Petunia enjoyed bragging about her husband to anyone she could corner. Usually, that person ended up being me. It didn't matter that I'd heard it all before; Petunia knew very well that I had. She just loved rubbing my face into the wonderfulness that was her marriage. Because for some reason, she believed she had a better marriage than I did.
"Vernon is so fantastic! You know he surprised me with a diamond bracelet the other day?" She gushed as she took the wet plate from my hands, drying it absent mindedly. We had just finished dinner at my parent's house.
Nowadays, it was very rare for James and me to get out of meetings, even out of Headquarters. I hadn't seen our flat in days. We'd spent the last four nights on the floor of the meeting room. Attacks in Muggle areas had been increasing as of late. There had been more sightings of Lord Voldemort himself; there was even talk that he'd paid Dumbledore a little visit at Hogwarts a few weeks ago. If he had, it hadn't gone well, and six Muggles: two men, two women, and two children, had been found slaughtered in Hertfordshire. Since then, the Death Eater activity had just been amplifying both in frequency and intensity.
However, it was my grandmother's eighty-fifth birthday, and I wanted to be there for her. She'd had yet to meet James, and I knew that the pair of us badly needed a reprieve from Order business. So here we were, back in my Muggle suburban neighborhood that seemed pretty surreal to all that we'd been living for the past few weeks, since we'd returned from our honeymoon.
"Really?" I inquired, for the sole purpose of being polite. She was talking to me; not scowling or scolding, but really talking to me. I could take how annoying the topic might be.
"Yes. I didn't wear it today because it wouldn't have matched well with my necklace. You know diamonds and jade, they just clash sometimes, you know?" I didn't know. I actually wasn't at all sure of the truth to that statement. "The necklace is from Vernon too," Of course it was. "He's moving up in the drilling world, and business if flourishing!"
"That's wonderful," I wasn't lying. Maybe I wasn't too fond of Vernon the Amazing Walking Walrus, but if he made Petunia so happy, then I could deal with him.
"Your James, he's unemployed, isn't he?" She made a tsk-ing noise, thrusting another plate my way.
And there went all pretense of Nicey-Nice Tuney.
"Yes. We both are at the moment." Unless you count monitoring neighborhoods and preparing for a war that's always threatening to come but hasn't made up its mind yet, a job. I wanted so badly to say that to my sister. I couldn't stand the superior gaze she was giving me now. But she could know nothing of this war. She was one of those that needed protecting. And if she did know…there was no telling how she would react.
So to keep her safe, I gritted my teeth and let her continue speaking.
"Vernon is very successful. Mum and Dad always call to tell us how proud they are of him. We're going to be able to afford a house soon, but I keep telling Vernon to stop buying me presents, or else we won't have enough money for our dream home!"
She had so many things already, more than she could really count. It's not like she really needed any more. Why was he buying her so many things? What did he have to prove?
With fondness, I looked down at my wedding ring. It was so simple compared to Petunia's giant diamond, that on more than one occasion I'd seen her struggle with, and I thought it more beautiful. Thinking back, I realized the only jewelry I'd received from James was the necklace as a Christmas present that seemed so long ago, and my engagement ring. They all meant something; they were not frivolous gifts for pleasing.
"And Vernon is so funny! He's got the best sense of humor I've ever heard!" She hooted with laughter for effect.
I only smiled knowingly, as last Easter, I definitely walked in on him practicing the same joke he told at dinner before the rest of the family had arrived. It hadn't earned many laughs either.
Just last night, I had fallen off of the couch, tears streaming from my eyes at a snippy comment James had made to the female news anchor who wore too much lipstick and showed a little too much cleavage. He had looked shocked at all of my laughing, but he eventually joined in as well, both of us a couple of loons.
"And the sex is spectacular,"
First, I did not want that image, my sister, the twig, and the walrus doing any act close to that of fornication in my mind at all. Second, I wondered what my sister's definition of "spectacular" was.
A deep red blush painted across my face, just thinking about such actions that may of may not have occurred last night between a certain Potter boy and me. Excuse me, Potter man.
That thought only got me giggling, and I nearly dropped one of my mother's nice wine glasses on the floor.
Petunia sent a strange look in my direction, wondering what was at all funny, but she said nothing. She didn't even continue her praise of the Walrus. The water beat down on the bottom of the sink, the only sound in the kitchen. Laughter filtered in from the dining room; James must have told a joke.
"He makes you happy, doesn't he?"
