The-Merry-Yule (II) [Chapter 220]

Daphne Greengrass arrived just outside the Malfoy Manor along with the rest of her family… Even though they weren’t willing guests, all of them were dressed for the occasion since they had a reputation to keep. Moments later, a couple of other people landed beside them. The Greengrasses easily recognized the newest arrivals as Amelia Bones was a pretty well-known figure within Wizarding Britain and Susan Bones was in the same year as Daphne.

“Madam Bones” Cyrus Greengrass curtly greeted the new arrivals as it was expected of him.

“The title won’t be necessary anymore, Lord Greengrass” Amelia replied politely and Cyrus’ eyes grew wide in shock as he realized the meaning behind her words and he wasn’t the only one to reach the said conclusion. Angelica and Daphne also realized what the woman was trying to convey.

“So, Cornelius dismissed you before his untimely demise” Cyrus stated with a nod of his head. He knew very well what sort of man Cornelius really was, so he wasn’t surprised to learn that he wanted Amelia Bones to take the fall for all the mess, but he passed away before he could complete his plan.

“Yes” Amelia deadpanned before she gave the Greengrasses a look over. “I believe we should head in” With that said, Amelia started to head toward the gates of Malfoy Manor with her niece walking beside her. Susan glanced toward Daphne wondering why the Greengrasses were here, but she dwindle for long.

Even though she was right in front of the place, she still couldn’t remember the name of this place no matter how much she tried and it was the same for Cyrus and the rest of his Family. Amelia wondered how Harry managed to accomplish such a task since they could clearly see the manor… Maybe he cast the Fidelius Charm on the whole property instead of casting it on just the manor.

Cyrus grimly nodded his head before he also started to make his way toward the gates of Malfoy Manor with his family in tow. As soon as Amelia and Susan arrived in front of the gates, the gates unlocked with a loud clang and started to open on their own…

“Welcome, I am Norton and I will be guiding you. Please be following Norton” A house elf, dressed in a proper uniform greeted them. The well-uniformed house elf surprised all the guests as they had never seen a house elf wearing a uniform. Though that wasn’t all, the house elf spoke very clearly unlike the other house elves they have seen and the uniform also carried the insignia of the House of Potter.

“You are the Potter Family house elf?” Amelia asked, trying to break the silence after the house elf started to lead them through the manor.

“Yes, Norton been serving the Potter Family for nearly five decades” The house elf answered and Amelia realized that Norton was probably the one who helped Harry learn his heritage and then escape Britain. “Master Hadrain be waiting for you” The house elf stopped and gestured toward the door as he moved to the side.

Amelia raised her brows at the name the house elf used… ‘So, his real name is Hadrian, good to know’ Amelia decided internally. It wasn’t like she could use his name for anything, but it was good to know his real name, but she couldn’t help but wonder why he decided to reveal his real name now… Though for a moment she didn’t think that it was a slip on his part.

The Ministry was done for just because they kept underestimating him when they shouldn’t have, but who could have imagined that a fourteen year old could crush them like insects…

“Thank you” Amelia thanked the house elf before she entered the room with Susan. To be honest, she was starting to feel somewhat nervous, but she was determined to see it through, otherwise, she wouldn’t have accepted the invitation in the first place. The invitation came along with the head of Igor Karkaroff and Harry or Hadrian was quite clear that it was completely up to her to accept the invitation.

“Ms Bones” Harry greeted Amelia with a nod before he turned toward Susan. “Ms Bones” He greeted her too with a similar nod. “Welcome, please have a seat” Harry said as he gestured toward the couch in front of him. Then he glanced behind them. “Lord Greengrass and family, please have a seat” Harry greeted the man with a polite smile on his face as he gestured toward the couch to his right.

“Mr Potter” Amelia greeted back with a nod as she sat down and Susan also followed her auntie’s example before she sat down. Cyrus Greengrass greeted Harry back unhappily before he sat down and the rest of his family didn’t even bother to greet Harry, but Harry didn’t seem to pay it any mind, and their interaction made Amelia realize that the Greengrasses weren’t willing guests.

