Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Lily and Petunia or any other
characters you may recognize throughout this story. I also don't own the
wizarding world or basically anything else you recognize from the Harry
Potter series. That all belongs to the wonderful goddess of writing, J.K.
Rowling. So don't sue me!
A/N: I'm SO sorry it's taken a while to update. School just swamped me lately. I actually shouldn't even be doing this right now; I have SO much reading to do. But I finished the chapter last night and had to edit and post my A/N so I could get it up tonight. I can't stand to have a finished chapter sitting without putting it up!
First order of business is to congratulate Maggie on figuring out the little secret thing, which was Professor Meadowes. Good job Maggie! Now here's a little fan interaction game for all of you. The first person to send in a review telling me exactly who Meadowes is in the books (hint, she's actually not a professor, at least not that we're told) will get to tell me what to write. I mean, she/he will get to give me an idea, an incident that they would like to see happen, not something that will drastically change the story (i.e. any unbelievable relationship or anyone dying) and I will insert it into my story. So get your books out and start looking! And then send me those guesses!
Now onto the reviews, I didn't get a lot this time, I guess I got spoiled from the last chapter. But thanks to:
Radioactivekitten: Thanks for explaining what you meant; I get it now. I hate when fanfiction.net does that, because I have to write all my ellipses as three separate dots instead of being all together! Anyway, thanks for calling my story fantastic! :) And I'm really glad you liked the Andromeda scene, which was actually a spur of the moment thing, just kind of popped into my head while I was writing. And the reason she cried was because whether they were evil or not, they're still her family, and she loves them. It was hard for her to cut herself off from them like that. And sorry I didn't update sooner, but at least it wasn't TOO long, right? ::smiles sheepishly::
Maggie: You still owe me a real review missy! But thanks for the guess. In case you missed it up there, you were right! Yay Maggie!
Night Owl 16: I don't know if the 16 is a part of your actual name or not, I know some people don't like the numbers that are attached the their name, so if that's the case with you, just let me know and I'll call you just Night Owl. Anyway, welcome to my story! I love new reviewers! Ooh, I'm not going to tell Petunia you called her Petty, but you better be careful with that! Ha ha! Anyway, I'm glad you like the story, and I'm glad it's different from most that you've read. Here's a new chapter for you. Thanks for reviewing!
And now, here's Petunia's birthday party. I hope you like!
**********
Chapter 14: Happy Birthday Petunia
James didn't stay away forever. In fact two weeks after that incident was Petunia's thirteenth birthday party, and she invited him, though Lily hadn't spoken to her for half a day after she found out. Petunia couldn't very well invite Sirius, Remus, and Peter and NOT invite James. Besides, she found him to be pretty amusing.
Besides the foursome, Petunia also invited Alice, Amelia, Severus, and a couple friends from school. She was a little nervous about having Severus and Sirius and James in the same place at the same time, but she knew that there would be no spells or magic of any kind, because even James and Sirius wouldn't be so dumb as to perform magic in front of Petunia's muggle friends.
Petunia had never had to worry about this magical problem at her former birthday parties, because she had never had magical friends. Her parents always performed a charm to shield the magical aspects of their house from the muggles. Unfortunately, the charm only worked on magical objects and creatures. It didn't shield actual spells. If there were a charm like that, The Improper Use of Magic office wouldn't have to send nearly as many owls warning against the exposure of the magical world. However, the charm had always been sufficient enough, because her parents would never use magic in front of them.
James and Sirius were another story.
But Petunia had made them swear up, down, and sideways that they would behave. She warned them that they couldn't do anything magical and that they couldn't talk about anything magical, but she was still very nervous the day of her party.
"Lily, honestly, do you have to take so long in there? Why do you care what you look like, it's not like you like any of the guys who are coming . . . right?" Petunia asked as she stood outside of the bathroom waiting for Lily to emerge.
