A few days after the visit, a barn owl was knocking at the kitchen window. Mum jumped and stared at the thing for a few minutes, confused and it gave an annoyed screech. Petunia had to open the window to let it in.
"Mum, Professor McGonagoll said she would send an owl!" Petunia said. The owl flew into the dining room and perched on the back of Lily's chair. Lily looked back at it.
"Cool", Lily whispered.
Dad was just staring at it much like Mum had.
"Yes, that she did; why an owl, though? Owls as messenger birds don't make a lot of sense to me, they are some of the slowest flying birds." Dad said.
The owl held out its leg that had a curled up piece of paper tied to it. Petunia inched closer and reached out slowly to untie it, her hands shaking. As soon as the note was untied from its leg, the owl landed on the table and took a piece of bacon from Dad's plate; he just allowed it, him and Lily watching the owl with interest.
Petunia opened the paper and Mum came to read over her shoulder.
Dear Evans family, this is Professor McGonagoll. I am writing to schedule a visit to Diagon Alley for Miss Petunia's school supplies this Saturday. I will arrive at noon at your house. If this time and day is unacceptable please give a new day and time in your reply. I am also reminding you to bring money to exchange at Gringotts Bank.
Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry, Minerva McGonagall
PS the owl will wait for a reply. It is customary to give it something to eat, any meat will do oh, and some water.
After Petunia read it a few times, she gave the letter to Mum and ran off to get some paper to write a reply. When she got back to the kitchen, Dad was filling a bowl of water for the owl, and Lily was petting its chest while it was cooed at her softly. Petunia handed Mum the paper and pen she got and went over to the owl and reached out to pet its head softly; it was basking in all this attention.
Petunia had never liked owls before. All they had been was a reminder of the magical world that she could never be a part of. Until now. She still wasn't quite sure how she felt about them.
Mum gave Dad the letter to read and brought the bowl of water over to the table for the owl.
"This Saturday sounds perfect for school shopping." Dad said brightly.
Petunia was practically vibrating with suppressed energy. SHE WAS GOING TO HOGWARTS!
Mum nodded at Dad as she petted the owl a few times and then wrote a reply on the paper Petunia had brought. After that she rolled it up and tied it closed and looked at the owl trying to figure out how to attach it to its leg. It saw her holding the reply and held out its leg and Mum tied the paper to its leg and it took a quick drink of water and flew back out the window.
The next few days passed both too slowly and too fast, Lily and Severus seemingly the only ones who understood how Petunia felt. Dad and Mum would just smile or laugh when Petunia complained about time going too slow for her liking.
But Saturday came, and Petunia was up early and helping Mum with breakfast. She couldn't hold still for more than 2 seconds without starting to fidget.
She was excited, yes, but also extremely worried. Worried about leaving her parents and Lily. Petunia knew that nothing had happened in the past, her past, but she couldn't help worrying.
Right now, somewhere out there, was a madman that would want to destroy her family one day. Petunia would do everything she could to protect them. Anything and everything.
Petunia set the table as Dad and Lily both came downstairs late today as the food was already on the table by the time they came down.
Petunia ate slowly, lost in thought about the future and was told not to play with her food by Mum; she apologized and finished breakfast quickly after that.
"Tunie, will you do my hair?" Lily asked Petunia when she came downstairs after getting ready to go. Lily was ready to go except for her hair and Petunia nodded, sitting down in her armchair and setting a pillow on the floor for Lily. Petunia noticed Lily's eyes were a little red.
"Lils, what's wrong?" Petunia asked as Lily handed her a hair tie and brush and Mum sat down on the couch. Lily nodded to Mum and stayed still as Petunia started to brush her hair.
"She's going to miss you when you're at school is all, love," Mum said.
Petunia stopped mid brush and leaned down to wrap her arms around Lily.
"I'm going to miss you too Lils, so much!" Petunia said and Lily held onto Petunia's arms and sniffed.
Petunia sat back after a little while and finished brushing Lily's hair. She braided it in a french braid, it was beautiful, all the different colors of Lily's hair all being shown off in the braid. Petunia's hair was just a simple 3 strand braid, her hair was far longer than Lily's, though. She used to be jealous of Lily's hair but she liked her own hair now, it was the same slightly blue-ish black as her Dad's. Yet another thing that she let herself forget about her parents, she was more like her Dad then her Mum, in both looks and temperament, and Lily more like Mum.
