I thought I knew my ending - Year 1 and 2

Chapter 6 - Summer holidays

6.1 Through the eyes of Petunia Evans

My parents and I stood at the platform where her train was due to arrive at 7pm. The week before she returned involved a lot of stress and preparations as my parents wanted to organise something special for their daughter. I knew it was childish to be jealous of all the effort they put into my sister, as I received their support and love throughout the whole year. But still, I watched with a stab in my heart as they eagerly, almost jumping, waited for the train that would take my younger sister back home.

The conflict I felt every time I saw her, after we got the news that Lily was a witch, was again stirring throughout my body. I looked forward to seeing her, I really did. I loved spending an entire summer with her, eating ourselves sick on cherries in the farmer's field behind our house, sneaking up on the roof of the barn to look at the stars, making up stories and... Lily no longer had to make up stories and look for magic in her life, because she had suddenly received it just like that. She, purely by luck, by fate, got everything and I got nothing.

I bit my lip as I thought back to the moment when they came to tell her and I assumed I would be allowed to come with her to her school. If my sister was a witch, I had to be one too, right? But apparently, she had absorbed all the magical powers at birth and I had missed out.

The familiar squeak of the old steam train broke my thoughts. The train had not quite come to a halt yet when a host of students were already jumping off, some still in robes, others in normal jeans and jumpers. They were overjoyed to see their parents, brothers, sisters and even grandparents again. It seemed like the quiet platform had turned into a noisy festival in seconds.

My mother put an arm around me and stood on her tiptoes.

"There!" she pointed into the distance. I couldn't see anything through the sea of people, but then suddenly two arms and a bunch of red hair closed around me.

"Hey, Tuun!"

Lily looked at me with a beaming smile and I didn't know what to say. She had turned towards my parents and was firmly hugged by them too. My father bent down and lifted her slightly off the ground.

"Jeez," he chuckled, "have you grown a foot since the last time we saw you?"

Lily laughed. A girl with white blonde hair approached and whispered something in her ear. I watched with raised eyebrows.

"Um, mum, dad, Evelyne asked her parents if I could go and stay with them for a week this summer holiday and they agreed. Could I..." she didn't finish her sentence, but looked at them with big doe eyes. I rolled mine. That way she got just about everything done. With a hollow feeling in my stomach, I watched as the two friends stood side by side with big grins on their faces waiting for my parents' answer that they knew already. They had probably been planning this for a long time. Lily would be looking forward to it all summer. I clenched my hands into fists.

My mother who looked at my father to make my sister feel that not everything could just happen and that they needed to consult together for a while, turned back to her daughter with a sigh.

"A week doesn't seem to hurt." And then she turned to the blonde girl: "Are you sure your parents are okay with it?" Evelyne nodded. "Where exactly does your family live?"

"I will send you the address via owl mail. It's a three-hour drive with your automobile."

I giggled. What 12-year-old uses words like automobile? She looked at me in surprise, but didn't seem to realise why I was laughing with her and continued: " My parents could also come and pick Lily up through the fireplace?"

"That will be a problem," my father chuckled, "because ours has been boarded up for years."

"Ohh," she said, but Lily turned to her and took her hands.