Chapter 6 Reuniting with Petunia
In the time after their trip to Diagon Alley to buy their school things, the trio of eleven year olds spent much of their time in their rooms reading up on their books and getting to know their familiars. Harry was particularly interested in getting to know his Owl Hedwig, and also reading up on as many books about quidditch and Defense Against the Dark Arts as well. He often sat in on Lily's and Severus' potion readings however and sought to gleam as much knowledge as he could from the two prodigies as possible. Severus had said it himself that if Harry really carried Lily's blood through his veins, then he should be as good at potions as she was. Sadly, despite his best efforts, Harry couldn't quite grasp things as quickly as Lily could, but he was still learning a lot about the art of brewing from Severus.
While Harry was more interested in DADA and Quidditch, Lily's interests firmly lay in the realm of Charms and Potions. Her wand was particularly good for charmwork, so she didn't have much difficulty picking up first year charms on the fly and trying them out(Severus, Harry and Lily were all allowed to use their wands owing to the fact they were at Hogwarts). She didn't care overtly much about the other subjects, but she wanted to be the best of the best in charms, and at the very least number two in potions, if not gunning for Severus' crown. She'd also decided to name her familiar Alain, after the famous racing driver. She'd missed out on twenty years worth of Grand Prix racing, and after a lengthy sit-down with the adult Severus who shared her interest in racing, and getting caught up on all the years of racing she'd missed, she decided to name her intimidating Eagle Owl after the French driver Alain Prost, a three time champion.
Severus, on the other hand decided to call his cat Merlin, it was a stereotypical name, he knew, but the cat was awfully wise, and rather cunning at times as well. Merlin the cat embodied Slytherin to a tee. So who better to name the rascally feline after than the most famous Slytherin of them all? Merlin seemed to like his name in any case, proud to be associated with perhaps one of the most powerful wizards in all of history, and his sense of cunning and guile certainly lived up to his namesake. Like Lily, Severus was very invested in Potions, but in addition to that, he was also particularly interested in Defense Against the Dark Arts as well as Herbology. Like Lily, he was equally eager to catch up on all the developments in the Muggle as well as Magical worlds in the twenty years they had skipped over.
So as July ended and August began, the trio of eleven year olds got more acquainted with their familiars Hedwig, Alain and Merlin; and learnt as much as they could to prepare for their upcoming year as students at Hogwarts. On the second week of July however, Dumbledore arranged for Lily to pay a visit to her estranged sister. She hadn't seen Petunia for about three weeks, but for Petunia, she hadn't seen Lily for close to twelve years. Needless to say, she and Dumbledore would be going alone. Harry had no intention of ever returning to Number Four Privet Drive, and Severus was not overly fond of Lily's prissy sister either. Severus had no clue what Petunia in this time was like, but if she was anything at all like her thirteen year old self, he knew he wanted to stay well clear of her. So on the Eleventh of August, Dumbledore apparated Lily to Four Privet Drive, arriving at the pre-arranged time of three in the afternoon.
Dumbledore, with Lily holding onto his wrist securely, popped into existence on the front step of Four Privet Drive. Naturally, he'd apparated with Lily while under the cover of a disillusionment charm, so as not to alarm any of the Dursleys or their Muggle Neighbors. Dumbledore straightened out his robes, as did Lily, smoothening down her wrinkled floral dress.
"D'you think Petunia will be excited to see me?" she asked nervously, as Dumbledore raised his hands to the knocker.
Dumbledore paused, turning his serene, blue gaze on Lily filled the girl with hope and confidence. The man just seemed to exude positivity from every pore and Lily couldn't help but feel hopeful that Petunia would be just as excited to see her, as she was. "I think so, Lily," Dumbledore said softly, and it certainly sounded like the old man believed what he was saying, to Lily at least.
