บท 291: The Wild Rose's Thorns

As a person who was half a Wood Nymph, Daphne was just as likely as Hagrid to catch Lycanthropy after being bitten by a Werewolf. But as one can imagine, she wasn't eager to test the theory— and really, in general, nobody would want to have bites taken out of them, if they could help it.

"I hope you choke on me," Daphne spat, but Greyback only opened his jaw wider, his longer canines gleaming, before leaning in for a taste.

But all he got was a mouthful of Daphne's vine-like hair; she could move her hair at will, so she simply stuffed as much of it as she could down his throat. Confused, he tried to bite down harder, but all he got for his efforts was a taste of Daphne's defensive mechanisms— her hair was lined with tiny needle-like spikes, which had just injected their poisonous contents into his tongue and the mucous membranes of his mouth.

Greyback spat out Daphne's hair, clutching at this throat with one hand and at his heart with another, his airways constricting and his heart faltering as a reaction to her poison. His tongue had grown to comical proportions, and his face was beginning to turn purple as he struggled to draw breath. But Daphne wasn't done; she summoned roots and bound the monster tightly to the ground.

She was safe, at least for now; but the fire was still raging. If she wanted to save the rest of the greenhouses, she needed to put out the flames as quickly as possible before they spread to the rest of the property.

As she worked to extinguish the fires, Daphne couldn't help but think about what Greyback had let slip: he had been hired by the Malfoy family to destroy their greenhouses. And now that she thought about it, the Malfoys were probably behind their recent string of misfortunes. Had they also forced their workers to quit their jobs, either by blackmailing or threatening them?

Daphne's heart sank when she thought about how her parents had been invited to discuss business this evening by Lucius Malfoy— something had to have happened to her parents— this attack was clearly premeditated!

The sun was beginning to rise over the horizon; dawn was breaking, but her parents ought to have been back hours ago. Strangely enough, Magical Law Enforcement had yet to even show their faces; the family's farm in Dorset surely wasn't that far out of the way, was it? Surely somebody must have seen something; surely the workers must have called for help...

Daphne was about to head inside to call the Auror's office to have her captives taken in custody when she heard a loud pop; somebody had just Apparated nearby.

"Daphne, thank goodness you're all right!"

It was her mother; Daphne ran to hug her, tears of relief streaming down her face. But when they finally separated, she couldn't help but notice that her father was not at her mother's side. Daphne craned her neck to look at her mother's face; her make-up had run, and her eyes were puffy and reddened.

"Mother, where's Father?" Daphne whispered.

"He'll be all right," Iris Greengrass sniffed. "He… he has some business to attend to, so he won't be coming back for a while… But what about you? Have those creatures left yet? Are you okay?"

Daphne looked at her mother's face; she didn't seem to be lying— her father was probably still alive, but who knew whether he'd stay that way for long.

"I took care of things here while you were gone," Daphne said, pointing to the pile of trussed up bodies behind her. "I defeated the Werewolves— but they said the Malfoys had sent them—"

Iris's face paled as she recognized Fenrir Greyback's face. If half of the stories people told about this beast were true— that he liked to camp out near his victims as the full moon approached— that he had a preference for children's flesh…

"Daphne, I need you to listen very carefully," Iris said, grabbing her daughter by the shoulders. "I need you to remove the roots binding those… things. We have to let them go. When you're done, immediately run inside the house and hide."

Daphne looked at her mother in dismay; but she wasn't an idiot, she had already guessed that her mother had reached some kind of agreement with the Malfoy family… or perhaps even with the Dark Lord himself. The Greengrass family had chosen to bend the knee, and to bow down before the threats.

"Fine," said Daphne tersely. "But I'm not leaving you alone with them."

With a thought, the roots retreated back underground, freeing the Werewolves, who had already woken up at this point.

"I have spoken with Lucius," Iris said loudly, trying her best to suppress the trembling from her voice. "I have agreed to his demands, so you are to leave and return to his side at once, without inflicting any more damage on our properties."

Greyback got to his feet and stalked over to them. Iris grabbed Daphne by the wrist and hid her behind her body, before raising her chin defiantly to look at Greyback, who towered above the both of them.

"After what your child did to us, you expect us to return without claiming our prize?" he growled.

"Go back to your master, like a good dog," Iris spat. "Or would you rather face his wrath? If you touch a single hair on my daughter's head, the deal's off, and that will be on you."

The veins on Greyback's neck bulged; his rage visible to anyone, but he did not dare do anything more than howl in Iris's face. And then, his expression changed.

"You've got lucky this time," he said, flashing a toothy grin, "but the next time I come to pay a visit, I can't guarantee it'll be in human form… ohh, no…"

And with that said, he gathered up his men, and they all Disapparated off somewhere. Mother and daughter blew a collective sigh of relief. It was over; for now.

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Excerpt from the redacted part of Astoria's letter to Daphne:

… first time spraying the Doxys. The Weasley twins stole their bodies and their eggs; I think they're going to use them for one of their prank items.

After that, we started clearing out the rubbish from the cabinets; mostly useless things, but I found a magical music box, much like the one you told me Oleandra had found; but instead of making you dance, this one made you sleepy when it played its music.

We also found a golden locket with a large 'S' written in emeralds. When Ginny saw it, she looked at it strangely, and when she thought nobody was looking, she slipped it into her pocket

And the letter ended here.