By Friday, Harry wasn't sure he'd stopped smiling all week. Stephen had woken him early on Sunday so they could stop at a launderette and wash his previous day's clothes and pack them for his holiday as well. From there, they drove to Windsor Castle, where a governess from the Princes' household met them. A stern-faced man in a dark suit accompanied her and took charge of Harry's suitcase while the governess had him say goodbye to Stephen. After that, she escorted him to a relatively small sitting room, where Princess Di was reading a story to Wills and Harry. The three boys were given a light snack of fruit and yogurt since lunch would be later than usual, and after they all paid a visit to the loo at Di's suggestion, more men in dark suits escorted the group outside to a waiting helicopter. From there, they flew to Heathrow Airport, where they boarded the Royals' private plane to fly to Aberdeen. During the flight, Wills let him know that there would likely be reporters with cameras when they landed. Harry was grateful for the warning as he tried to emulate the Princes' nonchalance as they walked from the plane past the paparazzi to the waiting limo for the drive to Balmoral.
The estate itself was incredible. On the drive, Diana, with comments from Wills and little Harry, told him all about Balmoral and its history. She also explained that she and Prince Charles and the boys stayed at Craigowen Lodge whenever they visited, rather than the castle itself. The Lodge was a seven-bedroom stone house about a mile from the castle, which gave them plenty of distance to have their privacy, while being close enough to drop in for family dinners if the Queen was in residence at the same time they were.
Servants took care of everyone's luggage while they ate lunch. Afterwards, Diana suggested they all change into more casual clothes so they could go for a ride. Wills and little Harry escorted Harry to the room he'd been given for his stay, which was between theirs, and he put on his most comfortable jeans. They spent a couple of hours on horseback, exploring the estate, before Di called a halt, reminding her sons that their guest wasn't used to riding and they didn't want him to be too sore to walk later. She settled in with a book while the boys played tag and hide'n'seek on the grounds of the Lodge. With permission, Harry took several pictures of the Lodge and grounds, and the governess took several of him with the Princes as well as a couple of him presenting his hostess gift to Princess Diana and a few group shots of all of them. Dinner was a casual affair, during which Wills told Harry and little Harry all about the Wetherby School which he attended, and which little Harry would be starting this term. Harry told the boys about his school, and his intention to get better marks this term now that his uncle wasn't there to punish him for making better marks than his cousin.
The next several days were just as enjoyable. Harry and the Princes rode and played with the dogs, explored the stables and kennels, and took picnics into the woods. Escorted by gamekeepers and ghillies, they learned to fish for salmon and trout in the Dee. Harry also accompanied Wills to his first lessons in gun safety and hunting. Under careful supervision, the two boys also shot at clay pigeons with air rifles. Diana admitted she didn't especially care for hunting, but knew that her boys would be expected to at least know the basics in the future, so she didn't forbid it. However, she did say that little Harry was, at not quite five, still too young to participate. To make up for his disappointment in not getting to go with his big brother and their friend, she offered to go fishing with her younger son that day despite her general distaste for such vigourous outdoor activities. Little Harry returned from that excursion giggling madly, as Di had slipped as she tried to net the salmon she'd hooked, and landed on her backside up to her neck in the river while the fish escaped. Appreciating the humour in the situation, she joked that it was a good thing Harry hadn't been there with his borrowed camera that day, or he'd have gotten a photo even more embarrassing than the infamous one taken of her with the sun shining through her skirt to silhouette her legs back when Prince Charles was first courting her.
As Harry and the Princes piled into the gamekeeper's Land Rover for the ride back to the Lodge from their final fishing excursion, Wills expressed similar thoughts to Harry's own. "It's too bad the hols are nearly over, isn't it? I wish you could stay with us all the time."
"Me too," little Harry added.
Harry blushed. "Thank you," he murmured. "I wish I could stay, too. But at least we had this hol, right? And your mother said something about making sure we'd get to see each other over term breaks, too."
"Good," Wills smiled. "I know she didn't make you go to bed at the same time as me and Harry. Did she say anything about when or what we'd be doing?"
