Chapter Five: Magic in the Mundane, Pt. 1
Christmas 1979 promised to be memorable on Cardea Circle.
The celebrations started on Sunday, 23 December, with the arrival of the international family members of both the Grangers and Puckles throughout the day. Nearly all had come home for another holiday and ready to spend the next few days with their British family they only saw a few times a year.
Hector Puckle was an international airline pilot, enjoying the experience of traveling on a plane instead of navigating it.
When he arrived at Heathrow Airport on Sunday morning, Troy and Penelope Jean Puckle were waiting eagerly for their only son's arrival. They were thrilled to have him home for the first time since Easter. Although they wished that they would be waiting for Penelope Jane and her husband, too, it just wasn't possible this year. Their first Christmas abroad would have to be spent in Canada, because they couldn't quite afford the trip back home and didn't want to bother with the international travel after their big move this past summer.
When the Puckles returned back to Cardea Circle, Hector eagerly anticipating meeting his newborn niece – Hector was startled to see two large moving vans parked in front of his older sister's old house.
"You didn't tell me someone had bought Penny's house!" said Hector, almost accusingly. "Who are these people moving onto our street?"
Troy chuckled, shaking his head. "Our street, son? I hardly think we own anything but our houses, here on our street." Troy peered curiously out the window along with his wife and son, seeing noting but movers efficiently and quickly unloaded the two massive trucks into the house. He drove past Number Twelve, then turned left into their own drive, up the block and across from his daughter's former house. "I will admit, though – I knew we'd be getting new neighbors, but not so…soon."
Penelope Jean huffed. "Everyone is being so dramatic about Number Twelve getting sold. Penelope Jane is in Ontario – she hasn't died and gone to be with our Lord!" Ensuring that her knitted cap was snugly on her head, she beckoned her son and husband to come on inside and out of the wintry morning. "We all miss Penny Jane, but she is just a phone call away, after a bit of arranging for time zones. Let's not make this first Christmas without her more difficult than it should be."
Mr. and Mrs. Puckle's arrival back home instantly pulled Dr. and Mrs. Granger from their home, right on the other side of the fence.
Daniel Granger beamed at Hector, holding his arms out wide, while Emma almost bounced, clapping her hands together happily at the sight of Hector's smiling, almond-brown face.
"Hector, my boy!" boomed Daniel, infectiously cheerful. "Welcome back home, lad. Come, give us a hug!"
The delightful reunion between the Grangers and their godson was brought inside, with Troy Puckle lingering curiously on the front steps for just a moment or two.
The movers had arrived yesterday afternoon, shortly before nightfall. Despite the turbulent weather that had promised the snowstorm that currently blanketed everything in icy snowfall, the group of workers had been efficient and tireless in their duties. There seemed to be others, a housekeeper and a suited man who kept coming and going in that same luxury towncar.
Troy wondered if these people were as young as his wife and their best friend had said; Daniel didn't seem to believe that their wives were being entirely truthful about the people who'd soon be living his daughter's old house being university-aged kids.
If it were true, that only made him more curious about these people.
Who were they to be so wealthy, so young, and command a domestic staff that were ensuring that only days after their sale, their house would be a fully settled home?
Troy shook his head. He'd know soon enough, he supposed.
He went inside to join his wife in enjoying their son being home for the next two weeks, despite missing their oldest who was overseas and spending her first holiday without her family and godparents.
A wonderful brunch was hosted in the Grangers' home that morning. Daniel was only too happy to put together a late morning fry-up just how Hector liked it.
Hector was enjoying himself immensely as he was being enjoyed; he was amusing everyone with tales of the flights he'd piloted in the past few months.
Baby Hermione was comfortably snuggled in her uncle's arms, as he laughed and chatted, catching up with his godparents and parents, asking a bunch of questions of younger sister and brother-in-law, who were happy to indulge in talking about their new baby.