Just as Petunia was done with Lily's hair, Dad came rushing into the room.
"Alright everyone, it's almost noon, is everyone ready?" he asked. Mum nodded as did Lily. Petunia checked her little purse where she had put all of her life savings, and nodded at Dad.
Petunia planned on getting Severus and Lily some gifts.
A few minutes later there was a knock at the door and Petunia and Dad both rushed to get it. Dad opened the door and smiled brightly at the other professor. Petunia was slightly jumping on the balls of her feet and waved at McGonagall.
"Hello Professor!" Petunia said
The woman smiled at them both.
"Hello. Is everyone ready to go shopping?" she asked.
Mum and Lily came up behind them and nodded at the Professor.
"Yes, we are all ready to go!" Mum said excitedly.
Dad nodded and stepped out the door, car keys in hand and they all followed him. Mum sat in the back with the girls; Lily in the middle and Petunia behind Dad. McGonagall was in the front. On the ride Mum and Dad asked McGonagoll some more questions about the school and the wizarding world, which she patiently answered. The drive was about 15 minutes to London and then McGonagall directed them to this dingy little pub called 'The Leaky Cauldron' Dad parked the car and they all got out.
The inside was just as dingy as the outside; the people inside were wearing robes and large pointy hats, and other strange, brightly colored clothing.
Mum kept the girls close to her. Petunia kept an arm around Lily's shoulders, and Dad stayed close to the girls' other side.
"The entrance to the alley is out back." Professor McGonagoll said.
They all followed closely. Outside was a little courtyard and McGonagoll walked to the wall across from the door and began to tap a pattern on the bricks with her wand.
The bricks moved and folded in on themselves revealing the chaotic place that was Diagon Alley. The Evens family all gasped.
"Cool" Lily whispered, and Mum nodded her head in agreement.
Petunia grinned at Dad and he grinned back. Petunia giggled.
"Our first stop is Gringotts bank. It's the large white building at the end of the alley there. Now, Gringotts is run by goblins. As long as you treat them with respect they shall do the same to you." McGonagall said, leading the Evens family to Gringotts.
Petunia's head was on a swivel, looking at all the things she never thought she would see. She wondered what goblins were like. She'd never met one before.
There were a lot of families out, shopping for school supplies as well, most likely.
They made it through the crowds and into the bank.. Professor McGonagoll said she would wait for them in the sitting area as Mum and Lily went to wait in line at one teller and Petunia and Dad at another, Petunia wanted to open an account with her savings and get a bit of spending money for something for Lily, and something for Severus.
Petunia looked over at Mum and Lily and judged the distance to be enough and turned to Dad.
"Dad, I want to ask you if I can get Lily an owl? They use owls as messenger birds and I know Lils is going to miss me while I'm gone, and if she had an owl she could write to me whenever she wanted" Petunia said quietly to Dad.
Dad thought about it for a minute, and then nodded.
"I think that's a lovely idea, sweetheart. If you're getting Lily an owl, what do you want to get your friend Severus?" He asked.
"I wanted to see if I could get him a book on potions; he seems to be really interested in that subject. And maybe some sweets." Petunia said.
Dad nodded and it was their turn at the counter, so Petunia took a deep breath and Dad put a hand on her shoulder.
"I would like to open an account. please." Petunia said.
The goblin looked at her and gave a short nod and Petunia put her little purse on the counter and took out all her savings. It was a fair little sum.
Petunia exchanged the money for wizarding money and kept a lot of it out, putting it in her purse. She thanked the goblin, then her and Dad went over to meet Mum and Lily.
"We got enough coin to pay for all of Petunia's school supplies. Strange how they use coins and not paper money." Mum said, and Dad nodded.
Professor McGonagall came over to them then.
"I'm so sorry, I must leave you now. I just got an owl from the headmaster and there is something at the school that needs our attention before term starts."
"We'll be alright Professor McGonagoll, you pointed out all the stores on the way here." Dad said.
"Yes, thank you for all the help you've given" Mum said, and Professor McGonagoll nodded to everyone.
"I'll see you at the start of term, miss Evans. Goodbye" she said and walked out of the bank.
Dad turned to Mum.
