บท 92: Optical
A few days after the talk with his mother, James was calmer about the Lupin issue and was flying his Nimbus 1001 in the training room.
He continued with a training routine for both quidditch and offensive and defensive magic. According to his father, he didn't have to worry about the trace charm as long as he was in the practice room. Fleamont explained to him that he had put some special charms on the room to make the tracking useless whenever he used magic there.
When he was done training and studying, he spent time flying and practicing different quidditch moves while chasing the golden snitch. This relaxed him, and he was able to clear his mind a bit.
To add to the difficulty at this moment his father, Fleamont, and his uncle Charlus Potter were acting as beaters and throwing the bludgers at him.
Euphemia reluctantly agreed to this. James had to convince her for many minutes, telling her that it is for practice and in future official matches to avoid accidents, as he will be more versed in dodging bludgers.
Both Charlus and Fleamont were hitting the bludgers without holding back. They knew how competitive quidditch was, so if James wanted to shine he had to train seriously.
James saw the angry bludgers heading straight for him as he swung his broomstick sharply, dodging both bludgers in the nick of time.
'Phew... that was close,' thought James as he continued his run towards the snitch.
Generally, turns are used to dodge one bludger, not two. Dodging two requires greater speed and much more precise calculation, as the bludgers are aimed at different points.
'Dangerous...' thought Euphemia with a frown as she watched James dodge the bludgers. How she was the best healer whenever James practiced she always watched him to heal him as fast as possible if he took a hit or something.
James stretched out his arm and opened his hand. He was about to grab the snitch. However, for some reason, he failed to calculate the distance between his hand and the snitch.
With a surprised look on his face, James didn't let it beat him before the snitch flew away. He pulled out his remaining hand on the broom and grabbed it quickly.
"You're great, James!" said a dark-haired boy as James landed with a slight frown.
"That turn was spectacular. You should learn from him. Oliver," Charlus said with a smile, looking at his son.
"Yes, father! When I get into Hogwarts, I'm going to be the best chaser ever!" said Oliver excitedly.
Oliver Potter was one of James' cousins. He was a couple of years younger than him. He was James' favorite cousin, as they both shared a passion for quidditch, and their uncle Charlus was very close to the family.
"Thanks...'" said James without paying much attention and looking at the snitch in his hand.
"What happened? I thought you were about to catch the snitch with your right hand, but you missed at the last second and had to use your left hand," commented Henry, who as a spectator could notice this detail.
"My eyesight... it's blurrier than before," said James, rubbing his eyes. A few days ago, he started to feel that his eyesight was getting a little worse, but he didn't think much of it.
"Mm, let's do a little test," said Euphemia, approaching her son. After about five minutes, where she conjured up a couple of letters and numbers, they finished the test.
"Looks like we'll have to go buy some glasses..." commented Fleamont in a strange tone.
'So Harry, did he inherit bad eyesight from me...?' thought James with a frown. For a quidditch player, it was no good to have glasses.
There were several disadvantages to wearing glasses in a quidditch match. First, the fragility of the glasses would make them easily break in the middle of hectic match action, especially if you took a hit or fell off your broom.
The second is limited vision. Players need to have wide peripheral vision to anticipate moves and plays.
Third, the glasses could slip or come off during aerial maneuvers. And finally, quidditch matches are played in a variety of weather conditions. Rain or snow could affect vision, creating a disadvantage.
'Not good at all... still, there are magical solutions I can apply to the glasses or too...' thought James.
"Don't worry. There are several charms you can use to keep the glasses from being a hindrance in a match," said Henry, who saw James' concern.
"Should we go to Diagon Alley? There is no magical optics in Godric's Hollow," commented Euphemia.
'Magical optician...?' thought James with a strange look on his face. How Godric's Hollow was a town where many wizards lived, there were stores with Muggle facades, but which sold things from the magical world. However, he never thought there would be a wizard-only optician's shop, mainly because the glasses were the same as the Muggle stores.
As for a wizard learning a muggle profession, it didn't seem entirely strange to him, as Hogwarts had a subject entitled: Muggle Studies.
"First thing tomorrow morning we'll go. What do you say, son?" asked Fleamont, looking at James, who was still silent.
"We can go to the opticians here. It doesn't matter that it's muggle..." replied James. The only difference might be the lens designs. Wizards are more extravagant than muggles. And as for him, he prefers normal circular glasses.
