The courting

Chapter 12. Periods and tea

Harry POV

I woke up with cramps and was turning in bed.
"That's what girls go through each month?" I asked Neville as he gave me a heating pad.
"Be happy that you aren't bleeding, but absorbing your stuff again." (AN: That's what most animals do) 

"Stop talking Neville and give me the next letter."
I read through it and stuffed the swiss chocolate he sent me in my mouth.
I hated this, I just wanted to curl up and sleep this week, but I had to meet a group of suitors this afternoon, and open letters now. 

I had hoped to talk to all my suitors at the ball, but it wasn't enough time to meet 800 people! So, I had broken them up in groups of 25 and I would meet one group each day for tea.
I wanted them to present their interest in me when others are around and not cowering away or ignore me for the sake of business talk. 

I was able to eliminate quite some people with this method.
Of each group, I eliminated around 8 people, give or take. They were either rude, seemed uninterested, ignored me, some even tried to steal from me! But I couldn't lie, this week some of them were victims of my mood swings and cramping uterus. 

Trippy brought in mine and Neville's lunch and we ate in silence. "Who is on the list today?" I asked after eating my dessert. "We have a group of friends from Ireland, a businessman from London, a shop owner from Wales..." I stopped listening after that. I hated my life at the moment.
Why does my body do this to itself each month?

"What tea do we have in the house?" I asked stopping Neville's rant. "We have black, green, Earl Grey, orange, different fruits, the exotic ones your suitors sent you and we might have chamomile too."
"Good."
Most of the time, the tea didn't matter to me, I would drown so much sugar and honey in it, you couldn't detect the original taste.
But I was trying out the teas of my suitors, then I needed to know how they tasted, and their quality. Sadly, I had to give up my sugar for that. 

Heka had come this week, like always, even when I placed Draco at the end of my meeting list. He hadn't sent me teas, or sugar or a china set, but made his own thing by sending me instructions to the sizing charm he used on my shoes, a set of warm clothes, and self-knit fuzzy socks.
I found it interesting how he couldn't sew, but knit.

"Come on Harry, put on your clothes, we need to go downstairs. They will be here soon." I nodded and crawled out of my heaven made out of pillows and blankets. I opened my cupboard and pulled out a pair of black leggings that wouldn't dig into my poor stomach, and a lavender hoodie.