Again, I nearly dropped one of the glasses. She only looked out the window, at the back of the neighbor's house. Had she really spoken?
Then she was looking right at me. It wasn't the hard, bitter gaze that I had grown used to over the years. It was like we were little girls again, playing with dolls up in her room. It was like we were really sisters again.
"I've never seen you smile like that, and it's always around him. Or about him."
"Yeah," I couldn't think of anything else to say.
She smiled, actually smiled, and turned back to drying the dishes.
My sister had seen the same thing I had. Maybe I didn't like Vernon so much, and maybe she still held some resentment against me. But she was still my sister, and I was still hers. Vernon made Petunia happy, and that's all that mattered really, but it didn't stop me from really loving what I had.
For once, the dishes were finished in a companionable silence, instead of a cold one. My mother noticed as well, for she smiled hugely when we re-entered the dining room, no frowns to be seen on our foreheads.
I laced my fingers with James' as I sat down, leaning back in my chair.
Sitting with my family all together, I noticed just how well I had it. I though of Sirius, who called the Potters his family. The family that shared his last name had disowned him, leaving him homeless. His brother and him never saw eye to eye. Maybe my sister and I had our disagreements, but we could overcome that. I could almost see now, in the future, things would get better. After that development just in the kitchen, nothing could get me down.
"So," Grandma began. She was my last living grandparent, and she was still "kicking" as she liked to put it. It wasn't a lie either; she could play a mean round of croquet. "When will I be getting some great-grandchildren girls?"
Vernon had been drinking from his water glasses, but now it was spurted all over the front of his dress shirt. Petunia's cooing voice as she helped him dab up the water covered up James' snort, and I kicked him lightly under the table, even as I smothered my own smirk.
"I'm sure that will come in time, Mother," Dad chuckled, trying to diffuse the situation.
"Well, I'm not going to live forever, am I? I want some babies here!"
The only thing about her getting older is she didn't much care what came out of her mouth anymore.
"Your father and I had your brother when I was seventeen!"
"That was quite a long time ago," Mum muttered, pouring more wine in her glass.
"Time doesn't matter. Look at Lily, she's only nineteen, and she's married!"
James and I exchanged a glance. Yes, we were married, but I couldn't recall a time we had discussed children. We were still young.
"Babies will come soon enough," My dad soothed again.
In sync with my father, Mum changed the subject immediately. "Why don't we move to the sitting room for tea?"
Grandma shuffled up from her chair, shouting at my father that she didn't need help. In the commotion of moving, I pulled James in the hallway.
"Your grandmother is hilarious," he snickered.
Without warning, I bounced up on my toes and brought our lips together. "Thank you," Our mouths brushed with each word.
"For saying your grandma is funny? You're welcome," His hands slid up to hold my sides and pressed me closer to him.
"No, just for being you."
James arched an eyebrow at that, as if my sanity might have gone down the drain while I was washing dishes, but he didn't question it.
"I'm glad you're you too."
"Thanks, jerk."
"Hey now, I thought that was a romantic moment there!"
"It was. It still is," I breathed before kissing him again. He laughed against me, but he didn't pull away.
A screech that could only come from my sister was what interrupted us.
"It's probably that damn neighbor cat again. He sneaks in here all the time."
James only smiled, making my skin feel fuzzy.
Walking back in to the sitting room, I realized it wasn't the big fat yellow cat that had made Petunia scream. She was crouched behind the couch, Vernon standing close to her to shield something off. My parents stood stricken against the wall, eyes wide with fascination.
"What in the blazes is that thing?" Grandma blathered as she squinted her eyes, forgetting her eye glasses hung around her neck, to try and see better.
I wish she wouldn't. I didn't know how to explain this to her.
What I had thought was that pesky cat, was a cloud of silver, floating right in the middle of the room. I felt James stiffen next to me, but I couldn't take my eyes away from the cloud.
The silver threads finally wound together, forming a canine like animal. A wolf. It was almost a large as the sofa Petunia was hiding behind.
"Lily, what is-?"
But my mother never got to finish her question, because the Patronous spoke, Remus' thick voice echoing from the wolf.
"Attack broke into a battle. Marlene is dead. War has begun."
The wolf seemed to look right at us. Even after it dissolved, I could still feel it's heavy gaze.
My blood was spiked cold, and my lungs constricted. The only feeling I had left to feel was James' hand latched onto mine as my world was shattered into pieces.
