The room was quiet, the kind of silence that falls like a heavy curtain, thick and impenetrable. Lily and Petunia sat side by side on the edge of one of the beds, their earlier misunderstandings and tension snuffed out by the gravity of Serena's words. The air felt charged, heavy with the weight of unsaid thoughts and unformed questions.
For a while, nobody spoke. The only movement came from Bowe, who was still perched on Petunia's shoulder, his tiny twig-like fingers gently playing with a strand of her hair, as if sensing her distress.
Finally, Lily's voice cut through the silence, tentative and unsure, "Serena, what do you mean by... Petunia might be an Omega? And how could Petunia be an Omega if she's a... a muggle?"
"That's where it gets complicated," Serena continued, her gaze now on Petunia, who sat still as a statue, her eyes wide and fixed on nothing. "You see, Petunia, your cycles... they align curiously with what we know to be heat cycles for Omegas. Only, yours are... muted, almost as if your magic is there but not fully realized, hindered by your status as an Omega."
Petunia's lips parted slightly, but no sound came out. She looked like someone who had been told the world was not flat after all, but round and spinning in an endless space.
"Lily," Serena said, turning back to address the younger Evans sister, "Omegas have a strong sense of community, we're sensitive to each other. And Bowe here," she gestured to the Bowtruckle, "he's drawn to Omegas. He's comfortable with me, and he's taken a liking to Petunia, which is unusual for a Bowtruckle unless..."
"Unless I'm like you?" Petunia whispered, her voice barely above a breath.
"Perhaps, in a way. I can't say for certain without more understanding, but it's possible that your magical abilities have been stifled by an imbalance in your Omega nature," Serena explained, her voice gentle but firm.
"But how can we find out for sure?" Lily asked, her practical mind already moving towards solutions.
Serena hesitated, her brow furrowed in thought. "There are tests that can be done, assessments by healers who specialize in such matters. But this is uncharted territory. We are taught that squibs are non-magical, yet here we may have a case where magic is merely... trapped."
Petunia finally turned to look at Serena, her eyes shimmering with hope. "Could I really be... like you?"
Serena reached out, placing a reassuring hand on Petunia's shoulder. "I believe there's a very likely chance, yes."
The atmosphere in the room shifted as Serena delved deeper into the complexities of the wizarding world's understanding of magical inheritance.
"It's not uncommon for muggle families to have multiple children attend Hogwarts," Serena began, her eyes locked with Petunia's, willing her to understand. "Take the Johnson brothers, Austin and Alex—both Muggleborns and both attended Hogwarts. And there were the Lohan's, Patrick and Patrisha, though their heritage is a bit different as their family was aware of magic."
Lily nodded, recalling her classmates, but Petunia remained silent, absorbing this new information.
"It's unusual for magic to manifest in only one sibling when there's no known magical lineage," Serena continued. "That's why, Petunia, your situation is so extraordinary. It's possible that being an Omega has created a unique form of blockage, or perhaps it's due to an external factor we're not aware of."
The little hope that had blossomed in Petunia's eyes during the earlier part of the conversation began to wane, clouded by the uncertainty of Serena's words.
"So I'm a defective Omega, is that it?" Petunia's voice had fear, frustration, and a plea for a different truth.
"No Tuney! You're more than that–" Lily reached out, her expression fierce with protective sisterly love.
YOU ARE READING
IN ANOTHER LIFE (James Potter x Severus Snape)
Fanfiction(OMEGAVERSE) Severus finds himself rising from his near deathbed into the past, as a female 10 year old version of himself in another parallel world, where secondary genders exist. (Also uploaded in Fanfiction & Ao3)
