Mr. and Mrs. Granger were simple good salt of the earth folks. The two of them had met in dentistry school, quickly started dating and married almost as soon as their practice was set up good and properly. It wasn't even thirteen months after the wedding they found out they were pregnant. They welcomed a baby girl whom they named Hermione, they thought such a wonderful girl should have a unique name, also part of them wanted to show off how well-educated they were.
When Hermione was about a year old, Mr. Granger's aunt tragically passed away. She left to them a nice house by a lakeshore, and considering they were living in a small apartment at the time, they wasted no time moving there. Shortly after moving there, they were greeted by a young couple that introduced themselves as James and Lily Potter. They had a baby boy a little younger than Hermione named Harry.
"We live on that little island over there," Lily explained as she handed them a homemade raspberry pie before pointing to said island.
"Well, I bet you get such a wonderful sunset. Thank you for the pie, we're dentists and try to limit sweets, but this looks absolutely delicious!" replied Mrs. Granger.
"We should arrange for a playdate between little Harry and Hermione!" suggested Mr. Granger. James and Lily smiled in agreement.
"By the way, if you don't us asking, what do the two of you do? For a living?" he continued.
"Oh, unfortunately, that is something we're not at liberty to discuss," James quickly responded tugging at his collar while keeping one arm wrapped around his infant son.
"Oh, forgive my husband, we weren't trying to pry. Say, how about if we exchange phone numbers? If there's an emergency at your place, we want you to know that we'll be there to assist you," quickly replied Mrs. Granger in an attempt to change the subject. Lily agreed and the two mothers exchanged the house phone numbers. (This was circa 1980.)
After the Granger's got back inside their home, Mr. Granger put Hermione in her crib and then sat down at the table as his wife started to cut the raspberry pie.
"You don't think those two are spies working for some undercover organization, do you?" he asked his wife.
"Sweetie, if they are, then it's not our place to pry. They seem like good people, and their son is adorable," as she placed a piece of pie in front of him.
"Yeah, but did you notice James was wearing a cape, who really does that?" pointed out Mr. Granger, not in an accusatory tone, but just in the manner of pointing out a fact.
"Perhaps it's a cultural thing," suggested Mrs. Granger as she helped herself to a slice.
Well, the Potter's proved to be rather quiet neighbors, they didn't come to the mainland much. Whenever Mrs. Granger called their house phone, it was always Lily who answered the phone, never James. She tried to arrange for a time for her family to visit the Potter's Island, but Lily would always say that it wasn't a good time. Something about how things were just hectic with the work she and James were involved in.
Then, on Halloween night, 1981 everything concerning the relationship between the Granger's and the Potter's changed. The Granger's had dressed little Hermione in a cute little bunny costume and once again, as dentist's they gave out toothbrushes and little travel toothpaste bottles. Granted, that didn't make them popular, but as there weren't that many children in the area visiting for Halloween in the area, it probably didn't matter.
After putting Hermione to bed, the Granger's sat down on their porch that overlooked the lake. It was a pleasant evening, with the waxing moon reflected in the water. With no major cities around, the stars were out in the hundreds. It seemed like a perfect evening as they sat down sipping their tea. They could see the island where the Potter's lived, silhouetted against the water. Then, a bright flash of green light emitted from the island!
To say the Granger's were startled would be an understatement.
"Do you suppose that was a Halloween trick they were doing at their house?" asked Mrs. Granger.
"Well, if it were, they would have been doing that sort of thing a lot earlier in the evening. Moreover, living on that island it's not exactly convenient to have house calls from children wanting goodies so there's not really anyone to do a show for," replied Mr. Granger. Then another flash of green light was seen on the island. They waited a few more seconds and then heard something similar to an explosion. Mrs. Granger rushed inside and dialed the Potter's house phone. She got the answering machine.
"Well, they have to be home, that light wasn't natural," she said in a worried tone. She called the emergency help number and reported that something didn't seem right at the neighbors. Mr. Granger got into the rowboat that he had and started to row toward the island. His arms grew weary but never once did he stop rowing. He eventually came to the island, grabbed the flashlight that was in the boat, made sure to tie the boat, even in his panicked mind he knew he had to make sure he'd be able to leave the island afterwards. He rushed up to the house on the island, he knew where it was because he had seen it from the shore. What he saw in the flashlight's gleam chilled his bones.
There was the Potter's household, and there was a huge hole in the roof that looked like a cannon had blasted from within.
"Oh no," he exclaimed as he rushed inside the door, it looked as though it had been forced open. Inside were the clear scenes of a struggle. Furniture over turned, he was grateful the lights inside the house were still working so he could see without the flashlight. He walked to the stairs and saw James Potter slumped over, his eyes staring so blankly.
"Oh god no!" exclaimed Mr. Granger. He rushed up the stairs, he prayed that what he expected to see wouldn't be true. He had never been inside the Potter's home, so he didn't know where the bedrooms are. But he looked into all the rooms until he came upon one where he saw a crib, and another limp form on the ground. It was Lily, dead as a doornail. He looked into the crib and there was baby Harry, crying, he now had a scar that looked just like a lightning bolt on his forehead.
Instinctively, Mr. Granger dropped his flashlight and scooped the infant in his arms and gently began to rock Harry singing a song that he and his wife would regularly sing to soothe their daughter when she was upset.
The police soon arrived in a helicopter and their boat. Mr. Granger answered their questions, all the while keeping hold of little Harry in his arms. Feeling that he had exerted himself, the police gave the poor guy and his rowboat a lift back to the shoreline. Mrs. Granger came outside and when saw her husband holding the Potter's son in his arms, she collapsed to her knees. He told her what he had seen, and how it wouldn't have been right to leave little Harry there.
"What monster came to their house? And why would they hurt such a sweet innocent baby?" she cried looking upon Harry's new scar.
"The authorities said that until further notice, we can look after the boy," Mr. Granger told his wife. She agreed with the circumstances. Not faced with many options, Mr. Granger gently laid Harry down in the crib next to Hermione. So that he might fall back to sleep.
"I had hoped the two children would be able to bond, but I had expected it would be in happier circumstances," replied Mrs. Granger. The next morning, the Granger's found the infants hugging each other in blissful sleep. A social worker knocked on their door while they were having breakfast.
"We found that the boy has family in Little Whinging, Surrey. When we told his aunt that her sister had died, she sounded indifferent and when we told her that her nephew was still alive, she said she didn't care one way or another and hung up. Guess they didn't have a good relationship. It appears that we may have to put him in foster care," the woman explained. The Granger's stood up.
"Wait! What if we adopted him? So that he won't have to go to foster care!" offered Mrs. Granger.
"Well, you'd be helping us out, making our lives easier. Alright, if you want to adopt the boy, I'll get the paperwork and we can fill it out, you clearly care about him and seem to be doing well with your own daughter so that should be easy," replied the social worker. So, they filled out the paperwork when it arrived, and little Hermione got an adopted brother!
Mr. Granger made a point to help move Harry's baby things into his house, he knew that with two children he'd need a few more items and it made better sense to get what had already been purchased for him than to buy new items.
"One thing I don't understand, who killed the Potter's and how was he able to get on that island, no other boat besides yours was found. They found nobody else, and according to one of the police officers that called us later, the Potter's were in good health despite being dead, no possible cause of death according to the autopsy," said Mrs. Granger.
"I honestly don't know, I guess it's just one of those things we'll never be able to figure out," her husband replied as he fed Harry in his high chair.