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Harry loved school Loved it He loved his classes, he loved sport, and he loved that when he went to bed, he did not have to detour to every corner of the building, doing his late-evening check for his father, fingers crossed that he’d passed out before ht journey from the common room to his dormitory, and he loved every uneventful step of the way

But all good things raduated with the rest of his class, including Sebastian Grey, his first cousin and closest friend There was a ceremony, as most of the boys wished to celebrate the occasion, but Harry "forgot" to tell his family about it

"Where is your mother?" his aunt Anna asked him Like Harry’s mother, her voice betrayed no trace of an accent, despite the fact Olga had insisted upon speaking to them only in Russian when they were s wed the second son of an earl This had not caused a rift between the sisters; after all, Sir Lionel was a baronet, which meant that Katarina was the one called "her ladyship" But Anna had the connections and the money, and perhaps more important, she had-until his death two years prior-a husband who rarely indulged in lass of wine at supper

And so when Harrya bit overtired, Anna knew exactly what he meant-that if his mother came, his father would follow And after Sir Lionel’s spectacular display of sturandiosity at Hesslewhite’s convocation of 1807, Harry was loath to invite his father to another school function

Sir Lionel tended to lose his s’s when he drank, and Harry was not certain he could survive another "Thplendid, thplendid thchool" speech, especially as it had been delivered whilst standing on a chair

During a moment of silence

Harry had tried to pull his father down, and he would have been successful had his mother, as seated on Sir Lionel’s other side, aided in the endeavor She, however, was staring straight ahead, as she always did at such ti Which ive his father a lopsided yank, setting him rather off balance Sir Lionel ca his cheek on the back of the chair in front of Harry

This ht have set another ave a stupid smile, called Harry a "thplendid thon," and then spit out a tooth

Harry still had that tooth And he never allowed his father to set foot on the school’s caain Even if it meant he was the only boy without a parent in attendance at the graduation cere hiuests, but Aunt Anna and Sebastian already knew all there was to know about his father-well, most of it Harry hadn’t shared the bit about the 126 tirave;re’s prized saht off its silver core when Sir Lionel had tripped over a chair, done a curiously graceful leap through the air (presumably to catch his balance), then landed on his belly atop the sideboard

Three plates of eggs and a rasher of bacon had also been lost that ht side, the hounds had never been so well fed

Hesslewhite had been chosen because of its proximity to the Valentine hoe, they turned onto the drive and began the last short stretch