AN: one shot written for the QLFC season 8 round 3

Position prompt: BEATER 1: It's Quiet Uptown: Write about someone asking for forgiveness. - Lyric : I know there's no replacing what we've lost

Additional prompts used:

Prompt : (emotion) regret

Prompt : (object) book

Prompt : (restriction) only female characters

Prompt : (relationship) sisters

Prompt : (word) legacy

Thanks to my fellow Puddlemere united team members Herochick007 and falling winter roses for beta-ing.

WC: 2046

With a soft sigh Lily looked around the small attic. Half of the floor was gone, the other half was only usable due to magic. The boxes that she and James had stored here, piled neatly to the side, had tumbled down, making a mess on the floor. James had wanted to just bin all of it, but Lily thought they should check. She wasn't sure that she could just get rid of all their memories.

The first few boxes that Lily went through were unsalvable; the blast that had rocked their house destroyed everything inside. The first items that were salvable were the old Hogwarts trunks; neither the trunks nor the items inside were damaged, for which Lily was thankful. When she and James had first moved to Godric's Hollow they had put pictures, old school books, and other Hogwarts momentos in the trunks for safe keeping.

Looking back, Lily was very happy they decided to keep those things in the trunks, as it looked as if anything stored in boxes had been destroyed.

Just as Lily was about to call it a day and leave with just the two trunks, she noticed a small box at the back of the room.

Carefully making her way over, Lily wondered what was in the box. As she got closer, she noticed that it was a different box to the ones that she had packed when moving here. It wasn't until she sat down that she realised it was the box her mum had packed when she first moved out.

"Lily."

Lily turned around to see her mum standing in the doorway, holding a small box.

"These are some of your old things. I thought you might want them."

Lily had nodded her head and thanked her mum, before adding the box to her pile of things to take with her.

At first Lily had planned to go through the box and sort what she wanted to keep and what to bin, but due to the war she never managed; time had gotten away from her. Unfortunately Lily wanted to finish as quickly as possible and get out of the house before any Death-eaters showed up.

As Lily picked up the box, the bottom of the box gave way and all the items came tumbling out. A quick spell later and a fixed box sat next to her as she bent down to pick up all items that had fallen out. After putting the odd toy back in the box, there was just a book and a load of pictures left on the floor.

Unconsciously, Lily sat on the floor as she picked up the first picture and saw a smiling younger Lily and Petunia on it. Looking at the back of the card Lily spotted her mum's small neat handwriting, September 1966.

With a gasp, Lily realised it was from her first day in primary school. Both she and Petunia had looked so cute. As she picked up more pictures, Lily found more 'first school day' pictures. There were a few more pictures of both of them, and then Lily bumped into a picture of her alone. Lily could tell it was from Hogwarts as she was wearing her uniform, but she wasn't sure when exactly it had been taken until she looked at the back and spotted her mum's neat handwriting again. September 1971. It was taken just before Lily's first year; when things with Petunia had gone from bad to worse.

"Girls, picture time!" called Rose Evans.

Lily immediately flew down the set of stairs, wizarding robes on, ready to go to Hogwarts. Petunia had followed at a slower pace, wearing her brown school uniform, and entered just after her mum had snapped a picture of Lily by herself.

"Go join your sister, Petunia. Lily needs to leave soon to be on time." But Petunia didn't move.

In fact she refused to be pictured with Lily wearing her 'Freak' clothes as Petunia spoke of them. "I'm not going on a picture with her wearing that!" and no matter how much the girls' mum tried, Petunia would not go on the picture with Lily, not even after Lily removed her wizarding robes.

Eventually Lily couldn't wait any longer and rushed off to the car as Petunia stayed and had her picture taken by her mum.

As the car turned the corner of the road, Petunia felt a mix of relief and regret. Relief because Lily had finally left; Petunia hoped this meant that conversations would turn more normal again, that her parents would pay her more attention. Petunia felt regret, not a lot mind you, but enough to mention it; she knew how much Lily adored her and how much Lily had looked up to her. Lily was sure to be upset at how Petunia had treated her just before she had left.

Lily looked out of the car window, her thoughts on her sister. Petunia had been right, Lily was upset. Before Lily had received her Hogwarts letter, she and Petunia had been really close, but now, they seemed more like enemies. Lily wished that Petunia could have been happy for her. Lily hated leaving while in an argument with Petunia, and all the arguing from the past seven months had left Lily slightly regretting being a witch.

The regret and disappointment of the morning disappeared soon after Lily arrived at platform 9 ¾.

As Lily continued to gather the other pictures, she noticed that not one of them contained both girls together.

As the last picture went back in the box, the only thing left on the floor was an old book. Lily softly picked up the book and turned it over in her hand.

