The eye had hurried by,
Except a perished creature
Entreat us tenderly
-- Emily Dickinson
Author's Note:
OK, this may not be the best story in the world, but at least read it. And I know Petunia probably DOESN'T feel this way, but hey, its just an idea. I try to be original. And those who don't like "sympathy" stories about the more unlikeable charecters,this isn't for you. Thanks to everyone who reviewed my past stories! I thanks to "a person" who suggested I try not to use the exact words in the book in my future song fics!
Lily.
My younger sister. Four years younger and always better than me. We were named after flowers, Lily and I. When we were younger, we used to call each other "flower" for short. Just a joke. But she was the one true flower. She was prettier. She was smarter. She had more friends. And she got the letter.
The letter I wanted.
I tried to cover my jealousy with anger. Embarrassment. I knew if word got out that my sister was a witch it would be horrible for me. I ignored her and teased her. I treated her like she was a freak. I wouldn't have anything to do with her. I never sent her presents for her birthday and Christmas - though she sent me many.
I was jealous.
Mother and father were so proud of her. "Isn't this so nice to have a witch in the family!"
When Lily was home during the holidays I was invisible to them. She was the important one. She was worth listening to. Lily this and Lily that. In a few years time I no longer even talked to her. I went out when she was home, refused to go to the train station to take or pick her up, and never answered her letters.
I regret that.
I remember the day she got the letter that changer our life. Her life, I try to tell myself time after time, it's her life that changed. But mine did too. It was a pretty summer day, the fifth in a week, quite unusual for England. The yellow cotton curtains were flapping in the breeze in our white tiled kitchen. Mother was frying bacon at the stove, Father was reading the newspaper and Lily was setting the table. I was reading a book when we heard the letters slide through the door.
"Would someone go get the mail?" Mother asked.
Of course Lily volunteered. She returned with a pack of letters, mostly for Mother and Father.
And a letter made out of parchment for her.
"Look! I got a letter!" Lily's bright green eyes shone as the displayed her letter with pride.
She never got any mail. Neither did I. Just to be mean, and perhaps make Lily mad and get in trouble, I snatched the letter from her hand.
"Give me my letter back!"
"In a minute," I said examining it. "Who writes on parchment anymore?"
"Please give it back!"
"Petunia," Mother broke in. "Give Lily her letter back."
Sighing I returned the letter. What did I care what it said anyhow? I just was mad that Mother always was on Lily's side.
Slowly, she opened it. She unfolded the letter and read it to herself. She gasped.
"Mum!" Lily cried. "Look! Look what it says!" She thrust the letter in front of Mother's face for her to read it.
"Oh, Lily." Mother sighed. "It's just a joke of some sort. Witches don't exist. Witches? I remember thinking. What on earth were they talking about?
For the second time that day, I took the letter from Lily and read it aloud. "Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry," I read then started laughing. The letter went on to say that Lily had been accepted in an academy to train her to be a witch. She would need all sorts of strange supplies such as a wand and spell books. I nearly collasped with laughter.
"You don't really think you're a witch, do you Lily?" I said, getting ready to tease her.
"Mother, don't you think we could at least go see?" Lily begged. "It gives directions to this--this place called The Leaky Cauldron. Oh please Mother!" I rolled my eyes. She couldn't be serious. A witch. And Lily was supposed to be the smarter one.
"Please, Mum!"
Of course, Mother gave in. The following morning they went off to some pub and were gone the entire day. I assumed they had given up and gone shopping, or something of the sort.
Wrong.
They came home shortly before sundown, their arms full of strange packages. "Oh, Petunia!" she said happily. "It was true! We bought all sorts of wonderful things like a wand and-"
I stared at them in horror. It was true? Lily was going to learn magic? How come I didn't get to go? Why did Lily? I had all sorts of questions exploding in my head but I held them back.
Turning to Mother I said, "You're not letting her go to that--that school, are you?"
"I don't see why not," she answered. "We talked to a very nice wizard, I believe his name was Potter, and he told all about the wizarding world. I think it will be nice to have a witch in the family!"
