"Darling?"
"Yes?"
"How about this house?"
"Oh, no, no. I don't like how it looks. Besides, we agreed in this general neighborhood. It's much closer to your practice and the hospital."
"Alright, alright. Just checking." The husband, Lawrence Granger, smiled lovingly at his wife's antics. His staring was further interrupted by a piercing cry.
"My turn?"
A pointed look was sent in his direction. He went off in the direction of the cries. Upon reaching his daughter, he picked her up to soothe her. When his rocking motions did nothing to appease her, he realized the problem. "Dropped your binky, did you? There, there, Hermione. I've got you."
He continued to speak in soft dulcet tones at the tiny little thing in his arms, mumbling random tidbits of knowledge when he ran out of normally comforting words to say. She finally quieted down when he retrieved her favourite bit of silicone. She looked at him with large brown eyes. Was she staring? Was she able to see faces yet? He didn't think so, as babies had blurry vision for their first few months, but sometimes he liked to pretend that she did. And Hermione had been born slightly prematurely, which was why they had to postpone moving into a new house. She must've been excited to come to the world, they liked to joke.
The house they had initially been eyeing had been taken off the market after the birth, forcing them to look at more houses. No biggie. He just wanted a small yard for Hermione to play and find little adventures in. The neighborhood they were especially close to choosing had a playground nearby. Privet Drive. Little Whinging, Surrey. He wondered just what awaited them in the near future.
When she popped the binky out, she didn't cry this time. She continued to stare and even managed to mimic her father's expression when he smiled widely.
000
"Diana, darling?"
She gave a noise of confirmation to show that she heard him but didn't turn away from what she was doing. "Have you seen Hermione's binky?"
She froze immediately, fingers ghosting over the flaps of the box on the table. She turned to give him a concerned look, "No?"
He grimaced. Today was the day. Moving day. Well, no, not exactly. The family moving company that they had hired had already moved most of their furniture and appliances. Diana had been driving between the houses and setting up the important items. The workers from the company had certainly done their job well. Their bed and crib had been moved today, making it the final part of the moving. Things were expected to get lost, he knew this, and yet… he thought he had set aside the sacred green object. "Maybe it's in the other house? In the car?" she offered.
Though several months older now (a year old now!), his daughter's love for that particular binky had not waned in the slightest. Any other type of binky had been rejected swiftly. Hermione was thankfully otherwise occupied for most of the day. A few more hours passed in a similar fashion until they loaded up the last few boxes. While Diana was carefully rearranging their possessions in the back so as not to fall on their child, Lawrence was walking around with Hermione carefully bundled up in his arms.
"Say goodbye to the bathroom!" The baby stayed silent, hickory eyes leisurely wandering through the empty walls.
"Say goodbye to the kitchen!" No response.
Once he completed the rest of his goodbyes, he walked outside. He spun in a few slow circles and rocked Hermione from side to side. "Say goodbye to the house Hermione!"
Finally (finally!) she laughed at his motions and he grabbed her grubby little fist to shake at the house. He saw a flash from the side. "Another one woman!" He posed for Diana's camera and attempted to turn his daughter as well, but now that the house had captivated her attention, she refused to look away. To remedy this, Diana simply got in front of the house and the camera flashed once again.
"We're framing that one."
Again, Hermione was mercifully quiet. She really was a quiet child, beyond her baby fits of laughter, crying, and the in-between. It was only when they got to the house that they were reminded of the missing binky.
"The car?" Diana offered, continuing to rock a now whimpering Hermione in their now empty living room. Poor thing had tired herself out.
"I'll go check," Lawrence acquiesced, thinking back to how they had emptied the car. After a thorough check, he could still hear her, though the sound was starting to taper off. Then he spotted it, his coat! He pulled it free from its hanging spot on the seat. He frantically checked the pockets and gave a whoop of joy when he pulled the damned thing out. He raced back to the house.
"Found it!" he whisper yelled at seeing his wife's finger over her lip. Hermione was no longer crying and she continued to sway in place. She headed up the stairs to put her to bed and then he saw it. A green object, identical to the one in his hand, was in Hermione's mouth. He stared dumbfounded until his wife reached the room. Then he stared some more at the binky in his hand.
"It's been a long day," he mumbled. Too long and now he was tired from all the moving around. Lifting and lowering boxes all day, that had to be it. He observed the treasure item in his hand closer. It was her favorite. But if Hermione wasn't crying at the moment, then it surely was identical. She only ever wanted that one. He wondered when Diana bought another one, though there was a niggle in the back of his head. That can't be right, it seemed to say.
It's been a long day, he decided.
