1971 August
"For goodness' sake, Harry," Petunia yelled at the small boy whose eyes reminded her so much of her sister. "Can't you stop being a freak for once?"
Harry cowered, his glasses taped together because she had refused to get it replaced. "Sorry, Aunt Petunia."
"Oh you'll be sorry," Petunia rolled her eyes, shoving the small thin boy towards the cupboard. "In. Don't even think about coming out until I come and get you."
She slammed the door shut, walking back towards the kitchen until a sharp pain caused her to stumble down to her knees. She could hear the thumping against the door–Harry's frantic voice that barely made any sense to her.
Her vision grew spotty until all she could see was black and–
"–Tunia?"
"Petunia!"
Petunia sharply sat up, smacking her forehead against Lily's nose who cried out in pain.
"Ouch, that hurts–Lily?"
"Tunia?" Lily held her nose, her emerald green eyes growing glossy with tears. "Are you okay?"
Petunia looked confused to see her little sister so small. Lily was supposed to be dead. And even if she wasn't, she wasn't supposed to be this small. "Uhm, yeah? Why wouldn't I be?" Petunia's skin felt wet and sticky. Her cheeks felt hot and flush. She just felt so frizzled out. Freaked out by the situation.
"You were yelling at someone–and then sweating and no matter how many time I shook you awake, you just wouldn't wake!" Lily explained, moving back as if Petunia could explode on her at any moment.
Petunia stared at her blankly as if Lily had been the one that grew a second head. It didn't make any sense–was this God's way of trying to make her pay for her sins. She still couldn't comprehend it.
It felt so real.
Petunia pinched her cheek and a sharp pain greeted her. She found Lily moving backwards, careful not to agitate her. "Lily, what's the year?"
"Uhm, 1971."
"Month?"
"August."
Petunia paused. Calculating the timeline. Careful as ever, she asked, "Did you…receive a letter yet? From Hogswart?"
Lily's eyes casted down at the floor, nervously fiddling around with the edges of her dress.
"Well?"
She flinched at the tone before quickly nodding.
"I see." Petunia muttered softly.
Lily looked confused. Petunia couldn't blame her because at this moment, she was supposed to explode on her sister and this would have began the breakdown of their relationship. But there was too much things going on in her head that she couldn't find the energy to feel jealous.
Petunia felt like she was in some kind of alternative universe or maybe someone was finally pulling her leg.
"Tunia?"
"Out."
"Sorry?"
"I need some time alone, Lily, so get out."
"B...But this is my room too," Lily pointed out. "And, we're going out tomorrow."
"We are?"
Lily nodded. "We're going with Mrs. Snape and Sev to buy school supplies."
Oh yeah. That. Petunia forgot.
"Then, just be quiet, I just need a moment to myself."
Lily nodded, walking on eggshells towards their shared table. Petunia let everything run through her head. She remembered everything–Lily getting accepted to Hosgwarts, Lily dying, Lily leaving behind her son, getting married and having her own son.
It was all so real.
Had she dreamt it all up?
Clearly not, if the pain in her cheek was any indication. She sighed and turned to look outside the window and it was already nightfall. Maybe this was the dream and she would wake up again as Petunia Dursley tomorrow and everything would return back to normal.
"Lily?"
Lily piped up, she didn't even bother with pretending to read the book considering the said book was upside down.
"Come," Petunia patted the sheets beside her.
Her little sister seemed more confused. Hesitant to even come close to Petunia but after a couple of minutes of trying to decide, Lily finally approached their shared bed and laid on the bed. Stiffly. Petunia noted. But still they both laid there, just quietly listening to each other's breath.
And Petunia fell asleep to Lily's warmth and the small gasp of disbelief.
.
/.../
.
Petunia woke up the next day and found that she was very much still the 14 years old Petunia and Lily was very much still the 11 years old Lily.
It wasn't or…isn't a dream.
She continued to stare at her reflection.
Her long blond hair was a mess. Wavy and made worse each morning she woke up. She still had the same blue eyes–she essentially looked the opposite of Lily with her red hair and green eyes.