"I think we should split up, love, get more done faster that way." he said, and Mum nodded her agreement.
"It's like you read my mind dear. I was just going to suggest that" she said.
"You and Lily get the potion supplies, the scale and cauldron, and Petunia and I will get the school uniforms, and we'll meet at the bookstore?" Dad asked and Mum nodded, giving him some of the gold coins. They kissed, and Mum took Lily's hand and left.
"School uniforms first, then we look at owls." Dad said. Petunia nodded and Dad took her hand as they made their way to a shop called Madam Malkins.
Inside the store the kind looking older woman at the front counter asked,
"First year Hogwarts uniforms, dears?"
"Yes," Dad answered.
It didn't take long in Madam Malkins'. Maybe 20 minutes and they walked out with her uniforms in a bag. They then made their way to a store called 'The Owl Emporium.' inside it was loud and there were owls in cages and on perches. So many owls! There were owls almost as big as she was, and little ones she could fit in her hand. She never knew there were so many different kinds. They had an extensive section of bags of owl feed and treats.
Petunia spotted an eagle owl on a perch. She walked all around the perch, the owl didn't take its amber colored eyes off her the whole time turning its head all the way around. She reached out and it nibbled at her finger lightly as she pet its chest. It cooed at her and Petunia decided: This was the owl for Lily.
"Dad, I've found Lily's owl!" Petunia called.
Dad came over from looking at owl treats and saw the eagle owl. He held back a sigh. It was a BIG owl. It didn't have a cage, but a perch with a water bowl on one side and a food bowl on the other. He looked at Petunia as she stroked the owl's chest and nodded. Even though it was big, it seemed gentle.
"Right, let's get him, then."
"Her. It's a girl." Petunia said.
"Lets get her then," He corrected himself.
Petunia went up to the front of the shop, while Dad stayed with the owl.
"Excuse me, I would like to buy that eagle owl there," Petunia said, pointing to the owl that Dad was now petting and telling her how beautiful she was. The shop attendant looked over and nodded at Petunia.
"Would you like to buy her a perch too, or a cage?"
"I think I'll get her a perch. Also, what food and treats do you recommend?"
The attendant gave her recommendations, and Petunia got them. She glanced over at Dad and he was smiling at his new friend.
Petunia went back to the counter and paid for everything.
"Thank you for shopping with us. Please come again." Petunia smiled and took her purchases over to Dad.
She took the bowls from their places on the perch and put them into the bag and the owl hopped onto Dad's shoulder. Holding on but not breaking the skin with her talons. Dad stumbled a little but righted himself and Petunia picked up the perch and they made their way out and down to the bookstore Flourish and Blotts.
Mum and Lily were heading there too, and Mum stopped when she saw the giant owl on her husband's shoulder. Lily ran over to them
"Tunie, you got an owl?!" she asked and Petunia giggled and shook her head
"I got an owl for you, Lils!" Petunia said.
Mum had come over and heard that and glared at Dad
"You got our 9 year old daughter an owl?" she asked quietly, angry. Mum was scary when she was quiet like that.
"Petunia thought since Lily was going to miss her so much, it would be nice if Lily had an owl so she could write to her whenever she wanted" he said smiling sheepishly.
Mum looked at Lily and Petunia and sighed. Then she saw that Petunia was holding a perch for the owl and not a cage and groaned.
"Lily, do you promise to take good care of this owl?" Mum asked Lily seriously.
"Yes! I promise!" Lily said, nodding.
"If I think you are not taking good enough care of it I am going to take it away, understand?" Mum asked and Lily nodded, though she suspected that from the way Dad was gazing at the owl, he might end up doing a lot of the care and feeding.
"I understand, Mum. What's her name?" Lily asked.
"How did you figure it was a girl, Lily?" Dad asked and Lily giggled.
"She's too pretty to be a boy" Lily said and Petunia and Mum laughed at the face Dad made
"She doesn't have a name yet, Lils. You get to name her" Petunia said.
The owl had been watching this conversation with interest looking at each person as they talked with intelligent eyes.
Petunia wondered how much she actually understood. She was a magic owl after all.
"What about Amber? For her eyes" Lily said and the owl closed her eyes with a little nod, and seemed to like the name.
"I believe she likes that name," Dad said. Mum nodded.
