FICATHON: A History (Petunia Evans/Rowena Ravenclaw)
Title: A History
Pairing: Petunia/Rowena
Rating: PG at most
Word Count: 1,143
Summary: Petunia takes Lily's copy of Hogwarts: A History and finds she wants nothing more than to know Rowena Ravenclaw.
Author's Notes: This pairing is my new OTP! I'm tired and this is un-beta'd, so any glaring mistakes are entirely my fault. Or possibly the fault of my low bloodcaffeine level.
The summer after Lily's third year at Hogwarts, Petunia took her neglected copy of Hogwarts: A History. It was a large, hardbound book that smelled like vanilla.
Petunia became obsessed with the book and would rush up to her bedroom after meals, pull the book out from under her pillow with trembling fingers, and spend hours merely turning the pages slowly, letting her eyes glide smoothly over descriptions of passages and hidden chambers and trees that could break a man's skull.
Sometimes, when she read the book, it was almost like she was there, going to classes and doing homework in her common room and wandering the sprawling, enchanted grounds. She couldn't understand how Lily found the book dull.
Of all the many things described on it's pages, however, Petunia loved most the chapters on the founders. Those chapters had a better narrative than the rest of the book, describing in long, poetic passages Godric's adventures, Helga's friendships, and Salazar's duels.
And then there was Rowena. Petunia sometimes worried that when Lily went back to school, she would notice how well-read Rowena's chapter seemed - the dog-eared pages, covered in fingerprints. Petunia was swiftly becoming an expert on the first Ravenclaw.
Rowena had played the harp but hated dancing. She kept a room full of terrariums overflowing with mosses and large, bright flowers. She had a squib sister, older than her, who she rarely saw but wrote long, detailed letters to.
One was printed in the book. It told of Godric's latest duel with Salazar, and how the latter had left in a cold rage and taken all of his belongings with him. This was probably the reason it was printed in the book - historical significance - but Petunia didn't really care about that.
She loved the letter for the parts that weren't significant at all, jammed in between speculations on the feud - how Rowena's favorite students were doing, falconry, the food at a recent feast and how much pheasant Helga ate, how the renovations to the owlery were coming along. It was these parts that made Petunia feel like she really knew Rowena, like there was no time between them at all.
Petunia didn't know why she was so interested in Rowena. There was something that drew her in, something that kept her with her nose in the book, reading the same passage again and again, something that made her forget to wash her face in the morning - and Petunia never forgot to wash her face.
It was more, now, than wanting to be a witch. There was another reason to wish she could go to Hogwarts now. She knew that if she could, she would be placed in Ravenclaw, and then she could touch the things that Rowena had touched, sleep in the dormitories and look out onto the same mountains and moors Rowena had seen, spend a Saturday in the private library and read Rowena's favorite books, live every day surrounded by a buzz of magic. Rowena's magic.
***
The Sunday before Lily was due to return to Hogwarts, Petunia lay sprawled out on the floor next to her bed, the book in her lap, reading her favorite part of the letter, trying to burn it even deeper into her mind before she had to secret the book back into Lily's trunk. It was a passage in which Rowena wrote of her favorite student, a thin blonde girl with a talent for charms. She was just reaching the part where the founder described the girl's obsession with cleanliness when her door creaked open, Lily's voice coming from the other side. She tried to hide the book - which she had stupidly begun to think of as her book - but too late.
"Mum's going to throw a fit, you've been up here all day and it's your turn to wash the -- what's that, Tuney?"
Petunia didn't even bother to lie. Lily had recognized the book and had already reached her sister, making it across the bedroom in several quick, angry strides. She made a grab for the book and, reflexively, Petunia jerked it away.
"Why've you got my book?" Lily demanded.
Petunia clutched it protectively to her chest. "You never even read it, Lils! I just --"
"I read it!"
"Do you? You probably don't even know anything about Rowena," the words tumbled out of Petunia's mouth and her cheeks flushed.
"What, Rowena Ravenclaw? She was one of the founders. I don't think she ever did anything really important after that. She kept birds, or something."
"She kept falcons, and owls. She hated pheasant but it was all her falcons ever caught. Her favorite was called Kantele, and he would always land on her shoulder and his talons would get tangled with her hair. She had long, dark hair and she never tied it back unless --"
"What, have you got a - a crush on her or something?" Lily interrupted.
Petunia's shoulders shook and she turned away. "You wouldn't understand."
"No, Tuney, I wouldn't understand why you want to kiss someone who's been dead for a thousand years!"
"Take your wretched book!" Petunia stood up suddenly and the book flew through the air before she knew what she was doing. By then it was too late. It bounced off of Lily's shoulder and she caught it, barely, in the crook of her arm.
"Thank you, Petunia," she said coldly and stalked off, rubbing her shoulder.
Lily never called her 'Tuney' again, after that.
***
During the Battle of Hogwarts, most of the castle's original wards were damaged badly. Until they were repaired, Muggles could see the castle, if they knew where to look. When Petunia read this in her nephew's letter, she packed a suitcase. She wouldn't take no for an answer and when she got to the castle, and she said that she was Lily Evans' sister, the repair crew welcomed her help. She worked all day in Ravenclaw Tower, carrying stones until she felt her back would break, but she didn't care.
She went to the library and she picked up all the scattered, burnt pages and found their covers, and put them in order. She scrubbed the blood off of the statue of Rowena, and helped to lift it back onto the pedestal. And that night, when she lay in a scorch-marked bed in the dormitory, and looked out at the stars and the mountains and the moors, she felt a buzz, ever so slight, like sandpaper grating against her muggle brain. Rowena.
