Author's Note: This was written for the Quidditch League Daily Prophet Competition, in which my team (the Magpies) had to collaborate on a story. We chose to write about the Seven Deadly Sins.
The original story with the other six chapters is still posted on the Montrose Magpies account (link on my profile) and is definitely worth checking out. I love my team! :)
Envy
Petunia's stomach twisted as she watched her sister and new brother-in-law twirl on the dance floor. She tapped her fingers on the pristine linen tablecloth in annoyance and tried to ignore the happy couple.
The song changed abruptly into something faster, and Petunia resisted the urge to cover her ears at the noise even as everyone else in the courtyard cheered.
'More magic nonsense,' she thought for the hundredth time that evening. Just another reason she was glad she told Vernon to stay behind. Vernon didn't like fast music, and he wouldn't have liked the cake that shimmered and turned, or the decorations that changed colors, or the sparks the guests were sending into the sky every fifteen minutes.
The whole wedding had been over-the-top and Petunia couldn't help but be reminded of her own wedding: small and cheap by comparison, held in their parents' garden with only close friends. Her husband didn't come with a fortune.
"Lily looks beautiful, doesn't she?" she overheard another woman say.
"She always does," said another.
Petunia had been trying to finish her dinner but she suddenly lost her appetite. The ladies at the table next to her were talking loudly.
"Did you hear how he proposed?"
"Oh, yes. A picnic overlooking Hogwarts. It sounds lovely."
"So romantic!"
'Any proposal is romantic,' Petunia thought bitterly. A musty living room could be just as sweet.
She heard her sister squeal from across the room and then she was being tugged from her seat by the redhead.
"James is taking me to Montrose for our honeymoon! He just told me, can you believe it?" Lily gushed excitedly. "It's so beautiful there; I've always wanted to go!"
Petunia tried to be happy for her, truly. She put on a smile and listened to her sister go on about the surprise honeymoon, the lovely wedding, the perfect house they'd picked out. She forced out compliments on Lily's dress and the foul-smelling food and the loud music – it was all so beautiful and at the same time, she hated it.
She wanted to smash the cake and tear the dress. She wanted to dance and join in the strange card game the groomsmen were playing.
Her eyes burned as her stomach tightened and she thought she might be sick.
She locked herself in the bathroom and stared at her pale reflection in the mirror as the tears finally fell.
"Pull yourself together, Petunia," she muttered to the glass.
She splashed cold water on her face and returned to the reception when the pain in her stomach lessened, only to have it flare up the moment she spotted Lily and James back on the dance floor.
'Might as well go home. No one will miss a Muggle anyway,' she thought.
Petunia cast one last look of longing at a wand left lying on a table before she turned her back on the party and returned to her ordinary life.