Petunia's Story

"I'll get it!" shrieked Petunia as she heard a tapping at the window. She ran over. There at the window was her sister's owl, a tawny one named Ivy. She opened the window, and the bird dropped a letter and a newspaper in Petunia's lap. It then settled on the banister in case she wanted to send a reply.

Petunia hurried to the table. She slit open the envelope and sat down to read the letter. As she read, she got more and more excited.

Dear Petunia,

Great news! I've found a way for you to get to Hogwarts! See, there's this big concert my school is having, and I'm in it. I'm allowed to invite one friend/relative to see the concert, and that friend/relative can also sing up to four songs with me in the concert, especially if they're Muggles. You'll get to stay for three weeks. Cool, huh? It's all part of a plan by Arthur Weasley--he's this red-haired wizard who works for the Ministry of Magic, and he's really nice. His plan calls for relations between magic and non-magic people. Naturally, I thought of you!

I sent you a copy of our newspaper, the Daily Prophet, so you could see what kinds of things are going on around here. It's dark times, Rose, dark times. But I've often been told that nothing can hurt us while we're at Hogwarts.

Oops! It's almost time for History of Magic! (Bleagh. I hate Binns--he is so boring!) Send me an answer with Ivy if you can come. Hope to see you in a couple of weeks!

Love, Lily.

Petunia flew to her mother. "Mum! Mum! Mum!" she shrieked.

Mrs. Evans looked startled. "What is it, love?"

Petunia stopped, breathless. "Mum, it's a letter from Lily. She invited me to come to Hogwarts! She even sent a ticket, and a newspaper, and everything! Oh, please, please, please, please, PLEASE can I go?"

Mrs. Evans looked over the ticket. "Well, sure, honey. Go ahead and pack. You're leaving tomorrow, after all."

Petunia shrieked with excitement for the third time in as many moments. She threw her arms around her mother and ran upstairs to pack.

In fifty-nine seconds flat everything she would need for three weeks at Hogwarts--namely, T-shirts and jeans, because that was what was on the list she'd been given--was packed in her trunk, and Ivy was on her way back to Hogwarts with a letter to Lily. Having done this, Petunia settled down on her bed to read the Daily Prophet she'd been sent.

She found that she was glad Lily had sent her the newspaper. A twinkling black-and-white photograph showed a grinning skull with a serpent coming out of its mouth. The accompanying article was about a family of Muggles--meaning non-magical folk, like Petunia and her parents--who had been murdered by Death Eaters. The article went on to explain that Death Eaters were supporters of a man that was called You-Know-Who. She made a mental note to ask Lily who You-Know-Who was.

Another article was talking about the concert at Hogwarts. She read over it eagerly and was pleased to read that "Lily Evans, a Gryffindor fourth year, is said to be the star of the performance. With her sweet voice singing beautiful songs, it's no wonder she has been voted 'Most Likely to Become a Famous Singer'." As she was about to read a different article, however, a line caught her eye.

"Arthur Weasley, of the Department for the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office, arranged to have friends or relations of the students of Hogwarts attend the concert. Several students have invited Muggles. One question raised by these students is how to get the Muggles to Hogwarts when they cannot see it or access the platform. Says Arthur Weasley, 'There is a bit of a trick to it...they will have to be accompanied by a wizard. I would urge all students who have invited Muggles to tell them to wait for me at the barrier between Platforms Nine and Ten. As Muggles cannot penetrate the barrier on their own, they will have to hold the hand of a wizard. That's the way it works.'"

Petunia nodded. Now she knew what to do.

~~~

The next day, Petunia took a taxi to Kings Cross, telling her parents that she would see them in a couple weeks. She wheeled her trunk over to Platform Nine and Ten. The barrier appeared to be solid. There were no redheads in sight.

With a sigh, Petunia leaned against the barrier to wait when, to her surprise, she slid right through the barrier. She gasped as she emerged onto a platform like none she had ever seen.

The sign overhead read "Platform Nine and Three-Quarters". A scarlet engine stood nearby, emitting steam. Witches and wizards in robes were greeting one another. Muggles in T-shirts and jeans were standing around, unsure.

Remembering her sister's letters, Petunia confidently wheeled her trunk around to a compartment. She hoisted it into an overhead luggage rack and settled down for the ride.

Someone poked a head in the compartment. It was a young girl about Petunia's age. "'Scuse me," she said, "but can I sit here? Everywhere else is full."

"Sure!" said Petunia, eager for someone to talk to.

"My name's Ivy," said the girl as she came in. "Ivy Summers. What's your name?"

"Petunia. Petunia Evans," replied Petunia. "But just call me Rose."

Ivy sat down. "I'm a Squib," she announced, smoothing her robes. "What about you?"

"Oh--er--I'm a Muggle," said Petunia. "Erm--what's a Squib?"

"Oh, sorry," said Ivy. "A Squib is sort of the opposite of a Muggle-born wizard or witch, but Squibs are really rare. They're actually sort of wizard-born Muggles."

Ivy squirmed uncomfortably and said, "My sister--her name is Holly--and my parents were all excited when she got the letter. We're twins, and Mum wanted to know why I didn't get one too. Turned out I was a Squib. I don't mind, though...I get to go to military academy. It's a lot of fun."

"Well, I mind being a Muggle with a witch sister," said Petunia. "Lily--that's my sister--and I always did everything together. Then she got the letter. I mean, I was really happy for her--still am, in point of fact--but it's hard reading about all her classes and things from her letters..." She shook her head and continued. "I mean, it makes me feel like I'm at her classes too, but then I finish the letters, and I realise that she belongs to another world now, a world I can never be a part of, and it hurts."

The two girls fell silent for a while. The train began to move, and it pulled away from the station with visitors.

