Snow was gently falling around the hospital. Inside, there were cries of anguish and pain- but in another part of the hospital, there were screams which turned into coos as newborn babies were pushed into the world, as their parents cried with joy that their little ones had arrived- or with pain that they hadn't made it into the world alive. There are two sides to childbirth- the good side, where the baby is healthy and happy, and the dark side, which doesn't bear thinking about for anyone.

However, on this cold, snowy January day, a new little girl was born to a family known as the Evans'. She was a pale little thing, her blue eyes blinking in the suddenly bright light of the maternity ward, little tufts of red hair covering her head. She was beautiful. Her parents named her Lily. Upon introducing her to her older sister Petunia, the older girl was instantly smitten with her baby sister. When her parents bought Lily home, Petunia would watch with her big, dark eyes at all the goings on, despite being only a year old herself.

As Lily grew, she developed a bright, bubbly personality. She followed her older sister everywhere, listening to the ramblings of the toddler, playing whatever games Petunia wanted. Their parents were not concerned about the relationship between the sisters- why would they be? Sibling rivalry was one of the things they had feared about having another baby. They seemed to have passed over this rivalry- the sisters adored each other. They shared a room for a while, and whenever Lily had nightmares Petunia would let her crawl into her bed, where they cuddled together to keep the demons of the night out. With Petunia at her side, Lily felt safe.

It wasn't until Lily turned 6 years old that their relationship changed. They were playing together in their bedroom, a game with dolls, when one of the doll's skirts ripped. Lily was the culprit- she had been messing around with the doll, which was Petunia's, and had accidentally ripped the skirt. Petunia, despite being 7 years old, began to cry- it was her favourite doll, a beautiful, delicate doll with a porcelain face and eyes that blinked when you turned it upwards. Lily began to cry as well- she hated upsetting Petunia.

"Tuney, I'm sorry," she cried. "I can fix it."

And she did. Petunia watched as Lily placed the two bits of ripped fabric together, saw the concentration on her little sister's face, and then she saw the two bits of fabric become one again, as though there was nothing wrong with it in the first place. She stared at the doll's skirt, and then at her sister, who was now holding the doll to Petunia, her eyelashes glistening with tears, a hopeful look on her little face. Lily did not see that she had done anything wrong- she had done this kind of thing before, although never in front of Petunia, who was now looking at her with awe on her face.

"How did you do that?" she asked, her voice little more than a whisper.

Lily shrugged.

"I've always been able to do it," she replied, handing the doll back to Petunia, who took it warily.

"I think we should tell Mummy," said Petunia, holding the doll at arm's length.

"Why do we need to tell Mummy?" asked Lily, who had not thought to tell her mother- she had assumed that everyone could do what she could.

"Because it's strange," replied Petunia simply, and she got up and walked downstairs, the doll in her hand and Lily trailing along worriedly behind her.

Their mother was in the kitchen. She was making a cake- chocolate, Petunia and Lily's favourite. They both breathed in deeply as they entered the kitchen, savouring the smell and for a moment forgetting what they were there to tell their mother about. Then Petunia breathed out, and remembered why she was in the kitchen with her doll in the first place.

"Mummy," she began, and their mother turned around.

She was quite a beautiful woman- Lily took after her, whilst Petunia took after their father.

"Hello, my lovely girls," she smiled, wiping her hands on her apron and kissing both girls on the cheek. "Is anything wrong?"

"Mummy, Lily ripped my doll's skirt," Petunia began again, but before she could say another word, their mother was talking again.

"Lily Evans! That was very, very naughty of you! Here, give me your doll, Petunia, I'll mend her skirt for you," and she held out her hand to receive the doll.

Petunia handed her the doll silently, and watched as their mother checked it all over for damage.

"Petunia, there is nothing here," she said eventually, looking confused and exasperated. "Why are you telling fibs on your sister?"

"I'm not, Mummy!" protested Petunia, looking scandalised. "She did rip the skirt, but she fixed it again!"

"Petunia. You know how naughty it is to tell fibs. There is no sign of this skirt ever being ripped in the first place, and Lily does not even know how to sew."

"But Mummy, she did!" wailed Petunia.

"Petunia!"

"Mummy, I did," said Lily quietly, peering out from behind Petunia, looking nervous.

"Lily, you must not feel that you have to go along with this little story. Petunia I want you to apologise to your sister-"

"Mummy, I really did rip it, but I fixed it again, really!" said Lily, looking upset.

"Lily," sighed their mother, and she knelt down so she was at eye level with her two daughters. "How could you possible fix it without sewing it?"

