Professor Potter

Chapter 50

Chapter 50 

It was the Sunday morning after Harry's first exploration trip into the forest and as he hauled himself out of bed he realized he should have made more of an effort to go hiking in the past months. Sore muscles protested as he sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed. His left knee was only slightly more achy than the rest of him so he felt he was at least slightly ahead on that score. He shuffled into the bathroom in the hopes that a hot shower would help ease the aches a bit. It did, but only a bit. By the time he was walking down the corridor towards the kitchen he was able to identify individual areas of concern as opposed to the general full body ache he felt when he first woke up. 

"Good morning, sweetheart," Ginny said from the table where she, Abagail, and the two boys were having breakfast. 

"Morning," he replied. 

"You really must have pushed yourself too hard yesterday, Harry. You were making some interesting noises in your sleep last night," she said. 

"Noises?" 

"Yes, mostly little groans as you moved around," she said with a straight face. 

He sat down and reached for the tea pot but Abagail was already lifting it up to pour out for him. He fixed it to his liking and took a sip and sighed deeply. 

"I hadn't realized I had gotten so old so fast," he said ruefully. 

"You're not old, Harry, just a little out of shape. It's been a few years since the Aurors put you through all that rigorous training. It's starting to wear off, I'd think," his wife said. 

"I guess you're right. Well, at least its two weeks before the next trip. I should have time to recover a bit by then. How is everyone else this morning?" 

Based on the responses everyone else seemed in fine fettle and all smiles. As Harry sipped his tea he got the feeling someone was having a very subtle go at him. It became evident that his appetite was unaffected as he demolished everything Nibs put in front of him. After breakfast he put on a jacket and went outside to let Snuffles run around and he walked some of the stiffness out of his muscles by taking a tour of the property. One specific thing he did was take a walk to the car park and look around. He was going to have to have a small garage erected so he could park the little Morris under cover. 

After spying a likely spot he walked back out onto the lawn and began throwing a ball that Snuffles presented to him. He was soon joined by James and it became a match between the boy and his dog as to who got to return the ball to Harry. James came out on the short end of the tally by quite a bit because even when he did get to the ball first, Snuffles would simply bowl him over and take the ball from him. In retaliation, James would try tackling the Mastiff but the weight advantage was definitely in the dog's favor and it was a mostly futile effort. More often than not, James would wind up riding along on the back of the dog, shouting and laughing. 

This all put Harry in a better frame of mind and reduced the stiffness for a while. After lunch he did retreat to the library where he began looking for references to the forest in various volumes of history or magical phenomenon. He was deep into one book when Kreacher announced the arrival of visitors. 

"Master Harry, Mister Charlie Weasley and Miss Eleanor MacManus to see Master Harry and Mistress Ginny." 

"Oh, alright. Thanks, Kreacher. Are they in the living room?" 

"Yes, Master Harry." 

"Fine, I'll be right along." 

Harry pulled himself up out of his chair and made his way to the living room. As he walked in he was met by El who was standing up, waiting to give him a hug. She had spent the last month traveling through Europe making sales calls and doing demonstrations of the Firebolt and Nimbus lines. She wrapped Harry in a tight embrace and felt him stiffen.