Chapter One: A Walk in the Park

"Tuney, c'mon!" Lily tugged on her sister's frock, her two copper plaits bouncing wildly. "You promised you would!" Her older sister sighed dramatically, straightening invisible creases in her skirt.

"I don't know, I have an awful lot of work to do after you tore through Mummy's garden," Petunia smirked in more of a teasing way then anything. Her provocation had the intended effect, and her baby sister scowled.

"I did not. I was trying to help you," Lily stomped her foot on the wood floor, leaving scuff marks.

Her sister snorted. "That explains the jungle. How'd you do it, anyway? One minute it wasn't there; the next it wasn't. It was just like magic," she frowned, remembering the strange labyrinth of plants that exploded, undergrowth popping from the frozen solid late October. ground, and the exotic animals that followed. Wherever Lily planted her foot, lush greenery shot up, making the dull winter gray atmosphere much lovelier.

Whatever Lily seemed to do… Petunia had kept a close watch on her sister ever since she walked into their bedroom and found Lily floating a few feet above her mattress. She told herself it was out of concern, but as they grew older, Lily's… whatever it was… seemed to get more refined, more powerful, with a constant trail of flowers popping up in her wake wherever they went, disappearing after a few seconds. She seemed to be able to communicate with animals, and had a strange habit of making things stay in the air longer than they were supposed to. Petunia had to admit, it had caused her the slightest bit of envy when Lily skipped up to her mother with a big bouquet of flowers for her, and Petunia had only managed to find a couple of hardy weeds.

Lily shrugged, not bothered in the slightest. "Dunno. Maybe I have a green thumb," she grinned wickedly. "The pranks we could play on daddy… make him lose his mind about a forrest in his office…" Tuney giggled, her jealous thoughts forgotten.

"Girls, are you going to the park or not?" their mother called, coming to meet them in a flour coated apron. "Perhaps by the time the lot of you get back, we can have some treats." Lily need no further encouraging. Jamming a boot on each foot, she kissed her mother, and dragged her more reluctant sister out the door.

They walked in comfortable silence- or rather, skipped in Lily's case. Petunia sniffed disdainfully and said she was much too mature for such childish behavior, but did look for frogs along the way, as they walked beside a creek.

"Too early for frogs, anyway," she reassured her slightly crestfallen sister. A nagging thought came back to her. "How d'you do it?"

"Do what?" Lily asked, absentmindedly kicking pebbles, the telltale sign of daisies cropping up behind them.

"That," Tuney pointed at the flowers. "Why can't I do it?" Lily frowned at the trail of daisies, a look of uncharacteristic concern fleeting over her face. Then gone, just as fast. She shrugged, cheerful again.

"Maybe you're secret power is something else. Oh! Like arithmetic. You're very good at that. And all your other studies, as well," Lily nodded, as if this confirmed her sister's special skill. Petunia refrained from pointing out that flying and flower making were very different from math problems.

Still, as she quietly watched her baby sister running around on the old play structure, a wildflowers racing after her, she couldn't help but nurse a slightly wounded pride, and grudge, against her only sibling- and best friend in the world. Her eyes followed Lily over to the swing set, where she climbed on, and began to swing higher and higher. Petunia's built-in overprotective older sister drive kicked in, and she watched in horror as the little girl went higher than should be possible. "Lily, knock it off!" She ran to the swing set, but her sister only laughed her off.

"Tuney, I'm fine! See?" No sooner had the ill-fated words come from her mouth had the swing released her, and Lily flew through the air, screaming, and Petunia gaped in stunned terror as her sister slammed into the asphalt, face first. She went as still as a statue, and Tuney raced to her side.

"Lily! Lily, get up," Petunia was nearly in tears, shaking her sister, who had begun to shake. Expecting the worst, she flipped her over. "Lily?"

Her sister roared with laughter, oblivious to the gashes on her face and arms. "Tuney, did you see that? That was amazing! I was like a bird. I was flying, Tuney. Flying." Still chortling, Lily sat up. "Tuney?" she asked nervously as her sister's lip began to tremble.

"Are you mad? You could have died. It's not funny, and don't you dare do it again," Petunia snapped, standing up and brusquely pulling Lily to her feet. "Don't you ever do that-that magic thing again, d'you hear? It's dangerous." Then she turned heel, and stalked off, trying to conceal how shaken she was. She ignored Lily's shouts to wait and ran on ahead.

She fumbled for her key at their small cottage, taking two tries to unlock it. Slamming the door open, she stormed past a confused Mr. Evans, and right up to her mother. "Mummy, you wouldn't believe what Lily did." She snatched a cooling cookie of the rack.

Her mother eyed her apprehensively. "What's the matter, Petunia dear?" she frowned. "Where is your sister? You haven't left her at the park, have you?"

Her oldest daughter snorted. "As if. Lily's on her way. And I'm sure she'll be so excited to tell you how she laughed off almost dying." She ignored her mum's gasp, and took a large bite out of the cookie.

"Died? Petunia, what on earth happened?"

Tuney sniffed disdainfully. "Your daughter decided to try her hand at flying, this fine December-"

"Petunia!"

"I'm getting there. She jumped out of her swing when she knew it was too high, and now she's went on and injured herself, the poor dear. I expect she should be home any minute."