"I don't know," said Lily quietly after some consideration. "But I did."

"She really did, Mummy, watch!" said Petunia, snatching the doll back and deliberately ripping the skirt.

"Petunia!" said their mother, shocked by her eldest daughter's behaviour.

"Here, Lily, fix it!" said Petunia, thrusting the doll at Lily, who caught it before it fell to the floor.

Lily's face screwed up in concentration. Her nose wrinkled with the effort, and she began to turn red- but the skirt remained ripped. Their mother raised an eyebrow.

"Well, Petunia. You have deliberately ruined your doll just to make a point. Are you satisfied?"

"She did it earlier," said Petunia stubbornly.

"I hardly think so. Both of you run along now and play- I have baking to do."

She dismissed the girls with a wave of her hand, then turned her back on them and continued what she had been previously doing, humming to herself as she did so. She did not consider the possibility that Petunia was right about Lily, and that something extraordinary had happened- why would she even consider the prospects of having a witch for a daughter? Magic didn't exist- witches and wizards were pretend, children's play. She could have had no clue, not at this stage, just what her youngest daughter actually was. And so she continued with her cake baking, icing delicate swirls onto the soft, chocolaty sponge, before making a cup of tea for her husband, who was in the garden planting vegetables for the new season.

Meanwhile, Petunia and Lily returned to their room, where Petunia rounded on Lily.

"Why didn't you show Mummy?" she snapped, furious at having been shown up.

"I tried, Tuney, really!" said Lily, her big, green eyes filling with tears.

"You didn't! You did it on purpose!" shouted Petunia, and she grabbed her doll back off Lily and threw it with all her might at the wall, which it hit hard. A loud crack sounded as the porcelain cracked, and then the doll fell to the floor, where it lay motionless in a heap.

"Tuney, I'm sorry!" said Lily, who was crying openly now.

"It's your fault Mummy thinks I'm a liar!" accused Petunia. "You better show her what you did, or I won't speak to you ever again."

Petunia stalked out of the room, leaving Lily alone. Lily was sobbing now, sitting on the floor as undignified as the broken doll. She really had tried to show her mum what she could do, but she just hadn't been able to. She glared at the doll, as if it was all her fault, and then jumped up. She grabbed the doll, and ran downstairs to find her mother, and try again to show her what she could do.

She found her parents in the garden, drinking tea, whilst Petunia sat with her legs crossed on the grass enjoying a slice of newly baked chocolate cake. When Petunia saw Lily running across the lawn with the broken doll, she sniffed contemptuously and turned her back on her, continuing to eat her cake in a delicate manner so that she didn't get chocolate smears down her lilac, flower print dress.

"Lily, darling-" her father stopped short.

Tears were still glistening on his youngest daughter's long eyelashes, and she was clutching a broken doll to her chest as though she could never bear to let it go.

"Lily, what's wrong?" he asked, setting his cup of tea aside and opening his arms, inviting her in for a hug, which she accepted quickly.

"Tuney's mad at me, Daddy," she said in a small, quivering voice.

"Petunia, what have you done to upset your little sister?" demanded their father, looking sternly at Petunia, who quickly swallowed the mouthful she had.

"Lily made Mummy think I was lying, but I wasn't lying, Daddy," she said, chin up in the air.

"Petunia," sighed their mother. "You were telling fibs."

"Was not," mumbled Petunia.

"Don't mumble, Petunia, it is not lady like," scolded their mother.

"Daddy, Lily ripped my doll's skirt, but then she fixed it-"

"Well, if she fixed it then why are you angry at her?"

"Because she fixed it without doing or saying anything, and when I tried to make her show Mummy how she did it, she wouldn't!"

"That's enough, Petunia!" snapped their mother, her colour rising. "I have told you already, do not tell fibs! It is most unbecoming in any young child, particularly a girl!"

"It is not a fib!" cried Petunia.

"Petunia Evans! How dare you speak to your mother that way! You go to your room this instant, young lady, and think about what you have done. I am very, very disappointed in you."

Petunia's eyes filled with angry tears, but she threw her plate from her and scrambled to her feet as quickly as she could before walking back into the house in as dignified a manner as she could. Lily had begun to cry again.

"Lily, sweetheart, you mustn't let on so, your sister isn't really mad at you," said their father comfortingly.

"Yes she is, Daddy," sobbed Lily. "She was telling the truth, but I couldn't make it work again."

"Couldn't make what work again, sweetheart?"

"I did fix the skirt, I did, really, but I couldn't do it again, and Tuney got mad at me and threw it at the wall and now it's really broken!"