000
Vernon Dursley was a predictable man. He didn't really like change, unless it was for a promotion or some other occasion that worked to his advantage.
The only good thing change had brought was his Petunia. His lovely flower. He was sitting in his office at Grunnings and contemplated the good news of the day, nay, of his life. Petunia was pregnant. Just a few weeks now, she'd assumed. He chuckled to himself at the happy thought. He would be sure to yell extra loud in the office today. It's such a glorious day that he was sure to buy two donuts during his lunch break.
So swept up in the news, he almost missed the moving truck two houses down when he drove home that afternoon. That truck had been there everyday for almost a week now, appearing full of boxes and disappearing when the truck was empty. There was something different in the departure of the truck at the moment. A grey car took its place.
He watched with no small amount of nosiness as he stepped out of the car and headed toward the door at a snail's pace. They seemed to be a couple fretting over a fussy baby. They looked like they would fit right into the neighborhood. Normal. Successful. Though he thought about that old spinster, , and conceded that there were oddities in his neighborhood.
He thought of his future child. Taking out his keys, he watched as they came out of the house and went back inside. No matter, he thought, clicking the deadbolt and opening the door. He would ask Petunia if she knew anything their new neighbors. She usually knew about the less visible on goings in the vicinity. Once inside he gave no more thoughts to anything beyond the confines of the house.
"Petunia, come look at our new neighbors."
"I heard they're dentists…" she trailed off, distracted.
He was in the process of leaving behind his work and continued with, "Dentists? Very respectable people. Glad to see proper people in our neighborhood! What kind of environment is our child going to grow up in, with all those odd people that move in? Dentists! At least that's -"
He realized his wife wasn't agreeing nor disagreeing with him. What was she doing? He shrugged off his heavy outerwear on his way to the kitchen from the living room.
Petunia was seated, elbows resting on the kitchen counter top. She was holding something in her hands, reading it perhaps? Coupons from the nearby grocery stores? No, it looked more like a letter. He narrowed his eyes, spotting tears accumulating in her eyes. "Petunia?"
"It's Lily."
"What about her?" he asked gruffly. Oh yes, he remembered that crack pot magician of Lily's. Thinking about that fool now worked him up quite a bit.
"They could grow up together," she whispered, as though any louder and the reality would shatter. "She's pregnant."
At those words, she stood up suddenly, throwing the letter to the table. She harshly wiped at her eyes and proceeded to continue fixing up the rest of their dinner. Dumbfounded at the switch, he simply went along with it. It must be the hormones, he thought. If she was going to drop it just like that, he certainly wasn't going to pick up the topic again. She liked to pretend that she didn't have a sister and Vernon would comply. He would comply because that Potter boy and his kind were as abnormal as could be, far from the absolutely normal Dursleys.
He let it go because the very mention of it made his wife upset. Instead he named his son Dudley when he was born. He didn't bring it up when he thought Petunia had mailed a vase to them over Christmas. Dudley was a few months old at the time and absolutely perfect, both of his parents agreed. Sometimes he would catch his wife staring at their son, deep in thought. They had gotten announcements of their nephew's birth a few weeks after Dudley was born. Petunia didn't look twice at it when it arrived through the mail but sometimes he did wonder if she looked at it while he was gone.
As his son got bigger so did the tiny toddler a few houses down. He was still unsure if it was a boy or a girl, with a mop of curls being the only visible thing under thick coats, but he (and Petunia) would sometimes watch the Grangers try to coax the child into walking out on their lawn. It often seemed like the Grangers were walking a bright marshmallow in between them rather than a child.
The Grangers were glad that the holiday season was over. Diana set up the tree while Lawrence decorated it. They packed up the tree as soon as they could given that Hermione loved to shuffle over to the tree and pick at the round ornaments. They ended up switching the lower fragile ornaments with a new set that was covered in a sort of soft but firm material. Those didn't break, no matter how hard Hermione would chuck them. They thought the tree and presents would be a great memory for their photo album, and thus, loads of pictures were taken.
9/6/19 A/N - So when I said the beginning, I meant the very beginning. I managed to track down the original prompt from uncontinuous on tumblr, if y'all wanna go track it down. Key words to search are uncontinuous, McGonagall, and lesbian lol Basically McG moves next door to the Dursleys, with her wife. But since this is a Fleurmione story, I've obviously made some changes. Busy with school but this chapter was mostly done anyways so here it is. The chapters will probably be around 2k or so. I'd really like to thank everyone who followed/favorited/reviewed! I'm always a bit late to fandoms so I'm glad to see that people are enjoying this. That's all for today, leave a comment maybe? ps the christmas thing really happened