Chapter 2

"Petunia, you're too fat to fit into the leotards," Lily Evans teased her older sister one early August morning as she and her sister, Petunia, sat eating breakfast. Petunia had just announced her new dream—to become a ballerina.

The older girl pursed her lips in their well-I'm-better-than-you position as she stopped her forkful of scrambled eggs halfway to her mouth. "Fine. I'll only eat half my normal breakfasts for the next week."

"Do what you want," the Lily said, standing up to put her plate in the dishwasher, "but your problem will take a lot more than that."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Petunia called after a few moments as the redhead left the room, a grin playing on Lily's lips as if to say, 'I finally insulted you.'

"Oh, nothing," Lily called over her shoulder, still grinning. Petunia's stomach growled loudly at that moment, somehow motivating Petunia to put her remaining scrambled eggs and toast in the trash.

Petunia sat herself down in the living room a few minutes later, looking down at her stomach. Because of her bent-over position, several rolls of fat had formed themselves on her tummy, squishing down her belly button so it appeared to be a small, narrow crease in-between layers of fat. I am fat, she thought shamefully, frowning down at herself.

&

"Prongs, what's up with your parents? They've been playing the silent game all day," Sirius Black asked James Potter as they waited in line in a pizza parlor that night, the smell of fresh-baked dough and tomatoes wafting throughout the small restaurant.

"They just had a little fight last night," James responded simply, downplaying the real circumstances.

"Oh." Sirius furrowed his brow, obviously trying to remember the last time James's parents had fought. "But your parents never figh—"

"Yes, they do," James cut off his friend in a slightly cold manner.

"They barely even talk to each other," Sirius realized, laughing. He'd always viewed the Potter family as perfect and harmonious, and thinking about it in any other way seemed to be some sort of joke to him.

"Shut up," James ordered, his arms crossed over his chest as he looked ahead.

Sirius's laughter immediately stopped, crossing his own arms over his chest. "Whatever," he mumbled.

James sighed. "Just because your family is bad doesn't mean mine is perfect. We're not too good to have our own problems. We—"

"Prongs, I never said any of that," Sirius countered, both boys' anger mounting.

James paused before saying quietly, "You don't understand."

"No, James, you don't understand. My family as at the height of evil and cowardliness, depending on how you look at it, and walking into your house is like walking into—"

"Padfoot, do you even know what divorce is?"

"What does that have to do with anything?" Sirius asked, waving an arm around.

He never got an answer though, since they reached the front of the line to pick up their pizza at that moment.