"She threw her doll at the wall? I can't believe it! That cost me a small fortune, it's porcelain!"

Lily held the doll out so their father could examine it, still crying as she observed the angry look on his face- she hadn't meant to get Petunia into even more trouble.

"I… I can fix it, Daddy," she said, taking the doll back when he cast it down in frustration.

"Lily, you must not act along with Petunia's fibs, it's very naughty," said their mother, glancing at the doll with a disapproving look on her face.

"But I really can, Mummy, watch!"

Lily once again concentrated hard on the doll, her face scrunched up. Nothing happened. Her parents exchanged worried looks, but decided to humour her a little longer. Lily thought hard about the doll being fixed, but when she opened her eyes to look at it again, nothing had happened. A long, ugly crack still split the doll's head in two, smaller cracks stemming off from it in all directions. One of the blue glass eyes was broken as well, the eyelid half closed on that eye, making the doll look quite scary, but Lily still gazed at it in despair.

She thought about how much this meant to Petunia, that she prove to her parents that she hadn't been lying, and how much the doll meant to her- Petunia adored the doll. She carried it around everywhere with her, cooing at it and brushing its ringlets out of its face. She had slept with it for a while as well, until their mother had told her that she should stop in case she damaged it. Petunia had named it Rose, as its dress was a pretty pink colour that she had once seen in a flower shop on a rose. Lily thought so hard about how much her sister loved that doll- and the cracks sealed themselves. The eye became whole again, the eyelid reopened and the skirt appeared as though new. Lily stared in joy and amazement, because she'd done it- she'd fixed Rose and could prove to her parents that Petunia was telling the truth!

Proudly, she held the doll out to her parents. Her father took it, and examined it briefly, before giving a short yelp of astonishment and thrusting it at his wife, who gasped sharply. They stared at the doll, which was as good as new, and then at their youngest daughter, who was beaming, her eyelashes still wet and her cheeks still flushed, but looking absolutely thrilled. Despite their fear at what this was, they rearranged their faces into unconvincing smiles, which were nevertheless convincing to the six year old.

"Well," said her father after a minute or two. "I think we owe Petunia an apology; well done, Lily, for fixing your sister's doll."

"Yes, sweetie, I'm sorry we didn't believe you and your sister," smiled her mother; Lily didn't notice the smallest trace of worry in their voices.

Grinning, Lily returned to her bedroom, where she told Petunia what had happened. Petunia had looked momentarily stunned, but then she grinned too, and gave her sister a hug, thanking her for telling the truth to their parents.

The next day, before the girls left for school, their parents sat them both down in the living room.

"Petunia, Lily," began their mother, looking worried. "Whilst we realise that what you can do, Lily, is very impressive, we do not think you should show other people what you can do."

"Why not, Mummy?" asked Lily, whilst Petunia looked confused.

"We think that if other people knew, they might be scared," explained their father.

"But why?"

"Because… not many people can do it," said their mother.

"Actually, no one else at all can do it, Lily," said their father, and Lily suddenly looked worried.

"Am I different?" she asked; she had never wanted to be different, she liked to fit in.

"It isn't a bad thing, Lily," reassured their mother. "We just don't think other people would understand just how special you are."

"I'm special too," said Petunia, sounding hurt.

"Of course you are, Petunia, darling," smiled their father reassuringly. "You're both the most special little girls in the whole wide world. But you must promise your mother and I now that you will not, under any circumstances, tell anyone what you can do, Lily. You must not show them, and you, Petunia, shouldn't say anything either. We should just keep it a little family secret for now- like a game."

The girl's faces cleared.

"I like games," smiled Lily.

"I know you do," smiled their father. "So, this game is a secrets game, and you have to keep the secret, ok girls?"

"Yes, Daddy," they chorused.

"That's my girls," he smiled, kissing them both of the tops of their heads before kissing his wife on the cheek and heading off to work.

"Come on then, girls, let's get you to school- and don't forget about our lovely game!" said their mother, holding a hand each of her daughters and leading them off to school, where she kissed them both goodbye and promised to pick them up at 3pm.

Heading back home, Mrs Evans worried about her youngest daughter. She had never heard of anything like what Lily could do, and didn't know of any way she could find out without one or more of the family being admitted to a mental hospital. She thought she could trust Petunia and Lily not to tell anyone though- she knew they loved playing games, and kept to the rules religiously. She vowed to put the incident the previous day out of her mind, and headed off to work herself, keeping herself busy until she had to pick up the girls so as to keep her mind occupied.