A/N: This was written for Season 5, Round 1 of the QLFC. Prompts are included at the bottom so as not to give anything away.

Casting Off Fear

The explosion knocked her off her feet. For a second Petunia lay dazed and confused, staring up at the overcast sky.

"Tuney? Petunia?"

Severus' voice filtered through. Petunia automatically pulled on the bottom of her shirt to ensure she didn't appear indecent as fear turned her cold. Everything seemed off kilter when she finally staggered to her feet. There was a ladder in her new tights.

Severus called her name again, his voice ringing with urgency, and Petunia's eyes snapped to his. He was shocked — or was the emotion in his eyes fear?

"Stay away from me!" Petunia demanded, repeating what she had screamed before it happened. Again.

"You just did magic."

"No!" The word echoed out across the open field, her voice full of pain. "No! This was you — not me. Just stay away!"

The heels Petunia had worn to the office turned out to be utterly impractical for running across the grass and mud that had suffered the worst of the bad weather this last week. Severus caught up with her easily, keeping a healthy distance until she finally whirled around to face him.

"Clearly, nothing's changed," she spat. "You've always been simple; now even just understanding plain English seems beyond you."

As children, Severus had always been the one who was quick to rise. His remarks and insults had hurt the most, too, but Petunia would rather deal with pain and anger over the panic that was consuming her. Had she cast magic, really?

When he didn't even blink or acknowledge what she said, Petunia was reminded of how much time had passed since they had been younger. Truth be told she hadn't recognised him when they'd collided on the packed bus into Cokeworth. Standing room only, she'd nearly been jolted off her feet until he'd caught her, and Severus was now much more handsome than she remembered. Unfortunately, he had known who she was immediately. She'd rushed off the bus two stops early, but he had just followed her, demanding to know where they had moved to. Apparently, he had gone to their old house wanting to talk to Lily. Petunia hadn't really been listening as to why; she didn't care either.

She just wanted him to leave. She wanted to pretend like nothing had happened — it had been working for months now.

"Stop, Petunia. Just stop and explain. It's not like anyone can hear us — unless you're afraid of the sheep?"

There was something in his expression that made her feel like she was being laughed at. So she told him about the other unnatural incidents — not magic; they couldn't be — hoping that that would be the end of it.

"How do I make it stop?"

"You can't."

It had been gratifying to wipe the smug expression from his face. Having Snape hang on her every word had felt powerful, but now, his face was a stomach-churning mixture of shaken and concerned.

"What? Is this you getting me back after…"

"After years of you mocking our magic, calling us freaks and worse?" He finished her sentence, a hint of dark humour in his eyes. "No… No. What you just did was magic, and you're too small-minded to invent that whole story. I'm just thrown by the irony of a Muggle, and you of all Muggles, doing magic in front of me."

"So Lily was right, then? That you think…" The pain that had flashed across Severus' face made her stop. Lily had been the centre of attention since returning home last week, claiming that Severus had joined some sort of bigoted gang. All Mum kept saying was that 'he'd always been a troubled boy'. Petunia wasn't stupid and watched him more carefully, prepared to start running again.

"You know what, I don't care. What do you mean, I can't make it go away? I thought maybe that's why you were following me off the bus… because someone had sent you. I've been waiting for weeks for one of your kind to come and take me somewhere."

Not Hogwarts, of course. She'd been told in no uncertain terms that she wasn't good enough to go there.

Severus shrugged. "I doubt anyone knows. You weren't a witch before; Hogwarts takes anyone and they turned you away, so you can't have been magical then. I don't understand."

She flushed, and he put his hand out to stop her from leaving.

"I've lost count of how many times I've told you to go away," Petunia began shrilly.

"The magic will kill you if it's not controlled. You need help. We should go see someone."

It was another twenty minutes of acerbic remarks and barbed responses before Petunia agreed to go see Albus Dumbledore. Neither of them were particularly enthusiastic about this new development. The only reason Severus had agreed to come with her was because he was convinced she'd blow something up again. Petunia thought it was because he wanted to get in Lily's good books; why would he care about her? Then, she realised that Severus wanted to go immediately, not at some vague time in the future. That made it terrifyingly real.

"Look at my shoes!"

They were so mud encrusted that the sky blue leather was barely visible.

This time, Severus didn't bother with a snappy comeback. Instead, he raised a long, pale finger and pointed at the large crater Petunia had created with her burst of accidental magic.

She did not need much convincing after that.

[Two Years Later]

Strong arms wrapped around Petunia as soon as she stepped out into the corridor, making her start in surprise.

"Severus?" she gasped at his unexpected presence, and he grinned.

