Ordinary

Summary: Petunia and Lily have a conversation, in which Petunia reveals that she is adopted, and Lily doesn't reveal that she already knows.

Pairings: Mentioned Vernon/Petunia.

Warnings: None.

A/N: Edited: Thanks to RootsOfAHotelWindow for pointing out a mistake; it has been fixed now.

Lily was sitting on her bed working on Charms homework. If Alice were here, she would moan about the injustice of having to do homework over the summer holidays. But for Lilly, it wasn't even homework, more like extra work. Professor Flitwick had told her that since she was going to be a Fifth Year soon, she should learn about harder charms.

She didn't mind extra work though; it was fun. A twinge in her back made her wince. Yes, she thought as she stretched, Charms work was fun, but tiring. She hunched back over her paper, flipping her hair out of the way.

Approximately how strong would one have to cast a non-verbal Protego, assuming that he has to defend against three simultaneous mild jinxes? Remember to take the caster's body weight into consideration.

Lily frowned. Would that be her body weight or the enemy's? The question wasn't very clear, but it was more likely her weight, since it would be difficult for her to judge her enemy's weight. Then again –

A noise at the door made her look up. Petunia was standing at the doorway, looking at her with the mixture of fascinated revulsion that she always seemed to wear whenever she saw Lily.

"Yes?" she asked. There had to be a reason why her sister was here. She wouldn't be caught dead in Lily's room otherwise.

"Mum asked me to tell you that supper's going to be ready soon," she said, eying Lily's quill.

"Okay, tell her I'll be down in a minute." Lily turned back to her Charms work. She just needed to finish three more questions. But Petunia hadn't left yet. She just stood there at the door's threshold, tense, but refusing to come in.

"Was there anything else, Petunia?"

"I've got a boyfriend," she announced stiffly.

Lily's face must have betrayed her surprise, because she continued, "His name's Vernon. Not that you asked – like you'd ever ask – but I thought you should know. He's coming over to supper tomorrow night and I don't want you acting…" She trailed off, but Lily knew what she wanted to say. Freakish.

"Tuney – "

"Don't call me that," she said shrilly. Lily flinched. "That's not my name."

"Sorry, Petunia."

"Do you have a boyfriend?" She didn't wait for Lily to speak. "Of course you don't. Or maybe you're dating that nasty friend of yours? What's his name? The creepy poor boy."

"Don't talk about Severus like that. And we're not dating. We're just friends."

"Some friend. You know, I'll bet he doesn't even like you. After all, you've got normal parents, and he's always insulting us normal people."

"Why do you say things like that? If you knew him, you wouldn't say that." Unbidden, whispers rose in her mind. Dark magic. Death Eaters. She pushed those thoughts away. Severus really was nice; he just had a prickly outward personality. Surely the rumors couldn't be true.

"I say it because it's true. He's an even bigger freak than you."

"Stop calling me that."

"Well it's what you are."

There was a silence in which neither girl looked at the other. Lily wished that Petunia would just leave. She wanted to finish her Charms, but she knew that even picking up the parchment in front of her sister would set her off.

"I'm adopted, did you know?"

Petunia's sudden words had Lily staring at her in surprised confusion. "What?"

"I'm adopted. Mum and Dad told me last month."

When Lily didn't say anything, she continued, "I read all those letters you sent home, babbling about spells and enchantments and other freaky things. You never bothered to ask how I was doing, did you? No, you didn't. So it's your own fault for not knowing."

"Petunia…"

"No, see, it all makes sense now. Why I'm normal and your not. And you know what? I'm happy. I'm so happy. Do you want to know why? Because Dad's got weak bones and Mum's side of the family gets skin cancer easily. But they're not really my parents, so I won't inherit any weird genes. I won't ever turn abnormal like you."

"Petunia, please – "

She laughed. It was bitter and harsh. "They think that you're so perfect, the kind of daughter that they always wanted. What with your grades, and your beauty, and your freakishness. Weren't they so excited when you got your invitation to that crazy school of yours? And by owl too! Well, I'm normal. I do absolutely average in school and I don't go gallivanting around on unicorns and other such rubbish!"

Lily wanted to tell her that they didn't ride unicorns, but Petunia was talking faster now, her words spilling over each other. Clearly, this was something that she had wanted to say for a while now.

"And I like it that way. Don't you think for a second that I don't. And believe me, I could care less about going to that freakish school of yours. Finding out that I was adopted was the best thing that ever happened to me."

Petunia had taken a step into the room, her body rigid and her arms half-raised. Lily found that she couldn't look away from her sister's intense, pale eyes. The sound of their mother's voice broke through the strained moment.

"Girls! It's time for supper!"

It was Petunia who answered. "Jut a minute, Mum!" she called. But she made no move toward the door. Instead, she leaned against the wall, her face twisted into an expression that Lily couldn't name. "I used to think that there was something wrong with me. Because I didn't have magic. But now I know that it's not my fault, because I'm not their real daughter." She started laughing. "Funny right?"

And then Petunia's laughter wasn't quite laughter, and Lily couldn't find it in herself to tell her that she had already known she was adopted, and that it hadn't changed the fact that she was still her sister.