Chapter Three
Lily Potter opened the Godric's Hollow cottage door one day and was stunned to find Petunia standing there, looking sheepish. "Can - can I come in?"
"... Of course, Tuney, of course!" Lily stepped aside, stunned, to let her through. James stopped in the middle of whatever he was doing and stared. Petunia looked and felt awkward and out of place in the cottage, with Lily's swelling belly.
"I'll just, uh - I'm going to go water the garden gnome," said James, stumbling from the room.
There was a moment of silence.
"I may be a Muggle, but I'm fairly certain you're not supposed to water a garden gnome," said Petunia dryly at last, and Lily snorted with laughter. That got Petunia going - and pretty soon they were both laughing hysterically together on the sofa.
"Oh, Tuney, I missed you," said Lily with feel. "I'm sorry about the wedding, about Hogwarts, about -" It all came flooding out at once. Petunia wanted to hate her, for being so forgiving on top of everything else.
"It's fine," said Petunia stiffly. "I - owe you an apology. There was envy there, and - Well, you're still my sister. You're - you're not a freak."
Lily stared at her, emotional. Petunia looked away.
"I have a boyfriend now," she said. "David Birch. He, erm - thinks you're Wiccan. He thought this would be good for me. So did my friend Annabelle. He and I, we - we just moved into a city apartment together. He's a waiter and he goes to open mic nights. I'm a typist, and I've - I've taken to writing poetry. Can you believe that?" She laughed softly, sadly.
"Yes," said Lily gently. "I can. Oh, Tuney, that's wonderful -"
"He can't have children." There was a heavy silence.
"... I'm sorry," Lily whispered. "I know how much you wanted that. A - a daughter."
"I love him," said Petunia quietly, looking forward. "It's okay. He - he has a wonderful sense of humor and he's quite kind. I - I think you would like him.
"I've - I've been trying to gossip less. Be a little more relaxed. That sort of thing. I've taken to meditation and animal friendly products and facials - things I've never bothered with before. I'm listening to classical music. I'm learning French cuisine from a book.
"I don't really regret anything, the way I used to." Petunia trailed off in thought. Lily was watching her with a funny little smile. "What about you?" She took a deep breath and turned to look at her sister, bracing herself for envy.
Instead came this:
"We've been in hiding from the war against Lord Voldemort. We've become targets." Lily winced as Petunia stared at her, flabbergasted. "James was a duelist and I was a Healer. Now we're in hiding from - from that madman."
"That's terrible. I'm sorry," said Petunia with feel. She felt helpless and hated it. "Where's, erm - where's Sev? I never did find out. Too angry and bitter, I suppose."
"Oh, Sev…" Lily looked pained. "He's fighting for Lord Voldemort."
Petunia snorted. "Well that figures." And at last Lily cracked a smile.
"On a happier note, I'm trying to decide on a name for my daughter." She smiled wider with effort and looked up.
"That," said Petunia, "I can help with."
They ended up going through baby name books. Petunia knew Lily would want one romantic and fanciful, but that didn't bother her as much as it used to.
In the end, they chose Juniper. Juniper Amelie Potter. They had great fun doing it, too.
Though they kept in touch and Petunia bragged about her sister often, keeping a photo of her on her writing desk, that was the last time Petunia ever saw Lily alive.
She opened her apartment door one morning, and a baby was lying there swaddled on the doorstep. She had a headful of black hair, bright green eyes, and a lightning bolt shaped scar on her forehead.
A letter was tucked inside her blankets.
Author's Notes: Juniper's childhood is coming up next.
No, David does not know yet the Potters were really magic. No, he and Petunia are not yet married. That will come up later.
I named Juniper Amelie Potter after Juniper French, a premature baby girl who JK Rowling penned a personal autographed book series to after finding out that her father used to read Harry Potter to her, helping her survive her initial stages of life.