No one would have guessed they were sisters if not for the last name.
"Good morning, Tunia," Lily greeted, rubbing her eyes.
Petunia nodded, braiding her hair to fix the sloppy mess. They both changed out of their attire before coming down for breakfast. They were both greeted by their parents, Mrs. Evans finishing their breakfast just in time.
"Is this a feast or what?" Petunia asked, looking a bit confused at the large spread of food.
"Of course, it's to celebrate the first witch in our family," Mrs. Evans beamed brightly.
Mr. Evans nodded, squeezing Lily's cheek. "We're so proud of you, Lils."
Lily gave Petunia a nervous look but the older girl didn't say anything. Normally, she would have said something but now, well, Petunia would rather not waste her energy so early in the morning.
She was about to dig into her food when something in the newspaper caught her eyes.
"Dad, can I look?"
Mr. Evans didn't seem to hear Petunia so the blonde girl just grabbed the paper and flipped through until she found the ad paper.
MODEL WANTED
Looking for a female model.
Payment will be based on sales.
Please visit the Record Store at Willow Creek.
Petunia grabbed the nearest scissors and began to cut the ad out and stuffed it into her pocket. It wasn't until they were past done their breakfast that Mr. Evans noticed the cut out in his newspaper.
"Petunia Evans, did you cut my newspapers?"
"I asked earlier, dad," Petunia replied, "You said yes."
"Did I?"
He didn't.
"Yes," Petunia lied, a petty way of getting back at their father's unfair treatment.
Mr. Evans grumbled but made no further comments since she didn't really cut out the spots that he usually read.
.
/.../
.
Mrs. Snape and Severus had met them and brought them to that magical place. Petunia didn't really have good memories of this place because their parents didn't pay attention to her and unsurprisingly, nothing changed.
It didn't help that Severus didn't talk nor look at her.
Which to be fair, she understood because she had been calling them a bunch of freaks for the past two years and it was a miracle that Lily was so forgiving.
Although her little sister seemed to still walk on eggshells in case Petunia did a whole 180 once again.
"How can we possibly change our currency?" Mrs. Evans asked curiously, her green eyes not blinking once in case she missed something.
Mr. Evans on the other hand looked more curious about the stuff people were selling.
"I believe we can exchange it the Gringotts Wizarding Bank," Petunia commented.
She remember Lily writing to her all about it and also told her that she had saved some stuff for son if something were to happen to her–Petunia bit her lower lip. It was like Lily knew something was going to happen to her. Petunia blinked her eyes quickly, trying not to get emotional. She was still skeptical, unsure if she had dreamt all about it or maybe this was just an hallucination.
"That's right," Eileen, Severus' mother, said.
Petunia turned to look at the older woman, she was quite pretty and held a sense of superiority in her. Almost like an aristocratic lady. Petunia was ever more thankful that they managed to get the older woman to bring them along otherwise, they would have looked quite foolish. Although, Petunia would probably be able to navigate with the little bit of memory she had.
Still, it was a relief to have someone that knew something.
"You know so much, Tunia!" Lily praised, grinning from ear to ear as she held hands with Severus.
Petunia can feel her ears growing hot and red before she muttered that it was nothing.
"Oh what good is it to know so much yet not be a witch?" Mrs. Evans muttered softly.
Petunia, Lily and Severus all stiffen but Petunia turned her head to ignore the words coming from their mother. Lily and Severus exchanged knowing looks and when nothing came from Petunia, they let out the deep sigh that they've been keeping in.
"Alright, you three wait here, Mrs. Snape, your mother and I will go to the bank real quick," Mr. Evans stated firmly.
The older man making it a point to give Petunia the hardest stare of them all and the blonde girl rolled her eyes.
Of course, nothing else changed.
Their parents always looked at her unfavourly and it seemed to increase threefold now that Lily got her Hogwarts letter. Petunia tried to brush off the tingling in her heart and pay attention to the excitement between the pair.