Dumbledore than raised his hand to the knocker and knocked twice. A high-pitched voice of; "Coming!" rang out from the other side of the door, and not a moment later, a tall, blonde woman with a horse-shaped face was standing in the frame.
"Petunia," Dumbledore greeted coolly, not able to muster a warmer greeting than that after learning of Harry's treatment in this woman's home. "May we come in?"
"O—of course, Dumbledore," Petunia said quickly, although she was unable to meet his gaze, her eyes were trained on her younger sister.
"Hello Tuney!" Lily greeted cheerily, "Gosh, it's been so long! I've missed you so much!"
Petunia sidestepped the pair, allowing the Headmaster and his ward into her home. She smiled a small, tight-lipped smile at Lily. "I've missed you too, Lily," the sour-faced woman said tightly.
"Please follow me into our sitting room. I have some refreshments all ready for us in there."
"And what of your husband? Your son?" Dumbledore inquired.
"Vernon is at work," Petunia said, "and Dudley is visiting a friend, Piers, until tomorrow. I thought it best to arrange a time when it would just be myself, so I could catch up with my sister. I haven't seen her in quite some time after all."
"Over ten years for you, right?" Lily asked.
They passed through the front hall and Lily took note of the numerous picture frames hanging on the walls. All of them included Vernon and Dudley, most with Petunia as well. Not a single picture contained Harry, and Lily felt her fists clench of their own volition, it made her angry. Although she did her best to put a lid on that anger. As long as Petunia was civil, so would she.
"That's right. A few months before you went into hiding in 1980, that was the last time I saw you."
They were now in the sitting room, it was moderately furnished, with a large, television front and center in the sitting area. There was a coffee table with a pot of what smelt like tea, and numerous pastries and sandwiches arranged for them. Around the table were sofas and chairs, all of which looked like they were in a decent nick. All in all, the room looked somewhat bland and devoid of character, but Lily couldn't deny that it was well furnished.
"Please have a seat, and make yourselves comfortable," Petunia said.
Lily nodded, claiming her seat on the sofa, while Dumbledore sat off to the side on one of the armchairs. The Professor fixed the glasses on the bridge of his nose, which had gone crooked, and relaxed back into the chair, at rest. Petunia sat opposite Lily, on a chair of her own, that Lily noted was upholstered in Petunia's favorite colors, purple and white. Silently, Petunia set about pouring them all cups of tea, she then invited them to help themselves to whichever pastries or sandwiches tickled their fancy. She didn't even comment as Lily loaded her plate with food; in years past, she'd have made a snide comment about Lily's enviable metabolism, and her ability to burn through fats and calories that Petunia sorely wished for.
"So how've you been, Tuney?" Lily asked, breaking the silence at last once they'd all helped themselves to their snacks of choice.
"I have been well," Petunia said evenly. "Although I would appreciate it if you would address me by my given name, Lilian, not that childish moniker you bestowed upon me."
"Alright, have it your way then, Petunia," Lily grinned. "What have you been doing these past few years? Other than raising your son, and mine…well, not really my son, I guess…but you get what I'm trying to say!"
Petunia snorted quietly, pursing her lips into a thin line before saying; "It is as you said, Lily, I have been raising my son, and…Harry, as well for the—"
"Then why'd you treat him so poorly," Lily interrupted. "Why did you not even give Harry his own room? He said your son, Dudley, has two! So why is Harry not even good enough for one?"
At Petunia's rapidly darkening look, Lily quickly added; "I'm sorry. That…that wasn't very fair of me. I just want my sister back. I know it's been…well, it's been far longer for you, than I. But I've missed you Petunia. I felt like…well, even with the other you from 1971, I've been losing you for some time."
Petunia averted her gaze as she expelled a sigh. "I've missed you too, Lily. P—professor Dumbledore tells me that you haven't gone to Hogwarts, right?"
