Disclaimer: Harry Potter characters, places, and ideas belong to J.K. Rowling and Warner Brothers, not me.
by Auror5
Sitting on her window seat, Lily watched the rain fall without really seeing, and distantly heard the soft patter of the drops as they hit the window. Snowball, her fluffy white Persian, was sitting on her lap purring contentedly as she absentmindedly stroked him. The Evanses had recently returned from their trip to France. In about a week and a half, Lily would be on her way to Hogwarts. Lily was thinking sadly of Petunia and of her best friend, Lauren.
Petunia had not spoken to Lily since she received the letter from Hogwarts. The trip to France would have been more enjoyable for Lily, if it were not for Petunia's strange behaviour. During the entire trip, Petunia acted as though Lily did not exist, as though she were invisible. On the few occasions that she did acknowledge her presence, Lily noticed that she had an odd, knowing smirk on her face, as though she knew something Lily did not.
What was really hurting Lily was that it seemed as though Lauren did not want to be her friend anymore. Since she returned from France, she had telephoned Lauren's house several times asking to speak with her, but each time her mother, father, or sister, Brianna, very politely told her that Lauren was not taking any calls. Once, she went over to Lauren's house, but Lauren's mother coldly told her that she could not come out to play. It was not just Lauren, either. It appeared that none of her friends wanted to be with her anymore. Perhaps it was her imagination, but it also seemed as though they had been acting very strange lately. A few times she caught Fern, Charles, and Michael huddled together snatching looks at her and whispering. They almost reminded her of the wizards and witches in Diagon Alley.
Lily's thoughts were interrupted by Petunia walking into her room. Gladness filled Lily's heart at the sight of Petunia. She happily thought, Tunia is going to make up with me! She smiled and leapt from her window seat. Startled, Snowball ran underneath the bed.
"Hullo!" Lily beamed.
Petunia regarded her coldly. "Did you know that, a long time ago, they used to burn witches? You're not normal, Lily. No one wants to be around a witch, even if she is pretty."
Lily recoiled as though icy water had been thrown on her face.
"While you were in London, I told everyone about you. How you are a freak. Everyone agrees, even Lauren. Lauren doesn't want to be your friend anymore. No one wants to be friends with a freak."
Lily felt as though someone had just stabbed her through the heart. Hurt and angry, tears began to fill her eyes.
"You awful, horrible girl. Get out of my room!"
"You're not normal, Lily! They burned witches. They burned them because they were evil. You're evil!"
"Get out of my room, you ugly, wicked girl!"
"I'M NOT WICKED, LILY. YOU ARE! YOU AREN'T NATURAL, YOU EVIL FREAK!"
Lily rushed up to Petunia and slapped her so hard she fell onto the floor.
Petunia began to cry, and then screamed, "I hate you, witch! I hate you!"
Sobbing hard, Lily towered over Petunia. "GET OUT OF MY ROOM, PETUNIA, OR I WILL MAKE YOU!"
Lily must have had a dangerous gleam in her eyes for she suddenly saw fear on Petunia's face. Petunia jumped up, ran from the room, and collided into their mother, who had run upstairs to find out what the shouting was about.
"Mum," Petunia wailed, arms wrapped tightly around her mother's waist. "Lily hit me!"
"What? Lily hit you?"
"Yes, Mum, very hard. It hurts, Mum!"
Zinnia disengaged herself from Petunia's grip, and held her away at arms length. She observed a red handprint swelling on Petunia's right cheek. Zinnia gasped when she saw it. Holding Petunia close, she barged into Lily's room. She found Lily crying stormily, face down on the bed.
"Lily! What is the meaning of this? Why did you hit your sister? Do you see what you have done? Get up off that bed. Now!"
Crying hard, Lily rose up and faced her mother.
"Please explain to me why you have done this to your sister." Zinnia's eyes were hard.
Lily had never seen her mother so angry.
"She, she, Mum," stammered Lily sobbing. "Mum, she, she turned all my friends away from mm-me. Said, she said, I was evil and not na-natural. Muumm, everyone hates me now. She told them that I was a wi-witch. Oh, Mum, my best friend Lauren ha-hates me now! She, oh Mum, she said wi-witches were burned, and I'm evil."
"What?" Zinnia looked at Petunia incredulously. "Did you say those things about your sister? Did you tell her friends that she is a witch?"
"Mum," wailed Petunia. "I told them because they had to know about her. She's not normal!"
"Petunia, don't you ever refer to your little sister as being abnormal or evil! She isn't! She cannot help what she is. If she is a witch, then it is because we, your father and I, made her that way. It isn't her fault!"
