Do You Believe In Magic?

Do You Believe In Magic

"Petunia," Lily began softly, whispering into the darkness of their room, "Do you believe in magic?"

"You mean the 'clap your hands and save Tinkerbell' stuff?" Petunia asked quietly.

"No, real magic," Lily said dreamily, "with wands and people yelling hocus pocus. Making people float and all that."

"Lily, you and I both know that's not real. Parents just make that stuff up to make their kids go to sleep. Now, why don't you go to sleep and stop bugging me?" Petunia replied as she turned over to face the wall.

Lily was the daydreamer of the two sisters. Petunia though was the sensible one. She only believed in fact, not something you couldn't prove. They were very close and almost never did anything without each other. They planned to go to the same secondary school that fall.

"Alright. 'Night 'Tunia."

"'Night Lil."

But it's like trying to tell a stranger about rock and roll.

"Lily! Petunia! Breakfast!" their mum called.

"Coming Mum!" Lily and Petunia yelled simultaneously. Lily pulled on a T-shirt and bell-bottoms while Petunia slipped into a long skirt and a halter-top. Both girls left their hair down, their signature flowers behind an ear. Both were the picture perfect girls of their time.

As they slid into their seats at the kitchen table, helping themselves to sausage, eggs, and toast, their mum handed Lily a strange letter.

"What an odd way to address a letter!" their mum exclaimed, "They even put which bedroom you have!"

"Peculiar is what I call it! It doesn't even have a stamp on it!" Petunia said with an air of disgust.

"Hmm," Lily replied as she fingered the thick parchment. "Who could this be from?" she whispered thoughtfully.

Their mum had walked over and turned on the radio, as was custom in the Evans' home. A familiar tune floated on the air and Lily began to sing along quietly as she opened the letter carefully.

"Do you believe in magic, of a young girl's heart? How the music can f..." Lily had stopped singing mid-word and Petunia, who was taking a bite out of her toast, was staring at Lily's shocked face. Lily's heart started to race. Her dazzling emerald eyes widened in disbelief. She almost dropped the precious letter; her hands were trembling. She expected herself to burst into tears of joy at any moment for all of her dreams had just come true.

"Well, what does it say?" Their mother asked before she took a dainty bite of sausage off her fork.

Lily began to read hers aloud:

"Dear Ms. Evans,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

She had stopped to look up at her mother and father. The reaction they had was similar to her own, and Petunia, seeing this, looked horrified.

"You don't actually believe this do you? This must be someone's idea of a joke!" Petunia said while looking frantically from her mother to her father, glancing at Lily every once and a while, "Lily, you're coming to school with me remember? Saint Mary's School for Girls in London!"

"Aren't you going to even say congratulations to your sister?" Their father asked Petunia.

"For what may I ask? For buying into some hoax? For being the center of someone's sick, twisted joke? Why would I congratulate you for something like that." Petunia snapped. Her face had turned a shade of red similar to Lily's hair. Tears of rage began to replace the joyful ones in Lily's eyes.

"You could at least be supportive!" Lily yelled through the steady stream of tears running down her face, "You may be a little older than me, but you're still my sister, Petunia! I would be happy for you if I was in your position!"

"Magic is for freaks!"

"You're the freak if you feel that way! I can't believe I never saw how narrow minded you really are." With that said, Lily ran to their room and flopped on her bed facedown. The door slammed behind her and locked without anyone touching it. Meanwhile, Petunia stomped out of the kitchen in the opposite direction and grabbed her purse. She then left the house in a huff, to blow off steam by shopping to her hearts desire.

In the kitchen, after all this had happened, Lily and Petunia's parents were still sitting at the table staring at the letter. Lily had placed the letter to her carefully on the table. They knew just by looking at the reaction from the girls that their daughters' relationship had been ripped violently in half. It was not hard to see. Lily was a witch, and proud of it, but Petunia was not and also, very proud of it.

It was plain to see that Lily and Petunia's relationship would never be the same.