"Yeah," Lily nodded, appearing to brighten slightly. She reached for her cup of tea, loaded with sugar and milk just how she liked, and took a sip. "I'll be…well, I'll be starting with Harry this year, and Severus too. He was…well I kinda roped him into this. It's my fault we ended up here to begin with after all."
Petunia's long face appeared to grow even longer as a single brow inched up her forehead. "Oh?" she said, her interest apparently piqued. "And how did that happen Lily?"
Lily seemed to deflate slightly, a gloomy look passing over her face. She sighed loudly and slumped into the sofa. "I…didn't listen to what Sev was saying, and I touched something we shouldn't have. We were going through his mum's things, and the last thing I remember was this great spinning sensation, and then blacking out," she said miserably.
"When I came to, I was on Sev's couch, with Sev, but in the older Sev's house. And Professor Dumbledore was there as well."
Petunia looked as if she were struggling to make sense of it all, and Lily couldn't blame her, her explanation to her must've been like dumping a bucket of ice-cold water over her head and expecting her to think clearly in the aftermath. Petunia was not used to magic, so things like time-traveling twenty years into the future must've seemed like something out of a science fiction novel to her, not something remotely possible in her normal life.
"Professor Dumbledore already told me the basics when he came to…to pick Harry up, I can't wrap my head around it, but however it happened, I am glad you're here, Lily."
Lily's glum looked turned somewhat hopeful. "I am too, Petunia. I…was told that our relationship didn't end so well in…well, in this time, with you and the other me. I want to avoid that if I can, and I'd love to have my big sister back too."
Petunia smiled briefly, something Lily barely saw before the look was wiped off her face. "I do too," Petunia agreed. "You're already aware of this…Lily, but the last time I saw the other 'you', things didn't end too well. And I want…" Petunia's lilt trailed off, a rarely seen smile forming on her face in silence "—well it's not every day you get a chance to make things right with your dead sister. So that is what I want to do, I want to make things right."
Lily eyed her older sister—a grown woman now, and nodded. "Yes, but…I can't imagine the other Lily would be too happy with your treatment of Harry, so if you want to make things right, then I believe he's owed an apology, isn't he?"
At this, Petunia's lip curled, but she did manage to restrain the biting remark she had for her Lily's son. She held her tongue partially because she wanted to make things right with Lily—and a scathing remark on her 'son' would likely not endear her to this Lily, and also because Dumbledore was eyeing her coldly from the periphery of the room. "Yes. If that's what it takes," Petunia said at long last.
Lily nodded again. "Well next time around, I'll ask Harry to come and you can give your apology in person, he deserves it after—"
"Not when Vernon and Dudley are around," Petunia said warningly. "They don't…take too well to magic, and needless to say are not the most appreciative of it. So if you must bring Harry around, then do so on a weekday when they're at work or school."
Dumbledore nodded this time. "Very well. Perhaps during the school year I can make time to bring Harry and Lily here, even Severus too if—"
"Not that boy," Petunia snapped angrily, now glaring openly at the old wizard. "Snape is a…well you know how I feel about him, so no, that boy will not be coming to my house."
"It was just a suggestion," Dumbledore said calmly.
Thankfully, the rest of their meeting passed in a far more civil manner, with the elder sister informing the former of all that she'd missed in her life and how her older self had been in the years they'd skipped over. Petunia informed Lily of the going's on in her own, mundane life, which Lily found rather boring, but for the sake of peace and quiet she listened with rapt attention.
By the time their meeting had wrapped up, night had fallen and Vernon was bound to make his appearance soon. Petunia ushered them out, declining Dumbledore's offer to clean up their mess with but a single flick of his wand. For this, Petunia nearly shouted at the man, saying she didn't want any magic use in her house, and quickly—but not harshly, guided the Headmaster and Lily out the back door where they could apparate to Hogwarts from.
"Thanks Tuney, for having us. I look forward to seeing you soon with Harry," Lily said graciously.