"Not yet," Harry shook his head. "She might not know yet herself, after all. I don't know how far ahead she knows her schedule."
"Sometimes far," little Harry put in. "Mummy always has a special dinner with us on our birthdays."
Harry chuckled. "Birthdays are different," he said. "Your birthday is always the same date every year. Term breaks and school holidays are not."
Wills laughed and little Harry pouted. "I didn't know!" he protested.
"It's okay," Harry smiled. "Those are things you learn as you go to school. Wills knows more than you do because he's older, and I know more than Wills because I'm older than he is. And your mum knows more than any of us because she's a grownup."
The Land Rover stopped in front of the Lodge at that point, and the trio of boys tumbled out and headed into their respective rooms to clean up for lunch. Half an hour later, the threesome emerged again, freshly washed, and headed down the hall towards the dining room. As they drew near, Harry slowed his steps instinctively when he heard Princess Di's voice. While it wasn't overly loud, he recognized the anger in her tone due to his years of experience with the Dursleys. A male voice he didn't recognize, but which also sounded clipped with anger to his ears, responded. Wills and Harry brightened and dashed ahead, calling, "Daddy!"
Harry entered the dining room in time to see little Harry launch himself at Prince Charles, who caught him up in a hug and then freed one arm to pull Wills into the embrace as well. Princess Di's expression combined a look of motherly indulgence with a hint of annoyance, but as that annoyance didn't appear to be directed towards him or the boys, he hesitantly stepped into the room and bowed to the Prince of Wales.
Charles set his sons down and gave the third little boy in the room a pleasant smile, although it seemed as if his mind was elsewhere. "So, you're the famous Harry Potter that my boys speak of so often. It's good to meet you at last."
"It's a pleasure meeting you, too, Your Royal Highness," Harry said softly. "Wills and Harry have talked a lot about you, too."
"Good, good. I trust you've been enjoying yourselves this week," Charles said. "Shall we sit and eat? I had to meet with the board of the Prince's Trust charity before I could come up, and it's been far too long since breakfast."
Wills and little Harry immediately tugged their father towards the table and sat to either side of him, while Harry and Di followed behind. The Princess was much quieter than usual, while the two young Princes kept up a steady chatter, telling Prince Charles all about their holiday, and the fun they'd been having with their friend Harry. The dark-haired boy was also quieter than usual, his ingrained wariness of any unfamiliar adult once again manifesting as a slight shyness, although he did respond to direct questions and added a few quiet remarks to the brothers' running commentary.
When the meal was finished, Charles looked apologetically at Harry. "I hope you don't mind if I spend a bit of time with my boys this afternoon," he said. "You understand that with my official duties, I don't get to see them nearly as often as I'd wish."
"Of course I don't mind, Your Highness," Harry said. "I can see they've missed you."
Diana's eyes snapped a bit and her colour was high, but she kept her voice even as she said, "It's no problem at all, Charles. I wanted to speak with Harry this afternoon anyway, so I'm sure he and I will find something to do while you're out with the boys." Her expression warmed as she glanced at the bespectacled child beside her. "I wanted to speak to him about excursions during term breaks and holidays anyway, so we'll do so this afternoon instead of in the morning when we're rushing about getting ready to leave."
"Right, then," Charles nodded, looking slightly awkward. "Harry, Wills, how about you get your boots on and we'll go for a ride? And then we'll see you two back by dinner the latest." He made a rather hasty exit of his own, followed by his sons.
Diana's eyes flashed for a moment, but then she sighed. "Harry, I'm sorry you had to see that. I don't know how much attention you pay to the papers, but there is a grain of truth to reports that Charles and I aren't getting along quite as well as we ought at times. He'd originally told me he'd not be able to make it up here at all this week, but now he's turned up unexpectedly and wants the boys to stay until Sunday instead of going home tomorrow as had been planned. But since you're expected to return home tomorrow, and I have some meetings planned for Sunday, would you be terribly upset if it was just the two of us flying back tomorrow?"