And so she went. Off to that school. I was horrified. What if someone found out my sister was a witch? They would tease me till the end. I refused to go to the Platform with them and stayed in the car. Lily looked so excited it made me jealous.
Jealous.
I learned the definition of it the next couple of years. Lily came home every Christmas and summer to tell about her amazing school. She described sports played on brooms and classes were you could transform one thing into another. I pretended to ignore her but I was really listening to her every word. She came and went, each summer telling us more and more magical things. Each time Mother and Father would say how proud they were to have a witch in the family and each time I would call her a freak. She was different. And I didn't like different. Slowly my jealousy changed to fear. A thousand times a day I worried some one would find out about her, or she would tell one of her old friends. They would all call me a witch, too, even though I wasn't. It would be simply horrible. In her fifth year, the last year I lived at the house, she came home and all she talked about was James Potter. James this and James that, it was most boring. Just like Lily to be first. Even though I was four years older than her she had already found someone.
She graduated head girl of her class in her seventh year, one year after I had married Vernon. She married that Potter, only a year after graduation. I was invited to the wedding, but I wrote back telling her I would never ever accept her as part of my family and not to contact me ever again.
Their son, Harry, was born right after Dudley was. I knew he would be just as strange as them. Mother and Father died shortly after, her from natural causes, he from a stroke.
Then there was that day. It started out as an ordinary day, Vernon going to work, Dudley learning a new word. Then Vernon came home and was asking about my sister and Harry and--well it was a bit suspicious.
The next day was one of the most horrible days of my life, as you can imagine. I went to go put out the milk bottles and saw a basket on the doorstep. A basket with a baby in it.
I screamed and Vernon came running out of the house.
The boy had a tuff of black hair and a scar slashed on his forehead. We didn't see a note and I assumed that he was some abandoned baby and told Vernon to call to orphanage. But the boy opened his eyes and -- his eyes look just like Lily's.
I searched the basket and looked for a note of some sort and found one--
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Vernon Dursley,
I regret to inform you that your dear sister Lily Potter and her husband James Potter have been killed by Voldemort. I do not know if she has mentioned him before, but he was an evil wizard. He destroyed their house and themselves, but not their little boy, Harry. No one is sure why. You are the only living relatives he has so I am living him in you hands.
Harry is a wizard. He will receive his letter for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry when he is eleven. I will send one of my staff to get him for his supplies.
The letter went all for a while. Then:
If there are any questions, I can be reached at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Sincerely, Albus Dumbledore
I could not believe it. Lily was dead. And we were stuck with this baby. This wizard baby.
We vowed never to tell Harry about his parents or his wizarding talents. We would tell him they died in a car accident.
And so we did. Everything went fine until his eleventh birthday. Well, there were a few problems with magic showing up, like at the zoo, but no strange people knocking at our doors, or anything else odd.
That all changed. On June 30, he got the letter. Vernon had jerked it out of his hand, suspecting what it was. When we had read it, we were shocked, Vernon the most.
The letters came in turrets and we moved from our house, to a hotel, to a hut on a rock. There a stranger came and told Harry everything and took him away. Just like it had before, our entire life had changed because of a letter. He went away to that school like Lily had and came home with his head full of magical nonsense. He teased Dudley something awful and nearly killed Aunt Marge -- he was a handful.
Yet every time I see him, I think of Lily. How I was so mean to her and how I ignored her. I regret I didn't use the chance to get to know her before she was gone.
I remember Lily, the "flower". How she use to call me the same thing. Me, a flower. Ha. If I ever was one, my petals are gone. They fell the day I turned against my sister.
Maybe I'll be nicer to Harry this summer. Maybe not. I'm not sure if I can change. That's what happened with me and Lily -- I couldn't change.
Lily, with her golden red hair and her bright green eyes. Her upbeat attitude and the way she seemed to do every little thing right. The way she got the chance of a lifetime -- and how I hated her for it. I could have loved her, I could have been a better sister. Now she's gone and I'll never be able to apologize.
I regret that.
Disclaimer:
All the characters and places mentioned above are property of JK Rowling's. Some of the events above are taken from her Harry Potter series.