To Live is the Rarest Thing

Chapter 16

Tom got that look on his face again, the one that told Harry his soulmate was plotting the future of the entire world. At once Harry regretted giving Tom such an open-ended question about their plans.

“I’m glad you asked,” Tom said while offering their guests a winning smile. “Harry and I are going to start a new business.”

Harry was tempted to bury his face in his hands but managed to resist the urge and instead he vanished the empty containers with a flick of his wand, sent the dirty dishes to the sink with a quick charm and got up to make coffee while their guests gave Tom curious looks.

“What kind of business?” Remus asked, looking as if he wasn’t sure if he even wanted to know the answer.

“Have none of you wondered yet how Harry and I have electricity working in what’s essentially a magical dwelling?” Tom asked as he leaned back in his seat, satisfied he had everyone’s undivided attention.

“I had wondered that,” Regulus said quietly. “I don’t know much about electricity, but I had noticed you’re using some muggle electrical devices.”

“At some point, when we were a Japanese witch and wizard, we were part of a team that discovered the solution to combine electricity and magic.” Tom got up and gestured at Regulus to do the same. “Let me demonstrate how a television works.”

And Regulus, though he looked a little wary about following Tom across the room, did join him and endured the in-depth demonstration Tom provided.

Harry shook his head and got the mugs ready. It was obvious now that Tom had autism, the way he latched onto a special interest like a crocodile latched onto a zebra’s leg, and the way he loved sharing them with anyone who would listen. But as Harry poured coffee he thought that perhaps Tom might have ADHD as well, considering how he switched from special interest to special interest at lightning-speed.

Perhaps Harry should be happy they’d learned long ago that they should stick with introducing technology that was appropriate for the times they lived in, otherwise Regulus might have gotten in an depth lecture on space-travel and life on a colonized Mars, with a bonus section on cyborg creation.

Harry and Tom had lived a few lives in the future, very exciting and interesting lives that exposed them to all sorts of amazing technology present-day society could only dream of. But those kinds of technology were useless when the rest of society wasn’t ready for them yet.

The evolution of technology needed to follow a natural, predictable path, or it simply wouldn’t work for the world at large, much to Harry’s and Tom’s disappointment because honestly, flying a spaceship around their solar system for a living was all kinds of awesome.

“Thanks,” Sirius said as Harry put a cup of steaming coffee in front of him. Remus was paying too much attention to Tom’s lecture to even notice the coffee. Harry sat back down and sipped his own mug while Tom answered all of Regulus’ questions in elaborate details.

“You do realize,” Remus pointed out when Tom and Regulus joined them at the dining table again, “That we have laws against enchanting Muggle items.”

Regulus’s eyebrows rose while Tom’s eyes narrowed in a way that told Harry Tom wasn’t about to give up on his idea, no matter what the law said.