Maybe Charlie had known it had been exactly six weeks since the accident, or maybe he didn't. But either way, he'd still gone to work that morning. The date seemed to mock Harry as he absently flew around the house that had become progressively smaller to him.
He was confident at new heights now and had experimented flying in the traditional position - with one leg either side of the broomstick. He could do it, but had trouble locking his legs back for optimal speed and precision on the broom.
Flying side-saddle made him feel like a girl but far less like an invalid than, say, a wheelchair would have. They had discussed the possibility of bringing a Muggle wheelchair into the house but it was nearly impossible; Charlie's home was built on the side of a hill and as such, was made of lots of different levels and steps up and down. A wheelchair wouldn't be able to navigate the house in the same way he could by flying.
Although Harry received post, mostly from Molly, but some from his friends, too, he hadn't had any visitors yet and guessed that this was Charlie's doing. He was pretty confident that it was taking some magnificent force to stop Molly being there from dawn 'til dusk, cooking and cleaning and fussing over him until he just about lost his mind.
So when the Floo signalled a request for entry it made Harry almost jump out of his skin. He recognised Hermione's magical signature and let her through immediately; it was only with the sight of his friend that he realised how much he had missed her.
No one had been particularly surprised when a young Hermione Granger had scaled the ranks in the Ministry of Magic at a previously unprecedented and unexpected rate. From a junior in the Minister's own office to head of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, the respect and impact of her work resonated through the wizarding world. Harry had stopped being impressed by Hermione's skill at multitasking when he was about twelve years old, or so he'd thought until she managed to smoothly control not only her department and career, but her children and marriage as well.
Now, stepping from the fireplace in a stylish and crisp grey pencil skirt, voluminous white blouse and loose pale blue robes with her hair tied back in a knot at one side of her neck, she was part professional, part mother, and still the same girl he'd always known. This Hermione might look elegant and professional but Harry knew she carried photos of her children with her wherever she went and wore a tattoo on her left hipbone that he, Ron and Luna had talked her into getting one Saturday in June.
"Hi," Harry said weakly, then she was kicking off her shoes and rushing towards him, enveloping him in a hug and burying her face in his shoulder.
"I missed you!" she wailed.
This was their relationship - raw and undignified, never afraid of showing what they meant to each other.
"Missed you too," Harry mumbled. "Come on. I'll make tea."
xXx
"So, how are you doing?" Hermione asked when they were finally sat at the kitchen table with tea and the good biscuits.
"Okay," Harry said, shrugging. "I have to re-learn how to do nearly everything, and I get tired easily, but okay."
She nodded. "That's understandable, you know, that it takes time for you to get better."
"What's going on in the world?" Harry asked. "Charlie doesn't get a newspaper. Not a British one, anyway."
"A lot of people are worried about you," Hermione said. "It's been a big thing in the papers but they're either respecting your privacy or they really don't know where you are. He's keeping you well hidden."
"It's not like that," Harry said, his hackles rising at the implication. "Charlie's just protecting me. The last thing I want is reporters at the fucking door."
"I know," she soothed. "How are you two getting on?"
Harry ducked his head. "It's nice, I suppose. Being with him all the time. Is Molly suspicious?"
"I'm not sure," Hermione said with a grimace. "She's been chomping at the bit to come over here but we're working on calming her down."
"She writes nearly every other day."
"And that's her being restrained," Hermione said, grinning. "Anyway. I came here to talk to you about something. I was thinking..."
"Why am I not surprised?" Harry interrupted. Hermione ignored him.
"And even though the department are doing all they can to try and find out what curse it was that you were hit with, they're still swamped at the moment. So I thought we could do it ourselves."
"Research?" Harry said, an old, but familiar sensation settling in his stomach at the prospect.
"Yes. Lots and lots of research. If we know what the curse is then we can look into ways of breaking it. No one knows more about your symptoms than you, and no one has better access to resources than me. "
She wasn't being smug. She was just being right, as usual.
"I also thought," Hermione said, growing quiet and setting down the coconut cream she had been gesticulating wildly with. "Well. A long time ago you and Ron were talking about learning how to become Animagi."
Harry's mouth dropped open a little bit. "Could I walk as an Animagus?"
"I don't know," Hermione said quickly. "That's why we need to do the research. It depends on whether the curse affects your muscles, or your magic, or your skeletal system; if it's something that's attached to you in this form, or a part of your physicality. If it's your magic then changing your magical form from a wizard to an animal may negate the details of the curse. If it's attached to your body then we need to know what part. If you change that part of your body, such as when morphing into an animal form, then again you might lose the curse in the transformation."
"That's incredible," Harry murmured.
"There are more things to consider," Hermione continued. "Like what animal form you want to take, for example. I have a theory that if you took a non-mammal form - a bird or a fish or an insect or a magical creature, then it's less likely that the curse will stay within your physicality."
"Because there's fewer body parts in common," he said.
"Exactly. The entire skeletal system of a bird is different to that of a mammal, so if the curse is contained therein, by removing that part of your body which is basically what you'd be doing, you can lose the curse. That's why bird and fish and insect Animagi are so much more uncommon though - they're a lot harder to perform.
"But," she added, "If I know you, and I think I do, you're going to want your Animagus form to be either a stag or a dog. Your dad and Sirius certainly knew that mammalian Animagi are easier to do."
"Easier, but still not easy."
"Right."
"I thought you couldn't choose your Animagus?"
Hermione sighed deeply and picked up her biscuit again. "Oh Harry, it's complicated."
"Come on, you're the head of the bloody department," Harry said, teasing her.
"Okay." She finished her biscuit while she thought. "I suppose it's sort of like the Sorting Hat. It is capable, and likely to make decisions on its own, however it can take the person's preferences into consideration if necessary."
Harry, not having ever told his friends about the Sorting Hat's debate whether to place him in Gryffindor or Slytherin, felt more than slightly sick and suspicious at her words.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, you know that I was nearly a Hatstall."
"A what?"
Hermione sighed and Harry knew that this was another one of those moments that could have been avoided by his reading Hogwarts: A History about fifteen years ago.
"A Hatstall. It happens very rarely, but it's when the Sorting Hat takes more than five minutes to Sort a student into one house or another. It took four minutes and thirteen seconds to decide whether to make me a Ravenclaw or Gryffindor. They say that if a student has a preference then the Sorting Hat can take that into consideration when placing them."
"And you think the Animagus process is the same?"
"Probably," Hermione conceded, hiding her grin. "No one really knows. Will you try it?"
Without a moment's hesitation, and meaning every word from the bottom of his fucking heart, Harry replied: "What have I got to lose?"
A/N: Is there some kind of award for being the first person to include Pottermore exclusive content in a story? If so, I want it!
(p.s. How do you like Hermione?)