Chapter 3: Summertime.
Just one days before Lily was supposed to get back from school I was awoken by my grandmother. Odd. She whispered to me that my mother had just gotten very sick and my father had taken her to the hospital and that I was not to worry. Oh yeah, that'd be real easy. I, of course, fretted all day.
Later, my grandmother drove me to the hospital. I remember the hospital room clearly. My mom lay on nice clean white sheets, and my father sat in a black chair next to her. My mother gave me a weak smile.
"Hi Petunia." She said softly. I walked to her bedside and held her hand. I looked at my mother. Her normally fire red hair looked dull and thin. Her skin looked worn and pale. Her eyes no longer held the liveliness they once did. I looked into her eyes and realized she was dying. As I continued to look at her I could see the pain that it was causing her to stay alive. Why would she continue to let herself live if she was in this much pain?
Her daughters.
She wanted to say goodbye to Lily and I, and since I was already here all her mother had to do was wait for Lily. That would mean Lily would get to watch her own mother die the second she saw her. All hard feelings that I had for Lily left me for that moment. I couldn't let my little sister think she was coming to see her mother with out any warning of her dying. I knew my father wasn't going to pick up Lily. I doubted he would leave his seat next to my mother even if the hospital were on fire. My father's mother sat in the corner. She would be the one to pick up Lily. I knew my grandmother didn't favor Lily because she was a witch. She always blamed my mothers side of the family.
The next morning I was still in my chair holding my mother's hand. My grandmother was gathering her things and heading out the door.
"Wait." I said softly. She heard me and turned around.
"Can I go with you?" I asked.
Within the next 30 minutes we were at Kings Cross Station. I nearly flew out of the car. I raced past people with trolleys. I found the wall that Lily had once pulled me through. The scarlet train that Lily always rode came pulling into the station. I stood close and watched as tons of students filed off of it.
"And then she- Oh hey Petunia." A voice said that caught my attention. I looked up and saw Sirius walking off the train with James.
"Petunia is here?" My sister said from behind Sirius. He moved aside and she gave me a puzzled look.
"Wheres mum and dad?" She asked me looking around.
"At the hospital." I said softly.
"W-What?" She stammered. I grabbed her around her shoulders and looked into her eyes.
"Lily," I said slowly.
"Mum is dying."
"Ashes to ashes, and dust to dust-"
Lily and I stood next to each other. She grasped my hand tightly and looked continually at the ground. My harsh feelings towards her were slowly returning. We watched in silence as they lowered my mothers coffin into the ground.
"I will be staying here for a while." My grandmother said sternly setting her suitcase on top of the bed in our guest room. I nodded from inside of the doorway still dressed in my clothes from the funeral. My father had locked himself in his bedroom and Lily was somewhere downstairs.
"Where's your sister?" She asked pursing her lips together.
"Downstairs…writing to one of her friends I think." I responded. She nodded and sat down on the edge of the bed. She patted the seat next to her and I sat down.
"You know its…unnatural to be a witch right Petunia?" She said.
"They always complain that we don't understand and that there is nothing wrong with it…but its…so unnatural. Its not the way things are meant to be. When people use to burn witches some said that it was wrong and unfair. Liars. What would they know? I like you Petunia. You've got good blood inside you. Your fathers blood. Nice and pure." She said smiling at me. And thus started my summer. For the remainder of the summer my grandmother would take me into her spic and span room and tell me about the freaks.
