Chapter 27 – Harry's Summer I
As he'd promised Hermione, he had taken his end of year tests the second week of June. Surprisingly, he'd been allowed to take all of them; Dumbledore's influence, undoubtedly. He was sure that he'd done well enough. Then, just because he could, he'd taken the last week of school off, mostly, from his courting and enjoyed the company of his friends. He and his grandfather had met all day the Saturday after testing and for two hours each morning that next week but, other than that, he'd been able to revel in his mini-vacation.
That Saturday had been a day of harsh realities. He'd completed all the easy eliminations and the suitors left were the ones who were going to require a greater amount of thought and effort. Some of that effort had already been done, however. As each suitor had passed through round three, a very thorough background check had been initiated that included the suitor's family as well as themselves. Saturday had been spent reviewing the results of those investigations.
He'd hated to do it, but the remaining suitors had been separated by personal and familial wealth. He firmly believed, as Hermione had admonished him so long ago, that a person's worth couldn't be based on how many galleons they had to their name. The cold, hard truth, however, was that he had a certain status within Veela society and his mate was going to need to be able to deal with that. A mate raised to wealth was going be comfortable within the circles Harry would soon frequent, whereas one who hadn't most likely would not.
Twenty-two of the remaining thirty-one suitors had been marked as unlikely to be comfortable with the necessary social obligations. He had been prepared to still meet with them, however, because you just never knew. That is, if they were still interested in courting him after they read the letter – properly spelled for secrecy, of course – that had been sent to them that evening detailing what would be socially expected of his mate, though it had left out his exact social status. Four suitors had politely withdrawn.
The same letter had been sent to the nine remaining suitors in the "used to it" pile, but none of those had withdrawn. That pile had, however, been further subdivided into greater and lesser political desirability in regards to an alliance. There were three suitors of little interest, five of acceptable interest, and one of great interest. The contacts that the Malfoy family had all over the world put them far and away above the next nearest set of suitors.
Unless one of the other suitors really stood out for some reason, Harry and his grandfather had figured there were only six truly viable contestants based on social status alone.
Another distinction he'd reluctantly made had been between pureblood and not. He'd eliminated most of the muggle-borns during the dating process. This had been expected, though not intentional. As he'd said in the interviews, he had no interest in living in the muggle world. Most of the muggle-borns he'd dated had wanted to continue living in the muggle world so as to be accessible to their families. He applauded them for their closeness to their families, but had eliminated them nevertheless. The remaining muggle-borns, of which there were six, were marked as likely to fail due to Statute of Secrecy issues. Not being able to talk about what was really going on in his life was not conducive to creating close bonds with extended family members not "in the know" about the wizarding world. Five of those six were also in the "not likely to be comfortable" pile.
An easier evaluation, at least on his conscience, had been the gifts. The final tally had been made of all the positive and negative marks Harry had made on the suitors' files over the last several months. Less than half had come up in the black. Those in the red were marked as "unlikely."
The background checks had also turned up a couple of dodgy pasts, a few intra-family spats of some concern, one mafia connection, one that had died days after the date, and numerous tidbits of fascinating information that would have no bearing on the decision making process.
Overall, there were four suitors likely to be part of the "finals" that were planned to take place in September and October.
The last week of school Harry and his grandfather had met every morning primarily just to chat. It was the only time that he had actually taken advantage of the situation to get some time away from the school that would otherwise have been unauthorized. Still, they did mark down the suitors who had sent confirmations that day for the family meetings that had been scheduled for varying dates the last part of June and the first part of August.
It was now the morning of June 20 and he was flat on his back in the receiving room of his grandfather's estate. He groaned in frustration and didn't bother to get up or even look around until he heard a door open. Merlin, but he hated portkeys.
"Hello, Harry," Robert said as he entered the receiving room, amusement lacing his tone. "You're quite a bit early. How was your morning?"
Harry glared half-heartedly at his grandfather as he accepted help up off the floor. "Weird."
Robert raised his eyebrows. "Oh? How so?"
