Living In America
by: Neener!
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Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, or RENT.. if you couldn't tell.

Notes: This is the rewrite of my story, Growing Up Bohemian. If you were a previous fan of GUB, you know how many problems I went through with it. Consider 'Living In America' a totally different story. It will have the same main idea, but I know I'm going to finish it this time. Enjoy!

And yes, this is just the prologue. I'm posting both the prologue and the first chapter together. Review!

PROLOGUE

"Vernon!"

"Mmf? Hm?" The man cracked open his eyes midsnore and looked at his wife, who was sitting straight up in their bed, clutching the sheets around her. "What is it?"

"The air just did something weird," Petunia whispered.

"Probably just a dream." Vernon rolled over to face her and stretched out his hand to pat her arm. "Come back to bed – "

"I'm going to check on the baby," Petunia said briskly. She slipped out of the room, leaving Vernon alone. He sighed deeply and closed his eyes.

"Mom, you're hurting me!"

Vanessa Johnson looked disdainfully up at her twelve year old daughter, who had her fisted hands on her hips, her face tightened into a grimace. "I am not!" Vanessa replied as she grabbed more fabric from the back of Maureen's strange outfit and pinned it in place. "Calm down."

"Yeah, yeah," Maureen grumbled under her breath. She adjusted her weight from foot to foot and sighed deeply. It was late afternoon on Halloween, and the girl was eager to get out and go trick or treating with her friends. Now that she was twelve, her mother was letting her go out alone, for the first time in her entire life, and she was itching to get away. "Aren't you done yet?" she demanded. "I have to pee."

Vanessa replied lightly, "You asked me to adjust this dress you wanted to wear. It isn't my fault you waited until the last minute." Maureen would have taken offense, had her mother's tone of voice been serious.

Gingerly, Maureen adjusted the wig that covered her dark, curly hair. The inside of the wig itched her scalp, but what it lacked in comfort, it more than made up for in appearance. The wig was downright ugly: faded blue, with horrible plastic hair cut short and curled. Maureen was delighted with it, because it made her look just like her grandmother, whom she was being for Halloween. In fact, Maureen's grandmother Ellen was being Maureen for Halloween as well, and had suggested the entire idea.

It was a common stereotype that old ladies in nursing homes had blue hair, but Ellen actually did She was every generic thing you could think of for a crazy old lady: she was short, wrinkled, wore ugly clothing, and kept pictures of cats all around her room in the home.

Maureen loved her.

"You think Gran is having a good time?" she wondered out loud, casting a look down towards her mother.

Vanessa rolled her eyes. She disapproved of the entire getup, but kept her comments to herself. The resemblence between Maureen and Ellen, at that moment, was uncanny, even she had to admit.

"I'm sure Gran is having a lovely time," Vanessa answered, finally finishing up taking in Maureen's costume, which was one of Ellen's old tweed dresses, coupled with a pair of dark brown stockings. "I just hope she doesn't get into too much trouble at the nursing home."

Maureen snorted at her mother's concerned tone of voice. "Gran is always in trouble at the nursing home."

"Don't you think you're getting to be a little old for trick or treating?" Vanessa asked, changing the subject. "That Claire girl across the street stopped celebrating Halloween two years ago."

"Well, that Claire girl has a stick up her ass," Maureen declared, putting her hands on her hips.

Vanessa, shocked, cried, "Maureen! Language!" Her daughter only rolled her eyes and readjusted her wig. "I'm just trying to be helpful, sweetheart, you know that. I just think that you're – "

Then, a very strange thing happened.

The air all around them seemed to intensify and thicken, before blooming outwards in what felt like a giant animal exhaling. Maureen almost fell off of her chair. It was like a shockwave of air.

It was over in less than a second.

"What was – ?" Vanessa began, though her inquiry was interrupted by a yell from outside. Mother and daughter exchanged dramatic, worried looks; Richard Johnson, Maureen's father, had gone out to get the mail only a few minutes previously.

"Dad?" Maureen called.

"God dammit!" Richard swore from outside. Maureen and Vanessa walked into the living room to see what had happened. They could hear his voice from the other side of the front door. "Damned static electricity! I touched the doorknob, and it knocked me right over…Jesus Christ…" He continued to mutter under his breath.

Maureen stifled a laugh. Vanessa lightly hit her on the shoulder chidingly. "Don't laugh at your father," she scolded.

Her daughter made a face and looked around. "That air thing was weird."

Vanessa still had no idea what it was, so she brushed it off. "It was probably nothing," she said nonchalantly. "You'd best get ready for tonight – that is, if you still want to go," she added hopefully.

Maureen ignored her mother. "I'll get my bag and we can drive down," she said, prancing back into the kitchen to grab her pillowcase. Vanessa set about locating her car keys and smiled at Richard when he came back into the house, still grumbling about static electricity.

Their daughter appeared in the living room again, dragging her coat behind her. "This is going to be a great Halloween, I can tell!" she exclaimed. She hurried out of the door without even acknowledging her father, though he was obviously distracted by going through the mail, his brow furrowed. "Come on, Mom!"

"I'll be back in five minutes," Vanessa told her husband. "I have to drive Maureen to Ashley's." Richard made a small noise. "Richard? Hello? Are you listening to me?"

"Hm? Oh, yes. I'll see you," he said distractedly. Vanessa rolled her eyes and headed out of the house.

"So, did you have a good time?" Vanessa asked later that night as she drove a very tired Maureen home.

The girl was physically exhausted, but still excited off of the energy of the holiday. "You bet! It was great! Let it go down in history that the Halloween of 1981 was the best Halloween ever!"

Vanessa smiled.