Petunia Dursley sipped her tea, reading a magazine with her bony and frail fingers. She looked at the cute and chubby little baby beside her. Plump with blonde hair, with the cutest name... Dudley.
Suddenly, the doorbell chimed, and a hard knock. There was a hushed growl. "If it weren' on Dumbledore's orders, I would've given little Harry to Sirius..." Vernon Dursley, beside her, got up grumpily in his ratty maroon bathrobe, and went to answer the door. 'Probably just someone giving away the Late-Night Bunch.' But instead of finding a person, holding a clod of newspapers, he found an enormously large person, holding a baby wrapped in a towel. (Apparently.) "It's on Dumbledore's orders that I must deliver Harry Potter to ya."
If it weren't for a huge motorcycle, suspended in air, the Dursleys wouldn't be so surprised. "We're not an orphanage!" snapped Vernon Dursley. "Good day!"
"B-but isn't there a Petunia Evans here?"
Petunia flashed by Vernon's side, holding the plump baby in her frail arms. "Yes?" She asked, trying to keep the air nonchalant.
"Here's little Harry Potter - "
Petunia's eyes flashed. That awful boy Lily married! Potter? She'd only heard it once. "It's on Dumbledore's orders, so protect 'im."
Before Petunia could ask who the stranger was, she was given the baby, wrapped in a bath towel. "Ew." was all that came out of her mouth.
The next morning, some news circulated around the neighbourhood, since Arabella Figg was taking a late-night walk. Suspicious that Mrs. Figg would be out at 12:34 PM.
But the new nickname for that Harry Potter (shudder) was the Doorstep Baby, since the 'giant' had been on there, soiling their new welcome mat with his clunky and muddy boots.
Was that giant one of those freaks?
Petunia didn't know what to do with her nephew, but placed him in the crib with Dudley. Immediately, Dudley started crying. "Of course, Duddy-kins, you don't want to be placed with this rubbish." Dudley pushed Harry aside. Yeah... Petunia lifted up Dudley, looking down at the spoiled cradle. Ew. She was not gonna clean that. And she got Dudley settled in a clean crib and wrapped him in a silk cloth. She looked over at the freak, sitting contently in the crib. Serves him right to be in a dirty cloth. When he grows up, he'll reject me, just because I'm prettier than him. Poor, poor, poor, misguided Lily.
"Ewww!" squealed Marian Mannison, pointing at Harry, who was staring up at her with vibrant, but beautiful green eyes. "But Dudley is much more handsome." she cooed, as Petunia whirled around, holding Dudley, who was dressed in a flattering blue footie pajama. Petunia had no regrets having Dudley, but Harry... she should've objected to Potter and Lily's marriage... She shuddered. Poor Lily.
Suddenly, she lost herself in Harry's rich green eyes, exactly like his beautiful mother's, who were peering up at her uncomfortably. He shifted, and suddenly, she saw Lily, talking privately with that stupid, ugly boy that called her only sister a witch... maybe even entrancing her with some messed-up spell. "Oh no. Tuney's here." Lily whispered, and shooed the boy away, who frantically hid, hugging his spellbook to his chest. It was labeled, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.
"What were you talking about with that boy?" she sneered.
Lily, her green eyes afraid of her sister, she quietly murmured, "Nothing. I would never hide secrets from you, Tuney."
"Tell me!" Petunia demanded, stepping forward, in case she was supposed to shake her.
"Fine, we were talking about this magical school!"
"He's so mean! He probably was talking about a crazy school!"
"A-a crazy school?" stuttered Lily.
"Yes!" squealed Petunia. "I'm not crazy!" protested Lily.
"And he's a nice boy. If you forget that he was mean to you," she paused. "You might get along with him."
"Oh... so you're in love with him!" Petunia's eyebrows were threatening to join with her scalp.
"Ew, no!" Lily retorted, and stepping away. Her face flushed a bright scarlet, making her face look like a Christmas tree with her lilypads of eyes. She breathed for a second, and for a second, her green eyes glowed, and Petunia remembered... that Lily could do strange things. Last week... the flowers in her hand, opening up and closing, revealing the vivid petals. "But he seemed honest... and sane." she muttered quietly.
"Maybe he seemed... sane." Petunia murmured, patting her sister's back in hopes she would come back to her senses.
"He was!" Lily growled.
Petunia rolled her eyes. "Fine, say this school is real. If you can attend it, I can."
"No, he said you were a-a Muggle, people who don't have magic powers. He even showed me his mom's wand. But he said his dad didn't have one. His dad was mean..."
