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“Lily! Get your stupid books away from me!”
“Move away from them, then!”
“Mum! Lily’s being mean!”
Lily groaned out loud, pushing away from the table and leaning her head back over her chair. She shut her eyes, counting to ten before she opened them again, sitting back up properly and giving Petunia a saccharine smile.
“Oh, I’m sorry, but I think we both know that this is a very small table and that there is not much space to begin with.”
Petunia huffed, her face twisted up into an expression that was between a glare and a scowl. “I don’t want to be near those books.”
Lily stared at her. “What, you’re scared of books now? First butterflies, now books—“
“Butterflies are fluttery, okay?” Petunia snapped. “They’re disgusting, just like moths. And so are your books.”
“Butterflies are fluttery ?” Lily deadpanned. “Petunia, even for you, that’s completely ridiculous. I’ve half a mind to drag you outside and find a butterfly to put on you.”
“Don’t you dare .”
“Oh, but I will,” Lily said with a smirk, relishing in Petunia’s annoyed expression. “One day, you will appreciate the beauty of butterflies.”
Lily picked up her Transfiguration textbook and brought it closer to Petunia, who pushed away from the table, recoiling in disgust. “Oh, Tuney , you aren’t scared of a book, are you?”
“Stop it, Lily!”
Lily shoved it a bit closer, grinning. “See how scary it is? I’ve heard that it can transform into a beast and eat you right up in your sleep, and I might know the spell. Want me to try it?”
Petunia let out an honest-to-god screech, “Stop it!”
“Lily,” their mum sighed from the doorway, a tea towel in her hand. “Leave your sister alone.”
Lily groaned, pulling away from Petunia, who gave a loud huff, adjusting her hairband and then her chair. The textbook landed on her pile of books with a loud, satisfying thunk .
“Petunia’s no fun,” she whined, and their mum sighed again before walking out.
“Act your age, Lily,” Petunia said primly, having regained her composure enough to preach Lily, and Lily, being the mature sixteen year old she was, stuck her tongue out at her sister.
Petunia grimaced, nose scrunched up at that. There was silence for a few more minutes as the two girls continued to work on their summer homework before Petunia broke it.
“Just when I thought we were going to be able to get this done and get out,” Lily groaned theatrically, and Petunia huffed.
“I was just going to ask when your friends are coming,” she snapped back, and Lily’s smile wavered.
Her family did not know that she had not one, but two boyfriends, and seeing that they were very much the textbook perfect family, she was a bit apprehensive about bringing that up. Hell, scratch that, she was very apprehensive. Which was why she had come to the conclusion of not bringing it up at all, instead introducing them as two of her best friends. It wasn’t the best plan at all—she didn’t want to even do that in the first place, but one look at her sneering sister and her proud parents terrified her. She couldn’t do it.
“Oh, them?” Lily laughed off. “I think next week. Reg said he wouldn’t be able to come before then.”
“Reg?”
“Regulus,” she sighed, and Petunia propped a hand on her chin.
“Is he the hot one?”
“ What ?”
Petunia gestured with her hands. “Y’know,” she said vaguely, “brooding look, dark hair falling over his eyes, pretty grey eyes—“
“Yep, that’s him,” Lily cut her off, not really wanting to hear her sister go off about her boyfriend (that Petunia didn’t know about). “That’s Regulus.”
“And the other one is James, right?” Petunia went on. “He’s pretty cute too, in the sort of…scruffy way? He does look quite fit though.”
“Sounds like James,” Lily mumbled, grinning a bit to herself, and Petunia snorted.
“Oh my God, do you have a crush on him?” She said loudly, and Lily’s head jerked up, face flushing.
“What?”
“Ha! I see the blush!” Petunia crowed, slamming her hands on the table and making it rattle. “You like him!”
Well , Lily reasoned internally, it wasn’t like Petunia actually knew . Ignorance is bliss, truly.
“Shut up,” Lily said simply, and Petunia sighed happily.
“This is perfect, you know?” She mused, and Lily hummed. “You could set me up with the hot guy and you can go with James and we could go on a double date!”
And woah , okay. Hold your horses, Petunia. Regulus is not going on a date with you.
