noxtm:
“We’ll just adopt a cat. Shelters are full of ‘em, and Lilyflower will be ecstatic.” Their middle daughter adored everything alive– always dragging animals home. Cats, dogs– bugs even. They always made sure they were re-homed into nice families, all the while trying to ignore the glare their daughter gave them.
“I just feel bad, grá.” She knew how his family treated Harry, how he treated him– and how it tore him up inside. He hated himself for years, and he doubted it would ever truly pass. It started when he first held Poppy. She was perfect, with springy curls and mocha colored skin. Sho could mistreat a child? How could he have let them? That was why he kept their distance from his parents. Not that he thought they would ever mistreat their blood, but… Harry was their blood. And even if he wasn’t? So what?
Turning to his wife, Dudley came around the counter and wrapped his arms around his wifes middle, placing a gently kiss to her cheek, before nosing his way into the crook of her neck. “I am just stressed. Her whole life changes in TWO days. What if she hates me? What if she hates what I didn’t tell her? That… this was a possibility?”
“An’ you’ll be putting the cat out and cleaning it’s box, ay?” The woman laughed, knowing their daughter would probably explode into shrill screams of glee at the prospect. She shook her head, deciding to not use that moment to tell him her suspicions that Lily was hiding a frog in one of her drawers.
Lavinia tugged his arms snugly around her and nuzzled her head against his, fingers reaching up to stroke his hair. “You were a kid, a spoiled kid at that, you didn’t really know better, but now ya do, and the best ya can do is fix it from here, yea?” She turned into his embrace, her palms gently cupping his cheeks. Her sweet man was truly concerned about the reaction from their daughter.
“What if ya tell her and get her hopes up and her heart breaks because she’s not?” Concerned, Lavinia felt she was right in this. Knowing her daughter, Poppy would absolutely ignore any indication of ‘it’s a possibility’ and decide it was fact. And then if it wasn’t true... She would be heart broken.
However, after some of the strange things Poppy had been seen doing by her mother, there was really no doubt to Lav that Poppy was special, it was only a matter of time. “She won’t hate ya, she’ll understand, I’m sure. But it’s two days. We’ll celebrate her birthday on Saturday and keep her out of school on Monday in case anyone comes by.” Maybe Harry could explain how the process worked exactly. She wasn’t sure attacking a house with letters was a commonplace practice.
“Either way, Dud, we’ll get through this as a family, a’right?”
