I scanned the street for my Mum, checking my watch again to see if she really was as late as I thought I was. I'd already got a few weird looks for sitting here with a bunch of trunks and an owl, I'm pretty sure people were beginning to think I was homeless. It wasn't like my mother to be late for anything.

Around the corner, a small blue car drove up to the pavement and stopped. That was not my Mum's car. I thought that maybe it was a mistake as I wasn't too happy about a random car stopping right in front of me. I stood up slowly to see if I could catch a glimpse of who was in the car and a horrible sight met my eyes.

Petunia was sitting in the front seat, looking straight forward with a pair of large, dramatic sunglasses perched on her pale blonde hair. She rolled the window down, continuing to look away from me.

People sometimes said how alike we looked and I guess I could see it a bit. We had the same nose and the freckles and our eyes were both green (although her's were paler than mine) but to me that's where the similarities ended. It wasn't just the fact we had completely different hair colours but it was the fact that her face seemed to be permanently scowling.

"Are you getting in or what?" She said turning to me and wrinkling her nose.

"Blimey, Tuney, you've just pulled over, give me time to react to your ugly face." I said.

"Fine." She pursed her lips and put her hands on the steering wheel as if to drive off, "Enjoy your two day walk to Cokeworth. You like walking right? Maybe you'll meet some cows and finally feel at home."

"Why would I walk to find cows when I've got one right in front of me." I muttered under my breath but unfortunaltely Tuney had amazing hearing that she'd perfected over years of eavesdropping.

"That's it, I'm driving away." She said, gripping the wheel.

"No, Tuney, wait!" I called, frantically sticking my hand through the window and accidentally knocking Tuney's delicately perched sunglasses off of her head.

"Oh, Lily, look what you've done, you freak!" She huffed picking them up and dusting them down, "Vernon bought me these and they were very expensive. What would he say if he found out you'd knocked them on the floor in the dirt."

I had plenty of things to say to that but with a LOT of effort and self restraint I instead managed a feeble, "Please drive me with you."

"Only if you say sorry, Petunia." She said haughtily, smiling wickedly now that she had the high ground.

I rolled my eyes which only made Tuney's smile widen.

"Stop being such an immature brat, Lily and say it. I'm not letting you in until you say it and I can wait ALL day." She challenged. Part of me wanted to stand there and stay there in this stare off but I knew that there would be no winning, only Petunia driving off and me being forced to call Mum from a telephone box.

"I'm sorry, Petunia." I muttered.

"Louder." She said in an annoying, triumphant voice. I scowled at her but complied much to her delight, "Excellent, you may come in. If your owl makes a mess on the back seat, you're cleaning it up. This car was a gift from Vernon and it was very expensive."

"He won't, Ringo is very well behaved."

"Ringo is a stupid name for an owl." Petunia said haughtily, admiring herself in her car mirror.

She sat in the car, acting casually ethereal whilst I lugged my trunk from the pavement and dumped it into her boot which would have been faster for both of us if she'd helped. Finally, I sat down sulkily next to her, making sure to slam the door as hard as possible. She scowled at me but she was impatient to drive off now and didn't have the will to fight with me now. We remained in uncomfortable silence until we were out of London until I decided to at least attempt to make contact with my sister.

"Why are you picking me up not Mum?" I asked, deliberately looking out the car window so I didn't have to stare at her prissy face.

"Mum is busy, she's planning a funeral remember?" She said in an awful patronising tone, "Anyway, I have some time off work so I arranged it so that I could pick you up. I was meant to see Vernon for supper today at a fancy restaurant but I cancelled for you."

"Oh thank you so much." I said sarcastically.

"You should be, I'm so nice to you." I looked at her trying to figure out if she was serious or not but she had an excellent poker face that gave away nothing.

"How's Vernon?" I figured if I asked now, maybe she'd be nice back and not talk about him to me for the rest of the holiday.

"Oh, he's VERY good, he's on track for a promotion soon, no more junior executive life for him. Most people would find it very hard in the city but Vernon is a very resourceful and charismatic man and - Lily, stop laughing!" She shot an evil look at me but it was hard to stop. The moment she mentioned Vernon's charisma I was gone.

"Anyway how have you been?" She said stiffly after my giggles had subsided. I opened my mouth to reply but she cut me off with a laugh, "Trick question, I don't care! You were actually about to answer, weren't you!"

