"Bye, Luisa, I'll miss you. Are you sure you can't come camping? Think about it, okay. It'll be fun, I promise.”
"Look, Petunia, I really want to come, I've told you a thousand times that my parents are making me come home. I'd much rather go with you, you know that don't you?" she spoke with regret in her voice.
"Yeah, I guess so," Petunia sighed, looking Luisa directly in the eye.
"You know, Luisa, you look a bit peaky."
"No, I'm fine really, just feeling a bit under the weather, it'll go away soon. I'll see you next year, Petunia. I'll miss you so much.”
Critically, Petunia mustered Luisa's pale and sickly appearance.
"Okay, then, I guess I'll see you next term. Have a good holiday!" Petunia said, hurriedly hugging her friend.
Then, with a quick wave, she ran off to where her mother stood waiting for her.
Mother and daughter watched, silently, as Lily hugged at least ten friends, saying goodbyes and waving, until she finally walked over to her family, many a male eye following her.
Purely out of habit, Petunia never answered her mother's questions on the way home with more than three words.
"Petunia, your friends are here.” Her mother's slightly high-pitched voice brought her back to the present day.
She had been thinking of the last time she'd seen Luisa. Considering it now, she became very worried. Her friend had written, yes, and the letters had seemed cheery enough, but Petunia was sure something was wrong. Petunia hated being so far away from Luisa with this uneasy feeling.
However, now was not the time to stress over it. She would see Luisa in merely a week and did not want to spend time on her camping trip worrying. And it wasn't like she could change anything by worrying, anyway.
"Hey, Petunia!"
"Long time no see, ay!"
"How've you been?"
Petunia heard Sirius' bark like laugh, Peter's slightly high-pitched giggle and Remus' friendly chuckle. She couldn't hear James though, and quickly she turned her head to where the noises were coming from.
James stood, next to Sirius looking mildly distracted, staring off into space.
Petunia looked in the direction he was staring, but could detect nothing more interesting than her sister wearing tight Muggle jeans and a white T-shirt. James must be thinking or something, she thought, shrugging to herself.
Now, James snapped out of his reverie, and made his way over to Petunia.
"'Tunia! Good to see you!" he scooped her up in a warm hug. He made no attempt to kiss her though. Maybe he doesn’t want to in front of my parents, Petunia thought.
A few minutes later the four boys and two girls were soaring through the sky, Petunia riding on the broom the Marauders had bought for her birthday about two months ago. They had stopped by her house, in fact, and she had had a little party. The only present she didn’t like (or refused to like) was that from Lily, a pretty necklace. Petunia had never liked any of Lily’s gifts. She always told herself they were too impersonal. Not that her gifts to Lily were ever very personal, either.
Looking up from her thoughts, Petunia let her hair wave in the wind. Over the summer it had become a much lighter color, almost blond. She grinned, letting disturbing thoughts be blown right out of her mind.
By nightfall the group had reached the same beach that Lily and her friends had been camping at last summer.
"So, now we start acting like genuine Muggles, right?" Sirius asked, with far more excitement than the occasion called for.
The others giggled, yet they set about putting the tents up in the sparse moonlight with enthusiasm. James and Remus, though they would not admit it, seemed to find it just as exciting as Sirius did.
Peter seemed to be the only one who was not helping happily. Petunia noticed with some unease that he seemed nervous and jumpy, but she was the only one who seemed to notice. Everyone else was far too busy acting like proper Muggles.
Finally, when the night was almost spent the group crawled into the tents exhaustedly.
Petunia, however, noticed that Peter did not seem intent on going to sleep. As soon as he was sure everyone was sleeping, he crept out of the tent, not knowing that Petunia was following him.
She could not explain it, but she felt he was up to no good. In fact, Petunia could not stand Peter. In Remus and Sirius, Petunia had found a wonderful friendship, and in James she had found that and more. Peter, however, had remained closed and basically ignored Petunia from the start, even though she hung out with him and his friends.
