A/N: So this is my first attempt at Marauders' Era fanfic and a twist on Petunia Evans, who I think is far more fascinating than what we find out from the books. For the story's benefit, but also partially based on canon:

Lily, Severus and the Marauders are in their Fourth Year

Petunia, Emma Vanity, Lucinda Talkalot, Narcissa Malfoy and Bertha Jorkins are in their Fifth Year (all of them are canon characters)

Lucius Malfoy is a Sixth Year & Regulus Black is a Third Year

Please give it a try and let me know if you like it!

Chapter 1

"Oh, Tuney, have you seen my Poison Ivy perfume?"

Petunia looked up from her essay. "How should I know? I don't tolerate the smell."

Emma Vanity rolled her eyes dramatically. "It happens to be recommended by Witch Weekly, you know."

"More reason not to tolerate it."

"Have you seen it or not?"

"No! Now let me finish my essay. Madam Sprout has been hounding me for a week."

"I don't think Madam Sprout is physically capable of hounding anyone," Emma tittered.

"You know she's biased against Slytherin," Petunia explained. "Anyway, I think you shouldn't wear perfume for someone as mediocre as Lucius Malfoy."

Emma raised her eyebrows in complete affront. "Mediocre? But he's a Malfoy!"

Petunia rolled her eyes, as if Emma had uttered the most redundant thing in the world. Her disapproval was clear. Emma had the small satisfaction that her friend never looked attractive when she wrinkled her nose like that. In fact, Petunia often looked like a schoolmistress, especially when she was in one of her moods, as she appeared to be now.

"You know the Malfoys are all inbreds. Your children will turn out with half a missing ear or God knows what else."

"You're terribly prejudiced against Purebloods!" Emma protested, rummaging through her trunk.

"Me? Ha. It's the other way around, surely. I just happen to speak the truth."

Emma placed her hands on her hips. "Jealousy isn't a good look on you."

"Excuse me?"

"You're only mad that Lucius didn't choose you as a date. Admit it. You were right next to me, but he said my name."

Petunia blushed angrily. "Nonsense! As if I cared whether that oaf finds me appealing."

"You must care a little bit. I mean, you look just like his ex, Narcissa."

This was only half true. Petunia shared some of Narcissa Black's features, but she was much coarser in looks and general attire. No one could really match up to the Blacks in matters of fashion anyway.

"And? I suppose it's a crime to be blonde and Slytherin?"

Emma shrugged, but she didn't press the point any further. Deep down, they both knew the real reason Lucius and the rest of the Slytherin boys hardly ever talked to Petunia that way. Her blood had become a rather taboo subject over the years. No one wanted to mention or even remember the fact that Petunia Evans was Muggleborn. They considered her an unofficial Half-Blood most of the time. But no boy from Slytherin wanted to seriously date her for obvious reasons. Petunia wasn't too sensitive about the subject. She had so far dated two respectable boys from Ravenclaw. Well, one of them had just wanted to get closer to Emma, but they'd become friends when they both realized Emma Vanity would never even look at him twice. The other boy had genuinely liked her, but he had been unfortunately dull for a Ravenclaw. The affair had ended last year without any regrets.

Still, Emma liked to tease Petunia about Malfoy as if his aversion to her had nothing to do with blood.

It was one of the reasons Petunia liked Emma.

"Have you spoken to your sister lately?" her friend inquired, drawing her away from her rather dreary thoughts.

"Lily? Yes...I spoke to her yesterday at lunch. Why?"

"Well, she's getting rather too cosy with Snape."

Petunia pinched the end of her quill. "Cosy? They're childhood friends."

"I know. But lately he's had more than friendship on his mind."

"Tosh, they're like brother and sister. Besides, Lily's too young."

"Really? She's only a year younger than us and she's already had several boyfriends."

Petunia rolled her eyes. Yes, her fourteen year-old sister was far worldlier than her, and yes it was sometimes a point of contention between them, but she did not see how this proved anything. Lily was beautiful, smart and funny, all attributes which were desirable and attractive. Sometimes, she suspected Emma was simply jealous.

"What I meant was that Lily is too young for a serious relationship."

"Be that as it may, she's been visiting our Common Room a lot lately and she uses you as a pretext, but...well, I've seen the two of them huddled up in a corner together. It looks very intimate," Emma replied archly.

Petunia frowned. "Friends can be intimate. Severus is our neighbour back home, you know."