Petunia cried harder. "I'm sorry, Mum. I don't think you and Dad are evil."
"Petunia, what you did and said to your sister was very ugly. I am shocked and hurt by your behaviour! As punishment, you will stay in your room until you apologise. Until then, there will be no television or any type of socializing with your friends. You will remain in your room. Your meals will be brought to you until you are sorry for the awful things you have said and done. Do you understand?"
"But, but, Mum, she hit me!"
"Do.you.un.der.stand me, Petunia?"
"Yes! I understand you!" Petunia ran to her room and slammed the door so hard that one of the framed pictures on the wall, in the corridor, fell to the floor.
Zinnia sat on Lily's bed. Lily was curled up on it, and still sobbing.
"Lily, I'm so sorry for what Petunia has done." Zinnia gently stroked Lily's hair. "I just don't know what has gotten into her. Perhaps she is having a hard time dealing with all of this. I just don't know. I'm sure she will get over it in time. Perhaps if your father and I pay more attention to her, she will feel better about everything."
"Mum? Can, can, I tell you something?"
"Yes, honey."
Tears streaking her face and nose running, Lily sat up. "Please, puh-please, don't tell Dad, okay?"
"Well, all right," responded Zinnia unsure. "What do you want to tell me?"
"Mum, the, the real reason I de-decided to go to Hogwarts is, is…"
"Go on, dear," Zinnia gently encouraged.
"It's because of Petunia, Mum," blurted Lily placing her head on her mother's lap, and bawling.
"Oh, Lily," said Zinnia troubled. "Lily, why didn't you come to your father or me? Lily, I don't want you to go to that school, if you don't want to!"
"Mum." She sat up. "I have to. I can't stay here with Petunia, with her acting this way. It's so hard. My friends don't want to be around me anymore. Mum, Lauren, doesn't want to be my best friend anymore!" She cried as though her heart was breaking.
Zinnia cradled her, with a heavy sadness. The way her daughter was sobbing was heart wrenching. She held Lily tight and rocked her gently.
"Shh, honey. It will get better. I promise. I'm so sorry, so very sorry about all of this."
Eventually, Lily's tears subsided. She actually dozed off in her mother's arms.
"Sweetheart."
Lily jumped.
"Honey, if you don't like Hogwarts, will you let your father and me know?"
"Sure, Mum," Lily replied, sleepily.
"We will send for you straight away, if it does not turn out all right. You understand?"
"Yes, Mummy."
"I'm not going to punish you for hitting Petunia. I understand why you did; although, I am quite unhappy about it. You know how your father and I feel about violence.
"Lily, if there are any more serious problems between you and Petunia, will you let your father or me know?"
"Erm, all right," Lily said with eyes downcast.
Zinnia hugged and kissed her, and then left the room.
Lily lay down on her bed and stared up at the ceiling.
Snowball peeked out from underneath the bed, saw that it was safe, meowed once, ventured out, leapt up, and landed squarely on Lily's stomach.
"Oof," responded Lily. "Hullo, Snowball. You're much too heavy now to jump on my tummy."
Snowball stared at her while purring loudly as she stroked his back.
"Would you like to come with me to Hogwarts, Snowball? I will need a friend, and you are the only friend I have left." She choked back a sob, and held Snowball close.
***
Five days later, Lily had most of the items she was taking with her to Hogwarts packed into a trunk. Snowball's carrier was sitting on top of it. Wesley and Zinnia decided that it would be best to stay in London overnight; therefore, they would leave for London, by train, on the 31st. Petunia still had not left her room.
The day before Wesley, Zinnia, and Lily left for London, Petunia still had not apologised to Lily. Lily had seen Petunia on only a few occasions since their fight, and on each of those occasions Petunia was either leaving from or going to the bathroom. Zinnia and Wesley decided to leave Petunia home, and have Mrs. Muldrow, the widow two houses down, watch her until they return. They were thoroughly upset by her behaviour, and vowed to straighten it out as soon as they returned from London. In the meantime, they wanted the atmosphere to be as pleasant as possible, under the circumstances, before Lily departed.
Early on August 31st, they prepared to leave for London. Zinnia asked Lily for the hundredth time whether she packed everything she needed. A taxi arrived at 10:30 a.m. to take them to the train station. Lily's trunk was placed in the back compartment, and Snowball was prodded and stuffed into his carrier. Lily ran upstairs and attempted to say farewell to Petunia before they departed. She knocked on Petunia's door several times but received no response.
Lily called sadly through the door, "Goodbye, Tunia. I'm leaving now."
She waited but there was no response. Sadly, she ran downstairs and hopped into the waiting taxi.