“No one’s going on a double date, Tuney,” Lily sighed, shutting her eyes and counting to three to ensure her calmness.
“Aw, why?”
“Because I say so, and they’re my friends,” she replied, a bit snappishly. “Please don’t embarrass me when they come, okay?”
“Ugh,” Petunia groaned, lifting her pencil again. “You’re no fun. Why don’t you share your friends?”
“Thought you didn’t like magical folks,” Lily retorted, and Petunia shrugged.
“Not if they’re hot.”
“Hm, that’s a double standard if I ever heard one.”
“Oh, quit it, Lily,” Petunia scoffed. “At least introduce me to him, will you?”
Lily rolled her eyes, eyes trained on her parchment as she determinedly wrote away at her essay.
“Sure, Tuney,” she muttered. “I’ll introduce you.”
“Perfect! Oh, I must get out that nice blue dress,” Petunia began to rattle off, and Lily heaved a heavy sigh, bearing with her sister for as long as her patience would allow.
Days flew by, as did the letters between Lily, Regulus, and James. They had agreed to meet up at Lily’s place and maybe go for some ice cream or something (from a muggle shop, Lily had said firmly). Anything they did if they came to her place, according to Lily, had to be in a non-wizarding community for the experience . Regulus and James didn’t really mind that much; after all, the two had been raised in a wizarding community their entire lives. At some point, it would be quite boring, and learning about the muggle way? That sure was a change.
It was also for the better that they never ever meet up at Regulus’s place, lest he risk the wrath of his parents. It was already bad enough that Sirius was kicked out and disowned by his parents for being a “blood-traitor” and gay (that seemed like the final nail in the coffin), and it wasn’t worth risking that fate for Regulus. They had already met at James’s place several times, his parents being extremely welcoming and kind, and this time, it was at Lily’s. Her parents, being muggles, didn’t seem to have a problem with two wizards coming to their house, which Lily took as a good sign. As long as they didn’t know that they were all dating, it would be okay. She did plan on telling them eventually, but she needed to find the right time to do it. Both Regulus and James had been understanding when she informed them of that one small predicament, which was good. Otherwise, it would be awkward as fuck.
“What’s that?” Petunia said from somewhere behind her, and Lily jumped a mile in the air, flipping shut a letter from Regulus.
“Good grief, give me a warning next time,” Lily exclaimed, placing a hand on her chest. “You might as well have given me a heart attack.”
“What did that pesky owl give you now?” Petunia said, stalking forward to see what was in the letter. She glared at Regulus’s owl, who hooted in response and flew off, out of the window.
“A letter, obviously,” Lily said, carefully tucking it back into the envelope. She hadn’t gotten a chance to finish reading it, but she would do it when Petunia gave her space.
“Yes, but from who?”
“My friends, Tuney. You don’t need to know everything .”
“Is it that Marlene girl again?”
“No, Marlene is in France, she hasn’t got the time to constantly owl me,” Lily said, slightly annoyed. “Is there something you need?”
“Are you sure you can’t set me up with Regulus?” Petunia said with a pout, and Lily mimed a gag.
“Ew, no,” she responded. “That’s gross, Tuney.”
“How is it gross?” Petunia demanded, affronted by Lily’s response. “You have James, no?”
“Petunia, please.”
“I’m just saying,” Petunia sighed, turning around and walking towards the door. “I’m always free that day if you change your mind.”
“That’s not happening,” Lily assured her. “Like, at all. Don’t keep your hopes up.”
“Ugh.”
“LILYYYYYYY!”
“WHAT?”
“THE HOT GUY’S APPROACHING OUR HOUSE!”
Lily’s head shot up from where she was searching under her bed for her Charms book, and she barely avoided hitting her head on the frame. She would have to assume that when Petunia said ‘hot guy’, she probably meant Regulus. She thought James was cute in a scruffy way, but not exactly hot . Lily disagreed silently. She dashed outside her room and leaned over the railing next to the stairs.
“PETUNIA, DON’T YOU DARE SAY ANYTHING!” She screamed back at her sister, who was downstairs and clearly anticipating the arrival of Regulus. Seriously, she had a major problem.
“YOU BETTER COME QUICK THEN!”