There'd been an emotional moment when Helen had handed her baby daughter over to her older brother for the first time. Together, Hector and Helen had been slightly teary that Penelope Jane wasn't there to be a part of this moment, the first time Hermione had met her mother's only brother. They planned on having a long phone call with her that night; that would have to do for now.
For most of the morning, Hermione napped in Hector's arms – and only when Hugh announced that he was leaving out for the second trip of the day to Heathrow did Hector seem to be willing to give Hermione to someone else to hold.
Emma was pleased to be nearest, accepting her granddaughter with eager arms.
Daniel and Hugh exchanged a knowing look; the grin they had was the same, as Hector bundled up in his winter gear and tried to look innocent.
"What? I just want to come along for the ride," said Hector, wrapping his face in a scarf so that his mischievous grin wasn't too obvious. "I haven't seen Rupert in a very long time. I'd love to catch up on the car ride back."
Snickers filled the sitting room, as Emma bounced Hermione happily, and Penelope Jean, Troy, and Helen prepared to go next door to the Puckles' home. Hector Puckle and Rupert Granger had been squabbling friends since birth and there was little that had changed, even in their thirties. Within moments of Rupert being picked up, a fight was sure to be picked about something, and the car ride would be more than a chance to catch up with each other.
"If Hugh throws you out on the motorway for being the nuisance who invited himself along, you'll only have yourself to blame," warned Penelope Jean, kissing all three men, both Granger and Puckle, goodbye. "Be safe! Dinner starts at six and someone better tell Rupert Daniel Granger he'd better come over right away when he gets here, so I can say hello and get my hug."
Hermione was left alone to snuggles and quality time with Emma, as all the Puckles and Grangers except the two of them either left to go next door to start preparing for their family dinner tonight or with headed to fetch her second oldest son from the airport.
As Hugh Granger pulled out of the drive, he had to wait several minutes as one of the large moving trucks slowly backed out and began to leave.
Daniel tutted. "I can't imagine someone choosing to move homes on Christmas. Those poor people, forced to work right before Christmas like this…"
"Maybe they want to spend their first Christmas in their new home," suggested Hugh with an easy shrug. "That's not the worst thing in the world and fairly understandable, honestly."
Hector seemed to be of the same mind as his godfather. "Nah, I agree with Uncle Danny. They could have waited until after the holiday to move into my sister's old house."
The rumbling truck pulled off and allowed Hugh to pull off again, heading out of the neighborhood a little more slowly than he wanted because of its slower pace.
As they passed, all three men noticed that the workers that were still unloading the remaining truck were slightly shorter than usual, very muscled, and seemed to be working at twice the pace of ordinary men. They were at the street corner, preparing to turn, and the men were smaller figures in the rearview mirror.
Perhaps they hadn't seemed as short as they thought, the glimpse of them not as good as it could be if they weren't in a moving car?
"Well, I guess they will be in Penny's house for Christmas," muttered Hector, with a slight frown as he thought about the strange movers for the unknown neighbors near his childhood home. "Anyhow, Hugh, tell me, brother – you think your wife will tell me off at how much I spent on Hermione for Christmas, or she'll just quietly let me spoil her?"
Hugh and Daniel laughed heartily, and the conversation easily drifted into something other than the new neighbors whose hurried, unorthodox move into Cardea Circle was drawing more and more of the attention of the Granger and Puckle families that shared the street with them.
Rupert Granger and Hector Puckle had a spectacular argument on the ride back from London, as expected.
One question about why Rupert hadn't chosen the airline that Hector worked for travel to England from France, and they were off. Hugh focused on driving, snickering to himself as Daniel fussed. The only thing that was different was that Daniel was able to turn in the passenger seat and tell them off much more easily than he had, back when he'd been the chosen chauffer for the Granger boys and their Puckle godbrother in their childhood.
When they arrived back in Watsonham near dusk, Rupert insisted on stopping at the ice cream shop on Main Street before they went back to Cardea Circle.
