Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Harry Potter the rights belong to the creator J.K. Rowling and Scholastic Publishing company. I am not making any form prophet from this fanfiction. I am only borrowing the characters for a while. I will return them shortly.
AN: I always wondered what would happen if the Durselys' treated Harry like family instead of treating him poorly and they embraced that Harry was special instead of a freak of nature.
Acceptance
Petunia Dursley nee Evans of Number 4 Privet Drive always knew that there were things in this world that could not be explained. She knew about a whole another world that was indeed real. The world of magic because her little sister Lily Potter nee Evans had been a witch and attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. There were many years that she was jealous of her beautiful redheaded sister. Because Lily could do things, she only dreamed of doing. This brought of resentment towards her sister. She cut ties with her best friend until one day she received a letter from Lily. Petunia sat the kitchen table with the letter in her hand. She stared at the envelope. She sighed heavily and pulled the letter out and quietly read it herself.
Dearest Pet,
I hope this letter finds you well and happy. I know things have been hard on you and me concerning our relationship. I hate that this has pulled us apart. I want you to understand as I sit here thinking about how close we were as children I miss you Pet. I miss you in my life. I hate that you were not standing beside me as I said "I do," to my beloved James. We had so many dreams together. Please Pet don't let your jealously ruin a chance to reconnect with each other.
Pet, I can't stand that we never talk anymore. When I was accepted into Hogwarts, I begged for Professor Dumbledore to allow you to come with me. I pleaded for years. Until I realized that you were needed in the muggle world for a reason. You were there for our parents when I could not be, and I am grateful for that Petunia. I miss my sister. I miss you terribly. Please think about meeting me for lunch tomorrow at our favorite fish and chip shop down town. I will be there at noon please let us set things right before it's too late.
Your loving sister,
Lily Potter
Petunia sighed heavily and sat the letter down on the table. She sat back and gently rubbed her five-month belly in thought. She truly missed her sister. She stood up and walked into the bedroom she shared with her husband Vernon. She sat down at her vanity. She looked at her reflection in the mirror. She had long slightly thin brown hair, brown eyes, thin mouth and slightly long neck. She had growing belly with a still thin womanly frame. She picked up her red lipstick and put it on her thin lips and grabbed her bag from the dresser and left her house for the fish and chip shop.
Lily Potter sat in the booth in the far corner away from preying eyes and ears. She looked around the nice room in hope that her sister would show up so they could work out their differences. She picked up her water and took a sip from the straw when she saw her sister walk through the door. Lily waved at Petunia and motioned to the table.
Petunia sighed when she saw sister. Lily had her long red hair pulled up in a ponytail, fare freckled skin, bright green eyes, slightly full lips slimming womanly figure with small three-month baby bump that was hidden by the table. Petunia walked over to the witch and sat down at the table.
"Thank you for coming Petunia. How have you been?" asked Lily.
Petunia rested her hand on her belly. "I'm doing good expecting my first baby in three months. We're having a boy."
Lily smiled at her sister. "Oh, congratulations. I don't know what we're having yet. I know James would love a boy."
Petunia smiled at the thought of them being pregnant together then her smile slipped slightly. "Did you really plead with Dumbledore to let me go to school with you?"
"Yes, I did. I wanted you to see the wonders of Hogwarts. I wanted you to learn with me, but I guess it wasn't in the cards for you. I want you back in my life. I am so sorry that you weren't born with magic Pet. It tore out my heart when I left to learn something that you only dreamed of. I know you loved to read stories of witches and wizards and all the wonders of unicorns and giants. I know it crushed your dreams of the world you thought was only a fairytale. It turned out to be real and I was apart of it and you weren't." explained Lily with tears in her green eyes.
"Lily, I was so jealous of you for years because I wanted so bad to be apart of that world. You are right it crushed me and I took it out on you and let the green monster come out in me and it took me a long time to realize that it wasn't your fault that I wasn't a witch. I am willing to set it aside. Because I miss you too Lily. I really do."
The waitress came over took their orders and walked away leaving the two women alone realizing that they had a lot to talk about.
"How will Vernon take the news when you told him about me and James?" asked Lilly.
