AN: Sorry for the late update- the wifi packed in so I've been waiting for it to get fixed all week! Hope you enjoy, any comments are welcome. :)
I was sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of tea in my hand as I had done every morning for the past week since arriving at the Evans's. I always seemed to be up first, no matter what, and had taken to creeping downstairs to have a cup of tea to myself before my twin dragged herself out of bed and began her daily routine of being mad. My days had been filled with Lily- getting to know the feisty redhead had really been great. I felt like we were well on our way to becoming like real twins. Our late night conversations provided lots of hilarity, as well as an insight into each other's lives. I told Lily about my mum and dad, and she told me about her relationship with Petunia. It was strained between them, to say the least. It looked like Petunia had a strong dislike for all things magic and, by extension, a dislike of Lily which made Lily distraught. Her and Tuney had been so close before she found out she was a witch, and now they could barely be in the same room as each other without fighting. It saddened me really, as someone who had always longed for a sibling to see these sisters bickering constantly over the smallest things. It had gotten so bad, apparently, that they now took to avoiding each other as much as they could so as to avoid upsetting their parents with their fighting.
"Good morning, Sophie," a gentle voice startled me out of my thoughts. Looking around to find the source of the voice, I was surprised to see Petunia herself standing in the doorway, smiling at me.
"Morning, Petunia," I replied politely. Despite living with the Evans's for over a week now, I still felt like I hardly knew the older girl. Often she was out with school friends during the day and only returned for tea, after which she would retreat to her room swiftly.
I was slightly ashamed to admit that I hadn't really made any effort with Petunia, and her acceptance of me into the family was soon pushed to the back of my mind as I was so caught up in the daily excitement and adventures that Lily brought to my life, as well as the love from Izzy and Robert.
This morning was the first time Petunia and I had been in a room together on our own. I began to feel nervous, not entirely sure what I should expect from her. I had heard stories from Lily, of course, about how all the nasty things Petunia had said to her. I took those tales with a generous pinch of salt, as I had come to realise that Lily could be quite the drama queen. Still, fears of Petunia calling me a freak like she did so frequently to Lily bubbled up, making me realise that I actually really wanted this girl's approval. I wanted her to accept me into her family as her sister. Given her stance on witches, I didn't hold out much hope for that to happen any time soon.
Petunia sat down at the kitchen table opposite me and surveyed me for a moment. Her brown eyes, surprisingly similar to my own, were much warmer than last time I had seen her, and her face was not lined in fear or disgust as it had been so many times when she saw Lily and me. In short, she looked like the beautiful girl in the family photos that lined the walls. She looked like Izzy, and that thought made my heart swell with a little more love for this girl. She was my sister too, and I felt a sprinkle of guilt at the thought that I had almost completely ignored her in favour of Lily.
"I suppose I should explain why I've been avoiding you," Petunia spoke again, suddenly. My eyes widened as I registered what she had said. So she had been avoiding me. I had convinced myself it was purely her normal routine or her avoidance of Lily, but obviously I was mistaken. I felt very unsure of myself as I considered the implications of this. Did she not like me? Was she annoyed that I was suddenly a part of her family? I really wanted to be accepted by the Evans's, so these thoughts made me very jittery.
Petunia must have seen the hurt and fear in my face, as her own countenance softened.
"It's not about you, Sophie," she began to explain, "It's me. Well, me and Lily I suppose." I knew their fights must be just as hard on Petunia as they were on Lily, and Petunia didn't even have a twin to confide in.
"It must be so much harder on her," I thought sadly. "It must seem like I'm stealing Lily away from her. I wouldn't blame her if she did hate me."
Petunia seemed to almost read my thoughts as she continued, "I want you to know, Sophie, that I don't blame you for anything. Lily and I have been growing apart ever since she met that boy in the park and learned about magic." I was confused at this statement- who was 'that boy'? And how did he know about magic? "Really, I'm glad you're here- I'd rather Lily spent time talking about magic with you than him. It's still hard on me though. My baby sister's a witch and she's going to go to a magic school, she's going into a world I know nothing about and one I can't follow her into." Petunia's eyes were closed now and her hands clenched tightly around her mug. It was taking a lot for her to say this to me, so I sat quietly while she collected herself for a minute.
"I'm jealous," she said quietly, "I want to be magic too, but I'm not and it's not fair. I know it's not really Lily's fault, but she's so happy about it and she doesn't ever think about my feelings, that maybe I don't want to talk about it because I can't go with her. I'm the older one, I'm meant to go first- to figure it all out and come home to tell her all about it, so I can help protect her! So I can guide her through it and make sure she doesn't get hurt. That's why I get so angry, because I'm jealous and worried and I end up saying spiteful things I don't really mean." I stared at Petunia in shock. I had no idea she was feeling all of this. It made sense now, why she spent as little time with her family as possible. Conversation seemed to revolve around magic or Hogwarts or Lily or me. Poor Petunia had been pushed to the side, not as important or as exciting as this new world we were entering. It wasn't anyone's fault, but it was obvious how much it had affected the older girl and I suddenly felt awful.
"Oh, Tuney," I said quietly. Petunia looked up, surprised at my use of her pet name, "I had no idea, I'm so sorry." She smiled gently at me.
"It's not your fault, Soph. I know you didn't ask for any of this, neither did Lily. You're just the lucky ones, I suppose. I just wanted to explain myself to you, in case you thought I didn't like you or something. I do have something to ask, though," I looked up at her curiously, "could you not mention this to Lily? I don't want her to know that I'm jealous of her- she'd use it against me or pity me or something and I don't want her to worry about me," she grimaced. I was confused at this request, despite Petunia's attempt to explain her reasoning to me, but I agreed nonetheless. I didn't want to cause any more drama between the two sisters, so I resolved to keep Tuney's confession to myself. She smiled at me again, gratefully, before leaning across the table and taking one of my hands in hers, "I'm sorry about your family, Sophie. I know we can't replace them, and I haven't really made you feel all that welcome, but I want you to know that I want you to be happy. You don't just have Lils, you've got me too." With that, she stood and brushed her clothes out, before walking from the room.
I stared after her for a minute, shell-shocked by her revelations. I had a newfound understanding of a Petunia now- I knew she wasn't just a spiteful girl, she was struggling with her jealousy and worry for her sister. I still wasn't all that fond of her, but at least I could understand why she did some of the things she did now. She made slightly more sense. I allowed myself to consider Lily and Petunia's relationship for a few moments before smiling widely as I remembered the rest of the conversation. With Petunia's words, I had been well and truly accepted into the Evans family by all of its members.
"Sophie Evans," I said quietly to myself. It still sounded strange to me, but I felt like I could get used to it now. I thought I would quite like being an Evans.
"Don't worry, Mum and Dad. I'm not forgetting about you. I'll always be Sophie Rose Taylor and you'll always be my parents. But now I'm an Evans too."