A few more minutes of silence.
— Do you need a wizard alone? — Henry asks in a hoarse voice.
— If it's two or three, I can break the curse on Astoria, but it's not free, you know.
The two men look at each other strangely, and then Henry speaks in a hoarse tone.
— Mr. Hoshino, you said you'd take more than one woman.... — and he waggled his eyebrow so artistically.
— I see your point. — I chuckled. — I don't mind in principle, I'm a man and we like beautiful women. But there's a nuance. The structure of a family like this calls for an elder wife, three or four, I don't remember exactly, younger wives, and as many concubines as the master wants. In my case, I already have a candidate for the role of the eldest wife, your daughter will be the youngest, and if you offer both daughters, then one of them can only be a concubine, because I will take wives according to the number of gifts.....
— And each of the girls will be the mother of a new branch of the family bound by your blood. I see. — Henry interrupted me, but I don't mind because I'm tired of all this talk.
— One daughter will be a full member of your clan, binding our alliance, and the other will be able to give the Greengrass clan more than one child. It's better because the magic of the family will remain intact and the child will be closer to us. — The woman said quickly with a smile. — When do we sign the betrothal contract, in the spring?
— I think so — I said, smiling mischievously. — We will do it much earlier... — I was stared at in incomprehension for a second, and then the man frowned.
— Mr. Hoshino, the Triwizard Tournament participants are dying. As the head of the family, I would hate to lose such a chance.
— Nevertheless, I'll give it a try. If I succeed, I'll gain prestige and respect that would have taken years to earn.
— It's not worth it.
— It is. The English don't like outsiders, but if I win the tournament for Britain, I'll be one of them.
— Can't I change your mind? — the man asked hopefully, but I shook my head in the negative. — Fine, but for our nerves, you owe us an invitation to the Samhain celebration.
— No problem. Except that I'll be holding it at the edge of the Forbidden Forest near Hogwarts. You'll have to make arrangements with the headmaster.
— That won't be a problem. — Henry smiled in return. — I'm on the Board of Trustees myself, and if I can get a couple or three more representatives to come along, Dumbledore won't be able to refuse us. Would you mind enlarging the party a little?
— You and no more than a dozen guests. — When I see the raised eyebrow in question, I clarify. — It's a matter of magic consumption: the more participants, the more I have to invest. And I don't want to give everything for strangers. It's free.
— And how many tickets are you willing to sell? — asked the woman.
— Ten more, maybe twelve, if the guests are not too cursed.
— Curses are our national problem ... — the head of the family stretched out his arms philosophically.
— In that case, ten. A ticket costs five thousand gold pieces. — Seeing the indignation on the man's face, I grinned and added. — No bargaining. For those who will participate, I'll send the training conditions in a few days.
— It's still expensive... — The man shook his head and I just shrugged. I made over four hundred and fifty thousand in gold doing rituals in France. Some people paid twenty or thirty thousand for a 'high' level purification ritual, but I didn't take the 'high' level myself. This is supposed to be a ritual that the locals should do themselves, but if they have blatantly overlooked their historical heritage, then let them pay. — Well, we'll deal with that later. It's late, and there's still one more thing to take care of, Richard's case. — I just nodded. How many nods were there today? — The thing is, due to circumstances, the Bulstrode family has only one child in this generation, a girl. Richard is interested in the same question we are....
— You don't have to go on. — He waved his hand. — In honor of our alliance and trust, I'll let you in on another secret. The thing is, I can sense magic, so I know that your gifts, Rhodes Greengrass and Bulstrode, are, if not identical, then very similar.
— Yes. — the lord nodded in agreement. — Our gift is the movement of plant life, the Bulstrode gift is the movement of animal life. — The man smiled. — This is in honor of future good relations.
— Now," I continued. — I can only take one girl as a wife with this gift, either your daughter or Milicenta. — I don't know how to do it. — But I have a suggestion that I've been thinking about for some time. I think Mr. Bulstrode would like it better.