Lily opened the door, looking very pretty in a simple green sundress, with her hair pulled back in a ponytail with a green ribbon. "Of course I don't like any of them. There are five guys coming, two of them you like, I suspect Amelia likes Remus, Peter is Peter, and James . . . well we all know how I feel about James."
Petunia didn't say what she was thinking, because even if it was her birthday, if Petunia suggested that maybe Lily DID have a crush on James, she would have gone through the day with a black eye.
So she just smiled and nodded and proceeded to get ready for her party. Petunia always had a hard time figuring out what to wear, but Lily had helped her decide yesterday and she was quite happy with the choice. She was wearing a light blue lace top with a jean skirt and a matching ribbon in her hair that Lily had set in soft curls. Lily claimed that the ensemble brought out her blue eyes.
Petunia thought she looked pretty and just hoped that Severus thought so too. And Sirius. Petunia was still very confused about that whole subject. She just hoped that she wouldn't have to deal with it today.
**********
A couple hours into her party it looked like she wouldn't have to deal with that problem today, because Severus hadn't shown up.
Alice had been the first to arrive with her parents. She gave Petunia her present, saying that she had a wonderful time picking it out. It had been her first time in a muggle store. Petunia giggled, telling Alice that she would definitely have to share that story some other time.
After Alice had told her that though, Petunia realized that she might not be able to open some people's gifts at the party, so she started asking whether or not the gifts were magical as she greeted each guest.
It turned out that most were safe to open. Sirius and Remus said their presents were magical, but the muggles wouldn't be able to tell, James said his definitely was and she should wait to open it until after the muggles had left, but Amelia and Peter had also braved the muggle stores to get Petunia her present.
Peter had Petunia in tears relaying the story of how on his first attempt to get her a gift he tried to pay for the present with sickles and the storeowner had chased him out, threatening to call the police. Luckily, the next time he took his mother whose grandmother had been a muggle, so she knew a bit more about muggle money.
Peter also slipped her another small envelope saying that was his gift from the wizarding world, just some chocolate frog cards that he had doubles of. He remembered that Petunia was a collector and thought she may need some of them.
Alice, Amelia, and James' parents all arrived too, which was fine with Petunia. The adults could have their own little get together while the kids had theirs.
All of Petunia's magical guests, except for Severus, had arrived before Jessica and Stephanie made their appearance.
Jessica and Stephanie had been friends with Petunia and Lily in grade school, and had now become very close with Petunia over the past year. They had been very surprised to learn that Lily wasn't coming to school with them last year, but had instantly believed the story Petunia told them about Lily getting a full scholarship to a private school in Northern England. Lily, after all, was very smart.
The two girls believed that all of the other guests were classmates of Lily's at this private school that Petunia had met when she went there over Christmas break. And this was, of course, the truth.
When the doorbell rang, Petunia jumped up from the den's floor where the kids had congregated and ran to answer it, all the while hoping it was Severus, but knowing it wasn't, because he would most likely be arriving by floo. She opened the door to reveal Jessica and Stephanie, wearing coordinated outfits and looking downright gorgeous.
The two girls had grown up quite a bit in the month between school ending and now. They had clearly discovered makeup and looked like they had had fun with a curling iron as well. The two girls looked remarkably similar, except for Jessica having dark brown hair and hazel eyes, while Stephanie had chestnut brown hair and dark brown eyes.
Petunia lead the two girls into the den and they were greeted with a "Whoa" from James.
Jessica and Stephanie both giggled, while Lily glared, though Petunia was probably the only person who noticed that. Introductions went around and the party commenced.
Petunia was chatting quietly with Peter about a recent quidditch match between England and Ireland, very quietly so as not to be heard by Jess and Steph, though they were so busy laughing with James, Petunia thought they wouldn't even notice if Lily were to start a fire in the corner. And she certainly looked like she was ready to do that. She appeared to be chatting with Sirius, but her eyes were on James, and Petunia had never seen those green eyes glow so furiously. Petunia had known for ages that Lily liked James, but it was quite amusing to see her expressing her jealousy so openly.