"Amber it is!" Lily said and giggled.
Petunia smiled. Now onto the books!
Inside the bookstore at the counter there was a sign 'come up and ask for the year of Hogwarts books you need please'
Mum and Dad went up to the counter. Amber was still on Dad's shoulder and they talked to the person behind the counter asking for one set of first year Hogwarts books.
Petunia took Lily's hand and walked deeper into the shelves of books.
"Thank you so much for Amber, Tunie" Lily said and smiled at Petunia and she smiled back.
"You're welcome, Lils. I wanted to see if I could find a potions book for Sev, he seems most excited for that subject. Would you help me look?"Lily nodded.
"I'm sorry, but I couldn't help but overhear. There are a lot of potions books in the back of the second floor." a boy with long wavy white blonde hair and green eyes said. He was holding a big stack of books in his arms.
"My name is Xenophilius Lovegood," the boy said, awkwardly.
"My name is Petunia, are you going to Hogwarts too?" Petunia asked politely.
Xenophilius nodded and looked down, after a little more awkward silence he waved and walked away. Petunia and Lily looked at each other and shrugged. They headed up the stairs and to the back. Lily started to look at books, opening them and putting them back. Feeling her gaze being drawn up, Petunia saw a dark red leather book on top of the shelves and just knew it was what she was thinking of when she was planning on getting Severus a book.
She couldn't reach it, so she started to climb up the shelves. Lily dropped the book she was looking at as Petunia climbed, her mouth hanging open. Petunia got the book and told Lily to catch it. Lily tried to catch it but failed, somehow throwing it to the side. Petunia tisked at Lily and hopped down and picked up the book and saw the title:
An introduction to the subtle art of proton making.
Perfect.
Petunia took Lily's hand and they went downstairs and waited in line to buy it.
"Petunia! What are you doing, climbing shelves? What if Mummy or Dad saw you?"
"I just had to have that book for Sev, Lils" Petunia said, shrugging.
The girls spotted Mum and Dad looking at history books. Figured Dad would be curious, he was a history professor after all.
The book cost the rest of her money. It was worth it, though.
When they got to their parents, Mum was reading the back of a book and holding the owl perch in her other hand. Dad was reading a history book on the bronze age from the perspective of the wizarding world.
"I'm ready to go. I found a book for Sev." Petunia said.
Mum put her book back and put a hand on Dad's arm. He looked over and sighed as he put his book back.
"What's next on the list, Rosie?" Dad asked Mum and she looked at the list of supplies.
"I believe all that's left is a wand" Mum said, picking up the shopping bags and handing some of them to Dad.
Petunia slipped the book in the bag with her school books in it.
A wand. This was it. It was really happening.
She had most looked forward to getting a wand.
They all made their way out and down to a shop called 'Ollivander's Wand Shop'
As soon as Petunia crossed the threshold of the store the hair on the back of her neck stood up and she could just feel the magic in the air. It gave Petunia a strange feeling in her teeth. She looked over at Lily and both girls grinned at each other.
"Oh! No, I'm sorry, but no owls in the shop, sir. They might get spooked if a wand rejects a customer. And, I see two young witches. But, who is going first, hmm?" An old man with crazy white hair and strange large silver eyes said.
Lily giggled and pointed over at Petunia
"I'm only 9. I have to wait. But Tunie is 11 and going to Hogwarts!" Lily said.
"Very nice to meet you. My name is Garrick Ollivander."
"Right, Amber and I will wait outside, ladies. Don't want to spook the poor girl." Dad said and squeezed Petunia's shoulder and walked out of the shop.
"Well, let's see shall we? Miss Petunia, would you stand a little away from your sister and hold out your arms so my measuring tapes could get to work?" Ollivander asked.
Petunia nodded. and let go of Lily's hand to take a few steps back as the measuring tapes floated over and began to measure her.
"Cool," Lily said, her eyes wide. Petunia nodded. Mum nodded as well.
The measuring tapes tickled, and Petunia was trying not to giggle.
Mr. Ollivander just watched. Petunia realized with a bit of uneasiness that the man didn't seem to blink. After awhile the measuring tapes stopped measuring, and floated back to him and he 'hmm'ed a few times and looked at Petunia again, thinking.