“Girls, stop shouting!” Their mum cut in, frowning up at Lily and then Petunia. “It isn’t proper!”
“Sorry, mum,” Petunia said primly. Lily made a face at her sister.
“Stop making faces, Lily,” their mum sighed, and Lily heaved a great groan.
“Tell Tuney to stop being such a—“
Whatever it was that Lily was going to say, it was cut off by the doorbell going off. Petunia gave a slight shriek, but whether it was a surprise from the loud doorbell or that she pissed her pants from excitement, Lily didn’t know. She didn’t particularly want to know, though.
Lily, on the other hand, had her shit together. More so than Petunia, at least. Giving a pointed glance towards Petunia, Lily ran down the stairs (much to her mother’s displeasure), skidded across the hardwood floor, came to a stop in front of the door, and threw it open.
“Hey, Regulus!”
Ever since they all started dating, Lily had taken it upon herself to buy her boys some muggle clothing to keep in their closet. One look at the robes they often wore, and she was dragging the two of them to the nearest clothing store. James had enjoyed it immensely, insisting on trying on almost everything he saw. Regulus, as expected, gravitated towards the darker themed clothing, poking around curiously and sifting through band-themed and punk t-shirts. Needless to say, when they finished shopping, James had a wide collection of jeans and shirts, while Regulus was laden down with an ungodly amount of band shirts that he insisted on purchasing, much to the dismay of Lily and James.
Currently, though, Regulus was wearing a Led Zeppelin t-shirt and some denim pants that he had undoubtedly hidden from his parents, due to the new look it had. He now looked very much, believably muggle. A bit emo, sure, but muggle.
“Hello, Lily,” he said with a smile, eyes crinkling at the corners. His eyebrows then furrowed downward as he looked past her. “Uh…”
Turning around, Lily was dismayed to see Petunia attempting to lean against the staircase while giving Lily a pointed stare that said, c’mon Lily, introduce me already!
Lily held back the urge to kick Petunia.
“Oh, yeah, Regulus,” she said, shooting Petunia a look, at which the latter smirked. “This is my sister, Petunia.”
“Nice to meet you,” he said to her cautiously, and Petunia smiled brightly at him.
“It’s good to meet you too,” she said cheerfully, and Lily barely managed to prevent herself from face-palming.
“I think James said he would be a few minutes late, his parents insisted on a portkey,” Regulus said, turning back to Lily, seemingly unaffected by Petunia’s now attempts to get closer and her blinding, wide smiles.
“Really? I said he could our fireplace,” Lily said, and Regulus shrugged.
“Something about rugs being ruined and floo powder being volatile?”
“Huh. You’d think that portkeys would be more dangerous than floo powder.”
“The rug part I do agree with.”
“Oh, definitely. It’s such a mess when you can’t use magic.”
“What’s a portkey?” Petunia interrupted, glancing between the two of them before focusing on Regulus. “And floo powder?”
“They’re wizarding methods of transport,” he explained. “Portkey is an object used to go somewhere at a specific time, while floo is used to travel via a fireplace.”
“Fireplace?”
“Yeah, it can get a bit messy because of that.”
He turned to Lily again. “Did you get Marlene’s pictures of France, though?”
“Yes! They’re so pretty,” Lily sighed. “Almost makes me envious. But she better remember her promise to get some keepsakes.”
“Knowing her, though, she’d probably forget,” Regulus replied, and Lily clicked her tongue.
“You’re right. We’re gonna have to remind her.”
“Sirius is already on it,” Regulus said.
“Why am I not surprised?”
“You really shouldn’t be.”
“Classic Sirius.”
“Who’s Sirius?” Petunia broke in, clearly determined to be included in the conversation as well. Her eyes were trained on Regulus, who didn’t seem to notice it at all.
“My older brother,” he said offhandedly. “A bit of a nutcase.”
“Really?”
“Oh, yeah, you should see him at school,” Regulus said. “Speaking of Sirius, though, mum found the pictures of him and Lupin earlier, Lily, did you know?”
Lily’s eyes widened. “What? Oh no…”
“Sparks literally flew, you have no idea.”
“But she doesn’t, like, know right?”
