Petunia looked in the full length mirror at a skinny girl of average height. She had a discontented face, pale grey eyes and lank blonde hair. Her neck was just slightly too long, her teeth just slightly too big.
She frowned slightly. She did not like what she saw.
She thought of her sister, Lily, petite and fair. Her long red hair was thick and shining, her sparkling eyes were astonishingly green. Her exquisite beauty was one of the many things that made her totally unlike her elder sister.
It's not fair
Petunia thought to herself, as she did a thousand times each day. She's so pretty, she has pretty hair, and pretty eyes, everything about her is pretty, people always say, ooh isn't she a pretty thing. And me?She glanced once more at herself in the mirror.
Me? I'm just Petunia, plain Petunia, oh isn't it a shame she's not more like her sister, ugly thing, stupid ugly Petunia. It's so unfair!
"It's so unfair!" she repeated out loud.
"What's not fair?" Petunia heard her sister's voice. Even her voice held a charm that Petunia's did not.
Petunia felt her face burning and watched her reflection blush.
"Nothing," she said defiantly, and pushed past Lily on her way out of the room.
*
"How's your homework going, dear?"
The girls were sitting at the table while their mother bustled around the kitchen.
"Oh, fine thanks," Lily replied, smiling up at her mother. Petunia looked at the two of them, jealous of the closeness that she had never had with her mother. They looked remarkably alike.
I wonder how she looks so much like mum, and yet, I
…She turned her gaze back to the book she was reading.
"Would you like a cup of tea, Lily?"
"Er….yeah, please."
"Petunia?"
"If it's not too much trouble," she replied bitterly. Surprised you even bothered asking…
"It's really interesting, actually," Lily commented, distracting her mother, who was staring at Petunia, looking slightly hurt. "It's Greek myths. This is my favourite, it's Medusa, she could turn things to stone just by looking at them! I've just finished my maths too. That wasn't interesting, but it was quite easy."
"Oh, maths was always difficult for me," her mother replied. "You are clever!"
"Oh yes, she's so clever," Petunia said loudly, slamming her book shut. "Wonderful, isn't she! Oh, how I wish I were more like her!"
She stood up, and heard her chair clatter to the ground behind her. She looked at her mother, who looked shocked and wounded at her tone, which had been harsher than even she had expected. Lily looked up from her work to glare at Petunia. Petunia rarely saw anger in her sister's lovely eyes, even when she was extremely rude to her, but she had hurt their mother, and saw it now. Intimidated by the power she saw in her face, she turned on her heel and swiftly left the kitchen, not bothering to pick up the chair she had knocked to the floor.
*
Petunia stormed up to her bedroom and sat down heavily on the bed. She heard footsteps on the landing and a moment later, Lily stood between her bed and the mirror, glowering at her. Petunia could not remember having seen her so angry, and was slightly worried.
"How dare you?" Lily said, her voice deceptively calm. "How could you say anything like that to her! Didn't you see how hurt she was? She's crying down there now, because she thinks she's hurt you somehow!"
Petunia said nothing.
"Do you not even CARE?" Lily shouted, her eyes glinting.
Petunia thought. Did she care? She wasn't sure.
Do I care? Of course I care! I'm not completely heartless! But then, she doesn't care for me. As long has she has Lily, oh wonderful, clever, charming Lily
…."No," she said coldly, shamelessly. "I don't care!"
She braced herself for her sister's rage. But Lily was silent. In fact, everything was silent. The air in her bedroom seemed to buzz soundlessly with some unknown power. Then everything stopped. Lily screamed, one long, unearthly note that chilled Petunia to the bone, and suddenly the mirror behind her cracked down the centre. The ornaments on the dresser exploded. The window behind Petunia shattered and the light went out, leaving them in semi-darkness through which she could just make out Lily's expression of utter shock and confusion.
*
"Good morning girls!" Their mother was as cheerful as ever early the next morning. Petunia sat down at the table, and Lily poured herself some orange juice before joining her.
"Doing anything fun at school today Petunia? And what about you Lily?"
"Fun? At school? Right," Petunia replied tightly.
Lily frowned at her, and said, "Well, nothing in particular. Drama should be good though. We're doing Romeo and Juliet. I'm playing the nurse, and she's my favourite part."
Petunia glared at her.
Oh wonderful Lily. I'm playing the nurse! She's my favourite! I'm such a good girl, don't you all love me? Doesn't everybody love me
….."WELL I DON'T!" she yelled.
Her family jumped, then stared.
"What?"
Petunia looked down at her hands, twisting against the wooden table.
They heard a dull thud, something falling to the thick carpet in the hall.
"Oh, the post's here," said their mother nervously, breaking the tension.
"I'll get it," she added, and left the kitchen.
She came back a few seconds later, and silently handed a letter to Lily, keeping two more to herself.
What a surprise, none for Petunia! Well, why would that be? Oh yes, because nobody LIKES Petunia!
And why would THAT be?
A part of her mocked herself. You're not exactly pleasant, or fun to be around.She pushed those thoughts from her head, which was once more filled with unpleasant thoughts about Lily. She raised her eyes to glare at Lily, who had opened her letter, and was staring at it with the same shocked and confused expression that Petunia had seen on her face just last night. She frowned. Curiosity made her lean forward and try to pull the letter from her sister's hand.
"What? What is it?" she demanded. She pulled harder and soon took the letter from Lily. Lily did not appear to notice, let alone care. She continued sitting, her mouth slightly open, her emerald eyes wide. Petunia glanced down at the letter, and gasped at what she saw. Green handwriting covered the yellowish parchment, which was topped by a crest, a shield surrounded by four animals. And beneath the crest…
Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry
*
Petunia sat in the back of the car that was headed from the station, glaring angrily at everything in sight. Her mother, driving the car, was sniffing slightly. They had just dropped off Lily at the station for the journey to her new school, and her mother, although proud of her youngest daughter's new found power, was terribly upset to see her go.
Bet you wouldn't be crying if it was ME going
Petunia thought bitterly. She wouldn't miss Lily, not at all. Maybe she'd get some attention now she'd gone! Since that stupid letter had arrived, she'd got even less attention from her mother than usual. Not that she would have thought, two months back, that that was possible. It had been Lily this, Lily that, all day every day.Well, she's gone now. I can forget her!
How wrong she was.
*
Every week or so, an owl would soar through the open window, or tap irritatingly on the closed window, carrying a letter from Lily. She was having a great time at Hogwarts, top of almost every class and equalled only by the closest of the many friends she had made.
Even from afar, Lily could aggravate Petunia an incredible amount, as Petunia soon found out. Her hopes that her mother would stop praising the phenomenal Lily were soon dashed, and even though her mother was kind to her, she felt unwanted and unloved next to her celebrated sister. Petunia now attended the local comprehensive, and she truly detested it. Academically she was near the bottom and she had made no friends.
It's not fair!
she still thought daily. Lily's got all those friends she brings round in the holidays, and she's so clever. I wish I was more like her. I wish I WAS her!*
And so, over the years Petunia watched bitterly as her sister became and extremely successful witch, kind and caring and loved by many. When Lily married the one that loved her the most, James Potter, she refused to go to the wedding to which she was so graciously invited. Petunia's own son, Dudley, was born only a few months before the nephew she did not want to see.
On the day that Lily died, Petunia looked at herself in the broken mirror. She had watched the skinny girl become a young woman, still skinny, still ugly, still discontented. And still not as good as Lily. Never as good as Lily.