"I didn't care to get the train back. As soon as we were off the boats and graduation was over, I talked Professor Slughorn into letting me Floo to see you. Finding this office was hard; you're hidden away in a corner of the Ministry that no one seemed to know about. How did it go?"

It was two years to the day that they had gone to see Professor Dumbledore; two years since they had learnt about the rarity of 'late bloomers'. Looking back, Petunia thought of it as the day her life had changed forever.

It had brought her and Lily much closer, even though Petunia had to get over a certain amount of bitterness and prejudice towards wizarding-kind. Of course, her family had been stunned. Petunia had been most worried that Lily would feel overshadowed, given that now she wasn't the only witch in the family. Instead, Lily had hugged Petunia hard and promised to teach her everything she could. Her enthusiasm had been almost overwhelming.

Being over eighteen, going back to formal schooling at Hogwarts had never really been considered. Instead, Petunia had attended night classes for adult wizards and witches held by the Ministry, as well as therapy and assessments to ensure she got control over her newfound magic.

Her final assessment was what Severus had come to pick her up from. If she passed, she would be classed as a witch and allowed to use her wand freely without a Ministry official in attendance to make sure nothing went wrong. Late bloomers were so unusual that there were quite a lot of precautions and superstitions around them. Despite all of the strict rules meaning that Lily could not teach or show her sister the magic she'd known for years, Lily hadn't let any of that deter her. She had written pages and pages of letters helping Petunia revise basic magical skills and theory.

Then, there was Severus.

Their one year anniversary was three weeks away. Everyone had been shocked to see them as a couple — thinking back to how it had come about, even Petunia was surprised at times. His curiosity had kept him returning to the house to see how she was doing until they were writing letters and Petunia had come to loathe the idea of distance.

"Tuney? The assessment? Are you okay?"

His worried voice shook her out of the trip down memory lane. Dark eyes filled with concern met hers, and she exhaled slowly before holding up the certificate granting her a magical license.

"I'm happier than I've ever been before."

Severus wasn't one for embarrassingly loud displays of emotions; she was always grateful for that. The fact that he'd left Hogwarts early on his last day for her was making her head spin, and she was worried he would do something quite inappropriate at this good news. Instead, he simply took her hand and walked out of the Ministry, fingers laced together, until they reached the atrium. She slowed down and Severus turned to look at her.

"Everything's about to change now. You've finished school and I can do magic…" she trailed off as his expression darkened and he leaned in closer to talk quietly, whispering into her ear.

"I was approached by Mulciber last night. He insisted I accept the Dark Lord's offer."

This did not come as a surprise, although that made it no less worrying. The supporters of the Dark Lord had been very interested in recruiting Severus, given his skill with potions and inventing spells.

"What did you say?"

"That I was taking an apprenticeship on the continent. We duelled." He sniffed, his contempt for Mulciber's duelling skills obvious.

They both shared a long look. They were surrounded by people but were both comfortable with being separate from the rest, together in their own world.

"Good. I handed my resignation in at Grunnings," Petunia said simply.

"You'll come with me?"

Now, it was his turn to look astonished.

"I did French in school. I'm staying with you now, Mr. Snape."

He pulled her close and kissed her there in front of hundreds of Ministry workers. Petunia stretched up on her tiptoes to deepen the kiss, sure that her face was scarlet. This was exactly the sort of behaviour she'd been afraid of, and yet suddenly, she couldn't bring herself to care.

"Of course, there is one thing…" she said later that evening as Severus walked her home after a day celebrating in London. It would be a long time before they returned to England, given how the war seemed to be going. Neither of them wanted a part in that. He had sent an owl to accept the offer of an apprenticeship under the French Potions Master whilst Petunia had cast spells at random, unable to stop smiling.

They passed the field where it had all began and Petunia's eyes lingered on the curve of earth where the grass never grew right.

"What's that?"

"Someone gets to tell my parents that you're whisking me away to a foreign land," she teased. "Wait until after dinner so Dad can't fling his drink at you. I don't want to have to repair a broken wine glass."

Severus scoffed and reminded her that people got the ferry across the Channel all the time. Then, he realised that she was purposefully winding him up and gave her such a look that Petunia laughed embarrassingly loud.

Everything was going to change. They were preparing to flee a war, after all. As the sky started to fade from crisp blue to light pink, she smiled. Petunia was with the man who had been alongside her for every step of navigating this new world. She finally realised she wasn't so afraid anymore.

A/N: For the Quidditch League, Beater 1 had to write the NOTP of Beater 2 (Snape/Petunia) and the prompts I used were:

- Sky blue

- "I'm happier than I've ever been before."

- Broken wine glass.