This was written for the 'I Hate You' Competition by ephemereis on the Harry Potter Fanfiction Challenges forum.
Wish me luck! :P *Drinks Felix Felicis*
R&R! No flames, please, but constructive criticism accepted. :D
Disclaimer: I own NOTHING, unfortunately. :(
Petunia Evans had just been released from school for the holidays. The bee-like bus dropped a group of children at the stop by Petunia's house. She ran all the way from the stop to the house. Panting, the little girl pounded on the front door, and Mrs. Evans opened the door for her daughter.
"Hello, Mum!" Petunia exclaimed.
"Hello, dear, how was the last day of school?"
"Oh, it was great! We had a party and exchanged gifts for Secret Santa. Jill Saunders got me a stuffed panda." Petunia took out a black and white, fluffy bear from her book bag.
"That's lovely." Mrs. Evans walked over to the kitchen. She started to tend a steaming pan covered in aluminum foil.
"Mmm, is that plum pudding? And where's dad?"
"Yes, it is. Your father left to go pick up, Lily."
"Lily?" She said almost afraid.
"Yes, you know she gets out for the holidays, too."
"Oh…" Petunia really did miss her little sister. However, she didn't know how she would feel when she'd come back after discovering that she was… magical.
"I made plum pudding as a small 'welcome back' gesture. Do you mind hanging some streamers and blowing a few balloons? Oh, and can you help me hang this banner that I made?" Her mother pointed at a small glass table in the living room. A large piece of paper was lying on it. Petunia walked over to the clear table. She turned the paper over. It read, "Welcome Home, Little Witch!"
Petunia scoffed.
It was a green parchment. The font was bold and purple. Then in the bottom, left-hand corner was an image of a broom. The young girl did as she was told: the banner was hung, the balloons were blown, and the streamers were used as décor.
"Your father and Lily will be here in a couple of minutes!" Mrs. Evans squealed fifteen minutes later.
The doorbell rang. Petunia opened it up, expecting to see her red-headed sister. Surely, there was the fiery-haired witch standing alongside Mr. Evans. They shivered. Snow was just beginning to drift down from the clouds. They entered, and Lily dragged her luggage behind her.
"Hello, Tuney, I've missed you so much!" Lily cried as she hugged her sister. "Oh, you won't believe it! Hogwarts is amazing! I've learned so much."
"Mhm."
"Maybe I'll show you some tricks later." She whispered only to Petunia, smiling.
"Oh, there's my little witch!" Lily's mother ran up to her sweetheart to give her a hug. "I've missed you so much!"
"Me too, Mum."
Petunia rolled her eyes, but no one was looking.
"It's good to be home." Lily said. "Oh, and I love the decorations."
"Yep, it's good to have you here." Mr. Evans replied. "Now, wash up, kiddo, it's just about time for dinner."
"Yes, and I made you plum pudding."
"Thanks."
The excited 11-year old kept on blabbing about Hogwarts, wizards, and magic. Even during dinner, the kid wouldn't shut up! For some reason Mum and Dad didn't find it as annoying as Petunia did. They seemed eager to listen to Lily. As if she was a cooking teacher on TV giving complicated instructions.
"The hat spoke! It talked to me inside my head." Lily exclaimed. "He said that I was very smart. At first, he thought that I ought to go with to go with the Ravenclaws, but then he said that Gryffindor would be better. Gryffindors are the brave ones, by the way. Oh, and all my teachers say that I'm the brightest witch my age!"
"That's wonderful!" Mrs. Evans was as ecstatic as Lily.
"I'm so proud of you, Lils. Isn't it great having a witch in the family, Petunia?" Mr. Evans asked.
"Sure," She answered, flatly. "May I be excused?'
"I guess, but—"
Petunia was already halfway upstairs.
She slammed the door behind her, when she entered her pretty pink room. She saw Lily's stuff spilled all over the hardwood floor. She'd almost forgotten that she still shares a room with her sister. Despite the fact that Petunia saw Lily's bed beside her own every day. She looked at the things Lily brought back: a hand-full of books, her weird wizard school uniform, heaps of clothes, and…her wand.
Petunia snatched the wand from the floor. She swished it all around, pretending to be Merlin. She laughed, gleefully. It was quite fun being a witch—well at least pretending. Then she caught sight of herself in the mirror behind the door.
"No," She whispered, staring at her reflection. "I'm not a freak. I am normal."
She dropped the wand, vigorously. Reluctantly, she picked it up. She examined the twig in her fingers. Why is being a witch such a good thing? How could her parents be so proud of a having a witch in the family? Can't her parents see how odd Lily has become? They should be ashamed of having such abnormality in the family; but, of course, they aren't.
Petunia knew that they liked her best. Everyone always liked Lily best. Lily is "so smart", "so cute", and "so sweet". Now they will be saying, "Lily is so cool!" People, nowadays, have no sense of what's normal. Anger and jealously was steaming from Petunia's ears.
It'll be a great relief when she leaves, Petunia thought.
Three days later…
Poke. Poke. Poke, poke. Poke.
Petunia woke up with Lily's scrawny finger jabbing her abdomen.
"What, Lily?" She said, annoyed.
"Don't you know what day it is? It's Christmas!"
"Oh, really?"
"Yeah, let's go open presents!" Lily suggested. "I'll go wake Mum and Dad."
"Alright, I'll…" But Lily was already out the door. Seconds later, she heard her family's footsteps thumping down the stairs. Petunia slipped on her slippers and waddled downstairs.
