Petunia's daughter, Lillian Evans

Ch 13: I Will Be By Your Side

[ A/N: The Artwork is done by me.♡ Though I did forget some details, like the chair at his desk for example. =^=]

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

Dudley, like the ever caring brother he was, took his time to make a gift for Lillian's first day of school. He planned to give it to her before she left and was eager for her to finally find friends of her own.

Wait- no. That sounded as if he didn't want his sister around. He wanted to stay by Lillian's side, but he's known for a while that he'd have to let her go. She was growing up. Of course, that didn't mean he wasn't going to try to protect her anyway.

He had been focused on his project for a while now and was finished. Which was good because Lillian's first day was coming up much faster than even his mum was expecting.

Dudley wasn't usually creative, so this project had been difficult to make. He could do it though, he had to, he needed to show his baby sister he would care for her and protect her even as they grew up away from each other.

His mum had told him from a young age, that Lillian would go to a boarding school after her eleventh birthday. He didn't want her to leave, but he understood that she would eventually.

So, he was going to make her a gift that would last from her first ever school day, to her very last, at seventeen. It was a secret he had been keeping for a year now. Slowly getting what he needed and using the last four months to make it.

The project shouldn't have taken this long, but like he said, he wasn't the crafty sort like Lillian. Lillian could be handed a lump of clay, and she'll make a crew of little soldiers and a tiny dragon.

Anyway, he had been wondering when he should give her the gift. He had worked hard on it and knew his little sister would love it, but he was nervous enough to doubt himself.

He sat on his bed and stared at the box he stored his creation in. Dudley kept thinking about how much he'd miss her. But he would see her after school. He knew he would. In his heart though, he felt sadness take hold.

Would Lillian forget how much he cared about her? How would he cope without her sarcasm? What if she became rotten and mean like a lot of other little girls? If she found friends would she ditch him forever? Would she be okay on her own?

So many questions with no answer. At the same time though, he was happy she would finally be able to show how smart she was. He knew she hated being considered dumb because she was only five. Some people even thought she was dumb just because she was a girl.

Which was stupid. His mum was a smart lady, and she was a girl. Of course Lillian was going to be smart. Lillian was the smartest out of everyone he knew.

Back to his problem though. Dudley needed to give her this gift without crying. He knew it was okay to cry, but he wanted his little sister to know he would be strong for her.

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Okay. Time to go.

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

Dudley hopped out of the car his dad was driving and went to stand by Lillian's side. When his mum agreed on a time for pickup, his dad drove away to work.

He was nervous, he had dressed nicely for today, but he wasn't even sure he was welcome to the school. Considering it was an all-girls school.

Girls were scary. His sister was when she got angry. This was a whole school of girls. He was so not ready to face an ocean of them. Here he was though, right at his sister's side.

They entered through the large doors of Madelyn Academy with other families who were enrolling their little girls too. Dudley looked around and wondered if these girls would treat his sister nicely.

After an hour of an entrance presentation by the principle and her staff, everyone was lead to a large room. There, each child that was being enrolled was taken to separate rooms one by one.

Lillian was one of the last ones called in. When she heard her name, Lillian piped up and smiled at the teacher. Whatever happened there was a mystery to him. Only his mum was let in with her, leaving Dudley sitting alone.

He had stared at the door, looked away, stared at the door, looked away, glanced at the door. He sighed. Standing up, he made his way to the door and knocked.

A tall woman with wine red hair poked her head out and raised a brow, "yes, dear?" She asked. Dudley was suddenly nervous and he gulped.

Opening his mouth to respond he glanced behind the woman to see Lillian. She was sat at a table doing some sort of test. He looked back up into the woman's eyes, "Is it okay if I waited in there? There's no one else out here."

She looked startled and took a look around the empty room, then back at him. Nodding the woman let him in and lead him to sit next to his mother.

He watched as Lillian concentrated on the test she was given and wondered if it was the maths test. She was pretty good in every subject, but maths was one subject that she loved but wasn't overly gifted with.

Which was weird. She was great at everything that didn't have to do with numbers. She did better when it was spoken aloud for her, but for some weird reason she couldn't on paper. Lillian just couldn't do numbers.

She finally finished a few minutes later with a frustrated look on her face. Handing the test to the maths teacher with an apology. "The numbers were being mean, they kept swimming around! I'm sorry if I did terrible."

The older woman with whitening chestnut hair looked startled and took the test from Lillian's smaller hands. The lady had a strange look on her face as she looked through the answers.

Stopping on a page she looked up at Lillian, who was still standing in front of her. Smiling, the lady asked for his sister to sit down again, and she would ask Lillian a few questions.

After about ten minutes of questions and answers, they stopped. Standing, the older lady turned to her colleagues, "It seems we have another case of Dyscalculia." She said simply.

Dudley blinked. Blinked again. And then looked to Lillian with a confused expression. She looked back at him and shrugged slightly to show she didn't know what that was either.

It took another half hour to learn what Dyscalculia was, how it worked, and how it could be helped with. Then, finally, they went back into the big room they were in before.

All the other families were there too and everyone was wondering what would happen next. Dudley was tired. And hungry. He knew Lillian was hungry too. Lucky for both children they had been invited for lunch.

Everyone had been, of course, but food. When they finally got home, Lillian sat down with a maths book in front of her. Dudley sat beside her. The two stared at the book until Dudley picked it up and asked her a question.

He taught her a few things, and she figured it out eventually, though not without difficulty. This would be hard to deal with because Lillian preferred a quick paced learning method. But, if this is what it took, then they were up for the challenge.

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

[ A/N: Well then, it's grand writing for all of you lovely chaps. I do apoligize for missing last Saturday (if anyone noticed). Good day/night and Thank You to everyone reading my story!♡ ]

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