House: Ravenclaw
Class: DADA
Category: Drabble
Word Count: 559
Prompt(s): [Weather] (Christmas) Snowing
Warnings/Disclaimers: Canon Speculation, Mentions of Death, Loss of a Loved One, Dealing with Grief
It was snowing outside. Christmas usually brought snow, but somehow this year it took Petunia by surprise. It had crept up on her, or maybe she just hadn't wanted to think about it. Because this year the snow felt different, changed in so many ways that she couldn't begin to explain them. For one, though, it was colder than she was used to.
She'd felt a chill through the entire dinner—something Vernon insisted on hosting for Christmas. It wasn't an external sort of chill. No, instead there was a cold, creeping feeling that took a hold of her. It was everywhere, in her chest and her muscles and her bones. It made her stiff. She couldn't help but sneak glances out the window at the snow falling outside. If she was honest she hadn't paid any attention at all to the guests at dinner. All she could think about was the snow.
The morning was much the same, despite Dudley happily opening presents in the living room. She had been too transfixed on the snow outside to even notice him and Harry playing happily together, messing with the wrapping paper they'd torn to shreds. Her mood had been much the same as at dinner. Numb. Petunia wouldn't admit it, but she knew exactly what was causing this peculiar shift of mood in her. This was her first Christmas without—
She didn't want to say it. Didn't even want to think about it. If she didn't think about it then it didn't feel real.
This was her first Christmas without Lily. Usually her sister would send a card, delivered mysteriously and with her familiar cursive scrawl. Even after Hogwarts when they wouldn't see each other in person, there were always the letters. But now there was nothing. No owl flitting through the snow, no flash of red hair bounding up the drive. Now there was nothing. Only the snow remained the same.
There was something terrifying about that. How something so terrifying, something with so much gravity, had come and wrecked her life, and yet the world still continued on. It went through the seasons and the changes that came along with it as though nothing was the matter. She'd never realized just how unfair that was before. Lily loved Christmas, and it just came and went without her. She couldn't help but frown and try to stop stray tears from falling.
It was dark now, well past bedtime. Any normal woman would be in bed, or checking on her child (children, she had to remind herself.) Instead something had possessed her, and now she sat in the freezing snow. Christmas had come and gone without Lily. The world kept turning and all Petunia felt was numb. More snow melted as it fell onto her skin. She looked into the sky, asking the universe all of her questions.
Give her back, she wanted to say. I'll be a better sister this time, I swear it.
A light turned on in the entryway behind her. Vernon called her inside. She stayed seated, snow falling peacefully around her. It was as though it was taunting her. She prayed again to whatever was out there, the same prayer she'd been repeating for nearly two months. Give her back. But the universe didn't listen.
Not even to wishes. Not even for a Christmas miracle.