"H-how could you -" Petunia was dumbfounded. "A wand? Really? We're not 6 anymore! We don't play with fairy wings anymore!"
"He said..." Lily closed her eyes. "He showed me a moving picture."
"I'm not stupid! I watch cartoons too!"
"Literally, a moving picture." Lily whispered, looking around. "I'm not supposed to tell Muggles, though."
Petunia stared at her blankly. It was silence, except for the girls breathing, and the rustling in the trees. They seemed to move to Lily's heartbeat. The silence stretched on.
Lily broke the silence. "It was called Hogwarts. There are 4 houses. All of them are bad, except for one... Slytherin." Lily whispered.
"Sounds stupid." sneered Petunia.
"But that's not all! The Great Hall... he called it, where we eat our meals, and hear announcements, and... do all of these things... The Great Hall's ceiling changes... like you really see the sky. If the sky is sunny, you see the sun. If it's cloudy, you see the clouds." Lily protested. Lily was no longer sad, but she talked with awe in her starstruck voice. "Then... there's Diagon Alley. You can buy all these things there, like owls -" Lily was interrupted.
"Eww! Who cleans their poop?" Petunia asked, showing her best disapproving look.
Lily laughed. "And wands. There's also Hogsmeade, but he's never been there. His mom's been there, though. It has all these shops, too. A-and..." she was basically stuttering from awe.
Petunia was awe-struck as she urged Lily on. She tried to stay nonchalant, and disapproving, but she was excited. Nothing could stop her from going to this school. She'd have to keep Lily safe... She would be able to do all these fantastic things.
"The headmaster's name is..."
The picture changed, and the green eyes of Lily changed to the wild trees, herded into a fence.
The bright red mailbox clashed against the white fence, but Petunia didn't mind, as she saw her younger self, tip-toe to the mailbox, holding a white envelope, addressed to Albus Dumbledore.
She slid it into the pocket of the bright, glistening red mailbox, and hoped that she would get accepted. She was sure. She got good grades in school, she had a charming personality... And the picture changed.
Petunia's younger self was opening a letter, the owl that came with it nipping at her shoulders. Petunia didn't care; she looked down at the letter. She felt happiness welling to her throat. She was about to get accepted into Hogwarts! With Lily. Lily would be so proud! Albus Dumbledore had replied, and it was addressed to Petunia Evans, in curly script. Shakily, she opened it.
The older Petunia cringed and shook her head, and pulled herself out of the dream. She didn't want to remember it.
Marian Mannison was staring at her anxiously. "Petunia, dear?" she asked.
"Uhh... oh, yes, Marian, would you like some tea?"
Marian smiled. "Why, thank you." she said, in her aristocratic voice.
"Anyway, I heard a little rumour that Penelope O'Shea brashly dyed her hair pink!" Marian cackled.
Petunia tried a laugh, but it came out as a squeak.
The polite rejection was still echoing in her ears. 'I'm sorry, but you are not eligible for Hogwarts.' "Oh really?" she hoarsely murmured, trying to stay with the present.
Petunia sadly guided her to the kitchen. Suddenly, Harry started wailing, and the window, (which Petunia swore was closed) opened with a whistling noise, and powerful noise blustered in.
"He's tired, I suppose." Marian Mannison cackled. "You should change his diaper, even though he's never going to amount to much!" She loomed over Harry. "In hopes, all the well."
"Uh..." Petunia was speechless, as she absently walked to the window and closed it.
The rejection was still pounding in her ears.
When she finished, she poured tea for Marian. Albus Dumbledore is mean. she pouted to herself like a litttle child, but that didn't stop the pain.
"I can't take it anymore!" She reluctantly hurried over to Harry. "For Lily."
"Who's Lily?" She couldn't blow it now.
"Um…"
"Oh never mind. The neighbours have started calling Harry the Doorstep Baby. Did you know that?"
How could they know about Harry? She hardly told anybody about him, not even her sister Lily existed.
"Yeah, yeah."
Tears dripped from Petunia's eyes.
She was clearly reminded of how Lily smiled. No wonder that boy who came to them by the swing spent so much time with her… She would only keep Harry for Lily. Her only sister. Care for him...
"I'm back with the diapers for that dumb baby!" Vernon announced as he barged through the door.
She truly wanted to help Harry, but... Vernon despised him. What was she supposed to do? She bit her tongue, and absently nodded as Marian Mannison rambled on about how she'd like to get this one sweater. She was stuck at crossroads.