Petunia decided to stage an intervention by pulling Jess and Steph aside under the pretenses of asking them what they thought of everyone when really she just wanted to get them away from James before Lily accidentally blew something up.
"So, what do you think of everyone?" Petunia asked pulling the girls into a corner while watching Lily approach James.
"They're all really nice. And I noticed Sirius. You're right he is very cute. And don't look now, but he's looking over here at you," Jess said smiling and waving at Sirius who looked a bit surprised then waved and turned back to talking with Remus and Alice.
"He totally likes you Petunia. You should definitely say yes if he asks you out. And speaking of asking people out, does James have a girlfriend?" Steph asked which made Jess burst into giggles.
Petunia considered what she should say and decided that what Lily didn't know wouldn't hurt her, "No he doesn't, but I'm pretty sure Lily likes him."
"Really? From what I've seen it doesn't seem like she likes . . . "
" . . . you insufferable, arrogant weasel . . . " Lily's voice broke into their conversation and they all turned to see Lily, red as her hair, standing over James with hands clenched.
" . . . Oh, never mind, she definitely likes him," Steph finished, looking a little sad, but amused by seeing Lily lose her cool.
" . . . bossy, know-it-all, suck-up . . ." this time James' voice carried across the room.
"And it seems that he likes her as well," Jess smiled as the three girls watched James jump to his feet and retaliate.
Petunia could see he was just itching to grab his wand, and since she had never heard James yell before, she didn't know if he would be stupid enough to use it, so she decided to break up the fight before anything bad happened.
"Come on you two, it's my birthday, can't you get along for once? For me? Please?" Petunia asked flashing both of them her most brilliant smile.
James and Lily both looked up at Petunia's voice and realized that everyone in the room was looking at them. They had been sucked into their own little world and hadn't realized they had attracted everyone's attention. They both looked down sheepishly, muttered apologies, and glared at each other before joining the others in looking through some records to play.
Petunia was going to join them as well when Jess stopped her and asked the question Petunia had been wondering herself, "So, we talked about Sirius, but where's the other boy, the one who's causing you to be all confused? Severus, right?"
"Yeah, that's his name, but I actually don't know . . . "
"Petunia, you just received a letter, I thought you might want to come in here and open it," Renee cut Petunia off sticking her head into the den.
Petunia excused herself, told Jess and Steph to go help pick out some music, and ran into the other room where there was an owl waiting with a letter attached to his leg.
Petunia tore it open and read:
Petunia,
Just found out I can't go to your birthday. I'll be sending your present later today. Hope you have a happy birthday.
Sincerely,
Severus Snape
That was all. No sorry, no explanation. Just that. Petunia folded the note, took a deep breath and silently threatened herself with a bad haircut if she cried. She told her mom it was just a letter from Severus saying he wouldn't be able to make it to the party. She then took another deep breath and went back to the den.
She was greeted with loud dance music and the hilarious sight of Sirius and James attempting to create some new dance move. She was also surprised to see Peter teaching the girls a very complicated dance step. Of all of her guests, she never would have pegged Peter for being a dancer, but he was, and a good one too.
Petunia smiled at the scene and while she was sad that Severus wasn't there, she realized it was his loss and was determined to enjoy the rest of her party.
**********
After a couple hours of dancing (in which Petunia danced with everyone, girls and guys alike, though no one more than Sirius, and Lily danced with James after Petunia pleaded with them to do it to prove that they were getting along) they all settled down to open the presents.
