Petunia's Story

I can't believe I'm losing my sister.

We were always so close--practically twins. Actually, we are twins. We had so much fun when we were younger. I remember one time in particular. Mom was in the basement, and we decided to make dinner for her. We shuffled through the cupboard until we found the only thing we could make--spaghetti. We decided to--this was really weird--put chocolate frosting on it. When we served it with a smile, Mom practically had a heart attack, and Dad nearly had a coronary from laughing so hard. They ate every bit of it, and it was pretty good, too. That was a lot of fun.

We liked to play jokes, especially on this fat, ugly boy who lived across the street from us. His name was Vernon Dursley, and he played football in the front yard with our older brother Cori. Cori was short for, of all things, Coriolis. (Mom and Dad have a weird sense of humour.) Lily told me once, though, that one of these days Vernon was going to come over and ask for me, not Cori, and suddenly he'd be transformed into a handsome prince. Thank God, that hasn't happened yet. I asked her why me, why not her, and she said that I was older and prettier than she was. We were nine years old at the time, and I was only a couple of minutes older than she was, but I appreciated it all the same.

That was five years ago. Back then, we were both at the local primary school, Crunchem Hall. Now I have to go to Stonewall High, which is the best high school in England, in my opinion. Cori is at Smeltings, a prestige boy's school. He told me last summer that he wasn't really getting enough to eat. Vernon is at Smeltings too, and Cori says their rations are so scanty because Vernon takes about half of it from each person.

And Lily is at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

At first, I was really happy for her. She got to go to somewhere new and exciting, somewhere I'd never been and wasn't likely to go. And she was a witch. She promised that when she got home the first summer, she'd turn Vernon into a toad so that some idiot could kiss him and make him a handsome prince. Then she found out they couldn't do magic outside of school. But that was okay.

She sent me lots of letters about all of her classes. I still have them all. They're locked in a fireproof box, because you just never know. She told me about boring old Professor Binns, the History of Magic teacher, who got up to teach one day and left his body behind, then kept teaching. She told me about how she had been sorted into Gryffindor, the best house there is. She said that the Potions teacher hated everyone in her class simply because they had the fortune (or misfortune, in his eyes) to not be Slytherins, which she says is the worst house. I learned about McGonagall, the Transfiguration teacher, as well as Transfiguration itself; Defence Against the Dark Arts, and how they got a new teacher practically every year; and all her other classes as well. She told me what they had done, and what they were learning, which made me feel as if I could do magic too. Still, we were really close.

Recently, I've been getting a lot of letters concerning a James Potter. She mentioned him in some of her other letters--he's a friend of hers who's always getting into trouble--but now I think there's a little more to it. I get the feeling that she's "enamoured". She's in love with this James Potter, and he and her other friends are coming here for Christmas. It was Mom's idea.

I can't say I'm not excited to meet her friends, because I am. I just don't like the fact that this James Potter is taking my sister away from me.

Lily does make sense now and then, though, and she sent me something disturbing in her last letter. She takes Divination, which is basically fortune telling. She said they were studying crystal balls, and for the first time in two years of taking this class she saw something. Following is a direct quote from her letter.

"I saw a man who looked like an older Vernon Dursley. He was sitting in his living room with a girl who looked a lot like you, Petunia, except she had blonde hair. He said something about having seen your sister recently, meaning me. You pursed your lips like it was a distasteful subject. Then it dissolved to two younger girls who looked like you and me. They looked about nineteen and were arguing. You said something about not wanting your son exposed to that. I said good riddance. I didn't want mine exposed to a boy like that either. Then we both stomped off.

Petunia, I'm no expert, but I don't think we're going to be friends forever. I just want you to promise me something. If we do fight someday, and we do separate, please come and see me every Christmas at least."

If that's what my sister wants, that's what she'll get. I can't imagine ever fighting with her, though.

Oh, here comes her owl with her next letter. I'd better go. Just one more thing before I close.

I love my sister. If anything happens, I want Lily to know that I love her and always will.