Sisterly Love Never Dies
She had never actually hated her sister, it's an impossible task. No one could hate her baby sister Lily. She'd been over-protective, both of her feelings and her sister's feelings; and she'd been a little jealous, she had just recently accepted that fact.
She and Lily had been best friends until the former was thirteen and the latter had just turned eleven. That's where Severus came in. They'd been playing like they always did on Wednesdays when Lily went flying off the swings. Everything had gone downhill from there. Lily had shown her how she could make flowers blossom by themselves. Then, Snape had come out and told Lily that she was a witch. And just like that, Petunia had lost her best friend.
She spent the rest of the time they had together either ignoring Lily or being mean to her. Though most people blamed this on jealousy, and they were partially right, she was being cruel to protect her baby sister from getting hurt. She had many reasons.
First, she didn't like that Snape boy one bit, she had decided that the first time she'd seen him and he'd called her a Muggle. At the time, she had no idea what it meant, but the tone that he'd used told her that it wasn't a very nice word.
The second reason that she'd been so awful was the one everyone expected: she was jealous. Well, who wouldn't be envious of their perfect little sister who got all the attention and who was loved more, who also just happened to be a witch? Exactly, no one.
The third and final reason that she'd been so dreadful towards her sister was that she was trying to protect Lily. It didn't make sense to anyone else to protect someone by being horrible to them, but if you really thought about it, it made perfect sense. She was trying to protect Lily from the unknown. She couldn't just send her sister off to some place where she'd never been, it was a big sister's job to protect her younger sister from anything that might be a danger. She'd been trying to harden her sister so that nothing could hurt her. She'd sent that letter to Dumbledore not because she was jealous and wanted to go too, okay, maybe a little, but because she wanted to be there for Lily. She wanted to be there when Lily had her first heart-break so that she could comfort her; she wanted to be there to remind Lily to calm down when exams were coming. But sadly, she never had the chance because Lily was ripped from her sister, stuck in a world where Petunia couldn't help her. Petunia knew what would happen if she didn't make Lily a little tougher so that she wouldn't be a pansy, though it would match their mother's flower name thing, Lily would be stuck at Hogwarts, crying and wanting to come home. She couldn't let her little sister miss out on something like this.
Petunia was so determined to make Lily hard as stone that she forgot that it was all an act. She started genuinely hating her baby sister. They fell apart not only because Lily left, but also because Lily got sick of Petunia always nagging on her. Lily felt that she had spent too long trying to be what Petunia wanted her to be. Lily started to feel that she was starting to live her life as Petunia wanted it, not how she, Lily, wanted it. The last time they'd seen each other was at nineteen year old Lily's wedding. Vernon, her newly-wed husband, hadn't understood why she was going to the ceremony, so Petunia lied and said that she was being forced by her mother. Plus, she'd said, it wouldn't be normal to not attend her only sister's wedding. Vernon couldn't stand anything abnormal, which was why Petunia had married him, to keep herself from thinking about Lily.
Petunia had thought that Lily was too young to be getting married, her and Vernon had married that year as well, though she was twenty-one, though once she saw the way Lily looked at James and vice-versa, she wished she were Lily. She was in love and she knew it.
Just before the ceremony, Petunia had disappeared. Only she and James Potter knew where she could be found. She warned James that if anything happened to Lily, James would have her to report to. She also told James never to mention that conversation again, she was trying to keep a reputation. James promised that nothing would ever happen to Lily.
They got married and were pregnant within the year. Same as Petunia and Vernon, though Petunia still thought that Lily was too young to be a mother. Petunia was twenty-two and pregnant versus Lily's twenty.
The two siblings lived peacefully, ignoring the other. They were both upset that the other couldn't be there to see their newborn nephews. Neither was there to hear that they had been named second guardian if anything happened. For the Potters', Sirius Black was the first guardian, with Petunia and Vernon in second. For the Dursleys', Vernon's sister Marge being first, and James and Lily second.
