Petunia's Remorse-- A Letter From Petunia To Harry

Petunia's Remorse

Dear Harry,

I do not know why I am writing to you. We haven't spoken in years. Six years ago, an owl reached us early one morning, carrying a letter that said you killed Lord Voldemort. Your Uncle Vernon read it and grunted, passed the letter to me, and asked me to get rid of it. But I didn't. It felt too terrible to throw away the letter, the one proof that my sister had been avenged.

Harry, this letter is not meant to ask for your forgiveness. What we did to you, how we treated you for years, that, I know, is unpardonable. I also know that one day I will have to answer to my sister for all that I have done. This letter is an attempt, an attempt at redemption, at remorse. What Dudley realised years ago, I had been denying to myself for too long. That you are, Harry, our family and we are yours. Nothing can change that, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Lily and I were best friends while growing up. There was nothing we wouldn't share. She was both my strength and my weakness, as I was hers. I loved my little sister with all my heart. When she realised her powers, I was fascinated and also, a little scared. I thought she was ill, and it frightened me more than anything else that if anybody found out, she would be taken away from us. When she received her letter from the school, my parents were elated. That Lily was going to spend months away from home every year seemed like a dream come true for them. I resented it. Not because I was jealous, or perhaps, not wholly because of that. I resented the fact that my sister would no longer be my best friend, that she would have a world of her own, friends who would be nothing like me. And already, there was a distance between us, for Lily had found a new friend in the Snape boy.

Lily's powers frightened me. It wasn't normal, none of it seemed normal. When she brought your father home to meet us, I didn't like him one bit. Here was proof, that my sister, my lovely sweet sister, was now so removed from what she really was. We kept up correspondence for a few years, but the Potters rarely invited us over, and neither did we. There was a chasm between us that I did not know how to cross.

And then she died.

My little sister was dead and her son lay on my front porch, alone, crying, with a big scar on his forehead. I was horrified. I could hardly believe it. She had powers that could have saved her! What, then, was the use of spending all those years at a distant school, learning magic, if she failed to defend even herself! I was grief-stricken. But I was also angry. At her, at this unknown Hogwarts, at you, because you lived and my sister did not.

When you started showing signs of magic too, it was like I was back in time. But this time I had my family to look after. If Lily could be chosen from a family that had no magical connections whatsoever, who is to say that being in close proximity to you wouldn't affect Dudley in a similar way? There was nothing I could do about you, for I knew there were others who kept an eye on you. But Dudley... I would not, could not let them take Dudley from me. I know magical abilities show in children from a young age (that is what Dumbledore had explained to me a very long time ago), and Dudley had shown none. But it was an irrational fear that had gripped me. I did not want Dudley in your association.

Funnily enough, it was Dudley who urged me to write to you. I do not demand your forgiveness, Harry, but I do earnestly apologise for letting you down as your only living family. I have known for quite some time now, that what set Lily and me apart was not magic, but compassion. She was an immensely compassionate, loving soul, and I will never be able to forgive myself for how I have treated her.

Which brings me to the last bit of my letter. I want to tell you now, what I should have told you everyday for seventeen years. Harry, I see Lily in you. You are much much more like your mother, than you are like your father, although you look very much like him. Lily shines out of your eyes. She is in every word you speak. She is in everything you do. And I know that she would be immensely proud of who you are today.

I think she is.

Best wishes, forever,
Aunt Petunia

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Hello, people! So, this is my first time writing something like this. If you're reading this, please put in a comment saying if you liked it or not. I'm totally cool with anything! Thanks for reading.