“Mr. and Mrs. Dursley of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.”
“The neighbors are staring.”
“Well close the curtains!”
“But what if they find out-”
“Nothing weird happens here! We’ve been over this, Lionel!”
I mean, that’s an iconic line 
Is there a specific part of your story that was inspired by that line?
Basically half the story, an elderly couple fosters these kids that have powers and don’t want anyone to know, also don’t treat the kids that well.
Then the kids run away so the other half of the story I’m not planning on showing them again until maybe the end, and if I do I need to decide whether character development happens or not-
Some other good books (inspirational resources) I thought of…
Keith Fennell’s Warrior Brothers features two interesting characters in his first Australian SAS team. One soldier was considered exceptionally tough and capable (by SAS standards), yet he would become timid and bashful around young pretty women. Another soldier was depicted as a genetic freak. He could eat any kind of junk food and enhance his strength…his muscles grew with each Big Mac…This is and will remain a common theme among my characters.
The book Contract Warriors recounts a scene in East Asia where a group of American Marines decide to evict any non-Marine patrons from a pub; they want exclusive access to the many ladies-for-hire. One cluster of Jarheads encounters a group of four civilian men in plain clothes (singlets, jeans, and tennis shoes) seated around a small table. The civilians were depicted with long hair, wrinkled tanned complexions, and muscular arms that could crush the whiskey tumblers in their hands. An equally wise and intoxicated Marine sergeant orders the territorial Jarheads to stay away from the civvies. They’re mercenaries, and crossing them only ends with pain. This is how I like to present my main character set (Karen’s mercenaries); quiet, weathered, solitary (and unusually powerful) folk* who only the bravest / most foolish would mess with.
There’s also a passage in Contract Warriors that applies to most of my character pairings.
“It was a match made in mercenary heaven. She was just as skilled as he was with a rifle, and even more dangerous with a blade.”
*This reminds me of a relevant quote from Last of the Wind Ships. “He had no friends because he had no equals.”
And, related to the above posts, I’ve decided to use Terry Pratchett’s ‘Silver Horde’ as inspiration / justification for my aging band of mercenary characters. Like Pratchett’s pension-worthy Vikings, the mercenaries continue to fight for Karen because its all they know, they’d be hopeless in any other profession, and they haven’t encountered an opponent who could defeat them…and also because they view each other and Karen as family (the mercs’ children call Karen ‘aunt Kaz’)…
I probably don’t quit have that part down. Lol