Petunia drops her book-bag and the bag with her sports uniform and lacrosse sticks on her bed and sighs blissfully as she stretches her arms a little. She's tried lessening the weight of her trunk by sticking all her school books in the leather messenger bag she got last year, but where the trunk is lighter her bag is now awfully heavy. She's sure there is a red spot where the strap has been.
"Over here all right, honey?" she hears her father ask and she turns quickly, surprised she hasn't heard him come up the stairs with her trunk.
"Sure, thank you." she says and he places it down at the end of her bed, where it usually stands when she's home for the holidays. He stands and stretches.
"What do you put in there, stones?" he jokes.
Petunia scowls. "I'll have you know that's mostly clothes! I took out my school books." She gestures to the bag on her bed, making a great dent in the crisp bedding. Petunia loves her Mum, she really does – arriving home to lovely cooked food and a clean room with fresh bedding is a delight, every time.
"I'll leave you to your unpacking then, I've got some errands to run for tonight." he winks. "Your mum left you a hamper for your dirty clothes, but don't worry, she'll do them. Oh, and you can expect your favourites tonight." he smiles.
Petunia is surprised. Sure, Mum always makes something more special the first night she is back, but her favourites? Then it clicks. She groans.
"Don't tell me you got a letter from school!"
Her father laughs. "Right you are! And forgive me not for being ever so proud of you."
Petunia shakes her head. There's no arguing with Dad when he's like that. Better to change the subject before he's gushing about how wonderful she is or something along those lines.
If she'd knew all this trouble was going to come from it, she'd done just a little bit worse on her finals and then she'd never been Honour Student of the Year. The title is far more trouble than it's worth.
"Where is Mum, anyway?"
The knowing look she gets ensures her that the subject is not closed yet, but he allows the change. "She went out to London, to get the test results of the twins."
"They've finished already?" she asks in surprise. Then her brow furrows a little. "I didn't know you could pick them up, I thought they mailed in cases like these."
Her father laughs again. "Well, turns out you're not the only special one in the family. They called for a personal conversation and Ivy wanted some extra information for next year anyway, so she went ahead today."
"Then why do I see Haesel beside the pool? Shouldn't they've gone with Mum?"
"Ah, she's there?" Dad moves to look out of the window. He hums. "That's not entirely unexpected." he says, but it's so quietly spoken Petunia isn't sure she was meant to hear it. She decides to ignore it then.
"So I take it the results were fine?"
Because Hogwarts apparently doesn't offer O levels or A levels in things such as Maths and English and Science, Mum and Dad have insisted that the twins do their exams in those things every summer so that they'll not get behind or are unable to go to university later on if they so wish. They've recently taken their first batch of tests to prove they've finished this year, and in a normal situation, would be able to continue on to Secondary School.
"Indeed they were. In fact, they scored so high, the lady in charge had them take the first year Secondary School tests as well." The smug expression on Robert's face tells her that he's not entirely surprised at that. In fact, if he were to be believed, he had known his daughters – all three of them – were geniuses ages before anyone else found out. Then again, he's been saying ever since Petunia spoke her first word years ago.
It was book.
"But no, they were not required to be there in person." Robert looks at his watch. "I got to go now, honey. Make yourself at home." he winks at her again when he says this and she smiles in return. It's their custom, almost.
She moves to the trunk to unpack but thinks better of it and decides to wander through the house a little, to see if anything has changed in her absence. It's not much. The couch in the living room is new, but she knew about that from Mum's letters, and there are some new towels in lovely bright colours in the bathroom, but the real change is when she chances into the twins' attic room.
Instead of the huge bed that used to dominate the space two double beds are standing against opposite walls. She knew that the huge bed had gone – an accident with a candle way before Christmas – but in the winter holiday the two beds were still pushed together in its place.
Now, the once so cosy rooms speaks of distance and Petunia worriedly remembers Haesel, alone in the garden. Their letters were cheerful enough, but has anything happened they had not told her about?
She goes over the room once again. It's fairly easy to see which side is which. Haesel's covers are green on black and Lily's a deep purple. On Lily's side books are stacked haphazardly on shelves interspersed with stuffed animals, while Haesel has organised her books on colour and the bedside cabinet is full of photographs.
It looks normal enough, but Petunia can't shake the feeling of distance she gets, so she wanders outside with a little stop in the kitchen for an apple to snack on. It feels like it was ages ago she had Leaving Lunch at school, before the school year was officially over and her Dad had come to pick her up.
Haesel is so engrossed into her book that she doesn't notice Petunia until she sits in the chair beside her. When she does, however, she tucks a letter to mark her page before snapping the book closed and leaning over to give Petunia a heartfelt hug.
When they settle back on their respective chairs Petunia glances to the book. History of Magic is written in golden letters on the cover. It's bound in leather and looks terribly interesting.