“Know what?” Petunia interrupted, and Lily frowned lightly at her. Regulus ignored Petunia, much to the latter’s chagrin. Lily wasn't surprised that Regulus wasn’t explaining that; it was a bit of a sensitive topic currently, and Lily had some sort of idea of how Petunia would generally react to that sort of thing. Spoiler: it really wouldn’t be good.
“No, at least not until Sirius lets it slip another idiotic way,” Regulus said. “Honestly, he has no idea what discreteness is.”
“I’m giving it a year tops before your parents find out.”
“Well, at least it won’t be both of us at once because I have common sense.”
“You’d better hide the evidence properly.”
“Oh, that’s easy.”
Just then, there was a pop behind them, and less than a minute later, James was hurrying out of the tree grove near the house, looking hassled.
“Sorry I’m late,” he said, breathing slightly heavily. “Dad insisted on using a portkey. Says it’s the safest way at this time.”
“At least you made it in one piece,” Regulus remarked, and James rolled his eyes.
“Yeah, yeah,” he said, and then he glanced at Petunia. “You’re Lily’s sister?”
“Oh—yeah, yeah, that’s me,” Petunia said, turning on her beaming smile again. “I’m Petunia.”
“Pleasure,” James nodded. “I’m James.”
He turned back to Regulus and Lily. “Should we go?”
“Yeah, let me go get my jacket,” Lily said, and he frowned.
“It’s summer?”
“You never know!”
She made her way upstairs, and while rooting through her closet for a jacket, she heard footsteps behind her.
“Your friends are something,” Petunia said, and Lily shrugged, pushing a hanger aside.
“Yeah, but they’re my friends.”
“Are you sure I can’t come?”
“Absolutely positive,” Lily said, pulling out a jacket and holding it to herself. “Please don’t, we’ll go together to that cafe later.”
“But you have two friends, not one!” Petunia whined.
“You’re not gonna hit it off with any one of them, if that’s what you’re hoping for,” she replied, rolling her eyes. The jacket she had was good, then; she was all ready to go.
Petunia gave her a sudden hard stare. “Jesus.”
She flounced out of the room, and Lily paused for a moment, staring at her sister’s receding back, before shrugging, pulling on her jacket and and joining Regulus and James.
“Now, show me what this muggle cafe…Costa Coffee is like,” James announced.
“It’s new, right?” Regulus said as they closed the door behind them.
“Yeah, just a couple years ago it opened up,” Lily said. “But it’s really good.”
“Well, I just can’t wait.”
Lily had an absolutely grand time with her boyfriends, if she may say so herself. James was all over the muggle shops, darting from window to window as if he had never even seen anything like it before, coffee in hand. Regulus was a bit more dignified than James in his excitement, but he had that look in his eyes when he caught sight of Selfridges. And when he got that look, both James and Lily knew it was futile to try and stop him (not that they particularly wanted to—Regulus looked cute when he was excited about something). There was no stopping him from browsing through the mall, and soon enough, James joined him in eagerly scouring the department stores.
It had led to a variety of adventures that even Lily herself could not have foreseen. They had been astonished by the automatic doors of the shopping complex, watching customers go in and out without touching the doors .
“Lily, are you sure this is a muggle institution?” Regulus had asked in wonder. “The doors just opened by themselves!”
He was amazed to learn that it was, in fact, a muggle institution and the doors were built with the technology available.
“The muggles are evolving,” James said, and Lily rolled her eyes.
“I dare say they’re way ahead of wizards,” she deadpanned.
“Im possible .”
“Oh, very possible.”
And when they were paying for their purchases and Lily pulled out her card—oh, they were absolutely confused and surprised at the fact that she could pay for her things with a piece of plastic.
“That tiny piece of plastic is worth more than my inheritance,” James whispered as she finished her transaction, and Regulus wordlessly nodded.
“No, no it’s not,” she sighed.
“But can I try the swiping thing next time?”
“Uh...sure?”
“I call dibs after that!”
“Regulus, you too?”
“What? It’s amazing what muggles are capable of doing!”
It was almost as if they came from a completely different world—which, Lily conceded, was technically true—and every piece of technology muggles had set up seemed to amaze them.
