The rest of the year passed quite peacefully. The Potters studied seriously, getting top marks, dragging Neville along and even Ron was influenced enough to achieve passing grades in all the subjects.
Neville was really surprising them. The chubby boy who started exercising with them was gradually replaced by a powerful teen who didn't tire easily. Neville gained some confidence and with his friends' help was also improving his academic performance just as dramatically. He was now third among the Gryffindors of his class and tenth overall in his grades. Only the Potters and some Ravenclaws got higher marks.
Ron wasn't as successful. His lack of interest in improving himself showed in his grades and in his appearance. His eating habits were starting to show, making him fatter and less attractive. Lavender still stayed close to him, but only so she could deflect some unwanted suitors, yet she wouldn't let him call her his girlfriend. She was actually thinking of some higher-class boys as more appropriate boyfriends.
"Would you like to ride the train or would you rather apparate home?" Harry asked Hermione the evening before end of term.
"I'd really love to meet my parents sooner, but it may raise unwanted questions if we suddenly disappear, don't you think? Then, I also like spending the ride leisurely with our friends. I think the anticipation will also make our meeting with my parents more exciting," she said.
Harry smiled. "Then, we'll board the train and ride with our friends. Now, let's go to bed."
"Sure, my dear husband," she teased, letting her bathrobe fall before climbing naked onto the bed.
They still spent their time on the Hogwarts Express together. Hermione was snuggling into Harry while Lavender was slapping Ron's hands off her, whenever he tried reaching "forbidden areas". Neville enjoyed chatting with Harry, oblivious to the admiring looks Ginny was directing at him, although he was admiring her emerging femininity whenever she was busy talking with the others.
The Granger residence was as welcoming as ever. Harry was really feeling it had become "home" for him just as much as for Hermione.
"We're planing to visit America during this summer," Dave told them.
Harry was excited by the idea. Hermione didn't seem as enthusiastic. "Why?" she asked.
"Do you remember my uncle Kalvin? He's reaching sixty this summer and the whole family is invited to celebrate it in one of the amusement parks," her father explained.
Hermione's face brightened. She loved her dad's family. "So, where will we stay?"
"We've already confirmed our participation and assured a family suit for us, to accommodate our guardianship charge as well." Dave smiled saying the last words. "We still need to stay a few nights in New-York before and after the celebration and we may squeeze in a visit to Washington DC as well, I hope."
"We need two days there at least, with all the museums..." Hermione said.
"We may leave some unvisited for another time," her father interrupted her with a smile.
She just huffed at him and then smiled.
Hermione took advantage of the two weeks until their journey to brew all the potions she had copied from the chamber. Using some of the new spells learned there, they created a potion lab in the cellar. It was invisible to strangers, both muggle and magical, while they both and the Grangers could see it perfectly. A short visit at the apothecary filled the shelves with all the ingredients they needed and then some. While Hermione was still better at potions than Harry, he was catching up nicely. With both working on the potions they had everything ready on time. They didn't take the potions yet, deciding it was safer to do it at Hogwarts, with Madam Pomfrey nearby.
Shopping in New-York proved to be more than merely visiting different shops. As they were walking in the downtown shopping areas, Hermione caught a glimpse of something.
"I want to check that," she said, pointing to an optician's shop.
"Do you need sunglasses?" Dave asked.
"No. Just come, please."
Harry, being the only one of them wearing glasses, was mildly interested in the display of various designs of eyeglasses. While he didn't particularly like his round glasses, he was already accustomed to them, and none of the displayed models attracted his attention. Hermione, though, dragged him to the back of the store, where he could see a small room, half hidden behind a curtain. The room seemed to be unused, yet a small sign on the wall stated "Tap your wand here twice". A big arrow was pointing at a small square area of a different color.
Hermione tapped as requested. The wall slid aside, revealing a whole new shop behind it. This one was clearly magical.
A young assistant in white robes approached them. "How can I help you?"
"I've seen the sign advertizing eye-sight correction without glasses. Can you tell us a bit more about it?" Hermione asked.
"You don't wear glasses, do you?" the assistant asked, somewhat confused.
