Secrets She Kept » Harry Potter

Part 2

Petunia remembered her childhood well. She remembered the pale boy with the long dark hair to hide his crooked nose. The boy who told stories of magic and a world full of wonderful possibilities if you dared to enter it. The boy spoke with such passion, his dark brown eyes would twinkle with joy explaining all he knew of the subject. It intrigued both herself and Lily, hearing the stories of the magical world.

She remembered the day Lily excitedly admitted she had magical powers like the small boy had shown her. Lily would hold out her hand to regrow a dead daisy she had picked from the grass field.

At first, her sister was astounded and hoped she too would get magical powers. She would watch in wonder her sister showing off her new skills to her parents who were overjoyed with excitement. Lily had always been the preferred daughter, no matter how intelligent Petunia was. Petunia would wake each morning as a young girl and practise her own powers, hoping she would have the same skill. All measures taken would end in failure.

It upset her, she was special like Lily. Lily had given handed to her on a silver platter. The beauty, the brains and now she had magical powers.

Petunia turned sour. She would overlook the garden window to see Lily excitedly practising her powers with the pale boy. He no longer took interest in Petunia, to him she was a plain Muggle. She found it an odd word, yet becoming a witch was something different. Lily became selfish herself, not even wanting to show Petunia what the boy had taught her.

That was the first decline in their sibling relationship.

All the young girl had was looking to the future, navigating her own way in the world. She was different from other young women her age due to her knowledge about the second world, it all had to remain a secret. Petunia had a vision of her future, she would live in a large house surrounded by kind neighbours. They would all have offspring of their own, which would allow her own children to befriend them. She wouldn't stop at just one child, she would have multiple in their own kingdom, protected from the freaks. Free from any magical influence.

She didn't expect her sister to be murdered, didn't expect her infant to be left on her doorstep in the middle of the night. She was told the news through a letter, from the man who rejected her own letter of communication on attending Hogwarts herself. Her husband was disappointed there was another mouth to feed, but thankful that there were two fewer freaks in the world. He was told the truth about her sister and instantly took Petunia's side, hating them. Both didn't care about keeping a relationship with the couple when her mother passed.

Yet even from the grave Petunia was still picking up the pieces from Lily, being the one left with her burdens.

This halted her plans for her fairytale vision in life. She got a husband who supported his family and one child to start their large loving family. Vernon became more bitter with the news that he was a guardian of a freak, it concerned Petunia even more. There were minimal emotions in her husband and he expected life to go his way. Vernon vowed to only provide his nephew with the basic essentials, he would rather invest in his son's future.

The idea of adding to their family was shot down. This upset Petunia, she wanted to blame that infant. It wasn't his fault, but his sister's for choosing to live in a dangerous world. Around her husband, she had to be emotionless around Harry, but in private she would make an effort to have a positive influence on his life. She was never abusive like her husband, but she was strict and had high expectations of the toddler. She had to make the best of the opportunity to raise more children than Dudley.

Eventually, her usual bitterness would take hold and she was back to barking orders at the child. Harry found it unfair that he was expected to pick up his cousin who was gifted anything if he asked for it. It was the same way that Petunia catered to any demand that Vernon asked. She had changed her lifestyle, hair colour and personal relationships with people in the neighbourhood.