Don't Look Back In Anger (Completed)

Chapter 12: Turning Tables

Newhaven is a costal town of over ten thousand souls, cited at the mouth of the River Ouse on the East Sussex coast of England. The town was also a port, and it was possible to board a regular ferry from there to Dieppe. Since Dieppe was more than a hundred miles along the coast from the largest channel crossing port of Calais, this might be the route out the country they would take. While there was a possibility the main route between Dover and Calais could be watched, they were all certain no one would be monitoring the ferry between Newhaven and Dieppe.

That wasn't why they were here today though. While no one would be looking for them in Newhaven, this would be an opportunity to get Harry examined by an optician - and give the kids a bit of a break after the morning they just had.

Dan was driving the couple of miles from the cottage into Newhaven Town with a smirk on his face, a smirk Emma was doing her best to ignore. She'd argued against the extra expense of Dan's choice of interior for his pride and joy - why did they need the seven seater model when there was only three of them? Today, with the three teens behind them and then Sirius and Remus seated further back, Dan felt he was proven right and his smirk clearly said so - Emma wanted nothing to do with any of that so wasn't biting.

While Sirius and Remus could blend into muggle culture, Xeno Lovegood stood out even in a magical setting. He had left to take the destroyed locket to Dumbledore, and hopefully arrange an auror protection detail for the group's planned visit to Diagon Alley tomorrow.

Arriving in plenty of time for Harry's appointment gave the three ladies an opportunity to try different styles of glasses on him, before the optician ended their fun by dragging her next appointment away to be tested. Emma, Hermione and Luna's choices would all be in vain though, the optician wouldn't issue Harry with a prescription today. After noticing some anomalies in his tonometry readings, she then checked with Harry whether he had received a bang to the head or been in some sort of accident recently. Harry confirming that he had indeed been in an accident that affected his head - destroying his old glasses in the process - saw his examination end.

The optician then spoke with Sirius, accepting his assurance that Harry had attended hospital after the accident but was otherwise fit and healthy. She wanted Harry to return in about a week for another examination, giving some time for the apparent side effects of his accident to totally wear off. Since the optician was a tall, beautiful brunette in her late twenties, Sirius instantly agreed to see her again next week - and he even agreed to bring his godson along too.

Having their plan to get Harry new glasses foiled, Hermione then announced they would just have to go shopping to get him some new clothes. Seeing how excited Luna was at this idea, Harry quickly played along.

Although Newhaven was only about fifty miles from London, it might well have been a thousand in terms of the shops available to buy clothes for a teenager. Since Harry seemingly had so little though, the available shopping was more than adequate to kit him out with casual wear for the holidays - a wide array of button down and t-shirts, jeans, shorts and a few pairs of trainers were soon purchased. Somehow Luna and Hermione ended up with nearly as many bags as Harry did, though with Sirius so keen to buy the teens anything they looked twice at that shouldn't really be too surprising.

He had wizarding and muggle money stashed away in case he needed to go on the run again, everyone wholeheartedly agreed with Sirius' opinion that this was a far better use for it. This generosity soon found Sirius ladened with bags, walking beside a similarly encumbered Dan. Harry was in front of them and bagless, Hermione and Luna claiming each of his hands. Sirius couldn't help but notice the way Dan was staring at the trio, knowing from sharing Harry that this man was one day going to be family, he tried to help out.