Escape ↣ Harmione

Chapter Thirty-Six

Chapter 36 - Things Change

Back from the holiday, Harry joined Hermione in the study, the idea he had toyed with while they had been away was now making him itch to get started working on it. It was time he started contributing in a way that had tangible results. The constant talks with John had settled a lot of his questions and had opened his eyes to the practicalities of running the Order. The way information was collected and distributed. The hierarchy that was needed to manage a group of people who, until recently, had been a clandestine vigilante group. He quietly cringed remembering his childish demands to be told things he clearly hadn't needed to know, just because he felt he should have been. He hoped that with time and distance he might be forgiven those actions.

He pulled together the idea he had been playing with and jotted down the outline of what he wanted to achieve. Grabbing some books from the shelves, he flicked through the first one and started to read. Research was a bit like homework, the difference was this was something he wanted to do. If he could manage this, then it might go some way to making up to Hermione the mess he'd made of the marbles.

Dobby brought lunch interrupting both his and Hermione's research. Pushing his notes away he pulled his lunch towards him and started on the sandwiches.

"How's your research going?" he asked.

"Not bad," she said with a smile.

"Huh, what are you working on?"

"Healing magic. You?"

"Umm, well it might be nothing. Mind if I tell you once I'm a bit further on?"

"No I guess not, you are going to tell me, though, right?" she asked.

"Yes of course, only if it doesn't work I might have to change a few things and..." Harry trailed off following a thread of thought, missing the smile that bloomed on Hermione's face watching him.

"Well let me know if you need any help. I might need yours when I'm a bit further on if you can spare me some time," Hermione said still smiling.

"Sure, just let me know," he agreed.

They finished their lunch in companionable silence and once it was done, drifted back into their work. Dinner brought the next interruption, and they tidied their things away before joining the rest of the family downstairs.

The week continued like this, them both engrossed in their projects pulled away only by food and evening classes, until the weekend.

The sixteenth of August dawned and it was a beautiful sunny Saturday. Harry, Hermione and Helen decided to walk to a restaurant for lunch, it was too nice outside to contemplate getting in a car. John would join them if he finished his emergency patient in time. Otherwise, they would meet back up at the house, and they'd do something together that evening. They had been busy, each of them in their own way, since their return from the holiday they hadn't managed to do much more than eat their evening meals together.

The walk to the restaurant passed the park, it was full of children playing ball games or chasing each other shrieking with the joy of being young and playing with friends on a sunny day. The restaurant interior was cool and dim, a welcome break from the heat, lunch was leisurely, casual conversation carried on between three people who liked each other and enjoyed each other's company. It was the walk home that changed everything.

They set off, Hermione in the middle, arm linked with her mother's while Harry held her hand and walked closest to the pavement edge. Hermione and Helen chatted about places they wanted to visit next time they went into the city proper. Harry let the conversation wash over him, his concentration mostly on his ongoing project, smiling quietly to himself, half an ear cocked in case either woman asked his opinion.