Harry wasn't quite sure he understood everything Princess Diana was telling him, but he wasn't going to upset his hostess by pouting because Wills and little Harry were getting to stay an extra day without him. "Of course not, Your Highness," he told her. "I understand that the plans were made already, and it would mess things up if I don't get back when I'm expected."
Di smiled warmly. "Thank you for being so understanding, Harry. I just wish your aunt would see the treasure she has in you."
He blushed. "I… you're welcome."
She chuckled. "Her Majesty let me in on the secret about your parents," she said. "I trust your tutor has told you by now?" She stood and took his hand, leading him to her private sitting room where they wouldn't be overheard.
"About… about where they went to school and stuff?" Harry asked, trying to make sure she was asking what he thought she might be.
"Yes," Diana nodded. "That they were magic." From his expression, she guessed that he had been told, but told it was something to be kept secret. "The Crown knows about the wizarding world, and when I said I hoped to be able to have you to spend more time with my boys, the Queen told me a few things." She motioned him to a seat, dropping onto the couch in her sitting room. "Among other things, she told me that hold the title of earl in the wizarding world, as well as being rather well-known due to the events of the night your parents died."
Harry nodded. "Stephen said something about that. Since I don't know anything about being an earl, and I looked up what sort of rights and privileges a Royal Ward has, I asked him to ask if that was something I could get help with." He wrinkles his nose. "It sounds silly, put like that. But the books I found that talked about how Royal Wards were raised back when it was common said that most times they were raised in the palace nurseries, or maybe fostered with other high-ranking nobles so they could learn to manage their holdings. That's not something Aunt Petunia can teach me."
Di smiled approvingly. "Very clever of you, to do that research," she said. "That's not quite something we can teach you, as I understand those things are done somewhat differently in the wizarding world. But what I can help teach you is how to handle yourself in public, and especially with the press." She looked at him seriously. "They used to call me 'Shy Di' back when Charles and I first got together, mostly because I had no real idea how to deal with the press, so I simply tried to avoid it, and said as little as possible. Her Majesty tells me you're going to be as much in the public eye in the wizarding world as I am in the normal world. I'll be honest, it's not the most comfortable place to be, and I'm sorry that you'll have to deal with it at such a young age. That's why I want to help you learn something called poise. Basically, it means being able to keep looking calm, even when you really want to scream and throw things."
Harry wrinkled his nose at that information. "Ugh, that doesn't sound at all nice."
"It can be rather unpleasant at times," Di admitted. "But as I've discovered, it's much better to learn to handle yourself in public, than to try to avoid the press and have them swarm you anyway. What I thought to do is to have you come along with Wills and me when we do things such as visiting hospital patients. I thought hospital visits would be the best place to bring you along, at least at first, as the press tends to be slightly more respectful there… not so much of me, but on account of the patients themselves. Wills and I are scheduled to visit the Children's Wing and the AIDS patients at Great Ormond Street Hospital over term break, and we'd be most pleased if you'd join us for that."
Harry smiled. "I'd be happy to go with you," he said. This was the sort of thing he'd been hoping for ever since researching Royal Wards, the opportunity to learn things that Aunt Petunia couldn't or wouldn't teach him. "Did you have anything else planned yet, or is it too soon for you to know your whole schedule?"
Di smiled back warmly. "Well, I'd like to invite you, the young man who is your tutor, and perhaps a third person if there's someone else you'd care to bring, to come with me and Wills to a performance of the Nutcracker at the Royal Opera House when it gets more towards Christmas. The Royal Box holds eight, and one of my ladies-in-waiting will also be coming along, and that will leave the last two seats vacant in case Charles decides to come along after all. If he doesn't, Andrew and Sarah might, or I'll just invite two more of my ladies so as not to waste the space. Charles adores opera, but he isn't that keen on ballet," she elucidated. "But I'm mad for ballet. I trained for it as a girl, but I got too tall. Ballerinas are best off when they're short as well as slim, so there's less of them for their partners to have to lift… well, you'll see during the show."
Harry chuckled. "It sounds like fun. May I invite my godfather? Stephen helped… uh, do you know anything about the war in the wizarding world?"