There was a specific ice lolly that he wanted that he wasn't available in Europe. Hugh teased his younger brother greatly but made the stop anyhow. Daniel directed Hugh to stop by the greengrocer – the biggest and nicest Potter's Market location in town – for a moment, as well. One mention from Rupert about a specific type of pop that he hadn't had since he'd been in England a year ago prompted Daniel to indulge him, spur of the moment.
The delayed trip home finally rounded to a close when Hugh turned on Cardea Circle, Hector and Rupert bickering aimlessly about something or another.
"Thank heavens those awful trucks are gone!" exclaimed Daniel, as the only vehicle they saw in front of Number Twelve was the lone towncar. The lights were on, but there was nobody outside anymore nor any of the busy activity that had been happening all day, so far. "I was afraid this would be continuing on through Christmas. What a terrible disruption that would be to our holiday!"
"Do we know if the neighbors will actually be in?" wondered Rupert, being far less obvious about looking than Hector. "They couldn't have just been having their house set up, and then they'll arrive after the holidays?"
"We don't know anything about these people, son," replied Daniel, dubiously. "All your mother and godmother know is that the couple is young, they came to look at the house last week, and one day, I came home for lunch and the For Sale sign was gone. All of this literally happened in days and we've yet to meet this people, personally."
"Weird," mused Rupert, before finishing off his ice lolly just they pulled into the Grangers drive.
When they unloaded, they all walked towards the Puckle home, next door.
The newest argument bloomed between Hector and Rupert, as Hector announced that he'd spend all morning with Baby Hermione – and the new uncles began their familiar squabbling over who would be the first one to hold Baby Hermione as the Grangers and Puckles came together for their first family dinner of many over the next two weeks or so.
None of them noticed the lights going off and the towncar leaving, departing into the snowy night.
Bonham, the driver, wasn't due back until morning with his new permanent assignment, the Potters.
The Granger and Puckle families had traded off who hosted Christmas Eve and Christmas Day between them for over twenty-five years.
Despite Daniel and Emma having hosted Christmas Eve last year and Troy and Penelope Jean having hosted Christmas Day, there was still a dispute of who would have Christmas Day this year – and it was all because of the newest addition to their family.
A drawing from a hat after Emma's birthday in late October had decided for them for this year.
With the birth of Hermione having happened only the month before, there had been an instant argument about which family would be the host for their precious baby's first Christmas. The only method of making a fair decision had been for two slips to be put into an old hat of Troy's, which the new parents would each pick a slip out of. Whatever day Hugh Granger chose would belong to Daniel and Emma Granger to host in their home, while the other slip of paper selected by Helen Puckle would designate the other day that would be hosted in Troy and Penelope Jean Puckle's home. Rupert and Hector had laughed themselves silly when they'd been told by a very amused Hugh and Helen how badly the grandparents had squabbled over their new, shared granddaughter.
The middle sons from both Granger and Puckle families were still teasing their parents and godparents both the following morning, as the collective family gathered in Daniel and Emma's home on the morning of 24 December 1979.
Christmas Eve was to be hosted all day by the Grangers, which aligned perfectly with the final arrival that was due to arrive by lunchtime.
Dedicated to the medical school program that he was reading at the University of Birmingham, the youngest son of Daniel and Emma, Jason, had chosen to stay and study until the very last minute, only coming down to join his family until Boxing Day, before returning to university.
An hour before Jason was expected, a car was turning down the road and coming closer.
Troy spotted it first.
"Emmy, Danny – is this our boy, already? I thought Jason wasn't coming until right around noon or after."
The family was all gathered in the sitting room. A blanket had been laid on the floor for Baby Hermione to wiggle and try to scoot upon, as Christmas music played cheerfully in the background and everyone awaited the arrival of the last person to join them for the holiday. Everyone was able to see well that a car was pulling up – but not in Daniel and Emma's drive.
The towncar was smoothly parking in the drive across the street at Number Twelve.
