"Weird," Severus breathed, watching the images flicker across the screen of the television as he sat on Lily's couch after getting home from their shopping expedition. "It's just like our pictures."
"Your pictures move?" Lily asked incredulously, coming over with a bowl of popcorn.
"Yeah," Severus said absentmindedly, staring the bowl of popcorn. "What this stuff?" he asked suspiciously.
"Popcorn!" Lily said happily, popping some into her mouth. "It's good, try it!"
But Severus abandoned the popcorn and continued to watch the TV. They sat there for a few minutes until Severus asked, "Where's Petunia?"
"At a friend's house," Lily said, still eating the popcorn that Severus had abandoned. "She didn't want to come to Diagon Alley with us. I think she was afraid of Hagrid."
Severus's chest expanded with a little "Pah!" of sarcasm. "Who wouldn't be?" he asked.
Lily frowned. "What do you mean?"
"He's huge!" Severus exclaimed, as if it was breaking news and not the first thing Lily had noticed when he had come through the door of their house. "What a monster!"
"He's not a monster!" Lily retorted. The two children fell silent for a moment.
The images continued to flicker on the screen. Suddenly, Severus said, "Can I see your bedroom?"
Lily smiled. "Of course!"
She led him up the stairs, around the corner of the hallway. "This is the bathroom," she said, opening the door and flicking on the light. "And my mum and dad's room, and my room." She opened the door, and plain white walls, one of which had a few pictures of Lily and Petunia on it, greeted Severus. The comforter was pink, as was the rug. Severus smiled, though he had never really liked pink, but thought it suited Lily well.
As they were exiting, Severus caught sight of the closed door next to Lily's room. "Whose is that?" he asked.
"Petunia's."
Severus smiled knowingly at Lily and opened the door. "Oh, Sev!" cried Lily, but she followed him into her sister's room. Petunia's bedroom was bright yellow, exactly the opposite of what Severus would have expected to see, but it was very neat, tidy, and prissy, just like Petunia. Severus made his was over to the desk and started shuffling around papers.
"Sev, no!" Lily hissed, but Severus had already picked up a yellow envelope that resembled the one the Hogwarts letter had came in. At first, Lily thought it was her Hogwarts letter, but as she took it from Severus, she saw Petunia's name written on it instead of her own.
"Has she got a letter?" Severus asked incredibly. "No way. She can't go." Lily emptied the envelope, a single sheet of parchment falling into her hands. She was about to read it when Severus went, "Look at this." In his hands was a crumpled sheet of binder paper. Petunia's neat handwriting was scrawled across it.
"'Dear Mr. Dumbledore,'" Snape read. "'My name is Petunia Evans. My sister is Lily. I tried to talk to you after you left our house yesterday, but you were gone before I could catch you. I wanted to ask you for your permission to allow me to go to Hogwarts as well. You, see, I can't leave Lily all by herself at this school where she doesn't know anyone. I think it would be best if I accompanied her, if only for a short while.'" Snape set down the letter, and picked up another. It said almost the exact same thing, but with cross-outs and underlines. Petunia had about four drafts of these letters.
"Why'd she want to go with you?" Snape asked, and Lily picked up the letter from Hogwarts and read it.
HOGWARTS SCHOOL
of WITCHRAFT and WIZARDRY
Dear Miss Evans,
Thank you for your letter concerning your sister. She will be a wonderful addition to our school. It is very, very safe here, and you have no reason to worry.
In regards to your request, I must say this. However much we would love your presence at Hogwarts, I must deny your entry. All students at Hogwarts have some sort of magical ability. While we watched Lily, we discovered that she, despite being born from non-magical parents, does have some of that magic.
However, we watched you as closely as we did your sister, and unfortunately there is no magical ability in you at all. I'm very sorry.
But please, do not worry about Lily. We will teach her all we possibly know, and you will be very proud of her when she returns home this summer.
Sincerely,
Albus Dumbledore
Headmaster"How'd she get a letter to Dumbledore?" Severus asked.
"I don't know," said Lily, still in awe that Petunia would care about her enough to ask if she could go to Hogwarts, too. Just then, they heard the front door open and Petunia's voice called out, "Mummy, I'm home!"
"Quick!" Lily said, and stuffed Dumbledore's letter back into its envelope. Severus snatched up the fallen letters and replaced them in the wastepaper basket. They closed Petunia's door with a click, and ran downstairs, right into Petunia.
"Oh," Petunia said snottily, looking down her nose at Severus. "You're here."
"Yes," he spat back, "I am here." He smiled coolly at her, and then turned to Lily. "But I've got to go home now."
Lily walked him to the door, aware of Petunia's burning glare on the back of her neck. When he had left, Lily said to her sister, "Can't you be nice for once?"
Petunia frowned deeper and said harshly and bluntly, "No."