"I know there was one," Di said, recalling what the Queen had told her and Charles. "Something about a bigoted terrorist sort, who wanted to kill off the wizards who were born to regular people?"
"Yes," Harry nodded. "He's who killed my parents. They'd gone into hiding, you see, and the person who held the secret to their shelter gave it to him. But what I found out thanks to Stephen, is that the person with the secret wasn't the person everyone thought it was. My parents had done a switch, asking my godfather to hold the secret but actually giving it to another of their friends instead. But it backfired for two reasons… one, because the person betrayed them, and two, because in the confusion after the bad guy disappeared, people remembered that my godfather had been asked to hold the secret and they threw him in jail without a trial."
Diana frowned, vaguely recalling something about that in the newspaper the Queen had shown to her and Charles. "I think I saw something about that."
"Sirius should have had custody of me after my parents died, but because he got sent to jail, I got sent to the Dursleys instead," Harry said. "When Stephen took me to the wizarding bank to ask some questions about my parents' estate, that's when we got to see a copy of their will, which specified that they'd given the secret to someone else and not to Sirius. Stephen talked to some other people with influence, and managed to get Sirius his trial a few weeks ago, so he's free now." He tilted his head, thinking for a moment, and then decided to confide the rest. "Stephen and Sirius and I also think that someone else is doing something to try to control me somehow. Like, my parents' will said that I wasn't ever to go to Aunt Petunia no matter what. And we can't help but wonder if someone purposefully forgot to give Sirius a trial back then so that he couldn't interfere with sending me to Aunt Petunia. So since Uncle Vernon is dead now and Aunt Petunia is being a lot nicer to me, the three of us decided we'd be better off if Sirius doesn't try to get custody of me just yet. Not until we can find out exactly what's been going on."
"I see," Diana nodded slowly. "I don't entirely approve, but I do see your point. If someone has been working behind the scenes to control you, it's better if that someone thinks you're still in his control. And I understand that there isn't much contact between the normal world and the wizarding world, so it's easier for you to spend time with your godfather in the normal world, isn't it? By all means, invite him." She made a mental note to question Harry's tutor with regards to the situation, but grinned and added, "Just don't be too terribly surprised if he declines. Plenty of men dislike the ballet."
Harry grinned back. "He'll come, because I'll be there," he assured her. "Although I don't have any clue if he likes ballet or not."
"What does he like?" Di asked curiously.
"Pranks," Harry replied promptly. "And music, he talked a lot about Led Zeppelin and Alice Cooper."
She laughed. "And here I thought there might be different music in the wizarding world."
"There is. But I only heard of one band so far, called the Weird Sisters. Sirius told me he started listening to Muggle music… normal music… because his mum hated it."
Di laughed harder. "Oh, a rebel! And does he also ride a motorcycle?"
Harry giggled. "Actually, yes!"
"I believe I'm looking forward to meeting your godfather, Harry," she smiled. "He sounds like quite a character."
"Sirius is really nice, and he cares for me a lot," he said softly. "I know that when things change and he can get custody of me, I'll finally have a real family of my own."
Diana gently pulled the boy into a hug. "I believe you already do have a family in him, Harry," she said softly. "Just because you don't live together right this moment, doesn't mean he's not your family." Not wanting to give him time to become too sad, she grinned and suggested, "Now, how about I give you a different sort of lesson that you'll need as you get older?"
Harry tilted his head curiously. "What sort of lesson?"
"Dancing," Di smiled. "I can't imagine that the wizarding nobility doesn't have balls and such, so sooner or later, you'll need to be able to dance with girls. The better you are at it, the better the impression you'll make on people… but don't let that thought scare you into thinking you need to be brilliant at it, because you don't. As long as you can lead properly, without treading on your partner's toes, you'll do just fine."
"Okay," Harry replied with a smile. "What do I do?"
"Give me a moment to find some appropriate music," she answered, getting up and moving to a shelf holding a 'boom box' type stereo cassette player and piles of cassette tapes. She pawed through the tapes until she found one with a handwritten label of 'slow dance mix' and popped it into the boom box. Hitting the play button, she tugged Harry to his feet. "Put your right hand on my waist, and hold your left hand out, palm up," she instructed, as the classic opening riff of Aerosmith's Dream On filled the room.
