The Practical Uses of Pindaodao
A new week arrived as scheduled, and Lily returned to her routine of walking to and from Cokeworth Public Primary School with Petunia. With nothing much to do on the way, Lily would occasionally conjure all sorts of delicate little things out of thin air with a mere thought. Petunia and Mr. and Mrs. Evans, who knew nothing about magic, assumed it was a special ability Lily had been born with.
The Evans family was just an ordinary middle-class family, and beautifully boxed sweets and imported chocolate had always been luxuries they couldn't afford to buy often. Fortunately, Lily had Pindaodao to fall back on. She could always produce fruit-flavored hard candies, silky chocolate, and all sorts of unusual snacks, then quickly replace their packaging with plain wrappers and quietly share them with Petunia. Deep down, Petunia still harbored a jealousy she couldn't shake, envying her sister's magic, which belonged to her alone. But then she would remember that only the two sisters knew this magical secret, and she couldn't help feeling a special pride. The conflicting emotions tangled in her heart.
When they had free time on weekends, Lily would organize the repackaged snacks, then take Petunia along, pushing an unused handcart from home to set up a stall on a busy street in town. They earned spending money from the little treats. After a few outings, Lily keenly sensed the business opportunity hidden in them, and a long-term plan gradually took shape in her mind: if she was going to keep doing this, she might as well take over a small shop and run it steadily, slowly building up savings so the whole family could live more comfortably.
From then on, she was no longer content merely to bring out snacks and small toys to sell at a stall. Whenever no one was around, she would also quietly take out gold jewelry in pristine condition and exchange it for pounds. Petunia was shocked by such a bold move. Clever as she was, she also saw at once that Lily had long been thinking beyond simply earning a little spending money. What her sister really wanted was an income entirely of her own.
Mr. and Mrs. Evans watched Lily enthusiastically plan for the future. Though they sometimes worried that she was working too hard and taking risks, they felt genuine tenderness for their daughter, who considered the family in everything she did, and chose to support all her decisions unconditionally. With her worries set aside, Lily took Petunia through the town's streets and alleys, inspecting suitable premises and carefully choosing a location for the little shop that would one day be hers.
The days passed in the same cycle: school during the day, then hurrying about looking for a storefront after class. After a long period of preparation, Lily's little shop finally opened without a hitch. She named it Tales of Blossoms, a gentle and elegant name that made people assume at first that it was a florist's. Only when they pushed open the door did they discover a well-stocked little general store, with everything from sweets and pastries to accessories and everyday odds and ends.
The prices were affordable, and the goods were novel and practical. Word of their good quality and low prices quickly spread, and residents of the surrounding towns loved to shop there. Business boomed day after day. Mr. Evans made a special effort to find her a reliable, levelheaded clerk to mind the shop.
Petunia stood quietly to one side, watching the steady stream of customers with mixed feelings. She sincerely thought Lily was amazing to have acquired a little shop of her own in such a short time.
When school ended on Friday again, Lily slung a bulging cloth bag over her shoulder. It was packed with an assortment of repackaged snacks, and she planned to try her luck at the town park and meet Snape again. Petunia couldn't stop worrying. All sorts of people passed through the park on Fridays, and she was afraid Lily might encounter a stranger with bad intentions while out alone, so she insisted on accompanying her sister.
It was on this trip that she finally met the boy Lily often mentioned, the one who had magic too.
Severus Snape stood alone beside a secluded clump of bushes in the park. His old clothes were washed pale and covered in dust, and he looked thoroughly down-and-out. Living at Spinner's End, he looked like an orphan with no one to care for him. His face was gloomy, and a dull, oppressive air hung around him. His dark eyes were fixed on Petunia, his gaze lingering and sharp as he stared straight at her. He looked strange and frightening.
Lily's face lit up, and she eagerly introduced them to each other. She took Petunia by the arm and turned her toward Snape. "Severus, this is my sister, Petunia." Then she turned to the small, thin boy beside her and said to Petunia with a smile, "Petunia, he's Severus Snape, my best friend."
At the words "best friend," a faint glimmer briefly appeared in Snape's shadowed eyes, a rare sight, as though the words had soothed his long-held loneliness. His gaze lingered on Petunia for a moment. Whatever he saw, he did something unusual and reined in his gloom, giving her a slight nod that was stiff but polite enough.
But Petunia's guard didn't drop in the slightest. She merely gave a cursory twitch of her lips and reluctantly followed them under a tree. Lily spread out the floral picnic cloth she had brought, and the three sat down side by side.
The silence had barely lasted a moment before Snape began talking on his own, going over and over the magical world that belonged only to wizards: the magical Hogwarts Castle, marvelous spells, flying broomsticks, and all sorts of wondrous things only wizards could encounter. He had already told Lily about them countless times in private, but now he made a point of repeating them in front of Petunia.
A thin layer of cold sweat broke out on Lily's back. Surely Snape wasn't doing this on purpose? He knew perfectly well that Petunia was a Muggle without a trace of magic, yet he kept bringing up the world that belonged only to wizards, deliberately hurting her.
Petunia saw through his intentions too. The brief, faint spark of goodwill she had felt moments ago vanished at once, leaving her full of aversion and a sense of distance. Her fingers curled into fists without her realizing it, and she grew even more resistant to the gloomy, strange boy before her.
Seeing the tension rise and an argument about to break out, Lily hurried to find a way to ease the situation. She turned her shoulder bag upside down and shook fruit-flavored hard candies, silky chocolate, crisp little biscuits, and soft pork-floss bread all at once onto the floral picnic cloth.
She first grabbed a large handful of sweets and biscuits and pressed them into Snape's palm, urging him to try them. Then she handed Petunia a whole pork-floss bun. With the sweet-smelling snacks clutched in his hand, Snape suppressed his hostility toward Petunia for the time being. In his mind, what did it matter if Petunia was Lily's own sister? He was the one who could talk magic with Lily and share his innermost thoughts with her, so he was Lily's best friend.
Petunia was nursing a simmering resentment as she glumly took a bite of the bun. She had meant to take a few bites just to be polite, but unexpectedly tasted a distinctive flavor she had never encountered before. It was soft and savory, far more delicious than she had expected. She instinctively wanted to ask whether the bun was sold at Lily's general store, Tales of Blossoms, but caught sight of Snape beside her and forcibly swallowed the question. She didn't want to mention her sister's little shop in front of an outsider.
Sucking on a fruit-flavored hard candy, Snape pulled an old, dog-eared spellbook from inside his worn coat and gently pushed it over to Lily. "You're a witch," he said quietly. "You can look through this ahead of time."
Lily instinctively glanced sideways at Petunia. Only when she saw that her sister showed no sign of resistance or displeasure did she reach out and pick up the book with relief.
Snape, sensitive and adept at reading expressions, immediately noticed the subtle gesture. He privately misread Lily's thoughts, believing she was worried Petunia would stop her from looking through the book he had brought. He had lived for years at run-down, cluttered Spinner's End and knew that, in Petunia's eyes, he was nothing more than a filthy, gloomy poor kid. Only Lily had never looked down on him. She was willing to be his friend and often shared all sorts of delicious snacks with him.
To Snape, being willing to share something he kept for himself was an exceptionally rare act of trust, one that required careful consideration. He had long since counted Lily among his own people, while Petunia was an outsider who would come between him and Lily. Even though he vaguely sensed that there might be something unusual about Petunia, he had no intention of giving way. Lily was his only light, and no one was going to take her away from him.