Petunia was excited on Tuesday, but by Friday morning had grown quite worried. What if
she did the floo thing wrong and couldn't get back home afterwards to try again. Extra powder
wouldn't do much good if she was stuck somewhere without it? What if she made it to Hogwarts
but got in trouble there?
That day, she stayed late at school to take a test she missed while being sick. Almost
finished, there was a tapping sound at one of the windows and she turned around to see Cleo
sitting on the window sill outside. Nobody else noticed, but then again, there were only two
other people in the room. She nodded to the owl, as a way of saying without words ,"I'll be
out soon" and hurried to finish her work.
She ran out when it was done, stopping to place it on her teacher's desk and navigated
the maze of hallways to find an exit. It was already 4:38- the work had been considerably
difficult. Cleo descended to meet Petunia with a note that was short but important.
"We can't wait to see you tonight!If you want to stay until tommorow, we're going to
Hogsmeade then. It's a magic villaige, but I can't describe it in so brief a letter. Good
luck."
It was signed by her sister.
The next half hour was taken up by packing a suitcase filled with essentials: a change
of clothes, a pillow, blanket, etc. Petunia had told Mr. and Mrs. Evans the truth about where
she planned to go. Being muggles themselves, they had no clue that outsiders at Hogwarts were
not allowed. At 6:15, Petunia walked downstairs to the living room, where the fireplace was
in use, almost shaking from the combination of excitement and fear. Risking evrything she
had thought about earlier, she followed the instructions Remus had provided after a quick
farewell to her parents.
Remus had made a huge mistake in giving her instructions without details of the actual
experience. That was why Petunia came out of the blazing fireplace in the Gryfffindor common
room shrieking and sceraming.
Not a second later, the marauders were sitting on the floor next to her with pleads to
keep the noise level down.
"Quiet, please," James whispered,"We already had a hard time in getting all of the
other Gryffindors out of here."
When she was silent, they all began to clap and cheer quietly.
"Congratulations!" Sirius infromed her,"For being the frist muggle not only to use floo
powder, but to enter Hogwarts...I think."
"Tommorow," said Lily,"you'll be the first muggle in Hogsmeade. I know that for sure.
Anyway, welcome to the Common Room."
Remus helped Petunia to her feet and she looked around in amazement.
"Okay, Sis," said Lily,"We can't have you walking around like you are now. If you
wear robes, we can pull this off for the weekend, at least. I have some extras that will work
and a sweater with the house colors on it. You can just wear those jeans that you have on
already."
"What's the house?" asked Petunia.
James began to explain. "There are four houses at Hogwarts and-"
Lily interrupted while taking one of Petunia's arms,"There will be time for that later.
Right now we need to concentrate on making Petunia lok like one of us. Before any other people
decide to come back."
They disappeared into the girls dormitory area and came back a few minutes later. Petunia
looked just like a Hogwarts student, and Remus noticed that a nice change had also come over
her, which transformed the frail and thin Petunia of 3 monthes ago into somebody who looked
more like Lily and had life.
Over the evening, as the marauders filled her in on all the important details of life
at Hogwarts, Gryffindor students came and went. None of them gave a second look to Petunia.
She learned about such things as Quidditch, invisibility cloaks, and charms.
There were a few empty beds in the dormitory, left over from the beginning of the year
when a few more students were expected to come that never did. Petunia found the first night
there odd. It almost seemed as if she couldn't tell what was real and what was a dream.
she did the floo thing wrong and couldn't get back home afterwards to try again. Extra powder
wouldn't do much good if she was stuck somewhere without it? What if she made it to Hogwarts
but got in trouble there?
That day, she stayed late at school to take a test she missed while being sick. Almost
finished, there was a tapping sound at one of the windows and she turned around to see Cleo
sitting on the window sill outside. Nobody else noticed, but then again, there were only two
other people in the room. She nodded to the owl, as a way of saying without words ,"I'll be
out soon" and hurried to finish her work.
She ran out when it was done, stopping to place it on her teacher's desk and navigated
the maze of hallways to find an exit. It was already 4:38- the work had been considerably
difficult. Cleo descended to meet Petunia with a note that was short but important.
"We can't wait to see you tonight!If you want to stay until tommorow, we're going to
Hogsmeade then. It's a magic villaige, but I can't describe it in so brief a letter. Good
luck."
It was signed by her sister.
The next half hour was taken up by packing a suitcase filled with essentials: a change
of clothes, a pillow, blanket, etc. Petunia had told Mr. and Mrs. Evans the truth about where
she planned to go. Being muggles themselves, they had no clue that outsiders at Hogwarts were
not allowed. At 6:15, Petunia walked downstairs to the living room, where the fireplace was
in use, almost shaking from the combination of excitement and fear. Risking evrything she
had thought about earlier, she followed the instructions Remus had provided after a quick
farewell to her parents.
Remus had made a huge mistake in giving her instructions without details of the actual
experience. That was why Petunia came out of the blazing fireplace in the Gryfffindor common
room shrieking and sceraming.
Not a second later, the marauders were sitting on the floor next to her with pleads to
keep the noise level down.
"Quiet, please," James whispered,"We already had a hard time in getting all of the
other Gryffindors out of here."
When she was silent, they all began to clap and cheer quietly.
"Congratulations!" Sirius infromed her,"For being the frist muggle not only to use floo
powder, but to enter Hogwarts...I think."
"Tommorow," said Lily,"you'll be the first muggle in Hogsmeade. I know that for sure.
Anyway, welcome to the Common Room."
Remus helped Petunia to her feet and she looked around in amazement.
"Okay, Sis," said Lily,"We can't have you walking around like you are now. If you
wear robes, we can pull this off for the weekend, at least. I have some extras that will work
and a sweater with the house colors on it. You can just wear those jeans that you have on
already."
"What's the house?" asked Petunia.
James began to explain. "There are four houses at Hogwarts and-"
Lily interrupted while taking one of Petunia's arms,"There will be time for that later.
Right now we need to concentrate on making Petunia lok like one of us. Before any other people
decide to come back."
They disappeared into the girls dormitory area and came back a few minutes later. Petunia
looked just like a Hogwarts student, and Remus noticed that a nice change had also come over
her, which transformed the frail and thin Petunia of 3 monthes ago into somebody who looked
more like Lily and had life.
Over the evening, as the marauders filled her in on all the important details of life
at Hogwarts, Gryffindor students came and went. None of them gave a second look to Petunia.
She learned about such things as Quidditch, invisibility cloaks, and charms.
There were a few empty beds in the dormitory, left over from the beginning of the year
when a few more students were expected to come that never did. Petunia found the first night
there odd. It almost seemed as if she couldn't tell what was real and what was a dream.