Harry dusted himself off and straightened his clothes then gave his grandfather a warm hug before leading him off towards the dining room for the wonderful lunch he could smell from here. "It started at breakfast," Harry said. "Nichol came with this box."
"Interesting," Robert replied. "I thought she only came on Mondays."
"Not today," Harry said with a shrug. "The letter that came with this box said that there were additional letters inside the box – one for every day of summer."
"Indeed?" Robert asked in surprise.
Harry nodded. "With a box of chocolates," he added with a happy smile.
"For every day?" Robert asked in disbelief.
"Yeah," Harry said fatuously.
Robert laughed and shook his head. "Well, you'll probably have a couple more full sets of frog cards by the end of summer, then."
"Oh, no," Harry said in surprise. "Didn't I tell you that he had switched to birds?"
"No, you hadn't," said Robert with a shake of his head. "Well, a couple of complete sets of birds, then."
"Except he sent both birds and fish," Harry said. "Maybe I'll get lucky and complete both sets."
"Maybe," Robert said with a smile. "So why so many letters?"
"He's going to tell me more stories. That's after he's revealed himself in the first letter, of course," Harry said with a smirk.
Robert laughed again. "Will you ever tell him that you've known all along?"
"Probably at the family dinner," Harry said with a wicked grin. "From what he's told me about his great-grandmother, I think that she'd enjoy the joke and I'd hate to deprive her."
"How thoughtful of you," Robert said with a chuckle. "So that was the beginning of your weird morning?"
"Yes," Harry said, also chuckling. "It gets better."
"And what was next?" Robert asked curiously.
"Were you aware that Dumbledore got custody of me?" Harry asked pleasantly.
"Pardon?" Robert said in surprise.
"Oh, yes," Harry said with a smirk. "Seems he visited my lovely relatives and they couldn't sign my life away to him fast enough. He did that back a couple of weeks after the wards fell. Then he went and got some pretty papers from the Ministry."
Robert narrowed his eyes and wondered if he should bother to do anything about that.
"He called me to his office and presented them to me and told me that I would be spending all my non-courting time this summer at Hogwarts under his direct supervision," Harry continued, still smirking. "I tell you truthfully, grandfather, I was so hard-pressed not to laugh in his face. He probably thought the reason I didn't say anything was because I was angry, but it was because I could barely hold in my laughter. I think he gave me the papers this morning so that I wouldn't have time to set up a counter of any kind."
"And how did he think he was going to contain you?" Robert asked curiously. "He must know that you have an ICW portkey."
"There's now a portkey ward around the castle," Harry said with a smile. "And, not to forget, a ward keyed to me personally that I can't pass without being in the company of the ward-caster, namely Dumbledore. I'd love to know how he got permission to raise those."
"Maybe he didn't," Robert suggested mildly.
Harry shrugged. "Maybe not."
"And what was he going to do when you left the castle for your courting tasks? A personal anti-portkey ward?"
Harry shrugged again. "Maybe. Or maybe he was going to cast some kind of tether to ensure that I returned? It doesn't mater."
"So how did you get out?" Robert asked curiously, filing away his grandson's comment about a tether. He'd have to find a way to counteract that from happening in the future.
"Oh, no, no, no," Harry said as he shook his head. "We have to get to the next part of my weird day first."
"All right," Robert said agreeably as they finally reached the dining room.
"As I was walking back to Gryffindor tower I was physically accosted by one Luna Lovegood," Harry said as he followed his grandfather into the dining room then took a seat at one of the place settings. One of the servants must have informed the kitchen staff of his early arrival.
"I remember you telling me about her," Robert said as he took his own seat. "The creepy one that you're sure knows more than she really ought."
"That's the one," Harry said cheerfully and rang the small silver bell to start lunch.
"And what did she want?" Robert asked as he leaned back to allow one of the servants to place a filled plate in front of him.
Harry had an odd look on his face as he responded. "Well, at first I didn't understand. She just said that she had to make sure I was prepared to visit the havens of the glitterpuffs."
"Glitterpuffs?" Robert questioned in bemusement.
