8 Blood-borne Curse

June, 1986 (Time skip, more than a year)

Greengrass Manor's Garden,

It was just another morning spent in meditation for the young master of the Greengrass family. Every morning he would just sit in the same place he deemed most comfortable and spend the early morning in his meditation. When he first started doing it, he felt how hard it really was to empty your mind and achieve the state where he was one with nature. It took him a long time to get a hang of it.

Joseph entered the garden with a coffee in one hand and a towel in the other. It was all part of his daily routine. He would always sit on the table, it had the most beautiful garden view, and drink his coffee while watching his son practice. When his coffee was over, he slowly walked in from of him and touched his head.

Joseph did this for the past year, every day, to make sure his son is getting better. Dean was trying his best, so he could avoid the pain that comes from his father's mind attack. It wasn't pleasant, not at all. He would do anything to overcome this daily torture, it felt like someone was drilling inside his head to open up a gaping hole.

But, today was different. When Joseph's hand touched his son's head, instead of the familiar feeling of connecting someone's mind, all he could feel was emptiness. His legilimency just passed through him like there was no target for it to attack. Immediately there appeared a smile on his face, before it turned into a hearty laugh, which caused Dean to lose his concentration and wake up.

"Father?" He didn't know what happened, he was surprised he didn't finish his meditation with a headache, but with the loud laughter of his father.

"My son, you passed. You finally achieved to become one with the nature. I couldn't touch your mind, actually, I couldn't even sense it." He was happy to see his son achieve the goal he set. "It seems like you won't be needing this towel here." He always had it ready for his son, he would become full of sweat after every session of meditation.

"Does that mean I can start the second stage of occlumency?" He raised his fists towards the sky in celebration. He was finally free from this arduous exercise.

"Let's leave it for later, it's almost time for breakfast. Sit on the table while we wait for them to come." When the weather is nice, instead of the dining room, they would just have their breakfast outdoors. It was nice to have fresh air, beautiful view of the garden, and your family to share it with.

Within the next half an hour, every member of the family made their way towards the garden to have breakfast. The atmosphere was amazing. Everyone was chatting while slowly enjoying the tasty food that was placed on the table.

Joseph and Oliver were talking about politics and the changes that came with the end of the wizarding war. Even though it's been peaceful for the past 5 years, the impact of the war was disastrous.

Casualties caused by war were extremely high. There were even some wizarding families that seized to exist. They lost every single of their members to the war. It wasn't like surviving ones didn't suffer. Thanks to the efforts of the head of the Greengrass family, Joseph, to stay neutral, their family didn't suffer like other families. Maybe they were just lucky, as staying neutral didn't necessarily mean survival.

The other side of the table was quieter. Ladies of the family, Helen and Evelyn, were talking amongst themselves almost in a whispering voice. They didn't want their kids to hear what they were talking about. Because, currently they were talking about the blood borne curse that was placed on their Greengrass family ancestor, and how it affected Astoria's health. "Even though it affects every member of the family to some degree, it seems like Astoria contracted the full curse or she is just too fragile. It keeps bothering me, sister Helen." Evelyn was too depressed and sad about her daughter's condition. It pained her heart to see her daughter suffer.

Astoria, not aware of her mother's worries, was currently busy harassing her big brother Dean to play with her. She just wanted to spend more time with Dean and Daphne, because, her condition didn't really allow her to accompany them all the time. She was determined to not waste even a second.

"Alright, alright. Don't pinch my arm like that. I will play with you as much as you like." Dean loved his little sister. When it comes to her precious play time, he couldn't really refuse. 'Huh, a blood-borne curse?' repeated in his mind.

Stuffing her mouth with some more food, Daphne also followed after them.