Petunia shook her head. "He doesn't believe in magic like we do. I would like to set up an evening for dinner for the four of us. We can have it at my house so you can explain things to him. It will take him awhile to understand that it's real." The waitress came back with their orders of fish and chips and walked away.
Lily piled a stack of pickles on her fish and took a bite and groaned at the taste when it hit her tastebuds. "I miss this it tastes amazing."
Petunia chuckled at her sister reaction to the food. "So, how are things going in wizarding world?" She grabbed the hot sauce and splashed it on her chips.
"I thought you hated hot stuff Pet?" asked Lilly with a raised brow at the amount of spice she put on her chips.
Petunia laughed, "I know but this baby loves the spicy stuff. I deal with heart burn all the time." She picked up a chip and pointed at the redhead. "Don't change the subject Lils."
"My world is at war Pet. A mad wizard is taking over and killing people left and right. I scared out of my mind and James being auror. That's our form of police officer. I would hate to raise this baby alone and be a widow at such a young age."
"Then come back here Lily if you're that scared. I don't won't anything happening to you." Petunia said in concern.
"Oh, Petunia it's a part of who I am. I'm studying with Professor McGonagall to get my masters in transfiguration. I can't stop living because of one mad wizard is out to destroy everything I love." Lilly told her sister. "Petunia please be careful keep your eyes peeled for anything out of the ordinary. If you will let me and James's place protective wards around your home, I would feel much better." She told her taking a hold of her hand. "Please."
Petunia sighed heavily, "I'll think about it."
Lily nodded her head and the women ate their lunch in silence. But Lilly could tell that her sister was thinking about her words as she ate her lunch. She didn't want Petunia to storm out in anger. They had found a small amount of common ground even if it was only over fact that they were pregnant.
The waitress grabbed their empty plates and walked away from the women. She returned with the check. Lilly grabbed the check and placed the money on top of the bill. She smiled at her big sister.
"I must go Pet. Thank you for meeting me for lunch. I will write soon and I'll send it through the post. I'm sure Vernon would not like an owl arriving at the house. I have a P.O. Box you can send me a letter at this box." Lilly told her sister and wrote it down. "Here you are. Please keep in touch and let me know when you want to do dinner. I know this will take time but I'll willing to wait and talk to get to know you again."
Petunia took the paper and stuck it inside her purse. "This will take a while but I'm willing to work with you through this Lily. Thank you for lunch. It was nice. I will write you soon. Now, I have to break this to Vernon. Be careful out there Lily."
"See you soon." Lily said and kissed her sister on the cheek and walked out of the fish and chip shop.
Petunia looked at the empty seat. She grabbed her things and left to return home to prepare for dinner for husband. She smiled she would break it to Vernon over his favorite meal of meat loaf, mashed potatoes and sweet peas. She could break it to him that way was the best.
Petunia pulled out the meat loaf out of the oven and sat it down on the counter just as Vernon entered the kitchen. He was a large man, with brown short hair, fare skin, brown eyes and brown mustache over his thin lip.
"Pet, love what a wonderful dinner." said Vernon as he planted a kiss on her cheek.
Petunia smiled and fixed his plate as he washed his hands in the kitchen sink. He grabbed a beer from the fridge and sat down at the table just as his wife sat his plate down on the table in front of him. She joined him at the table with her own plate with a glass of water.
"I feel like I'm going to float away with all this water I have to drink." Petunia and took a sip of her water.
They ate in a comfortable silence. She waited until her husband was done with his meal. Vernon got up and put his and Petunia's plates in the sink. He returned at the table with another beer.
"I saw Lily today." Petunia said, "We went to lunch at Andy's Fish and Chip Shop down town."
Vernon's eyes widen at the mention of her sister. "Pet, dear I thought you broke off with her because of her and her freaky husband."
"Vernon, me and Lily were so close when we were little. I was jealous because she could do things, I dreamed of doing. I wanted to be a witch so badly. I resented her because of her special gifts."
"Magic isn't a gift Pet. They are freaks of nature." Vernon snapped at his wife.
Petunia blinked back the tears that threatened to fall from her eyes. She took a deep breathe, "Vernon I miss my sister. She even set up a P.O. box so we could write. She wants to solve our problems and put the past behind us."
"I just don't like the idea of their kind being around you. They might hurt you and the baby." Vernon said in concern. "We had so many problems getting this far." He told her gently.