Alice and Amelia both gave Petunia clothes, a blue sweater from Alice and a cute khaki skirt from Amelia. Peter gave her a silver picture frame and said he'd give her the picture for it later. (It was a wizard photo of them all over Christmas. He also explained that he wanted to get her a muggle frame to show that both worlds could work together. When he told her this later after Jess and Steph had left she almost started crying.) Remus got her a book on magical creatures, which he was right, Jess and Steph just figured it was a fantasy book, not knowing that these creatures actually existed. Sirius gave her perfume, which looked like regular perfume, but Sirius explained later that it changed scents depending on her mood. It was a spicy cinnamon scent when she was angry, a soft powdery scent when she was sad, etc.
She wasn't able to open her presents from James, Lily, or her parents until after Jess and Steph had left, but they were a box of different joke powders designed to change people's hair color, give them tails, make their nose grow, and things of that nature, from James of course. Lily got her a broom servicing kit, which was very confusing until she opened her present from her parents, which was the latest Shooting Star model racing broom. Her mom apparently thought that she was old enough to fly now.
Before she had received any of these gifts though, Petunia had received the best gift of her birthday, from Sirius. He gave her more than just perfume.
Petunia and her friends were all sitting around enjoying their cake when Sirius cleared his throat and stood up from his perch next to Petunia.
"Um, Petunia. I just wanted to say that this has been the best year of my life, and a large part of that is because of you. You're the most wonderful girl I've ever met, and I love being your friend, but," and at this he got down on one knee, "I don't want to just be your friend anymore. Petunia, will you be my girlfriend?"
Petunia couldn't believe that he was asking her, in front of all their friends, to be his girlfriend, and on one knee and everything! All of the girls were "awing" while the guys were trying to stifle their laughter, and Sirius was gazing up at her with his beautiful eyes.
Looking at those eyes, she knew there was only one thing she could do, "Of course I'll be your girlfriend."
Everyone cheered and she stood up and gave him a hug.
Soon after that announcement, Jess and Steph had left, and were followed by the rest of the group. Sirius and Petunia had shared a small kiss goodbye, Petunia's first kiss, and they made plans to get together sometime next week.
**********
Now, Petunia was sitting alone in her room, having finally chased Lily out of it, rereading her letter from Severus. 'I guess you made it easy on me not showing up today, eh, Severus? I didn't have to choose between you two.'
Petunia was about to turn off her light and go to sleep, when a tapping at the window got her attention.
There was the same owl from earlier with a small brown package attached to his leg. Petunia gave him some birthday cake, and ruffled his feathers before he left.
She opened the letter first, which simply said, "I hope you like it."
She opened the package and there staring back at her was she and Severus, laughing. She didn't know how he got a picture of the two of them together, some sort of spell she was sure, but she couldn't have picked a better moment. It was so rare to see Severus with a smile on his face, and here he had a huge one.
On the frame it said "The Day a Stupid Boy Found Happiness at Hogwarts"
Petunia couldn't stop the tears from sliding down her cheek, as she looked at the picture. She knew it would be a long time before she was able to look at it again as she took it and put it at the very bottom of the trunk in her closet.
**********
A/N: All of you who were rooting for Severus, don't shoot me. And I didn't take the easy way out either; I had planned all along to have Severus not come to the party. It's important, and had to happen that way. As for the whole down on one knee thing, I know it was cheesy, but that actually happened to a friend of mine. And since it happened in real life, I figured I could put it in my story! :) Anyway, I know I said I'd try my best not to have an OCs, but I didn't have a choice on Petunia's muggle friends. I considered having one of them be Yvonne, who is mentioned as one of Petunia's friends in the book, but I couldn't imagine this Petunia having the same friends as that Petunia, so Elizabeth and Jessica were born. What did you think of them by the way? I doubt you'll see much more of them in the story, but who knows, maybe I'll have a need for them again. As for the presents, sorry if they were lame, I'm not good at thinking of presents. And um, yeah next chapter we have some Sirius and Petunia stuff, and year 2 of Hogwarts. The years may go by a bit faster from now on, have to get to the good stuff that comes after Hogwarts, but don't worry there are some twist to come during the years of Hogwarts as well. Hope you keep reading, and reviewing! Oh and make sure you send in those guesses of who Meadowes is. A plot bunny of yours can be in my story! :)
A/N: I'm SO sorry it's taken a while to update. School just swamped me lately. I actually shouldn't even be doing this right now; I have SO much reading to do. But I finished the chapter last night and had to edit and post my A/N so I could get it up tonight. I can't stand to have a finished chapter sitting without putting it up!