"Neighbour or not, I'm only letting you know. I don't suppose he's proper boyfriend material for her. But if you don't speak to her, he might soon be."

Petunia waved off Emma's assumptions as ridiculous. Lily and Severus had always been particularly close. But in the back of her mind, she did wonder if she should talk to her sister. If things were about to change, she ought to make sure they would change for the better. She supposed there would be nothing too distressing in the idea of Lily and Severus dating, although...she didn't trust the odd boy very much. He had always been quite keen on Lily, to the point of obsession. Even as children, he had almost worshipped her. That was surely not a good thing in a potential partner.

She sighed, her mind already too distracted to continue her essay. It was quite late anyway.

"You're seeing Malfoy after curfew?" she inquired of Emma.

"He wouldn't have it any other way. He wants to meet in the Astronomy Tower."

"Oh. You won't be doing too much talking then."

"I don't expect to. Should I tell him hello from Tuney?"

Petunia made to throw her pillow at her friend, but Emma dodged too quickly.

Petunia didn't find the time to talk to Lily in the next few days. Fifth year was proving to be a handful already. Every single teacher was talking about the O.W.L.s as if they were insurmountable obstacle-courses that would require their daily dedication. Petunia was an adequate student, as far as she was concerned, but even the swots of her class were getting nervous. One thing was clear; she'd have to spend a lot more time in the library this year.

Lily loved the library and all it had to offer. She could spend hours there lost in a book. Petunia liked books well enough, but she hated the library. She didn't like the stuffy atmosphere, the flecks of dust everywhere (terrible for her complexion), the poor lighting and the uncomfortable chairs. She didn't appreciate Madam Pince making a great fuss about the condition of the books and whether your hands were clean enough to touch them. Lucinda Talkalot heartily agreed with her as they both came out of Charms with an indecently long list of books to "consult".

"Drats, we'll have to spend so much time in the library. I'm going to get a headache."

Petunia sighed. "I suppose it can't be helped."

Emma joined them quickly after. She had loitered behind to talk to Lucius. It appeared the two were unofficially dating. He hadn't yet formally introduced her as his girlfriend, but Emma swore it was bound to happen.

"He's thinking of taking me to the first Hogsmeade outing next week," he told them, breathless and giddy with excitement. She was already envisioning herself as Mrs Malfoy, complete with squalling blond babies on her hip.

Petunia made an effort to be nice. "I hope he does more than thinking. He should not string you along with promises."

"He says we should take it slow, and I happen to agree with him. I mean, look at all the relationships that don't seem to last at Hogwarts because people rush in like fools," Emma explained with great wisdom.

"Oh that's true, Evan Rosier and I only lasted a month!" Lucinda sighed. "We kissed once at that Halloween party and I thought we'd go steady for a year, at least. But I guess he didn't like that kiss as much as me."

Petunia thought about her own brief romantic stints. The first one had been a farce, the second one had lasted for a few uneventful months. She supposed she wasn't worse than Lucinda in that department. But Lucinda was a very skilled Quidditch player and a Pureblood, so she would have no shortage of suitors to console her.

Petunia wondered when they had all started caring so much about this business. Most of them had been rather oblivious to boys in their first three years of schooling. Then in their fourth year, Emma had started dating aggressively, but she had not spoken of it in any great detail and she and Petunia and Lucinda had gone on as before, more interested in their little universe than in anything else. Petunia had also started dating a little in her fourth year, but there had been nothing noteworthy about it.

Now, a year later, all of them seemed preoccupied with their romantic status.

"Oh, there'll be tryouts tomorrow afternoon! Would you girls like to come and watch?" Lucinda asked, more to be polite than anything. She knew Petunia and Emma were not keen on Quidditch, although, of course they attended the games out of House loyalty.

But Emma surprised everyone when she said, "Tuney and I will be there."

Petunia later pulled Emma aside as they were walking to the Great Hall. "What was that all about going to see Quidditch tryouts?"

Emma giggled conspiratorially. "Don't tell anyone yet, but Lucius is thinking of trying out for the team this year."

Petunia raised an eyebrow. "Isn't it rather late to start?"

"Oh, it's never too late. And he's bought the best broomstick on the market, a Firebolt 1973. He's bound to do well on that."

"It takes more than a broomstick to play Quidditch," Petunia protested.

"How would you know? You've never played it."

