The next few years passed much without incident. Petunia was turning into a lovely young lady, though a bit obsessed with appearing 'normal.' Stacks of magazines filled with the latest fashions – the ones everyone was wearing – lined her bookshelves.
Lily, following her parents, made no mention of Hogwarts, witches, wizards, or any other abnormal topics near Petunia. Secretly, she still held to her dream of becoming a unicorn tamer. Since the day Petunia's letter had been discovered, she had realized that now, maybe, it was possible! She never relinquished her dream of finding a letter of her own.
Petunia, at thirteen, was now discovering that boys were not simply the uncouth creatures of messy hair and careless insults she had thought they were at eleven. They were mysterious creatures, to be studied at length, even if they were not to be spoken to. Her friends gathered round in her room, for long sessions of serious debate on this very subject. Often these debates lasted all night and into the morning hours, as they sat and ate popcorn.
It was the morning after one of these long meetings that a shriek sounding from the front hallway, below her room, woke Petunia. What the bloody…? She tumbled, bleary eyed, out of bed to find out why Lily had made such noise while she, Petunia, was sleeping.
Petunia collided with her parents as they all filed down the stairs to find out what the matter was. They stopped and watched Lily, dancing about in the hall, and hugging a heavy parchment envelope in to her chest.
"I got a letter! I got a letter! I got a letter!" She chanted, twirling joyously in her socks on the wood floor.
"Lily!" Her mother came to her senses "Stop that this instant! You might knock the painting off of the wall!"
Lily's obviouis excitement could not be diminished by her mother's mundane reaction, and she ran into the kitchen where she skidded into the table. That subdued her long enough for her parents to follow her in.
"Well," Her father grinned happliy; "We already know what that is! Lily, I'm so proud of you – er, you will go, won't you?" He added.
"OF COURSE!" Lily nearly screamed. "I can't wait! I can't wait until September! I want to get my supplies now! Can we go now? Oh, mom, dad, I can't wait!"
Petunia was lingering in the doorway of the kitchen, a look of horror and disbelief on her face. What if one of my friends finds out that I have – that I'm related to…That Lily's a … a … She was unable to finish her thought. She turned and ran back to her room, and she was preparing to slam her door. And then she it dawned on her. No one had noticed that she left. No one had seen that she was there. What is wrong with them?!
Why are they so happy to have this… this sort of…what are they thinking?!
The next month of summer passed in a blur to Lily, but the days dragged dismally for Petunia as she watched the excited preparation. Lily was to depart from Platform 9 ¾ on September 1st. Petunia watched as Lily tried on her robes from Madam Malkins. She watched as Lily flipped through textbooks with moving photos, and played with her wand. She watched with the morbid curiousity of someone who is driving by a wrek on the side of the road. And she couldn't look away.
Finally, September 1st arrived. Lily couldn't sleep the night before, yet she was fresh and happy in the morning. She nervously played with her toast and jam without eating much at all. Petunia ate in stony silence and was rising to leave the table when Lily spoke.
"Pet…I'm gonna miss you when I go to school…"
Petunia said nothing, and shrugged. After a few moments, Lily tried again.
"Will you write me any letters?"
Petunia nodded, and tried to smile. Lily obviously didn't understand. She wasn't normal. And Petunia didn't feel like connecting herself with anything…strange. Especially that school.
"I'll write you, Lil, but how will the letters get there?"
Lily smiled, reassured. "Owl. I'll send you an owl and I'm sure it will be able to take a letter back!"
"Alright." Came Petunia's reply. She was already out of the kitchen and heading up the stairs.
Harold and Cheryl Evans exchanged glances, but said nothing.
"Hey, alright, mom, dad, can we start to pack my things now?" Lily's excitement had returned to its previous pitch. "I don't want to be late and miss the train…"
