But what happened to Lily's courage? She never has time for anything Petunia might need, but Petunia is supposed to drop her husband and child and rescue *her*.

And yet women have gone overseas by themselves, yes, even while pregnant.

Lily has been used to everyone dropping their lives to make her feel better in the magical world. She's used to Petunia being her protector. She doesn't begin to think that Petunia would be helpless before the Dark Lord, or that she should have a life that's worth keeping, not when precious LIly needs it.

It's hard being a Princess. She should be more like Princess Fiona in Shrek 4, and rescue herself.

Sadly, the magical world was more important than Petunia years ago-Lily made her choice, again and again and again, and will never choose Petunia over everything else she wants, not even after their parents paid for Lily's choice.

Well, Petunia has a good reason here; Lily is so wrapped up in her problems she can't see those of other people (like her friend Sev being *tortured* at the time he said the bad word, and her turning her back on him so he could be tortured some more. And she didn't care about Sev being nearly eaten by a werewolf either, even before that).

No, Lily never listens to Petunia. Why should she? We all know she's going to end up loving her stalker...

Yup. Petunia is left behind to be the punching bag and Lily gets to go off and be the Princess. But of course Petunia is bad for not being thrilled about it.

Of course Petunia is jealous-Lily will get to escape, and even that awful boy, but she won't. I don't blame her for wanting to run away *now*.

Oh, my, that's so ghastly and abusive...

Hi Summer Leigh Wind,

So, I always enjoy stories that explore the relationship between the Evans sisters, which I imagine to be one of the more complicated sibling relationships in the series. I could imagine them having an abusive parent, since only Lily really turns out to be a good parent to her children.

My favorite part of this was the opening: about how it can be better to be together and in pain than to be safe and in insolation

I also really like how Petunia is a bit dominant in coming up with the plans while Lily asks questions. That's kind of how I see their dynamic too. Petunia already seems like the more hardened one.

My one edit (or bit of confusion) was that I didn't understand why the girls speak by dropping the
-ing at the end of words, as in "cleanin'" or "selling". Maybe this was supposed to make them sound young, but to me it just seemed like a regional or old-timey dialect that was kind of out of place.

Otherwise, I think the opening does a good job expressing the kind of dysfunctional upbringing they had and the way the two sisters clung to each other and their fantasies to get through it.

Ooh, is Lily smiling because of Severus? 'Cause that would be adorable! Those two are so cute when they're younger. I hope Petunia doesn't try to interfere with her sister and Lily's dreams of going to Hogwarts. Even if Petunia is left behind for awhile Lily will be away from their crazy mother. And that's a good thing! ...I'm still rather shocked that their mother acts the way she does to her children. Will that be explained? Or is this just one of those "people are jerks" sort of things?

Spag: [beginning on on] extra, on.
[faith that slime] in that*

When I imagine Lily's family this is not the image that comes to mind. But maybe her mother will fear her much like the Dursleys do when Harry realizes he's a wizard.

I really like that Petunia and Lily are friends here and are there for eachother throughout all of this abuse. At least their father is nice. Poor little children. I like Petunia's idea of running away to join the circus, and how she paints the imagery for Lily so it would be fun with them. I hope they do run away from their crazy mother.

It's been a while since I read the previous chapters of this one, but it looks like this is the only chapter left that I never reviewed.

The childhood you've given Petunia in this fic would certainly explain why she lets Dudley behave the way he does in canon...

So now that Petunia is finally happy with how her life is going, here comes Lily trying to beg her to run away together like Petunia used to say to her when they were kids...

I like the way you portray Petunia in this, as a character the reader can sympathize with, and the way she talks Lily into seeing sense without being mean or nasty about it as one might expect from canon!Petunia. It also makes sense how her resentment of Harry would come from knowing Harry's role in the prophecy.

I loved how you explained Petunia's hatred for Harry, and her reason for spoiling Dudly. This was an awesome story.

I was only going to read the first chapter of this, but it was so good I had to read the entire thing. I thought it was interesting the way that Petunia would hate Harry for being the cause of Lily's death. It adds a more compassionate touch than just plain regular jealousy. I wonder how much of Petunia's actions in this were influenced by jealousy and how many were influenced by loneliness. I could really feel Petunia's conflict and Lily's bewilderment. This was an amazing story.

Yay, finally on the last chapter! I've really loved this story so far, and it's both exciting and sad to finish it.

Oooh, I never thought that Petunia's mother would be the reason that she's so easygoing on Dudley - makes a lot of sense. You have really weaved such a small yet creative detail into so much of the canon concerning Lily and Petunia.

I literally had about fifty "OH GOODNESS" moments throughout this entire last chapter. I think the ending was really, really good. You've set up this estranged but loving relationship between Petunia and Lily and made it so that it makes perfect sense why Petunia doesn't love Harry. This is a clearly thought-out collection, and this final chapter was quite something.

I didn't notice any SPaG errors, and your description flowed nicely. Very well done! I loved reading this collection, and can't wait to read more of your stories :)

Oh goodness, this was such a sad chapter. I like that you showed Petunia and Lily being broken up about their parents' deaths, because even if their mother wasn't the most loving, it was their mother after all.

I was so divided in this chapter - on one hand, I understand why Lily didn't want to leave, but I felt so bad for Petunia. I couldn't imagine how heartbroken she must feel to have Lily choose magic over her. It made the chapter that much more intriguing and believable.

There was only one sentence that I thought sounded a bit awkward:

"She knows she had screamed so loud, so horrified the neighbour called 999."

I can think of a few ways to change it up. Maybe: "She knows she had screamed so loud, so horrified, that the neighbour called 999," or "She knows she had screamed so loud, so frightfully, that the neighbour called 999." I think it's the word horrified that makes it seem out of place.

(Although, it is nice to know that 999 is the EMS number in UK - the more you know!)

Overall, I enjoyed this chapter, even if it was quite sad and heartbreaking. You've built up quite a lot of tension and I'm curious to see when Lily would be asking Petunia to run away with her. Well done! :)

Your portrayal of Petunia is really lovely. I’ve always pegged their issues down to her envy at Lily’s magic and general dislike of Snape, but it was interesting to consider how Lily’s friendship with Severus would have impacted and reduced the time she spent with her sister. Also, I really liked how you highlighted Lily’s innocence persevering despite the situation. It must be frustrating for Petunia to walk the line between making sure she’s being realistic – and that Tuney isn’t alone in knowing what’s happening – and protecting that innocence.

There were a few SPaG issues scattered throughout. For example, the name ‘Tuney’ wasn’t capitalised, while the word ‘after’ in the last sentence was. The main things:

‘Usually they’re all but jogging – just to ensure they get home on time, but, as they are already late, putting…’ – for consistency of punctuation, it should be, ‘jogging – just to ensure they get home on time – but…’ or ‘jogging, just to ensure they get home on time, but…’

‘Mum grabbing their wrists in painful grips, Petunia shares a look of pure terror with Lily.’ – I can’t remember what it’s called, but I think the verb in the first clause in this kind of construction is supposed to have the same subject as the verb in the second part of the sentence. An alternative might be: ‘As their mum grabs their wrists in painful grips, Petunia shares a look of pure terror with Lily.’

Their mum has horrible timing. I can’t help but get caught up in the ‘what if?’ of what would have happened otherwise. They probably wouldn’t have gotten very far at that age, but all they really needed to do was get far enough away to not be out of their parents’ reach and then end up somewhere they could be found by the police.