'The unfinished story'

By Petunia and Lily Evans

Lily was surprised, she had never thought that the story she and Petunia started at age six and eight, would have survived. She had also never expected the book to be titled and bound. Lily skipped the first pages with information and opened the book to the first page of the first chapter.

'Once upon a time-'. Because every book that started with once upon a time had a good ending, 'there were two sisters.

Lily smiled to herself. The book was supposed to be a fairy version of their own lifes.

"Tunie, I need you!" six-year-old Lily semi-shouted as she found Petunia in the garden.

Petunia slowly put her school book down and turned to face her sister. "What do you need me for?"

"I want to write a book." If Lily hadn't looked so serious, Petunia would have laughed. Of course book week at school would lead to Lily wanting to write her own book.

Not expecting it to last long, Petunia decided to go along. "Okay. What do I need to do?"

"You do the writing. You're really good at writing."

Of course Petunia wasn't that good at writing, being only eight, but Lily thought that Petunia was amazing. Petunia quickly grabbed a pen and started writing as Lily dictated.

"Once upon a time, there were two sisters. Petunia and Lily. Petunia was the oldest, she was eight. Petunia was tall and had nice long brown hair. Lily was the youngest. She had red wavy hair."

As Lily kept talking, Petunia kept writing. Petunia assumed that by going along, Lily would get bored quickly. It didn't take too long for Lily to get distracted and decide that it had been enough for the day. With a quiet sigh, Petunia put the paper she was writing on in her drawer, assuming that Lily would forget by the next day and she would be able to throw the story away. But Petunia had been wrong. Every evening Lily would enter Petunia's room to tell the next bit of the story. As time proceed; both girls started to use the book as a diary, one where they added things to make themselves feel better, occasionally writing separate entries, occasionally doing a joined one. As time continued to pass, both girls wrote less and less, not because they didn't want to write, but because not a lot happened. Eventually Lily made her last entry just after her eleventh birthday, not long after receiving her Hogwarts letter. Lily was joining a world of magic; she didn't need to fantasize about a magical life. Petunia on the other hand found herself writing more and more as Lily left her behind.

Lily looked through the books and noticed that there were no spelling mistakes left, probably due to the person who bound it. Lily stopped as she reached a part just over half way through the book and started reading.

After months of ignoring her older sister, Lily finally left for her special boarding school. Petunia didn't like to see her sister go off into a world where she couldn't be. Petunia had always been the older sister, the one to help Lily, but now Lily was going to an exclusive school and Petunia was being left out. Petunia had even written to the head teacher of Lily's new school, but it hadn't helped. Lily was going on an adventure and Petunia was left behind.

Realising this must have been not long after she left for Hogwarts the first time, Lily skipped a few pages forward.

Petunia's day had been nice and simple. She had gotten up, left for school, returned from school, and done her homework. The day had been the same as the day before, and the day before that. Her day had been nice and normal, unlike that of her sister. Petunia would show everyone that she was the best, that being normal was the best.

As Lily looked through the next few pages, she noticed that they were similar, but she also noticed something else. The hidden words in the text. The words weren't written by someone who hated the other, but more by someone who was jealous and felt left behind.

As Lily shut the book, her eyes landed on the title page.

'To my darling Daughters,

I hope one day you read this and remember what you used to have.

Even though this story has been turned into a book, like the title says, the story is left unfinished.

I hope this once upon a time gets it's happily ever after.

Love,

Dad xxx

Lily closed the book, of course her Dad had made the book, and of course her mum had passed it along. They had both hoped the girls would make up. The girls hadn't made up while their parents were still alive, but did this mean that they would never make up? Lily hoped it didn't.

As Lily glanced around the room, she was reminded of how close to death she came. What would happen if she died, without talking to Petunia? What would happen if Petunia died? Lily wasn't sure she wanted to know. What she did know was that she didn't want to live the rest of her life with what ifs.

Lily quickly penned out a note for James and without a second thought she popped out, to the park near where Petunia lived.

Just as Lily was about to leave the park, she noticed a tall brown haired woman, that she was sure was Petunia.

Still holding the small book, Lily made her way over, "Tunie?" To Lily's surprise the woman turned around.

"Lily?"

Lily nodded, "I'm sorry. I should have realised how I made you feel. I nearly died, and I don't want to lose you."

Petunia looked at Lily, wondering where that had come from. Her eyes quickly fell on the book that Lily was still clutching. Lily quickly noticed where Petunia's eyes trailed to and held out the book.

"Mum left it for me. I'm sorry."

Just as Lily thought that Petunia was about to leave, Petunia opened her mouth: "And what do you want now? For me to forget everything that happened?"

Lily shook her head.

"No, I know there's no replacing what we've lost, but I would like us to try." Holding up the book, she added: "Mum and Dad left us the book for a reason. We are their legacy, and the book is ours."