First order of business is to congratulate Maggie on figuring out the little secret thing, which was Professor Meadowes. Good job Maggie! Now here's a little fan interaction game for all of you. The first person to send in a review telling me exactly who Meadowes is in the books (hint, she's actually not a professor, at least not that we're told) will get to tell me what to write. I mean, she/he will get to give me an idea, an incident that they would like to see happen, not something that will drastically change the story (i.e. any unbelievable relationship or anyone dying) and I will insert it into my story. So get your books out and start looking! And then send me those guesses!
Now onto the reviews, I didn't get a lot this time, I guess I got spoiled from the last chapter. But thanks to:
Radioactivekitten: Thanks for explaining what you meant; I get it now. I hate when fanfiction.net does that, because I have to write all my ellipses as three separate dots instead of being all together! Anyway, thanks for calling my story fantastic! :) And I'm really glad you liked the Andromeda scene, which was actually a spur of the moment thing, just kind of popped into my head while I was writing. And the reason she cried was because whether they were evil or not, they're still her family, and she loves them. It was hard for her to cut herself off from them like that. And sorry I didn't update sooner, but at least it wasn't TOO long, right? ::smiles sheepishly::
Maggie: You still owe me a real review missy! But thanks for the guess. In case you missed it up there, you were right! Yay Maggie!
Night Owl 16: I don't know if the 16 is a part of your actual name or not, I know some people don't like the numbers that are attached the their name, so if that's the case with you, just let me know and I'll call you just Night Owl. Anyway, welcome to my story! I love new reviewers! Ooh, I'm not going to tell Petunia you called her Petty, but you better be careful with that! Ha ha! Anyway, I'm glad you like the story, and I'm glad it's different from most that you've read. Here's a new chapter for you. Thanks for reviewing!
And now, here's Petunia's birthday party. I hope you like!
**********
Chapter 14: Happy Birthday Petunia
James didn't stay away forever. In fact two weeks after that incident was Petunia's thirteenth birthday party, and she invited him, though Lily hadn't spoken to her for half a day after she found out. Petunia couldn't very well invite Sirius, Remus, and Peter and NOT invite James. Besides, she found him to be pretty amusing.
Besides the foursome, Petunia also invited Alice, Amelia, Severus, and a couple friends from school. She was a little nervous about having Severus and Sirius and James in the same place at the same time, but she knew that there would be no spells or magic of any kind, because even James and Sirius wouldn't be so dumb as to perform magic in front of Petunia's muggle friends.
Petunia had never had to worry about this magical problem at her former birthday parties, because she had never had magical friends. Her parents always performed a charm to shield the magical aspects of their house from the muggles. Unfortunately, the charm only worked on magical objects and creatures. It didn't shield actual spells. If there were a charm like that, The Improper Use of Magic office wouldn't have to send nearly as many owls warning against the exposure of the magical world. However, the charm had always been sufficient enough, because her parents would never use magic in front of them.
James and Sirius were another story.
But Petunia had made them swear up, down, and sideways that they would behave. She warned them that they couldn't do anything magical and that they couldn't talk about anything magical, but she was still very nervous the day of her party.
"Lily, honestly, do you have to take so long in there? Why do you care what you look like, it's not like you like any of the guys who are coming . . . right?" Petunia asked as she stood outside of the bathroom waiting for Lily to emerge.
Lily opened the door, looking very pretty in a simple green sundress, with her hair pulled back in a ponytail with a green ribbon. "Of course I don't like any of them. There are five guys coming, two of them you like, I suspect Amelia likes Remus, Peter is Peter, and James . . . well we all know how I feel about James."
