A/N: Set before Epilogue. Written for CaraLee934. Enjoy!

Family Clash

Petunia's POV

"Another one of those blasted invitations!" Vernon, my husband, ranted as he threw the post down onto the table.

I hid a smile behind my teacup and picked up the envelope that had offended him so much. It was indeed the very familiar invitation from my sister, Lily, inviting us to her son's birthday party; he would be three this year, a year younger than my own son; Dudley.

We got the same letter every year that we had ignored every time so far. The unwilling smile faded at the thought of my sister; we didn't get on as well as we had when we were younger and that was mostly my own fault.

When Lily was eleven we'd found out that she was a Witch, I can admit now that I was jealous of her, determined to push her away and keep myself from her 'freakiness' as I called it. I unfairly blamed her when our parents were murdered and that only made our relationship worse.

Since then Lily had sent me a letter explaining that our parents' murderer was dead and that the Wizarding War was over. She explained a lot of things that I was interested in and then added an invitation to come to her house for Harry's, her son's, birthday party.

I'd grown up since the last time I'd seen my sister; I was no longer jealous and I did want to meet me nephew. The only problem was Vernon. He knew everything about my sister too and didn't want anything to do with it.

"Maybe if we go we can tell them not to invite us again," I suggested, reading the part of the invitation that described how the Portkey worked and what a Portkey was. "She's determined to invite us."

"What about Dudley?" Vernon blustered, trying to think of a good reason not to go.

"He's included on the invitation," I pointed out. "And it might do him some good to meet others his age."

Eventually, once I'd countered every argument he had, Vernon agreed that it would be best to go and began acting like it was all his own idea. As the day got closer, I got more and more nervous while Dudley ran around excited about meeting his cousin and Vernon got paler.

When the day arrived we held onto the letter while I had Dudley in my arms and said the so-called password. "Marauder's Den."

We were thrown off of our feet by an intense spinning sensation that lasted a few seconds. I looked around and realized we'd landed in an entrance hall of what looked to be an expensive and big house.

A red-headed woman wearing an emerald green dress came out of one of the doors to see who had arrived and then stopped in shock when she saw us. The awkward silence lasted a couple of seconds but during that time I was regretting ever suggesting that we went to the party.

"Petunia!" The woman, Lily, finally cried, running over and grabbing me into a hug, Dudley squashed between us. "I'm so glad you came!"

She pulled away and I saw that she had tears in her eyes. There was no hesitation as she wrapped Vernon into a hug too before gesturing for us to follow her through one of the doors. In the next room was what I could explain as a mess. Adults were sat on comfortable furniture while children ran around and some teenagers talked in a corner.

"The kids were just about to go play outside but let me introduce to my family first," Lily grinned. "James! Bring Harry and Poppy over to meet their Aunt and Uncle."

A man with messy black hair who I remembered seeing with Lily before came up to us carrying two children; a little boy who looked like his father's twin, even the same messy hair, but had his mother's green eyes and a little girl who must have been about a year old, she had red hair and almond coloured eyes.

"Children," James announced in a playful manner. "Meet your Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon and Cousin Dudley."

"More family!" Harry exclaimed in amazement before squirming to be put down next to Dudley. "Come play."

With Harry's urging, Dudley followed him to where two other boys were sitting with two little girls. Harry proudly introduced Dudley to his friends and I watched as the magical children accepted my son with no questions asked.

"That's Neville, Ron, Ginny and Lucy," Lily told me. "I'll introduce you to their parents."

"What did Harry mean about more family?" I asked as we walked over to the other adults with Vernon following us.

"That would be us," another black haired man told me. Unlike James, this man's hair was tamed and he gave off a vibe of confidence and was sat in the casual lounge of someone who'd grown up rich. "All of the kids call us either Aunt or Uncle."

"This is Sirius," Lily stepped in. "He's Harry's god-father. Next to him is his wife Zoe."

I greeted the woman and noticed that she was heavily pregnant and holding a child in her arms. She saw me looking and smiled. "This is Arthur," she bounced the child to make him smile before stroking her hand over her stomach lovingly. "And this one is his little sister, we've not thought of a name yet."

"Zoe is Poppy's god-mother," Lily informed me, leading me over to another group. "Meet Remus and Linda, you already know Severus. Linda and Severus are married, their little girl; Lucy, is the one sat next to your son, not the red head."

"Is your wife not here?" I inquired politely to the man introduced as Remus.

He laughed and shook his head. "I'm afraid I'm not married yet."

"Or even in a relationship," Linda sighed in a frustrated tone of voice. Her husband rolled his eyes as she began to list the names of women who would apparently be perfect for Remus.

Severus and I exchanged a look; we hadn't got along as children and I didn't think we'd ever be friends but we made polite conversation until Lily led me away to someone else. Vernon stayed with Severus and continued their conversation.

"Sev is Poppy's god-father," Lily said. "You're just about to meet Harry's god-mother too."

I was then introduced to Alice, Frank, Molly and Arthur. Alice was Harry's god-mother and she was married to Frank, they had two sons; Neville, who was playing with Dudley and Oliver who had run off with Poppy and another little boy called Connor.

Molly and Arthur were the proud parents of the seven red-headed children and teenagers in the room, excluding Poppy. I was beginning to feel incredibly overwhelmed as I met the last pair of adults in the room; Peter and Marlene, parents of Connor.

"Are you okay?" Marlene asked me with concern, noticing my dazed expression.

I shook my head to clear it. "It's a lot to take in," I admitted.

Lily, overhearing what I'd said, took my hand and dragged me into a separate room that I found out was the kitchen. "I'm sorry; I forgot how overwhelming our family can be."

"You have a very big family," I nodded. "Do the children really call everyone in there either Aunt or Uncle?"

"They do," Lily smiled with fondness. "It can get confusing but it's nice knowing so many people are looking out for the children and each other."

Once I'd recovered, we joined the other room that was now empty of children since they'd gone outside with James and Sirius. We stayed to eat with Lily and her enormous family and then, after a tour of the mansion, Remus changed the Portkey on our letter to take us home.

Dudley was asleep before I put him into the bed; he'd been telling me about his time at the party and how he wanted to go back soon to see everyone. Once he was settled down, I went back downstairs to see Vernon.

"I won't be going next year, Pet," he declared in his no-nonsense voice. "It was completely unorganized; children everywhere and they were practically flaunting their unnaturalness! Then there was that woman, Millie was it? Imagine having seven children!"

"It was Molly, dear," I corrected. "And you don't have to go again, but Dudley and I will."

I refused to listen to him as he listed all the reasons going back was a bad idea and instead went up to bed. Vernon followed me and tried once more to convince me as we were getting into bed.

"They're freaks!" He announced sullenly. "I don't want you contaminated by them."

I didn't argue with him. The definition of a freak was something unusual and Lily's family was definitely that. It didn't matter what Vernon said, my son wanted to go back so I would take him, and if I enjoyed myself than it was just another reason to go.

"There's something wrong with all of them," Vernon said. "They're-"

He struggled to find a word that would describe them.

"Magical," I completed for him.

A/N: This didn't go as planned. I'd planned to write one where Petunia agreed with Vernon and they met in the street but once I put it into Petunia's POV this was created. Plus, I believe that Lily would have tried to reach out to her sister and if Petunia hadn't been 'burdened' with Harry she might have been more accepting once the jealousy had passed.

Anyway, I hope you liked it. Please review! :)