"Huh." she says. "May I borrow it sometime, d'you think? Or is that not allowed?"
Haesel shrugs. "I don't think it matters – not for history, at least. If you want you can read some now? I've already read it, but it is very interesting." she smiles.
"You might want to take out your bookmark, then, in that case." Petunia says and there is mischief in her voice. Haesel unexpectedly colours and snatches the letter out before handing the book over.
Having found something far more interesting for the time being, Petunia puts it aside. She raises an eyebrow in a silent enquiry.
Haesel colours some more. "It's from Sirius." she says after a little while.
"Ah, the boy you met in that Alley, what was it called again?"
"Diagon Alley." Haesel nods.
"You've been writing to him?" Petunia couldn't keep her amusement out of her voice if she tried.
Haesel scowls defensively and Petunia laughs. Ah, so easy to tease!
"Not you too!" Haesel exclaims and Petunia suddenly detects something truly uncomfortable in her expression. She remembers the distance she's seen in the room upstairs and calms herself.
"Haesel-love, where is Lily?" she asks softly.
Haesel stills and looks down, worrying a corner of the letter she holds. Petunia wonders about the comfort it seems to give her and resolves to ask more later. For now, it seems she has a problem on hand.
"She's out." is what her littlest sister finally says and Petunia almost has to stain her ears to catch it.
"Out where?"
"Probably at the park. With that Snape boy."
There's real resentment in her voice as she says that and Petunia has to work her memory to remember who this is again. Then she has it. Some of Lily's letters have mentioned a new friend she's made, a boy who's apparently a wizard and will be going to Hogwarts with them. She said he was pretty smart and well informed about the Wizarding World.
She now remembers that it struck her as strange that the name was nowhere to be found in any of Haesel's letters, and it seems she has just found out why.
"You don't like him?" It's fairly obvious she doesn't, but she has to get Haesel talking somehow and easing her into it has always worked best, a few questions until the dam bursts and Haesel spews it all out herself.
Yet again it has worked as Haesel looks up, eyes flashing.
"He always stares at me strangely! Always asks me to come with but I don't want to, he gives me the creeps! He's weird and it has nothing to do with being a wizard because I know a wizard" – she waves around with the letter at this – "and he's nothing like it. Always going on about the greatness of magic and okay, I think magic is wonderful too, but he seems almost disdainful of normal people and that's not right! Lily brings him 'round some times and he's polite enough to Mum and Dad but I can just see he doesn't like them, I mean, what they are."
She scowls again and looks her older sister square in the eye. "He questioned us why we keep writing to you and talk about you so often because he said, he said -" she breaks off and it's clear she's really mad now. "He said that it wasn't worth it because you couldn't do magic!"
Petunia is a little taken aback.
"But you're not, you're great and you're Honour Student this year, at Cheltenham's no less! That's really, really cool and I'm really proud to have you as my sister and Lily thinks the same."
Petunia is touched and says so. Haesel smiles at her and it's a sight she'll treasure forever – that beaming smile that just screams love at her. She's fairly certain this face will stay with her 'till she drops dead, at whatever age that may be.
"But... worst of all... It feels like he's stolen Lily from me." Haesel admits and there it is, the one thing that feels even heavier than the rest of it. "He's told her so much, always pulling her off to talk some more. Lily invites me the whole time, and he does too, but well I said I didn't like him very much so I always say no and besides, Sirius tells me loads of stuff anyway, but Lily doesn't listen to that anymore. I just... I just feel I've somehow lost Lily."
She's worrying the letter again and Petunia sighs. "Oh Haesel. Come here."
Her littlest sister looks exactly so right in that moment and it takes Petunia back to the first time she arrived at their home, so stiff and painfully thin, not recovered from the horrible ordeal she went through. Through the years she's gained some weight, grown a little taller, but she always seems to stay a little thin, a little more breakable.
Petunia hugs her for a while. Haesel sniffs sometimes and she knows that the kindest thing is to pretend she's not holding in tears and just letting her sister be, but it hurts Petunia like a knife when Haesel admits in a small voice that they haven't practiced their music together in a while. She just tightens her hold.
Some time passes and Petunia lets go. "So that Snape boy doesn't like, what's the word, moggies?"
"Muggles." Haesel laughs. "I'm a muggle-born, because my parents are muggles."
Her laugh fades away a little and she clutches the letter again. Petunia notes she hasn't let it go at all, in fact. Hah, very interesting indeed!
"Sirius, he's a Pureblood – from a family that's entirely magic, has been for ages. He told me that there's this racial conflict in the Wizarding World, kind of like the segregation in the United States?"
Petunia nods. She still remembers when Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in 1968, only three years ago. She'd tried to read everything she could get her hands on, back then.
