Double, Double, Toil and Trouble
"Double, double, toil and trouble, this potion will make you—"
"—ready, Clive? You only get one shot."
Petunia and Lily let out small screams as the witch's voice was cut off, replaced by a black and white image of a man dressed up in cowboy gear. Swivelling around, Petunia saw her father sitting on the lounge, the television remote in his hand.
The man winked at them. "Sorry, girls, but Hondo is on, and I haven't missed an episode yet."
Petunia groaned. Hondo was the latest cowboy show to come onto television. The only other cowboy show to have aired was years ago, and ever since the American program had come to Britain, her father became glued to the television. It just so happened to be on when Lily and her favourite show, The Winsome Witch, was on.
Lily didn't seem as heartbroken, however, and smiled at their father. "It's alright; Tuney and I can go and play."
She stood up and motioned for her to follow, but Petunia looked back to her father. She had hoped that perhaps he would change his mind, and she would be able to catch the last half of the program. The day before, Winnie—the main character of the show—had began her potions classes, and today she was going to turn her enemy into something interesting. She had to know what it was, and better yet, if Winnie actually managed to brew a proper potion this time. However, from the way her father's eyes were now glazed over as the characters of his show took part in some shoot out, it didn't seem that she would find out.
"Come on, Tuney, I have an idea," Lily said. The red-head was now standing in the living room doorway, motioning for her sister to follow. "Quickly," she mouthed.
Sighing, Petunia stood up and stretched. She made a show of walking in front of the television screen on her way out of the room, trying to show her father how it felt to miss a good show, but the man simply tilted his head to look around her.
"I can't wait until I am older and have my own television set," Petunia said, following Lily into the kitchen. "Now how am I supposed to find out what happened? I bet Dianne spoils it for me tomorrow."
"Don't worry, I know how we can find out," Lily said. The girl's green eyes sparkled with mischief, and she tugged on her arm. "Come on, let's go upstairs and we can talk."
"Ouch! Don't pull so hard," she said.
Still, she allowed herself to be dragged upstairs, part of her curious as to how they could possibly find out what would happen. Their neighbours didn't have a television set, so they couldn't spy from an upstairs window to see what was happening, despite the view they had into the Mulligan's living room. Lily passed their shared bedroom, anyway, and headed straight for their bathroom.
When they were both inside, Lily shut the door behind them. When she faced Petunia, her eyes were still sparkling, and a coy smile lit up her face.
"I think we should make our own potion," she said.
Petunia blinked. Make their own potion? She knew her sister could be a little… strange… sometimes, but did she really think they could make their own potion? It was just a television show, after all, and although they often liked to pretend they were witches and characters just like Winnie, surely they both knew it was just that: pretend?
Lily seemed to be able to read her mind, because she giggled. "Well, we could try, anyway, couldn't we? We have most of the stuff she used."
"Ingredients, Lily, not 'stuff.' And no, I don't really feel like playing at the moment."
Her sister rolled her eyes at the correction, but was still smiling. "Please, Tuney, it will be fun! We can make our own con—contion—con—our own potion and see what it does. Who knows? We might even invent something!"
Petunia shook her head, but Lily held a finger up before she could protest.
"I'll be one moment," Lily said, then tore out of the bathroom.
Petunia could hear her bounding around in their bedroom for a moment, their wardrobe doors opening and shutting several times. It was a few moments before she re-emerged, her cheeks slightly red. She was holding a bright pink pointed hat in her hand, and a purple one was perched precariously on her head.
Lily held the pink hat out to her. "There, now we can do this properly."
When Petunia didn't take it, her sister leant up on her toes and shoved it over her head. Petunia swatted her hands away and took it off. She had spent the entire morning ensuring that her pigtails would not go frizzy, and she would not let Lily ruin them now.
Lily simply shrugged, however, and started rummaging in the bathroom cupboard. She pulled out a small pail that she used on their family seaside holidays and set it on the vanity.
"This is our cauldron," she said, filling it with a little bit of water.