Petunia smiled again, tightly, but smile she did as she extended her arms to hug her younger sister. Lily eagerly accepted the gesture, and only then did the tears begin to flow from her shimmering green eyes.
"Y-you're all that I have left, you and—and Harry, and Sev," she sniffled, her tears and snot staining Petunia's dress. "I…I c-can't lose you, I won't lose you."
"And I, you, Lily," Petunia said, her voice thick with resolve. "Never again."
Lily nodded rapidly. "Never again, Tuney."
Petunia pulled back from their hug, and Lily swore she saw tears brimming in her sister's brown eyes, but Petunia blinked them away quickly. "You'd best get back to Hogwarts," she said, her voice still thick with emotion…and a hint of sorrow. "I'll be seeing you soon, Lilian."
Lily frowned deeply, and glared up at her through the thin sheen of tears. "Don't call me that," she huffed.
"Well then don't call me Tuney," Petunia said in return.
Lily's frown and pout, an expression that had won over her parents so many times seemed to lessen, before being replaced entirely by a grin on Lily's face. "That's a done deal."
"Come now Lily, take my hand, we shall be returning home," Dumbledore said, his voice breaking into their conversation reminding the two sisters that they weren't alone. He'd been so quiet and still they hadn't even remembered the old man was there.
"Yes Albus," Lily said, grasping the mans hand, and taking one last, fleeting look at her sorrowful older sister as a blanket of disillusionment draped itself over her.
A moment later, Dumbledore had whirled around on the spot, and apparated the two of them away back to Hogwarts, landing directly in their quarters. Once Lily had regained her bearings from the disorienting apparation, she found herself looking at the dormant fireplace. Harry and Severus were sat on a pair of armchairs across from one another, a table in-between the two boys with a Wizard's Chess set situated on top of it.
"Oh, you're back," Severus remarked, glancing up at Lily from the chessboard for a moment, then back again.
"How was it?" Harry asked.
"I think it went quite well." Lily plopped down onto a chair almost moulding into the furniture—she seemed tired to say the least. "She wants to see you again Harry. And she…wants to apologize, for what happened when you…when you lived there. She thinks that—"
"Well I don't want her apology. Staying away from me is an apology enough, I don't want to see her, nor Uncle Vernon nor my pig of a cousin Dudley again if it can be helped," Harry muttered.
"Harry that's not a very nice thing to say!" Lily exclaimed, her tiredness forgotten. Severus peered above the edge of his book at the bickering duo, his brow raised in interest as he passively observed the beginnings of what he was sure would devolve into an argument.
"Is it not a very nice thing to say?" Harry sneered sarcastically. "Well I don't care! Locking someone in a cupboard for days on end isn't a very nice thing to do either!"
Severus' eyes widened as he glanced upwards from the board towards between the bickering children, Lily and Harry had his full attention now.
"But she wants to apologize for that! She thinks that—"
"I don't give a damn what Aunt Petunia thinks!" Harry bellowed, jumping to his feet. "And whose side are you on anyway, Lily? You know how they treated me and you still expect me to go back there and pretend nothing happened? Nothing at all? Well no! You ask to much and I am never going back there!"
"Children, calm yourselves at once!" came the loud voice of Dumbledore. Harry piped down quickly, as did Lily; Dumbledore had never raised his voice this loudly, and he had never seemed this fierce to any of them either.
They were all stunned into silence, the retort that Lily had been constructing was quickly choked down along with the bobbing lump in her throat. "If you do not wish to go Harry, that is your decision, and neither Lily nor I will force you into it. Of course, I cannot blame you for not wanting to return to Four Privet Drive, even if only temporarily to see your aunt. What is of importance however, is that should you wish to see your aunt and accept her apology, then your uncle and cousin will not be present."
"They won't?" Harry couldn't help but ask.
Dumbledore shook his head. "The decision is yours, Harry. If you do not want to go, none of us can or will, hold it against you."
