For the Ultimate Battle! Competition - prompt: 1500 words on any non canon pairing or AU.
Petunia takes a look into the ballroom and fights the urge to run out of the place. It's not that it looks bad, on the contrary, the magnificent decoration in ivory and indigo is enthralling and beautiful. A part of her wants to congratulate her sister for the perfection achieved in decorating the place, while another wants to kill her for getting married before her.
Walking to her assigned seat, Petunia uses the time to observe the rest of her sister's guests. She knows no one there, proof of their freakiness, she is sure. Their sense of style leaves her feeling an outsider in her fancy lace gown and simple pearl earrings; had she known there would be no normal people (not that she expected it), she might have asked her sister for help to meet the appropriate dress code.
She promptly sits in the first row of chairs on the left side of the ballroom. The card with her name written in silver dissolves into the air and becomes a blue and silver candle. Petunia resists the need to cry out and focus her eyes on the small kind of altar set up. She wonders what kind of ceremony will this be, as she doubts Christianity is a freak's religion.
Petunia doesn't have much time to wonder before the rest of the seats around her are taken and she has to pretend to not to hear the freakiness of everyone else's conversations.
"Will James Apparate them away as soon as the handfasting is over?"
"No. Lily said they would share bread and salt at their new home before traveling by Flu to their honeymoon."
Hearing those words makes Petunia want to meddle into the strangers' conversation just to know what they know about Lily. Are they classmates of her sister? Are they colleagues at whatever job Lily has? Some part of Petunia simply needs to be in Lily's life again, but the other part, the sensible part of her, refuses. She is normal and Lily is special. They can't be the sisters they once were.
"Hello, Miss Evans," greets her a man dressed modestly in brown and gold. "I'm sure you don't remember me, but I am Lily's friend, Remus Lupin."
He doesn't extend a hand for her to shake, so she doesn't either. But she smiles at the memory of a young boy asking her parents about how it is to be a Muggle with a great witch for a daughter. She remembers thinking he was in love with her sister, back then.
"I remember you, Mister Lupin," she says. "But you must forgive me for not recognising you sooner. I remember you as a boy of twelve years old."
He laughs, and she finds herself wanting to laugh too. Petunia wants to hear if her flute-like voice sounds any better if accompanied by his husky voice.
"If my memory serves me well," he says. "You are only two years older than I. You were just a girl of fourteen."
Petunia doesn't even try to suppress her smile at his imitation of her, and instead giggles.
"Still older than you," she comments in a childish way.
Remus sits straighter in his chair and looks at her with faked arrogance.
"Well, I can brag of being more mature than the lady at my right."
Her giggles continue and threaten to turn into her first laugh in a long time. Remembering the last time she laughed (with Vernon, of all people!), she silents herself.
Remus seems to take notice of the change in her, and promptly changes the subject.
"Have you ever been to The Dom?"
"I don't even know what that is," she admits, curious to know what the place is, and wanting to keep on hearing the man talking.
"It's the perfect place!" he explains excitedly. "A mixture between a library, a bar, and a coffee shop. You should visit it. It's a muggle local, you know? So no freaky things."
As he says those words, her smile falters. "How bad has Lily spoken of me?"
Remus looks down, playing with his own blue-and-silver candle.
"You mentioned that word as if you knew... As if you knew how I speak to her."
He nods. "You made her cry once or twice. She never complained about you, but I could tell she was hurting."
Remus' sincerity burns in her heart. Petunia knows she wanted to hurt Lily when they were younger, but now she feels regret.
"Remind me to apologize to her," she asks of him, winning a nod and a grin.
They stay in silence, enjoying the sight of the coming and going of the notoriously nervous groom until the best man slaps him and takes him to his designated place.
Not long after, a soft music is heard and Petunia is amazed to see what looks like a choir of fairies singing along the magical string quartet. From a corner, Lily comes in with a joyful smile and tender-looking eyes.
