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Shiny black leather so glossy you could almost see your face in it. Cotton as white as fallen snow beneath it. There were few things Petunia enjoyed more than a brand new pair of shoes. Breaking in the uniform Mary Janes the primary school requested was half the fun: walking in precise steps around the house, not taking them off from the moment she woke up until she went to bed to make certain they were perfect for the first day of school
Lily never appreciated the new shoes for the school year. She wasn't proud to see how much she'd grown or to look at the old ones and remember all the places she'd worn them and look at the new pair with anticipation of where those would take her next. Lily didn't care that Petunia was frozen in place staring at her feet at the muddy footprint covering the toe of her right foot, just high enough to wipe a line of dark brown on the white socks rolled just so.
Petunia woodenly walked away from the community park where Lily continued to run through puddles from a late summer rain. They'd always been close friends but the last few months were very different. On Lily's birthday in January an owl appeared on their windowsill with a letter attached explaining why she tended to make funny things happen once in a while. Since she wasn't going to the same school as Petunia and would be studying to be a witch, Lily hadn't received a brand new pair of Mary Janes. They just weren'tpractical enough to go tromping around some castle in Scotland.
Drawing her legs up to her chest, Petunia sat on a rock on the outskirts of the park. The stone beneath her was warm and clean and as comforting as it could be as she stared at her ruined shoe.
"Is Lily about?" said a voice behind her.
"Yeah," whispered Petunia. Lifting one finger she pointed at her sister throwing mud with a few other neighborhood children.
Severus sat next to her on the other end of the rock. She'd never seen him approach Lily when she was with other boys and girls, always hanging in the corner like a forgotten houseplant slowly withering from lack of attention and light.
"Did they write you back?" he asked. "About Hogwarts. Did they miss your letter last year?"
Petunia shook her head. There were no more tears to shed over the letters from Dumbledore explaining that no, she could not come with her sister to Hogwarts as she was a Muggle. For a moment Severus looked at Petunia with pity in his eyes, almost as if he was considering putting a comforting hand on her shoulder, but the moment was broken before she looked up at him.
Her eyes accused him of something he was not guilty of. "Get away from me. Go play with your tricks and that witch!"
With eyes as black as the bottom of a lake and just as deep, Severus stood gracefully and walked away from Petunia. He didn't turn when he heard her begin to cry.