THC/The Houses Competition. Round 5. Standard

House: Ravenclaw

Class: Potions - Stand-in

Prompts: [Speech] "For the longest time, I wanted to be just like you."

Word Count: 1,500

Beta(s): Aurora, Bea, Rose

Laughter filled the air as the two little girls ran around the playground, playing an imaginary game they had invented. They looked very similar in age, however, the brown-haired girl was a year older.

The two of them were exactly the same - at least, in their eyes they were.

The younger of the two, Lily, looked up to her older sister. The older, Petunia, wanted to be exactly like her little sister. You see, to outsiders they got on impeccably well. However, to them, there was always something there. Something unknown to even the two sisters.

Jealousy.

Lily was the more independent of the two and found it extremely easy to make new friends and talk to strangers. Petunia had never been that confident; she relied on her sister for support and yearned to gain the same confidence.

As they grew up, the two sisters still played with one another, however, Lily didn't always look up to her big sister as she once had. She continued to grow independent and started to make friendships which lasted weeks, months, and even years. While Petunia was always invited, it wasn't the same.

Petunia, however, still wanted to be like her sister, to be able to talk to others freely and not be afraid of the potential consequences. She began to envy her sister.

It wasn't long until Lily did something that Petunia would never be able to live up to: She became a witch.

But it was a mistake! Right? Surely they'd have to take both sisters! They did everything together. Petunia wrote to the headmaster, explaining the error at hand. However, he wouldn't budge.

Her sister left and continued to be that independent blossoming girl that everybody loved, and Petunia was left behind to try and live up to her.

So she did.

She went to the park and started conversations with others, spoke to her and Lily's friends, and found her voice. Without her sister, she had finally started to become what she always wanted.

Things went sour though. Their 'friends' always asked about Lily. And slowly, without her sister around, she realised that they were Lily's friends, not hers.

Sadness filled the twelve-nearly-thirteen-year-old as she swung by herself at the park. Her parents wanted to throw her a birthday party, but she wasn't sure who would want to come. Not even her own sister could come because she was at school. If it had been Lily's birthday, Petunia wouldn't hesitate to leave the school for her - but her younger sister didn't even consider it, she replied to her letter with an apology.

That wasn't a good sister. Petunia wouldn't aspire to follow her sister with that sort of behaviour - this would be the first of many birthday's missed, and with each, Petunia's spirits dampened.

Birthday after birthday. Even though she received a letter from her sister each year, usually arriving on her birthday, it was clear that her parents had brought the present to her from her sister - after all, if Lily had brought it, it would have arrived by an owl.

Hope filled Petunia after Lily's graduation; she'd finally be coming home and they could reconnect fully. Things would finally go back to normal.

They had decided to meet for a double date with both of their boyfriends. It was beyond exciting doing something like this. Petunia had never gone on a double date, her friends weren't dating currently, and the relationship was still rather new. So, having Lily be involved from nearly the very beginning just returned the joy of having her sister around - knowing that she could rely on her younger sister to keep the conversation cheerful, continuous, and calming.

"Be nice to her," Petunia warned Vernon lightly. He could be a bit brash in his beliefs. "She's been away at a private school, and they have weird customs there."

He adjusted his tie. "Let's go," he responded without acknowledging her words.

Unaware of his mild disinterest, she happily straightened out her dress and got into the passenger side seat of the car. Throughout the whole drive there, Petunia couldn't stop the thoughts from going through her mind.

She had her sister back!

They would hang out daily, sharing their memories in the park, and hanging out with their mutual friends.

They could arrange regular double dates.

What if they lived near to each other, or even on the same street?

Both of them could have children at the same time and play. They both wanted more siblings; cousins were a fantastic compromise!

It would be like old times before Lily became a witch and left her behind.

Before they even pulled up, Petunia unbuckled her seatbelt, and practically jumped out of the car as she saw a vibrant flash of red waiting outside of the chosen cafe. Petunia ignored Vernon's grunt at her actions and chose to run over to her sister first. "Lily!"

"Tuney!" replied the smooth voice of her sister.

As their arms went around each other, she just knew this was going to be fine. "You look great!"

Lily smiled and indicated to her left. "This is James."

Petunia had forgotten about that. "James, good name. This is Vernon," she said, just before he had reached her side. The two men shook hands before Vernon led Petunia inside.

They had barely sat down when James started a conversation - strange that it wasn't Lily, but Petunia brushed that from her mind. "I hear you both lived in this general area your whole life?"

"Yeah," was Vernon's reply.

Petunia elbowed him lightly before turning her attention to the couple opposite. "We did. Vernon lived further north so I didn't meet him until Secondary School. But Lily and I grew up just down the block. We used to come here and buy one of those huge doughnuts to share."

"I always favoured the strawberry topping, and Petunia always wanted the chocolate one," Lily informed them all, adding to the memory.

With a grin, the older girl spoke: "We used to do rock, paper, scissors to see which flavour we would get."

"Tuney was the best at that game!"

It was as if no time had passed. "I can't wait until you move back into the area.

One second.

Two seconds.

Three seconds.

And her dream was smashed.

"Oh," Lily verbalised, somehow shocked by the statement. "Actually, James and I brought a cottage nearer to London."

Betrayal instantly filled Petunia. All of the feelings of abandonment came rushing back to her and rendered her speechless.

"Why there?" Vernon questioned.

"It's closer to our work, or where we want to work. Easier access," James replied, seeming to stop more suddenly than one normally would.

"Are you okay, Tuney?"

Tuney. The childhood name. Was her sister pretending that everything was fine? That she hadn't just stabbed her in the back again? Abandoned her? Without any regards to her feelings? "So you're not coming back?" she couldn't help but ask.

A gentle sigh left the red-heads lips. "After everything that has happened, with Mum and Dad's death, and what I've gone through. It's for the best. I'll come and visit all of the time, and you can come-"

"No!" interrupted Petunia. This was too much. "Why would I want you to visit?"

Silence.

A scoff left her throat unintentionally. "For the longest time, I wanted to be just like you." Petunia shook her head in regret. "You were confident, everybody liked you. But now I see the truth. You are selfish! You only care about yourself!"

"Tuney-"

"It's Petunia!" she corrected. "You lost the right to call me 'Tuney' when you walked out of that door and missed every single one of my birthday's! When you let Mum and Dad die in that car crash! When you became a freak of nature!" She took an angry breath, trying to calm her voice down - she didn't want to draw attention to herself, after all, she was the normal one. "If you want to go and abandon me again, then fine, but I won't be here for you to come back to when you realise what freakish life awaits you and your freak boyfriend!"

The confrontational face of James remained silent as he held the hand of the shocked and hurt Lily.

Vernon stood up suddenly. "We're done here." He took Petunia's hand and practically pulled her out of the cafe and into the car. "What was that about?"

In absolute shock of what had just transpired, she answered with the truth - what else was there? "She's a witch. A freak. She killed my parents."

He sneered. "Why did we come here?"

She looked at him with utter confidence. "To say goodbye to them forever."

Petunia didn't even look back at the cafe as they drove off. And to her, it felt like they carried on driving until they settled in their new home a few weeks later, on 4 Privet Drive. A very normal street. Away from any sort of freakish memories.