Harry nodded then narrowed his eyes in annoyance. "Then she said something else. She stopped me for several minutes in a deserted hallway – not even any portraits – and said that I had to be still so that she could take off all the glitter-absorbing spells that were on me. So I stood there, staring at her, as she stood there staring at me. Then she pronounced me ready to meet the glitterpuffs, escorted me to Myrtle's bathroom and told me that I should leave right away or else I might miss lunch. I'm pretty sure she was really talking about tracking spells."
Robert chewed a buttered green bean thoughtfully and eventually nodded his agreement. He rang the silver bell and asked the quickly attending servant to please send up one of the guards. "We should have you checked for any remaining spells. I should have done that when you came last Christmas. I'm surprised they didn't track you then."
Harry grimaced. "Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if that was half the reason she was smiling and staring at me the whole trip on the Express."
"I wonder what was placed on you and how she removed them," Robert mused. "Tracking spells and their removal is an auror level skill. Most people never learn how to do either."
"I don't even want to think about it," Harry said with a scowl. "Luna would probably tell me that the glitterpuffs taught her."
Robert chuckled but didn't disagree. A guard entered a moment later and Robert requested a thorough check. After nothing was found, the guard was dismissed and the both of them went back to eating their lunch.
"So, you're at the bathroom...?" Robert asked leadingly.
Harry nodded and swallowed his bite. "Exactly. Myrtle's bathroom and the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets. I was planning on using the secret passage to Honeyduke's but...well, I figured there was a reason Luna had taken me to the bathroom instead."
"Perhaps the headmaster had already taken into consideration your knowledge of secret passages," Robert suggested.
"But a ward won't pass underground," Harry protested. "You think he may have had them guarded?"
"Or simply warded them separately," Robert said.
Harry frowned. "I hadn't thought of that. Well, it doesn't matter. I opened the sink and jumped down the tunnel. And guess what I found?"
"Not another basilisk, I hope," Robert said dryly.
Harry snorted in amusement. "No. The place was completely, totally, absolutely, utterly clean. It was unnerving."
"Your house-elf friend?" Robert asked curiously.
"That's my presumption," Harry said with a shrug. "I didn't call for him to ask. The place was creepy before but it was actually worse clean. I just activated the portkey and got out of there. I want nothing to do with that place."
"Well, I agree, a weird morning," Robert said.
Harry nodded. "At least I got here a little earlier. Now I get to spend more time with you before starting the meetings tomorrow."
"Are you ready for them?" Robert asked.
"Yes," Harry said confidently. "I know that all the ones I'm seeing before summer school are most of the unlikelies. I'm just looking for anyone exceptional. It should be easy."
"It was considerate of Draco to give you two months warning about the session he arranged for you," Robert said. "If he'd waited until just before the start of summer, we would probably have had to rearrange some meetings. If you had decided to go, that is, with such short notice."
"Oh, I would have," Harry said, nodding earnestly. "There's no way I would miss this. An entire month of comparative ancient magics, including Egyptian? I guess it makes sense that there would be a school about ancient magics, but I just never really thought about it. I wonder if Bill Weasley went there when he was studying to be a curse-breaker."
"Perhaps," Robert said, knowing nothing about that particular career.
"And then a week's vacation to deal with stage three before tackling the rest," Harry said then sighed. "That's when it's going to get difficult. I'm probably going to want to pounce the first one I see."
"I will be with you and will make sure that does not happen," Robert said reassuringly.
"I know," Harry said with a grateful smile.
"Let us talk of more pleasant things as we finish eating," Robert said. "Giselle had her baby."
Harry brightened and asked eagerly, "Boy or girl?"
"A little girl," Robert said with a smile. "She's most beautiful, of course, but she squalls awfully."
Harry laughed and they spent the remainder of lunch talking about the new baby.
-June 22-
"Oh, I'm just so happy to meet you!" Mrs. Archer gushed excitedly. "My Eric has been telling me all about you and about you being a Veela! A whole different species! Why, it's fascinating!"
"Mother!" Eric cried in dismay.
