Hogwarts: My Grandmother is the Queen

Chapter 409 Althorp

Henry sat down on the sofa in the living room, where a pot of freshly brewed breakfast tea and a plate of freshly baked scones were on the coffee table.

He poured himself a cup of tea, picked up a scone, and spread jam and cream on it.

After Diana finished arranging the flowers, she washed her hands and sat down opposite him.

She poured herself a cup of tea, picked up a scone, and took a bite.

At that moment, the butler walked over from the other end of the corridor, carrying a silver tray.

On the tray lay a letter in a dark green envelope, sealed with a gold-embossed "M". The butler handed the tray to Henry.

Henry took the envelope and turned it over.

The letter was addressed to the Duke of Cambridge in cursive script on the back. He broke the wax seal and pulled out the letter.

The letter paper was thick parchment with silver embossed edges, and the ink was deep black.

Diana drank her tea nearby and didn't come over to look.

Henry unfolded the letter and read it.

Your Highness:

It has been almost half a month since the three-way battle for supremacy ended.

While I was at Malfoy Manor, I took the opportunity to organize some old documents left by my father.

Among them are a number of early royal correspondence, involving my great-grandfather Abraxas Malfoy's dealings with a court secretary during the reign of George V.

These documents should, as is customary, be returned to the Royal Archives. I will formally request an audience with Her Majesty the Queen through Ms. Irene in the near future and hand over these documents.

In addition, Mr. Greengrass recently wrote to me inquiring about the royal family's procedures for accepting ancient magical families.

He intends to pay his respects to Her Majesty at the appropriate time, and I believe his sincerity deserves to be conveyed to Her Majesty.

I hope you are doing well at Kensington Palace.

Your loyalty, Lucius Malfoy.

Henry folded the letter and placed it on the coffee table. Diana glanced at the wax seal with an "M" on it.

"A letter from the Malfoys?" Diana asked.

“Yes, Mother,” Henry said. “He said he wanted to formally meet with Grandmother, and the Greengrass family also wanted to see her. I suspect they also want to break free from Voldemort’s control.”

Diana nodded slightly, picked up a scone, and spread jam on it.

Henry put the letter away and stood up. "I'll go write a letter to Eileen; Lucius's audience needs to be arranged."

He went upstairs to his room and sat down at his desk.

I took out letter paper and a pen from the drawer and began to write a letter.

Eileen was in charge of all liaison between the royal family and the magical world; she was responsible for arranging the time, place, and procedures for Lucius's audience.

After he finished writing, he sealed the letter and pressed a wax seal onto it with a ring bearing the Windsor emblem.

He then went downstairs, handed the letter to the butler, and asked the butler to deliver it to Windsor.

The next morning, Eileen's reply arrived.

Your Highness:

Lucius Malfoy’s request for an audience has been received.

Her Majesty the Queen has granted him an audience at Windsor on August 5. Mr. Greengrass may also have an audience on the same day.

Please inform Mr. Malfoy that he must wear formal attire and bring the original documents involved when he comes to the audience.

Her Majesty the Queen will review it personally.

Also, Her Majesty the Queen said that you may bring the oak leaf bookmark with you when you come to Balmoral in August.

She wanted to see.

Henry went downstairs and met Diana in the breakfast room.

She was reading a newspaper, with a cup of coffee in front of her.

"Eileen replied?" Diana didn't even look up.

"Yes, Lucius will visit his grandmother on August 5th, the same day as the Greengrass family."

Diana turned a page of the newspaper.

"Maybe."

Diana picked up her coffee and took a sip: "Your father came back from Buckingham Palace this afternoon. He said he wanted to show you something."

"What is it?"

"He didn't say it, but he sounded very happy on the phone."

Charles returned in the afternoon.

He came home earlier than usual, carrying a brown paper document bag.

When he entered the living room, Henry was sitting on the sofa drinking tea.

"Henry," Charles said, sitting down opposite him and placing the file bag on the coffee table. "I found a batch of private letters from the time of George VI at Buckingham Palace, one of which was addressed to Abraxas Malfoy."

Henry put down his teacup. "What did you write?"

Charles opened the document bag, took out a yellowed letter, unfolded it, and placed it on the coffee table.

