She'd only been home for a week and already Lily wanted to be back at Hogwarts. At least there she had her friends around when she was called names, and even then they didn't bother her that much. Here though, in the comfort of her family, her sister had taken to calling her a freak whenever she could, and for Lily this was more hurtful. She could handle being called a mudblood by people she didn't know. If they didn't like her because f something so stupid as her blood then so be it, she didn't care. Her sister though was a different matter entirely. They had been semi-close before Lily's acceptance letter, they shared the same blood, but now…Petunia's hatred for her was overwhelming. At Hogwarts she was away from that.

"Lily, sweetie. Your dad and I are going out; do you want to come with us?" Lily heard Kathryn call out.

"Where are you going?" she asked back.

"We're visiting Nana Stevens," Lily heard as she made her way downstairs.

"Like Nana really wants to see that freak," Petunia muttered as she made her way down, pushing Lily as she went.

A fall and mini-scream later, Lily was in the hall sprawled on the floor, her sister stepping over her as though she weren't there.

"I'll come," Petunia spoke up as her parents came to inspect the noise.

"I tripped," Lily lied to the questioning looks on her parents faces'. Getting up and dusting herself off she continued with, "Just give me a couple of minutes."

She ran back upstairs again, brushed her hair through and clasped her charm bracelet on. She still had no idea who it was off but she liked the way it jangled as she walked.

"Ok, ready," she announced as she raced back downstairs again.

--------

"Oh my, look at you." Nana Stevens exclaimed as she opened the door. "You've grown so much."

Lily laughed. "Not as much as you've shrunk," she responded to their long-running greeting.

Petunia scowled at her sister as she entered the house, closely followed by her parents. "Nana, are you moving?" Boxes were scattered around the room and lots of things packaged in them.

Nana Stevens turned to Petunia and nodded. "I'm afraid so. This house is just too small for us with all you children running around."

Petunia frowned, as did Lily. Nana Stevens, Kathryn's mother, had only ever had the one child and had lived alone since her husband died fifteen years ago. Kathryn and Jack had moved in with her for a little while after his death. Petunia had gone with them, being not long born, but they left a year before Lily was born.

"But I've found this lovely little cottage up by the creek. I'll be moving in any day now."

This caused them both to frown again. There wasn't a creek anymore, let alone cottages. There hadn't been for years now. Petunia looked at her mother with concern.

"Why don't you two go for a walk?" Kathryn suggested.

Petunia was about to protest but Lily had already grabbed her arm and was leading her out of the house.

"What do you think you're doing?" Petunia glared at her sister.

"Getting you out of the house. I don't know if you noticed but there's something wrong with-"

"There's nothing wrong with Nana," Petunia shouted, though she didn't believe it.

"'Tunia, come on," Lily said gently, using the nickname from when they were both younger. "She thinks we live with her, and the creek. How long has that been gone?"

"That doesn't mean there's something wrong with her," Petunia argued shrilly. "Everybody forgets things sometimes."

"Petunia-"

"No! I don't believe it. I won't." Petunia ran from Lily, from the house, from everything.

--------

'Where is she?' Lily thought frustrated as she searched for her sister. She'd already checked the usual places they went to but there was no sign of her. There was only one place left to look.

"Oh, Petunia, what are you doing down here?" Lily asked as she finally found her sister beside a small pond.

"Look," Petunia pointed to a row of buildings a few yards away.

"What am I looking at?" Lily responded uncertainly. She saw nothing special about the buildings.

"The buildings, they're flats," was the answer in a tone that suggested it was all obvious.

Suddenly it fit in Lily's mind. The pond, the only remainder of what used to be the creek. And the flats, an old woman could easily get confused.

"Petunia, this is not what she meant and you know it." Lily stated shortly, she knew she was supposed to be being kinder and more patient, but she was having great difficulty right now.

"How do you know?" Petunia spat at her. "You don't know anything. You're just a little freak. She could easily have meant this." Tears were starting to roll down her cheeks.

Lily nodded with a sigh, Petunia didn't believe that any more than she did, but arguing wasn't going to help her face up to it. "You're right. She probably meant this," she soothed to her sister, hugging her, hoping what was to come would make them close again.

--------

In a way it must have done. That evening, as they sat to eat after returning home, their parents brought up the topic.

"Now girls. We don't want you to panic over what you saw today. Nana just has a problem with her head. A problem that is going to make her forget things and become confused from time to time. She'll be moving into a care home where nurses can look after her, you can visit her whenever."

