MY LOVING HOME, MY FAMILY (I KNOW THEY'LL COME FOR ME)

Summary: Petunia just wants Lily to be a part of her world again.

Disclaimer: All credit to JKR.

Written for: Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (Challenges & Assignments):

Assignment #10, Muggle Media, task 2 - The Holiday: Write about a character getting over someone and moving on with their lives; Writing Club, Amber's Attic - 13, Death: Write about someone letting go of the past to give themselves a better future; Jingle Bell Song Challenge - Christmas (Baby Please Come home): (emotion) loneliness

Word Count: 401

The day Lily gets her letter is one that marks the death of Tuney's hamster, Sparrow.

But there is excitement in the air, and it goes unnoticed.

Petunia goes unnoticed.

It starts at this point; a fierce urge bubbling up inside her chest -

An urge to protect her little sister from whatever cruelty the strange men in cloaks may inflict upon her -

But Lily seems happy.

And Tuney doesn't understand.

The look on Lily's face, that elated, joyful expression -

She's never seen anything like it before.

Tuney remembers when she made Lily smile.

But it's all frustrated undertones and impatient glares now -

No flashes of white teeth, nothing there to remind Tuney of before.

Because the day Lily gets her letter -

It's one that marks the end of Tuney and Lily.

Because it's just Lily now.

Lily, with her bright hair and sparkling green eyes and her magic.

And Tuney is there, always on the side - plain, boring, old Petunia.

But Tuney loves her sister, and she will not let something so freakishly ridiculous get in the way.

The day that Lily gets her letter marks one when Tuney decides she will do anything, anything to stop her sister from leaving her behind.

There is the usual -

The incessant name-calling;

The cold shoulder;

The constant disregard for anyone's feelings -

Tuney thinks that by pushing her sister around, Lily will realise that she's been neglecting her older sister.

That's what she hopes, anyway.

But instead, Lily shuts Tuney out, disappearing into a world where she is not welcome.

She wants to save her sister from this world -

This world that takes, and destroys, and never, ever gives back.

Except the Lily that Tuney once knew is long gone. And on Tuney's nineteenth birthday, she resolves never to think about her again.

But -

There is remorse -

And there is guilt -

And there is pain -

But she shuts it out, and she moves on.

And then that night comes.

That dreaded, dreaded night -

When young children dress up in costumes, parading around town demanding candy -

(The night when everything changed -)

(For better?)

(Or for worse?)

And Petunia is blank.

There is nothing.

Nothing.

Nothing for the sister she once loved so dearly, the one person she would have done anything in the world for.

Because, in the end, Lily left her behind.

She left her behind.