Petunia was always the worse sister - not as pretty, not as kind and especially not as magical as Lily. Jealousy and bitterness rule her life, until one fateful encounter changes her destiny ...
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Petunia was always the lesser out of the two Evaness...
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Petunia had tried different ways to keep her misery at bay but more often than not her strategy had backfired. Re-reading all of Eugene's letters made her cry and composing new ones that would never find their recipient made her feel like a lunatic. Looking at the brooch overwhelmed her with a feeling of longing so strong she was surprised her body didn't show any signs of it.
And so finally Petunia decided to turn her focus to something else, another concern that had been threatened to be swallowed before she dug it from the pit inside her mind, something to concentrate on.
Recruiting students ...
Petunia wouldn't call what she did 'snooping'. The term made it sound too illicit, almost naughty and mischievous instead of what it actually was: cautious.
Over the summer, Petunia had made a habit of flipping through Lily's school books and notes, lifting brows in mocking incredulity whenever she stumbled upon terms such as 'half a pinch of a liar's nose hair' or, in Lily's own hand, 'ask if unicorn snot tastes bad'. At least it was distracting enough.
She took care to do her 'snooping' (and she was still unsatisfied with the term) whenever the weather turned pleasant enough to entice Lily outside, her younger sister combing the fields for strange plants and insects, whatever was too slow to escape her grasp. Maybe Lily also took the time to meet up with the wretched boy, but Petunia never asked. It didn't matter to her after all.
Instead she looked over the correspondence dropped at their window sill this morning, the unfamiliar barn owl already flying off. Among a few letters Petunia spotted the colourful cover of Xenophilius' magazine, her eyes drawn to the caricature of a tall woman with a pinched expression, exaggerated lips and a lizard's tail peeking from beneath her sensible skirt. Beneath, it read in big, flashing letters: 'The truth about Jenkins' abdication revealed! Not only scandalous but scaled!'
Petunia couldn't quite suppress the amused curl of her lips, tugging the magazine closer and depositing it where she'd remember to grab it once she left her room, to find a shadowy spot with Aspen underneath his favourite tree and read it in peace, sheltered from the bite of the summer sun against her pale skin.
Her amusement didn't last long though, as she turned back to the letters that had arrived for Lily, two from her friends and one a flyer advertising the sale of 'Expert Quidditch Supplies!'. Petunia almost dismissed it, her fingers already stretching towards the first letter, the sender simply reading 'Alice' when she saw it: the small drawing of a red bird, almost invisible against the darker red backdrop of the flyer.
'Dominate the skies with our newest broom collection!' read the yellow script, drawing attention away from the miniscule bird. And then just beneath it, to explain the design should someone spot it: 'Faster than any bird'.
There was an address in Diagon Alley listed, along with a few more stickers screaming percentages and 'once in a lifetime deals' at her.
Something slithered across Petunia's neck, something slimy and cold, leaving a sick apprehension behind.
