New Understandings

Lily rubbed her bright pink cheek with her palm as she ascended the staircase. She would never get used to her Aunt Violet's over-enthusiastic greetings- in fact, she was sure dimples would form on her soft skin from all the times she had pinched her face. Still, it was a nice change of pace to be doted upon without having to worry about Petunia sulking around- her sister was, for once, too ecstatic to care, having recently gotten engaged to a walrus of a man, Vernon Dursley.

She paused at the top of the landing, staring at the silver photo frames neatly aligned on the small corner table. One of them contained an old sepia photograph of her grandparent's wedding day, their postures stiff but their eyes smiling. Another portrait was of their family vacation to the sea side that had been taken when she was twelve; only three of the four people bore a smile in that one.

However, it was the picture to the left that was her favourite. Walking closer to the table, she traced a finger across its smooth surface, a small smile gracing her lips. She remembered the day the photo was taken fondly; she and Petunia had just received a bike to share and had spent the day in their matching striped pinafores riding around the yard together. Their childish laughs still echoed through her mind- at seven and nine years old respectively, it was the happiest times they had spent together. It was a pity that nearly a decade later, things had changed.

The flushing of their bathroom toilet interrupted her thoughts and she let out a sigh. There was no use putting it off any longer- her aunt had insisted she fetch her sister, so she may as well get it over and done with so she could go back to packing for school. Bracing herself for the inevitable snippy response, she knocked on the bathroom door.

"Petunia, are you in there? Aunt Vi wants to see you."

"Go away," the voice was muffled by the closed door, but Lily thought she detected some shakiness to it.

"Are you alright Petunia?"

"Just go."

She contemplated giving up, but something inside of her nagged at her to open the door. Finding it locked, she twisted the handle a few times to the left until she heard a satisfactory click. The door's old brass lock had been broken during one of their fights a year or so ago, and thus she saw no reason to withdraw her wand- doing so would only result in Petunia's shrieking.

Stepping inside the clean white and blue room, she immediately noticed that the tap was running, filling the porcelain sink with a steady stream of water. Hastily, she twisted the handle so that it shut off.

"Petunia?"

The only response that came was the sickly sound of retching. She stooped down and peaked underneath the stiff curtain that separated the toilet from the shower cubicle and basin. Petunia was on her knees, her floral dress brushing against the cold tile floor and the toes of her mary-janes bent at the point.

Lily jumped back as her sister's legs suddenly pushed up off the floor and the curtain was swung aside violently to reveal the rest of her. She tried to hide the shocked expression she wore as she took in Petunia's red face and eyes. The blonde's normally neat hair was now loose, stray strands clinging to the salty tears that were still leaking. Mascara, which Petunia always applied with precision, had become clumpy and smudged beneath her thick blonde lashes. To put it simply, her usually prim and proper sister was a mess.

Sure her own green eyes were bulging out of her head, she merely asked, "Petunia, have you been drinking?"

"What are you still doing here?"

"Well, have you?"

Her sister's face turned an even deeper shade of crimson. Sending her infamous glare, she strode past her to the sink. It was not until she had splashed her face with cold water that she looked into the mirror at Lily's reflection and replied.

"For goodness sake, have you seen me with a drink in hand lately? It may be ok for you and your freak friends to get drunk, but I have more sense."

Lily opened her mouth to retort that witches and wizards did not spend all their time drinking, but the bathroom door creaked open once more. A little voice made both of the girls jump and turn to look at the young girl with her brown hair in pigtails and bows.

"I've been listening at the door. You shouldn't drink, you know. Nanna always said that it's a bad habit."

"Oh grow up Daisy and mind your own business," Petunia snapped.

"Drinking alcohol is bad for you."

"I said, shut up!"

"That's a swear," the girl gasped, but a smirk soon appeared on her round face. "I'm going to tell mummy and Aunty Hyacinth that you've been drinking."

The twelve-year-old's smirk grew wider and she skipped back out the door.

Lily rolled her eyes, knowing that the girl would do anything to cause trouble. At the last year's family gathering, she had dobbed on their elder cousin, Rose, for 'wrestling' with her boyfriend in the guest bedroom. The cheeky bugger knew perfectly well what they were actually doing, but wanted to play the innocent 'child' act to get out of trouble for breaking her mother's good china that morning. She was a nuisance yet her parents, Lily's aunt and uncle, could not see anything wrong with their precious daughter.

However, Petunia was not as calm and chased after the girl. It was a few seconds later that Lily heard a squeal and footsteps stomping up the hallway, and Petunia soon reappeared. She was holding Daisy's broken glasses in her hand, the left lens cracked and the wire arms bent to the side.

"That'll teach her not to tattle," she huffed, closing the door behind her and trying to lock it again.

"Really? Did you have to break that girl's glasses?"

Petunia paused to fix her hair, twisting it up into a bun.

"Of course, she can't find her way downstairs if she can't see, can she?" she scoffed, patting a final wispy strand in place. Obviously satisfied that she looked somewhat decent, she turned to face her, hands on hips. "Besides, Lily, that's rich of you to refer to her as 'that girl'. What isn't your cousin good enough to be called by her first name? Isn't she worthy of proper acknowledgement because she isn't a freak like you?"

