The Godmother

22. petunias and lilies

a/n: as a thank you for 800 reads, here is the first chapter of part two!!!

Elizabeth apparated into the tiny court. It was flooded with rain, a thunderstorm that had been batting London all week. She felt the rain bucket down over her head. It was almost warm, as the humid air was so sticky and hot that it had even turned the rain warm. The summer had been terribly hot yet wet.

Elizabeth glanced around the court. Every house was identical. The muggles all had the same garages and front windows and even the placement of the upstairs windows was the same. It looked like someone had put a mirror beside every fence and replicated every house right down to the colour of every brick.

The only difference between the houses was the silver number displayed on every identical mailbox beside the driveway. Elizabeth found number four, placed right beside two and six. She looked it up and down then compared it to the houses either side of it.

It was rather boring and bland. Who would want to live somewhere with such little individuality? What if you got the houses mixed up and accidentally went into the wrong one? She shook her head and walked up the stony-cemented driveway. There was a square, silver muggle car in the driveway. Elizabeth couldn't tell whether it was a fancy car or if it was just normal. She had no taste for cars, unlike Sirius.

There was a small, lovely garden out the front of the home, right beneath the front window. A lacey curtain kept the privacy- Elizabeth couldn't see in the house. She glanced down at the garden. There were tulips and small potted pink and purple flowers- and lilies. Elizabeth stared at the lilies.

From Elizabeth's understanding, Petunia Dursley hated lilies, what with the way she treated her sister, whom of course was named 'Lily'. Elizabeth couldn't understand the way muggles thought. They were hypocrites and liars. She was glad that she was not one of them.

The roar of the rain was like a bourdon note of a distant organ. It cut out the tooting and beeping of the muggles cars that drove hectically through the rain in the busier districts not far from the Dursley home. Elizabeth wrapped three times on the door and took a step back. She eyed the lilies.

Above the rain, she heard the door open. Petunia Dursley stood, stunned, staring at Elizabeth.

"Potter?", she said, confusedly. Her face was even more horse-like and droopy than Elizabeth remembered. Age had not been kind to Petunia Dursley. Beneath the layers of hair cream and dry shampoo she could see dull strands of grey sticking up from underneath the tufts of blonde hair. Her skin was almost beginning to sag. Elizabeth almost smiled.

"Hello, Petunia", Elizabeth said. Her voice was clipped and to the point, elegant in a way that stood above Petunia immediately. Petunia blinked at Elizabeth, holding the door tightly so that only her long face stuck out. "May I come inside?", she asked.

Petunia blinked again then suddenly went slightly pale. "Oh- I- Well... I'm not prepared for guests", Petunia stuttered, looking in and back out of her house.

"Whose there, Tuni?", a thick, deep voice yelled from inside the house. A couch chair groaned and footsteps approached above the rain. Someone swung the door open from behind Petunia, and Vernon Dursleys fat figure appeared from the behind the door. He looked even more displeased to see Elizabeth.

He glanced up and down, sticking out his fat chin and gawking at her like her arms had grown feathers since the last time they'd seen each other. Vernon was severely overweight. His legs looked as heavy as a horses and his belly hung over as though he'd eaten an orphanage.

"What do you want?", he said in a low voice.

"Oh, come on now, Vernon", Elizabeth exclaimed, "there's no need to be rash and nasty".