CHAPTER 7

Harry walked up to Bill and Ellen "I am very sorry that they involved you." Ellen stood up and placed him in a hug.

"It was not your fault Harry. You didn't ask him to do that and you did practically beg him not to and gave him an easy way out. He didn't take it and you did what you had to do." Ellen told him soothingly.

Bill looked around and then at Harry "Is this something that will happen a lot to those that are around you?" Harry nodded his head.

Bill asked another question "What about when you go home?"

Harry looked saddened "We must travel for the next few years because to go home and settle down would be waiting for them to develop a plan and attack me. It puts many friends at more risk. I don't want to do that."

Bill looked saddened too "So you are a man with no homeland to sink your feet into."

Harry grimaced "Something like that."

Ellen looked out past them and said in a distracted manner "Hermione is going to go crazy trying to keep him safe."

Harry looked over their shoulders "She is reading my mum's journal and learning a few things about what I have a head of me. She may decide that the engagements off. I can't say that I blame her."

Ellen oddly enough laughed. Then she looked at Harry and began laughing again. Harry looked at her with confusion and then looked at Bill who was barely holding in his laughter.

Bill finally took pity on Harry "You have been around Hermione for six, going on seven years now and knowing her can you imagine her walking up to you and saying I don't want to be with you because its' too scary and I want a quieter life?"

Harry did not look happy "Well, she deserves so much better than a life on the run. I don't want that for her." Harry dug his toe into the dirt "I want her to be happy and I don't see how I can do that."

Ellen looked at him "Harry a piece of advice don't offer Hermione an out. You will hurt her greatly by doing so and if she realizes you are doing it to be noble…"

Bill interjected "She will likely beat the shite out of you and we might help her."

Ellen smiled "She loves you Harry and there is no way around that. She has loved you for a few years now and in her mind there could be no bigger betrayal for her than by letting a few bumps scare her from being with you. She will be right beside you."

Harry looked at them "My whole life to this point has been one big series of 'bumps', as you call them. When Voldemort was done I expected the bumps to smooth out. How can this be fair to her?"

Ellen began to chuckle "Who has been with you your entire life up to now?"

Harry slowly answered "Hermione. She is the only one that has never wavered in her support of me."

Ellen chuckled a little harder "Even through the bumps and the near death experiences. Don't you think after she was hurt in second year that any rationale girl would have run for her life?"

Harry's face didn't change its demeanor but there was a faint light in his eyes "Well, Hermione is a little thick about things at times."

Bill gave an evil little smirk "Oh, boyo now that is going to cost you to keep that tidbit of information from my little princess." Ellen smacked his arm.

"The bottom line and the reason she stayed is because she loves you so you either push her away and leave her trapped without you and suffering or you take the risk and learn to deal with any situation life throws at the both of you like any good team would." Ellen put her hands on her hips in a woman's victory pose "So what is the great boy who conquered going to do?"

Harry frowned at her "You know I hate that moniker with a passion don't you?" Ellen arched her eyebrow in challenge.

Harry sighed in defeat and threw up his hands "You don't play fair and I know when it's time to cut my losses… no pushing Hermione away."

Ellen mussed his hair "Good man and Hermione is very right about you, intelligent and too noble for your own good." She laughed out.

Bill looked around "Not that I don't love the magical world but why don't we spend a while on the mundane side of things. I think we all could relax a little if we did."

The four walked out of that magical town and found a nearby open air shopping center. Harry was looking at many different things and just browsing more than anything. They came to a little café with an outdoor section and decided that a cup of tea was in order. They had a few more people that were a couple of tables away but seemed to be busy with their own conversation.

Bill leaned over and looked at Ellen "Have you decided what we are going to do when we get back to England?"

Ellen looked at him and smiled "I take it you might have a different spin or an idea on this?"

Bill looked around to see if anyone was listening "I do but I think we might wait until we have more privacy."

Harry caught on and waved his hand "You can speak freely now as no one can hear us at all. I put a privacy charm up to block them."

Harry got up to leave the table and Bill asked him "Where are you going?"

Harry looked confused "I thought you wanted a private conversation."

Bill looked at him as he pointed at the three of them "With family because its' nobody else's business but ours." Bill did not catch the slight smile that came to Harry's lips but Ellen didn't miss it at all.

Bill waited until Harry was seated again "I know we worked hard to build our practice but after twenty years I do not look forward to sticking my hands in a stranger's mouth anymore."

Ellen spoke up "I believe I am of the same mind on this." Bill smiled when she said this.

"Well this makes it so much easier to persuade you…." Bill started.

"To travel a little, see some of the world, and help protect two teenagers… maybe?" Ellen said with a wink.

Bill chuckled a response "Gee, now why didn't I think of a brilliant plan like that."

Ellen rubbed her fingers across her shirt "You are of the wrong sex to have brilliant plans dear. Yours are very, very good ones so never doubt that."

Bill smiled "You are far too kind madam." Ellen giggled and added "Not at all dear, if anything I understate it."

Bill continued "It seems to me that the wizards do not know hand to hand combat or anything about firearms. If we were to do both I believe we could hold our own even in a magical fight."

Ellen sat forward "So we get to travel, learn new things, go on adventures, and be Harry and Hermione's body guards?"

Bill pointed his fingers "Exactly my thoughts. After all The Potters did give us a bunch of money to do what we want."

Harry looked between them "Hermione put all this effort in to protecting you and now you want to come with us into more danger?" Harry rubbed his forehead "Hermione is going to kill me."

Ellen laughed "Probably but not for this." Ellen looked at Bill "We can start by running tomorrow morning and then there is a little dojo just two blocks from the house we could use to learn that karate thing. How long before we should be in good shape?"

Bill thought about it "Maybe 45 to 60 days but I am thinking we should be very handy with guns and it is something that the magicals don't know a lot about. If they are silenced then it would be as lethal as any spell."

Ellen seemed excited "That is brilliant!"

Bill looked at Harry who sniped back "What now you ask my opinion? I thought you two were on a roll."

Ellen laughed "We are but it never hurts to ask."

Harry stated quickly "Generally muggles with weapons are effective in the first minute of a fight but then they lose their weapons quickly and are defenseless."

Bill stated "So we just need to find something to slow the effect of their spells down so we have more time. When we are knocked out then you and Hermione can step in and run the magical side of things."

Ellen then looked over to him "So what can we use to slow or stop spells from getting to us."

Harry replied "There are some spells that cannot be stopped."

Bill asked "Is magic some form of energy? I have heard Hermione say she can feel her magic sometimes. What does that mean?"

Harry looked stumped "I am not sure about a form of energy but to magicals spells look like short beams of light that leave your wand and then hit you to cause an effect."

Ellen replied "That sounds like a form of energy to me. Has anyone tried to measure it or find out what type it is?"

Harry seemed stumped for many seconds "I don't know for sure but it would seem that somebody should have at some point."

Bill seemed excited "With the mundane technology of today I am sure we can find this out."

Harry added "Electricity and electrical components don't work in a heavy magical environment so that would mean that magic has something that causes it to interfere with it."

Ellen smiled "I bet it is a form of energy and nobody has discovered how it works."

Bill smiled "We have our tasks before us and we know what needs to be done, so I say let's get started."

Harry stood up and grinned "I am not explaining any of this to Hermione. This is all on you two."

Ellen and Bill muttered together "Traitor!"