~~~

Several hours later, the train pulled into a station. Ivy and Petunia disembarked and stood confused on the platform. A light shone at the end of the platform, and a husky voice called down to them.

"Muggles an' Squibs over here!"

"Come on, Ivy!" said Petunia, her voice squeaking in excitement.

The two hurried over and stopped. There in front of them was the largest man they had ever seen. He peered down at them. "Ah, you must be Lily Evans' sister," he said to Petunia, who nodded. "Nice to meet you. I'm Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts. You two Muggles?"

"I am," said Petunia.

"I'm a Squib, actually," confessed Ivy.

"Ar, ain't nothin' to be ashamed of," shrugged Hagrid. "Makes you special."

Ivy grinned. Petunia could already tell she'd like Hagrid.

They followed Hagrid to the side of a lake and climbed into a fleet of boats. The fleet rounded a corner, and Petunia couldn't hold back an audible gasp.

Sprawling before them was a huge castle. Thousands of windows were aglow with light. No one else seemed very amazed. Ivy turned to Petunia, puzzled.

"What are you gasping at?" she said. "It's just a bunch of old ruins."

Hagrid led them to a doorway where a stern-looking woman stood. "The Muggles, Professor McGonagall," he said, turning them over.

"Thank you, Hagrid, I'll take them from here," the teacher replied. She led the Muggle visitors into a large entrance hall.

"You are about to be Sorted into your houses for the next few weeks," she began. "Hopefully, you will be in the same house as your host, but this may not be the case."

Ivy and Petunia exchanged looks.

"Please give me a moment," said the woman. She left the room and returned a few minutes later. "We're ready for you."

The large group went to a second hall. The ceiling seemed to open into the heavens. Petunia remembered one of Lily's letters and whispered to Ivy, "It's not really open. It's bewitched, to look like the night sky. Lily told me about it."

The teacher unrolled a scroll. Several people were Sorted--all of them, coincidentally, into Hufflepuff--when the teacher finally called, "Evans, Petunia!"
Petunia sat on the stool. The hat slid down over her eyes--but a tiny little voice spoke in her ear...

"Whoa! Whoa! What's going on? You can see Hogwarts--and you got into the platform--my dear, you are a witch! And you're Lily Evans's sister...GRYFFINDOR!"

The table on the far left cheered loudly. Petunia could see Lily, on her feet, cheering louder than all the others. Petunia ran over to sit with her sister. Lily gave her a huge hug.

"You're going to love Hogwarts!" she enthused.

Petunia nodded, but she was a little confused by something. "Lils? How can you not see Hogwarts?"

Lily looked surprised. "Muggles can't see Hogwarts. All they see are some old ruins. I think that's all Squibs see too. Why?"

"Because--" Petunia bit her lip. "Because I can see Hogwarts. And I can get onto the platform without a wizard. The Sorting Hat said I was a witch."

"Partly," spoke up Remus, who was actually the smartest one of the group. "I think you have a bit of magic in you, since you and Lily are twins and she's a witch. That enables you to overcome anti-Muggle barriers. But it isn't enough to actually get into Hogwarts...you can probably do magic, though."

"I'll teach you some spells," promised Lily. "See if you can do them with my wand...willow, fifteen inches, nice and supple."