"It sucks that you can't come too, Tunia," Lily sighed, eyes casting down in guilt.
"It's for the better," Petunia replied, accidently meeting Severus' eyes.
The smaller boy stiffen and quickly whipped his head around to look in the other direction as though he wanted nothing to do with Petunia which to be fair was valid because she had called them a bunch of freaks a couple of years back and now she was acting so…so unlike the Petunia they knew.
Lily had been walking on eggshells too. And once she was sure that Petunia wouldn't turn back into her old self, she seemed to accept it. Severus, though, Petunia noted with amusement, still seemed skittish around her.
"At least you are going to school with Severus, so it won't be too nerve wrecking, right?"
Lily nodded, grinning at her friend whose cheeks burned a light pink and Petunia wondered how she never noticed it before. Poor little Severus had a crush on her little sister but unfortunately would lose out to that Potter boy.
"Alright, kids," Eileen emerged from the bank with a bag of coins. "We should get started with getting your uniforms."
The older woman nodded towards Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. Petunia was about to follow when her father turned and passed her a couple of coins. This was new. She was supposed to join them and be bored out of her mind but it was clear that their parents had something else in mind for her.
"Go and get something to eat, Tunia," said Mr. Evans, "This might take a while and we don't want to bore you out of your mind."
"Oh," Petunia weakly said and took the golden coin.
Lily shoot her a worried look and Petunia shrugged her shoulders and walked off in the other direction. They would eventually come and find her, she supposed. Petunia walked down, stopping every now and then to look at each stall selling the weirdest trinkets. It was weird to see them moving by themselves but it almost intrigued her. She had initially hated anything and everything abnormal all because it reminded her of Lily and well…subsequently her parents' treatment.
She finally stopped in front of an ice cream shop. Petunia stared at the list of flavours–they were normal flavours and then weird flavours and then more weird flavours.
She almost didn't know what to get.
"Aww man! Mum and Dad forgot to give me some money!"
Petunia turned her head to glare at the obnoxiously loud boy. He seemed to be around her and Lily's age, his dark brown hair framed by the large glasses sitting on the bridge of his nose. He huffed and puffed as he stood in front of the same ice-cream stand. She turned her eyes back to the menu, still debating on the best flavours but the boy beside her continued to cause such a big scene until all she could hear was his voice.
"For goodness' sake," Petunia huffed out, glaring at the boy who stared at her with startlingly warm brown eyes. "Shut up, will you?"
"No," the boy replied, crossing his arms together. "It's a public space. You can't tell me what to do."
"You're being a nuisance."
"I'm a paying customer," he insisted.
Petunia rolled her eyes, "hardly a paying customer. You can't even pay for your ice-cream."
The boy scowled, pushing his glasses back up his nose. "I will be able to pay for it once Mum and Dad comes back."
Petunia and the boy continued to stare at each other before they finally fell into a fit of giggles. She pointed at the menu, "I'll pay for yours if you let me know which flavour I should try."
"Deal," the boy replied. "Get the chocolate and raspberry with chopped nuts." Petunia must have made a face because the boy continued. "It's good! I promise."
"Alright, I'll trust you," Petunia turned to the vendor and asked for two chocolate and raspberry with chopped nuts ice-cream, ignoring the boy's claims that he didn't like raspberries.
With a grumpy sigh, the boy took the ice-cream, muttering under his breath. "I told you that I don't like raspberries."
"Then why would you suggest this flavour?"
"Because Mum and Dad likes it."
"Are you telling me I have an old woman's taste buds?" Petunia playfully glared at the boy.
"May~be," the boy teased, licking at his ice-cream–he made a face which caused Petunia to giggle.
She gave her ice-cream a taste and sure enough, it did actually taste good. So maybe she did have a strange taste bud.
"Are you also a new student?" the boy asked.
Petunia shook her head. "Nope."
"Oh," the boy's voice dampen. "I thought we could be friends."
"My little sister will be attending this coming September."
"But I want us to be friends," the boy sighed hopelessly.