Petunia grabbed a towel from the rack and wiped up some of the water that splashed onto the sink. Lily couldn't seem to do anything without making a real mess, and from the way the girl was now pushing items in the cupboard aside, it looked like this little experiment would be no different.
"Ok, ok, I'll play," Petunia said, pushing Lily's hand away from the tube of sunblock. "But only if you promise to clean up everything before Mummy gets home."
"Of course," Lily said. "So, what's first?"
She had a feeling that she would end up cleaning up after them anyway and rolled her eyes. Nevertheless, she cast her mind back to the television show, trying to remember what ingredients Winnie used.
"Well, she had some green slime," she said and wrinkled her nose. "I think Madame Sinister told the girls it was troll boogers."
Lily nodded and fished around in the cupboard. She pulled out a tube of old mint toothpaste that neither one of them liked the flavour of and opened the cap.
"This is green and slimy," she said.
"Alright, put some of that in," Petunia said. She knew that it wouldn't matter too much if they wasted it, and it would probably be better if they emptied the tube so that it could go in the bin. "Here, let me."
She took the tube off Lily, cringing as the sticky goop crusted around the lid clung to her fingers. She took the cap off completely and, holding it over the pail, squeezed the entire contents into it. Long green glittery trails of toothpaste swirled around the water, sinking down to the bottom of the bucket. Lily grinned at her, clapping her hands.
"Excellent. Now we need some fly wings," she said.
Petunia tossed the empty tube into the bin and scoffed. "I'm not going outside to catch bugs."
"We don't have to catch them."
"Yeah? And where do you suppose we'll find dead ones, then? Mummy always cleans any up."
Lily looked at her shoes, her cheeks growing red. When she looked up again, her cheeks were once more flushed. "Well… not all of them."
Petunia narrowed her eyes, her stomach sinking. She couldn't help but think back to the time when Lily had brought a baby bird into their room after it had injured its wing. Their room had smelt for quite a while, but it wasn't until their mother had dug around a box in their wardrobe that she had found out why. Petunia had refused to put on her shoes for weeks afterwards, worried that more of the worms that Lily had been feeding the bird had crawled into them.
"What do you mean?" she said.
Lily shrugged. "I felt bad that they had to die from the spray Daddy put on them, and I meant to bury them, but I just didn't have time."
"Lily…"
The red-head walked over to the bathroom window and pulled back the lace curtain. Petunia followed her, despite knowing she wouldn't want to see what was there. Sure enough, her stomach churned again as she spotted several blowflies lining the window sill, their black legs curled in the air.
"Lily, that's disgusting! You should have swept them off the sill and put them in the bin."
Lily shrugged again, not seeming at all sorry. "Well, now we can use them in our potion, can't we?" she said.
Petunia felt sick as her sister cupped one hand and used the other hand to scoop the dead flies into it. She carried them over to the sink and dumped them into the pail. Then, grabbing an old toothbrush, she stirred the concoction around.
The blonde handed Lily the bar of soap to wash her hands. Lily took it, but rather than lathering up, she broke the soap in half and dumped it in the pail.
"Great, that will make it really bubble up. What else can we add?"
She peered into the pail as Lily continued stirring. It didn't really look like a potion at all; only a few small bubbles came from the soap, and the toothpaste remained on the bottom in small green lumps. Only the flies had floated to the surface, a few of their wings detaching and bobbing around. It was just a mess, really.
"It needs to be darker, for one," Petunia said, folding her arms. "From the looks of it, Winnie's potion turned purple."
"Mmm, I'm not sure what else we could add to make it purple. Oh! But we could try…" Lily ducked down into the cupboard again. When she stood up, she was holding the bottle of shaving cream their father sometimes kept inside. "This could lighten it, and if you go and run down into the kitchen and get some blackcurrant cordial, it might turn a little purple."
Petunia shook her head. "No way, Mummy is saving that for when Aunt Violet visits."
Lily was too busy squeezing large handfuls of white foam into the pail to listen. "She can buy some more at the shops."
"Lily—"
Lily was still smiling, the liquid now looking a little murkier. "Yes! That worked. Go on, Tuney, she won't miss it. Pleaseeeeee."
"No."