Petunia grinned.

~~~

A few days later, the day following the concert--which was a rousing success--Professor McGonagall made an announcement.

"There will be a ball a week from today. Be sure to get a partner soon. You will, however, behave in a manner befitting a Hogwarts student. Class dismissed."

Petunia and Lily were discussing the day's Transfiguration lesson when James came over. "Hey, Lily, can I talk to you alone?" he asked.

"Sure," said Lily, and she followed him a little way down a corridor.

When they had gone, Remus came over to where Petunia stood waiting for Lily. "H-hey, P-Petunia?"

"Yeah, Remus?" said Petunia, giving him a questioning smile.

The smile seemed to make Remus even more nervous. He stammered, "W-w-w-wangoballwime?"

"Pardon?" Petunia asked, smile fading a little.

"D-d'you want to go to the ball with me?" asked Remus nervously.

Petunia's smile widened again. "Sure!"

"Really?" said Remus, looking surprised.

"Of course!" Petunia smiled. "I'd love to."

Remus grinned. "Great! See you later, Petunia."

Petunia stared after him. Normally she didn't like her name, much preferring Rose to Petunia, but for some reason it didn't seem so bad when Remus said it.

Lily came back, glowing. "Hey, Rose, come on."

Petunia shook herself and followed her sister.

~~~

The evening of the ball, Petunia, Lily, and the other girls in Lily's year went up three hours early to get ready. One girl, a girl called Lora, opened a wardrobe at the end of the room. Inside were about twenty to thirty dress robes, all different colours.

"We can all pick a different one," said Lora excitedly. "We'll do our hair when we're done."

It seemed simple enough, but in fact it was an hour and a half later that all the girls had finally selected a set of robes that looked good on them and they liked. Lily was wearing bright blue robes, which were set off perfectly by her auburn hair. Petunia had had much more of a challenge. Unlike Lily, Petunia's hair was much lighter. It was a beautiful red, the colour of pale fire, but it was very hard to match with anything. Finally they had found the perfect robes--ones of a glittering, silky, emerald green that swirled around her gracefully when she walked. "Perfect," declared everyone.

"Now on to our hair," said Rachel, shaking her curly brownish-red tresses.

"No! Wait!" cried Petunia. "If we do our hair now, it'll be ruined when we put on our stockings and shoes."

The girls immediately jumped and pulled on stockings. Lora had a pair of shoes to go with every set of dress robes she owned. Emerald, red, blue, gold, silver, pink, and lilac came out of the closet and on to feet. Then they set to work on their hair.

The girl who wore gold, Esmerelda, pulled her long black hair into a kind of half-bun. Lora, in red, twisted her hair on the sides of her head into a "honey-bun" hairdo. In pink was Rani, who was Indian, and she simply braided a long pink ribbon into her hair. The silver was on beautiful Rachel, who braided her long hair and twisted it into a bun on top of her head. Lily braided her hair into two plaits and wrapped them around her head. Petunia simply pulled her hair back into a low ponytail.

There were now only ten minutes until the grand entrance of the ball, which was when the girls descended the marble staircase to where the boys were waiting and joined their partners. Lora quickly pulled out a necklace for each girl--a sapphire for Lily, a ruby for herself, a diamond for Rachel, a piece of topaz for Esmerelda, rose quartz for Rani, and--

"Oh, no!" she cried, digging through the door. "I left my emerald necklace at home!"

Petunia tried to calm her down. "It's okay, I don't need one--"

"No, wait, here, use this," interrupted Lora, thrusting a necklace at her.

Petunia opened her fist and looked at the necklace. It was an opal--her birthstone--hers and Lily's. She quickly fastened the necklace around her neck, and the girls hurried off to the top of the staircase.

They were the last ones there, and Petunia was at the end of the line. The girl in front of them--a Slytherin--looked back at them. Her eyes travelled lazily along and rested on Petunia's hair. "A simple ponytail?" she said, lips curling back in a sneer. "Honestly, do you really think you'll get anyone's attention with that?"

The other girls quickly turned to her, but Petunia kept cool. "No, and I'm not planning to," she said calmly. "I plan to have a good time. I'm fourteen, and I don't even go to this school. I don't plan on holding out for the admiration of everyone."

The girl opened her mouth, but Lora said sharply, "Can it, Narcissa."

Narcissa turned around, her blonde curls bobbing.

The line dwindled slowly. Petunia could hear the murmurs of talking people in the entrance hall. Finally, Lily disappeared down the marble staircase. After about five minutes, Professor McGonagall beckoned to Petunia, and she began her descent down the stairs.

As she appeared on the landing, the whole room fell silent. Everyone stared up at her. Though, as Narcissa had pointed out, her hairstyle was painfully simple, she somehow outshone everyone in the hall. Remus stared as she came, then suddenly shook his head and came up partway to meet her. She took his arm, and they gracefully descended the stairs together.

James was surprised. Normally Remus was a little clumsy--he tended to trip over his own feet when coming down staircases--but now he seemed to be floating.

Remus and Petunia outshone all the other dancers in the room. It really surprised James and Sirius, because Remus couldn't dance to save his life. Now, with Petunia, it seemed as though he had lived his whole life on a dance floor.

~~~

Two weeks later, it was time to return home--for everyone. The three weeks had been the end of the school year, so everyone was going home together.

Petunia, Lily, Remus, James, and Sirius grabbed a compartment together. Peter had gone to sit with his mother in another compartment. They stared at each other for a minute, then the train pulled into gear and Petunia remembered something.

Pulling a deck of cards out of her pocket, she began teaching them to play Canasta.

