Witch with a capital B
Prologue
That creepy boy had always been around Lily.
Following her around like a pathetic puppy and telling her about his stupid "wizarding" school. He stole Lily away and wanted to steal her even more by taking her to his magic school and leave her, Petunia behind. She, of course, knew his name; Severus Snape.
A stupid name for a stupid and creepy sister-stealing boy.
The worst part was that he was right. One day a little strange man in strange colorful robes showed up at their door. He was asked in and given tea before he told them stupid stories about magic, and their school and and and Petunia was angry! When her mum and dad were in the kitchen to talk among themselves about everything, Lily was excited and asked a million questions.'So I am really a witch then?' 'My friend Severus says he's a wizard! He told me all about magic when he saw me make a flower fly!' "What subject do you teach?' 'Is it difficult to learn?' 'What is Hogwarts like?' 'Are there dragons and unicorns?' 'Can Tuney come too?'
The man answered all of her questions with a good natured grin and even laughed at her curiosity.
"Oh so many questions!" He said sounding excited. "You would do great in Ravenclaw. That is my house, Miss Lily!"
Lily looked at him as if he was the greatest thing ever and that was stupid, because he was already a head smaller than her.
When their father returned and stopped the man in his explanations, Petunia had to hide her glee. "Professor Flitwick, was it? Yes, we are amazed and quite frankly speechless and your offer is more than generous, but we are supposed to move abroad in two months." Their parents had told them about this plan just last week after their father received a new job offer.
"Oh." The strange man was disappointed at the news. He seemed confused for a moment before asking, "Where will you move?"
"France, Professor," Her dad told him. Petunia was already excited. They would start French classes the day after tomorrow with the whole family.
Petunia wanted to laugh when she saw Lily's face take on a miserable look. HA, none of them would go to some magic school and that creepy boy would be gone as well. They could finally go back to being just Lily and Tuney.
"I see, I see, I see." The little man twirled his beard. "That is an unusual situation."
"Does this mean I can't go to Hogwarts anymore?" Lily's voice quivered at the thought.
"Honestly, I'm not sure. I will have to contact a couple of people first and of course it depends on what your parents want." He replied in a kind manner. Tears appeared in Lily's eyes and she sniffled quietly. "Now, now, don't worry Miss Lily, even if you can't go to Hogwarts, Beauxbatons is a great school as well."
"Basbaran?" Her parents exchanged a very confused look before staring at the teacher.
"Beauxbatons." He corrected them cheerfully. "It is an excellent school in France for children like Lily. I'm sure she will love it there."
"What?" said Mr. Evans. "There is another magic school in France?" Their father sounded a bit helpless with the situation.
"Oh yes of course!" The funny man clapped his tiny hands. "Nearly every country has some form of magical schooling. Beauxbatons is another boarding school. I'll have to speak with their Headmistress to see if Lily could enroll there instead. I will return in the next couple of days to discuss everything with you." He emptied his tea cup before waving them goodbye and then vanishing into thin air with a loud crack!
"That was interesting…" Their father said while staring at the place the man had been just stood moments before.
'No,' Petunia thought, 'That was very strange.'
Exactly five days later, a big woman appeared at their door. She wasn't big in the sense of overly tall, but wide. Petunia was shocked to notice that the woman had wider shoulders than her father! She had some scars on her hands and a stern face. Petunia thought, it was a bit scary to have her watch you. 'Do all magical people look a little off?' Petunia asked herself., if all magic users looked a little off; 'First that creepy boy, with his far too greasy hair, then the little man and now this woman who was se shoulders were nearly as wide as she was tall.' Petunia grinned to herself when she thought of her sister becoming stretched incredibly thin to fit in with this strange crowd. She had to grin at the idea that Lily would soon grow very tall and thin like a stick figure. She wore normal clothes, not like the little man, but she seemed uncomfortable in them. The woman, Madame Ourstueuse, spoke English with a heavy French accent. She also spoke to the Evans family about a magical school but hers sounded a lot less exciting than the one the little man had mentioned. She barely talked about magic, only that it existed and that it was important for Lily to learn how to use it. She talked about the French,Latin, math and science classes at Beauxbatons, but it didn't sound like she was teaching any of those subjects.