“Look at the things muggles call lifts!” James exclaimed, laden down with bags, and Regulus squinted at it. “It lifts you by itself! You don’t have to use stairs!”
“Have you really never seen a lift?” Lily asked, raising her eyebrows.
“I haven’t, Mother always made sure Sirius and I stayed away from anything muggle,” Regulus said, still examining the lift.
“Neither have I!” James added cheerfully. “Dad doesn’t really take me to muggle places.”
“Are you sure this is muggle, though?” Regulus said, observing the functionality of the lift. “This has to be magic.”
“No, it’s not magic,” Lily said, grinning. “It’s all muggle technology.”
Needless to say, they were very much impressed by the lift, and how one just needed to press a button for it to bring you to that floor.
Sure, the two of them were both a bit of an idiot, but now, as Lily waved goodbye to them as the two walked down the path back to their designated places of departure, she really didn’t mind. She loved them all the same.
“Did they leave?” Petunia said, standing at the door frame.
“Yeah,” Lily sighed, stepping into the house and pulling off her shoes. “I got you something, by the way, Tuney. I think you’d like this dress.”
“You’re late for dinner,” Petunia then said, and Lily frowned, glancing at her sister.
“I already told mum I might be.”
Petunia scoffed, turning away from Lily. It was strange how quickly Petunia’s behavior changed, but Lily chose not to dwell on that. Petunia was… Petunia . That didn’t mean that Lily understood everything about her.
Unloading all her new purchases proved to take a bit of time, though, as Lily spent a good fifteen minutes sorting through everything and putting it away neatly. Humming to herself, she folded the clothes she bought, carefully setting them in the drawers of her dresser and hanging up some dresses in her closet.
“So, you’re really good friends with them, huh?” Petunia said from behind her, and Lily jumped out of surprise, spinning around to face her sister with her hands on her hips.
“Jesus, you didn’t need to sneak up on me.”
“Don’t use the Lord’s name in vain.”
“Alright, alright.”
“But you’re just really good friends , huh?”
Lily frowned deeply. “Tuney, where is this going? They’re my friends.”
“Really?” Petunia said, disbelief dripping from her words. “Just friends.”
“…Tuney?”
Petunia didn’t reply to that, instead tossing a bunch of papers in front of Lily and closing the door behind her.
“Wha—“
“Friends don’t talk like that, Lily.”
Glancing down at the papers, Lily’s good mood immediately melted away, turning into ice-cold dread and fear. Right in front of her were the letters that had gone between her, Regulus, and James. Her immediate reaction was to crouch down to gather all the letters, unwilling to leave them on the floor, and it also had the added bonus of not looking her sister in the face.
Chaos was reigning in her mind. A steady, constant stream of no, no, no was running through her mind, because goddamn it, this wasn’t how it was supposed to go. Why—what did she do to deserve this? Lily was so very careful about the evidence and the letters and the pictures and—and everything. How could have it possibly backfired in her face? Of course, she thought bitterly as she shuffled the papers back in order, she didn’t account for her sister snooping through her things.
The fear and terror running through her morphed into anger at that thought. Anger, because how dare Petunia invade her privacy and snoop through her things. How dare she think she was entitled to Lily’s personal letters. And for what? All because she wanted Regulus to notice her? What was the reason?
Lily rose to her feet shakily, fingers clutching the letters tightly in a white-knuckled grip, teeth clenched.
“Why did you go through my things, Tuney?” She said, very much startled by the evenness of her tone.
“It seemed suspicious, you know,” Petunia said, crossing her arms. “Always so protective of the two of them.”
“Friends do that!”
“But they don’t talk to each other like that,” Petunia countered, pointing a slender, accusing finger at the papers in Lily’s hands. “What did you guys say, huh? ‘Missing you every day’? ‘My day gets better just by seeing you two’? ’Saw this in the shop and thought of you guys and how adorable the two of you would look geeking out over this’?”
Lily said nothing, lips pressed together in a thin, angry line. It sounded wrong when Petunia said it. It didn’t have the same charm of James’s quill or the elegance of Regulus’s; it sounded so foreign and unpleasant.