Harry cast a brief glance at Lily, allowing his eyes to rove over her pleading face, then looked over at Severus, who seemed totally indifferent on the matter, then finally at Dumbledore. After a moment of thought, he finally muttered; "I'll think about it," and left it at that.
Dumbledore nodded. "Very well then, Harry. I shall be off now, and I don't want to hear about any arguments when I return. Dinner shall be served at six thirty as usual."
"Yes Albus," all three children chorused.
He'd requested—actually, he'd insisted, that they all call him Albus and that they reserve the title Headmaster only for formal settings when they were in school, or meeting with him in front of other students. In private, he was quite insistent on being referred to as Albus. Lily had taken to this quite well, but Severus and Harry were a little more apprehensive about doing so; both were quite familiar with what might occur should they address their superiors wrongly, in large part because of the abusive methods of their prior guardians.
Dumbledore then left the children in peace, returning to his own offices to finish up his ICW paperwork. When the door to their living quarters had slammed shut in the wake of Dumbledore's departure, Lily turned to face her two friends with a smile etched clearly onto her face.
"So what have you been up to when I was gone?" she asked interestedly.
"We visited Hagrid. Had some of his delightful rock cakes, oh and he introduced us to a few creatures that he'd been raising," Severus replied.
"What creatures?"
"You'll just have to visit him yourself to find out," Harry said, grinning mirthfully.
"You're impossible is what you are," Lily sniffed. "On a more serious note, what house do you guys hope to be in? I think Ravenclaw or Gryffindor would be good for me."
"Gryffindor. Or Hufflepuff I guess," Harry said assuredly. "Hagrid doesn't seem to think too highly of Slytherin so—"
"Well that's one thing he and I disagree on," Severus interjected. "There's nothing wrong with Slytherin, especially since my older self is its head of house."
"Yeah but if that Malfoy boy goes into Slytherin, then it can't be all that great, can it? He seems like a right prick if you ask me."
"Well there's rotten eggs in every house, just look at that Mass-murderer Sirius Black from your Gryffindor for instance. He killed a dozen people and he was a good friend of your father's wasn't he?" Severus retorted.
Harry's lips pursed into a line, but didn't say anything more, Severus supposed he couldn't begrudge him for harboring reservations about Malfoy, he didn't seem like a good person either when he thought about it.
"Well at least your older self will be your Head of House if you go into Slytherin," Lily mused, her fingers drumming on her chin in thought. "But…don't you think it'd be a bit difficult to be in Slytherin though, Sev? I mean…you're a Halfblood, Professor Sev said most of his Slytherins are Pureblooded, and there are barely any Halfbloods in his house."
"I'll manage just fine," Severus said flippantly, dismissive of Lily's concerns. "Besides, my older self managed fine didn't he? Why would you think I can't?"
"It's not that. I think you'd manage just fine, I just…I worry that if you go there, then it'd bring our group apart, you know?"
"Well there's no reason we can't still be friends," Harry said reasonably. "I mean…assuming I go into Gryffindor, 'cus that's where I want to go, and maybe Lily goes into Ravenclaw, and you into Slytherin, Severus. We can all still be friends."
"I agree. Whatever happens, I want us all to be friends," Severus said confidently. "Regardless of house, and other people we may meet, let's all strive to continue our friendship even if we go our separate ways when we're sorted."
Lily's smile brightened, as did Harry's; upon hearing Severus' words.
"I agree. Friends for life," Lily said proudly.
"Friends for life," Harry repeated.
A/N: As I post this, I feel as if my heart has been ripped out of my chest. Lando Norris lost what should have been his maiden win today. And neither of my favorite drivers in Gasly or Vettel picked up any points either. I am gutted, I'm absolutely gutted. And did I project my interest in F1 onto Lily and Severus? Why yes, yes I did. James Hunt was hot shit back in the 70s after all, and truly did galvanize English interest into F1.
Hope you all enjoyed the chapter!