"Pish-posh, Eric!" Mrs. Archer said as she grasped a bemused Harry's arm and led him into the family room where, coincidentally, there was quite a bit of family. "Eric was telling us about how you need extra sugar during this time so I made sure to make plenty of sweets that growing boys always like!"
"Mother, please," Eric practically whimpered.
"Now you just sit here and have some brownies to tide you over to dinner," Mrs. Archer continued blithely as she pushed Harry down onto one of the sofas. "We're having turkey tonight. I know it's not Thanksgiving, but this is a special occasion. And we've all the fixings, too. I've told my babies not to eat all the sweets. I sure hope there's enough." The woman looked worriedly at the coffee table before bustling off murmuring about starting another batch of cookies.
Harry stared blankly at the several foot-tall mounds of sweets on the coffee table. Eric – his suitor of the evening – was standing by one of the reclining chairs with a hand over his eyes and looking dejected. The woman next to him – she looked to be a sister – picked up a napkin, placed one of the brownies on it, and held it out to him.
"Hi. My name's Annie. I'm Eric's younger sister. Brownie?" the young woman said with a grin.
Harry stared at her a moment then started to grin as well. "Thank you," he said as he took the napkin and started laughing.
A muggle Molly Weasley. Who'd have guessed?
-June 24-
"...and Mitch and I have two children," Michelle – sister-in-law of his morning's suitor, Ian Cadwgan – said proudly. "Would you like to see pictures?"
"I'd love to," Harry said. After he'd obligingly praised the pictures, which actually were adorable, he asked, "Where are your children today?"
"Oh, we left them with a sitter," Michelle said as she put away her pictures. "We didn't want them getting underfoot as we tried to get to know you."
Harry made appropriately understanding noises but internally was rather aggravated. He had asked for a family meeting, had he not? He wasn't interested in tying himself to a family that didn't consider their children a part of that family.
This was the fourth family in as many days that hadn't included their children. They'd all had their reasons, of course, but he didn't care. All four had been mentally eliminated before the "date" was even half over.
-June 27-
Harry caught only a glimpse of the floor he had sprawled upon from the portkey landing before he was assaulted by a sense of ambient hostility so great that he became nauseous then passed out.
He was unconscious as he was whisked away by one of the guards.
He was unconscious as Robert tersely informed the waiting suitor that he had been eliminated.
He was, in fact, unconscious for over two hours as he recovered from the attack. They found out the next day when a written apology arrived that the family ghost was quite prejudiced against non-humans and had been the one to perpetrate the attack.
Nice of them to have taken that into consideration for his visit.
-June 29-
Harry looked at his grandfather once they'd arrived back home from his last date. "Boring?"
"Boring," Robert agreed with a nod.
"Except Tommy-T," Harry said. "He was kind of interesting."
"He's a convicted criminal," Robert said blandly.
Harry nodded. "True," he said, "but he was still interesting. I learned more about guns and knives in that fifteen-minute conversation that I'd ever learned in the rest of my life put together. And he liked me."
"He's not your suitor," Robert said with a scowl.
"Nope," Harry agreed cheerfully. "One more down. That's left a whopping two suitors out of the eighteen I've visited so far. Only eight more to visit once I get back from summer school! Moving right along!"
"I'm glad to see you're so cheerful," Robert said sourly.
"Just because Tim and Tommy – or was that Tom and Timmy? – wouldn't leave you alone doesn't mean you should be such a curmudgeon," Harry said in reference to the two large dogs that had taken a weird instant liking to his grandfather. "Besides, I start summer school tomorrow. How can I be anything but cheerful?"
"Don't try to escape your guards," Robert admonished sternly. He'd agreed for Harry to attend the summer intensive only if he took the guards with him. The school had already been informed and had been more than accommodating.
"No, grandfather. I promise to be good," Harry said childishly then started laughing in delight. He was free from this mess for the next five weeks.
Robert shook his head in exasperation but couldn't help smiling at his grandson's infectious good mood.
