Live Forever

3: Half The World Away - Part 1

A/N: This chapter takes place over the same period of time as the first two installments. I hope you enjoy reading the  fascinating tale of David Granger and how he came to be driving to Little Whinging on the third of August at 2:00 am with a bag full of recently purchased chocolate bars.

My body feels young but my mind is very old...

July 3, 1995

David Granger sat in the family study and gazed idly out the window...patiently waiting as the progress bar crawled forward on the computer screen. It had seemed like such a good idea at the time...they needed to bite the bullet and start managing the practice's books electronically and stop relying on the comforting manual ledgers that he had stubbornly clung to for too long. But as he sat and inserted installation disk three of eight, tapped the enter button, again, and looked at the stubbornly slow progress bar, again, he wished he could be anywhere else.

It was his fault really. Jane had volunteered to sort out getting the new computer equipment and he had volunteered to get the accounting and other miscellaneous software set up. It made sense...he managed the books after all. And with the practice closed for the next week it seemed like the perfect time to bite the bullet.

It hadn't even occurred to him that Jane had purposely waited until Hermione had returned from Hogwarts to help with her end of the bargain. All Jane had to do was pull out the credit card and put the damn thing in her car. Hermione had been bursting at the seams to set it up on their behalf the night prior. Jane was probably laughing her ass off at the supermarket right now.

Unfortunately Hermione didn't give two shits about boring software Designed to Maximize the Efficiency and Integrity of your Business's Finances and was nowhere to be found. He'd hoped she would take pity on him but then Gandalf had shown up out of the blue and she'd practically sprinted out of the room to talk with him. They'd only had their daughter back for a few days before the wizards had started showing up and it pissed him off.

So here he was...stuck in the study, by himself, and staring at a progress bar in name only. Gandalf had left about fifteen minutes ago but Hermione still had not shown up to rescue him and he still had four other things...not things...programs... to install.

As if on cue he heard the door opening. His wonderful daughter had finally come to rescue him. "Hermione, can you explain again what this one is meant to-"

The words died in his throat as he saw the look on her face

"What is it, Janey?" he asked, his troubles now forgotten.

"It's about Harry," she mumbled unsurprisingly as she sat in a nearby chair.

"What's happened?" he prompted, desperate for her to finally share something tangible about her friend.

It was clear from her first year on that she was hopelessly devoted to the boy. From what she had shared he sounded very brave...and humble...and selfless...and a bit broody. The only problem was Hermione never seemed to share the specifics behind her gushing. For a girl who praised facts and information above everything else such things were sorely lacking when it came to explaining her friend. He waited patiently and watched Hermione's wheels spinning, parsing out exactly what to share.

He missed the days when she blurted anything and everything that was on her mind in rapid and explicit detail...when he was her best friend. Whether it was simply her age or the wizards that had caused her to be so reticent around them now was irrelevant. His old Hermione was long gone.

"I've been invited to stay with the Weasleys."

The new Hermione was short and sweet with her explanation, again, and the wizards were trying to pull her away, again. He wanted to be properly furious but she looked so lost. It was the same way she looked after saying goodbye to Harry at King's Cross a few days prior.