"I'll get it then, and that way Mummy won't yell at you."
Petunia had to think quick. Her mother would be furious if they used the cordial, but if she didn't go down herself, she knew Lily really would. She stepped in front of her sister, holding her hand out across the doorway to block her from exiting.
"Alright, alright. I'll go get a few things from downstairs that we can use. You keep stirring."
Lily nodded and went back to the sink. "Ok."
Petunia watched her for a moment, making sure she didn't plan on leaving the bathroom, then headed downstairs herself. If she could just a few things that her mother wouldn't notice, it would all be alright.
She tiptoed into the kitchen, wary that her father was still in the next room. She could hear another gunfight echoing from the television set, but knowing her luck, her father would peel himself up off the lounge and go into the kitchen looking for a snack. She wasn't prepared to explain to him what she and Lily were up to.
She opened the kitchen cupboards as quietly as possible, searching the shelves for anything they had extra of. There wasn't much on offer; their mother only really bought what the family would use each week, not willing to waste anything. The only exception was the biscuits and cakes she bought for when relatives or friends visited, but those supplies were kept on the highest shelf of the pantry, out of reach of both the girls and their father.
With one ear on the living room, she pawed through the shelves and took out what she thought wouldn't matter too much. Twice her father grunted, and her heart leapt into her throat. Both times, it was just her father responding to the show, and she had to calm herself. She grabbed a bottle of tomato sauce, a jar of pickles that had been there since the Christmas before, a few cans of baked beans, and a couple of eggs. She had some difficulty balancing all of this in her arms, but she managed and quickly headed back to the bathroom.
When she walked inside, it was clear that Lily had not remained in the bathroom as promised. The vase that had been in their bedroom was now void of the daisies she and Lily had picked. It was no mystery where they had gone, and Petunia groaned at the litter of white petals and chopped up green stems on the floor. The jar of potpourri from the toilet was also empty, as was half a packet of gummy worms that had been in Lily's bedside table drawer.
Petunia unloaded the contraband onto the vanity and peered into the pail. Petals and leaves floated amongst the gummy worms and dead flies, and the water was now a murky brown.
Lily grinned when she saw what she had gathered, and began pouring everything into the pail. The tomato sauce brought the liquid over the rim of the pail, with large red blobs spilling onto the sink.
"I'll clean it up later," Lily said, catching Petunia's look. She stirred everything together, tapping the toothbrush against the side of the pail. "I think it's ready."
Petunia raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure?"
Lily looked at the potion and frowned. "It's not purple but… oh! I forgot, we have to say the spell."
The girl placed her hands palm down over the pail and looked at her. "Well, come on."
"Come on what?"
"Do what I do. Don't worry, I remember the spell; you can copy me if you get stuck," Lily said.
She huffed and pushed Lily to the side. This was all stupid, but she wasn't about to let her sister act like she was the biggest fan of The Winsome Witch. Petunia knew more about the show, and she certainly could recite a simple spell. Well, she knew most of the spell, and could easily come up with the rest of it if she needed.
Holding her hands next to Lily's, she cleared her throat. "Double, bubble, toil and trouble," she said, waving her hands over the brown liquid. Lily copied and wiggled her fingers about. "This potion will turn enemies into… into frogs, as soon as we… we bark like dogs!"
It was Lily's turn to raise an eyebrow, or rather both. Still, when Petunia jerked her head as if to say, 'go on', Lily made a few dog noises.
"Woof, woof," she said with a giggle.
Petunia laughed, too, making the same sounds. She was glad that their parents weren't there, let alone anyone else, because she would have felt ridiculous otherwise. Turning back to the pail, she clicked her fingers. Lily tried to the same, but as she had yet to master the art of clicking, rubbed her fingers together and made a noise with her tongue instead.
Although she knew it was all pretend, part of her had hoped that something magical would happen when they did. The potion remained the same, however, and Petunia shrugged.
"Well, there you go; one frog transformation potion."
Lily giggled. She emptied the toothbrushes out of the cup on the vanity, scooped up some of the liquid, and held it under Petunia's nose. "Drink up," she said.
