The Hidden Truth About Family
Harold Evans always had a crush on his neighbor Lillian, she was a close friend but not interested in him for dating.
Lillian liked the bad boy type and got herself in a spot of trouble. the boy whom she’d been dating ran out of town and now she was afraid her parents would throw her out.
Harold found her crying and managed to coax the story from her. being an honorable young man he offered to marry her, claim the child as his own and no one would ever know. he may not be who she wanted but they had always been close friends regardless.
7 months later Lillian gave birth to a little girl they named Petunia Evans, a week later Lillian passed way from a post birth infection and Harold now had a newborn daughter that wasn’t really his to raise while trying to work and pay for the home he just bought in Cokeworth.
Rose was a couple years younger than Harold but had already finished school and took on the job of watching baby Petunia while Harold worked. by the time Petunia was 2 years old Harold and Rose had become more, talks about the baby turned to chats over dinner and then occasional outings and then actual dates.
rose had already fallen in love with little Petunia and then in love with Harold. she wouldn’t dream of turning him down when he asked her to marry him. within a year they were married and she officially adopted Petunia as her own.
Two years later when they had a second child it was Rose who suggested the name Lily as a way to quietly honor the woman who gave them Petunia.
they did their best to raise the girls as equal as they could and never told them the truth. to them they were family and that was all that mattered. it had no bearing as far as Harold and Rose were concerned that Petunia shared not a drop of blood with either of them.
it was Rose’s grandfather, her grandmothe’s first husband and her mother’s actual father who had been a wizar. Ominus Gaunt had left his family for the muggle world as soon as he had finished his schooling. it had been hard for him to find work being blind especially since he couldn’t use his wand to help his sight like he could within the magical world. he didn’t agree with his family though and had refused to stay where he feared further torment or possibly death. his elder brother Marvolo had been especially vicious and promised Ominus he’d kill him as soon as he was head of the family.
When he met Rosaline, Rose’s grandmother, he’d fallen quickly in love with her. he’d even told her the truth of his family, magic and what his family would do if they found him. They weren’t married long when Ominus died. Rosaline thought it was damage from curses he’d received from his family growing up.
Rosaline remarried, a muggle like herself. Her second husband was a kind and loving man and had happily adopted Rosaline’s daughter and gave her his name.
Rosaline’s daughter, Rose’s mother, was told the truth of her birth and all about her father when she was older. she hadn’t inherited her fathers magic or his ability to speak to snakes. but Ominus had told her it was possible that any child or grandchild they had may inherit it.
Rose was told about her grandfather when she was older too. not the details as her mother hadn’t thought them importan. Just that magic was real and it was possible to have a witch or wizard in the family. She worried when her daughter Lily showed signs she may have magic, she didn’t want her grandfather’s family to know about the link to them. Thankfully Lily hadn’t seemed to inherit the gift of speaking to snakes so it wasn’t likely anyone would connect her to them.
she meant to tell Lily the truth, but that would mean having to tell Petunia the truth too. Harold and Rose decided together that it wasn’t worth hurting their daughters by telling them they weren‘t sisters by blood. there was already enough issues between the two and they worried it would push Petunia away from the family. They died before they ever got to come clean to their girls and tell them the truth of their separate heritages.
These truths stayed buried until Harry Potter defeated Voldemort and realized he was still a parselmouth. that’s when he began digging through family records. His new semi friendship with his cousin Dudley helped when he was at a loss with the Potter Family Records, Harry needed to look through his mother’s family tree, he knew that it was possible for magic to skip generations and show back up. was it possible his mum had gotten her magic from some distant ancestor?
Petunia wasn’t about to give over what records she had of her family to Harry, but she had no problem with Dudley looking through the dusty old boxes in the attic left over from when her parents had passed away.