"Those are the new neighbors!" declared Hector, unnecessarily, as everyone seemed to be all looking out of the wide sitting room window that gave them a perfect view of the couple getting out of the car across the street. "Bloody hell, they are just a pair of kids! No way that's who bought my big sister's old house!"
Penelope Jean and Emma distractedly admonished Hector for swearing, but nobody really noticed.
A very tall young man was stepping from the car. The driver had gone around the vehicle to open the back door for another person, which turned out to be a young woman whose distinctive red hair was visible as is flowed from underneath her winter hat. As the young woman came around the back of the car, it seemed she glanced over, looking across the street –
And almost slipped on what was surely icy, dangerously slick concrete. The young man caught her with sure, deft hands, keeping her from hitting the ground at the very last minute. When he pulled her upright, he took it a step further and swept her up into his arms, his broad shoulders and upper body seeming to be exactly what was needed to hold the woman securely despite his lean build.
Assured that his young charges had gotten inside of the house safely, the driver then closed the vehicle back up, waved goodbye to the housekeeper that was closing the front door, and departed once again. All in all, the arrival and brief look at their new neighbors had taken less than five minutes, but the Granger-Puckle family had noticed so much about the young couple who completed the circle of homes on Cardea Circle.
Hermione Jean's squalling cry startled them from their overly curious staring out the window.
"Oh, we should all be ashamed of ourselves, staring like a group of tourists at a zoo or something," admonished Penelope Jean, including herself in her shaming. "Those people are really not doing us a single thing and here we are, completely obsessed with them!"
Rupert snickered at his godmother. "Speak for yourself, Aunt Penny. I'm not obsessed, I'm just a bit shocked that those kids can afford to live across the street from – well, us."
"They live across the street from Uncle Danny and Auntie Emmy, Frenchie – not you. You live in Bordeaux, not here on Cardea Circle anymore," said Hector with a grin. Rarely, neither sparked bickering – they were too intrigued to squabble.
"They do seem really, really young," said Daniel with a frown. "Young enough that the boy must not be aware that the drive is slippery, and his young wife could get hurt like that."
Hugh snorted into his cup of cocoa. "If that driver is anything to go by, it seems like these kids are fairly privileged. He might not know that he had to have his – er, staff – do something like that, and often, during the winter."
Daniel shook his head. "I'll make a point to shovel their drive along with ours in the morning, as well as put salt down. I'm sure that the emergency department is not where either of them wish to spend the holidays…"
"I believe I have a sandbag or two he could have, give him enough to keep the sidewalks safe until around New Year's Eve," added in Troy, speculatively. "I'll bring it along when you go across to shovel their snow."
Daniel and Troy fell easily into something that came naturally to both men – fatherhood. They weren't sure how they knew, but clearly the couple across the street were just starting off in life and in need of a helping hand. They'd also get the chance to actually introduce themselves and be as neighborly as they should, especially during the holiday season.
As Baby Hermione continued to grizzle and wail, clearly overtired or hungry or maybe both, the family discussed the new couple that had finally arrived on Cardea Circle.
The Christmas tree glittered welcomingly in their sitting room window, unknowingly having been the cause of the slip and fall that they'd nearly witnessed.
"You almost slipped and cracked your head open! You see, Evans! That's a clear sign that this is a bad idea. Come on, let's go – if we hurry, we can get back to Diagon Alley before Ollivander's closes and purchase new w–"
"James!"
Lily Potter had to silence her husband's anxious rambling not with a charm or a jinx, as she was used to.
Her hand would have to be good enough, pressed firmly across his mouth, as she hissed his name and made him listen to her. His eyes were wide behind his glasses, more gray than gold, a clear sign of his distress. Lily waited until he was breathing somewhat normally before she moved her hand away.
She couldn't risk him saying aloud what he must not speak of again.
Not until it was safe for them to stop pretending to be the Muggles that they now were committed to living as.
