I really wanted to do a piece on the relationship between Petunia and Lily and I think that I am pretty satisfied with this. It starts off more in Lily's point of view and ends in Petunia's.
I don't own anything but the idea. Enjoy!
It was awkward and uncomfortable and probably the last place she wanted to be right at this very moment but Lily Potter, nee Evans stuck it out like a trooper. It wasn't as if she was sitting in a finely furnished sitting room with a Dementor or a Death Eater. It was just her sister. She could handle this. Really she could. Bugger it all, what a tremendous lie.
It wasn't as if she didn't love her sister, because she did. Even after she had had her hair pulled, been slapped, bitten, clawed, yelled and screeched at and emotionally undermined until she was reduced to a heaping mess of a self-conscious teenager; she loved her sister. She just didn't like her very much. And she really didn't like her walrus-esque, idiot of a husband. God how she hated that man, and found she was very relieved when he had gruffly excused himself for work. Very, very relived.
She could really only take so much hate directed at her. She had to deal with enough of that in the wizarding world. Which was, quite honestly, part of the reason she had come here. In such troubling times, even the muggles had begun to notice the oddities of the stream of murders that were becoming far and more frequent. Lily had already watched so many others die; to hell with it if she couldn't also protect her sister. She wasn't the brightest witch of her year for nothing.
Convincing her sister of this however, was a completely different matter.
"You have a lovely home Petunia. Vernon must do very well at work." She struggled it out, and watched as it settled heavily between the two sisters. Another awkward pause.
"Yes, well, what with Dudley being born soon, Vernon and I thought that we would buy everything we needed to furnish our home so then we can give our child everything his little heart desires." It was said quickly, and the two sisters fell silent.
Lily watched her from over her teacup and suddenly felt the raw hurt when she saw the apprehension and dislike in her sisters eyes. She hadn't known when it had escalated to this; when they had been little the two girls had got along well enough (minus the teddy bear incident when she had been 5). Now, now they had nothing to talk about, coming from two completely different worlds. Lily supposed that normal sisters who were going through pregnancy at the same time would be ecstatic, swapping stories and pigging out on weird cravings, giggling about their husbands, friends and sex lives (not that Lily wanted to hear about her sister and Vernon necessarily).
Her heart twisted as she set down her tea cup and stared, point blank, at her sister. Searching, trying desperately to find some sort of resemblance. They had different hair obviously, Lily's own a bright red and Petunia's a stringy blonde. They're eyes were different too; Petunia's dull brown eyes had never received much notice while Lily's own electric green eyes had always received high compliments. Lily's nose was round and kind of wide while Petunia's ran straight and severe down her face. Petunia's mouth was one harsh line while Lily sported a pouty, bow-shaped set.
Lily was in absolute despair. Here she sat with her sister of not but blood, trying to find a semblance of recognition of herself in her sister and unable to. James always tried to placate her with the knowledge that one couldn't choose one's family; Sirius was living proof of this. This knowledge didn't make it any easier, as she watched her sister squirm under her intense gaze.
"Petunia…We are at war." She didn't have to specify the 'we'. Petunia always lumped them all together anyways. She suddenly felt tired and quickly decided that this may not have been the smartest decision. Not really at all. Petunia stared at her with thinly veiled disinterest.
"They call themselves the Death Eaters, they follow a man who calls himself Lord Voldemort and they plan to wipe the earth of everything that is not of pure wizard blood. That includes all mugg-…normal people like you and Vernon. They have killed so many already Petunia and I am afraid…They grow stronger every day. James and I have joined a resistance but that has put us in their line of interest" Petunia stared at her and sneered (a very unbecoming look).
"And what does this have to do with me? Why have you come here Lily, I don't want anything to do with your abnormal world. All you freaks can stay away."
"They will not hesitate to come after you Petunia." And both women stop speaking to stare at each other. One tired and war-torn and the other wary and angry. The looks they gave each other were enough; different though they may be, they still retained their sisterly bond, sharing the secret language that only they could understand.
