A/N – I'm sorry? If you want a more complete apology, and the reason why I got back to this, please look at the bottom author's note. For now, just enjoy the story! It's longer than usual, over 2,000 words!

Manipulations

Chapter 8

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In the end, the two households ended up settling in neither the apartments in the city, nor the farmhouses in the countryside. Instead, Petunia prevailed upon her friends and husband that living in a suburb would be the best option. This tactic succeeded as it meant the two boys (and any future children -Petunia DID want more children, after all, Hermione couldn't figure out if that was due to the changes in her in this timeline, or if it was yet another theing the Headbastard manipulated) could get a better education, since suburbs (supposedly) had better schools, not to mention there was some townhouses in the area that were on big enough properties as that if any magical accidents occurred, they would likely go unnoticed, just as they would in the countryside. To top her argument off, it meant Vernon could catch a bus to work, saving gas money, and if he did have to drive, it would be 15 minutes, as opposed to half an hour if they ended up in the countryside. All combined, it succeeded rather well, and the two households were lucky enough to find a pair of houses within walking distance of one another. Not as lucky as they had been in Surrey, being right across the street, but just a block or two away, depending on how you counted the play park.

Petunia and Vernon's offer went to a nice white house, a two story affair with a basement, with a master bedroom, three bedrooms, and a bathroom upstiairs. Petunia was over the moon about the walk in closet. On the first floor was the living room, dining room, and kitchen, which attached to the garage. The basement was rather simplistic, just one big room with the washer and dryer divvied off into a small room, as well as a half bath on either side of the stairs, and a large amount of open space thatcould easily be made into a sort of family room where the coulds could play without worrying about getting underfoot too much..

Hermione and Remus on the other hand chose a dark blue house, also two floors, and with a basement. Their basement was set up a tad differently, being divided in two, with a smaller area being portioned off to the washer dryer, and what appeared to be a pantry, and the rest seemed to have been refurbished into a studio bedroom, with a bathroom also downstairs. The first floor had an office, the dining and living room, as well as a kitchen and half bath. The second floor had the master suite, and two bedrooms, as well as the other ful bathroom. Like most of the houses in the area they had chosen, it had a large backyard, as well as some large maple trees. Hermione made a mental note to watch out for poison ivy, as if grapevines could crawl half way up the trees, so could the irritating ivy. That, and perhaps it could be used in a few potions that could be handy.

The households made their offers, and within a month, both had moved out of the Addams House (oddly enough, Dudley seemed the saddest about this, despite the prospect of having his own room again) and living on the outskirts of Rochester. Vernon's new job was still in management, and he seemed to be enjoying the transfer, and his workplace enviornment. Hermone had managed to get through the red tape to be a social worker in the States, and Petunia's daycare was already going rather well, with a few of the busier mothers in the neighborhood regularly dropping their children off. One of them even commented how glad they were to have someone so close by, and small, as opposed to a larger, farther off daycare in the city.

Remus was still somewhat shell shocked. He had rather well withstood the revelations of where, or, more aptly, when, his fiancee was from, and the truth as she knew it of who Dumbledore truly was, but he seemed unable to comprehend the idea that he wasn;t a leper in their new nation, despite his curse. He had managed to find work in one of the nearby private magical primary, or as it was called here, elementary schools, and seemed unendingly shocked that the Board for the school was willing to give him the leeway he needed for his curse once a month. Thankfully, it seemed to be sinking in that this was real, he did have opportunities. Hermione could only thank whatever gods there were that the magical American revolutionaries were just as much fans of the magical equivalent of the French works in the Enlightenment period, as their Muggle counterpats had been of the mundane, and thus their system of treatment towards what the British called 'half breeds' was more similar to that of France that Britain.

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Through out all of this, Hermione made sure to keep an eye on the news in Britain. She knew that perhaps it was paranoia, but she feared that fleeing the country wouldn't be enough. She worried that Dumbledore would find a way to hurt those she loved. After all, while she had managed to avoid Dumbledore's notice on any significant scale, paranoia had meant she could survive these past twenty years. So, she kept in contact with the few British magicals she knew, and kept an international subscription to the Daily Prophet, under an assumed name. Or rather, another assumed name.

Hermione allowed herself to live her life, but she never stopped being wary. She never wanted the future she had come from. Voldemort had been defeated, but the cost was too high. Perhaps she was selfish in thinking that. Personally, she had lost Harry. Others had lost so much more though. Of the Weasleys, only Bill, Ron, and Molly survived. There were no more Blacks in Britain, even the Tonkes had ended up killed, Tonks herself died defending her home and child in a raid. So many others had fled the country from fear of Voldemort and the measures he imposed. Of her year at Hogwarts, she, Padma, Daphne, Blaise, Ernie, Neville, and Ron were the only ones who made it. Only six, from a class of forty.

And their class had been lucky.

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In the mean time however, Hermione and her new family had to adjust to living in a new country. There were a few mishaps, such as when Petunia and Hermione had gotten lost at a museum they had taken the boys to, only to find out that Americans used ground floor and first floor interchangeably. Hermione still wasn't sure how Petunia ended up on the roof. The odd difference in various terms or spelling and the like often led to funny stories later on down the road, however frustrating they were at the time they occurred. Figuring out holidays and what to celebrate or not celebrate was also an odd decision, but for the most part, they all muddled through. Halloween in particular was interesting...

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"So what are you and your families doing for Halloween?" Sharon Harrolds asked Petunia and Hermione. She and her family lived in a house about half way between the Dursley residence and Hermione's house. Harry and Dudley had met her three years old twins, Emily and Emmett at the play park one day, and hit it off. This led to the three women also meeting and often arranging play dates for the four children. Mrs. Harrolds continued, clarifying her question, "Will you be taking the boys around the neighborhood here, or something else? Because, I was thinking, perhaps it would be fun if we took all four of the kids together. What do you two think?"