“What even are you guys doing?” Petunia demanded, arms spread wide. “What’s going on between the three of you? Because from what I’m seeing, it’s wrong .”
“It’s none of your business, Petunia ,” Lily bit back, anger seeping into every single word she uttered. “It’s none of your fucking business .”
“And there you go, swearing and being wrong ,” Petunia waved a hand. “This would have never happened if you met them.”
“Shut up!”
“Are you three dating? Is that what this crap is?”
“I said, shut the hell up!” She cried, fingers gripping the letters so hard, the paper started to crinkle severely and crumple together. “Shut up!”
“Because that’s wrong , Lily, you know that you were raised properly and this is not what you do!”
“Why are you doing this?!” Lily demanded. “What did I do to you?”
Petunia took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. Lily grit her teeth in anger. “Look, Lily,” Petunia said firmly. “We both know this is wrong, but we can fix this, okay?”
“ What ?”
Petunia crossed the room, taking hold of Lily’s shaking hands. “We can fix this. We don’t have to tell mum and dad, it’ll be just the two of us, okay? Just the two of us. You’re obviously not thinking straight but it’s okay, we’ll fix this entire situation.”
And—no, no, oh God, no. Fix it? There was nothing to fix. Lily wrenched her hand away from Petunia, glaring at her.
“I don't need fixing , Petunia,” she hissed, venom dripping from every word. “And I don’t need your intervention.”
“I know it must be hard to face the issue, but it’s okay, you have my complete support and we’ll get through this—“
“Shut up!” Lily snapped. “I’m perfectly fine, and you —you need to get the fuck out of here and leave me alone.”
Petunia flinched at her sharp, angry tone, and Lily would have felt bad if Petunia weren’t doing this, doing all of this. Goddamn it, this wasn’t how any of this was supposed to go. She could feel the angry tears building up already, and goddamn it —
“Lily, be reasonable,” Petunia said sharply, all facade of understanding and patience gone. “All of this is wrong . You shouldn’t be dating two people, and you shouldn’t be near people who are—“ she broke off, looking like she swallowed a lemon, and then cleared her throat, dropping her voice to a whisper, “—bisexual.”
“I’m sorry, what?” she said loudly. “ What ?”
“What you’re doing is already wrong, but them? Oh God —they’re messed up —“
Lily did the only reasonable thing she could do at that moment, with Petunia spitting out these terrible, terrible words and stepping closer to her. She shoved her sister hard, pushing her back with all her strength. Petunia stumbled back, shocked by the sudden show of force, and managed to balance herself on the corner of Lily’s desk before slamming into the wall.
“Lily!” She gasped out, shock written all over her face.
“Shut up,” Lily snapped. “ Shut the hell up . You don’t even get to talk about them at all, you don’t deserve that.”
Petunia’s look hardened, replaced by a poisonous glare. “You’re absolutely disgusting, you know that?”
And goddamn, if that didn’t hurt at all. But she couldn’t show weakness, not now. Not in front of her sister.
“And you’re pathetic ,” Lily snarled. “Honestly, if I’m disgusting, then what does that make you?”
“I’ve half a mind to go tell mum and dad right this instant,” Petunia seethed. “Tell them how perfect little Lily is going off and screwing around with two guys, no less—and this is what she learns from that horrid magic school they agreed to send her to!”
Lily drew herself up, mustering the most harshest, poisonous glare she could form. “You know what? Go ahead and do it. See if I care.”
“Fine!”
“Fine!”
Petunia stormed out of the room, the door slamming shut behind her.
The echoing silence was the loudest Lily had ever heard.
The side eyes Petunia gave her whenever she passed by. The recoiling whenever she even came near her sister. The short, cold words when it was required to speak.
It almost made her anxious to return back to Hogwarts.
Lily was tense, waiting for the final ball to drop with her parents, but it never seemed to. They were cheerful and proud of her as always, with Petunia sulking in the background with her arms crossed. Confused by the sisters’ silence, sure, but otherwise very much normal. She only glanced at Petunia, who met her eyes before looking away.
Everything was different now.
Goddamn it, this wasn’t supposed to happen. Not like this.
Petunia didn’t even say goodbye when Lily left for school in September.