~~~

"Bye, James, Remus, Siri! See you next school year!"

"Hopefully, I'll see you at Christmas?"

"Of course! 'Bye, Rose! Bye, Lily!"

Lily and Petunia loaded their trunks into the back of the waiting taxi and settled in for the ride home. They paid the driver, unloaded their trunks, and pulled the trunks up the path, still talking. Suddenly, Petunia stopped.

Glittering over their house was a shape made of ghastly green smoke. It looked like a skull with a snake coming out of its mouth. Now where have I seen that before? Petunia wondered. Then she remembered...in the article that Lily had sent her. That was over the house where the Muggle family had been killed. She grabbed her sister's arm.

"Lils!" she gasped weakly, pointing to the roof.

Lily looked up, saw the shape, and gasped, clinging to Petunia to stop herself from falling.

"It's the Dark Mark!" she moaned. "Oh, no!"

The two girls ran inside and stopped short. Their father was lying on the floor, keys in his hand, jacket on, a look of intense anger on his face. Their mother lay motionless on the kitchen floor, an expression of fright in her eyes. They were both dead.

~~~

That's when I began to distance myself from the magic.

Oh, I didn't blame Lily, not at all. And I knew that it wasn't her fault, or mine, that Mum and Dad were dead. But I did know that magic had killed them. And that's when I started hating it, just a little.

Lily was right about everything she'd ever predicted. One day, Vernon Dursley came over and asked for me, and he was transformed into--well, if not exactly a handsome prince, at least a halfway attractive lord. I was still dating Remus Lupin, but then he said he was a werewolf and we had to break up so he wouldn't hurt me. His own words, I swear.

Anyway, I married Vernon Dursley. My uncle arranged it. I became Petunia Dursley. Vernon refused to call me Rose--he knew that's what Lily called me. He also knew my sister was a witch, and he hated her. I began to pretend I hated her, simply because Vernon did and I would upset him if I didn't. That fight Lily had predicted was staged to satisfy him. He even made me dye my hair blonde, so that I would look more like him and less like Lily.

Oh, believe me, our marriage life was far from perfect. The biggest fight we had was when I refused to feed Dudley formula while I was nursing him, too. I said I didn't want my boy growing up spoiled, but he said that plenty of food would make him stronger. I let him have his way with that one, but I point-blank refused to put him in advanced placement classes. Honestly, the boy is as dumb as a brick, but I have to pretend he's smart and all that other gushy stuff in front of Vernon. Arranged marriages suck.

When Dudley was about a year old, though, I opened the door one morning to put out the milk and discovered a bundle on the doorstep. I opened it, and inside was a baby. The baby--it was a boy--had jet-black hair at odd angles. I recognised that hairstyle--it was James Potter's. He always claimed it was heredity, and I guess it's true. Then the baby opened his eyes, and I screamed. He had Lily's eyes! This was her son, Harry!

I brought the boy in, read the letter, and started to cry. Lily, my beautiful, headstrong, steadfast sister, had died. She and James had been killed the same way my parents were, by that horrible, awful killing curse. The only reason the Dark Mark hadn't hovered over their house was that, somehow, Harry had survived the curse that had killed all the family he had--his parents, my parents--with only a scar, while the person who cast it was destroyed. This boy was special.

Vernon came in, and I quickly stopped crying and showed him the letter. He's the one, not I, who imposed those strict rules on the boy, forbade him to be as lazy as he allowed Dudley to be, prevented him from getting him enough food, and fostered that feeling of hate for the boy in Dudley. I'm considering writing him a letter, but how would I get it to him? It's not like he sends any letters to us.

I've taken to intercepting any letters sent from Hogwarts before Vernon can get to them. Two years ago, when the boys were twelve, I received a letter saying Harry and his friend--Ron, or whatever it is--had crashed a flying car into the Whomping Willow. I remember that tree--Lily said it had been planted the year she came to Hogwarts. It was an exceptionally violent tree, and I was sincerely glad the boy had lived through it, though I couldn't tell Vernon, of course. HE was upset the tree hadn't knocked him to bits.

Last year, though, I got a letter concerning the boy that really made my heart stop. He had been entered in a dangerous tournament. I wanted to go, but of course Vernon saw the letter--and the ticket--and burnt it.

My nephew is such a sweet child--I know that--but I can't tell him, ever. I almost wish my own son had turned out this way--sweet, quiet, complacent, hard-working. Of course, thanks to Venomous Vernon, Dudley is a fat, lazy pig who is high overdue for a diet.

If anyone ever meets Harry, please tell him I love him.