She paused, a little surprised. Petunia almost made it her mission to not associate with anything magical–let alone a magical friend. She swallowed the growing lump in the back of her throat.
"We can be friends," said Petunia.
"We can?"
She nodded. "Just send me an owl."
"True true," the boy nodded his head, still making a face each time he licked his ice-cream. "Alright, make sure to write to me too then."
"I will." Petunia promised. "The name's Petunia, by the way."
"No last name, Petunia by the way?" the boy cheekily asked.
"Petunia Evans." She finished. "And yours?"
"Potter." The boy answered, reaching out to offer her a handshake. Petunia's blood grew cold at the name. "James Potter."
Petunia's skin grew sweaty, his face turned into one of concern. His mouth opening to say something but Petunia couldn't or rather, didn't want to hear anything. She turned on her heels, ignoring the cries of her name as she pushed past the crowd. Hoping, god, she was hoping that Potter boy wasn't following her. Great, the first magical friend she makes ends up being Lily's future husband.
The one who would bring dismay to her little sister.
She turned sharply at the corner, barely making it as she heard her name being called. She exhaled deeply when she heard him run pass the wall she's attached herself to. Petunia stayed there for who knows how long. Zoning out until she heard someone calling for her name and this time, she knew that it was her father. She found them standing with a bunch of bags in their hands. Both Lily and Severus were holding their own respective owls.
"Where were you, Petunia?" Her mother scolded. "Goodness, look at all that sweat."
"Sorry, Mum," Petunia replied almost automatically, every now and then, she looked over her shoulder. "Just got lost. Are we done?"
"What's the hurry?" Eileen asked curiously.
"Nothing, ma'am," Petunia replied sharply. "Just tired."
Mr. Evans sighed. "See, I knew we should have left her with the neighbour. Come on, Tunia, don't ruin both Severus and Lily's outing."
Petunia's lip pressed into a thin line, the words hitting her more sharply than it ever did. Lily grabbed her hand and gave it a small squeeze and Petunia can only offer her a strain smile as they made their way back to Mr. Evans' van.
They all climbed inside, and Petunia remained silent the entire ride home. She tried to sleep it off but each time she closed her eyes, she would be greeted with small flashes of Potter's dark brown hair and warm brown eyes twinkling in childish mischief.
/.../
Night couldn't have fallen faster than Petunia wished. Dinner was a not-so-fun affair because all their mother and father talked about was Lily's magical school and how proud they were to have a witch in the family.
Lily, for the best part, had tried to divert the conversation but their parents were very persistent in staying on the topic so Petunia kept to herself. Distracting herself with counting how many broccolis she had on her plate.
Eventually, they finished and Petunia and Lily washed up and got ready for bed.
It was almost September, which meant Lily was going to start Hogwarts soon and Petunia would be continuing her regular schooling.
"Tunia?"
"Hmm?"
"You're not angry, are you?" Lily meekly asked, rolling over to stare at Petunia.
The older girl sighed for the nth time, she was more jealous than angry if she was being honest. And if that memory of the future is a real thing, she'd rather not…think about it. The memories of her relationship with Lily breaking and Lily's death and Lily's son. She wanted nothing of that right now.
"Tunia?"
"I'm not angry, Lils," Petunia whispered back, rolling on her side to meet Lily's emerald green eyes–the same eyes that she hated in Harry. "I'm more jealous if anything."
"Don't worry, Tunia! I'll ask Dumbledore to consider you."
In her memory, Petunia had hated it. Felt ashamed for having her younger sister be accepted first and had spat on Lily's consideration.
"It's fine," Petunia assured her, reaching out to brush a red strand of hair. "Just write to me."
"Promise," said Lily, putting out her pinky finger.
Petunia smiled and hooked her finger around Lily's pinky finger and pressed their thumbs together. She continued to listen to Lily's chatters deep into the night until she slowly snoozed off and Petunia remained awake.
Still deep in her thoughts.
Now, what would she do?
A/N: An imaginary world for Petunia Evans because I am in love with Petunia.