"No, but Lily tells me –"

"Ah, Gryffindor bias. Suppose she gets her information from the great Potter, eh? He can't be trusted, you realize."

Petunia thought Emma was being biased herself, but she had to admit that she was not keen on James Potter either. He was supposedly a very talented Quidditch player, but to her, he was another boy in the string of many who fancied Lily. The problem was, he was a bit stuck up, not to mention, defiant of authority. He hated school rules and planned on breaking as many of them as possible. He always tried to impress Lily with his stupid pranks. He and his group of friends were only fourteen but already famous for their escapades. Petunia thought they were all quite immature, and luckily, so did Lily.

"Well, anyway, I can't imagine Lucius Malfoy on the Quidditch team."

"Wouldn't it be wonderful, though? He must look very good in those smart uniforms," Emma contemplated wistfully.

Petunia laughed. "I have to say, seeing Malfoy in tights would really make my day."

"Oh, shut it, Tuney."

That afternoon, Petunia made a beeline with the rest of her class to the dreaded library. It was better to get a head-start into the assigned reading before Professor Flitwick rained down upon them with more essays as punishment for not completing the required reading.

She was contemplating tomorrow's lacklustre Quidditch tryouts and perusing the stacks of books in front of her, when from the corner of her eye she spotted Lily's red hair at a table in the very back of the hall.

Petunia remembered now she had been meaning to talk to her sister. She took a step in her direction, but stopped abruptly when she noticed there was another person sitting at Lily's table. That person was Severus Snape.

Oh, well...

The two were seated in such a way that it would have been hard for anyone to spot them. Petunia wondered if she should go say hello. She didn't want to interrupt them...but Emma's gossip had put her in a rather suspicious mood. She decided to watch them for a little while, shameful as that might be. She was only looking out for her sister, anyway.

They didn't seem to be doing anything unorthodox. They mostly studied, which was to be expected. They also chatted quietly from time to time, but where was the harm in that? It was nice and "wholesome", as their mother would have put it. She wondered if Emma was wrong, after all. Nothing too romantic could be happening with all those textbooks lying around.

She was about to go about her business, when she noticed that Severus' arm was now resting on the back of Lily's chair. His fingers had somehow found their way in Lily's hair and he was absently playing with a few strands. Lily did not seem to notice.

All right. That is a bit cosy.

Petunia never knew how she felt about Severus Snape. Yes, she could safely say she did not like him, but it hadn't always been so. As young children, she and Lily had often played with him, even though Severus tended to leave her out from most games, claiming she was too slow or clumsy to tag along. Sometimes he even called her a Squib, although she turned out to be just as magically deft as the rest of them.

But she had earnestly tried to be his friend in the beginning, because he had seemed fascinating to her nine year-old self. He was such a clever and mature eight year-old that he put most of her primary classmates to shame. He enjoyed mocking her for going to Muggle school, although he never seemed to give Lily grief about it. He was being homeschooled by his witch mother and he took great pride in that fact. He never talked about his disappointing Muggle father, although Petunia had once made the faux-pas of asking about him, more out of curiosity than anything, and she had suffered through his angry outburst ("Why don't you mind your business, you stupid girl!") She had tried to apologize after that, but Severus had just seemed more offended by her attempt.

In time, she realized he would only despise her more if she persisted in pleasing him, so she gave it up altogether. By the time she left for Hogwarts, she was safely indifferent to him, because she was rather sick of him and his superior attitude.

It had been rather a shock when they had both landed in the same house, consecutively. But Severus had quickly made it clear he intended to change nothing about their relationship. He came up to her during the Start-of-Term feast to let her know she shouldn't expect any kind of alliance between them. He also blamed her for her sister getting sorted into Gryffindor.

"It was supposed to be me and Lily, not me and you."

Petunia had not spoken to him since.

Despite Severus' unswerving loyalty to Lily, she did not think her sister and him would make a good couple. He was far too possessive of Lily. Even as children, he had shown a rather dangerous streak in that regard. Lily was a free bird, a Gryffindor par excellence, no matter what he seemed to believe. She would hate being caged and adored like that.

Petunia decided she would hold a small conference with Emma and Lucinda and talk about it in more detail, even if that meant admitting Emma might have been right.

"Miss Evans, will you kindly select a book and stop spying on your fellow students?" Madam Pince's voice spoke sharply in her ear, interrupting her important deliberations.

Petunia swore under her breath and walked away stiffly. She really hated the library.