Lily nodded as Petunia slammed her fork down onto the plate of barely touched food. "There's nothing wrong with Nana's head," she cried. "She's just joking with you. You know how she likes to laugh."

"Petunia-" her mother said softly.

"No," Petunia said forcefully, once again refusing to believe anything was wrong.

She pushed her chair back with such force that it clattered onto the floor. Lily could hear her running up the stairs, heard a door slam and lock and saw her parents go after her. She knew they were trying to get Petunia to come out and having no luck and she couldn't do anything to help. Feeling useless, Lily sat in silence at the table, trying to forget everything, to pretend it wasn't happening.

Noiselessly, and with all the grace of a cat, Lily made her way to her room. After a while her state of unrest was interrupted by Petunia. Apparently Kathryn and Jack had given up on her for the night and gone to bed. Petunia, being unable to sleep, had decided to see Lily.

"Everything's going to be okay, isn't it?" Lily was asked by her sister who seemed so young, not at all like her older age.

"Yes," Lily promised hoarsely, though she saw no way how it could be. "You watch, this time next year everything will be back to normal."

The two girls clung to that hope as they fell into fitful states of sleep.

--------

This temporary truce between the girls didn't last long. It was always inevitable that the two would be fighting again before the end of the holidays but no one expected it to be so soon.

Just two weeks after their first visit to Nana Stevens, who (even Petunia admitted) didn't look that good, came the news that she had passed away. Lily reacted by once again going quiet and staying away from human contact, though she did write a letter to Alex.

Petunia, however, burst into tears straight away. This time she allowed herself to be comforted by her parents. But as meal times came and Lily just sat there, silent, showing no traces of tears, Petunia's upset turned to anger.

"You just don't care, do you freak?" Petunia spat after lunch a couple of days later.

'And there it is,' Lily thought miserably as she quietly turned to face her sister, knowing all her hate had returned.

"I said," Petunia started as though Lily hadn't heard what she'd said. She didn't get to finish.

"I heard," Lily snapped, her throat sore, this was the first time she had used it in a few days. "And you're wrong." She didn't bother arguing, just made her way upstairs ignoring the cries of "Get back here!"

She was sat in her room when Petunia, who apparently didn't like being ignored, stormed in.

"You don't care. If you did you'd cry or shout or something."

Lily looked at her. "I am doing something." She paused, should she continue or not? "You know, at school, there are ghosts who haunt the place. And I read in a book that when you die-"

"I don't want to hear about your abnormal little school," Petunia glared.

"You will listen," Lily shouted. As she did so the open door slammed shut behind Petunia who, try as she may, could not open it again.

"Open this door. Now!"

"Not until you listen."

Petunia glared and instinctively Lily knew she wouldn't listen. It was at that moment she learnt just how much Petunia hated her as the thing Lily least expected to happen, happened.

Petunia flew at her, taken off guard Lily fell to the floor. Before she could respond Petunia was on top of her, scratching and clawing as though her life depended on it. She was repeating over and over "I will not listen."

Now that she had recovered, Lily pushed Petunia off her, glad that her sister had such a petite frame. When they were both standing up Petunia tried diving on her once more. Lily expected it this time and cut her off with a swift punch to the stomach. A fight ensued that resulted in a lot of banging and screaming.

Fearing for their daughters' safety, Kathryn and Jack raced upstairs only to find that Jack had to use most of his strength to force open the door. Shouting didn't stop them, nor did calming words. Kathryn and Jack literally had to drag the pair apart.

"Never in my whole life have I seen such a display," Kathryn told them, clearly shocked.

"Nor do we want to again," Jack concluded angrily.

"She started it," Petunia stated, immediately laying blame. Her face was covered in scratches and bruises. A few patches of blood were mixed with sweat.

"I did not!" Lily cried her voice thick with blood.

"Enough!" Jack shouted. "I don't care who started it, the fact that it happened at all is what concerns me. You are both grounded. You will leave the house for the funeral and to buy your school things only. Now Petunia, get to your room."

Petunia did so, albeit grudgingly. Lily knew better than to argue and just began straightening her room out. She saw something glittering on the floor. Picking it up she saw it was a silver "L", looking round she saw the three-leaved clover and lily on the floor too. Bits of chain littered the floor. Tears began pouring from her face, she didn't push them back; she just let them fall. With everything that had happened she felt too weak to stop them anyway. She had no idea when her parents left, or when it got dark, but it calmed her to look out of the window and see the moon shining and the stars twinkling. She noticed a new star, brighter and bolder than the others. Looking up at it filled her with warmth and her tears were replaced by a smile.

"Goodbye Nana," she said out loud before going to bed.