"Well, it's sort of like that, but instead with how much Muggle blood you have, or better yet, how little. Sirius says that most people don't really care and the Headmaster of our school is supposed to be really fair and interested in equality, but well it is a bit worrisome still."
Petunia nods, but Haesel isn't finished yet.
"Snape, well, Lily calls him Sev -"
"Sev?" Petunia raises an eyebrow. She can't help it. Her friends at the dormitory joke it's almost her default expression and she's all too aware that her little sisters often imitate it.
"His name is actually Severus Snape."
Petunia snorts. "His parents weren't too kind to him, I think. That's a name guaranteed to bring teasing!"
Haesel is thoughtful. "I overheard Mum gossiping in the shop once to Mrs Brown and I think she said that his parents have a lot of problems, such as his Dad drinking and such. He lives at Spinner's End too."
Petunia wrinkles her nose at that.
"Anyway, he said to Lily that she shouldn't worry about it at all and it's going to be fine. He wants her to try out for Slytherin, me too, actually."
"Those were the Houses your school has, right?" Petunia confirms. She has understood from various letters that not unlike her school, where you belong to a certain House or dorm, Hogwarts is separated into four houses according to the different founders of the school.
"Slytherin is famous for cunning, ambition and resourcefulness." Haesel says and they share a laugh together at the idea of Lily being cunning. She's a very headstrong person and very smart, but a bit obvious and has not a sneaky bone in her body.
"Personally, I think she's Gryffindor, the house of the brave and noble people." Haesel smiles. "If you were a witch I would have said you were a Ravenclaw!"
"What are those?"
"They're smart and love knowledge." Haesel says cheekily. Petunia hums. It's true, she is indeed always in pursuit of more things to read, more things to know.
"And you?"
"Hufflepuf!" grins Haesel. "Loyalty, patience, fairness and hard work."
"Hard work?" Petunia teases. "Patience?" she grins in return. Haesel acts offended. "No, I think Gryffindor sounds more like you. You're braver than you think you are, you know. Not afraid to be who you are."
Haesel laughs suddenly. She waves the letter again. "I think you and Sirius would get along. He says the same things!"
"I would like to get to know him." Petunia winks and Haesel can't help the blush that steals over her cheeks. "Do tell me all about him!"
"We met in the Alley, back in February." Haesel starts. It's clear she's not going to mention why or how she got to be so attached to the boy, but Petunia takes what she can get. "He accidentally ran me over and then bought me a pastry to make up for it."
"That's a great tale to tell your children, later." Petunia says with a smile. Haesel sputters for a second before she can continue again.
"We've kept into contact and he's told me a lot about the Wizarding World and Hogwarts."
"And you trust his information more than that what Snape tells Lily?"
"Yes, definitely! He doesn't lie to me, in any case. He's sometimes a bit stiff, his family is of quite high social standing so he's been raised very properly. He can sometimes be a bit... obtuse. Like he is evading certain things, but he never lies."
"High social standing, what do you mean? Nobility of some kind?"
"Apparently, yes. It's different to what nobility we have, in the Muggle world, but I can't explain it well. It's in the book though, you should definitely read it."
Petunia smiles at that. "I think I shall. Have you read many books already?"
Her answer is an empathic nod.
"We went for extra information, didn't we say so? In February. Dad has gone back once more but without us, and he picked me up some more books. Sirius has been giving me advice on things to read to better understand the Wizarding World and so far it has been fascinating!"
There's real enthusiasm there and even though nothing has been resolved yet, Petunia knows it will.
Haesel levels her with a look. "You'll get to go as well, to the Alley! We're going for school supplies in the 23th of August. Mum thinks less people will go on a Monday." she smiles. "Sirius says he's going to convince his uncle to take him then as well, and perhaps some friends of his too."
"His uncle?" Petunia inquires, wondering if the boy is maybe an orphan.
Haesel's grin is bright. "He doesn't get along with his mother and that one time we were in Diagon Alley he pranked her so bad she has said she's never taking him anymore, which he was delighted with, of course."
"Really," Petunia tries her hand at an interested drawl. "Tell me more."
Haesel does so, and Petunia is glad to know that when she's going to Hogwarts at least she'll go with a friend.
And a sister – she has the rest of the summer to work on this. It'll be fine by the time September rolls around. It has to be.
Hi!
I know I said to several people that I wouldn't update until after the 19th when my finals were over, but the pressure is getting to me and I needed a little time to unwind. I know not much happens in this chapter, mostly just Petunia and Haesel talking, but I'm setting up for a lot of other things to happen such as the visit to Diagon Alley which will be next chapter and then on to Hogwarts, so yep, stuff coming up!
I hope you all had a lovely new year! I'm posting this and then back to my history (oral exam number two tomorrow) texts!
Thank you for reading, hope you liked it!