A magical love affair - Severus Snape x Petunia Evans

Chapter 9 - Collapsing chart houses of lies

Park near Spinner's End, Cokeworth, July 1978

Severus tried with all his might to stay calm, to not loose his cool and lash out at Petunia in a violent, unforgivable, their fragile friendship destroying rant. But her demonization of Lily really was difficult to endure with a stony face because he loved Lily despite her engagement to James and would defend her against any unfair attacks. And Petunia's jibes at her character and their friendship really were mostly lies. Therefore, he wanted to collapse her chart house of lies with his side of the story in an explosive, snarky reply. But he had promised Petunia to never judge her unfairly and always try to understand her reasoning. Besides that, he really didn't want to lose their new friendship and companionship, because he didn't have anyone to talk to besides her and it seemed like she could understand his feelings of feeling unwanted, alone and rejected. So, Severus developed a plan inside his head to make her see Lily in a more positive light without driving her away. He just needed to up his game to change her opinion about Lily.

Hence, Severus awaited calmly the end of Petunia's rant, put a sneer on his face and commented in a sarcastic tone, "Wow, Petunia. I always knew that you cast a shadow on Lily thanks to your envy of her magical powers and her preferential treatment by your parents. But I could never quite imagine that she is a wolf in sheep's clothes to you. Because in the end, one fact still remains. She is your baby sister. Someone you should care deeply about and try to protect. Not someone you should badmouth in front of her former best friend. I can imagine that always being in her shadow must have been hard for you and it wasn't right of your parents to treat you so differently. But sometimes life isn't fair and deals you an unfortunate fate. To escape this fate, you must try to shine in your own way or find anything that makes you feel happy and love yourself.

Believe me, I haven't found this special something and have long lost hope in achieving anything worthwhile in this life because nobody wants to have to do anything with me. And my dreams of becoming a famous Potions researcher are impossible for me to reach without any connections in the Potions industry or money to think of. And although my marks in Potions have been exceptional, I won't get a scholarship for a Potions Mastery without the support of at least one Potioner or exuding the aura of some intellectual, socially competent and ethical acting goody-two-shoes. As I don't have the support of Professor Slughorn or more likely exude the aura of some snarky, antisocial and morally questionable git, my dreams of becoming a Potions researchers are shattered to the ground. But enough of my wallowing in self-pity. I originally wanted to point something out to you.

If your environment – Lily, your parents, your college mates – doesn't appreciate you, start to find out who you are and who you want to be. Because in my opinion, nothing makes your family prouder than you being happy and living your life. Sure, I could abstract from your confession that you tried some things to gain the favor of your parents and nothing worked out from your point of view Perhaps your parents don't even realize how unfairly treated and unloved you feel. I'm sure that they love you as much as Lily and appreciate your achievements like studying taxation at the renowned University of Warwick, but they don't express their feelings as open or often as they should.

Most likely, they think that you don't need their support or praise as much as Lily. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to excuse their behavior towards you, I only want you to see some things out of their perspective. Like me, you radiate an aura of an independent, snarky and emotionally composed person that doesn't need to hear the words "I love you" everyday or needs to be sheltered from some horrible truths. Perhaps, your parents see you as this grown-up person and don't express their feelings towards you as they should. I'm sure if you wouldn't bottle everything up into yourself and talk with them freely about your feelings of being neglected and unloved, they would change their behavior and reassure you about their love. So, in my opinion, it really is only a huge miscommunication case on both sides.