"Oh, we can do that too," nodded Fleamont.
The next day, they went to the optician's shop in Godric's Hollow. It was a small shop, but very neat and clean. In the window, they could see many designs of lenses.
The name of the shop was: Davies Opticians. Mr. Davies, the owner of the store, was also an eye doctor and was the person, who was in charge of performing the eye exam. After a couple of tests that were more professional than his mother's, Mr. Davies determined that James had myopia. Myopia is characterized by clear vision up close, but blurred vision far away.
According to Davies, myopia can worsen over time, and some people may experience a gradual worsening of their myopia. So he advised James and his parents to come in for another exam eight months later to see if their nearsightedness had worsened or stayed the same.
"Mr. Davies," James called.
"Yes, tell me, boy."
"I'm starting on a soccer team next year, and having glasses will be a disadvantage as they may fall off while I'm running or defending. Is there anything that can be done?" asked James, half lying, as he played quidditch.
His parents looked at each other in surprise. They didn't think their son would try to find a muggle solution to the problem, as the most effective thing to do would be to use charms to reinforce the glasses so they wouldn't fall off or something like that.
"Oh, yes. That's a frequent problem. There are two solutions. For one thing, you have the glasses with laces," said Davies, standing up and picking up a pair of glasses with some leather laces.
'How ugly...' thought James. If he wore such glasses with ugly laces, he would be a target of ridicule at Hogwarts.
"I know they are not very aesthetically pleasing," said Davies with a chuckle, "But they are very useful. The laces are adjustable to suit different lengths and are effective in sporting activities so they won't fall off you."
"And the second one?" asked James, who seemed to be waiting for a specific answer. Rather than wearing glasses with cords, it would be more practical to wear charms on his regular glasses.
"Contact lenses," he replied as he went to look for said object.
'Contact lenses?' thought Fleamont and Euphemia confused. They didn't know about this muggle product. James smiled slightly. This was what he was looking for.
Davies placed a small-sized white case made of sturdy plastic. The container had two lids one red and one blue. Mr. Davie opened both and revealed two very small transparent circles floating in a liquid that looked like water.
"What are these?" asked Fleamont with his muggle curiosity awake.
"They're my contact lenses," said Davies as he took off his glasses and took the clear-circular lenses carefully. Looking at himself in a small mirror on the table, he placed the lens on his right eye and then placed the other lens on his left eye.
"I can see perfectly now. Like when I didn't need glasses," said Davies with a slight smile.
"Really!?" asked Fleamont with a surprised face. He didn't know of such a muggle invention. With this, all the problems of a quidditch player were solved.
Davies in ten minutes told them all about contact lenses. It was an invention that had its good years, but it was only in the 1940s that plastic contact lenses were introduced, making them more comfortable and accessible to a wider audience. It didn't seem strange to him that in a remote village like Godric's Hollow, there are still people who don't know about such a majestic invention.
'Muggles are not to be underestimated,' thought Fleamont, who was delighted by such a useful and practical invention.
After talking some more and deciding that James would have contact lenses and normal circular glasses, they left the store. They would have to wait a few days for Davies to fill the prescription and get all the glasses ready.
James left Mr. Davies' store happy. He didn't know exactly when contact lenses had been created, luckily they were advanced by this time.
The contact lenses solved all his problems for quidditch. Even the most difficult one which was about limited vision in terms of field of vision. With the contact lenses, he would have his peripheral vision back.
However, there were some care and disadvantages to be done while wearing contact lenses.
They must be cleaned regularly with a specific product. The main problem was that it had a daily duration. According to Davies the recommendation was to use contact lenses for about 8 hours and have a short lifetime of about three months maximum. Then you have to buy another pair.
James will try to solve these problems with the magic and help of his parents. Trying to make them last all day without any discomfort and have a useful life of more than three months.
Three days later James had his circular glasses with the necessary magnification and three pairs of contact lenses that would last him about 9 months. Each pair of contact lenses was not cheap. However, for the Potters it was nothing.
"Can you see better?" asked Fleamont somewhat skeptically.
"Yes, perfect. It's just like when I have the glasses, but they cover the whole eye," said James with a smile.
"Let's put them to the test," said Fleamont and started flying around the practice room as James chased the snitch and his father threw bludgers at him. Unlike last time, James saw perfectly and managed to catch the snitch after a while with no misses.
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