Thursday, 27 August 1942
I understand, I really do, that my daughter and I do not know one another. But that is Artemisia’s doing and not my own, and I do not understand why she is being so very difficult! I cannot possibly promise to love some cousin of Artemisia’s who is no actual blood relation to her, given that Charis was not that man’s grand-daughter, as much as I love my own son.
I can remind Isabella and Mercutio and Lucius of their responsibility to be gracious and generous hosts, but she must also remind her cousin of his duty to be a grateful guest. I would consider taking that child as a fosterling perhaps if I believed I might be forced to pay a tithe to Hell.
This is not because he is part Muggle. Artemisia and Kit were part Muggle. St John is part Muggle. Someone who is part Muggle cannot be my heir, but someone who is part Muggle may certainly be a part of my court and my family, so long as that person is willing to live by the standards and rules of this household. I have watched that child since the moment he came here.
My son and Ercole’s children have been impolite to him, and I have told them what I expect of them with regard to the way they behave in his presence. But it does not help that the boy began by calling my son a name which was not his own and when told that it was incorrect and insulting, continued to do so for several days because he does not approve of my son’s hairstyle or the way we expect him to dress. This boy is unwilling to give up his fantasies of the way the world ought to be and interact with it as it is. I am certain there are many Muggle and Muggleborn children who would be willing to dress in motley with bells in order to eat at my table. We have not asked him to do anything of the sort; we have simply asked him to dress the way we do ourselves.
I cannot demand of my children that they accept him as a foster brother when he shows every sign of contempt for them and for our ways. And I think it very odd of Charis to believe that he should be treated exactly the same way, in any respect, as my son, who is the chosen heir of the land. As for the other children, he is subject to the same restrictions they are. No child who is unfamiliar with the Bois des Malfées is permitted to enter the Bois unaccompanied, particularly one who has no training in magick.
We do not have a bad life here. There is no rationing; there is abundance, though it may not last if the Alfar and the Irish Host ride to war and we have to fight them. I cling to my hope that they will not allow the doings of humans to interfere with our concord, that there will be no more talk of cattle raids and viking and tithes to Hell, and at the very least that the goblins will preserve their neutrality. If I ask this boy to wear a different kind of clothing than he is used to, but give him as much as he could possibly wish to eat whenever he wants it, why does he think he has cause to complain of it? St John has tried to help, but of course his time is also very limited.
If this child is so very attached to his Muggle life that he wishes to live that way at all times when he is not at school, then Charis will have to let him go and do that with his own kind. She will not like it, I know, but we cannot hold people in our world against their will; we can only train them up and hope they will come to accept things as they are. There are people who take in Muggle and Muggleborn children without families. If this boy cannot be my foster-son, then he will have to go to them in time.
I do not like to tell this to my daughter, because she is so attached to the boy. Of course at the end of the school year she will have acquired her NEWTs, and she will begin her career, and perhaps she will want to go out on her own. I would not like that; I want her to stay here, of course, and at least learn more of what she is and could be before she rejects it.
Now the Dashwood boy is here and Charis has made herself quite disagreeable. I understand that she is angry about the things he has said in the past, but he has admitted his error. More than that she can hardly ask of him at a time like this when his whole life is in turmoil. The time I have to spend with her, and with the rest of the children, is quite limited; I do not want to return them to Hogwarts so soon nor share them so soon with all of their friends, particularly friends I am not sure I trust yet. The preparation for this ritual is cutting into that time, but even if I did not owe Magister-Sir a lifetime of favours, I would do this to spare the boy what I went through myself. Charis has cut into the time I have with my own children further. She must understand that she is a grown woman now, and that there is not time for our personal problems. I must concern myself with the problems of the Host and the problems of Britain and the lives of my own children. What I can spare for a stranger who cannot even bring himself to be a good guest is quite limited.
I need to speak at length with Magister-Sir and Lavinia about the charts Lavinia has almost certainly done and the curses the Warringtons habitually use. There is so much to do. I cannot handle any more dissension today!