Live Forever

3: Half The World Away - Part 3

July 11, 1995

The worst part about this program was there was always some other blasted helpful component to move onto. The thought of tracking all of the patient accounts and amounts owed was intriguing. And he was getting much better at typing...he now used two fingers.

Hermione walked into the room and took a seat. She'd made it home from her visit with Harry with ten minutes to spare.

"How did it go today?"

"Great," she mumbled. David purposely ignored the pleased smile his daughter was now sporting.

"He didn't put up too much of a fight about the trainers?"

She shook her head. "I just handled it like Mum handles you."

"Your mother does not handle me," he protested.

"I basically told him he was being silly and just wasting time by being stubborn," she continued.

He opened his mouth to protest but stopped. That did sound like how Jane handled him.

"Okay, fine. Maybe I do let your mother get her way some of the time. It's the polite thing to do isn't it?"

"Harry was much less stubborn than you are when Mum-"

"Your mother is the stubborn one," he mumbled defiantly, drawing a chuckle from Hermione.

"I told Harry that they knew I had visited him last week. He gave me this so I could travel undetected," she informed, holding up a shiny piece of fabric.

"Nice rug," he complimented falsely. Based on Hermione's description he knew exactly what it was.

"It's not a rug," she protested immediately. "It's a- You know what it is, don't you?"

"Are you sure it's not a rug? It looks like a rug."

"Fine. If you don't want to try out the rug than-"

"It's an invisibility cloak!" he blurted as he reached for the artifact and quickly wrapped it around his body.

"This rug is amazing!" he exclaimed as he looked down at his now non-existent body.

Hermione laughed as she took back the cloak and carefully folded it back up, holding it protectively in her lap.

"Harry had never heard of Oasis," Hermione eventually declared, a bit of sadness in her voice.

"Lucky for him," he quipped, drawing a glare quite similar to his wife's best efforts.

After several seconds he understood her comment. Those twats were everywhere and for a resident of England to be unaware of their existence seemed a bit unfathomable...especially a teenage boy. It had only taken Hermione a week of being home last summer before she had commented on how annoying they were. His heart sank a bit at the implications.

Over the last couple of weeks he'd been picturing Harry stuck alone in his room all day. But now...for the first time...he could hear the silence. He realized they could do something about that.

"Let's go...the shops will be closing soon."

July 24, 1995

All and all David Granger was having an especially good summer. Temperatures had been mild, Hermione had been more present and content than he could remember, he was now using all of his fingers (kind of)to type on the computer, and that prat Wallenby hadn't stopped while he was working in the yard to brag about his car...or his golf game...or anything. The prat had walked right by him...twice! It was brilliant. And with the exception of a few letters the wizards had even managed to stay away for the last couple of weeks. He knew it was too good to last.