Hermione's eyes widened in interest. "That sounds fun. Actually, it would probably also help in keeping the little ones together. They'd be more likely to wait for each other so they can compare their loot than to wait for their poor, decrepit guardians." She lightly teased. Sharon had celebrated her 28th birthday last weekend, on the 3rd, and Dudley had been a touch less than tactful when he saw all the birthday candles, and said in awe, 'Oooh, wots o' lights! You mus' be rea' old Mrs. Hawwolds!' much to Petunia's embarrassment, though Sharon had laughed it off.

Petunia blushed a bit at Hermione's allusion, but stated, "I think it's a good idea. We could even ask Morticia to bring Pugsley and little Wednesday along, too."

"That's a wonderful idea Petunia! Speaking of Halloween, we really should see about getting costumes, both for the children, and ourselves before all the nice ones are snatched up."

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The store was insane. Hermione and Petunia were taking the boys for their costumes, and the party store they'd found was a regular madhouse. Children screaming, arguing about costume choices, and frantic parents hurrying them along, arguing with the sales people. Oh boy. They shared a look before heading in. It wasn't like it would be any better as Halloween got closer. If anything it would be worse.

Thus, three hours later, a highly frazzled and grumpy pair of ladies had managed to find costumes for themselves and the four men in their lives. Dudley had gotten a Batman costume, Harry as a little Darth Vader, which Hermione found inordinately hilarious, Petunia had found Vernon a pirate costume, and herself an Egyptian costume, while Hermione and found Remus a Roman Soldier costume, and herself a faerie costume. She hoped Remus would be well enough to wear it, but they could never tell what state he'd be in the day, and especially the night, before the full moon. Still, at the moment, she just wanted to go home and take a nap. And never, ever, look at a Halloween costume again.

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Well, Halloween night was here. A full year since Harry's parents died and she took him in. It was an odd, somewhat melancholy thought, but she was glad to have Harry in her care, though she regretted his parents lost. If only she could have done something. But what was there for her to do? Every scenario she'd gone over, there was so much risk, and Harry could have been placed in more danger. Perhaps she was no better than Dumbledore now.

Hermione was shaken from her melancholy thoughts by a knock at the door. She got up to get the door, but was beaten out by her fiance -they really needed to set a date for the wedding, come to think of it- who greeted happily, "Sharon, come in! Your costume is lovely." Sharon had gone with a witch costume, and pulled it off quite well. Next to her, Emmett was wearing a ninja costume, while Emily was a stereotypical princess, with pink galore. "And who might this beautiful princess be, and this fearsome ninja?" Remus continued with a grin in his voice.

"Mr. Wemus!" Emily scolded, "It's me, Em'ly, and dat's Emmie!"

"Yeah!" Emmett chimed in, "Doncha 'member us? Doncha?"

"Hmm..." Joked Remus, "I dunno... Are you two... Emily and Emmett?"

"Yes!" They cried.

At this point, Hermione just had to laugh at the antics the three of them were performing. They could be so silly! Rolling her eyes, she ushered them in to the dining room, where she had some Thai food take out (she tried cooking it herself once, she managed to destroy a couple of woks and still didn't know how) for everyone to have before they went trick or treating. They wanted to get started around five or six so the kids wouldn't be up too late and refuse to go down for bed, and so their men wouldn't be stuck handing out the candy all night by themselves.

Sharon joined Petunia and Hermione in the epic battle of convincing a quartet of two and three year olds that yes, eating their food was just as good an idea as playing, and if they finished quickly, they could start trick or treating. It was in the midst of this, just a bit before five that the doorbell rang again.

"It must be Morticia and Gomez! I do wonder what they'll have dressed up as..." Hermione muttered, heading to the door. It turned out that she was right, the Addams family was at the door. They seemed even more in the spirit of the holiday than normal. Morticia had apparently gone for the vampiric look, if the (presumably) false fangs and the trail of blood from her mouth was any indication, while Gomez was wearing his normal attire. It was tamer than she'd expected. The children had of course gone all out, Wednesday being an absolutely adorable angel, and Pugsley was wearing a Pooh Bear costume. "Morticia, Gomez!" She greeted, "You two look fantastic. Come in! We ordered some Thai food, and once everyone's done we can all go out together." Turning to the children, "Well, my, oh my! Wednesday, Pugsley, your costumes are delightful. Dudley and Harry are in the dining room with Emily and Emmett, eating. Come on."

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Over all, Halloween went pretty well, Hermione had to say. The kids mostly seemed to get along, though Wednesday and Emily had gotten off to a rather rough start. Once they separated they seemed to be fine though, Emily trailing along with Harry, and Wednesday with Dudley. Pugsley seemed to have found a new best friend in Emmett, they hit it right off. They all ended up in some sort of competition (for the most or best candy, Hermione wasn't sure -maybe both?) and seemed rather content with their 'loot' when they were taken to the Dursely residence around 8 o'clock. Of course, that could also be the prospect of a sleep over in the Dursely's basement (Petunia had managed to wrangle her husband into agreeing to renovate it, and Hermione into assisting with magic).

Watching the kids sleeping in the fort they'd made out of an insane assortment of pillows, blankets, chairs, and cushions, she thought that this had been a good day. Maybe there was hope for tomorrow after all.

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A/N – Well... I updated? After... oh God, 22 months. All thanks for getting my arse into gear and actually updating this go to trongod, who sent me a PM after I updated Baby Bella, asking when Manipulations would get some attention. So tons of thanks, especially for listening (or rather, reading) my various rambles and tangents while figuring this bloody thing out, and where to take it. And just as many thanks to the people who have reviewed and are even reading this after so long. Thank you.