-July 27-
"Raoul, my friend, I need an immediate favor," Robert said urgently as he ushered his grandson into the jeweler's private workshop. He'd long had the password to Raoul's workshop, but never had he used it without prior invitation.
Raoul looked up in surprise at his unannounced visitors. "Robert?" he said in surprise. "But of course. Whatever you need."
"I need the clasp of a bracelet fixed as quickly as you can," Robert said seriously as he held Harry close.
Raoul glanced curiously at the cloaked, shaking figure that his friend was holding so protectively then turned his attention back to the matter at hand. "And where is this bracelet?"
Robert surrounded Harry's left fist with his own left hand and slowly cajoled his grandson to open his hand. "Here it is," Robert said. "Please be as quick as you can."
Raoul looked at the bracelet and its charm, then at the shaking figure, then at Robert, and turned to pick up a pair of wire-cutters before approaching. "Hold still just a moment, lad," he said gently. He carefully worked the cutters around the ring that held the charm to the bracelet and snipped. He moved the cutter a little further along the ring and made another snip. He then carefully twisted the ring so the charm fell free then picked up the bracelet from the shaking hand. "You're welcome," he said in response to the quietly stuttered thank you.
"Feel free to take a seat," Raoul said and waved absently towards the furniture on one side of the room as he took a better look at the bracelet he held. "This will take me a little while. Platinum, you know, and matching the style. You want tea?"
"No, thank you, Raoul," Robert said with a relieved sigh. "Thank you for doing this."
Raoul waved off his friend's words and fired up his jeweler's magi-forge and set it to "platinum." He then unlocked his platinum drawer and pulled out a small rectangle that would be sufficient to fashion a new clasp. "Grandson?" he asked curiously.
"You know, there's a downside to not having stupid friends," Robert said wryly as he settled Harry onto the fluffy couch.
Raoul smiled as he used a set of tongs to place the bouillon inside the forge to start melting and started studying the broken clasp so he might recreate it. "You know I won't say anything if you do not wish it," he said.
"I know," Robert said as he took a seat next to Harry and pulled his grandson in close to his side. Harry turned slightly and grasped Robert's robes with both hands and hid his face.
"How did it break?" Raoul asked curiously. "This is a heavy duty clasp."
"He was walking along a beach boardwalk with some new friends this morning and tripped. The bracelet caught on one of the wire display racks and was ripped from him and fell down into a grating. It took nearly an hour to retrieve." Robert sighed as he cuddled Harry close. Harry had had a wonderful time at the summer intensive; the daily letters he had received full of exuberance held testament to that. To have the very last outing before returning home end in such a horrible way... Robert hoped that it didn't affect his grandson's fascination with Egyptian magic.
"Muggle area, then?" Raoul asked.
"Yes," Robert said. "At least it wasn't raining. The current might have caused it to be irretrievable."
"Yes, a good thing," Raoul said absently. "He's chosen, then?"
Robert paused to comfort Harry as his grandson whimpered. "Hush. It's all right," he said quietly. "Not intentionally," he told Raoul. "This reaction is...unexpected."
Raoul glanced up at the pair on his couch then returned his attention to his work. "How so?"
Robert sighed and hushed Harry's soft, nearly sobbing, partly hysterical, apologies. "He received the bracelet in October..."
-July 31-
Harry lay against his grandfather, totally exhausted. Entry into stage three of Désespoir had been...unpleasant. The convulsions had been as bad as he'd expected and he currently felt as if he'd never move again. Nevertheless, he figured that, overall, the day would probably go better than stage two's entry day. There weren't any dates scheduled, he was away from annoying Hogwarts students and teachers, he was isolated from the world at large, and he had his grandfather here to coddle him all day.
"Would you like to eat?" Robert asked softly.
Harry grunted/groaned a response.
"I think I'll interpret that as a yes," Robert said with a combination of worry and mild amusement. He carefully pulled himself and his grandson up to a sitting position in the bed. One of the attending servants helpfully resituated the pillows. When Robert and Harry were comfortable once more, the servant adjusted the blankets covering the two men, careful not to touch Harry.
