Simply and honestly put, we are wary of muggleborns. We do not believe them to be inferior, but we often see a lack of respect for our culture and norms, as well as an unwillingness to change and adapt, and often a lack of creativity with the use of magic itself - but we do not - and would not - discriminate against them in matters of law or ethics, and certainly not in the manner that the Dark Lord attempted. Our neutrality stems from multiple factors, but there are 2 that are the most prominent.
Firstly, the Dark Lord directly attempted to recruit us both at the beginning of his ascension to power. Of course, we politely refused, pretending to go along with his beliefs. Luckily, our parents on both sides held similar views to us. We Greengrasses have always remained influential within Wizengamot and the Ministry, and as such, the Dark Lord respected our wishes in exchange for the occasional minor information and favours within our spheres of influence. The previous heads of House Greengrass granted him small wishes, but oftentimes, politely refused or chose to slightly lie to the Dark Lord (we are all trained in Occlumency). As a result, the Dark Lord began to spend less time pressuring us to join him, and more time on others who were faster to bend, and as his power and influence grew, we shrunk further and further into the shadows. For obvious reasons, we also refused to join Dumbledore and the Order of the Phoenix.
However, towards the end of the war, the previous Heads of House Greengrass suddenly passed away, in seemingly natural circumstances. Their deaths were public and separate - the first a heart attack in the Department of Mysteries, and the second, a pulmonary embolism on a routine visit along a production line at a factory. Unfortunately, we knew better.
An issue that we faced was that both sides of the war distrusted us. As a family with much influence, they both saw us as potential spies or leaks. It is entirely plausible for both sides to have considered us threats, and carried out an attack to destabilise our House.
Even more concerningly, both the Dark Lord and Dumbledore came to pay their respects - however, what they truly wanted was to see if we would fold easier than our successors. As you can tell, we refused.
Unfortunately, to this day we are unable to identify any substantial evidence of foul play, leading us to believe that the attack itself must have come from the top brass of either side - the Dark Lord himself, Snape, Bellatrix Lestrange, Barty Crouch Junior or now, given recent information, Peter Pettigrew - or Dumbledore, Snape again, Mad-Eye Moody, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Sirius Black or James Potter.
The second reason was our family doctrine - since the first victim of the blood curse in our family, House Greengrass has had one focus, and one focus only - all other ventures merely supplement it.
We must find a cure for the blood curse.
To do so, we need funding, influence, resources, connections and intelligence, hence Greengrass Limited, the oldest running company in Britain to date, its factories and laboratories across the world, and our positions in Wizengamot and the Ministry.
Involving ourselves in the war would have put everything we have built for hundreds of years to waste. It would have spat on the sacrifices and deaths of our ancestors, and put our future descendants in jeopardy. Therefore, while we do regret being unable to stay firmly on the right side of history - at least that time - we do not regret the choices we made.
It is also why our family has had a strict policy of only pureblooded - or at the very least half-blooded - marriages. We do not know what effect marrying a muggleborn may have on future descendants, nor do we wish to find out, given the research we have conducted. Therefore, until a cure is found, House Greengrass will not participate in marriages with muggleborns.
Luckily, however, we feel as though we are closer than ever before to finding a cure, due to the efforts of yourself and Daphne.
Regardless, given your help to Daphne and Astoria for the past few years, and your promise to help Astoria for no cost, we would like to repay our debts by helping you navigate the aforementioned challenges and obstacles in society, as well as offering a position with Greengrass Limited as previously mentioned.
Finally, a word of warning. You are an intelligent young man with immense potential, but you are still muggleborn. As you very well know by now, there are enemies at every turn. Luckily, your intelligence and loyalty have won Daphne over, and in turn, her intelligence and loyalty is at your disposal too, meaning the Greengrass family, by extension, is (although informal) allied with you. She has repeatedly assured us that you are rational and level-headed, and do not lack self control unlike many others that share similar ideals to you. We trust that you will not drag her, and us, into any needless confrontation.
Despite that, as her parents, we have a duty to warn you. We Greengrasses are not loyal to many, but for those that we are loyal to, there is close to nothing that we would not do. Beyond loyalty - beyond factors out of your control - if you make a mistake in the name of rage, or anger, or foolishness, we will not hesitate to force Daphne and Astoria to cut you off. We will not hesitate to cut you out of the business. And if Merlin-forbid, anything were to happen to our family for your mistakes, we will seek retribution.
Daphne tells us that you will not take this as a personal insinuation or offence, which we are grateful for. We truly are extremely grateful for your partnership with Daphne over the last few years, and your loyalty to both of our children, and we hope you can understand that despite that, family always comes first.
Please, do not feel our offer of employment is one that you must accept for the sake of your friendship with Daphne - regardless of your response, we remain open to you on a personal level.
We hope to discuss matters further with you at the Quidditch World Cup, where we can meet in person over an enjoyable night of sport and entertainment.
Yours sincerely,
Mr Cyrus Greengrass and Mrs Celia Greengrass
The Noble and Ancient House of Greengrass
Blake exhaled deeply.
That's a lot to unpack.
After thinking deeply for quite some Blake picked out his best piece of scroll and his best quill.
Dear Mr and Mrs Greengrass,
Thank you so much for your letter. Yes, the Muggle formatting of your letter was perfect, and I am sorry that your privacy is being infringed upon.
Firstly, in response to your offer of employment…
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