Summer’s day
Two girls are barefoot in the grass.
“Yellow or blue?”
Lily wiggles her toes thoughtfully, then passes over the yellow nail varnish. Her sister leans over and carefully starts to apply the colour. Brown hair curls around Petunia’s ears as she narrows her eyes in concentration. Lily remembers when they both had hair down to their waists and matching french braids. They also had matching smiles, matching light eyes, and matching school uniforms. Lily came home for the Christmas holidays her first year of Hogwarts to find her sister’s hair neatly chopped off at the chin, but she smiled just the same and her eyes were their familiar blue-green.
Still, Lily felt as if she had lost something.
“Done!” Petunia announces, and settles back down, idly admiring her own sky blue nails. They sit in comfortable silence for a while, alone in the field. Most of the neighbourhood are still at the local beach as the day meanders into late afternoon. Petunia’s hair smells like sea salt.
They both watch as a bumblebee wobbles past, buzzing for a second around the bowl of fresh strawberries laid out next to them.
Slowly, Lily drops her head down onto her sister’s shoulder.