Christmas

Christmas.

Christmas and Harry hadn't come home, while Dudley had.

Her cousin, of course, didn't have much to talk about. "You'll be sure to tell me more than Harry is?"

"How will I get you the letters without Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon reading?" Alisha said.

"Good point," Dudley mused over this before saying, "Maybe that's why Harry's been so vague? I hadn't thought of being vague in my letters."

"Well, you're you," Alisha said, feeling a little more comfortable speaking with Dudley with the time that passed. However, there was a part of her that was bored to pieces with the repetitive nature of having to learn everything all over again; her mind remembered how when she read fanfic for the Harry Potter series, the adventure always began at the beginning, much as the Harry Potter books did. Yet, her experience felt as if it were yet to start if it would ever start.

"I guess remember everything and be sure to tell me?"

"But then, can't Harry do that when he gets back this summer."

"It's so boring having to wait, though." Dudley sighed. "It's like waiting for Christmas or your birthday every year."

Which made sense in a way, albeit in a way that only made sense when once considered it came from Dudley.

"And speaking of Christmas, I wonder what Aunt Marge got us this year?"

Which surprised Alisha, given how she knew Aunt Marge didn't like her or Harry, so she'd not expected anything nice from her, or if she did get something—something made her think it would be something to get her to act like a proper young lady, to which she found herself admitting that the sight of Aunt Marge was quite frightening.

It was frightening that Aunt Marge when she arrived, towered over her, her nose wrinkling. Yet, in the back of her mind, she didn't know what kind of power this woman would wield in the Dursley home, although Petunia whispered to both of them the reminder not to say anything about magic to that woman.

"So that boy couldn't be bothered to return home for Christmas this year," Aunt Marge sniffled. "You should have more control over him, Petunia."

"He's studying over the holiday."

"Then I expect good grades from him," Marge said, "Though I doubt it."

"Lily received good grades this last term," Petunia said, to which Marge let out a sniff as if it weren't that big of a deal. "Top of her class."

"Well, I'm not at the top of my class," Dudley said.

"That's not something to brag about, dear," Aunt Marge said. "I guess Harry won't be getting his present from me this year."

Alisha looked at her, unsure of whether that was a bad thing, but she remembered as Aunt Petunia gave Aunt Marge a similar look how she'd been blunt about saying, "She doesn't like the fact you're raising two kids who aren't your own." Yet standing there, she wondered if raising one more child managed to put Petunia at odds with her in-laws, cursing the lack of information from not having Lily's memories. "I guess Lily and I really are two different people and that I am simply someone living in Lily's body from this day forward, but does that mean I murdered her?"

That was a rather sad thought around Christmas time. Yet, it had been at the back of her mind this entire time that by coming through the door under the stairs into this world, she'd managed to kill Lily, the younger sister of Harry Potter, and yet she also wondered if Lily only existed in this world because she had crossed over to this world through the cupboard under the stairs.

Alisha fiddled. "Can't you be more ladylike, Lily?"

"She's fine the way she is," Petunia said, making Alisha freeze.

"She wouldn't be this way if you weren't so lax," Aunt Marge said, making her suddenly think Aunt Marge had standards like certain members of the Black family.

"As I said, she's fine," Petunia said, firmer this time. However, she didn't bring up what Alisha said about Aunt Marge not liking how she was raising two children who weren't her own.

"She takes after her mother, I take it, and that's why you're so lax with her?" Aunt Marge said. "And Vernon said you and your sister didn't get along, yet you willingly took her children in."

"It's not her fault she died."

"But not your problem."

And there it was, the confirmation that Aunt Marge didn't like Petunia raising children who weren't her own, yet Alisha couldn't happen to wonder, "Was it like this for her in the Harry Potter canon?"

"But if mom didn't take Harry and Lily in," Dudley said, reminding Aunt Marge that they were there and Aunt Petunia.

"You shouldn't interrupt adults when they're talking."

"But I like having my cousins here. It's almost like having siblings," Dudley said.

Petunia's mouth twisted slightly as if his words brought her relief, while Aunt Marge looked thoroughly chastised. Aunt Marge said. "Oh. I guess I can have you send Harry his gift."

"Anything for Dudley, I guess, but him being on our side in this world, or Harry's side, actually makes things easier. The problem is, what kind of change will this have on the canon. If it changes too much, could they eventually fail to defeat Voldemort? The snake-faced man, I can't help but think I wouldn't like a world where he wins because I ended up in this world. Would not the world I came from being better."

"I hope you are grateful for your gift, Lily," Aunt Marge said.

Alisha stared, unsure of what to think, but when she opened the package with a china doll, she couldn't help but feel as if Aunt Marge was very much like the Black family, as she would have thought the china doll in its perfect lacy clothing, though thankfully the doll wasn't dressed in black. It was thankfully not pink either.

"You don't like it?"

"She's pretty."

"And?"

It wasn't lovely how Aunt Marge would push the issue. "It's not pink."

"Excuse me?"

"I'm glad it's not pink," Alisha said. She looked up to see Dudley laughing, and Aunt Marge was taken aback as much as Uncle Vernon, while Aunt Petunia looked slightly chastised. "There's a lot of pink in my room."

"You're not fond of pink," Dudley said, "But Aunt Marge didn't know that."

"She's not fond of pink?" While Alisha felt some relief, Petunia said that no, it wasn't Lily who had picked out everything pink.

"She likes the color," Aunt Marge said, making Alisha suddenly wonder if the gift was chosen purposefully not to be pink, which was amusing, but on Christmas—she couldn't know she got anything she wanted, plus there was a lot of food. And then, Dudley went back to school, and Aunt Petunia tried to bond with her again.