Petunia's Path
"Lily! Watch what I can do!"
The eleven year old Petunia Evans was playing in her mother's garden with her younger sister. As Lily watched, Petunia made the flower buds bloom with just a touch of her hand.
Lily clapped with excitement. "That's amazing Tuney! Now watch this!" Petunia looked on as Lily made the flower's petals open and close. She smiled "Let's go show Mummy!"
And the two girls ran away, into the house.
"You're obviously witches. Both of you! I've never seen that happen in a muggle family before."
Petunia and Lily glared at the strange Snape boy from spinner's end.
"Come on Tuney. He's only here to insult us." Lily made to pull her sister away, but Petunia stayed stationary.
"What do you mean, witches?" she asked curiously.
He looked overjoyed that they were listening to him. "It means that you can do magic! I saw you from over the in the bushes."
Petunia's face twisted in a scowl. "You were spying on us?" Lily glared a t him. "C'mon, Tuney. I want to go home."
They left, leaving a crestfallen Severus behind.
Lily, Petunia, and their parents were sitting at a table eating breakfast. Suddenly, they heard a loud 'thump' at he front door.
Their father went to investigate the noise, his daughters close at his heels.
"Why, it's an owl!" exclaimed Lily.
On closer inspection, they found it was carrying mail.
"Tuney, there are letters addressed to both of us!"
Lily made her way to the Gryffindor table. As she was sitting down, she heard her sister's name called.
When the old hat was placed on petunia's head, it began to murmur to her.
"Ah yes. You have a very complex mind. You'd do well in Ravenclaw. I see there's lots of love for your sister."
"Please," begged Petunia. "Please let me be with Lily. I need to watch over her."
"Mmh. Willing to protect your loved ones. A great amount of loyalty too. There's no doubt about it then."
Petunia's breath caught.
"GRYFFINDOR!"
Out of everybody clapping, Lily clapped the loudest and most enthusiastically.
It was Lily and Petunia's fourth year at Hogwarts. All around them, fumes coming from cauldrons fused with the air, making it nearly impossible to see.
"Now, what have the Evans' sisters brewed for me today?" Slughorn asked brightly. In between them, there were three different cauldrons, all the same putrid green color, all emitting the same flowery aroma.
"You tell us, Professor." Lily responded sassily.
He chuckled and inhaled deeply.
"Oh you," he said after a while, wagging his finger at them.
"They're all the same thing. A trick question!" he declared. "Amortentia, am I right?"
Petunia and Lily exchanged a smug glance. "Wrong!" they both said at the same time. Slughorn cocked an eyebrow.
Petunia began to explain. "The first one is amortentia, but the second is just plain sugar water with a sprig of mint and a handful of lilac petals with just a hint of essence of crystallized pineapple. The third is an undetectable poison, with the same extras included."
Slughorn looked bewildered.
"How on in the name of Merlin's Beard did you know amortentia's effect on me?" He exclaimed.
Lily beamed. "You mentioned it at the end of last year, sir. I remembered."
He shook his head in amazement.
"It was all Tuney's idea," Lily added.
Professor Slughorn looked on proudly at his two favorite students.
"James potter, you are such an insufferable TOERAG!"
"Oh come on Evans. It was only a joke."
Lily snorted. "I'll believe that when You-Know-Who gets a pet bunny."
"He was asking for it!" retorted James.
Petunia stepped in, tired of her friend's antics. "James. If you hadn't started it in the first place, none of this would've happened. Lily. Snape was wrong to call you that, and nothing James did provoked him to say what he was really thinking."
Taken aback by her logic, and unable to say anything more, James and Lily huffed and went their separate ways.
Sirius Black tapped Petunia on the shoulder.
"Good save there," he smiled. "If you hadn't stopped them, they'd be at it for hours."
Petunia just shrugged. "Someone had to do it. I just needed them to shut it so I could finish my charms homework."
Sirius snorted. "You need to loosen up a bit. You know, have some help."
"And I suppose you know how to have fun?"
He sat up straight, struck with an idea.
"Yeah, actually, I do. Why don't you go to Hogsmeade this weekend with me and I'll give you a full lesson from Professor Padfoot. Free of charge, of course."
Gathering her books, she headed for the girl's dorms. "I'll think about it, Professor Padfoot," she said slyly as she passed him.
Raindrops the size of snitches fell on Petunia and Sirius as they were walking back to the school from Hogsmeade.
