her legs neatly crossed, never spoke when not spoken to and always made sure that everyone else had their tea before allowing herself to indulge in any. From a very young age, she knew what was expected of her and never even considered disobeying her parents. All that changed when Lily was born. Not immediately of course, but as soon as she was able to talk. Lily was much more concerned with having adventures than with being proper, and she was determined that her sister should be too.
Petunia initially followed along with Lily's ridiculous escapades on the pretense of keeping an eye on her but soon she was forced to admit to herself just how much fun fun could be. Lily was never content to sit quietly but instead spun tales of pirates, princesses, witches and American cowboys. The two would play for hours, creating entire worlds of fantastical creatures such as these, although Lily's were always the more inventive.
Their mother grew tired of their endless energy and soon gave up on trying to control them as long as they stayed out of the way of their father, a stern man who demanded silence when he arrived home from a long day at the insurance company where he worked. Their parents struck them as the two most boring people on the planet and the sisters made a vow (which the melodramatic Lily proclaimed must be a blood vow) never to end up like their mother, a cowering housewife whose only source of excitement in the past five years had come from winning third place in the local gardening competition.
Lily was fearless and Petunia managed to convince herself she was fearless by extension. Lily was what made school bearable for her shy and unattractive sister, defending her against the cruel comments of the other children. Lily could have had her pick of anyone on the playground to be friends with, but every lunch hour she would make her way over to her sister, where they would eat marmite sandwiches and discuss whether Jed, the Texan sheriff should fall in love with the gun-slinging Mexican rebel Lola, or travel to Russia and fall in love with the lost princess Anastasia.
The sisters were inseparable and fuelled each other's hope that one day, they would find a way to escape this dreary life on Wisteria Walk. Petunia knew, logically that such a day would never come, but as Lily always said "There's never any harm in dreaming."
And then, quite unexpectedly on an exceptionally quiet morning on Wisteria Walk, when Lily was eleven and Petunia thirteen, that chance at escape arrived. But, as Petunia should have guessed, only for one sister.
The first sign that this day was going to be like no other was the owl pecking at their sitting room window. Their mother had insisted that they work on their needlework, since their grandmother was coming for a visit the following weekend, and they must have something to show for all their time off school. Petunia had her eyes trained on her tea towel, trying desperately not to start off on one of the fits of giggles that threatened to erupt every time her eyes met Lily's. Lily, who could not count needlework among her considerable list of talents, had become bored with the task at hand, and had somehow managed to fold her material into a remarkable likeness of their grandmother's hideous feathered hat. But they were all torn from their undertakings as a loud tapping began at the window.
Petunia and her mother started as they saw the owl, an uncharacteristic "Good heavens," emerging from the latter's mouth. Lily just looked curious, never shocked by anything. "Look," she pointed, walking towards the window, "I think it has something tied to its leg."
"Lily, you are not going to open that window. That creature could come in."
"Well, that's kind of the point, isn't it mum? It wouldn't be so focused on this window if it didn't have a reason for coming in, would it?"
Petunia felt like explaining that perhaps birds didn't have quite the sense of rationality that Lily seemed to be attributing to them, but she was never able to interrupt her sister in the middle of a potential adventure. Before their mum could say another word on the matter, Lily opened the window and the large bird swooped into the room, dropping the object it had held in its talons right above Lily's head. Lily, unfazed, caught what Petunia saw to be an envelope before it hit the ground, as her mother screamed and fainted.
The owl settled down on the end table, seemingly content to stay indoors for the moment. The girls' eyes slowly drifted from the bird to each other's faces. Lily's eyes gleamed with excitement. She was about to open the envelope when Petunia finally found her voice and said, half-heartedly, "Perhaps you shouldn't open it. I mean, we don't know where it came from and, and, I mean, it could—"
"Oh, Petty," Lily interjected, "You can't possibly mean that. Don't you feel it? This is, the moment we have been waiting for our entire lives. Nothing will ever be the same again once we read this letter. Besides, it's addressed to me. We must read the letter, Petty."
Lily's excitement was apparently contagious because Petunia felt a smile break out over her face. She knew she ought to warn Lily not to get her hopes up. After all, there was no reason to think that this was anything other than a very odd coincidence, but she couldn't muster up the desire to dash her sister's (or her own) hopes. This really was like something out of one of their made-up worlds and there was no way they could resist opening the letter.
Lily must have sensed that Petunia would not stop her, so she quickly tore open the envelope and silently read the contents of the letter, a look of wonder filling her face. Petunia could not stand the suspense and she quickly grabbed the letter from her sister, scanning the contents.
Dear Miss Evans,
We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry…
After she had made it through the entire letter, she said "But, surely, it must be some kind of a joke. I mean, witchcraft? Or perhaps the work of a satanic cult. In the paper the other day, it said…" Petunia tried to continue, but Lily had grabbed her hands and was now whirling her around the room, singing "We're going to go to magic school, magic school, magic school, we're going to go to magic school, starting in September!"
"We?" said Petunia, only realizing the truth and impact of her words as she said them, "The letter was addressed only to you Lily. I haven't been invited."
Lily's face fell for a split-second, but she quickly shook it off. "I'm sure your letter will be arriving shortly, Petty. Anyway, I'll ask them about it in my reply."
"And how exactly do you plan to reply?"
"Well, the letter said they are awaiting my owl. So I suppose I just give my reply to this owl."
Petunia wanted to ask how exactly the owl would find its way back to this Hogwarts place, but she supposed if it could find its way to Wisteria Walk all the way from a wizarding school, it should have no trouble getting back. Mostly she wanted to go and lock herself in the loo so she could have a good cry. Her letter wasn't coming because it didn't exist. Lily would see that soon enough and Petunia didn't want to spoil her excitement. She quickly mumbled an excuse and made her way to the bathroom, secretly hoping, as she always did when she was crying, that Lily would come and cheer her up.
But this wasn't like every other time because Lily didn't come. Lily was busy writing a letter that she would send on an owl to a magic school. A magic school where she would soon go, leaving her sister to brave the real world alone. Lily was wrong about a letter coming for Petunia, but she was right about one thing. Nothing would ever be the same again.