The adults discussed those boring subjects for an awfully long time, before their mother asked while uncomfortably shifting in her seat, "What about magic?" She seemed embarrassed just to say the word.
The look on the Madame's face shifted somehow. "She will be taught to control her talent and would not be a problem to anyone. You don't 'ave to worry about it at all. It wouldn't be graded." Her tone made clear that this was the last she would say on the matter and their mother and father nodded along.
"So it is essentially a normal boarding school with a few special extracurriculars?"
"Qui, yes." Mr. Evans immediately looked relieved but Petunia didn't think the woman was being honest with them. She looked at her parents to see if they felt the same way but they only seemed pleased with her answer. Lily on the other hand looked disappointed; however, her face soon lit up.
"If it is a nearly normal school, could Tuney come with me to this one?" she asked.
"Non." Madame Ourstueuse didn't give any explanation and continued to talk about the boring parts of Lily's education like how much money they would need for the first year. Apparently the following years would be less expensive, but for the first year Lily would need around five-hundred pounds for a school uniforms, books, and some other things. The woman didn't say what other things, but from what the little man said Petunia suspected the money was for a wand and a cauldron, so why didn't this woman just say so?
Finally their parents agreed to send Lily to Beauxbatons. She would arrive in Paris at the 24th August and would return for winter break in December. Post could only be sent to students once a week, as it was seen as a distraction from their education. She gave them a paper with an address in Marseille. 'Why would they drop of Lily in Paris if the school was in Marseille?' Petunia wondered. It was very strange.
Petunia felt less jealous of her sister now that she was going to that Beauxbatons school instead of Hogwarts. There was not much time to think about it between their move to France, learning a new language and finding a new school for Petunia, she didn't have time to think about Lily, her magic or new school. Plus, Petunia was very proud that she as the best in her family to learn the new language, even better than Lily.
It was strange to drop off her sister in Paris. They were at a small café that was an hotel as well. There were around forty or so other students and their families, none of the families were magical either. No one was really talking about magic except for Lily and some other students her age, who tried to get information from the older students. However, they told Lily and the other children to wait and not to pester them any longer. Petunia noticed that her sister had some trouble talking to the other students, because her French still wasn't very good. Their mum and dad talked with some of the other parents and apparently none of the students did magic at home or even talked about it. Later, one of the older students announced that it was time to say goodbye and that everybody had to grab their suitcases.
Lily hugged mum and dad tightly before she turned to Petunia.
"I promise I will talk to the school and ask if you can come, Tuney!" She said with tears in her eyes while looking up at her sister nervously.
"Pah! That school sounds dull. Why would I want to go there?" Even if this was a practically a normal school, Petunia thought it would be terrible to be the only student who couldn't to any magic. She quickly looked away from Lily, before she could see the disapproving look on their parents' faces. Petunia watched the other families and while they hugged and said their goodbyes. Many students looked a bit distant and from their families. It was very strange.
Petunia didn't see Lily until a week before Christmas. Sure she wrote to them every week, but the letters were short and didn't say anything about magic at all. She asked Petunia some questions, but she never answered any of the questions they asked. But mum and dad wrote a letter back every week. Petunia didn't have time to write to her stupid magical sister at her boring magic school. She had her own school that was much cooler and made some friends there. She and the girls loved to talk and giggled together and Petunia learned French really fast with their help.
When Lily came home, the first words that sprung to Petunia's mind were sad and tired. Their parents had picked her up in the same place they had dropped her off in August. She still didn't talk about magic or the school at all. When Petunia, was out with her friends she could sometimes see Lily on her own at the playground and Petunia pretended not to know her, because really, only babies go to the playground. Her friends didn't know that Lily was her sister and when Camille started to make fun of Lily because she was that weird loner at the swings, Petunia didn't say anything. Not even when Lily heard them and started to cry and ran home.
'Damnit! Mum and Dad will be so angry.' Petunia thought. But to her surprise, her parents didn't say a thing when she came home two hours later. Lily clearly hadn't told them about what happened. A bit later, her mum told her to call Lily for dinner.
"Lily, come out. Dinner is ready!" She knocked on the door a couple of times.
"Go away! I'm not hungry!" Petunia stared at the door for a moment, worried. She had heard tears in Lily's voice.