A second servant approached with a large covered cup that had a straw coming out of it. Robert accepted the cup and gently urged his grandson to sip the high-calorie drink. An hour later the drink was finally gone and Harry had been motivated to drag himself out of the bed and take care of his very pressing needs. Blasted liquids. He'd liked laying there against his grandfather in his nice warm bed.
When he was done with his necessities, Harry returned to his bedroom and was utterly relieved to see his grandfather still in bed and holding out his arms. Harry gratefully climbed back in bed and snuggled up to his grandfather. He was only peripherally aware of one of the servants covering him with the blankets as he fell into a light doze. It was another couple of hours before he woke again, once more due to his bladder, and felt much more able to deal with the world, and a more substantial breakfast.
Harry moaned his appreciation of the strawberry waffles he was consuming. His grandfather's chefs were the best. "Are there more?" he asked as he started cutting the last section of his waffle.
"I'm sure there are," Robert said and signaled one of the servants.
Harry grinned at the attending servant as his now empty plate was replaced with a new one with a fresh waffle drenched in strawberries. He happily consumed half a dozen waffles before contenting himself with hors d'oeuvres and tea. "Well, I feel better, but I'm still tired."
Robert smiled from where he sat next to his grandson in the large bed. He'd tentatively suggested they move to the table but Harry had become slightly frantic at the thought of loss of contact and so they had had breakfast in bed. "We will ensure you have an easy day today," he said. "Would you like to open your presents?"
"Sure!" Harry said, managing to muster up some excitement at the prospect. "Yours first?"
"If you wish," Robert said. "Then your friends?"
Harry nodded. "Then...then Draco's, I guess," he said reluctantly.
"How about everyone else first and then Draco?" Robert suggested. "Save the best for last?"
Harry bit his lip and looked away, shrugging his acquiescence.
Robert sighed. "This situation is not your fault, Harry," he said gently.
Harry huffed a bitter half-laugh. "Sure," he said, unconvinced.
Robert sighed again but didn't pursue the subject.
By lunchtime they had opened and sent out thank you notes for all of the presents. There were, unsurprisingly, presents from every suitor that, supposedly, remained in the running. Harry was only mildly surprised that there were another dozen and a half presents from dismissed suitors. A couple of the presents were from those trying to change his mind, but the others were accompanied by sincere wishes for his health and future. Robert suggested keeping in contact with them and expanding his circle of friends and acquaintances. Harry had smiled slightly and nodded.
There were the expected presents from his friends, too. Both Harry and Robert had laughed at the school planner Hermione had sent, along with her admonition that he should do his best to catch up on what he'd missed. Some of his other classmates had also sent presents. The most shocking of these was Colin Creevey.
Harry had been rather scared to open the present, even though the guards said it was harmless. He had eventually opened the gift and found another photo album, a large one. He and his grandfather had looked through the pictures in both horror and amazement. The pictures showed just how scrawny and pathetic he had still looked in second year – it angered them both that no one in authority had done anything about his obviously malnourished and neglected state. The pictures also proved just how well his grandfather had taken care of him – the difference between the end of fourth year and the beginning of fifth was obvious. Harry found the album creepy and promptly gave it to his grandfather since the man expressed an interest. He was glad Colin was getting some professional help in dealing with his stalker tendencies, but he couldn't help but feel that sending the pictures to the "victims" wasn't necessarily the best idea.
The last present he opened was from Draco. Harry and Robert had smiled at the box of toys Draco had sent – he'd written that it was both an opportunity to explore what Harry might have missed as a wizard child and useful for a spot of fun during his convalescence from entering stage three. Let it not be said that Draco wasn't right. Harry and Robert spent the afternoon playing various children's board and card games then spent the evening putting together a dragon puzzle, one that moved once it was completed.
All in all, the day had gone well and Robert had managed, mostly, to keep Harry's mind off October's mistake.
-August 4-
"This is an outrage!" the portly father of his suitor yelled. "How dare you accuse my wife of trying to poison you?"