Petunia shook her head. "Vernon Lily would never use magic on me. I found out that her and James are expecting their first baby too. Vernon, we dreamed of being pregnant together so we could go baby shopping together and everything. I would like for them to join us for dinner."
"I don't want those freaks in my house." snapped Vernon. "They could do things that-
"Vernon Dursley, this is my sister. We are trying to work things out. I think things need to be understood that I was the one that caused the problems to start with. You can sleep in the guest room tonight. I need you to think about this and I need time to myself." She snapped back. "Wash the dishes. I'm going to bed." She got up from the table and went upstairs to the bedroom.
Vernon narrowed his eyes at the thought of those people. He didn't won't them around his beloved wife. He angrily washed the dishes and when into the living room to watch some television. He needed to give Petunia some time. She would come to her senses about those freaks coming over for dinner, and he would be out of the dog house.
James laid on the bed as he watched his wife get ready for bed. He had short messy black hair, fare skin, brown eyes, slightly thin mouth, he had muscular frame his work as auror. He held a several scars on his chest and sides from spells. He pushed his round glasses up his nose and opened his arms to his lovely wife.
Lily smiled crawled into bed and laid her head down on his chest. James ran his fingers through her long red hair. She told him about meeting her sister for lunch. He smiled down her as she slowly fell sleep talking to him about their lunch date. He was glad that Lily had taken his advice about getting in touch with Petunia. He knew that she missed her sister greatly. He would hate for them to miss out on their lives. He knew that Lily was crushed when she ended her friendship with Severus Snape when they were in school, and nothing could be done about that, but something could be done with her relationship with her sister.
James laid his hand gently on Lily's growing belly and let sleep take over his tired body. He prayed things would go smoothly for the two sisters in long run.
It took Vernon a good two weeks to get use to idea of James and Lily coming over for dinner, but he was tired of sleeping in the guest room. He told Petunia that Lily and James could come over for dinner, but if there was no freakiness they would not be allowed back to visit. Petunia nodded in agreement and wrote Lily to let know that dinner would be next weekend.
Vernon stood in the backyard firing up the grill and Petunia walked out back and handed him cold beer. He kissed her gently on cheek when there was knock on the front door. Petunia smiled left to answer the door.
Petunia returned to the backyard with James and Lily. Vernon looked at the couple that stood next to his wife. They looked like normal people and not freaks like he thought.
"Hello Vernon. I'm James Potter. It's nice to meet you." James said holding out his hand to the man in front of him.
Vernon shook the wizard's hand. "Nice to meet you, James." He turned back to the grill. "What type of work do you do?"
Petunia and Lily sat down on the patio. They struck up conversation of baby names.
"I'm auror. It's your form of police. Work has been crazy lately, but nothing we can't handle." James told him not wanting to cause problems by bring up the war that they were facing. It was really dark times in wizarding world.
"Nasty business you're in then." Vernon said as he placed the steaks on the grill.
"It can have it days. I enjoy what I do. Keeping people safe is my job. Lily calls it my hero saving complex. It runs in the family. I have a long line of aurors in my family, what about you?"
"Sales and marking." Vernon told him.
James's eyes brighten up. "Really? I was thinking about paying some stocks here. Do you think you can help me out with that? I want to make sure my family is taking care of down the road if something should happen to me."
Vernon thought about it for a moment and nodded his head. "As long as I'm not dealing with some creature from your world it's fine."
"Oh, wonderful! What would suggest I invest in?" asked James as he held the plate for Vernon.
"I heard through my sources that computers are going to be big. I would invest in that market. Some company called Apple and Microsoft."
"Strange names count me in." said the wizard and the men walked over to the table where the sides were covered up to keep warm.
"Ladies, dinner is ready." Vernon called them over.
Petunia eased herself up from the chair and they made their way over to the table. The couples talked about babies and small talk that didn't have anything to do with magic not wanting to make anyone uncomfortable for their first gathering.
Vernon told James more about Apple and Microsoft companies. The more James learned the more interested he became. Petunia looked around and smiled things were slowly coming together. They had found some common ground. She knew magic would come up sooner or later. But it was good place to start.
What you guys think about this new twist of a story. I wanted something different. I hope this was what you were looking for. Please leave a review and tell me what you think!
