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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When the tension flipped from enthusiasm to terror, it took Petunia long minutes to even notice.
She could hardly be blamed for this, because in fact the screams barely changed in pitch or intensity, neither did the motions of those around her. The wooden seat underneath her best skirts had been trembling ever since the game had gotten heated and infected the audience with a fever-pitched intensity, causing them to stamp and jump and lean dangerously far forward, dangling their waving arms and heads above the steep drop. The noise was deafening, slurs and encouragement mixed together to create a barrier of sound that was only barely overshadowed by the announcer who was doing his best to keep up with the rapid-paced players in the air, a venture Petunia had long given up on.
And then something caused the hair to rise on her pale arms, something that made her tense and her fingers grasp for Eugene, who had been cheering alongside Bilius.
He looked at where she was sitting, stiff and with a pinched expression and concern slowly leeched the wide grin from his face. "Petals?"
She shook her head, looking around, trying to find the reason for that niggling seed of fear embedded deep inside her gut, spreading its roots deeper into her flesh with every passing second. It was the same sense of unease that had been festering ever since she spotted the black-robed wizards, Aurors as they were apparently called, ever since she had silently listened to Bilius' disparaging comments. The magical mascots had been a distraction, had entranced her and spun around her like a spiderweb, but now the fine threats were stretched and ripped by the unexplained fear that crawled along her neck.
Something was wrong.
Eugene must have felt it as well or at least picked up on her worry, because he stood up and looked around, Petunia following his example. And just when she couldn't see anything, just when she wanted to convince herself that she must have been mistaken, her ears finally picked up on the different nuances of the sounds around her.
The announcer was silent and the loud voices around her were no longer excited - but terrified.
Petunia's heart stuttered for one breath, her eyes meeting Eugene's brown ones in the second breath and then everything fell apart. Ear-shattering shrieks and a stampede of people that pressed around them, jostling and hitting and almost tearing Petunia down if it weren't for Eugene's bruising grip on her arm, tugging her close and trying to follow the stream instead of swimming against it. She had lost sight of Bilius' red head in the crowd and didn't have the inclination or even ability to look for him in the whirling swarm of shoulders, hats and hair all around her.
And then she heard it; creaking and splintering sounds, almost hidden beneath the cacophony around them, sending her stomach plummeting and roiling.
The stupid, flimsy tower, she thought and then something sagged beneath her with a loud crack, her balance lost and her arm smarting where Eugene pulled her closer.