"I don't, but my... boyfriend here does. I'd really like to know if it's possible to rid him of his glasses."
"Well, follow me." The assistant led them to a side room, where an older man, wearing open white robes over a normal business suit was reading a medical magazine. "Healer Cazoli, these young people are interested in removing his glasses," the assistant said.
"Do sit down," the healer said to them, nodding to the assistant in thanks.
"We want to know what kind of treatment you offer and how it is done before we can decide if we want it," Hermione told the healer.
He seemed somewhat amused, but still answered professionally. "We have several methods of improving eyesight. They vary in efficiency, and as you may guess – in price as well."
"Price is of no issue here," Hermione told him, "We're only interested in the best."
The healer seemed to doubt her, but continued nevertheless. "We always start with a thorough test of the eyes. Depending on what we find, there are a few options for treatment. One is similar to the muggle Laser Operations, changing the eye's lens to fit the cavity. This is an easy process, only taking about an hour and needing no special preparations. Once done, the patient is guaranteed to see well for a decade, at least. However, this is not appropriate for youngsters, since their bodies, including their eyes, are still changing, making it impossible to adjust the lenses correctly."
"So why bother with that?" Hermione asked.
"This treatment is the base line to which we compare the others," he explained patiently. "Then there's the eye-cavity treatment. As you may know, the eye works like a camera, so that if you move the sensor back, one can only see clearly what's very close, This deformation of the eye-cavity is the most common cause for children to need glasses. They just can't focus on the elongated eye-cavity. We can treat it with a combination of spells and potions which bring it back to the right proportions and keep it that way. It works very well with adults, adolescents and school children. It keeps the shape of the cavity for young people until their bodies stabilize into adulthood, yet for it to succeed, the patient must continue taking a potion regularly until reaching full physical adulthood."
"How often must that potion be taken?"
"We have several options here as well. The simplest must be taken daily. A different one needs only be taken once a week. Then we have our newest version which comes also as a sticker, taken or applied only once a month and releasing its effect gradually. This is, as you may expect, the most expensive."
They both nodded understandingly. "Are there other options?" Hermione asked.
"There's the eye-muscle treatment. It addresses the same problem from a different angle. Instead of changing the cavity it enhances the eye muscles, allowing them to focus the lens over a larger range of distances. It is most suited to cases of light aberrations of sight, as severe cases could not benefit much from such treatment. It also requires some preparation: the patient must take a potion for several days before the treatment to assure its success."
"For how long?" she asked.
"That depends on the results of the preliminary examinations, but it's for a week at most."
"Anything else?"
"We also offer a combination of cavity and muscles treatments but only when we find it beneficial. This is also the most expensive treatment, as you may guess."
"How long does the preliminary examination take?"
"Less than an hour, but it isn't free. One must pay for it even if we find one's eyes untreatable by our methods."
"May I consult with my parents? They're in the muggle section."
The healer smiled, waving his hand towards the entrance.
Once Hermione left, he addressed Harry. "It's really none of my business, but don't you have your own say in this?"
Harry smiled understandingly. "She cares for me more than I do and she has always been the smart one. I trust her completely."
"But why should she consult with her parents about you?"
"Well, they're also my guardians, so..."
Hermione was already back. "Let's do the preliminary step and then we shall see."
"And your parents?" the healer asked.
"They went to that antique bookshop across the street. That would keep them busy for hours."
The healer grabbed a few printed forms from his desk and passed them to Harry. "Please fill all the relevant information. It's especially important to give as many details about previous medical treatments and any potions taken for medical or other purposes."
Harry started filling the forms, giving as many details as he could remember, with Hermione drawing his attention to several points he seemed to have missed. A few minutes later he gave the forms to the healer who started scanning them.
"Are you related in any way to that famous British wizard?" the healer asked.
"Very closely."
The healer lifted his eyes and actually looked at Harry's face for the first time. Harry moved his hair a bit, revealing the famous lightning shaped scar.
"I'm really sorry for not recognizing you immediately, Sir," he apologized.