The letter was written in the handwriting of King George VI.

"Dear Abraxas: "

Regarding the special juncture you mentioned, I have discussed it with the court secretary. The royal family's ties with the magical world should not be made public, but can be maintained on a private level.

I agree that you should send someone to conduct regular inspections of the three nodes you mentioned.

However, there is one condition: your family must guarantee that they will not use these nodes for any activities related to black magic.

Otherwise, the royal family will sever all ties.

"Father," Henry put down the letter, "what do you intend to do with this letter?"

Charles paused for a moment. "I want Lucius Malfoy to give this letter to your grandmother when he visits her."

"Are you willing to hand over this letter?"

"This is the royal archive," Charles said. "It's not my private collection; your grandmother should see it."

Henry looked at Charles; his father had finally found what he was looking for.

"I will tell Lucius," Henry said.

Charles nodded, stood up, walked to the window, and looked out at the garden. The sounds of William and Harry laughing in the backyard drifted from afar.

"Your grandmother said we're going to Balmoral in August," Charles said without turning his head. "She said the air there is better than in London, and I think she's right; the air quality there is indeed quite good."

Henry stood up and went to the backyard.

William and Harry were still there. The bunker was much taller than it had been yesterday. Harry had found some more stones from somewhere and was piling them on top of the tower.

William squatted down nearby, drawing something on the ground with a twig; it was probably a new defensive line map.

"Henry!" Harry saw him and waved the stone in his hand. "Look, the tower's been raised!"

Henry went over to take a look, and the tower was indeed taller than yesterday, but the top stone was obviously crooked, barely holding on by the friction of the stone below.

Harry stepped back and patted the mud off his hands with satisfaction.

"Won't it collapse?" Henry asked.

"Probably not," Harry said.

"Then you've got it," Henry said with a smile.

Harry pouted, walked over, and reached out to push the tower.

The stone wobbled twice but didn't fall over.

He pushed it again, but it still didn't fall over.

He turned his head, a smug look on his face.

"See, it's stable."

Henry crouched down and gently flicked the bottom base stone with his finger.

The entire tower swayed, and then slowly, very slowly, it tilted to the left.

The stones rolled all over the ground, raising a small cloud of dust.

Harry stood there, mouth agape, staring at the stones scattered on the ground.

William laughed out loud, and Harry glared at him.

"Let's start over." Harry squatted down and began to build again.

Henry stood up and went back inside.

Diana was arranging flowers in the living room. The flowers were cut from the garden that morning; besides roses, there were a few white lisianthus and blue cornflowers.

She was putting a sprig of lisianthus into a blue vase when she saw Henry come in and looked up.

"Harry knocked down the bunker again?"

"I flicked the base."

Diana smiled. "You did that on purpose, didn't you?"

"No, I just wanted to see if it was stable."

Diana shook her head and continued arranging the flowers.

"Where is your father?"

"He's in the study. He said he wanted to eat dinner early tonight. He's going to the British Library again tomorrow."

Diana placed the last cornflower in the vase, stepped back to look at the overall effect, and nodded in satisfaction.

"Okay. I'll have the kitchen open for dinner at 6:30."

Henry sat down on the sofa, picked up the newspaper from the coffee table, and flipped through a few pages.

The Daily Prophet published a follow-up report on the Triwizard Tournament, stating that the Ministry of Magic is reviewing the tournament's security protocols, and Bagman, as a referee, will be subject to internal questioning.

The article was accompanied by a photo of Bagman on the referee's bench, looking down as he wrote something, his expression not quite clear.

Henry turned to the second page of the newspaper, where another short article stated that Oswald, the Director of the International Department of Magical Cooperation, had recently visited several Nordic Ministries of Magic to discuss plans to strengthen cooperation on the security of the Floo Network in Europe.

The last line of the text message read, "Director Oswald will submit a full report to the Ministry of Magic next month."

Henry put down the newspaper and picked up his teacup.

Outside the window, Harry's voice came from the backyard; this time he was calling for William to find him a flat stone.

Dinner was at 6:30 p.m. Harry spent ten minutes at the table describing how he rebuilt the tower, and another five minutes...

Chung explained why he was certain this time he wouldn't fail.

