The Offering of a Heart

Chapter 1

"1970. The Dark Lord had first made himself known. He was still nothing more than a scary wizard with a strange name and a wicked desire to conquer the wizarding world whipping out anyone who he thought wasn't worthy of having magic running through their veins. Mudbloods, Muggle-borns.
He hadn't at that time, the amount of power he has now. Really, it was more like a shadow lurking around the corners and getting people to follow him, accept his truth as their own and make them spread the supremacist idea all over the United Kingdom and the rest of Europe eventually.  It was somehow easy, you see. A lot of pureblood families thought that we... taint the wizarding world, you see.
Now... please, don't worry too much. I'm safe where I am now and you are safe as well. No one knows about you guys. Just... be careful and send me letters often. I miss you already. See you at Christmas.
Lovingly, Lily.
September 1976

As she sent the owl home from the owlery, Lily Evans sighed. She felt a weight inside her heart as if she was just trying to hide the obvious from her parents, which wasn't entirely a lie. The young prefect knew she had to send news home. Her parents and sister knew something was wrong, just couldn't really place it. 'Not the Petunia cares, anyway', she thought bitterly. Her relationship with her sister just got worst as the years went by and she couldn't see a way of fixing it. The fact that Lily had gone to Hogwarts was just too much for the envious girl to take. Not that they were really close for starters, but since Lily hard started hanging with Severus, things had just gone even worst. 

Whilst the boy didn't like to be around Petunia because she wasn't a witch, she hated him for the exact opposite. She despised the fact that she wasn't "normal" and that she was friends with some weird, scrawny boy. Beyond the fact that she hated Spinner's End and her family's willingness to help those who couldn't afford what she did. The girl thought they weren't good enough for the minimum amount of luxury and she couldn't make her mind around anything that wasn't plain and boring, something that couldn't be explained by logic. So she pushed Lily away. Despite all of the younger girl's efforts, Petunia didn't accept that her little sister wasn't normal. Wasn't like her.

After Lily came back from her first year, Petunia barely talked to her. On her second year, the screaming started. Petunia didn't want to see her. On the third year, Petunia slapped her when she tried telling how was her year. Their parents had never felt so angry with their elder child and it just made her fury grows. Lily never tried again after that and felt deeply her sister's rage for her. 

After the fifth year, when Lily told her parents what Severus had done... what he had become, she couldn't help but sneak into Lily's room and snicker about the whole thing. When the redhead thought she couldn't feel more betrayed, there came Petunia and ruined everything. She thought it was somehow fair in a way. It was the only thing her sister could do to let go of all the frustration she felt about not being a witch. Still, it was like her heart was being squished and it hurt. She went over to Marlene's for the end of the summer. 

Marlene was something she couldn't describe, really. Her best friend was one of a kind, some sort of lone warrior, a wonder woman in the wizarding world. Her parents raised her with all kinds of luxury and she wasn't one to hide how spoiled she was and yet, the girl was extremely humble when it came to her abilities. She was such a talented witch with such drive and conscience of what was right or wrong. Lily's admiration for her was endless, she usually thought about how much she wished she was more straight forward and confident, just like Lene was. 

She felt kind of out of place when she was at Lene's house. Whilst she was extremely welcome there and the girl's parents loved her, the lack of muggleness made her feel somehow uncomfortable, maybe because it wasn't Hogwarts, it was just a home. A wizard home. There was no television, no fridge. Their lamps were magically lightened up, there were protection wards all over the yard and she felt suffocated in a way. It was a good summer anyway. Being away from Spinner's End, Severus, Petunia... it gave her time to think.