Flora And Fawna [HARRY POTTER]

0

It was a quiet morning in Cokeworth, which was exactly why the piercing shriek that echoed through the Evans house was so extremely startling for Petunia Evans. Petunia was the oldest of three daughters. Lily, the second eldest, was off with their parents buying her school supplies when the noise happened. Leaving just Petunia, and the youngest Evans daughter Rose- Rosie- Evans in the house. Before the screech Petunia had been sitting in the kitchen enjoying a nice cup of tea. Before the noise had even finished she was halfway up the stairs to check on her little sister.

Petunia and Rosie were closer to each other than either of them were to Lily. This was mainly due to the fact that the year before, Lily Evans had gotten a letter from the prestigious wizarding school Hogwarts, and Petunia hadn't. Lily was a witch in a house of muggle and it set her apart from her siblings. Furthermore Lily was special, certainly more so than either of her sisters now that she could use magic and the rations of their parents' affections reflected that.

So Petunia was nearly in a panic as she raced up the stairs to see what had happened to her sister to make the normally quiet girl make such a sound. Petunia flung the door of Rosie's room open with a resounding bang and then froze.

Rosie had woken up on the morning of August twenty-fifth cheerful. Her parents had told them the night before that they would be taking Lily into Diagon Alley to purchase her school supplies, spell books and robes, and would be leaving Petunia and Rosie with some money so they could entertain themselves. Before the sisters had gone to bed, Petunia had promised Rosie that she would take the younger girl into London, so that they could go visit the library there.

Rosie had been nearly ready to leap out of bed and sprint down the stairs to her sister when she realized there was something off about her room. Rosie might have not been the favorite daughter, not having a magical bone in her body, but she had toys. Rosie's grandparents recognized that Rosie was the youngest daughter and they spoiled her appropriately. Rosie's bed was normally covered in their affection, about ten or so stuffed plushies, but that morning she woke up alone.

Rosie didn't even think to look up for them until something brushed her on the back of the head. That had been what had made her scream. What she had seen when she looked up had made her scream again. Rosie hadn't really been old enough to understand what Lily being a witch meant when Lily's first Hogwarts letter came. She was only five at the time and she had been more interested in playing on the playground than anything else. It hadn't been until Petunia had sat her down one night and explained everything that Rosie had begun to understand.

Lily would be leaving them because she could do something no one else in the family could. Rosie had seen Lily use magic before when she brought flowers to their mother in the middle of winter. Rosie had been there when Lily had grown the flowers right out of her hand. But she had been young, and dumb, and had thought nothing of it.

Rosie had never had the hatred for magic that her oldest sister had. Rosie had spent most of her time with Petunia even before Lily had become an outcast among the siblings. But she knew that her Petunia hated magic, and she knew Lily wasn't around to be causing what Rosie was seeing. Which left one choice.

Sometime during the night all of Rosie's stuffed animals had floated up into the air and had been acting out her dreams. Had one of her parents looked in on her before they had left they would have seen a great battle play out, with the teddy bears as knights and the dolls as the damsels in distress. But they hadn't, being so preoccupied with Lily and her school list. Now that Rosie was awake though, the animals that had taken flight and were just floating around in the air, which is why one of them had brushed past Rosie's head.

Rosie began to sob.

Petunia didn't know what to think when she threw open the door to her sister's room and found all of her animals in the air. Of course Petunia was quick to realize that Lily wasn't causing this. Lily could make flowers, and that was about it without her wand. Which left Rosie the culprit. For a split second Petunia's heart swelled with rage as she was once again left behind by a magical sister. That was until she saw the utterly heartbroken expression on Rosie's face.

Rosie didn't want to lose her sister, and that was what she thought would happen when her sister saw that Rosie could do magic too. That was added to Rosie's shock that she could even do magic. She had never done anything like it before and she didn't know how to make it stop.

Petunia's maternal instincts, she had practically raised Rosie, pushed past her jealousy and she rushed over to her sister. To comfort her.

Neither sister knew how long they had been sitting together on Rosie's bed, one by one the stuffed animals had fallen to the floor as Rosie calmed herself down, but when Rosie pulled away her face was tear-stained and her eyes were red. The last of jealousy in Petunia's heart shattered, and she pulled her sister back into a hug.

"I don't want you to hate me," Rosie whispered brokenly into her sister's sweater. "I know you hate Lily and I don't want you to hate me too. I didn't mean to do it, I promise."

Petunia felt like the worst person on the planet. She pulled away so she could meet Rosie's eyes. Rosie would never be like Lily, magic or not. Even before Lily had been revealed to be a witch, she and Petunia had been different. Lily had red hair, Petunia had blonde. Petunia was studious and Lily was not. Sure Lily was good at school but she was never great. But all the differences between Lily and Petunia were similarities between Petunia and Rosie. Sometimes in the supermarket, Rosie and Petunia would even be mistaken for daughter and mother.

Petunia placed a gentle kiss on her sister's forehead.

"You're nothing like Lily, Flower. I love you more than anything in this world and nothing, not even a few floating stuffed animals will change that." Rosie believed Petunia, and her tears finally stopped. Rosie's face was still damp and Petunia's sweater was still soaked, but Rosie stopped crying.

"What if I can't control it. What if I hurt someone like Lily hurt mummy that one time," Rosie's voice was quiet, and small when she finally spoke. Petunia held her sister tighter.

"We can practice," Petunia promised. "We can practice every day and when you get good enough at controlling your magic you'll never have to worry about hurting anyone. Lily lost control because she doesn't practice outside of school."

"What if I hurt you?"

Petunia pulled her sister's face up so their eyes met. Blue to green.

"You'll never hurt me."