William added that he had replaced the base with three flat stones, and Harry glared at him.

"Three flat stones are much more stable than one round stone," Harry said.

"Yes," Henry said, cutting the roast beef, "but that long stone on top of yours is still crooked."

Harry thought for a moment. "Then I'll get another one tomorrow."

"You can't demolish anything else tomorrow." Diana put down her knife and fork. "We're going to Althorp the day after tomorrow. Your father said he wants to see the old house site in Norfolk."

"Althorpe?" Harry looked up.

"The Spencer family's ancestral home," Diana said. "The place where your maternal grandfather used to live, and now it's managed by your uncle, Charles Spencer."

Are there any stones there?

"Yes. But you can't bring Althorp's stone back."

Harry pouted and continued eating his roast beef.

After dinner, Henry sat in the living room for a while.

Diana knitted a scarf nearby, while Charles sat in an armchair by the fireplace flipping through an old magazine.

William and Harry went upstairs, and Harry's voice came down from the second floor, probably arguing with William about whether or not to take his stone to Althorp tomorrow.

Charles wants to visit the old house in Norfolk, and Diana wants to go back to her parents' home.

William and Harry will follow along, probably looking for stones in the garden.

On July 9th, Althorp was in Northamptonshire, more than two hours' drive from London.

Henry sat next to Diana, while William and Harry sat in the back.

Harry brought a small stone, wrapped it in cloth, and placed it on his lap.

Diana glanced at him but said nothing.

After leaving central London, the M1 highway is flanked by open fields and hedgerows.

Harry fell asleep in the back seat after a while, resting his head on William's shoulder.

William didn't move, but simply took Harry's stone from his knees and put it in his own hand to prevent it from falling.

Diana looked out the window and spoke after a while.

"Your grandfather used to bring me here every summer. He said the air in Althorp was better than in London."

"Did you like this place when you were a child?" Henry asked.

“I love it,” Diana said. “There’s a garden, a stable, and an attic. I often spend the whole day in the attic, rummaging through old trunks. My father doesn’t allow me to, but I’ve done it several times when he’s not around.”

"What did you find?"

Diana smiled. "Old clothes, old books, old photos. And a box of documents that said 'Norfolk Site.' I didn't know what that meant at the time. Later I learned that the Spencer family's old house was in Norfolk, and it was demolished in 1630. The stones from the demolition were transported to Althorp and used to build the current house."

"So Althorp was built with stones from the old house."

“Yes,” Diana said. “Your grandfather said that some of the stones had symbols engraved on them. He didn’t know what the symbols meant, but he thought they should be kept.”

Henry looked out the window. The car drove over an open field, and in the distance, several deer grazed beside a hedge.

"Are those stones still there?" Henry asked.

"It should still be there, in the basement," Diana said. "Your grandfather put away all the stones with the symbols on them."

He said, "Whatever it is, keeping it is better than throwing it away."

It was already noon when the car entered Althorp Manor.

The manor house is a light gray stone building, with a neatly manicured lawn and a long driveway in front.

Diana's brother, Charles Spencer, was waiting in the doorway.

He was a few years older than Diana, his hair was already gray, and he was wearing an old sweater and corduroy pants.

"Diana," Charles Spencer stepped forward and hugged his sister, "Was the journey smooth?"

"All right." Diana released her hand and waved to Henry. "This is Henry. William and Harry are asleep in the car."

Charles Spencer glanced at Henry and nodded.

"Henry, come in, lunch is ready."

William woke Harry, and the two of them trudged into the mansion.

Lunch was served in the restaurant, where a long table was set with cold dishes, bread, salad, and a large pitcher of lemonade.

Harry couldn't sit still after eating two sandwiches, so William kicked him under the table.

After lunch, Diana and Charles Spencer went for a walk in the garden.

Henry remained in the living room, looking through the photographs on the mantel. Most were black and white, old photos of the Spencer family.

One of the photos is of Diana as a child, wearing riding clothes, standing next to a horse, smiling and showing off her white teeth.

When Charles Spencer returned from the garden, he saw Henry looking at the photographs.

"Your mother was very wild when she was a child. Her horse was called Lightning, and she rode it for three years."