POV Henry Greengrass
The man looked at the composition unfolding before him, and frankly, he didn't like it for many reasons. No, he understood what it was for, and he would not allow such a thing, but family first, and that phrase was at the top of many, if not all, of the codes of the pure-blood magical families of Britain. Which is why Henry Greengrass allowed this very place, a beautiful and ancient garden that one of his ancestors had laid out and his mother had spent many years of her life and labor restoring to the state it had remained in until last week.
Centennial oaks, elms, pines, and cedars that had been specially shaped and nurtured, some of the trees brought from far away as adults and transplanted here. The Greengrass family was justifiably proud of this garden, and now Henry, who had often helped his mother tend it, was responsible for the partial destruction of the labors of a respected witch and a beloved mother.
It is not known on what principle the place was chosen, for the Japanese did not use astronomical calculations; he simply took a strange hexagonal tile with distantly familiar symbols and walked for a long time over the whole territory of the manor until he chose this place.
A place where a six-hundred-year-old oak and two-hundred-year-old cedars had once grown. Unfortunately, the trees had died after being transplanted: no matter how hard they tried, the plants could not be saved. But the man did not say a word of complaint to Hoshino, but simply continued to fulfill the Japanese man's requirements regarding the preparation of the future ritual. For this purpose, a perfectly even lawn had been purchased in France, specially prepared by the druids so that the green carpet would take root exactly where it was needed. It was expensive.
But compared to the amount of money spent on the silver and gold needed for the magical necklaces, the recipe for which Hoshino had flatly refused to share, the cost of the grass was ridiculous. After all, the Green Grass family's fortune had been reduced by one-sixth, and that fact was harder to get over than the damage to the garden.
The man shifted his gaze to the massive bronze columns that surrounded the perfectly flat clearing, and six more columns in the center, from which expensive chains hung. The darkness of the night was dispersed by custom carved crystal balls covered in hieroglyphics. The soft silvery light emanating from the spheres caught the attention of everyone who saw them for the first time.
Henry himself was surprised when the spheres began to glow on their own as the sun sank below the horizon and the first stars appeared. It turned out that the orbs were gathering magic for their work, and unlike magical fire, they did not "burn" magic for illumination, but simply let it pass through them at "high speed," causing them to glow. In fact, it is the magic that glows, inexplicably dispersed by orbs that only glow at night.
As a small consolation for these expenses, both chains and orbs will remain at the disposal of the Greengrass family, and if the lamps will always find their place (the secret of applying hieroglyphs, especially ALL the hieroglyphs applied by the guy himself, Sora also left secret), then what to do with the chains, Henry did not know. No, artifact chains that could protect against otherworldly entities, and even hold back ghosts, demons, dementors, were undoubtedly of great value, especially those made of silver and gold alloy, but the Greengrass family had never been involved in anything that would require such protection.
Certainly not planning a rebellion, an open armed confrontation with the current government that might use the Dementors. Normally, the chains could be sold; there would always be buyers for such goods, and they would be waiting in line, too, but Henry had been brought up in the "old" way, and the idea of selling the chains had been discarded immediately. Let them lie in the family treasury, let them never be needed, but if fate decided to test the Greengrass family, they would have something to defend themselves with in the darkest hour.
— Can't you calm down? — His wife took the man's hand in hers, snuggled into his warm side, and looked where Henry was looking.
— I understand what this is about. The effort is justified. — The man replied in a calm tone, not moving.
— But it's a shame about the money, — Suellen added, smiling.
The woman herself came from an old family, so she was familiar with the avarice of the heads of clans, especially since Henry rarely hid business from his wife, and she was aware of the man's attitude toward such expenditures. No, Suellen in no way condemned her husband for being frugal, for she recognized her love of shopping, so she could spend much more than she planned if she did not stop in time. On the other hand, Henry knows how to make beautiful gifts, so it's okay; the wife never took offense when her spouse slowed down the process of depleting funds.
— Not without reason. — The head of the family acknowledged as he watched his daughters, along with Tracy, dust a mixture of chalk, bone and wheat flour, laced with a whole list of herbs and minerals, onto the grass, the diagram of which Sora had handed over beforehand. — I hope it's not all for nothing. — The man sighed heavily. When he was only with his wife, he did not feel the need to suppress his feelings and emotions, as long as they did not harm his beloved.
— I believe in the boy. — the woman replied, not even a hint of doubt in her voice.
— I wish I had a little of your faith... — the man sighed again.
— All will be well... I feel it... — The woman clung to her husband, and so they stood in silence for a good half hour before the Japanese arrived.
Henry was no fool to believe--no, it was wrong to use the word "believe" when generations of wizards before him had known that born witches didn't just "feel," they had a kind of powerful intuition. No, this premonition did not always work when you wanted it to, but if the case was serious and concerned the witch herself or her immediate family, then the premonition became very strong. There have been cases where the witch sensed the impending trouble and left a day or two before the churchmen came for her.
On the other hand, we must not forget that not every witch is able to listen to this natural trait, simply brushing it off and then not even paying attention to these premonitions. Be that as it may, Henry Oliver Greengrass recognized this fact, and when his wife said she felt something, he paid attention.
As he continued to survey the clearing, the man involuntarily shifted his gaze a little to the left, where a small tent had been pitched in the shade of a spreading oak tree, containing something that the upcoming ritual would not be complete without, and Henry was not happy about it. As head of the family, he obviously cared about the prosperity of the Greengrass family and was willing to make the toughest decisions, but that didn't mean he was comfortable with such measures.
A short distance away from the couple, there was a distinctive clapping of hands, and the man glanced over to see someone who had wreaked havoc on many local plans, but in some ways, that havoc had little or no negative consequences for local society. Henry rubbed the thumb of his left hand over the massive ring with a cloudy white stone on his index finger. Hoshino looked around, gazed briefly at the brightly lit clearing, and approached the couple.