“Please call me Harry or Hadrian, whatever you prefer and may I call you Amelia? With both of you being Ms Bones, addressing the two of you can become somewhat… confusing” Harry explained.

“Yes, you may call me Amelia and I am surprised that you are finally willing to reveal your true name” Amelia answered back with a smile.

“There is no reason to hide it anymore since my name was already revealed by Dumbledore during the incident a day ago” Harry replied with a polite smile on his face.

Now that he mentioned it, Amelia remembered Dumbledore calling him Hadrian in the memory, but at that time, she didn’t pay it any mind as there were other important things to worry about. “By the way, there is someone else who wanted to meet you, but he wasn’t invited, so I didn’t dare to bring him with us since I wasn’t sure about the protections” Amelia said, making Harry raise his brows in interest.

“It is good that you didn’t bring him or the result would have been quite… unpleasant” Harry revealed with a frown. “So, where is this person?” Harry asked curiously. He already had a pretty good idea about the identity of the person.

“He is waiting outside my family manor” Amelia answered and moments later, Harry opened a portal, leading to the Bones Manor, surprising the Greengrasses and Susan. Harry already knew where the Bones Manor was, so it was pretty easy for him to open the portal. After a few seconds, Saul Croaker stepped through the portal and unlike the other times, he was dressed in his Unspeakable garbs.

“Mr Croaker” Harry greeted the man as the man stepped through the portal and without wasting any time, Harry closed the portal behind him.

“Mr Potter, thank you for letting me join at such short notice” The man replied pleasantly before he sat down beside Amelia.

“Think, nothing of it, Mr Croaker, now before moving on to business, I would like to thank all of you for accepting my invitation” Harry said with a smile.

“It's not like we had a choice” Cyrus Greengrass grumbled and Harry simply stared at him with a frown.

“Then you should have thought about the consequences before you decided to help Lucius Malfoy with his schemes” Harry said with a frown.

“I did it for my daughter!” Cyrus revealed while gritting his teeth.

“And that is the only reason why you are still breathing” Harry answered coldly, making the man and the rest of his family break out in cold sweat. Amelia felt a chill run down her spine at his casual tone and Susan shuddered before she grabbed Amelia’s hand for comfort. “When I came to learn about his scheme, I wanted to kill the both of you as an example, but after learning your reasons, I decided to take it easy on you” Harry explained.

“After all, family is the most important thing to all of us, isn’t it?” Harry asked before he leaned back on the couch with an amused look on his face.

Astoria Greengrass was scared out of her mind right now, but she seemed to relax a bit when Daphne squeezed her hand as support…

“What do you want from me?” Cyrus Greengrass finally asked, sounding completely defeated.

“A life for a life… You decided to sell me out to Lucius Malfoy even though you knew that he would kill me, so your daughter, Daphne will join Lost Garden and swear her loyalty to me. I think it's fitting don’t you think?” Harry offered his demand.

“No! Impossible!” Cyrus denied as he clutched his hands in anger and Harry simply quirked his brows at the man, but before he could say anything, someone else spoke up.

“I will join Lost Garden, but you have to promise that you will leave my family alone” Daphne agreed with Harry’s demand. She was already planning to offer herself and all of her knowledge to Harry to protect her family, so there was no reason to deny his generous offer.

“No, I forbid it!” Cyrus exclaimed in anger, but moments later, he froze in fear when a foreign pressure descended on him.

“You are in no position to deny the olive branch I am offering…” Harry said coldly before the pressure disappeared. Then he turned toward Daphne… “And Ms Greengrass, once again, you are in no position to demand anything from me, but I will leave them alone since they are completely useless to me. The only thing your family has to offer is gold and I don’t have a shortage of gold” Harry slowly explained.

Instead of complaining or looking angry, Daphne simply looked relieved… “Thank you for accepting my request” Daphne said in a grateful tone. Yes, she was a prideful woman, but there was a place for pride and arrogance. If joining Harry was going to keep her family safe then she would happily become his bitch and from what she had seen, Harry was not like the Dark Lord.

Unfortunately, she didn’t have much choice but to accept his demand… What other choice did she have? She couldn’t fight him, so this was probably the best outcome she could have asked for…