Prologue

The Primberry Creek neighborhood had seemed perfectly respectable, full of ordinary people and nice manicured lawns. It was just on the edge of London, within range of Dudley Dursley's work, where he had taken over for his retired father, and it seemed the perfect place to settle down with his wife, Andrea. She wasn't the 'love of his life,' exactly, nor was he what she had imagined, but they were each other's, and they filled each other's lives with the proper amount of quiet contentment. Neither yearned for more, and neither wanted more at all. With their little ordinary house in their little ordinary neighborhood and perfectly ordinary spouses and jobs, the Dursleys were quite happy together.

When the Lockharts moved in next door, Andrea walked over to introduce herself and offer to help unpacking. She was, at the time, six months pregnant, and was quite shocked to find Melanie Lockhart three months pregnant, a barely noticeable bump on the woman's stomach.

Thus began a deep friendship between Melanie Lockhart and Andrea Dursley. They eventually gave birth to Aspen Lockhart, Melanie's daughter, and Benjamin Dursley, Andrea's son. The two children were raised alongside each other for years, the best of friends and next door neighbors. The opposite-sex ordinary children were the perfect cement to quaint little edge-of-London lives. It helped that Dudley got along well with Melanie's husband Gilderoy, as well.

Everything went splendidly for eleven years; the adults worked and the children played and the women hosted birthday parties and Christmas parties and book clubs and all was well in Primberry Creek.

Then the letters came- and Dudley Dursley's ordinary life was reverted back to a time he'd tried so hard to forget ever happened.

And here we have the prologue to a next-gen fic!

Let it be said I'm writing this without any concern at all for The Cursed Child. In this edition, James Sirius Potter is born a little earlier, Harry Potter is the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, Ginny Weasley writes the sports column for the Daily Prophet, and... Several other fairly obvious changes.

This story follows Aspen Lockhart through her fifth year at Hogwarts. Canonically, Gilderoy Lockhart is fascinated by magic; in this version, post-mind obliteration Gilderoy believes himself a Muggle and writes fantasy books for a living. Yes, there's a significant age difference between him and Dudley Dursley, but Lockhart was known for his romantic ventures and would have taken some time to settle down, I think.

~Anyway. I welcome you to The Lionheart Next Door, and I hope you enjoy!