It was not only that. Petunia did not only dislike the boy, she felt very uneasy around him, and for some reason suspicious of this weird teen. She could not explain these feelings, though, and therefore never told anyone about them. Ever since the incident last term, her unease had intensified greatly, and Petunia, being of an inquisitive nature, wanted to know what secret Peter was hiding from his best friends.
They sneaked along in silence for some time, until they reached another campsite, where a girl sat silhouetted eerily by the light of the campfire.
She was tall, and her long, black hair hung in plaits down her back. Her face was gaunt and skeletal. Still, there was something disgustingly beautiful about the thin, pale face and the blood red lips.
Had Petunia not vaguely recognized this girl as a Slytherin, a girl called McNair who had a brother known for beating up first years, she would have believed her to be a vampire.
Peter stepped up to the girl, his eyes shining oddly. Upon reaching her, he wrapped her in an embrace, kissing her lips hungrily.
This seemed very strange to Petunia, as Gryffindor and Slytherin were enemies. No Gryffindor would ever touch a Slytherin, unless to it was beat them up, and no Slytherin would talk to a Gryffindor unless they were making a nasty comment.
Of course there were exceptions, but they were seldom and most people believed Slytherins and Gryffindors could not be friends. Even Lily and Snape's friendship had faltered and faded away over the years, it seemed.
Petunia would, however, have though nothing of it, assuming that Peter had fallen for a Slytherin girl and had, understandably enough, not wanted his friends to know about it.
But just then, many other figures appeared. It was a group of Hogwarts students and former students. Mostly Slytherins, as Petunia noted, though she recognized a few from other houses vaguely as well. Liking one Slytherin was one thing, but meeting with a group of Slytherins? Something was going on and Petunia was determined to find out what.
So she moved closer to the group, until she could hear the mumbling voices.
She could understand very little, only two phrases came through loud and clear:
"The Dark Lord" and "spying".
Realizing James would want to know about this, and also realizing she could not get any closer in order to eavesdrop without them seeing her, Petunia decided she should note what the people looked like.
There were Peter and the McNair girl, next to her stood Snape. On his other side stood McNair's brother, next to him a boy called Parkinson. Then came a group of Slytherins who had already left the school, including Avery, Nott and Malfoy, all three infamous for their hatred of Muggleborns. Next to Malfoy stood a very pretty blond girl, but she was nothing in comparison to the girl who stood on her other side.
A girl known to the school as Bella, or the Belle of Hogwarts. This old-fashioned epithet fit to her perfectly; Bella, it was said, was a rich, pureblood beauty. Petunia had never really noticed her, but Bella was still talked about by everyone. Petunia refused to believe the rumor that every boy in her year had loved her, but seeing her now, Petunia was sure a few of them had.
As she was staring, Petunia thought there was something about Bella's beauty that recalled Sirius's high cheekbones and straight nose. But she supposed all truly good-looking people had these features, and she banished the absurd thought of their similarity. Instead she continued searching for people whose names she knew. However, it seemed that she could not recollect any other names, though she recognized a few more by sight.
Most looked large, strong and stupid, but a few, the ones that were talking, gave the impression of great cunning and intelligence. Those were the ones that scared Petunia most.
Then, suddenly, the voices died out. Petunia almost ran for it, thinking that the group had discovered her as she cowered in the shadows, but no. Peter had started talking, and everyone was listening eagerly.
Petunia couldn't quite make out what he was saying, but she did hear one word quite clearly, at least four times.
Just what was Peter talking about? What was he telling these Slytherins? Why was he kissing that McNair? Who was "The Dark Lord? And... Why was Peter saying the word "Evans"?
Evans... What was he saying about Lily, or even Petunia herself? He couldn't be spying could he?
Petunia had to tell James. She sneaked out of her hiding place, and crawled away from the light of the fire, then got up off of her knees and began to run.
James. She had to talk to James.
James.
Inexplicable panic was spreading throughout her entire body. She had the terrible feeling that James was hurt.
She had to find him.
She had to reach him before Peter. What if something happened to him? What if something already had?
James!