Petunia smiled, and fell asleep.
Pairing: Petunia/Rowena
Rating: PG at most
Word Count: 1,143
Summary: Petunia takes Lily's copy of Hogwarts: A History and finds she wants nothing more than to know Rowena Ravenclaw.
Author's Notes: This pairing is my new OTP! I'm tired and this is un-beta'd, so any glaring mistakes are entirely my fault. Or possibly the fault of my low bloodcaffeine level.
The summer after Lily's third year at Hogwarts, Petunia took her neglected copy of Hogwarts: A History. It was a large, hardbound book that smelled like vanilla.
Petunia became obsessed with the book and would rush up to her bedroom after meals, pull the book out from under her pillow with trembling fingers, and spend hours merely turning the pages slowly, letting her eyes glide smoothly over descriptions of passages and hidden chambers and trees that could break a man's skull.
Sometimes, when she read the book, it was almost like she was there, going to classes and doing homework in her common room and wandering the sprawling, enchanted grounds. She couldn't understand how Lily found the book dull.
Of all the many things described on it's pages, however, Petunia loved most the chapters on the founders. Those chapters had a better narrative than the rest of the book, describing in long, poetic passages Godric's adventures, Helga's friendships, and Salazar's duels.
And then there was Rowena. Petunia sometimes worried that when Lily went back to school, she would notice how well-read Rowena's chapter seemed - the dog-eared pages, covered in fingerprints. Petunia was swiftly becoming an expert on the first Ravenclaw.
Rowena had played the harp but hated dancing. She kept a room full of terrariums overflowing with mosses and large, bright flowers. She had a squib sister, older than her, who she rarely saw but wrote long, detailed letters to.
One was printed in the book. It told of Godric's latest duel with Salazar, and how the latter had left in a cold rage and taken all of his belongings with him. This was probably the reason it was printed in the book - historical significance - but Petunia didn't really care about that.
She loved the letter for the parts that weren't significant at all, jammed in between speculations on the feud - how Rowena's favorite students were doing, falconry, the food at a recent feast and how much pheasant Helga ate, how the renovations to the owlery were coming along. It was these parts that made Petunia feel like she really knew Rowena, like there was no time between them at all.
Petunia didn't know why she was so interested in Rowena. There was something that drew her in, something that kept her with her nose in the book, reading the same passage again and again, something that made her forget to wash her face in the morning - and Petunia never forgot to wash her face.
It was more, now, than wanting to be a witch. There was another reason to wish she could go to Hogwarts now. She knew that if she could, she would be placed in Ravenclaw, and then she could touch the things that Rowena had touched, sleep in the dormitories and look out onto the same mountains and moors Rowena had seen, spend a Saturday in the private library and read Rowena's favorite books, live every day surrounded by a buzz of magic. Rowena's magic.
***
The Sunday before Lily was due to return to Hogwarts, Petunia lay sprawled out on the floor next to her bed, the book in her lap, reading her favorite part of the letter, trying to burn it even deeper into her mind before she had to secret the book back into Lily's trunk. It was a passage in which Rowena wrote of her favorite student, a thin blonde girl with a talent for charms. She was just reaching the part where the founder described the girl's obsession with cleanliness when her door creaked open, Lily's voice coming from the other side. She tried to hide the book - which she had stupidly begun to think of as her book - but too late.
"Mum's going to throw a fit, you've been up here all day and it's your turn to wash the -- what's that, Tuney?"
Petunia didn't even bother to lie. Lily had recognized the book and had already reached her sister, making it across the bedroom in several quick, angry strides. She made a grab for the book and, reflexively, Petunia jerked it away.
"Why've you got my book?" Lily demanded.
Petunia clutched it protectively to her chest. "You never even read it, Lils! I just --"
"I read it!"
"Do you? You probably don't even know anything about Rowena," the words tumbled out of Petunia's mouth and her cheeks flushed.
"What, Rowena Ravenclaw? She was one of the founders. I don't think she ever did anything really important after that. She kept birds, or something."
"She kept falcons, and owls. She hated pheasant but it was all her falcons ever caught. Her favorite was called Kantele, and he would always land on her shoulder and his talons would get tangled with her hair. She had long, dark hair and she never tied it back unless --"
"What, have you got a - a crush on her or something?" Lily interrupted.
Petunia's shoulders shook and she turned away. "You wouldn't understand."
"No, Tuney, I wouldn't understand why you want to kiss someone who's been dead for a thousand years!"
"Take your wretched book!" Petunia stood up suddenly and the book flew through the air before she knew what she was doing. By then it was too late. It bounced off of Lily's shoulder and she caught it, barely, in the crook of her arm.
"Thank you, Petunia," she said coldly and stalked off, rubbing her shoulder.
Lily never called her 'Tuney' again, after that.
***
During the Battle of Hogwarts, most of the castle's original wards were damaged badly. Until they were repaired, Muggles could see the castle, if they knew where to look. When Petunia read this in her nephew's letter, she packed a suitcase. She wouldn't take no for an answer and when she got to the castle, and she said that she was Lily Evans' sister, the repair crew welcomed her help. She worked all day in Ravenclaw Tower, carrying stones until she felt her back would break, but she didn't care.
She went to the library and she picked up all the scattered, burnt pages and found their covers, and put them in order. She scrubbed the blood off of the statue of Rowena, and helped to lift it back onto the pedestal. And that night, when she lay in a scorch-marked bed in the dormitory, and looked out at the stars and the mountains and the moors, she felt a buzz, ever so slight, like sandpaper grating against her muggle brain. Rowena.
Petunia smiled, and fell asleep.