Harry complied, a little awkwardly, trying not to laugh. At a little over 4' tall, he was still somewhat smaller than average for his age. The Princess of Wales was, at 5'10", quite tall for a woman, and his nose was just about in her bosom. "What next?" he asked.
Diana grinned, draping her left hand on his shoulder and placing her right hand in his outstretched left hand. "Now move in time to the beat of the music, just steering me around in a bit of a circle to start," she told him. "And don't look at your feet, or you're more likely to trip yourself up."
He moved, a little hesitantly at first, but relaxed when she smoothly followed his lead and kept her feet out from under his. "Like this?"
"Very good," she praised his efforts. "You might not think so now, but eventually you're likely to do all sorts of silly things to impress the girls. But to let you in on a secret, being willing to dance and being halfway good at it nearly always impresses them."
"Why?" Harry wanted to know.
"Why would you want to impress girls, or why are girls impressed with a boy who dances?" Di asked.
"Both," Harry said simply, as the music changed from Dream On to Poison's Every Rose Has Its Thorn.
She grinned. "Well, sooner or later, most boys start thinking about girls as people they might want to marry someday, and of course, you would want the girl you decide you like to like you back," she explained. "And since most girls enjoy dancing, and plenty of boys dislike dancing, girls nearly always like a boy who is willing to dance, and they'll like him better if he doesn't trip them or mash their toes."
He thought about that for a moment as he steered her around the room, and wrinkled his nose. "Maybe that will make more sense when I'm older. But I'll take your word for it all the same." After a moment, he asked, "Are there different kinds of dances?"
"There are, yes," Diana replied. "Most people nowadays collectively group them as slow dancing… which is what we're doing a simple version of… and fast dancing. Why do you ask?"
He laughed. "Well, if I'm going to use dancing to impress people someday, I should learn all kinds, right?"
She laughed as well. "Fair enough. The simplest version of fast dancing just involves getting out there and moving to the beat of the music. Shall I put some fast songs on?"
"Sure," Harry said. "Are there places to learn the harder versions of dancing?"
"There are, yes," Di said. "If you'd like, I can help you look into what might be available near you in Little Whinging, and if there isn't anything close enough to be convenient, I can see about getting you to one that is farther away." As the song ended, she dropped Harry's hand and took a step back, giving him a small curtsey. "Thank you kindly for the dance, good sir," she said with a chuckle.
Harry took his cue and bowed. "A pleasure, Your Highness," he replied with a laugh of his own.
She stepped over to the boom box and ejected the cassette that they'd been dancing to, returning it to its case and a spot on the shelf. Looking through the other cassettes, she smiled and dropped in one with the handwritten label 'dance favourites'. She hit play and the relentlessly cheerful opening of Adam Ant's Goody Two Shoes blared out. "For this, you just bop around and have fun," she said, suiting her actions to her words. She swayed from side to side, shaking her hips and prancing to the beat.
He watched for a moment before joining in. He felt a bit silly at first, but he had to admit, it was rather fun to just cut loose and move like that. What's more, his experience at observing adults allowed him to see that Princess Di was very much enjoying herself. And Diana was having a lot of fun. It had been ages since she'd been able to go dancing, given Charles' distaste for popular music and the club scene. After she and Harry bounced through Cyndi Lauper's Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, she showed him some of the choreographed steps from the music videos to Michael Jackson's Beat It and You Can't Touch This by MC Hammer, followed by her longtime favourite song Hungry Like the Wolf by Duran Duran. After that, she showed him some of the easiest steps of swing dancing to the Stray Cats' Rock This Town and Elton John's Crocodile Rock. Eventually they both collapsed onto the couch, out of breath and laughing. "That was so much fun!" Harry exclaimed.