"She looks beautiful," Petunia hears herself say.
Remus looks at her and smiles. "She does, but you look even more gorgeous."
Petunia feels her blush as she mentally compares her simple looks to Lily's exotic hair and alluring eyes. Even their choice of dress is different, and Petunia feels so small compared to her sister, that she wonders if Remus meant it or if it was just an empty compliment.
She doesn't even notice when the other guests light up their candles until Remus discretly touches the wick of her candle with his. Petunia mouths a thank you and feels her heart speed up when he brushes her hand with hers as a quiet 'you're welcome'.
The ceremony is beautiful. No amount of theology can deny the beauty of seeing and feeling the magic of her sister joining another's. For an instant, Petunia puzzles over how does it feel, and a weight on her shoulders appears. She will never know, for her life is as simple as a rock, with no magic at all.
"Don't."
She looks to Remus, confused. "Don't what?"
He frowns. "Don't be sad. Don't feel envy."
"How can you know what I'm feeling?" she asks quietly to avoid being heard by others and interrupting the beautiful ceremony.
"You would not believe me if I told you," he says, and Petunia can notice a hint of bitterness on his voice. "Just enjoy the wedding, and don't be sad."
Petunia nods and smiles slightly.
She looks to the front and sees how happy Lily looks with that stupid-haired boy. A grin appears on her lips. Her sister, however young, is lucky to have found love. She wonders, once again, if she will find it some day?
She muses about it during the rest of the ceremony, though she smiles when Lily looks her way, crying with joy at the life she has now. Petunia can't, and doesn't want to, be angry with her anymore. Genetics are genetics, and she is done being bitter about the magic in her sister's DNA.
"Did you like your very first handfasting?" Remus asks when the neatly organized chairs disappear, only to re-appear with round tables.
"It was beautiful!" she says excitedly and honestly. "I never thought magic could be this beautiful, but I imagined it, when I dreamt of myself being able to do it."
She almost let herself be sad about it again, but caught the negative emotions in time. I will not feel inferior, even if I'm mundane.
"Magic is not always beautiful, though it is always magnificent," he says rather darkly as he offers his arm for her to take.
Together, they walk to a secluded table, near to where Lily and his husband will sit, but far from the loud guests.
"It's just like everything else," Remus continues. "A mystery of the Universe that can or cannot be used for good and evil. Today you saw only the good side of magic. We wizards and witches know love to be a specific kind of magic that we are unable to understand."
Petunia thinks on his words, wondering if there is any truth on them. Can love be nothing more than another kind of magic refused to her? Perhaps she is the one in the wrong, for not having any magic and not finding love.
"Well, I don't think mundane weddings can be as heartfelt and pure as this strange little ceremony," she truthfully says, earning another deep laughter that makes her blood run fast. "If what you say about love being magic is true, then people like me will never find it, just as we don't have magic."
Her conclusion is logical and well reasoned, so Petunia is a bit hurt when he laughs again.
"You misunderstand," he says with what Petunia knows to be a teacher's voice. "Everyone has magic, so everyone can feel love. It's not until they learn to love that they finally feel their magic."
She snorts.
"I'm sorry, but I can't believe it's that simple. How can a muggle like me, a muggle that has dreamt of being part of your perfect world of magic, suddenly become a wand-wielding fool just for knowing how to love?"
He doesn't laugh this time, and Petunia knows it's because he can see the pain in her tear-filled eyes and hear it in her voice.
Remus reaches out for her and touches her face with his cupped hand. "Can you feel the warmth of my skin? Can you know where you end and where I begin?" he asks and gets closer to her. "Can you look into my eyes and tell me there is nothing for you to feel?"
Petunia feels her breath escaping her. Cheap tricks and philosophy is all that this guy is saying, but...
"Are you saying this is magic?"
His answer is a smile that becomes a kiss like no other, and she is sure this is a new feeling.
"I'm saying this might be love."