Petunia and the Little Monster

August, 1971

Petunia was an observant girl, so understanding death took her only a number of days where other children might have struggled with the concept for years, as she had already lost the protective veil of childhood naivety.

It was the week after her grandmother had died that the realisation really hit her, sitting in her room and coming to grips with the fact that she would never see her grandma again.

Lily had still been considered too young, coddled by her mother and not allowed to suffer any frights, banished from the side of their grandmother's sickbed when the end had made itself known. Petunia had insisted on staying and her mother had given in after a quick, distracted glance, her concerns spread thin with her own mother dying. So Petunia stood next to the bedside like a waxen figurine, her fingers curled into a tense fist as her grandmother's chest slowly stopped moving.

Her grandmother had always been a pillar of Petunia's emotional attachments, out of her whole family resembling Petunia most both in her strict character and her tall, thin stature, topped by a nest of very light hair, thinned by age. She might have been the only person in the whole world who tolerated Petunia best out of the two Evanesses girls, always praising her for her straight posture and good manners, while she was exhausted by Lily's playful and over-exuberant nature.

Looking at her now, still and pale, was a surreal scene. One moment she had been a person, able to talk and breathe and think and suddenly she just ... wasn't any longer. Petunia was too unarticulated to put the feeling into clear words, but it was as if her grandmother had stopped being her grandmother and instead had turned into an inanimate object. She was still there but not in any way that mattered.

Petunia had been so frightened by the feeling that she had slumped to the floor, her suddenly sagging knees visible enough that her mother reacted and ushered her out of the room stained with death. She had told Petunia to watch over her little sister and not to come inside again.

Now, almost a week later, Petunia was sitting in her and Lily's shared room, slowly turning an elaborate brooch in her hands. Muted light caught in the facettes of the little stones, sparkling across her walls but Petunia was in no mood to watch the breath-taking display. It was only now that she fully understood what had happened that day, the implications stirring and turning in her mind, restless until she was finally able to accept it. The finality of that last breath ... her grandmother was dead.

She would never pat Petunia's hand again, or give her one of those too-tough mint humbugs she liked to hoard in her purse as a reward for a good grade.

Petunia would never see her again.

And it was only now that Petunia rested her head on the desk and quietly allowed herself a few tears.

❀

Lily and the wretched boy had entered the forest bordering the field they liked to play in. It wasn't a deep or big forest, growing in the dip between the hills as if it wanted to hide from sight, but it made finding her more difficult. And that was exactly Petunia's task this evening, ordered by her mother to find Lily and bring her back in time for supper.

Summer was still reigning with fireflies and a soft breeze, but the shadows stretching beneath the trees like long, dark fingers were cool and deep. Petunia tugged her thin cardigan closer around her chest, and waded into the shades, wrapped in the scent of firs and moss. Branches and leaves crinkled under her too-thin soles, the long hem of her dress catching on small branches and thorny brambles. Why Lily always liked to play and hide here out of all places would remain a mystery to Petunia, who usually wasn't brave or foolish enough to venture into the forest. Lily had tried to entice her once or twice, but back then Petunia had been the one to decide where they would play, as the older sibling.

And now there was no more reason for them to play together.

The cold had started to leak through her layers when Petunia finally heard a rustle to her right, a relieved breath escaping her lips. The forest wasn't big enough to house anything larger than a fox and all animals would flee at the racket Petunia had made while traipsing through its depths - the noise had to come from Lily.

Petunia was so sure in her assumption that when she found the source of the noise and herself proved wrong, her thoughts stalled for long seconds.

It wasn't Lily. It wasn't an animal either.

It was a monster.

A small monster not higher than her hips, wobbling on four skinny legs with oily black skin stretched tight over a skeletal frame, each rib starkly outlined. Two flaps of loose skin hung down on either side of its emaciated torso, black veins faintly shimmering through. Its skull was long and separated by a row of sharp teeth, exposed because its lips weren't long enough to completely cover them, two milky-white, pupil-less eyes just above the fangs, thankfully not facing Petunia.

It was ugly. Horrible. Unlike anything Petunia had ever seen before.

And then it moved, nosing against the ground and Petunia startled out of her frozen state, still at a loss. Should she cry for help? Run away? Throw a rock at it?

Petunia wasn't moving and the little monster paid her no attention, its long neck with a smattering of stringy hair hung low to the ground.

Time seemed to both slow and quicken, every small movement of the creature sending Petunia's heart racing again, the blood rushing in her ears, muting everything else. It was only when she heard her sister's voice from somewhere behind her, hazy as if through rushing water, that she snapped back to awareness.

"Tuney? What are you doing here?"

Petunia took a deep shuddering breath, the knowledge that she wasn't alone anymore thawing her enough to move - but she still didn't take her eyes off the little monster, fearing it would attack her as soon as she turned away. It might be small, but those teeth and dead eyes looked vicious.

"Is something wrong?" Lily entered her peripheral vision, appearing confused, her light brows furrowed. The wretched boy followed in her wake like a scavenger trailing the scent of a fresh kill, his long face only portraying annoyance and suspicion.

But neither of them acknowledged the little monster. They didn't even glance at it, even though it was pawing the dirt just a few feet away from them, small hooves scratching against dry flakes of earth.

Petunia raised a shaking finger, not sure if in warning or calling for help. "There ..."

Lily looked at the space she had pointed at, her confusion mounting. "What? What are you looking at?"

"Just ignore her, Lily. Why are you even bothering with that muggle?"

"She's my sister, Sev, stop saying that."

"It's the truth though. She is a muggle."

Petunia couldn't believe that they would choose to bicker in this situation. They were completely ignoring the little monster!

A certain possibility suddenly lit up Petunia's mind, her eyes widening a fraction more. Maybe ... maybe they weren't ignoring it? Maybe they didn't even realise it was there?

Instead of further frightening her, a strange, hopeful feeling started bubbling up in her stomach at the prospect.

"Don't you ... see it?" Petunia whispered, interrupting their spat.

Lily once again glanced around her while the wretched boy snorted disdainfully. "See what? There's nothing here."

They couldn't see it ... they couldn't see it! Only she, Petunia, was able to see the little monster!

Her heart started beating faster, this time not in shock and fear but elation, a prickling feeling spreading from her toes all the way to her scalp.

Lily could twirl flowers and the wretched boy might turn her shoes into shrubbery but they couldn't see the little monster - only she, Petunia, was able to! It only showed itself to her, she had a talent neither Lily nor the wretched boy could claim, for all their usual flaunting and bragging.

For once Petunia was the one who knew something they didn't, for once she was chosen instead of Lily.

And all her shock was suddenly wiped away, a honest smile spreading across her face for the first time since Lily had discovered her magic.