"Is it because of the blood curse?" Jon asked, his expression unchanged.
Diana Greengrass paused. A brief flicker of surprise crossed her face, flashing in her bright eyes and tugging her lips into a faint, bitter smile.
But she recovered quickly—
"Did Professor Dumbledore tell you?" Her expression smoothed back into composure as she rose gracefully to her feet, turning her gaze toward the Phoenix lying at Jon's feet.
"I should have guessed. There are very few phoenixes in this world that wizards can tame... As far as I know, aside from 'Spark,' the phoenix mascot of New Zealand's Quidditch team, the Moutohora Macaws, there is only Professor Albus Dumbledore's pet, 'Fawkes'..."
"...I'm honored to meet you, Fawkes." She gave the Phoenix a solemn nod.
Fawkes lazily lifted her head and flicked her long beak in acknowledgment... then tucked her head back into her not-yet-fully-feathered wing and went on resting.
"Why is Professor Dumbledore's Phoenix with you?" Mrs. Greengrass lifted her head again, her brown eyes warm and deeply curious as they rested on Jon's face.
"It's a long story..." Jon lowered his head, answering evasively.
"Very well... if you'd rather not say." Mrs. Greengrass gave a gentle smile.
But the smile faded in an instant, replaced by a heavy sorrow. Her voice grew low and hoarse. "Since you already know about Astoria's tragic fate, why come here at all?"
"Madam, maybe there's still a chance to change it," Jon said softly.
"Heh..." Mrs. Greengrass forced a slight smile. "Mr. Hart, only now do I see, for the first time, something of a true young man in you... Young people always think they're right about everything—that sadly foolish pride..." ou "...that all-too-pitiful pride... Of course, that isn't a rebuke. We were the same at your age, so I understand your intentions."
"You believe there's truly no hope at all?" Jon asked calmly.
"Yes." Mrs. Greengrass nodded, a despairing smile on her face. "As a mother, how could I not care about my daughter? How could I bear to bury my own child... It's precisely because I know the truth, precisely because this is her destiny, that it feels so cruel..."
"I'm very sorry..."
"This has nothing to do with you... Mr. Hart, let me tell you a story, shall I?"
"I'm all ears."
...
"I once had a younger sister... Alice, Alice Greengrass. A very pretty name." Mrs. Greengrass's voice flowed gently. "She was two years younger than me. Since we were children, our mother doted on her especially, while treating me much more coldly by comparison... For a time, I even resented her."
"Her health was poor. Every year, at the same time, she would fall into a coma and lie in St. Mungo's for two weeks; when she woke, she would be perfectly fine again... Watching the pained expression on Alice's face while she was unconscious, I pitied her and asked my mother what was wrong with her."
"But Mother never told me... Until one year, Alice's coma came several months earlier than usual... During those months, Mother became silent and withdrawn. I often saw her pressing her face into her pillow, crying."
"Then... a few months later, I never saw Alice again. Everything about her vanished from the manor. It was as if I had never had such a sister at all..."
Mrs. Greengrass dabbed at the corners of her eyes, then looked at Jon. "You're a clever young man, Mr. Hart. You must understand why... Astoria's fate is destined to be the same as Alice's. When the curse truly erupts in her, everything about her will also disappear from Greengrass Manor... and I will be the one to make it so."
"There isn't much time left, is there?" Jon asked, his expression growing grave.
Mrs. Greengrass nodded. "At most, she can last until this Christmas... She could have endured longer. I once asked Professor Dumbledore to place a powerful counter-curse on her... If everything had gone smoothly, she might even have lived past thirty... But in recent years, there was an incident..."
Jon lowered his head in shame and bit his lip.
"Don't blame yourself, Mr. Hart... This is her fate." Mrs. Greengrass tried to comfort him. "It is a terrible curse cast upon the Greengrass family. It began centuries ago. Since then, half of all new Greengrass family members have been carriers of the blood curse... Astoria belongs to the unlucky half; Daphne and I are somewhat more fortunate."
"A curse laid on the entire family?" Jon's expression grew even more serious.
Diana Greengrass raised her hand, bit her finger, and let drops of blood fall onto the desk. "Yes. This dreadful curse lurks in the blood of every Greengrass. Even if I don't have to endure its torment myself, it will still torment my children, condemning the Greengrass family to bear it for generations..."
"In the corridor you walked through when you entered the manor, you saw many portraits of our family members... If you look closely, you'll notice that the vast majority of them are women." Mrs. Greengrass gave a bleak smile. "Very few mothers dare to bear sons. You should know what terrible consequences await if a fetus carrying the blood curse is male when he is born."
"Thank you for telling me all of this, Madam..." Jon said earnestly.
"To be honest, you're braver than I imagined. I'm surprised the Sorting Hat didn't put you in Gryffindor," Mrs. Greengrass said, her tone tinged with admiration before it turned bitter again. "When I first told my husband everything about the blood curse, he was so terrified he fled the manor that very night. I've never seen him since."
"So please, go back, Mr. Hart. You're a good child." Mrs. Greengrass rose to her feet and wiped the blood from her fingers. "Let her leave you. Or, if you want to do it yourself when the time comes, I'll agree to it—even though it goes against Greengrass family tradition."
"Mrs. Greengrass... I actually have a way," Jon said, drawing a deep breath.
"What did you say?" Mrs. Greengrass's brows knitted at once, her eyes locking onto Jon.