In Bloom ━━ Harry Potter

i. MARGUERITE IN THE MIDDLE

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CHAPTER i:
❛ MARGUERITE IN THE MIDDLE ❜

MARGUERITE BLUMENTHAL HAS ALWAYS THOUGHT OF LIFE IN TERMS OF FLOWERS. You start as a seed, you sprout, you bloom, bloom, bloom, and then — one day, hopefully a great deal of time later — you die. A simple worldview, perhaps, but she likes the simplicity of it. Flowers aren't complicated. All they need is a little bit of sunshine, soil, and rain to grow. ( Of course, her mum would argue that plants need a whole lot more than that, but that's just because her mum is her mum and she tends to fuss over things like that ... which is why she plays harmonic classical Indian music through the mega-speakers in her greenhouse to promote growth. ) Marguerite thinks people aren't that different from flowers. Sure, their mechanics are different ( her six-year-old self was absolutely devastated when she realized that she wouldn't ever be able to photosynthesize ) but people need a few things to bloom, too. They need love, family, shelter — all the important stuff — and, just like flowers, a little bit of sunshine and music never hurt anyone, either.

Her parents have just about gotten the Flower-Child Formula for Parenting, as Marguerite likes to call it, down to a T. To be fair, they've had seven chances to practice, but even from the beginning they did alright despite the fact that: 1) both their families were properly fucked up, 2) they eloped at eighteen, and 3) had their first child, Basil, a few months later before proceeding to crank out six more kids after that. Marguerite's dad was the one who came up with the idea of naming all the baby Blumenthals after plants. As someone who literally cannot resist the opportunity for a good pun, what else was he supposed to do — not name his children after flowers when his wife is a florist named Dahlia and his surname is Blumenthal? It'd be absolute blasphemy!