Petunia didn't say what she was thinking, because even if it was her birthday, if Petunia suggested that maybe Lily DID have a crush on James, she would have gone through the day with a black eye.
So she just smiled and nodded and proceeded to get ready for her party. Petunia always had a hard time figuring out what to wear, but Lily had helped her decide yesterday and she was quite happy with the choice. She was wearing a light blue lace top with a jean skirt and a matching ribbon in her hair that Lily had set in soft curls. Lily claimed that the ensemble brought out her blue eyes.
Petunia thought she looked pretty and just hoped that Severus thought so too. And Sirius. Petunia was still very confused about that whole subject. She just hoped that she wouldn't have to deal with it today.
**********
A couple hours into her party it looked like she wouldn't have to deal with that problem today, because Severus hadn't shown up.
Alice had been the first to arrive with her parents. She gave Petunia her present, saying that she had a wonderful time picking it out. It had been her first time in a muggle store. Petunia giggled, telling Alice that she would definitely have to share that story some other time.
After Alice had told her that though, Petunia realized that she might not be able to open some people's gifts at the party, so she started asking whether or not the gifts were magical as she greeted each guest.
It turned out that most were safe to open. Sirius and Remus said their presents were magical, but the muggles wouldn't be able to tell, James said his definitely was and she should wait to open it until after the muggles had left, but Amelia and Peter had also braved the muggle stores to get Petunia her present.
Peter had Petunia in tears relaying the story of how on his first attempt to get her a gift he tried to pay for the present with sickles and the storeowner had chased him out, threatening to call the police. Luckily, the next time he took his mother whose grandmother had been a muggle, so she knew a bit more about muggle money.
Peter also slipped her another small envelope saying that was his gift from the wizarding world, just some chocolate frog cards that he had doubles of. He remembered that Petunia was a collector and thought she may need some of them.
Alice, Amelia, and James' parents all arrived too, which was fine with Petunia. The adults could have their own little get together while the kids had theirs.
All of Petunia's magical guests, except for Severus, had arrived before Jessica and Stephanie made their appearance.
Jessica and Stephanie had been friends with Petunia and Lily in grade school, and had now become very close with Petunia over the past year. They had been very surprised to learn that Lily wasn't coming to school with them last year, but had instantly believed the story Petunia told them about Lily getting a full scholarship to a private school in Northern England. Lily, after all, was very smart.
The two girls believed that all of the other guests were classmates of Lily's at this private school that Petunia had met when she went there over Christmas break. And this was, of course, the truth.
When the doorbell rang, Petunia jumped up from the den's floor where the kids had congregated and ran to answer it, all the while hoping it was Severus, but knowing it wasn't, because he would most likely be arriving by floo. She opened the door to reveal Jessica and Stephanie, wearing coordinated outfits and looking downright gorgeous.
The two girls had grown up quite a bit in the month between school ending and now. They had clearly discovered makeup and looked like they had had fun with a curling iron as well. The two girls looked remarkably similar, except for Jessica having dark brown hair and hazel eyes, while Stephanie had chestnut brown hair and dark brown eyes.
Petunia lead the two girls into the den and they were greeted with a "Whoa" from James.
Jessica and Stephanie both giggled, while Lily glared, though Petunia was probably the only person who noticed that. Introductions went around and the party commenced.
Petunia was chatting quietly with Peter about a recent quidditch match between England and Ireland, very quietly so as not to be heard by Jess and Steph, though they were so busy laughing with James, Petunia thought they wouldn't even notice if Lily were to start a fire in the corner. And she certainly looked like she was ready to do that. She appeared to be chatting with Sirius, but her eyes were on James, and Petunia had never seen those green eyes glow so furiously. Petunia had known for ages that Lily liked James, but it was quite amusing to see her expressing her jealousy so openly.
