223- Christmas at Greengrass Manor

"Alright, but are you sure I won't be disturbing you?" Rhys finally agreed to the Greengrass sisters and accepted their invitation.

"Yay!" Daphne and Astoria couldn't help but cheer.

"Of course not! There will definitely be many guests at our house this year. If anything, you should be the one worrying about whether the guests will disturb you." Daphne replied with a playful smile.

Rhys had originally thought that Astoria's phrase "emptying a vault" was an exaggeration. However, the morning after accepting the invitation, an owl mail changed his mind—because the owl brought him a golden invitation.

The invitation was made of gold, with elegant lines of text outlined in silver thread:

"Dear Mr. Rhys Chassala Lint, As the Christmas banquet of this year approaches, I extend my sincerest greetings on behalf of the Greengrass family. We look forward to meeting you at the Greengrass Manor. This invitation serves as the key to the manor—please keep it safe.—Henry Jamison Greengrass"

In the upper left corner of the invitation, a string of numbers was counting down, ticking closer to zero with each passing second. Clearly, this invitation was actually a Portkey.

Once the countdown reached zero, it would transport the invited guests directly to Greengrass Manor.

Seeing this invitation, Rhys realized that Astoria might have actually been understating things.

After dealing with a pile of miscellaneous tasks, the first semester of the school year finally came to an end.

Overnight, the students were ready to depart.

In reality, there wasn't much to prepare. Going home for Christmas was different from going home at the end of the school year—there wasn't nearly as much luggage to pack. Bringing a few textbooks and the homework assigned by the professors was enough.

Some young wizards didn't even bother bringing their homework, choosing instead to perform a miracle on the last night of the Christmas holidays.

Rhys and the Greengrass sisters traveled light, carrying almost no luggage—just a backpack each.

Rhys wasn't sure about Daphne and Astoria, but he had packed everything he needed into a backpack enchanted with an Undetectable Extension Charm.

The three of them boarded the Hogwarts Express for the journey home.

With the sound of the whistle, the train carried a group of young wizards through the vast expanse of white snow, heading toward London.

As the train departed, Rhys caught a glimpse of a flash of red outside the compartment door.

When he pulled the door open, several red-haired heads came into view. The corridor outside was almost completely packed with what could only be described as a "Weasley family bucket"—Percy, Fred, George, Ron, and Ginny. Among the sea of red hair, there was also a hint of black—Harry was on the train too.

"You all are…?" Rhys asked, slightly confused. After a brief inquiry, he learned that the Weasley family had also received an invitation from Mr. Henry Greengrass.

That made perfect sense. While the Weasleys weren't particularly wealthy, they were still a long-standing pureblood family. The Greengrass family, even just out of politeness, would naturally send them an invitation.

As for Harry's presence, that was even less surprising. The Boy Who Lived, the savior of the wizarding world—if he was willing to attend, the Greengrass family would have made sure an invitation reached him as quickly as possible.

Looking at the group of Weasleys crowding the corridor, Rhys had a feeling that this year's Greengrass Christmas banquet was going to be especially lively.

When the train arrived at the station, Rhys had originally planned to stay in Diagon Alley for a while. However, a simple sentence from Astoria completely changed his mind.

"Dad invited a lot of pastry chefs from different countries. We can taste their creations in advance and help decide which desserts should have more prominence at the banquet."

Rhys immediately changed his plans.

He wanted to experience desserts from all over the world, to see how centuries of history had influenced global cuisine. Surely, things must have improved over time, right? There was no way the entire world had regressed in terms of food.

The decline of the magical world was understandable, but Muggles had no excuse for culinary deterioration—though Rhys was being a bit naïve. The truth was, the downfall of British cuisine and the stagnation of the wizarding world stemmed from the same root cause: simpler, standardized methods replacing the original, more labor-intensive practices that once required true passion and dedication.

Simpler, more straightforward spells replaced the intricate flow of magic. Industrialized, mass-produced dishes took the place of traditional local cuisine. As a result, a thousand years later, Rhys found himself at Hogwarts without a single wizard who understood magical flow, and in London, the only food he could find was fish and chips or black pudding—classic examples of British cuisine.

Fortunately, not every European country had suffered the same fate as Britain when it came to food. France, Italy, and Turkey had all preserved the essence of their culinary traditions, providing the greatest comfort to diners' taste buds.

After moving into Greengrass Manor, Rhys was completely stunned by the variety of desserts that had developed over the past thousand years—especially the ones from Turkey, which were particularly astonishing. Turkish sweets, made with generous amounts of pistachios, walnuts, dried fruits, honey, and butter, fully embodied the concept of sweetness.

One dessert in particular left Rhys in awe—"Angel's Hair." It was made by frying two layers of hair-thin noodles until golden and then soaking them in a sugary syrup before being removed. Sandwiched between the delicate strands was a layer of creamy cheese filling, and the dessert was finally topped with crushed pistachios.

Every bite burst with warmth and richness, delivering an unparalleled sense of happiness.

Surrounded by a dazzling array of sweets, Rhys felt as if he had fallen into a honey pot.

The sheer amount of desserts he consumed daily even made Daphne visibly uneasy.

"Shouldn't you show some restraint?" she often tried to persuade him, though her attempts were always in vain.

"Sweetness is the source of happiness!" he would always reply with unwavering conviction.

Soon, Christmas Eve arrived.

Greengrass Manor underwent a sudden transformation—what had previously been a somewhat bleak winter valley was, overnight, filled with lush greenery and blooming flowers. Every tree was once again covered in tender leaves and blossoms.

Hanging from the branches were various small gift packages, each containing delightful surprises. Opening one might reveal a wizard's chess set, a fine hat, but more often than not, they contained consumables like sweets and festive crackers.

After all, most guests probably didn't need another chess set, but setting off a cracker or lighting a firework was always a joy.

From a distance, the valley looked as though it had been transported back to spring.

At first, Rhys assumed that the flowers and leaves had been conjured by magic. But upon closer inspection, he was stunned—the Greengrass family had actually decorated everything with artificial flowers and leaves! This was far more extravagant than simply conjuring them with magic.

Each flower and leaf looked so incredibly lifelike that Rhys couldn't help but be amazed.

Before nightfall, and before the guests even began to arrive, the first to reach the manor was a batch of magical creatures—procured by none other than Mr. Henry Greengrass himself.

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