Feels Good to Get Away, a tale from the restless mind of M.T.Froste

-CHAPTER THREE-

The bike began to jump slightly as he sped at an alarming rate down the lane to the ocean. Harry didn't care about the fact that if the bike even clipped the edge of a stick lying on the road he would be flung forwards over the handlebars and probably get seriously injured. He was going to the beach and that was all that was running through his mind.

The amount of salt in the air gradually began to increase as he came over the top of the hill and the water came into sight. He took a deep breath and let the saltiness flood his lungs and mind, bringing back wonderful memories and feelings.

"How could I have stayed away from all this for so long?" he yelled into the wind and the bike went flying down the other side of the hill.

A smile came to his lips as he flew past Fortescue's looking as fascinating as ever, he saluted the house, past the for sale sign with the sold sticker slapped across the middle, past the end of the laneway and onto the single sandy track that lead down to the beach, past the- WAIT!

He slammed on the brakes, skidding to a halt. The for sale sign with the sold sticker slapped across the middle?

He let out a forced laugh, "No, no, no. I must have imagined it." He climbed off the bike and turned slowly. "I just imagined it that's all. The salt air's messing with my head," he muttered walking slowly back towards the old cottage, his bike left in the middle of the laneway.

"Oh no, no, no, NO!"

The sign stood there clear as day. Harry frowned, shaking his head.

"No way," he said reassuring himself, "it's not there, I'm seeing things."

He put his face in his hands and rubbed his eyes a few times before looking back up.

"Aghh," he let out a frustrated scream and glared at the sign, willing it to go away and never come back.

Someone cannot have bought it, he thought angrily. Harry had known it had been for sale, it had been all his life, he knew one day someone would come along and fall in love with its simple but intriguing looks just like he had all those years ago. He knew it would be bought some day, he had always known, but now that it had happened… it was just unbelievable.

He'd have to tell Hermione, it had always been their- …hang on.

---

Lavender stood behind the counter bracing herself as she watched Harry pedalling madly up the hill towards the store.

"Oh god, he looks pissed…" she quickly arranged her face into a pleasant look of surprise as he entered the store, throwing his bike to the ground outside.

"Harry, back so soon-"

"Where is she?" he demanded glaring around the shop.

Shit, I hope Hermione's running like hell, Lavender thought before smiling sweetly and replying, "Who? Hermione?"

"Yes Hermione!" spat Harry, slapping his palm down on the counter.

Lavender flinched, "Ah…she's not here. Just ducked out you see and ah-"

"Don't give me that shit Lavender. Where the bloody hell is she? She knew, didn't she- about Fortescue's?"

"She may have, I'm not really sure, we never talked about it."

"Woah, wait a second," Harry had managed to calm down and was now frowning at the girl before him, "You mean you knew aswell? Oh that's just great isn't it, the whole bloody town knew except me."

"Yeah…pretty much," Lavender let out a sympathetic sigh. "But you should've seen who's bought it though, I've never seen anyone better lo-"

"Aha, that's wonderful Lavender," Harry interrupted as Lavender came over with a far away look on her face. The owner was good looking then, Harry pondered. He'd have to check it out later with Hermione: Lavender's judgement wasn't something to go on, she thought anyone who was young, single and male was good looking. Hermione had always been a better judge with things like this, which reminded him, "What I really need to know now is where Hermione is."

Lavender sighed, "Ok, fine. She's running home as we speak."

Harry couldn't help but laugh, "Knew I'd be back did she?"

"Oh she knew alright," Lavender checked her watch, "Well I think I've bought her enough time. She's got a pretty good head start, but she's forgetting one thing."

"What's that?" asked Harry grinning.

"The small fact that may decided whether she lives or not: she's on foot but you have a bike."

Harry smiled slyly. "Thanks Lavender, I owe you one."

"Anytime."

Harry turned to leave.

"Oh and Harry-"

"Mmm?"

"You didn't hear this from me."

Harry winked, "Sure thing, figured it all out by myself."

---

Harry peered in the window of Hermione's home and knocked on the door again. The door opened and Mr Granger appeared.

"Ah, Harry. Haven't seen you in ages. Come in. Hermione just arrived home herself, looked a bit flustered. Has something bad happened?"

"Not yet," Harry muttered under his breath. "No, we were just having a race."

"And you let my daughter beat you?" asked Mr Granger grinning at Harry and giving him a playful punch on the arm. "You're getting soft with your old age."

"Oh I know, but you have to let her win sometimes," Harry glanced past Mr Granger and saw an irritated looking Hermione glaring at him and her father from the top of the stairs. "You know how much of a sore loser she is," he continued, looking her in the eye.

Mr Granger turned around to see who Harry was looking at. "Dear, Harry's here," he said cheerfully.

"Yeah, I noticed. Thanks dad."

"I'll leave you two to get on with your races, I've got a tonne of work to do. It's good to see you again, Harry. You must come over for dinner sometime this week."

"Oh, it'd be my honour, sir," said Harry stooping into a low bow with a lot of hand fluttering and twirling.

Mr Granger chuckled and Hermione snorted form the stairs.

"Come on, Harry," she called.

Harry gave Mr Granger a quick smile and salute before taking the stairs two at a time.

He pushed the door to her room closed and turned to glare at her.

"How could you not have told me? How long have you known? How do you even know? You haven't been down that way in months!" yelled Harry, waving his arms madly.

"You done?" asked Hermione calmly and patted the bed next to her.

Harry walked over to the bed and sunk down cross-legged on the end, facing her.