Petunia decided to stage an intervention by pulling Jess and Steph aside under the pretenses of asking them what they thought of everyone when really she just wanted to get them away from James before Lily accidentally blew something up.
"So, what do you think of everyone?" Petunia asked pulling the girls into a corner while watching Lily approach James.
"They're all really nice. And I noticed Sirius. You're right he is very cute. And don't look now, but he's looking over here at you," Jess said smiling and waving at Sirius who looked a bit surprised then waved and turned back to talking with Remus and Alice.
"He totally likes you Petunia. You should definitely say yes if he asks you out. And speaking of asking people out, does James have a girlfriend?" Steph asked which made Jess burst into giggles.
Petunia considered what she should say and decided that what Lily didn't know wouldn't hurt her, "No he doesn't, but I'm pretty sure Lily likes him."
"Really? From what I've seen it doesn't seem like she likes . . . "
" . . . you insufferable, arrogant weasel . . . " Lily's voice broke into their conversation and they all turned to see Lily, red as her hair, standing over James with hands clenched.
" . . . Oh, never mind, she definitely likes him," Steph finished, looking a little sad, but amused by seeing Lily lose her cool.
" . . . bossy, know-it-all, suck-up . . ." this time James' voice carried across the room.
"And it seems that he likes her as well," Jess smiled as the three girls watched James jump to his feet and retaliate.
Petunia could see he was just itching to grab his wand, and since she had never heard James yell before, she didn't know if he would be stupid enough to use it, so she decided to break up the fight before anything bad happened.
"Come on you two, it's my birthday, can't you get along for once? For me? Please?" Petunia asked flashing both of them her most brilliant smile.
James and Lily both looked up at Petunia's voice and realized that everyone in the room was looking at them. They had been sucked into their own little world and hadn't realized they had attracted everyone's attention. They both looked down sheepishly, muttered apologies, and glared at each other before joining the others in looking through some records to play.
Petunia was going to join them as well when Jess stopped her and asked the question Petunia had been wondering herself, "So, we talked about Sirius, but where's the other boy, the one who's causing you to be all confused? Severus, right?"
"Yeah, that's his name, but I actually don't know . . . "
"Petunia, you just received a letter, I thought you might want to come in here and open it," Renee cut Petunia off sticking her head into the den.
Petunia excused herself, told Jess and Steph to go help pick out some music, and ran into the other room where there was an owl waiting with a letter attached to his leg.
Petunia tore it open and read:
Petunia,
Just found out I can't go to your birthday. I'll be sending your present later today. Hope you have a happy birthday.
Sincerely,
Severus Snape
That was all. No sorry, no explanation. Just that. Petunia folded the note, took a deep breath and silently threatened herself with a bad haircut if she cried. She told her mom it was just a letter from Severus saying he wouldn't be able to make it to the party. She then took another deep breath and went back to the den.
She was greeted with loud dance music and the hilarious sight of Sirius and James attempting to create some new dance move. She was also surprised to see Peter teaching the girls a very complicated dance step. Of all of her guests, she never would have pegged Peter for being a dancer, but he was, and a good one too.
Petunia smiled at the scene and while she was sad that Severus wasn't there, she realized it was his loss and was determined to enjoy the rest of her party.
**********
After a couple hours of dancing (in which Petunia danced with everyone, girls and guys alike, though no one more than Sirius, and Lily danced with James after Petunia pleaded with them to do it to prove that they were getting along) they all settled down to open the presents.
Alice and Amelia both gave Petunia clothes, a blue sweater from Alice and a cute khaki skirt from Amelia. Peter gave her a silver picture frame and said he'd give her the picture for it later. (It was a wizard photo of them all over Christmas. He also explained that he wanted to get her a muggle frame to show that both worlds could work together. When he told her this later after Jess and Steph had left she almost started crying.) Remus got her a book on magical creatures, which he was right, Jess and Steph just figured it was a fantasy book, not knowing that these creatures actually existed. Sirius gave her perfume, which looked like regular perfume, but Sirius explained later that it changed scents depending on her mood. It was a spicy cinnamon scent when she was angry, a soft powdery scent when she was sad, etc.