"James, please calm down, love. Please," said Lily in a low, soothing voice that she hoped didn't sound unusual to the housekeeper she knew was somewhere around this too big home that was now theirs. "I'm fine, James. I promise I am. I didn't slip and I didn't fall. Even if I had, I would be alright –"
James turned his head, roughly pulling away from her silencing hand. "Lily, what about the baby! If we can't go to St. Mungo's anymore, how will we know –"
"We will know because people like my parents come from a world where we know how to fix and heal things, as well, James." Lily interrupted him, pointedly. She wasn't going to move her hand this time, finally accepting that James was having something of a panic attack and wouldn't be likely to censor himself as he should. "Look, James, I just had a clumsy moment where I wasn't looking where I stepped. That's all. I didn't fall. You caught me just in time and I'm perfectly fine. All I need is to be more careful next time."
James tried to say something else, for she felt his mouth moving under her hand. Lily shook her head, stubbornly.
"No what if, James. I didn't, alright. I'm fine, James Potter. Our baby is fine. Please, love, calm down and just breath, alright."
Lily felt as if a little of the fight drained out of her husband as he simply held her close, his eyes closed as he nodded, exhausted, and resigned.
After the adrenaline of their clever escape from British Wizarding World, purely by nonmagical means – the thrill had worn off for James.
The night that they spent in a comfortable London hotel had been fraught for her husband.
James had been almost mournful, as Lily had carefully ordered them room service. She hadn't had much an appetite herself, but she pushed herself and James to both eat a decent dinner; she had to eat well because of the baby, while James simply needed something to fortify him after the long day they'd had. The night that they were spending in London was precautionary, but eye-opening, as well.
They wanted to put as much confused and pointless trails between themselves and their escape from Wizarding Britain as possible. They didn't know how likely it was that someone would think to keep going beyond the Leaky Cauldron, crossing into the non-magical world and hunting a trail for the Potters from Charing Cross Road. However, it if happened, there would be no point.
James and Lily had blended seamlessly into the Muggle World without trace, unlikely to be seen in Wizarding Britain for a long time – if ever.
The next morning, when Bonham had smartly rapped on their door to fetch them as they'd requested, neither James nor Lily cared much that it was Christmas Eve.
All they wanted was Bonham to take them to their new home.
Number Twelve, Cardea Circle was the only place they had to go now, since they'd chosen to come up missing and be presumed dead by the Wizarding World. The ride from London took less than an hour, but it was enough to wind James up even tighter.
When they'd got out of the car, Lily found herself glancing at the stunning Christmas tree that was on display in the window of the home across the street – and that one, ordinary, utterly mundane moment had been the straw had broken the hippogriff's back. She'd nearly slipped on a patch of ice and taken a nasty fall, if it weren't for his Chaser's reflexes saving her before she'd realized she wasn't falling anymore.
Lily was unharmed, but the small, insignificant incident had been enough to make him snap.
James Potter was overwhelmed, overwrought, and had no more to give now that they were done with the escape. They both needed to rest and process all that had happened in this short, chaotic month that had led to this moment.
Lily moved her hand again.
This time, she very gently kissed her husband's pale, pinched mouth. He sighed against her mouth, troubled but no longer worked up.
"We did it, Potter," she murmured against his mouth. "We made it out safely and now, we're home. We'll be alright. All three of us, me and you and our baby – we'll be alright now. You'll see."
Lily didn't give him a chance to say anything more.
There was an unsettled feeling about walking through a home that had already been furnished and unpacked by an expert team of goblins. Lily brushed the feeling away. No matter what, this was their home now. They would get used to it, they would love it, and when they woke up in the morning, surely, they'd feel better than they did right now.
Despite it being very early on Christmas Eve still, the Potters retired to their bedroom. They wanted nothing more than to get into their bed, brand-new and never slept in before, and hold each other, clinging to the stark new reality that all they had was each other now.
There was no magic for the Potters, upon sealing their old lives as a witch and wizard into a past existence and embracing the new life they'd chosen to live among the Mundane Folk, who weren't even supposed know that magic was real.