"I was actually going to say it's none of your business so I wasn't going to tell you." I said deliberately and obviously rolling my eyes at her.

"Fine, tell me." She said, her innate curiosity getting the better of her, "Be quick about it, I don't want to hear too much freak nonsense. It might turn me into one."

"You wish. Not much really, I mean I haven't been that focused in the last few weeks since Dad died but my friends have been really good about it." I said simply, "How are you doing with it?"

"I'm fine." She snapped. Her tone softened slightly like clay now as opposed to granite, "Vernon has been really good about it. I was very sad at first but I'm better now."

"I didn't realise Vernon had a heart." I said, smirking at her obviously unamused face.

"You'll probably never experience it but it is nice to have him around. He makes me feel safe and happy." She sounded genuinely sincere for a second but of course this passed, "I'm sorry that you'll never have it though. Men don't like freaks."

"That's not true, you're a walking example that some men do like freaks."

"I'm not a freak!" She said, suddenly slamming her hands down on the wheel making the horn honk, "Now look what you made me do." She whispered, her face twisted into one of upset and anger.

My brief attempt at human interaction with Petunia failed and neither of us said another word, leaving me alone to ponder what she'd just said.

If me and Tuney were sisters who actually spoke I would have asked her for advice on what was troubling me. I'd told James that I needed time to figure my head out since my Dad died and that I didn't want to date him until I'd recovered but now I think I'd made the wrong choice. I felt better and happier when I was around him and I wanted to see him this holiday but I said I'd needed distance. As usual my indecisiveness nature was causing me problems except now I didn't even have Marlene or anyone to talk about it.

I decided to give it a shot and see if Tuney actually had some advice to offer, if she wasn't still in a huff from me calling her a freak.

"Tuney, can I ask - "

"No." She cut in quickly. I slumped further down in my chair, wishing for once that we were normal sisters and I wouldn't be so stuck to figure this out on my own.

By the time we arrived at our house, it was late and the sun was setting over the hills.

"Urgh, I hate this town." Petunia muttered, slamming the door and walking up the pebbly driveway, her boots making an annoying crunch sound, "Can you bring my suitcase in whilst you're at it?"

I opened my mouth the protest but she was already at the door, not that she would listen anyway.

"Remember what I said about the owl!" She yelled back just as the door opened, "Mum! It's so good to see you!"

I could hear her loud, shrill voice chatting away to Mum about Vernon and her job and the amazing flat she'd found in a great place whilst I struggled with the bags like a bell boy. I don't know if it was just because she was my sister, but she really had the worst voice in the world.

"Oh, Lily, that's so sweet of you to carry Petunia's suitcase." Mum said as I stumbled over, "Here let me take it for you."

Petunia smiled in a fake, sweet way, the sort of smile that a psychopath does when they're trying to blend in.

"Thank you, Lily." She said in an overly sweet tone that I detested.

"It's so good to have my two girls here." Mum said, smiling as if she was on the verge of tears, "Lily, I want to hear all about Hogwarts, did you bring any enchanted tea cups or something home? Your father loved them."

"Sadly not this time, I'll try and bring back a singing tea pot or something next time." I said and Mum's face lit up in a big beaming smile. I looked over at Petunia who had a strange expression, like she had a bitter taste in her mouth.

"I'll tell you about London too." She said suddenly but my Mum was already up the stairs and out of earshot.

"It's not as interesting as exploding bon bons thought, is it Tuney?" I smirked as I dragged my suitcase up the stairs which also doubled as a barrier and potential weapon I could drop on Petunia if my last comment angered her too much.

"Why do you have to be so mean, Lily?" She said but I deliberately ignored her as I dragged my suitcase up the stairs. The moment I had put it down in the middle of the room, I fell back onto my bed, exhausted from the sheer effort of it.

The house felt strange without my Dad in it but not as empty as I thought it would. I curled up into a ball as my earlier dilemma came into my head. I still was unsure about whether to make things official with James as I said I need to cool things off whilst I figured things out but I didn't know if that's what I really wanted. I decided to push the worry to the back of my mind at least until the funeral.

"Lily!" Petunia poked her head in the door suddenly, "I can't find my scarf, did you take it?"

I rolled over away from her. This was going to be a long, boring summer.