Diana beamed. "Good, I'm glad you had fun. Perhaps next time you spend time with us, I'll find a couple of girls about the size of you and Wills so you both can practice with someone who isn't a relative giant. Princess Anne's daughter Zara, perhaps, she's between you and Wills in age, and I'm sure she's got a friend she might invite. I don't know if she's all that keen about dancing, but she knows she'll need to at least be passable at it the same as you and my boys, so I expect she'd be willing to give it a whirl now and again." She moved over to the small bar and took a bottle of water from the mini refrigerator for herself, and offered Harry a coke.
He accepted with a smile of thanks and took a drink. Talking of extended family members reminded him of the mystery with regards to his heritage trace. "May I ask an odd question? It's nothing personal, or to do with you or the Princes," he hastened to add.
She sipped her water and nodded. "All right, go ahead."
"Is it possible for someone to be adopted and not know they're adopted?"
Diana blinked, as that question had certainly come out of left field. "It is possible," she said carefully. "Although I don't imagine it happens often anymore. But forty or fifty years ago, being an adopted child was rather stigmatized, due to the assumption that most children in orphanages were there because either they'd been born to an unwed mother, or they suffered some deformity or defect and had been abandoned for being imperfect. So adoptive parents often let their children believe they were born to them, to keep them from fretting that something was wrong with them. Why do you ask?"
Harry went with a partial-truth answer. "Someone I know was making a family tree, and didn't find the birth records of a close family member at the hospital where they expected to find them. It's not that important, but I'd been thinking about it earlier today, plus I'd asked Stephen last weekend but he didn't know. So I figured I'd ask someone else."
"Keep asking around until you get a definite answer, eh?" Diana chuckled. "Good lad. That sort of inquisitiveness will serve you well in school."
"I hope so. Stephen explained that I shouldn't skive off my work just because I might do better than Dudley… and anyway, it was always Uncle Vernon who punished me for getting better marks," Harry said. "Dudley will probably still try to get me in trouble when I do, but as long as I can keep him from ripping up my homework, I know I can do well this term." He grinned, "Besides, Aunt Petunia doesn't let Dudley bother me when I'm in my room now, and since I don't have to do the housekeeping anymore, I spend a lot of time in my room. I've discovered that learning can be fun!
Di smiled. "Have you now? What sort of things have you been learning this summer?"
Since he didn't have to keep his wizarding studies secret, Harry spent the next couple of hours telling her all about the books he'd gotten on wizarding history, wizarding etiquette, as well as the two Stephen had sent him about potions. He also talked about going to the library to do his research into Royal Wards and the history about them, his lessons in budgeting and related maths with Stephen. He also mentioned the book on meditation techniques and how the exercises in that book helped him keep from losing his temper and accidentally doing something with his magic when Dudley tried to get him into trouble. He also told her about his yoga class and his upcoming tae kwon do class. Diana was a good listener, asking questions and generally being very interested in everything he had to say.
When they joined Charles, Wills, and little Harry for dinner, the two young princes took over the bulk of the conversation, telling their mother and Harry how their father not only took them riding, he let them mount one of his polo ponies and… under strict supervision of course, and without other riders on the field… allowed them to practise shots at the goal with a polo stick. Wills had done this a few times previously, but it was the first time little Harry had been permitted this treat. After the meal, Charles politely offered to pose for a few photos with Harry and his sons. Harry noticed, though, that during the entire meal and afterwards, the Prince of Wales never said a word directly to his wife. It made him slightly uncomfortable; while Charles seemed kind enough if a bit on the formal side, he'd become quite fond of Diana over the holiday and had started to consider her a friend. Witnessing the marital discord between them made him feel as though he was intruding on their privacy.
Charles excused himself to go over some papers and proposals, and Diana gathered the boys to read to them from a book of Andersen's fairy tales. As she kissed her sons good night, she told them that since their father had requested it, they would be staying an extra day along with their governess and returning to London on Sunday, but that as she had some appointments, she would be flying back to London with Harry after breakfast as originally planned. Wills and little Harry were excited enough at the thought of a day with their father that they forgot to be disappointed that their friend couldn't also stay the extra day. After they got settled in their rooms for the night, Harry retired to his room as well, to pack for his return home.