"No way." Petunia swatted her hand away and wrinkled her nose. Some of the liquid spilled over the top of the cup and soaked into the fluffy white bath mat.
Lily winked and stirred it with her index finger. "Ok, so you don't have to drink it, but we do need to try it."
"If you want to try it, you can, but I'm not—Lily!" Petunia shrieked.
Lily had wiped her fingers along her arm, spreading the liquid around. Petunia looked around for the towel to wipe it off, but she spotted it sitting in the sink, covered in all manners of ingredients. She waved her arm about, trying to get rid of the liquid by shaking it off.
"Hurry, close your eyes," Lily prompted.
The blonde's eyes were already squeezed shut as she danced around the room. If she didn't see what was on her, it was a little less disgusting. "Get it off me!"
Petunia froze as Lily grabbed her arm. Rather than feeling a towel or cloth, however, something cold and wet tingled along her skin.
Her sister gasped and clapped her hands together. "It's working!"
She wanted to open her eyes and look, but if she saw dead flies smeared on her arm, she would probably scream. "Lily…" she moaned.
"No, Tuney, it's really working!"
Petunia's heart was beating fast. Something in Lily's voice told her to keep still, and she worked on calming down. When she thought about it, her skin did feel different. The cold, wet feeling seemed to be spreading down her arm, and soon it spread to her other arm.
"What's happening?" she asked, her voice wobbly.
Lily didn't respond. Petunia gulped, her heart now racing.
"Lily?"
The potion couldn't have actually been working, could it? No, that was silly. Neither of them were witches, and they hadn't even followed the television recipe. She wasn't really going to turn into a frog… was she?
Petunia jumped as the same cold feeling spread to her legs. She wanted to cry, but she still couldn't ring herself to open her eyes, lest magic had occured.
After what seemed like an hour—although it was probably only a mere minute or two—Lily finally spoke. Or rather, giggled.
"Open your eyes, Tuney!" she said.
Petunia shook her head. Her limbs still felt wet. What had they done?
She felt a tap on her shoulder, however, and after a deep breath, she finally peeled her eyes open. Lily was watching her. She was holding the pail and one of their mother's powder brush, a large grin on her face. She wasn't looking up at the girl, though, so at least she hadn't shrunken.
Petunia's gaze flicked to her arms and legs, expecting to see slimy green skin. Instead, she was met with the sight of her own pale skin, covered in drips of the potion.
It didn't take long for her to put two and two together, and she turned a glare on Lily.
"Well, you did turn a little green," Lily said. Petunia could tell that she was trying to hide her smile now, but her rosy lips continued pulling up. "What?"
Gritting her teeth, Petunia snatched the bucket from Lily's hands. Lily stepped back, the smile still there, perhaps realising that she was very tempted to pour the liquid over her head. Nevertheless, Petunia pushed past her and dumped the remaining contents into the sink. "Clean this up," she said.
Lily rolled her eyes and reached for a cloth. "Come on, that was funny."
Petunia took the cloth and started rubbing the slime off her skin, regretting now more than ever that she had passed the soap to Lily earlier.
She didn't stop rubbing at the mess even as their father called up the stairs. "Everything alright, girls? You can watch the rest of your show now."
"Excellent." Lily turned another grin at Petunia. Tossing the new cloth she had found to the floor, she bounded out of the room. "Come on, Tuney, we can find more potion recipes!"
Petunia glowered after her sister and walked to the sink. Turning on the faucet, she continued scrubbing at her skin. There was no way that she would be making any more potions with her sister, and her days of watching The Winsome Witch were certainly over.
Perhaps her father had the right idea; she could probably get into Hondo. At least then Lily wouldn't be able to find a horse to ride, or bandits to arrest, even if she wanted to.
A/N: This story was written for Fruits (SecretFruits) for the mini drabble tag (heh, yes, 'mini') :)
My sister and I used to adore making 'potions' when we were younger, and when movies and shows like 'Casper Meets Wendy' and 'The Worst Witch.' I miss those days, although something tells me that my parents don't miss waking up to a sink full of cordial, toothpaste and powder hehe.