Harry idly noted the horrified expression on his suitor's face. He'd bet anything that Gustav hadn't been involved in any way with the scheme to dose him with a binding potion through the soup. Nevertheless, this meant one more suitor down. Too bad, really. Gustav had been one of the most likely four. Not that that mattered now, but still...
"This is an outrage!" the man yelled again.
Harry stood and said chillingly, "You're right. It is." He activated his portkey then and left his grandfather to deal with the situation.
-August 7-
"Carlos?" Harry said.
Carlos sighed and said sadly, "I know. I knew as soon as you requested a family meeting that I would be eliminated. If I'm truly honest, I will admit that I've suspected for a long time that I would never win your hand because of the attitudes of several of my family members."
"You're a good man, Carlos," Harry said as he put a hand on the man's arm. "I'm sorry this won't work out. I wish you the best in finding someone to share your life."
"Thank you," Carlos said with a sad smile. "It is I who should apologize, however, for exposing you to their vitriol needlessly. I can be a selfish man at times and I wanted to see you one last time." He pressed a card into Harry's hand. "I would be honored if we could still keep in touch."
"I'd like that," Harry said sincerely. A minute later he was whirling his way back home, three hours early.
-August 9-
"Harry, please eat," Robert said softly.
Harry looked up at his grandfather and saw the man's worry clearly written in every line on his face. Harry looked back down at the mangled remains of his crepes and nodded. "I'm sorry," he whispered. "May I have some bacon and eggs?" He kept his eyes down as the plate was taken from him less than half a minute later.
"I'm proud of you, Harry," Robert said. "You've made it all the way through round four."
"Except for one," Harry said softly and covered his eyes with his hands and leaned his elbows on the table.
"Except for one," Robert conceded.
"I can't believe I screwed it all up so badly," Harry said plaintively. "I'm so sorry. I thought I was being so careful." Merlin, he wanted to just cry and cry. He'd barely managed to keep it together during the dates the last few days. Third stage Désespoir was really hitting him hard. Of course, the knowledge of his mistake wasn't helping his stress levels any.
"Hush, Harry. It's not your fault," Robert said for probably the hundredth time.
"Of course it's my fault," Harry denied. "I'm the one who put on the bracelet. I'm the one that became dependent on it without even knowing. I'm..."
"Yes, Harry," Robert interrupted sternly. "Without even knowing. You didn't know. I didn't know. Nobody knew. It's not your fault."
Harry shook his head but didn't reply.
"As I said, I'm proud of you for finishing round four," Robert said. "And it's earlier than we thought you would be finished and with much fewer people. This is a good thing, Harry. You only have four suitors left."
Harry laughed a bit hysterically. "What does it matter? The choice is already made. There wasn't any point in going on those dates this past week. There wasn't any point in going on any dates this whole year!"
"Harry!" Robert called sharply to derail another hysterical rant by his grandson. "If for no other reason, those dates were necessary for public appearances."
Harry choked off another hysterical laugh. "And what are we going to do about public appearances now?"
"We will tell the last three that you simply felt more comfortable with the fourth suitor and leave it at that," Robert said. "There is no need for anyone but a chosen few to know the full truth."
"That's not even a partial truth!" Harry protested, becoming even more agitated.
"It's completely true," Robert said sternly. "It's not the complete truth, but it is completely true. You made nearly all your eliminations fairly. It is only these last three that could possibly claim unfair bias. Take comfort in that."
Harry moved his hands to the top of his head and pulled on his hair. "Are you sure?" he asked desperately. "Are you sure that all those eliminations were my doing? The bracelet..."
"Did not affect your mind in that way," Robert said sternly. "Do you doubt Healer Monroe?"
"I...no," Harry said miserably.
"Then be glad that you did not know the extent of your dependence upon the charm until just recently," Robert said. "You eliminated everyone fairly. And it is not your fault that this has happened."
"I should've known," Harry said, pulling his hair a little harder. "Stuff like this always happens to me and..."
"Harry!" Robert said sharply then sighed in relief when a servant arrived with the requested bacon and eggs. "Eat your breakfast, Harry," he said softly.
And because he didn't know what else to do, Harry did.