Just as she said it, the door slammed open again, followed by wailing. Her mother shot her a sharp look, then dashed off to tend to her youngest daughter.

As it would be, there was very little to tend to. Most of Lily's cuts and bruises had faded, and as far as Petunia could tell, all that her mother was doing was fussing over Lily while Lily cried. A little bit of guilt tugged at Petunia, and she made up her mind to go apologize; after all, it hadn't been entirely Lily's fault, but as soon as she approached her, her usually cheerful sister gave her a cool look and a cold shoulder for the rest of the night.

The two sister's relationship only deteriorated from there. Petunia overheard Lily and her friends talking about her in less the savory way, and had rushed home from school early, her heartbroken by the betrayal of her sister. They maintained a cool relationship after that, and Lily, much to her sister's frustration had not stopped using her powers, but had, in fact, began to practice them, and try new things, to Petunia's outrage.

Towards the beginning of January, Mrs. Evans, worried about Petunia and Lily, pulled the former aside, and told the girl to try and mend their friendship, at least for the sake of Lily's birthday. "Eleven is, afterall," her mother reminded her, "a very special birthday. Why don't you take her to the park for a bit?"

Petunia reluctantly agreed, only on the basis that Lily wouldn't be permitted to try any of her tricks, particularly, anything over a meter off the ground. Lily sullenly agreed, and the two girls bundled up.

They walked in stony silence. Finally, Lily spoke up. "I don't suppose this is all about the stupid flower thing, is it?" Petunia gave her a sharp, almost unnerving look.

"It's not right, Lily. Plus, it almost killed you." she glanced back and not to her surprise, the usual trail of flowers followed her sister's footsteps.

Lily scoffed. "How could flowers hurt anybody? Don't you think it's neat?" she sounded almost hurt. Petunia sneered, a twinge of jealousy mixing in with a fear for what these talents of her sister could mean for Lily.

"It's not normal."

"Sure it is."

"For you, maybe. For normal people, it's not." Lily whipped around, her green eyes flashing with hurt. Petunia regretted it instantly. "Lily, I just want you to be safe. What if it gets out of control?"

Lily frowned at the ground. "I hadn't thought about that." Petunia used this to press forward.

"Just… just be careful, alright? Just don't try to do anything, at least for today?"

Lily sighed. "I guess."

Petunia nearly cried from happiness. To her relief and cautious hope, their day at the park went smoothly, perfectly normal, and was almost like what it used to be. That is, until her sister began to get restless.

They were on the fateful swing set, and having a rather friendly conversation, both girls pumping their legs to gain higher altitude. "Tuney, bet you 5 pounds I can go higher," Lily smiled mischievously at her sister. Petunia narrowed her eyes, suspiciously. "No flying, I swear," Lily sighed.

"Just this once," Petunia said doubtfully. She knew at once she made a mistake. Lily let out a gleeful whoop and began to swing backward and forward, higher and higher. Petunia's face dawned in realization. "Lily, don't do it," she shrieked, but watched in horror as her sister let out a peal of laughter and let go of the swing, going higher then she had before. Petunia's shrill scream pierced the air and could only watch, petrified, as Lily flew through the air, and after what seemed to be ages, landed on the ground with the precision and grace of a bird.

"Mummy told you not to!" Petunia snarled in frustration as her words were thoroughly ignored, and ground her heels on the asphalt to stop herself, and stormed after her sister.

"Mummy said you weren't allowed, Lily!" she snapped, hands on hips, glaring at her sister in disgust. Lily turned around, her green eyes widening in the picture of innocence.

"But I'm fine," she giggled, bending down and plucking a flower that had blossomed in her wake. "Tuney, look at this. Watch what I can do." Petunia cast a nervous glance around them, fearful for what would happen if somebody caught her sister. Then, can't standing it, she came closer, curious to see what her sister could do.

Lily opened her hand. The daisy she had picked began to unbloom itself, if that was possible, then blossomed again, then shrunk again, and again and again. Petunia watched in horror. "Stop it!" she finally yelled. Her sister looked at her in surprise.

"It's not hurting you," Lily's voice was soft, but nonetheless, she tossed the flower to the ground, where it vanished. Petunia's narrowing eyes followed it, reluctantly impressed.

"It's not right," she reminded her younger sister. She paused. "How do you do it?" she finally asked, her jealousy finally getting the better of her. Lily opened her mouth.

"It's obvious, isn't it?" a boy, their age or possibly younger jumped out of the bushes, from where he had been hiding. Petunia screamed and retreated to the safety of the swings, but Lily stayed right where she was.

"What's obvious?" Lily asked, frowning at the boy. Petunia vaguely recognized him, that-that odd boy with that odd family in that odd part of the village. Snipe, perhaps was his surname- no, Snape. An odd name for an odd boy. The boy flushed, having the decency to look embarrassed from having spying on them. "I know what you are." he spoke in a lower tone, as though not wanting anybody to hear their conversation. Petunia scowled. Strange or no, nobody messed with her sister.

Lily looked confused. "What do you mean?"

Snape flushed even more, evidently excited. Petunia had to lean in to hear his next words, and even then, it was difficult.

"You're... you're a witch."