"Ok, what do you want to know first?"

"How long have you known? How long has it been sold?"

Hermione leant back on her pillows against the bed's back board and closed her eyes, "I think it was a few weeks ago-"

"A few weeks?" Harry stared in astonishment.

"Yeah that would be about right, because it was the weekend gran came to stay."

"And you didn't tell me because…?"

"I meant to, but then gran was here and I had to stay and keep her company while mum and dad were at work. You know how it is. So I had planned to tell you Harry, I just didn't get time to go over and see you."

"I guess, but what about last week after she'd left? Why didn't you come and tell me then?"

"I guess it just slipped my mind."

Harry let out a frustrated sigh.

"It does happen Harry, people can forget things," Hermione defended.

"Ok, fine you're off the hook for that, you haven't seen me to tell me, fair enough. But what about this morning? You could've told me before I had to find out for myself."

"As I recall you had just insulted my cooking skills," she replied glaring at him.

Harry laughed, "Oh yeah. Well then, I suppose that excuses you. But how did you find out in the first place? If I haven't been to the beach in a month there's no way you have."

"I only found out by chance, if he hadn't've come into the store I probably would've been left in the dark about it all like you. Well, it was the Saturday afternoon before gran came to stay. I was in the back of the store packing the freezers. I could hear Lavender talking to someone on the phone but I wasn't really paying attention because that's nothing out of the ordinary. I finished packing the freezers and went up the front to the counter and there was this guy around our age waiting patiently, bloody Lavender hadn't even noticed he was there and it seemed he was too polite to interrupt her call. Anywho, he asked me if I knew where the real estate agency was and so I gave him directions and asked him if he was planning on moving into the village. He said he was and that he'd seen this amazing home down by the beach. I could only imagine he meant Fortescue's and so I told him all about it. He seemed really interested in everything I was saying. Then he left and said he hoped to see me around if he ended up moving in. So the next day I stopped by at Seamus's on the way to work and he said his father had told him that the house had been sold. It's been the talk of the town ever since. But I guess you haven't been down lately have you?"

"No," Harry muttered absently, still taking everything in, "no, I found this really good spot just out of town around the forest, everything's really beautiful around there. I just couldn't leave until I'd captured it all."

"You've been sitting around the forest drawing for past two weeks?" Hermione asked, "No wonder you don't know how much cereal's in your cupboards. I don't understand how you can bare staying out there all that time in just a tent."

Harry rolled his eyes, it was a discussion they'd had so many times before he'd lost count, "And I don't understand how you can spend all your time in that bloody store and I guess neither of us will understand. But who cares about that for now. So was this guy good enough for Fortescue's or should I prepare my knives so we can kill him in the night and make it look like he died of natural causes?" Harry joked.

Hermione laughed, "Oh no, we're not killing this one. You should've seen him Harry, his appearance was so…what's the word," Hermione stared at the wall chewing her lip, "striking is how I'd describe it."

Harry cocked an eyebrow. "Striking?" he repeated.

"It's not everyday you see someone with white-blonde hair and grey eyes. I'd never seen anyone like him before in my life. He was…amazing really."

Harry noticed that girlie far away look creeping onto Hermione's face. So Lavender had been right about this one. "Hey, earth to Hermione."

Hermione came out of the daze and looked at him.

"He must be good looking to have you going all Lavender on me."

"Definitely. He could give you a run for your money, Harry." Hermione said, looking over at Harry's tanned skin, untamed hair and stunning green eyes.

"Is that so…?" said Harry deep in thought. "Someone who's got Hermione Granger this head-over-heels I have got to meet."

Hermione blushed, "I am not head-over-heels!"

"Aha, sure you aren't, dear," said Harry patting her knee then bursting into a fit of laughter.

"But I agree you have got to meet him, Harry," she said seriously.

"Oh, I'm there," said Harry, " and maybe if he's as good looking as you say he is, I might give you a little competition for his heart."

Hermione scoffed at him but was still smiling. Harry had always been open about his sexuality. He had told her he was gay on his fifteenth birthday but it hadn't come as a shock to her, she'd had an inkling for a while. "Harry you don't even know if he's gay yet. You've never even met him, let alone set eyes on him."

"Hermione," said Harry seriously, "anyone who you say could give me, me, a run for my money in the looks department has got to be gay. No straight man's gonna out do Harry Potter."

Hermione laughed. "If you say so."

Harry looked at his watch, "Shit it's 8.30 and I still haven't been to the beach."

"Oh god, and I've left Lavender alone in the store, there's probably a queue of customer's waiting to be served."

Both teens jumped up from the bed and ran down the stairs, "Bye dad!" "Bye Mr Granger!"

"See you kids, good luck with your race. You can beat her this time Harry."

Harry laughed as Hermione closed the front door behind them and he picked up his bike. "Does he really believe we're running around town having races with each other?"

"Oh yeah. In his eyes we're still ten-years old and it was just yesterday you convinced me to jump from your parents first story roof and I broke my arm."

Harry laughed, good old Mr Granger, "It wasn't that high, I managed it alright, it wasn't my fault you missed the grass."

Hermione slapped him on the arm. Harry climbed on his bike and they set off in different directions.

A/N: Next chapter I'm going to go into detail in what Fortescue's actually looks like and I'll introduce Draco and Harry to each other.

Well that's about it for now altho I know as soon as I get home from school tomorow I won't be able to stop myself from starting on chapter four, so look out for it. If anyone has any questions, any suggestions or general comments I'm all ears.

until next time

- Madley-Tassida