Remembering

Christmas Break: Part Two

The third night of Christmas Break, I opened the letter from James.

Dear Lily,
I miss you already. I know Petunia can be a real bitch, but you can get through it, I know you can. If things get too bad (like if she disowns you or something -- haha), you can come to my house. My address is on the back.
Sirius sends his love, but he mostly just wants to tell you not to do anything stupid. Kind of ironic, coming from Padfoot.
I can't write anything too bad, because he'll read this, but I'm pretty sure he's stupid -- 'stupid' was crossed out and replaced with 'smart' -- enough to miss my jokes.
My mum's having a Christmas party on Christmas Eve. I was wondering if you would like to come? Just RSVP before Christmas.
Lots of Love,
James
And Sirius Black, the hottest man in the entire world
^I'm sorry, Sirius wrote that
^James isn't sorry, because Sirius is awesome and everyone loves Sirius and he is the best and the hottest man on Earth and every girl in the world wants to shag him.
^Except for Lily
^Nah, she wants to shag me too
^Sorry, Sirius wrote in PERMANENT CANNOT BE CROSSED-OUT INK from Zonko's so I can't erase that offensive statement.

I laughed as I read the letter. Those boys were such goofs.

I was spending my third night holed up in my room. Petunia had slid food in through the cat flap on my door.

I sighed and sat back on my bed. I'd done all my homework, given myself three makeovers, taken four baths for the fun of it, and modeled all my new muggle clothes that I hadn't worn yet.

Needless to say, I was bored out of my mind. I had tried to draw, but I am terrible at it. I practiced Quidditch by throwing a soccer ball at the wall and pretending to maneuver around the room. My broom was at school. I had done over five hundred sit-ups, five hundred push-ups, and all sorts of drills. I was in really good shape.

Dad hadn't talked to me once. In fact, my dinner was late. I frowned and checked my watch. It was ten o'clock; where was my food? My stomach rumbled ominously.

I walked down the stairs. The house was dark. Was no one home?

"Dad?" I called. "Daddy, you there?"

No reply. I sighed through my nose. "They must have gone out without me," I grumbled, making my way towards the kitchen. "Gone to meet with their lawyer so they can disown me." I viciously pulled out the cheese and the pasta. I slammed a pot onto the stove and turned the burner on.

Suddenly I paused in the middle of making macaroni and cheese.

There was a faint sobbing coming from the living room. I set down the pasta and the cheese and headed for the couch.

Petunia was sitting there, sobbing. She had the blanket pulled up to her chin.

"What's wrong, Tuney?" I asked, sitting down next to her.

She sobbed into her blanket.

"Tuney, what's wrong?" I asked a little louder.

"They -- they came," she whimpered.

My heart skipped a beat. "Who?" I said softly.

There was silence for a moment as Petunia tried to compose herself.

"They wore cloaks and masks. They were freaks like you," she spat.

"Cloaks and masks..." I echoed. They almost sounded like -- but they couldn't be.

"Where's Dad?" I asked soothingly, rubbing her back.

She hiccupped and rocked back and forth.

"Tuney," I said. "Where's Dad?"