Petunia sat in the living room. Her leg was bouncing up and down as she patiently waited for her prom date to arrive. Seconds passed which turned into minutes which then turned into an hour.
She gripped at her dress and tried to figure out why her date was late. Another hour has passed and her heart broke "He's not coming...." She said to herself. She looked down at the floor and tried to keep herself from crying.
She should have expected this, she's was never an option to anyone's eye. She was some last resort and even then she would never be picked. So you can imagine how excited she had gotten when a charming boy from her history class had asked her to be his date for the prom.
She stood and ran up to her room before the tears could fall. She ignored the calls from her parents as she ran. She simply wanted to be alone. Once she entered her room, she slid down against the door and finally let the tears fall.
'How could I be so stupid!' She thought as she brought her knees up to her chest and hugged them.
"Petunia....Sweetie?"
"Go away!" She shouted out. Through her sobs she heard her parents sigh and walk away. She hugged her knees tightly and continued to cry. She reached to undo her hair when she heard faint tapping on her window. She lifted her head and stared at her bedroom window in confusion.
She slowly stood up and walked over to it, a small rock hit the window and she jumped back a bit in surprise. 'The hell...' She thought, she wiped away her tears as she opened her window and poked her head out to see who it was that was tossing small rocks to her window.
She looked down thinking whoever it was, was down in the ground. Tho she frowned when she noticed that no one was there. 'How odd' She thought and was about to step back inside and close window till she heard a familiar voice.
"Tunia!"
Petunia turned her attention to the direction in which her name was called and gasped at who she saw. There, just slightly above her window, was Severus Snape practically floating in the air. She felt heart race in panic and fear "What on earth are you doing?! You'll fall to your death!" She shouted out and reached out to him in an effort to try and get him to come in through her window to safety.
Severus snickered and move closer to her window, Petunia stepped back but stayed close in case he slipped and fell. Severus entered her bedroom and once he was fully inside Petunia pulled him away from the window and quickly shut it closed.
She turned to him and glared "What were you thinking?! Someone could have seen you!! Or you could have seriously gotten hurt!! Honestly what is wrong with you!!" She shouted out. Severus stayed silent, this was not the first time she had lectured him (or Lily) about their reckless use of magic.
Honestly for someone who claims to hate them or not care at all what happens to them she seems to worry alot about their safety when they use magic or try to experiment with it. He was snapped out of his thoughts when Petunia waved her hand in front of his face.
"Hello? Snape? Are you listening?!" She questioned, Severus simply shrugged "Yes I'm listening" He said. She crossed her arms and sighed 'Liar' She thought "What are you doing here anyways? Shouldn't you be in Hogwarts?" She asked, it was odd to see him here and as far as she was concerned nothing had happened to warrant the return of everyone there.
Lily or the school would have told her parents and her sister would be home too but she wasn't so why was Snape here instead of there. Severus stiffened up a bit but shook his head "My mother is sick and my father is gone for the moment, I was allowed to return home to look after her till arrangements for her to be moved are made by the ministry" He stated plainly.
Petunia frowned, she was about to offer him her condolences but he continued "Also I wanted to give you something" He said which caught her off guard. Why would Snape give her anything? She stared at him in confusion as he pulled out a small box and handed it to her.
She slowly took it and looked back in forth at him and the box in her hands. After some time, she finally finally opened it. Her confusion only grew when she stared at the small pendant. 'A pendant...why would he?' She thought, she looked back up at him "What's this for?" She asked.
"It's a detector" He stated which only confused her more, he let out a sigh "A friend of mine gave it to me, said that it senses if someone or something is a threat or becoming one. It can also work as a port key, you just need to think of a place you want to go and it'll take you. To activate that you need to say Vivlía" He added.
Her eyes widen at his words, he was giving her a magical object. Now the only question was why. "Why are you giving me this?" She asked nervously, afraid that he'll snatch it back and leave. "Lily mentioned something about your prom" He said and she frowned, of course he was doing this for Lily....why did that hurt her? "She should learn to keep out of my business" She muttered.
"Still I don't understand why you would even give me this" She said in annoyance. He stayed silent and it began to make her uncomfortable with every second that passed. After some time he finally spoke "It's for protection, I figured you would need it when I found out that you would be attending" He stated calmly.
Petunia was shocked, touched, and upset. She was shocked that Snape would get her something to protect herself for prom, she was touched that he cared for her safety for whatever reason, and she was upset that he sounded a bit shocked at the revelation that she was going to her school prom.
She began to laugh "Honestly Snape what do you think will happen to me at prom? I'm going to be fine" She said and her heart began to ache "And why did you sound so surprised at finding out I was going to attend my prom?" She thrusted the box containing the pendant back into his hands and crossed her arms.
"Did you think I was not going to attend?" She added.
Severus stared at her for a bit before responding "Yes, that's exactly what I thought" He spoke as he closed the box.
Petunia felt her anger rise "And pray tell why you would think that" She said through gritted teeth.