"C'mon!" Petunia grabbed Sirius' hand as she started to run.
As he started to overtake her, she realized that he wanted to race. Excellent.
They reached the castle soaked and out of breath, but laughing none the less.
"I. Win," said Sirius, huffing for air.
Petunia was leaning against the wall, breathing too deeply to respond. After several attempts, she finally was able to speak.
"I'll get you next time."
Sirius, who had regained his ability to breathe, took her hand.
"I won," he whispered in her ear, "so don't I get a prize?"
She pushed him away playfully. "In your dreams, Black."
He merely shrugged and started walking her to the common room, hand-in-hand with her.
"Good night," Petunia said when they reached the dorms. "I had a lot of fun."
Sirius grinned. "I told you you would." Petunia just giggled.
As Sirius started to leave, she stopped him and made to kiss him on the cheek. But at the last moment, he turned his head, receiving a full on the mouth kiss instead.
It lasted for a few seconds before they both heard someone wolf whistle.
Shocked, they broke apart to find James, Remus, Peter, Lily, and Mary watching them with Cheshire-cat grins.
Sirius muttered something about lack of privacy and revenge. Petunia just giggled, embarrassed, and kissed him once more. "Night, Sirius."
Lily passed her pride and joy over to Petunia.
"Isn't he just adorable, Tuney?" she shrilled.
Petunia couldn't help but embrace her baby nephew. Tears of happiness shone on her face. "Oh Lily! He's so perfect!"
She then continued to play with the baby. "Whose little Harry's favorite Auntie, who is? Auntie Tuney is! Yes she is! Little Harry loves is Aunt Tuney!"
James snorted at his sister-in-law's lack of dignity. "It's a baby, Tuney. It can't hear you."
"Oi!" shouted Sirius. "That's my wife you're talking to. She can say whatever she wants to say to my God Son." He snickered.
Lily took back Harry. "That's enough of your bickering." She mock chastised. "I'm his mummy, so I have full reign over him."
James said something low enough to be heard, but not clear enough to understand.
"What was that, sweetie?"
"Nothing!" James shouted.
"Well," Sirius stage whispered to Petunia. "We can see who wears the pants in this relationship."
"Hey!"
Sirius, Lily and Petunia burst out laughing.
Tears slid openly down Petunia's face as she sobbed into Sirius' shoulder. He patted her back, his face grim.
Albus spoke soothingly. "There there, Petunia. James and Lily fought bravely. Someday, their son will be proud.
"How," Sirius asked in a strangled whisper. "How did he find them?"
At this, Albus hesitated. "I believe that their secret keeper, Mr. Pettigrew, was convinced to reveal the secret."
"Wormtail?" Sirius shouted. "Our best friend betrayed them?"
Petunia calmed him down after a while.
"Albus," she choked out. "You said Harry will be proud. Does that mean…?"
"Yes. Harry survived. Voldemort was unable to kill him."
Sirius and Petunia stared wide-eyed at the old man, before Petunia sank to her knees, crying again.
"Oh thank Godric! Thank Godric he's alive. Harry's alive."
"Auntie Tuney?"
"Yes?"
"How do brooms fly?"
Sirius answered for Petunia. "The same way everything works!" He lowered his voice to a dramatic whisper. "Magic."
The three year old Harry Potter laughed enthusiastically and clapped his hands together happily.
Petunia watched as Harry chased their cat around on his toy broomstick. Eventually, he settled down and started to fall asleep. She noticed how he resembled her brother in law so much. As she saw the last glimpse of Lily's eyes when Harry finally succumbed to sleep, a single tear escaped her control.
Gasping, Petunia sat up right in her bed.
She sat up, trembling like a leaf in a hurricane. She had had the most realistic dream.
"Petunia dear, you alright?"
Slowly, she came back to reality. "Y-yes, I'm fine Vernon."
Vernon grunted. "You should go back to bad before you wake Dudley, or, the boy," he added on with disgust.
Petunia nodded her head slowly.
As Vernon fell back asleep, she stayed there, the twin of her dream tear slid down her cheek.
"I miss you Lily."
Aww! This is such a sentimental one-shot! Got the inspiration from this picture on Deviantart (http: / /browse. deviantart. com /? qh= §ion =&q= Petunia #/d1i3k 7v) *remove spaces and (). If you can't get it to work, just go to Deviantart and search "Petunia" It should be the first one under most popular of all time.* Check it out, cause it's worth it!