Lily folded her arms tight across her chest in comfort; she was by now used to her sister's torments, but the insults still hurt a little nevertheless. She couldn't meet her steely blue eyes and instead settled for focussing on her sister's stomach. It wasn't until now that she noticed how it protruded slightly, curving more than it usually did. Although she had not seen her sister since the Christmas holidays, having rarely heard a peep out of her during the first few weeks of summer, she could have simply been imagining it.

She wanted to believe that perhaps the extra weight, as small as it was, had been gained simply because she was now trying to impress her fiancé with a bigger appetite. Unfortunately, her logical mind quickly thought otherwise.

Looking up to finally meet her eyes, her next words came as barely a whisper. "Petunia are you… pregnant?"

Immediately, her sister's face paled as her jaw dropped. Lily watched on as her mouth opened and closed soundlessly, no biting words able to flow through her sister's thin lips. Taking a closer look at her face, she realised with a jolt that devastation seemed to be hidden beneath her rapidly blinking eyelids.

Finally composing herself and placing a sneer upon her face, Petunia took a step forwards. Not noticing her foul expression, she readied herself to enfold her sister into her arms and comfort her.

"How dare you?" she seethed before pouncing forwards.

Not for the first time that day, Lily raised a hand to her cheek, feeling the sting of her sister's sharp slap. She moved a little to the left and peered into the mirror, seeing a red mark forming that was as red as her hair.

Petunia, for her part, now stood motionless against the opposite wall, her chest heaving up and down. Tears were swimming in her eyes, yet she did not so much as utter an apology, nor did she try to leave. Neither girl spoke; the tension in the air palpable.

Lily wanted to hate her; she wanted to scream, to shout, to demand why she had done it. However, all she could bring herself to do was feel pity for the unrecognisable blonde before her. Petunia had never appeared as fragile as she was, her lanky frame shaking as her breathing continued to come out in rasps. She looked sick, a yellow pallor noticeable beneath her skin. It was almost as though she was ashamed of herself, but not for hitting her younger sister.

A knock at the door startled both girls, each swivelling their heads towards the entrance. Their mother's voice drifted through the wood, sounding a strange mix of concern and impatience.

"Girls, are you alright in there? The meat's getting cold and your Uncle Paul's encouraging Violet to sing. Hurry up to lunch please."

"Yes mum, we'll be right down," Lily was the first to respond, clearing her throat to make her voice sound much stronger than it actually was.

She walked to the sink and ran her hands under the cold water, much as Petunia did only half an hour beforehand, and tried to cool her burning cheek. The liquid did nothing to hide the mark, but it made her feel calmer. Petunia flinched as Lily looked towards her, almost as though she was expecting some kind of retaliation. Shrugging, she instead simply brushed down her pleated skirt and made to leave the room. Before she could move though, a tug on her arm spun her back around.

Her protest at Petunia's grab died on her lips when the girl barrelled into her, crushing her against the wall. Lily's immediate reaction was to push her off, wary of what her sister had in mind, yet she stopped as she realised that her sister was hugging her. Confusion instantly filled her, before it too was replaced with worry. Not in a million years did she ever expect her to embrace her like this, especially now that she was in her last year of Hogwarts and would soon be a full-fledged witch (or 'weirdo' as Petunia preferred).

Hesitantly, she enclosed their cuddle by allowing her arms to fold across her back and rubbed soothing circles over it. Large sobs wracked Petunia's as her tears soaked into her blouse.

"Shh, Tuney, its ok; everything will be alright," she cooed, feeling her heart tear at the blonde's vulnerability.

She didn't fool herself into thinking that Petunia was remorseful over her actions, but could not understand why she was so fearful. Their parents, though they may be slightly disappointed, would not disown her, not now that she would soon be wed. In fact, a baby in the family would probably brighten up their day given Daisy was probably the closest thing to one.

Minutes more passed before Petunia's sobs eventually died down. She gave a loud hiccough as Lily smoothed her hair down for her. Clasping her hand, she leant inwards to catch what her sister was trying to choke out.

"It was a boy."

In a great wave understanding washed upon her as she felt her own eyes begin to brim with tears. All she could do was pull her sister tighter and not let go. She vowed to herself that no matter what happened or how she did it, Petunia would this time get what she wanted; she may have to go without magic, but she would certainly not have to go without a boy to look after.

A/N: I own absolutely nothing from the world of Harry Potter, nor do I actually own the names Daisy, Hyacinth, Rose and Violet as I was inspired by a certain old comedic British television show… bonus points guessing which one.

This fic (as horrible as it is right now without beta editing) was written for the 'Team Competition' on the HPFC forum. My team is the 'Marauders Era' and for this round my given character was Lily Evans and the team prompt "Did you have to break that girl's glasses?"

This story is set in the summer before Lily's seventh year and yeah they have family over… I don't actually know if the Evans girls had cousins as they were never mentioned, but I'd like to think that they did. I hope I got their characters in line with canon. My main idea for this fic was to provide extra information (my head canon) to questions Rowling has answered. For example, why did Lily really leave Harry to her sister's family after her death, blood and protection spells aside? Why did Petunia resent Harry so, magic or not? Why did Petunia spoil Dudley more than normal? I hope I managed to convey that yes, Petunia had a miscarriage (hence the stomach… I've heard and witnessed cases where the stomach remains large in the hours after it occurs) and yes, she was only vomiting because she could not handle what had happened to her… feeling guilty as though it was her fault that her first child died.

Anyways, I do hope you enjoyed this somewhat... will have it beta'd ASAP, especially with excessive use of the girl's names.