"Mr Ollivander, what's that glowing down there?" Lily asked, pointing to a box on the bottom of the shelves. Something inside the box was emitting a slowly changing rainbow of light.
"Pardon?" Ollivander looked down and behind him and gasped then quickly looked back at Petunia.
"I wonder…" he said under his breath and didn't look away from Petunia as he backed up and knelt down and finally looked away as he grabbed the box. Once he had it, he opened the box and the wand inside had small vines wrapped around it and was glowing that changing rainbow of light.
"Vine wood, Phoenix core. Give it a try, Miss Petunia." he said, straightening.
Petunia took a deep breath and let it out slowly as she reached out and took the wand from the box. The rainbow light the wand was emitting grew until it filled the room, along with a slight breeze. Petunia felt warm and a peace came over her like the feeling she got when she was whispering late at night in bed with Lily or laying in the grass on a sunny day with Severus. This was Petunia's wand; she just knew it in her bones.
"Well, I do believe that is one of the quickest wand pairings I have ever had. You see, the wand chooses the witch Miss Petunia, and vine wood wands always seem to know the person they want to pair with right away. Curious things. Anyway, that will be 7 gallions please." he said, his tone mysterious and a tiny bit spooky until the end when he asked for payment in a cheerful voice.
Mum blinked a few times and then shook her head a little.
"Those are the gold ones, yes?" Mum asked. He nodded, Mum gave him the coin, and they all left; Petunia carefully put the wand into the box and walked outside, showing Dad, who gave a nod before Petunia closed it.
"Right, well, I think that's everything, yes?" Dad asked and Mum checked the list and the bags and nodded.
"Yes it is everything. So, how exactly are you planning on driving with Amber on your shoulder, Jasper, dear?" Mum asked. Dad scratched his chin in thought.
"You can tell the owl to meet you at home and she will," a girl said, walking up to them. They were in front of Ollivander's still.
"Hi, I'm Pandora. I'm going to Hogwarts this year, too." she said, and held out her hand for Petunia to shake. She had curly dark hair and dreamy blue eyes.
"How did you know I was the one going to Hogwarts?" Petunia asked. Pandora giggled.
"You're the one holding the wand, silly," she said. Petunia looked down and yes, she was, in fact still holding her wand box. She looked up for a second and then shook the other girl's hand.
"I'll see you at school then, Pandora. My name is Petunia." she said and the other girl smiled at her in a strange way, like she somehow knew that already, but it was too quick for Petunia to really tell, the girl had already entered the wand shop.
"Well um…Amber, would you meet us at home? There is a nice tree in the back to wait in" Dad said to the owl and she gave him a long blink and took off.
"I really hope she went to our house" Lily said, with a bit of a pout.
"So do I", Dad said, looking after the bird.
When they got home Lily ran outside to check if Amber was there. She was. She flew down and landed lightly on Lily's shoulder, causing Lily to giggle giddily. She went inside and to her room to set up Amber's perch and get her settled.
Petunia put all of her school uniforms away and her school books and brought the red leather book she got for Severus downstairs to wrap it for him.
"Dad, can I use the newspaper to wrap Sev's book? Also, can I go to the park and give it to him?" Petunia asked. Dad nodded and gave her the newspaper.
"Just make sure you're back before dark, sweetheart" he said and went into the living room.
Petunia took the newspaper to her room and wrapped the book and tied it with a green ribbon. She left for the park alone after asking if Lily wanted to come and got a 'no' Lily was too distracted with settling Amber in to want to come.
At the park Petunia saw Severus sitting under a tree reading an old beat up book, Petunia couldn't see the title, it was so faded.
Petunia sat down next to him in the shade and he looked up, then back to his book and folded the page corner and looked over at her smiling.
"So how was school shopping?" he asked and Petunia raised an eyebrow at him. He looked over to the playground where strangely enough kids were actually playing. Huh.
Petunia smiled at him and put his gift in his lap. He gasped and looked up at Petunia and then back at the gift and opened it carefully, not tearing it. Once he had opened it, he folded the paper and put it and the ribbon in his pockets. He carefully opened the book and gasped again and closed it and practically tackled Petunia in a hug. She laughed.
"Glad you like it, Sev," she said.
"I love it, Tunie. Thank you" he said, still hugging Petunia. She felt some wetness on her shoulder and hugged him back tightly, for as long as he needed.