He stayed silent knowing full well that if he answered she would most likely throw him out the window herself. He stared at Petunia before looking down at the box in his hands. She wasn't a prize winner, she wasn't ugly perse but he knew that guys wouldn't exactly be lining up to take her to prom or anywhere.
Not only that but she didn't have the best personality. So when he saw her shopping for a prom dress with her mother he was over come with some urge to protect her. Part of him wanted to convince her not to go at all or to find the guy who would take her and insure that he wasn't set out to hurt her.
He had dealt with something like this and the embarrassment and pain he felt isn't something he'd want anyone to go through, including Petunia. That's why he wrote to Rosier the day he found out. Rosier had owed him a favor when he had helped him out in a duel. He asked him for something subtle that would protect his muggle friend, he never said who, and Rosier had sent him the pendant the very next day.
He never saw Petunia smile before since that day and he didn't want anything bad to happen to her on a day that supposedly means a lot to people. He felt that she deserved to be happy and feel special for one night.
Petunia let out a sigh as he said nothing to her "You should leave, besides I won't be needing that stupid thing, I'm not going" She spoke, hoping that her voice didn't falter as she remembered that her date had stood her up.
Severus looked up at her in confusion "What?" She had seemed so excited to go that day he saw her, not only that but she was currently all dressed up in the dress she had bought. Her hair was done and she was wearing make up so if she wasn't going then why was she dressed for it?
She fiddled with the sleeves of her dress as she hugged herself. She looked away the minute she felt tears form in her eyes. The last thing she wanted to do was to cry in front of Snape, of all people.
Despite her efforts she wasn't able to stop the tears from falling nor was she able to stop the choked out sob that slipped passed her lips. She turned away from Severus before falling to her knees and began to cry.
Severus stared at her in confusion and shock. He didn't know what to do, he can't imagine ever seeing Petunia cry, hell she didn't even cry when he accidentally caused a branch to fall on her back when they were children.
It shocked him greatly seeing Petunia so distraught. It also angered him. He was certain that the reason she was in tears had something to do with prom. He took a step towards her and slowly knelt down besides her. He placed a hand on her shoulder and was almost knocked to the ground when Petunia turned to him and jumped into his arms.
She clung to him and hid her face in his chest. Severus froze in place, he wasn't sure what to do. Not only that but he was extremely shocked by Petunia's action. After some time he finally snapped out of it and slowly wrapped his arms around her.
She pressed closer to him and continued to cry, Severus stayed quiet not knowing what to say to her. He gently rubbed her back in hopes that it would comfort her. Seeing her in such distraught actually pained him.
He never envisioned seeing Petunia like this, hell he never saw Lily become so distraught. Yes he's seen her cry but never like this.
After some time Petunia began to calm down, tears stopped flowing down her face. She felt tired and numb, all she wanted to do now was go to sleep and forget all that happened. She tried to get up but her movements were stopped when she felt Severus tightened his hold on her.
She felt her cheeks heat up when she remembered that she had thrown herself into his arms, not only that but she had cried as well. She was sure his shirt was covered in her tears, snot, and possibly saliva. She was beyond mortified at the realization and wanted nothing more but to crawl under her bed and hide away forever.
"Tunia" She shut her eyes, she couldn't face him not now. Possibly never, he called out her name and she stayed still. He sighed softly before slowly slipping his arms under her and lifting her up from the ground.
She bit the inside of her cheek to keep from gasping at the sudden action. Severus walked over to her bed and laid her down, and he then took out his wand and casted a scourgify to wash away her tears, snot, and make up. He then casted another spell to change her attire into some comfortable pajamas.
Petunia didn't know how to describe the feeling of magic being used on her but she enjoyed the feeling. Magic washed over her and she wished she had been kinder to her sister and Snape if this is what it felt like. When Severus had finished she finally opened her eyes. She looked up at him and nervously reached out to him.
Severus looked at her in confusion, he leaned towards her unsure of why. Petunia slowly sat up and leaned closer to him. She placed her thin lips on his cheek and after a second she pulled back "Thank you" She said quietly before laying back down in her bed. Within seconds sleep consumed her and Severus was left standing there completely frozen in place.
He pulled himself out of shock and leaned back. He looked down at her and saw she had fallen asleep. Severus used magic to pull her blanket out from under her and gently draped it over her. He walked to where they once were and picked up the small box.
'I should probably send this back to Rosier' he thought but when he looked back at Petunia he decided against it and thought of something else.
By morning Petunia had woken up, moments of last night came to mind and her face began to heat up. "My god he must think I'm so pathetic" She said to herself, she forced herself to sit up and when she moved to pull the covers off of herself something caught her eye.
She looked over at her nightstand and noticed a small box. The very same box that Snape had tried giving to her last night. She felt her heart flutter as she picked it up and opened it. She let out a soft gasp as she saw a design on the pendant, that she remembered was completely blank when she first saw it.
Now on the pendant was a small drawing of a flower, a Petunia to be exact. She felt tears form in her eyes and she felt that her heart was going to burst. She fell back onto her bed and held the box close to her. She closed her eyes and began to think of ways to thank Severus.