She wasn't able to open her presents from James, Lily, or her parents until after Jess and Steph had left, but they were a box of different joke powders designed to change people's hair color, give them tails, make their nose grow, and things of that nature, from James of course. Lily got her a broom servicing kit, which was very confusing until she opened her present from her parents, which was the latest Shooting Star model racing broom. Her mom apparently thought that she was old enough to fly now.
Before she had received any of these gifts though, Petunia had received the best gift of her birthday, from Sirius. He gave her more than just perfume.
Petunia and her friends were all sitting around enjoying their cake when Sirius cleared his throat and stood up from his perch next to Petunia.
"Um, Petunia. I just wanted to say that this has been the best year of my life, and a large part of that is because of you. You're the most wonderful girl I've ever met, and I love being your friend, but," and at this he got down on one knee, "I don't want to just be your friend anymore. Petunia, will you be my girlfriend?"
Petunia couldn't believe that he was asking her, in front of all their friends, to be his girlfriend, and on one knee and everything! All of the girls were "awing" while the guys were trying to stifle their laughter, and Sirius was gazing up at her with his beautiful eyes.
Looking at those eyes, she knew there was only one thing she could do, "Of course I'll be your girlfriend."
Everyone cheered and she stood up and gave him a hug.
Soon after that announcement, Jess and Steph had left, and were followed by the rest of the group. Sirius and Petunia had shared a small kiss goodbye, Petunia's first kiss, and they made plans to get together sometime next week.
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Now, Petunia was sitting alone in her room, having finally chased Lily out of it, rereading her letter from Severus. 'I guess you made it easy on me not showing up today, eh, Severus? I didn't have to choose between you two.'
Petunia was about to turn off her light and go to sleep, when a tapping at the window got her attention.
There was the same owl from earlier with a small brown package attached to his leg. Petunia gave him some birthday cake, and ruffled his feathers before he left.
She opened the letter first, which simply said, "I hope you like it."
She opened the package and there staring back at her was she and Severus, laughing. She didn't know how he got a picture of the two of them together, some sort of spell she was sure, but she couldn't have picked a better moment. It was so rare to see Severus with a smile on his face, and here he had a huge one.
On the frame it said "The Day a Stupid Boy Found Happiness at Hogwarts"
Petunia couldn't stop the tears from sliding down her cheek, as she looked at the picture. She knew it would be a long time before she was able to look at it again as she took it and put it at the very bottom of the trunk in her closet.
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A/N: All of you who were rooting for Severus, don't shoot me. And I didn't take the easy way out either; I had planned all along to have Severus not come to the party. It's important, and had to happen that way. As for the whole down on one knee thing, I know it was cheesy, but that actually happened to a friend of mine. And since it happened in real life, I figured I could put it in my story! :) Anyway, I know I said I'd try my best not to have an OCs, but I didn't have a choice on Petunia's muggle friends. I considered having one of them be Yvonne, who is mentioned as one of Petunia's friends in the book, but I couldn't imagine this Petunia having the same friends as that Petunia, so Elizabeth and Jessica were born. What did you think of them by the way? I doubt you'll see much more of them in the story, but who knows, maybe I'll have a need for them again. As for the presents, sorry if they were lame, I'm not good at thinking of presents. And um, yeah next chapter we have some Sirius and Petunia stuff, and year 2 of Hogwarts. The years may go by a bit faster from now on, have to get to the good stuff that comes after Hogwarts, but don't worry there are some twist to come during the years of Hogwarts as well. Hope you keep reading, and reviewing! Oh and make sure you send in those guesses of who Meadowes is. A plot bunny of yours can be in my story! :)