When she got to the bottom floor, her first sight was her family huddling around the over-decorated Christmas tree. A fair amount of gifts crowded the tree, not too much and not too little. It was just the right amount. Then the sweet aroma of her father's not-so-famous-but-absolutely-delicious hot chocolate invaded her nose. Petunia parked herself between Lily and the living room's crystal table.
Lily separated all of the neatly wrapped presents into four piles. "Okay, so these presents are for you. This pile's for Mum. Dad's presents are here, and these are mine. "
"Why don't you open your presents first, Lily?" Their mother offered.
"Okay," Lily said, cheerfully.
Suddenly, their dad came rushing over to them with two steaming mugs. "Wait—you can't open your presents without hot chocolate!" Petunia took the mug from her father and took a sip. Her tongue burned. It was truly hot. "Careful, it's hot." Mr. Evans warned a little too late.
Judging from Lily's expression, she'd also taken a gulp of her beverage. The sisters placed their mugs on the table, so they could wait until it cooled.
Lily had quite a few presents. She tore the wrapping apart of all her presents to reveal her gifts. She was quite satisfied with the purple, stuffed penguin, mounds of clothing, stack of books, and pair of boots she received.
"Oh, thank you!" She cried.
"Now, it's my turn." Petunia announced.
"Open mine's first!" Lily demanded.
"Okay."
Little Lily handed her a box wrapped in red paper and decorated in a green bow. Petunia unraveled it.
"I got you some wizard candy!"
What a lovely gift! Not.
"Oh…"
"It's a chocolate frog and Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans!"
"Oh…" Petunia repeated.
"I got to warn you, though: when it says every flavor—it means every flavor.
"Um, I think I'll open the chocolate frog first. It seems… safer." Petunia actually wanted to say normal, rather than safer.
"Oh! By the way—" Lily's warning was never said. When Petunia opened the box, she expected to place the chocolate sweetness in her mouth. Instead, a russet frog sprang out of the box as wild as a caged chimp would. It jumped on top of Petunia's head.
"AH!" Petunia screamed as she collided with the table. She bumped her head against it, and hot chocolate spilled down on to her shoulder, boiling her bones. "OWWW!" The chocolate toad hopped away.
"Petunia!" Her family cried.
"I'll get a towel and ice!" Her mother said, very distressed.
"Tuney! Are you okay?" Lily asked.
"Get away from me!" Hot tears flowed down Petunias cheeks. "This is your fault!"
"Now, Petunia—" Her father started.
"I'm sorry, Tuney."
"No," She said sharply. "If it wasn't for you and you're—you're freaky, magician candy, I would've been alright! Why can't you be normal, and give out normal gifts!"
"T—"
"You just had to go to that wizard school, didn't you? It would've been better if you didn't leave. It would've been better for all of us. Can't you see what harm you've caused? This is your entire fault. You're such a disgrace—you and your stupid magic." Rage surged out of her like a river that had just been unclogged.
"How can you say that? I'm your sister!"
"You're not my sister. You're a weirdo."
Lily's eyes watered and then tears spilled out. She reached out for her sister.
"Get away! Can't you see: I hate you!" Petunia spat out the words like venom.
Her little sister sniffed, "I'm sorry you feel that way." She got up and whipped her scarlet hair around as she stomped upstairs. Her feet slammed against the stairs with each step.
Mrs. Evans came over to dab Petunia's shoulder. While she treated it, her parents didn't speak to her, they just gave her a furious glare. They tried to make her apologize, but Petunia refused. After her mother fixed her, everyone left and she was left alone. No one came down, and no one came to talk to her for the rest of the day. It was definitely the worst Christmas ever.
For the next few days, her parents spoke to her in disappointment. Lily didn't speak to her at all. Petunia didn't either. She even slept on the couch, while Lily slept in her room. They didn't communicate in any way. The old saying, "Be seen, not heard," would be appropriate in this situation. That was how it was for the rest of their lives.
Ten years later…
After she heard of her sister's death, she locked herself in her room. Petunia Dursley say alone, in the dark, on her King-sized bed. She demanded that Vernon leave her alone. She yelled at him at every attempt he tried to sneak into the room to comfort her. She didn't need to be comforted. Nothing in the world would ever cheer her up after this.
Guilt was starting to eat Petunia alive from the inside. How could she have not known that her sister had been in grave danger for over a year? Why wasn't she informed? Despite the fact they had not spoken with each other in years, she deserved to know! How could she have let this happen? Even though Petunia could've done nothing to stop the evil wizard from murdering her sister, maybe she could've done the smallest thing. Hiding them in the mortal world would've been good, in Petunia's opinion. She could've housed them!
This wouldn't have happened if she wasn't a witch. It wouldn't have happened if she hadn't gotten that letter when she turned 11. It wouldn't have happened if she didn't go to Hogwarts. It wouldn't have happened if she hadn't married that Potter boy. This shouldn't have happened.
But it did happen.
Now she was left with her sister's son to take care of. Lily died saving her son. She died thinking that her sister hated her. Petunia wished that she could take back the day that crushed their relationship. She would do anything to take it back.
Lily was too good to die. All Petunia wanted was to let Lily know that she loves her or at least gotten a chance to say goodbye. Especially, if Lily knew that there was a strong possibility that she could've died, which, most unfortunately, did happen.
The same question rang in her head: why did this have to happen? Why did it have to be Lily—who was so sweet, kind, and generous.
Petunia hiccupped, and she let bitter tears slither down her face as she mourned for her sister. Lily was her sister. She was, now, proud to say that Lily, a brave witch, was her sister. Lily was Petunia's sister that she always loved, still loves, and will love forever.
I hope you liked it! R&R! No flames, please, but constructive criticism accepted. :D
Have lovely day!