"Is… is everything ok?"
"Go away!"
'If Mum and Dad find out she is crying, I will so get in trouble,' Petunia thought. "Come out and stop being a cry baby!"
"Go away!" Lily now sounded more angry than sad.
"Oh, come on!"Petunia was angry now too. Why did Lily make such a show out of the fact that Petunia's friends didn't like her? She had magic and should be happy all the damn time because of that! "You're acting like a stupid baby! It's not like you will be here long! Soon you will be back at your stupid school!" Petunia shouted against the door. She didn't say what was really on her mind, because then she would have to mention magic. And no one in their family ever said magic. Even Lily.
Her little sister tore the door open. Her red hair was still mostly in her ponytail, but some strands had escaped. Her eyes and nose were red from crying. "Do you want to switch! Because I want to!" Lily shouted at her.
'Switch? Switch what? Magic? That doesn't make sense. Nobody would switch magic for anything!' "What are you talking about? For what?"
"Friends!" She shouted back.
"What?" Petunia said in confusion.' What did Lily mean? Didn't she have friends in her school? That didn't make sense. Lily was disgusting likable. It was one of the facts of life that Petunia grew up with. Yes, she could find new friends easily too, but everybody that spent time with Lily automatically adored her. "Why?"
"Because I don't have any! I'm not good at French and the others only make fun of me or ignore me… And all the rules and-" She stopped talking in the middle of the sentence and looked around as if she expected someone to spring up.
Petunia was speechless and wasn't sure what to do. Lily stood in front of her crying because some stupid children were mean to her. That had only happened once before, when they were younger. A boy had pulled her hair all the time and pushed her down. Back then Petunia had defended her little sister, by going up to the boy and shouting at him and when he laughed at her, she shouted a bunch of mean little rumors about him for everybody to hear. Some she had made up, but nobody knew that, because everybody thought that Petunia knew everything about everyone. He never went close to her little sister again. That had been before the creepy boy and his magic showed up in their life. But now Lily stood in front of her just like back then, but Petunia couldn't defend her against those kids.
But she could teach Lily how to do it herself!
"If you can't speak French you have to learn it. Tomorrow you will come with me and my friends and you can't speak English at all and-" Petunia didn't invite her sister so much as order her to come, before Lily interrupted her.
"But your friends laugh at me as well!"
"Well then don't let them. Say something back, stupidhead. You're already a witch, how difficult could it be to be a bitch from time to time." Petunia was already thirteen and she had learned more insults than eleven year old Lily.
Lily looked at her in shock and awe as if she had just been told her one of life's biggest secrets. She rushed over to Petunia and hugged her and mumbled some 'thanks you's against her. Petunia put an arm around her as well. She was always going to be a big sister and no magic and creepy boys could ever help Lily like she could.. Because she, Petunia, would always be the only big sister Lily ever had. In that moment Petunia felt like a weight she didn't even know she was carrying was lifted off her chest. 'Who needs a stupid magic school that didn't even do any real magic?' she thought.
After that the two girls spent a lot more of the holidays together. They weren't as close as before that creepy boy came into their lives, but they were sisters again. They fought and made up without apologizing. They shouted at each other and stole ice cream out of the fridge together. One evening when their parents were out and they watched a movie, Lily told her half asleep that some older students always read her letters before letting her send them home. Before Petunia could ask why, Lily was already asleep.
That was very strange.
That school was very strange.
Having a witch for a sister was very strange.
But it wasn't strange to have a little sister that was normal. Normal was good.
A.N. Hey, this is a story idea that wouldn't leave me alone for some time and so I sat down and start to write.
In this story, I would like to show what could have been, if Lily hadn't always been to Hogwarts and how this could have changed her relationships and world views. This prologue hints at some of the different magic laws in France compared to Britain and how it would be difficult for Lily to find friends if she not only was new to the magic world, but to France as well; a different country with a different language. And it shows us how Lily and Petunia got a bit closer again.
I would like to get reviews to know if you like the story and to improve my writing.
I found a brilliant beta reader in hurricanehairandemeraldeyes. Thank you for your work. Over the next few weeks I will exchange the chapters for the corrected once.
Have a nice day.