Lily remembered a time when those looks were shared to warn the other of their mother's anger or to share a secret laugh when they found their mother and father swaying around the kitchen in time to a Beatles song. Times had changed and Lily wished that it hadn't forced the two siblings so far apart. But she couldn't change the past or the present, but she could try to make amends and patch up their future.
That's when she saw it. The hesitant look, almost wary, but more…trusting she supposed.
"What are you getting at?"
"You have a family now Petunia. And you can hate me all you want, hate what I am, who I have become, what I stand for, but I could never, ever hate you. And I only want you to be safe. That's all I've ever wanted." She whispered these words but did not reach out for a hug that she expected normal siblings would give one another. They were not normal. She doubted they ever had been.
Petunia stared at her with a look and Lily saw something in her eyes that made her nearly scream with anguish, with loss and with regret. It was love; true, unconditional love for her family; for Vernon and their home and their tiny son Dudley, on the way. And although she had spent nearly the entirety of her visit looking for a physical similarity, Lily knew automatically she had found what she had been looking for all this time and gently rested a hand on her protruding belly. They both would have to come together for this, to save the only things that truly mattered to them at this moment.
"What do you have in mind?" And Lily carefully explained her plan, the charms that would go into it and what it would entail. Petunia sat rigidly, listening however much she didn't want to and nodded when Lily gently asked her if it was alright if she performed this series of charms.
Lily set about, puttering about the house and pulling her wand and other ingredients out of her purse. Petunia watched as, once Lily was finished, the woman turned her vibrant green eyes on her and smiled sadly, regretfully. Not for the first time, Petunia felt a pull at her heart strings and wished that she could be the older sister she had envisioned when she was small. But she was not and she could never turn back the hands of time to fix her mistakes now, especially since she wasn't sure if she particularly wanted to.
"Good Bye Petunia" Lily said quietly and Petunia nodded sharply at her and watched the lithe form of her sister walk down the hallway and out of the house without a look back.
And Petunia went on with her life.
She had Dudley and she loved him very much, and she kept Vernon home most nights, when the sky darkened far too quickly for it to be natural and many people, normal people, turned up dead, tortured. She stayed up with the whimpering Dudley and watched outside for the things that turned up in the middle of the night, frightening her in her dreams, although she truly had no idea what they actually looked like. Several times Petunia considered sending out a prayer of safety for Lily and her family, but she had never really considered herself a religious woman and Lily could take care of herself. She wasn't worried- much.
Dudley turned one and they had a massive celebration and Petunia found herself content as she watched Vernon swinging their chubby baby in the air.
July came and went and Petunia realized that Lily's child would also have turned one (she had managed enough civility during her last visit to discover when the baby was due). She shoved it from her mind and went back to listening in on their new neighbors.
And at 6 AM on November first, when Petunia went to fetch the morning post for Vernon, she had a funny feeling in the pit of her stomach that she passed off as something that she had eaten the previous night. Humming, she swung the door open and stopped short at the unexpected package sitting on her doorstep.
With trembling hands, she reached down and gingerly picked up the letter that lay on top of the sleeping form and read it silently. She sank down to sit on the front steps beside the tiny basket, forgetting the fact that she was only dressed in her night clothes.
She read that Lily had died, saving her only son, and Petunia did not cry.
She read that the Lord Voldemort was gone, defeated by, ironically, this small boy, and Petunia did not cry.
She read that Harry had been entrusted to her care, because of her relation to Lily and the charms protecting her home that her sister had created and Petunia did not cry.
And she picked up the small sleeping form and looked at the shock of messy black hair already grown on the top of his head, and Petunia did not cry.
She saw the ugly, lightning bolt shaped scar on his forehead, caused by dark magic and a fate and still Petunia did not cry.
But when that tiny baby boy opened his eyes sleepily, to peer up at the unfamiliar woman holding him, Petunia threw her head back and let out a scream of the utmost anguish, loss and regret.
Harry Potter had his mother's eyes.