They made it through the first year of motherhood at the same time, yet being mothers completely differently. Lily was the stern parent with her two little boys, Harry and James, whereas, Petunia was the fun parent, Vernon being, well Vernon.
Then, November 1st 1981 came along. It was all going normal. Vernon got up, took a shower, at which point Dudley would wake up screaming, though Vernon heard none of this. They had breakfast, than Vernon set off for work. But when he opened the door, he screamed. There sitting in front of her husband was a little baby. The most noticeable thing about the child to Petunia was not that he had a lightning shaped scar on his forehead, but his eyes. The infant's eyes were the same as her sister's.
Petunia gasped. What was her sister's baby doing at her house? That's when she saw the letter. She told Vernon to go to work before he noticed the note and that she'd take care of whatever was going on.
The second Vernon left, Petunia grabbed the child and brought him inside. She prepared him and Dudley each a bottle before seizing the letter. It was addressed to the Dursleys, so the child wasn't at the wrong house, she thought to herself. Opening the letter with shaking hands, she began to read.
Dear Vernon and Petunia Dursley,
I, Albus Dumbledore, am very sorry to inform you that your sister, Lily Evans-Potter, and her husband, James Potter, were found dead at their home earlier today. However, I am very pleased to inform you that their son Harry was found alive. Seeing as you are his second guardians, and his first guardian, Sirius Black, has committed a treacherous crime, you are now in charge of Harry James Potter.
Petunia, though you will never admit it, I am sure, I know you loved your sister deeply. You and your husband are to keep him safe until he is of age, seventeen, at which point I, or another trustworthy member of our community, will inform you of what you are to do.
However, if you do not take care of Harry, I will be aware, and I assure you, I will not be happy.
Once again, I offer my sincerest condolences, Lily and James were, after all, some of my favorite students.
Yours truly,
Albus Dumbledore
Petunia had started crying at the first sentence. Lily, her baby sister, her little twenty-one year old sister, was dead. That couldn't be right, she thought to herself. There was no way.
She cried for the rest of the day. The mailman came and she found that she had a letter from a 'Remus Lupin' she opened it curiously.
What she found, did not improve her mood. It was an invitation, to a funeral, Lily's funeral. She cried the whole day, though she managed to calm and clean herself before Vernon got home.
She told him about the funeral and he agreed to go to keep up appearances.
So, they went, she had been holding little baby Harry, staring at her dead sister's body. She couldn't cry, couldn't weep, it would ruin her reputation.
Petunia only let her true feelings, and her knowledge of the Wizarding World, show a few times throughout the rest of her life. The first time was when Dudley, and Harry, had been attacked by Dementors. The next time was when the Dursleys left Harry when he was seventeen. The time after that was when she learned that Harry was safe. The final time was when she was lying in her bed at the hospital and she asked Dudley to go find Harry. She had told her nephew that she loved him and that she regretted being so cruel to him.
And then, once she'd heard her son, her husband, her grandson, and her nephew say that they loved her, she suddenly found herself in her and Lily's shared room when they were kids. She felt eyes on her and looked up to see the green eyes she'd seen just a little while ago.
"Thank you for taking care of him." Lily said. "I've missed you,"
"I've missed you too." She said, a small smile on her face, even if there were tears in her eyes.
"I'm sorry I was so awful to you when we were young." She walked over and gave Petunia a bear hug like she always used to.
"I love you!" Lily exclaimed.
"I love you too," Petunia said, a little confused. "But, h-how can you still love me after everything I did to you?" She asked.
"Well," she responded. "Come with me and I'll explain," she said as her older sister followed her.
After a few minutes of silence, Lily said, with a smile, "Sisterly love never dies."
A/N I would like to thank JuliaKidlet for pointing out to me that at the end it had magically changed to first person, that's why I updated it. Virtual cookies to JuliaKidlet and to anyone who review! *cookies…cookies…cookies*