THC - Hufflepuff - Year 1 - Round 3 - Standard - Theme: Love Conquers All - Prompt: Severus Snape and Petunia Evans - Word count: 1383. Betas: Aya

Snape always knew that Lily was gifted. She was a witch just like him. He was the one who introduced her to the wizarding world, to who she really was. Her older sister, Petunia, never liked him. Petunia was filled with hate, jealousy, and insults.

When Snape returned to his unhappy home after sixth year, he didn't know what to do. It had been a whole year since Lily had refused to talk to him. Years of friendship and she turned her back on him after one slip up.

The teen sat on one of the swings, swaying backwards and forwards. He didn't want to be at home right now and there was no one else he could visit, so alone in the park was the best and only option he could think of right now.

"Well, if it isn't smelly-Sevvy," Petunia greeted with a sneer. "Heard Lily hates you now."

"I hear she hates you, too," he replied cruelly. He'd never heard Lily say anything of the sorts but Petunia didn't know that.

Petunia was silent for a moment. "That's your fault. You turned her into a freak! She left everybody behind… even you!"

"She is not a freak! You've always been jealous of her. Lily is better than you in every way!" Snape had stood up and glared at the slightly older girl, but soon his anger dissipated. He was defending Lily again. However, he doubted that she would do the same for him. "Well… maybe not every way. You hate me and still talk to me. At least you've got that above her."

"Keep your friends close but your enemies closer," she replied, her tone still harsh but less mean. "What did you do?"

Snape looked up at her sheepishly. "I called her a Mudblood."

"A what?"

"Mudblood… it means she has dirty blood because her parents aren't witches."

"What am I?"

"A Muggle," he answered even though he knew she knew the term. "Non-magical being."

Petunia scowled at him. "Muggle."

Snape nodded and looked at her. "I'm sorry you're not a witch."

The older girl scoffed. "I don't want to be a freak! Or go to that stupid school! I'm not… I'll be… I don't abandon family." With that, Petunia turned and stormed off.

The seventeen-year-old wasn't entirely sure of the whole conversation. One thing he did know, Petunia was still willing to talk to him and the entire conversation wasn't riddled with insults. Had he been so blind to ignore the Muggle? If one of the Evans was willing to talk to him, perhaps this summer wouldn't be as awful as he imagined.

Snape and Petunia spent more time over the summer together. It was still filled mostly with insults but Snape was used to that. He was desensitised to insults after being in school with James Potter and Sirius Black.

He and Petunia didn't talk about the magical world often, it always brought up a bitterness in the older woman. However, she now had a good grasp of the magical world.

When the end of the summer came, Snape knew that he and Petunia were friends and that his relationship with Lily was truly over. After all, he couldn't recover from calling her a Mudblood, so how could he recover from Petunia calling her that, too?

There were no promises when they said their goodbye's. In fact, it was barely a goodbye. Snape would miss her. He could only hope she would miss him too.

The next time Snape saw Petunia was after graduation, he didn't come back for Christmas and only sent one letter – he hadn't received a reply. He saw her arguing with Lily. It was heated. In the past, Snape would jump in and defend Lily. Things had changed.

The eighteen-year-old hesitantly walked towards them, listening to their argument and trying to understand what it was about. Surely it couldn't just be because Lily was a witch?

"You're such a self-righteous bitch!" Petunia spat. "Nobody wants you here! Just leave and be with your jerk fiance!"

Snape's eyes snapped to Lily – she was marrying Potter.

"He is not a jerk! If you just came inside and spoke to him—"

"Never!" Petunia interrupted.

Snape looked between the sisters to the doorway of the house. Potter was standing there. He looked just as smug as he did in school.

Lily's eyes were pleading with her sister. "Please. He'd a good—"

"He's the opposite of good," Snape interrupted. "He's a bully."

Lily turned a glare on him.

"And you're just a Mudblood," Petunia spat at Lily. "You don't belong in the Wizarding world. You don't belong here. You don't belong anywhere." The older sister spun around and started to walk off as Potter made his way over angrily. "Come on, Sev."

Snape took one glance at Potter and Lily before following Petunia. She'd never shortened his name before. He knew the older girl was doing everything she could to hurt Lily and taking her old nickname for him was one of the ways. He wasn't sure how he felt about that.

Petunia stopped at a bench and sat down. It was only after Snape sat down beside her did he notice she was crying. He'd never seen her cry before. It was hard to even imagine, let alone see.

"Petunia?"

"She has everything! She always got everything she wanted."

He placed a hand on her shoulder awkwardly. Comforting wasn't his fortey. "That's not true."

"Yes, it is! She has the normal world, the magical world, a fiance, and friends!" Petunia turned so he was mildly looking at her back. "I don't have anything."

"That's not true! You have the muggle world too, your family, and friends. You told me about them."

She nodded but that didn't seem to subdue her hurt.

"What about Lily gets you so upset?"

Petunia groaned in frustration and looked at him. "She's just so… perfect! Lily gets everything she wanted… she even gets what she doesn't want. It's not fair! Nothing is fair!"

"She doesn't get everything," Snape attempted to comfort.

"Really. What doesn't she get?"

Snape tried to not hesitate but it was a hard question. Lily did seem to have a perfect life. Thankfully, being a Death Eater taught him to think on his feet quickly. "She doesn't have you or your sisterly love," he started. Petunia's smirk told him she was happy with that little power over her younger sister. "She wasn't the best in every class. I was better at potions than her."

"Really?"

Snape nodded. "And… she will never have me. If she changes her mind, I won't fall to her feet anymore."

That really made Petunia smile. Why he wasn't sure. That didn't matter though. "What are you doing right now?"

"Nothing."

"Let's get something to eat. I'm starving."

The next month was spent between serving The Dark Lord and serving Petunia Evans. Snape had never thought he would date the older Evans sister. He never imagined they would fit so well together either. The realisation hit him like a tonne of bricks on a stormy day. He didn't want to be anywhere else but here with her. They'd only been officially dating a week and a half, but Snape knew he had found his soulmate. Of course, he also knew he'd have to wait to propose to her, she still wasn't sure if she liked him being a wizard.

Petunia Snape opened her front door to greet the mailman when she saw a baby on her doorstep. She knew instantly it was her sisters' little brat. "Severus!" she called urgently.

Her husband had been distant since receiving an owl late last night and hadn't even spoken to her. She had a strong feeling that he knew something was going on.

She glared at him as he walked over and stared down at the sleeping baby boy.

"Your sister's been murdered," he uttered making no effort to pick up the new arrival.

Petunia couldn't believe her ears. She looked down once again. Her life was already abnormal enough, she didn't want to have to raise a little brat along with her son. She couldn't believe that Lily was ruining her life again. Even from the grave her sister liked to make her miserable.