"No need to apologize. I could have told you my name immediately had I wanted to," Harry replied.
It took the healer another moment to calm down as he continued checking the forms, noticing the multiple medical treatments. He stopped once again when he found "Basilisk venom" and "Phoenix tears" mentioned.
"Can you elaborate about these?" he asked, pointing at the relevant lines.
"Well, I encountered a Basilisk. The Phoenix blinded it, but it could still bite and it did. The venom started acting, but then the phoenix noticed and came to my help, crying over my wound and healing it."
"And the Basilisk?"
"I killed it with a sword when it bit me."
The admiration in the healer's eyes was extremely evident, yet he continued acting professionally.
"Let's start checking your eyes," he said, leading Harry to another chair. "Now, put your glasses aside and let's check your eyesight."
This was a normal, muggle-style, eyesight checking, proving that Harry could hardly see anything without glasses. Several more check of the same kind followed, giving an exact picture of his current eye problems. This was followed by some magical examinations, using various spells and several other instruments. About forty minutes later, the healer seemed content with the information gathered. He fed everything to a computer sitting near his desk and then turned the screen to let Harry and Hermione see it as well.
"I don't think it's news to you that you see practically nothing without your glasses. This is probably due to some severe damage done to you in your early childhood, forcing your eye-cavities to elongate. I can only assume that your head was pressed somehow." The computer display was showing diagrams of his eyes with the cavities highlighted, showing them clearly deformed.
"Then, there's also some weakening of the eye muscles, probably caused by trying to see clearly before having been fitted with eyeglasses. This is not severe, but I would recommend treating it as well." The display was now highlighting the muscles, although Harry could see nothing wrong with them.
"So, you recommend the combined treatment," Harry summed it up.
"Yes, that's what I recommend, yet it is extremely expensive, especially considering the amount of damage we need to repair. You may need to consult with your guardians."
"How much?"
The healer consulted the computer once again. "Two thousands and seven hundred fifty galleons, not including the thirty five galleons for the preliminary examinations."
Harry took a Gringotts card from his pocket. "Do you accept this card or would you rather I bring the sum in gold?"
This was the platinum card, given by Gringotts to only a handful of the highest profile clients. Normal clients could only get bronze cards; Richer ones got silver cards and the elite was eligible for a gold card. This was the first time the healer even set eyes on such a card. He scanned it carefully, noticing the name in-scripted on the card: "Lord Harry James Potter". The place where maximum expense allowed should be written was left blank. He could sense the magic emanating from the card, identifying it as genuine.
"This card is perfectly acceptable," he said, still a bit overwhelmed.
Hermione left them again to fetch her parents, as they wanted to make sure the eye treatment would not interfere with their plans. Although Harry could hear her talk with her parents through the bond, he didn't think it was wise to make this fact public, even though the healer seemed trustworthy.
Consulting with the healer, they set the date and left with the appropriate potions and instructions for getting ready for the treatment.
Celebrating Uncle Kevin's birthday was fun and visiting anywhere with Hermione was just as much fun for Harry. He enjoyed the museums, be they art or science, as he was always watching the nicest exhibit – his wife. It didn't mean that he was oblivious, though. He liked the space museum best as well as the science museum. Only few of the art exhibits made an impression on him, though Hermione liked most of them. In a way, Harry was glad they still had different tastes, showing them to still be two different people. As much as he liked merging physically with his wife, he still liked to be a distinct person.
It was at the last day of their vacation when Harry finally had his eyes treated. He left the hotel with Hermione soon after breakfast and took a taxi to the optician store. The treatment, performed by Healer Cazoli with the aid of three assistants, took almost two hours, at the end of which he could walk out of the store, seeing perfectly with no eye glasses.
Hermione, who was waiting outside, used the time to look through the various models of frames and chose one which looked similar to Harry's old glasses, yet was very modern and extremely resistant. She asked it to be fitted with flat optical glasses, as they agreed. Harry would feel awkward without eye glasses and nobody needed to know that he no longer needed them. An opponent who would spend the time trying to remove his glasses would be at a disadvantage, as even if successful, it would gain him nothing.